BASED ON EXPERIENCE OBSERVING GOVERNMENT PLANS...
The idea being promoted with this plan is that people can elect to start out with a small amount of money and have contributions as low as $5 deducted from their paychecks. This is all in the name of the poor, because they often don’t have enough money to contribute to retirement plans.
I think a cynic could criticize this whole plan from a lot of different angles. Ironically, I was working on an article about the possibility of 401(k) confiscations in the future, and this proposal by Obama could be seen as a subtle first step towards the government getting its hands on retirement accounts.
It starts out as voluntary... and eventually will be pushed as a mandate.
While eventual 401(k) confiscations could be part of the agenda of MyRA, I think there is a bigger reason for Obama to push this plan. It’s actually a short-term solution for Obama to partially fund the deficit, as well as a longer-term plan to kick the can further down the road.
Obama’s plan says the funds would be backed by the U.S. government. He claims these will be no-risk investments. But if they are investments, somebody has to bear the risk...
The way I see it, the government is trying to get millions of people to hand over their money to buy government debt. Once this is achieved through MyRA, it wouldn’t surprise me if it were offered to all 401(k) holders.
Again, it will start out voluntary, but perhaps it will eventually be pushed as mandatory. And it will become easier to push if there is some kind of a major stock market correction.
Obama’s speech happened to occur the night before the Federal Reserve announced a continuation of its tapering — which is nothing more than a reduction in its rate of monetary inflation. So while the Fed continues to create money out of thin air, it is doing less of it.
This means the Fed will not be buying up as much government debt. And this means the deficit will have to be funded more by foreign central banks or investors.
Some of the politicians in Washington, D.C. are starting to see the writing on the wall. They realize the Fed can’t support them forever — or at least not to the same extent it has been. The government does not want to cut spending and is therefore trying to come up with other ways to raise money.
While this new MyRA plan will not add up to a lot at the beginning — particularly if it really is just low-income people who start out — it will eventually add up to many billions of dollars in just a few years. And if the government can get the average 401(k) investor to start buying this “guaranteed” fund down the road, then it could be looking at hundreds of billions of dollars.
IN SHORT: WATCH OUT FOR YOUR MONEY, THEY ARE EYEING IT !!
I’m not sure how anyone is going to actually make money on something like a G Fund for poor people. Inflation (woefully under reported by the government in my opinion) would eat up the purchasing power of their savings.
Government taxes our income. A responsible person sets some of what’s left aside for a rainy day, but the government’s profligate spending inflates away the value of our nest eggs, too. It’s practically criminal, but what can we do?
Sure, give the government your money because it’s insured by the faith and credit of the US Government. Faith and credit of the US Government - that doesn’t exist any more. At this point, keep your money, don’t give it away to a bank or the government.