Dear Editor:
Democrats in the U.S. House have been conducting hearings on proposals to confiscate workers' retirement accounts - including 401(k)s and IRAs - and covert them to accounts managed by the Social Security Administration. This article entitled "Dems Target Private Retirement Accounts" was published in the Carolina Journal on November 4. With those alarming openers, the populace who desires less government interference in their economic lives has become quite concerned. The "confiscation" hype in the Journal comes from the October 7 Congressional committee testimony of a single scholar, Teresa Ghilarducci, who actually said, "I propose that...Congress let workers trade their 401(k) and 401(k)-type plan assets (perhaps valued at mid-August prices) for a Guaranteed Retirement Account composed of government bonds (earning a 3 percent return, adjusted for inflation). When the worker collects Social Security, the Guaranteed Retirement Account will pay an inflation adjusted annuity, based on the accumulated funds.
If you think for a moment that "let" won't become "must" in a short time, then I have a bridge that I'll sell you anywhere you'd like it!
What the Congresswoman proposes is that "workers" be enticed to trade their deflated 401K's and IRA's for Guaranteed Retired Accounts (GSA's). She suggests that one such enticement could be a re-inflation of 401K and IRA account values to amounts in play somewhere prior to the September-October financial meltdown. Frankly, I want no part of more government interference in my life or my finances.
Tom Walk
Neoga, IL
Neoga, Ill. —
