401(k) Foe Teresa Ghilarducci, the Most Dangerous Woman in America

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I was saving for my retirement!!!!what does she mean "not clear" that those able to squirrel away 20000/yr...yeah I am saving for my retirement!!!

glass1on2full of TX 11:26PM October 29, 2008

Kirby Wilbur was fair. He did not lead her into saying "Spread the wealth."
Now a few technical questions. If the government is going to sell bonds guaranteeing 3% plus inflation who is going to buy them? Since TIPS are going for zero, who would be interested?
Next, is the government going to hire professional investors to invest in the stock market? From her testimony before the Congress, on October 7, it seemed that she was going to avoid the stock market. After all, it was evil, since private industry needed to be controlled by more legislation. So if everyone loses a reason for tax exemption, why contribute to the stock market?
Does anybody wonder about the tax neutral state she promises? How can we offer a tax credit and expect it to have the same tax consequences as a tax break? Sorry guys, but there are far more poor people than wealthy people. So how much do we have to tax from the wealthy to pay for the poor? Maybe everything they have? Boy I love perfect societies like Pol Pot's or Stalin's. Would somebody please tell the liberals Robin Hood was a fantasy? Frankly based on the old English tales, he was a pretty vicious at that.

concerned of PA 10:31PM October 29, 2008

if corporate America kept their promise and funded their pension obligations they are a good deal for many people.
The ticking time bomb is how many people are woefully unprepared for retirement. They think 200k saved will enable them to retire. They are in for a world of pain and subsequently we the taxpayers will need to bail them out too.
The reality is that 3% of households make over 200k a year. just over 15% make over 100k. insane when you think about it. http://tinyurl.com/6ly647
Few could argue that we need some common sense solutions. The same old just will not suffice if America wants to continue the same path of prosperity.

Jim of PA 4:36PM October 29, 2008

If Obama wants a second term, he'll hide from this woman.

Bill of NJ 3:54PM October 29, 2008

This is the result of surrounding oneself with liberal academics for 20 years instead of getting out into the real world and working hard: you end up thinking that government is the solution to every hardship, when in fact the very organization that you propose to run your new government-guaranteed account is the same one that will most likely have to reneg on its guarantee to retirees in the next 20 years because it is run so poorly.
Teresa needs to get out of academia for a few years to get a glimpse of what ordinary Americans are facing. Maybe then she'll realize that it's not just the rich moving moving from taxable accounts to their 401(k)s - it's Average Joe saving whatever his employer matches in his 401(k) in order to have some sort of funding for his retirement, because Social Security sure as heck won't exist in its current form when he retires in 2035, and neither will "GSAs".
How about we ask Teresa to start "spreading the wealth" by giving up 10% of her fat, tenured paycheck to support my drug-dealing neighbor who doesn't want to work and has 5 little kids at home?

RBS of NH 3:26PM October 29, 2008