Posted on 11/19/2012 7:08:33 PM PST by Perdogg
And now it’s time for Mr. Obama to start paying for all those votes by reaching deep into our pockets. If you intend to avoid paying your “fair share,” however, please take note: There will be few places to hide. For a gimlet-eyed view of what may lie in store for taxpayers and citizens of all political persuasions during the next four years, ponder the guest commentary below, from Wayne Siggard, a regular in the Rick’s Picks forum. RA]
The election was all about new math: 47 = 51. The foresight and genius of the Founders knew no bounds. Ben Franklin said, “Once the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” The trumpets have sounded. The heralds have announced the awakening of the masses to that reality. The greatest and most free nation the world has ever known has just sold its birthright for a mess of pottage; or, at least, the promise of an Obama phone. The takers have voted to take control over the producers.
Everyone will now get a fair shot — except that those who work in government and those who take government welfare will get a fairer shot. Obama knows that you didn’t build that company. You didn’t live frugally and save more money than your neighbor while they spent theirs on drugs or riotous living. He knows this because he didn’t get anything without government assistance — affirmative action put him ahead of more qualified people who earned a spot that he took, just like Elizabeth Warren. You couldn’t possibly have gotten anything on your own merit or hard work.
"A claim for material position can be met only by a government with totalitarian powers." – Friedrich von Hayek
Von Mises said that full government control of all activities of the individual is virtually the goal of both national parties. Have you ever tried to drill an oil or gas well? Have you ever tried to build a house or commercial building? Have you ever tried to manufacture and sell a product? The International Building Code (IBC) increases in size, restrictions and requirements every year. Why? Because a bureaucracy needs to expand to justify its existence.
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." – Lord Acton
Have you ever experienced the disdain and contempt of a bureaucrat whose permission you sought? It used to be that their power to grant a license or permit was retribution for their pay being less than that of the private sector. Now, you get to pay them 50% more than you would get for the same job, and the disdain has not decreased. Firemen, police officers, and military personnel can retire as young as 38, many making over $100,000 per year if they work until 50, and many can take another job and collect another pension on top of the first. Meanwhile, according to the Census Bureau, the average middle class family’s income has decreased $4,019 during the Obama years, to $50,964. More than half of the lifeguards in Newport Beach, CA, make over $150,000 per year and can collect more than $100,000 in pension benefits starting under 50 years of age.
So, What’s Coming?
That paradigm of preternatural prestidigitation, the Federal Reserve Bank, will continue its policy of zero percent interest. The big banks will mask their insolvency with free money from the Feds. Greedy speculators and fools who overspent on housing will have their mistakes paid for by those taxpayers who had the foresight to save and invest wisely. Obama bundlers and other insiders will continue to get billion dollar investments from the government, sucking valuable capital from the private sector. The official inflation rates will miraculously stay low while you are paying 100% more for gasoline and food.
"History is largely a history of inflation, usually inflations engineered by governments for the gain of governments." – Friedrich von Hayek
Foreign nations are no longer purchasing U.S. government bonds. The largest purchaser is the Federal Reserve Bank. In other words, the government is printing money from thin air. In 1970, you could go to Las Vegas and buy a silver dollar for one paper dollar. It now costs around $35. A mansion behind the Beverly Hills Hotel sold for $200,000. It resold in 2004 for $16 million. A house in Flintridge, CA, sold for $115,000. Its current value is $4.5 million. The base price for a Corvette was $5192. It is now $49,600, a comparative bargain. What you could buy for $1 million in 1970 now takes $36 million. Senator Everett Dirksen in the 1960s is reputed to have remarked,” a billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon we’re talking real money.” You can now add three zeros. The bottom line is that if you are collecting 0.15% interest on your CD, you are losing real purchasing value of at least 10%, and that rate will be accelerating in the next four years. Carlo Ponzi was a hopeless naïf compared to our elected officials.
Harry Reid Has a Plan
Harry Reid already has a bill on his desk which requires that all pension plans (except for the unions, of course), 401Ks, and IRAs be converted to annuities from the government. This pile of cash represents the largest pile of readily available cash in the world right now. The money will be gone as soon as it hits the government’s account, and you will be left with empty promises. There is no money, only a printing press.
Capital export controls will be enacted. You will not be able to get your money out of the country. Already you can no longer open a bank account in Switzerland unless you have over $30 million because the reporting requirements are too onerous for a smaller account. All requests to Switzerland for visas from Americans will be suspended. History will be repeated (shocking, I know), and all gold in private hands will be confiscated. The Republicans will cave, the tax rates will rise, and anyone making more than the insider politicians and government employees will encounter ever-increasing marginal tax rates.
Payoffs for votes will be made. Affirmative action requirements will be increased in every field of endeavor. Women’s abortions and contraceptives will be free. Regulations will stop the advent of fracking and the boom in oil and natural gas will come to an abrupt halt. Payments to environmental groups for lawyer’s fees will expand exponentially. Government-controlled lands with oil and gas potential will be declared wilderness or national monuments, just like Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah. I could go on for another ten pages, but , in a nutshell, the message from Mr. Obama is, “You lost.”
And finally, Israel has recognized that Mr. Obama will offer no succor. Before the end of January, they will raid Iran. Gasoline will reach $7 per gallon, and voila, solar and wind energy will be competitive. No matter that your thermostat is set at 40 degrees, if you can get fuel or power.
The looters are in control. Set your alarms.
