A few years ago some Congressman floated the idea of just seizing 401k accounts. His nonsensical argument was because these accounts are tax-deferred, the accounts really belong to the government.
It wouldn’t be outright theft, dontcha know. The account holders would get long-term 2% government bonds in return.
This scheme is obviously illegal. And it went nowhere. But I expect it to be revisited when the federal government finally flies off the deficit cliff.
And when they roll forward with those plans, my 401(k) will go POOF! and all they’ll get is the taxes owed plus the early withdrawal penalty. They’ll have to be satisfied with only that.