I have no doubt they would if they could. But I'm trying to wrap my head around the idea of how they would do it without outright rebellion
Most 401 (k) are employer run and I can't see the US government mandating them to transfer the value of the stocks, bonds to the treasury
I could see them asking companies to let the government borrow against the value, but again it would be political suicide
“Most 401 (k) are employer run and I can’t see the US government mandating them to transfer the value of the stocks, bonds to the treasury
I could see them asking companies to let the government borrow against the value, but again it would be political suicide”
I wonder if there’s anything lurking around in the FinReg law that they would attempt to use. (Nobody ever seems to talk about that monstrosity anymore).
In my darkest moments, I think that is precisely what Obama will do in the end:
He won't do it to re-shape society.
He won't do it cut the deficit.
He won't do it to increase spending.
He won't do it as part of some political or electoral strategy.
On my darkest days, I think Obama will do something like that because he wants this country utterly destroyed by a revolution. We would be shoved off the world stage for years and all of the anti-Western Civilization forces which Obama loves so much would move up in the world. All he has to do is try to seize our retirement assets and then this country all falls apart.
He doesn't have to successfully grab the assets.
He doesn't have to win the war.
He doesn't have to hold on to political power.
But he would win if he destroyed us, and this is one of the ways he could do that.
It will be really simple and people will laud them for it. They will "protect" private retirement by requiring all qualified plans to be invested (say 25% or 50%) in "safe" treasuries. Nobody will ever have to worry about losing their retirement to "evil" financial institutions.