If they bite on this .. 2008 melt down will look tame to the 401k Casualties

[mrjarrell]

Looks like Hungary has taken the "seize the private pensions" route.

Hungary rolls back pension reform, defies markets | Reuters

(Oh, and I wasn't talking about political suicide, if it happened here. It would be actual suicide.)

 

[Arthur Dent]

May want to fill out the papers to withdraw the 401k and leave the date blank.

 

[hornadylnl]

If I didn't have to quit my job to cash out my 401k, I probably would cash it out. I took out a loan for half of it and cut down to 2% match. That's the minimum match I could do to get the loan.

 

[jedi]

May want to fill out the papers to withdraw the 401k and leave the date blank.

Pointless because by the time you can begin to pull out so will the rest of the nation and the feds will just stop it.

If I didn't have to quit my job to cash out my 401k, I probably would cash it out. I took out a loan for half of it and cut down to 2% match. That's the minimum match I could do to get the loan.

Hope you used that money to buy "real goods" that you will be able to use/barter later with. The "green back" is gonna be worthless at the rate we re going.

 

[jblomenberg16]

people would jump at this...big

if the gov guaranteed you a house and food,,,and maybe some cable tv,,,so you knew you actually had a retirement plan,,,far more than most people would go for it

Sounds kinda like prison...maybe that's why so many people keep going back.

 

[jblomenberg16]

Pointless because by the time you can begin to pull out so will the rest of the nation and the feds will just stop it.



Hope you used that money to buy "real goods" that you will be able to use/barter later with. The "green back" is gonna be worthless at the rate we re going.

You are exactly right, and it would be a lot like the run on the banks about 90 years ago when the market crashed ust before the Great Depression. Then everyone said "Oh Crap" our money isn't really there...the banks have spent it / loaned it / etc. Now what do I do...

The only trouble is, if the government siezed these assets, it could in turn drive the value of the dollar down even more, and really not help at all. My point being, the creditors we owe money too are less and less interested in being paid back in US dollars, so even if we had a lot of Dollars, it wouldn't matter.

I posted something along these lines in another post, but as a country we're just bouncing from lender to another, paying off one credit card with another. It is really just a game of chance now as to how long we can sustain. Eventually the creditors will come calling, and that's when it gets ugly.

 

[boljr01]

You guys are starting to depress me

Any upside here, a silver lining anywere?

 

[hornadylnl]

You guys are starting to depress me

Any upside here, a silver lining anywere?

Keep voting republican and all of our troubles will go away.

 

[ArmedProgrammer]

One point here... WHY would they _seize_ the money? It's far easier to print a carpload of it and DEVALUE it. The gubbamint doesn't NEED to seize it! If they print a ton of it and put it in their coffers - then they have it and you don't... what you have saved is worthless errr... worth less!

They only reason that we haven't devalued a TON, given the current situation is that a bunch of other nations (think Europe, PIIGS, etc) want to do the same. And China would be stuck with a bunch of bad debt.

 

[jedi]

You guys are starting to depress me

Any upside here, a silver lining anywere?

Well if you are in debt now you would be debt free with what they have in mind.

Or

We are all in the same boat so in reality this fits...

Syndrome:
I'll sell my inventions so that *everyone* can have powers. *Everyone* can be super! And when everyone's super-- [chuckles evilly] --no one will be.

 

[jarrod]

I think you will see something like this in a less radical form. IRAs, where a lot of this money is found are a legal creation of the federal government. All they have to do is change the law and give people the choice of swapping thier IRA for the GRA or being faced with the tax penalty. Government gets hard currencey and you get a promise.
I think this is just one of the changes coming soon as not only SSA but PBG (pension benefit guarentee) is going to require a lot of cash.

Course, if they suck up all my debt, and I am buying gold and silver, then perhaps I won't need to depend on a 401k/GRA?