Good points. I think the SS the cop was referring to might be a state pension fund that’s being raided.
The problem that states and cities have is that it’s a lot harder to steal from future taxpayers, and it’s impossible to print money. They can do the stealing to some extent, but not much. It’s just criminal that the same was never required at the federal level.
As to 401k’s, I cashed out an IRA, took the tax hit and all (and it was pretty beefy). I’m like you now. The only POT OF GOLD left for the government to seize are retirement accounts (IRAs, 401k’s, pensions). There is REAL MONEY in most of those accounts (other than public-sector pensions), and soon, very soon, the government will have to take that money to keep the Bond Vultures (i.e., the ones that won’t lend to Greece anymore, for example), at bay.
So we are stuck...the government will take our money and then give us some kind of annuity in its place. Obviously the annuity might be worth, maybe, half of the present-value cash amount - so not playing the game has A LOT of merit.
“The problem that states and cities have is that it’s a lot harder to steal from future taxpayers, and it’s impossible to print money.”
Here in NJ the state and municipalities are trying to do that with borrowing, but all that does is scare away investors and hardworking taxpayers. At this point moving to CA is simply buying a share of a huge IOU; NJ and NY are the same on a smaller scale.