401(k) Foe Teresa Ghilarducci, the Most Dangerous Woman in America

401k

There will be war if this happens. Hard working American's are not going to stand for this. We may be stuck with the big "O" but that doesnt mean we like him. I would rather take my money before they institute this and drop it from the tallest building than let the government get their hands on my money. While we are at it can we take Ghilarducci up and drop her with out money?

MV7 of GA @ Nov 10, 2008 16:41:22 PM

This idiot should try to come to my house and take my 401K and IRA funds. Is she not aware of the limitation on highly compensated individuals and their contributions? We're limkited to 10% where everyone else can invest up to 50%. Do the math. $75K income x 20% investment = $15,000 in 401K. $100K income x .10% limit = $10,000 in 401K. The guy who makes $100K just got screwed out of investing an additional $5K due to the restrictions. Ghilarducci seems to be ignorant of this fact when she states (other sources such as Carolina Journale article) that the rish are getting richer through their 401K's. WRONG - but then again, socialism is always WRONG.

American to the Core of @ Nov 10, 2008 15:51:16 PM

Power (and Pension) Grab

Teresa Ghilarducci would probably get a high position in the Obama socialist administration to help them "redistribute the wealth," i.e., take the earnings of hard workers and give them to the professionally sick, lame, and lazy. I served in combat for America in two wars (Korea and Vietnam), and now realize that what I did and the sacrifices some of my comrads made were totally wasted: the country has been given away and our society undermined by people like Ghilarducci and Obama. Luckily I don't have to depend on Obama and people like him to survive- far from rich but at least self-sufficient (or perhaps I was self-sufficient until the communist take over.

Reis Kash

Springfield, Oregon

Reis R. Kash of OR @ Nov 10, 2008 13:45:05 PM

Priorities

Funding your retirement, like any thing else in life, boils down to priorities. Even when I was first starting out in life and making very little, I maxed out my retirement plan because it was my first priority. I had to sacrifice and do without many extras that most people I knew who made equal to or less than me considered necessities such as cable TV, a cell phone, gym memberships, newer cars, and going out to eat, but I was able to do it. Even now, my husband and I still drive cars that are 9 and over 10 years old respectively so that we can max out our retirement plans and save for our child's education even though we make much more money than when we first started out. We don't complain about the sacrifices we make to fund these priorities; we just do it b/c that is (or at least it should be) the American way. Simply put, a person can save for his or her retirement regardless of what he or she makes. It just depends on how important it is to them. As for me, I would much rather save by choice than have the government steal that money from me. Big government has already proven that it can't properly manage a retirement program. (ie. social security), so why would any person in his or her right mind give the government the opportunity to screw up another one?

Jorene Soto of VA @ Nov 10, 2008 12:43:31 PM

Federal retirement plan

Do the middle class or rich really need this help with retirement? Not really, it's the poor who need this kind of help. Really rich people (over 200k a year) can't even take the full 401k deduction anyway due to income limits, so how is this spreading the wealth around? The only wealth being spread around here in this plan is the middle and upper middle class money. So now we want to take from the middle and give to the bottom? This is even more ridiculous than take from the rich and give to the poor. (From my personal experience I've never gotten a job from a poor person who receives government checks. It's only been those evil, rich, greedy people that have hired me to work for them).

I agree, this lady needs to get out and work a real job for a few years to see what it's like. Is she really crazy or has she lived in theory land (where nothing is proven, it just has to sound good) for so long that they believe their own hype? Maybe we should send these people to Russia and let them see how well government intervention has done them. This isn't to help the poor, this is just another attempt to control behavior via the tax code and PANDER to the people angry and jealous of rich people (though it won't even affect "rich" people or redistribute their wealth). While the bull market was raging in 2005 and 2006 you didn't hear anyone making such ridiculous proposals, you would have been laughed out of the country. But now you just might be able to pander to enough people frustrated and angry and redirect their anger at rich people, all the while telling them you'll save them if they will just trust you to make it work for them.

If we really want to help the poor then start this plan and force anyone receiving welfare to participate. (It could help, that is as long as the government doesn't raid the pot to spend it on something else). This will get them started saving for retirement and hopefully create a whole new saving paradigm in the US for many people who really would otherwise end up relying on the goverment for retirement anyway. Help the people who need help and stop hiding behind the guise of helping others to exercise power over other people's money. We need government out of our lives, not more, bigger government. Help those who need some help and leave the rest of us alone.

Usotuski of NC @ Nov 10, 2008 12:00:31 PM

Yeah whatever

Jimmy boy of PA, please pack up and move to Argentina. You will fit in fine.

Most likely Obama would be shot if he tried that one.

Bob Hunt of NV @ Nov 09, 2008 20:41:45 PM

Scarier than 9/11

Maybe there are some guys left at UBS who can help us with a creative solution...

Robert Hoog of NY @ Nov 08, 2008 23:05:41 PM

The rich benefit from her plan

Great plan. I make $40,000 a year. With my current contributions, tax benefits, and company matching I put away or save in taxes almost $8,000 a year. Under Ghilarducci's plan I will contribute $2,000 and get $600 from the government. That's only $2,600. Oh not to mention my current retirement has averaged 9.2% over the last 15 years even despite the recent crash. Now I'll get 3%.

I wonder how my investments will do after Ghilarducci takes 5% of salary investments out of the market and put it in to government bonds. I smell a market rally coming.... not.

John Wilson of CA @ Nov 08, 2008 16:45:55 PM