Or is this the stuff of Alex Jones and Gerald Celente?”
Well, FDR confiscated Gold, in exchange for paper dollars. Once the government had the gold, they devalued the currency, hence it took a lot more dollars to equal the same amount of gold.
Had the people been allowed to keep the Gold, they would have been protected against the devaluation. Same thing as stealing to me.
In addition to a flight to safety, the price of Gold is soaring because of the printing of money by the Fed.
Yes, I think they will come after the 401k’s. They will sell the idea as helping the American people who lost so much when the market tanked, and will restore some or all of that loss @ some designated %, if people liquidate and trade it for a Treasury acct. Or some such scheme.
So they get the money and you get the IOU from the Treasury.
They don't even have to do that. All they need to do is start a voluntary government annuity system and remove the tax deferral status from all 401(k) funds that fail to convert to the new program.
Most people will convert to avoid the new taxes and those who refuse to convert will get a huge bill for taxes and early withdrawal penalties.
Either way the government has most of the 401(k) money in its hands.
Outside of gold (and ordnance), where else do you put your hard-earned money?