Does Government Want To Drain Americans’ 401(k) Plan?

War On Wealth: As Washington debates what to do about the fiscal cliff that it foolishly created, many potential sources of new revenue will be thrown on the table. One of them is likely to be 401(k) plans.

Many in Washington see our investment accounts not as the expressions of well- planned, disciplined decisions but as untapped reservoirs of wealth they can drain to fix the problems that they caused.

The tax protection that 401(k)s have now can be wiped out by grasping politicians who refuse to do what’s right, which is to severely cut spending.! The war on retirement, particularly 401(k)s, is quiet now. But that’s because it’s a cold war. A website set up by the ASPPA advises account holders to tell lawmakers to “keep their hands off your retirement savings” and explains that “Congress needs to reduce the deficit, and part of deficit reduction will most likely be ‘tax reform’ that increases tax revenue” — the strong suggestion being that Washington is coming after Americans’ 401(k)s.

President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, for instance, proposed lowering the cap on the amount workers could place in their 401(k)s without incurring taxes. “In plain English,” said Gingrich and Ferrara, “the idea is for the government to take your retirement savings in return for a promise to pay you some monthly benefit in your retirement years.”

Yet despite all the surpluses, the Social Security program is in financial trouble and Congress needs more revenue to fix it, just as it is looking for more of other people’s money to avoid the fiscal cliff plunge.

Don’t think for a minute that 401(k)s aren’t on the table as a part of the solution.! And when they are served up in front of hungry politicians, they can be quickly devoured. All that will be left for the account holders will be a few crumbs.