Comments on: Democrats Considering Eliminating 401(k) Tax Breaks

By: admin

admin — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:54:17 +0000

What other goal would be achived by eliminating this tax break? I cannot see any positives, only negatives. Although you might be able to say the Democrats might not be “intending” to eliminate the 401k, the actions they are considering (eliminating the tax break) would result in it.

And thanks for pointing out the link issue. I inadvertantly grabbed the wrong link when I originally posted. Fixed it.

By: Patty

Patty — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:15:17 +0000

It seems strange that you’ve listed two different sources that are actually one and the same. It is the same article written by Sara Hansard of “Investment News” which is a sister publication to your secondary source “Workforce Management.” To me this would only be one source.
After reading the whole article a few times it strikes me that this might be an effort to take different comments and quotes and put them together in a way that makes it sound like more than it is. This was a lot more about eliminating tax breaks (which is still a bad idea) but it’s a stretch to say that the Democrats in general are pushing to eliminate 401k’s just because Theresa Ghilarducci put forth her own “bright” idea. (Please note the sarcasm here!)
I’m all for bringing it to light when someone proposes such an assinine idea that could possibly end up getting support from our elected officials but to use this as a scare tactic to make people think that Democrats in general are working to eliminate 401k’s is wrong.

By: admin

admin — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:52:43 +0000

I’m sorry, John, but he most certainly did. Check the source articles, it’s quoted quite clearly.

Here is the Miller quote that you apparently didn’t have the opportunity to read: “The savings rate isn’t going up for the investment of $80 billion,” he said. “We have to start to think about … whether or not we want to continue to invest that $80 billion for a policy that’s not generating what we now say it should.” That is where he talked about eliminating the 401k break. I already pointed out in the source article what that action would cause.

As far as Ghilarducci’s plan goes, McDermott’s press secretary is even cited as pointing out that Ghilarducci’s plan is “part of the discussion”, meaning it is on the table and under serious consideration. Now here are some numbers to put it into perspective. Say you put $62.50/wk into each plan (5% of a $30k/yr income). With a 3% government bond plan you would have $30,765.51. With a 401k plan with 50% match and historical stock returns, you would have between $203,709.99 (best historical return) and $51,313.29 (worst historical return). That’s an extra $20,547.78 in the worst return in history. Why Miller would think that the 401k tax break isn’t working for workers and is even listening to the Ghilarducci plan is beyond me.

One last point, you shouldn’t throw the word idiot around trying to insult people. It really doesn’t help your cause. In fact, it just makes what was a good post look juvenile.

By: John

John — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 03:16:46 +0000

You guys know that this is just flat out lie right?
George Miller never said about eliminating 401k tax or whatever stupid lies listed here. He only said, I quote:

“Taxpayers subsidize 401(k) plans by $80 billion dollars annually. For a taxpayer
investment of this size, we must ensure that the structure of 401(k)s adequately protects
the nest eggs of participating workers.

At a minimum, we know that much greater transparency and disclosures in 401(k)
investment policies are needed, to protect workers from “hidden” fees that could be
eating deeply into their retirement accounts.

And with seniors poised to suffer the most from the current economic turmoil, we must
suspend an unfair tax penalty for seniors who don’t take a minimum withdrawal from
their depleted retirement accounts, like 401(k)s.”

Where in here does he said that he wanted to eliminate the 401K. He would like to “PRESERVE AND STRENGTHEN 401k”

Before typing and looking like bunch of idiots, why don’t you guys google this and go to his website. Theresa, the socialist, did present in the hearing but so does 3 other professors from UCLA, Berkeley, and UMASS.

No wonder we’re fighting someone else’s war in IRAQ, we have too many idiots running around in this country.

By: Joel

Joel — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 01:55:55 +0000

I have a suggestion,if congress wants to eliminate the 401K deduction, I think we need to seriously look at the pension programs offered to congress people whether they are in office or retired. I say we need to have them to abide by the rules they are proposing on us. Yhey need to turn in the values of their pensions to the social security administration and they can get $600.00 yearly plus 5% of their income. That will stop this talk as fast as they proposed it.

By: James

James — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 23:20:30 +0000

OK, this is just a prime example of the Dems wanting to take over things they have no business taking over! The math is simple, doing this is a bad deal for us. It’s all about growing the government and taking power away from us.