Posted on 09/05/2009 11:07:11 PM PDT by Nachum
WASHINGTON (AP) - The recession has eaten into people's nest eggs so the government is promoting ways to make it easier to save for retirement.
One initiative that President Barack Obama outlined in his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday will allow people to have their federal tax refunds sent as savings bonds. Others are meant to require workers to take action to stay out of an employer-run savings program rather than having to take action to join it.
"We know that automatic enrollment has made a big difference in participation rates by making it simpler for workers to save," Obama said. "That's why we're going to expand it to more people."
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Card check for Wall Street.
How, by lowering taxes?
Oh, and save what?
They-must-really-think-we're-all-idiots-alert.
Card check for Wall Street.
Indeed.
I don’t want Obama telling me one damned thing...he’s a stupid imposter.
AHA! Now we know the real reason for this gambit:
"Invest your tax refund in GOVERNMENT DEBT SO I CAN SPEND SOME MORE!!! - 0BUMMER
"tax rebates" are OUR money anyway....the govt has kept it for up to a year....why would anyone in their right mind let the govt have it in the first place but secondly, why give them another chance at it...only to have it ulimately taxable anyway..
“or in the previous two years of this recession” - 0bummer
LIAR!
Here are the GDP Growth Rates by Quarter for the last few years:
2007-I 1.2
2007-II 3.2
2007-III 3.6
2007-IV 2.1
2008-I -0.7
2008-II 1.5
2008-III -2.7
2008-IV -5.4
2009-I -6.4
2009-II -1
A Recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth. So, this one started in Q3 of 2008. We are now in Q3 of 2009.
The Recession is ONE YEAR OLD YOU LYING SACK OF SH*T!
Day late & a dollar short :(
If they discount the bonds enough I might accept them.
“....the government is promoting ways to make it easier to save for retirement.”
Simple, quit stealing from us.
“Obama promotes saving...”
Why does this remind me of the wolf counseling the sheep to fatten up?
Judging from what I’ve seen out of this bozo so far, I really don’t think I need him giving me advice about what I should do with my money. This guy is a loser.
They subsidize people with taxpayer money going into debt to buy a new car.
They subsidize people with taxpayer money going into debt buying a new house.
Two of the biggest debt issues for the typical American family.
And now he wants to promote savings?
Right...
This whole recession/depression was/is caused by excessive debt at every level, from individuals, state government to the federal government and Obama and crew have done everything they can to increase that debt.
I’ve posted on this seemingly without impact on FR: a recession is timed by the NBER. There is no accepted definition of a recession as “two quarters of negative GDP growth” that is used; the NBER Business Cycle Committee uses a variety of indicators, starting with things like declining employment, declining consumer spending, etc.
The Fed, banking system, CBO, Congress, et al, use the NBER’s start and end dates in policy making as well as accounting, and the BEA/BLS likewise.
The NBER put the start of the recession at December, 2007:
http://www.nber.org/cycles/dec2008.html
OK, now why hasn’t their method coincided with the two quarters of negative GDP for the last two recessions? Because too much of our GDP is now predicated on exports offshore minus imports. When consumers get in a pinch, they stop consuming, and increasingly that affects imports. When consumers quit consuming imports (as opposed to domestic goods), GDP improves.
Part of why the GDP is improving even now is the decline in the consumption of imported goods. It is a symptom of how unstable our economy now is that a fall in consumption (due to declining disposable household income) results in an improvement in GDP. The central issue here is that people have less money in their hands to spend. The fact that so much of what they spend comes in from outside the US that our national GDP improves when people have less money in their pockets is a truly disturbing trend here.
Wages have been going down a pretty quick clip since autumn, 2007. Wage growth was stagnant throughout Bush’s two terms and we’ve pretty much unwound all gains in employment for the last ten years now.
This is actually a very jaded move by Obama.
The truth is that we’re so rapidly running up our debt that our bankers off-shore (in particular the Chinese and Japanese) are reaching a practical limit of how much of their wealth they can afford to sink into Treasury debt with such low rates of return.
So Obama comes up with this plan - to get more domestic money locked into Treasury debt, via “retirement” plans. Of course a lot of people are scared witless by how rapidly the stock market now swings, so they’re going to look to sink their savings into something that a) is safe, and b) pays a better rate of return than bank deposits.
Enter Treasury Notes and Bonds.
Very cynical move by Obama, but also one with a realistic backdrop: there are few, if any, safe havens for retirement money now. Rather than fix the problem (excessive government spending), however, Obama is seeking to use this “retirement plan” to pry more money out of the hands of the public sector to fund his spending plans.
Want to promote savings? Then remove the disincentives for savings; eliminate the capital gains tax. No more 1099-INT forms for your bank accounts, you keep the interest you make. All of it.
Simple, easy, can be implemented tomorrow, and will increase the savings rate of the average American. As well as stimulate investment in small and growing businesses.
I didn’t read the article but I’d bet ya, he WANTS your retirement money too. I’m sure he’ll do a fine job of investing it for you. You’ll be screwed again and poor in your old age.
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