Now Obama Wants Your Pension

Townhall.com ^ | April 28, 2013 | Bruce Bialosky

[avenir]

Enjoyed your laying out of the facts. Where do we go from here?

[wmfights]

Not working out so well for the GM bondholders. Centuries of law were thrown out the window so Obama could give lots of money to the Unions.

Wonderful point that is lost on many!

If I might add, how the current desire to get their hands on our wealth will work, they will get this the same way they did with the AMT (alternative minimum tax). When that became law it only affected a handful of people who weren't "paying their fair share". Now it affects millions mostly due to inflation.

I fear we have passed the point in this country where a principal such as the inviolate nature of property rights (my wealth is mine) is non existent and property (bonds in your initial example are secured by assets, ie., property) ownership is subject to the whim of the mob. I don't see this trend changing our schools, media and govt all promote collectivism. By the time people finally figure out that all this confiscation of wealth affects them as well as their neighbor it will be too late.

[wmfights]

Enjoyed your laying out of the facts. Where do we go from here?

Unless you are prepared to move your savings and investments out of the country the govt will be able to get their hands on it. The gatekeeper that kept the mob from getting their hands on the product of your efforts was govt, laws and a society that viewed personal property as untouchable. We live in a country that no longer holds that view and our govt is led by collectivists. Can we elect politicians who will fight to stop this? I don't know. I doubt it.

We are watching a long slow train wreck and I don't believe it can be stopped.

[trebb]

I thought that Congress had to pass all tax laws. i don’t think he can do it by EO (if he tries, he will be sued).

In some cases, the Dim-controlled Senate can "deem" them to have been passed by the House.....

[Jim Noble]

Now Obama Wants Your Pension

I HAD a nice pension, but I took it with me in a canoe, and...

[AllAmericanGirl44]

bfl

[BobL]

Not much hope. The Baby Boom generation had it in for this country from the start, and Europe (and you guys know that doesn’t mean everyone in that generation). They simply want our society uprooted and destroyed, and they don’t even care what replaces it. They simply consider it beyond repair.

In the 60s they were protesting and looking like idiots. In the 70s and 80s, they bided their time, inching up the power train. Starting in the 90s, they started amassing power and now run the country. In the 60s 70s, and 80s, they wanted us defeated both economically and militarily (which is why they sided with the Soviets on every military issue). Now they’re ok with just economic collapse here...and, as Ram Emanual said - never let a good crisis go to waste. So here we are $17T in debt, trillion dollar deficits forever...a crisis if I ever saw one.

...but an opportunity for those to achieve a life-long dream and bring us down - and they are making darn sure that they are successful as fast as they can.

[wmfights]

I think your long view is exactly right.

I believe what is going to happen will play out over a long time. Our economy will increasingly become "central planned" and the ability to amass capital for investment will decline because of taxes, regulation and reduced income because of inflation. Eventually the middle class is going to have to pay "their fair share" to govt and we will begin to see each generation have a little lower lifestyle than their parents.

The "progressives" who have destroyed the unique American culture will be stunned to discover that a world after America will be more violent and America will be the new Israel. A nation blamed for everything that is wrong and a nation that the world will happily destroy. I think we are seeing the emergence of totalitarian rule as the norm.

[BobL]

Yea, it’s sad. We almost avoided this in the 1980s, when we nearly got a balanced budget amendment into the Constitution. Back then it would have been easy, as we were on our way to surpluses. But we got cold feet in the end. It was our final chance.

At this point, we are in an unsustainable stalemate. Republicans insist on low taxes, and Democrats insist on high spending (and Republicans also will not compromise on Social Security or Medicare - the two programs driving us broke). So the path of lowest political resistance is to do both - keep taxes low, as spending goes through the roof (mainly on entitlements). So it will end, in an ugly way.