I have a stockpile of bulbs. And a glock. As we say in Texas “come and take it”.
I have a stockpile of bulbs. And a glock. As we say in Texas “come and take it”.
gas is going over 10 bucks a gallon, easy. 7 is waaaaahaaaay too optimistic.
that also was what the election was too. and the takers stole’ that, too.
I don't see this coming up for a vote even if it really exists. This is like all those Fairness Doctrine posts that appeared here exactly 4 years ago that were going to take Rush off the air. These funds are invested in private companies so the government cant just ‘convert’ them to government debt.
Yes the national debt is being funded by the Federal reserve but notice that our savior Romney NEVER mentioned that ONCE in his campaign.
Nor did he say the entitlement trust funds were just paper backed by nothing but future borrowing.
I agree with your take here. Logically, you can’t talk all these funds out of the stock market. It would take a massive hit.
In 2011, the total 401k savings in the U. S. was $11.6 trillion. The total retirement market assetts were $17.9 trillion.
They’d have to do this over a period of time if they were going to do it, and there would be holy hell to pay.
Start screwing around with people’s savings, and watch what happens. It won’t be pretty.
See page 2.
http://www.ici.org/pdf/2012_factbook.pdf
No, under the new math 50 = 57.
The whole idea is silly.
If the government were even thinking about this they would have eliminated the tax deferment for these private investment savings for new contributions unless it was the Fed debt.
If they are scared to do that or don't want to then how can they be just taking it all? AS if that would be legal anyway.
That's undoubtedly what they thought in Argentina, too, right before the government did exactly that.
Your life's savings and mine are no more than blips on a computer screen, and when unscrupulous men point guns at the heads of bank executives, those little blips are sent wherever the men with guns say they go.
-ccm
They can put away the guns. I imagine Obama already has a speech written up:
“After the recent stock market crash, senior citizens relying on their investments for income saw them disappear. What they thought were sound investments were risky schemes - propagated by folks focused only on their own greed. Therefore, by Executive Order, I have created the Affordable Retirement Fund Act that will safeguard retirement funds by using only government approved investment agents, and investing in only safe, approved and inspected funds and companies upon their review by governmental personnel. In this modern age, in the most advanced country in the world, no person should go in want in their Golden Years due to the violent and unpredictable swings of investing in the free market."
But by monetizing the debt they ARE “doing it” and they are doing it RIGHT NOW!
Oh brother!
Well if Ryan, Bohner and the rest of the R house are going to help Obama confiscate our retirement savings in private companies (the silly idea you are claiming), then why the hell did we want Republicans to take the house?
Hell, Pelosi didn't do that in 2009 when Dems had complete control. At least if she was in charge Dems would be getting the blame,.
Be serious. I remember exactly four years ago dozens of posts here claiming Obama was going to shut down talk radio, 'Hush Rush', but somehow he managed to stay on the air to tell us all the polls were rigged and Romney would win.
I stock piled enough incandescent light bulbs to last till I die. I have one of those curly q light bulbs that Hubby bought. It has burned out.
I don’t know what to do with it, so I just laid it on the counter where we see it every day. I asked Hubby if he would please refrain from purchasing anymore until we have figured out what to do with it.LOL
Both parties benefit from the Fed's war on savings. The economy will continue its decline as long it is safer to speculate than to invest for the long run with a stable currency.
Well, we all knew that Social Security had problems. A little history on how this all transpired:
As designed, it intentionally required a bunch of workers to pay a (premium) for Insurance(Old Age Survivors and Disability Insurance-OASDI)for the elderly who were not able to work or find a job during the Great Depression.
It was not a retirement system as much as it was insurance in case you couldn’t work. The insurance companies didn’t want to mess with the little individual policies for your average Joe anymore, they wanted to concentrate on more well to do clients.
A Republican Insurance Guy helped develop the original proposal. The Democrats fought it, cause the Union didn’t like it. The Railroad had a similar plan that went through Congress, and wound up at the Supreme Court. Congress has no authority to levy premiums, but they can tax. A few changes, and wahla it is all constitutional.
Had this Insurance continued as a private plan, the Insurance Actuaries would have determined for the industry changes that needed to be made to be viable: such as retirement age, premium adjustments, etc and changes would have been implemented as it went along. Congress didn’t make all these adjustments.
Fast Forward to the Reagan Era. So Reagan and Tip O’neil agreed that in order to “fix” it, the baby boomers would have to continue supporting those who were currently receiving checks, but would also need to contribute more in order to support their own “retirement” which was to be delayed by a few years.
Baby boomers were okay with that, but a bit skeptical that they would ever see a penny of that money. The IRAs seemed like a good way to reduce your taxes and help save for a scenario where the Social Security system was insolvent. then along came the 401k and company matching.
I prefer managing my own IRA/401k plan rather than Social Security. The privitization of Social Security was discussed during the Clinton years, but never really took off.
Just think, if all that money could have been invested during the 1990’s, most people would be better off today.
Any way, the government is not getting my IRA or 401K. I’ll take it and invest it in land, ammo, or food etc. As inflation heats up, you can sell the extra items to buy what you need or to pay taxes.
I think Hungary and Argentina did just that, nationalized people’s retirement savings.
Exactly right. The vast majority of people in this country have no to very limited retirement savings. It’s the next pot of gold for takers and haters.
Lastg night - my local TV station...
http://www.wthr.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=7969455
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