[StBernard] Democrats want to abolish Retirement Account tax breaks

[Westley Annis]

Wesley, I could have used your advice back in 1999, I was too hard headed to move out of stocks when I should have and I have no one to blame but myself.
 
You ask great questions and I admit I don't have the answers, and the points you make are valid. my point is can't we even have the discussion about alternatives without all the doom and gloom, signing in blood with the devil, etc. Hell we can't even agree to disagree anymore without it being called b.s.
 
Bob F.

	> ----------------------------------------------------- 
	> Bob, 
	> 
	> I had discussion about this with someone else. Here's the questions I posed: 
	> 
	> 1) Is this $2 trillion original money or paper gains? If it is paper gains, 
	> is it ALL of the paper gains? If you put $2000 into your retirement account 
	> and it is still worth $2000, have you LOST anything? If you had stuffed it 
	> under the mattress, what's the difference? 
	> 
	> 2) Is this $2 trillion "loss" only for people who are aiming to retire in 
	> the next five years? If you are within five years of retirement, even ten 
	> years of retirement, you need to start moving your retirement funds out of 
	> stocks and into bonds. I don't know a single investment advisor worth his 
	> salt that hasn't stressed this. 
	> 
	> Some liberal Democrat in Congress wants to dictate even more of my money 
	> into a government run retirement system. I'm sorry, but to me that says he 
	> is admitting that Social Security is a failure. I'm already trying to keep 
	> as much of my money out of Social Security as I can, I sure don't want the 
	> government to take what little bit I have left to save for retirement and 
	> force it into a government run plan. 
	> 
	> When Congress decides to merge THEIR retirement system into the Social 
	> Security plan, then maybe I will consider a government run retirement 
	> system. Until then, I will manage my own retirement plan, thank you very 
	> much. 
	> 
	> This plan, being touted by Teresa Ghilarducci of the New School for Social 
	> Research, wants the government to guarantee a 3% return, after inflation. 
	> Look at the Treasury Department's web site, 20 year Treasury bonds haven't 
	> been hitting 3% lately, which means it will cost even MORE money to 
	> guarantee 3%. 
	> 
	> And, I also have to question the math. The top of the article says we have a 
	> $3 trillion 401(k) system, but Peter Orszag, from the Congressional Budget 
	> Office, says we lost $2 trillion in retirement savings. Has the stock market 
	> really lost 2/3's of its value? 
	> 
	> This is the real FEAR MONGERING at its best. 
	> 
	> Westley 
	> 
	> PS Vote NOBAMA!