Posted on 12/28/2010 8:23:31 AM PST by Frantzie
Retirement account fantasy and middle class erosion – 1 out of 3 Americans has zero dollars in a retirement account.
From 1950 to 1989 top 1 percent earned roughly 7 to 8 percent of nationwide income. Today it is inching closer to 20 percent resembling pre-Great Depression levels.
Many Americans live precariously close to the edge of financial insolvency flirting with economic disaster daily.
(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
Still believe that 1/3 of Americans are brain dead fools. The middle class will be marched into slavery and just accept it. Too damn dumb to fight back.
***siezes 401ks and IRSs and redistributes the cash***
The Government controls, regulates, monitors and dictates how one makes withdrawals from IRAs - after retirement.
You might think this is ‘your money’ but it has strings attached.
There already is "means testing" of a sort. I have to pay income tax on part of my SS retirement benefits because the gubmint thinks my non-gov't pension, which is 100% taxable, is too high. The fact that this tax on my SS benefits is double taxation gets lost in the rhetoric.
Yeah - Obama’s arbeit macht frei - right general? You are working to transfer your wealth under Obama. You missed the point. People working and keeping busy is good but now you are working for the state and Obama.
Pretty sad when people here on FR are as clueless as the masses. I hear that from fools defending Tv and Prince Al Waleed’s Fox which is the same as his ABC and his CNN. It is a big game and the fools do not get it. Our Founders would laugh then cry at how pathetic Americans are now.
One third of Americans have zero dollars in their retirement fund.
It’s hard to save any money if you don’t work and you’re on welfare. You know the number of non-productive, non-saving Americans will continue to increase. We reward them through the hard work of productive Americans.
Gee, another $800/year could be saved by not having high speed internet, too, but then we wouldn't be subjected to your inane blatherings about TV.
I fully understand that merely giving of my life to actually earn the money doesn't make it mine in their eyes.
There was a time that physical gold was thought to be proof against seizure, but that fiction ended in 1933.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102
Executive Order 6102
With all that money you saved by dumping TV, I'm sure you made a nice donation to FR...........or did you even bother?
Sooner than you think :
****In 1933 approximately 500 tonnes of gold were turned in to the Treasury “voluntarily” at the exchange rate of $20.67 per troy ounce.****
HOLY S**T!!! Someone do the math!
32,150 troy ounces = 1 metric ton (1,000 kilos)
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_troy_ounces_in_a_tonne_of_gold#ixzz19QT78Z1m
Was all that loot spent on WWII??
How long before Obama or someone like him declares the essential unfairness of it all, siezes 401ks and IRSs and redistributes the cash, the underpriviliged and illegal aliens first in line.
About one hour before the riots start. This issure was addressed by the founding fathers and we fought a war over it.
ILLEGAL SEARCH AND SEIZURE.
Yet still you hang around here mooching, berating FReepers who pay the freight.
LOL, I see Al Waleed has snuck into your home and blown the magic sheeple dust in your ears too...
To me, you are retired the day you don’t *need* to work anymore.
—that is, until the inevitable combination of hyperinflation and Government confiscation wipes it all out. From post 8.
and that is the unknown that keeps those who understand, still working llllooooonnnnggggg after they could have retired.
You may be right, but this article dances way too close to the class envy line for my tastes. First, it continues with the "income equality gap" that is a favorite bugaboo of the Left. Taken from a stationary, individual perspective, I'm sure that fear is compelling. But it's nonsensical to think it's a concern vs. the real concern of "income equality" relegating all of us to poverty status.
Second, it is not clear how they define "retirement account". I recognize savings rates are low, but there are many people who choose to save for retirement without utilizing the financial vehicles reserved for it. It is not always the prudent course to tie up funds and sacrifice liquidity.
Actually it is triple taxation.
1. It is withheld from your salary = tax one.
2. It is considered part of your gross salary so it also is taxed again as part of your income tax= tax 2
3. When it is returned to you when you retire it is again considered gross income and taxed one last time = tax 3
When it come to theft, government is the biggest thief of all.
Hi Frantzie. I submit that the 1 in 3 statistic by itself does not have much meaning. This is an example of static model fallacy. About 1 in 5 Americans, while in the work force, are too young to have established a retirement account as of yet.
Analyzing household wealth is much more complicated than grabbing one statistic and making a judgement about the relative wealth of all Americans.
The American middle class wasn’t ‘finished off’ by 25% unemployment during the Great Depression. Yes, we have huge problems. We will spend the next 10-12 years working through these problems. This will be the toughest period in our lives. BUT, we will work through it and better times are ahead. I’m betting on America in the long run. This too shall pass.
Obama is a bit player and will be gone soon. He didn’t cause our problem as it is demographic in nature. He has made things worse, but that is temporary.
Also, the official savings rate is not accurate. It leaves out many assets we would call savings.
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