Sunday, April 7, 2013

The War on Prosperity Continues

The #1 obstacle to wealth accumulation in the US is the government and its greedy pursuit of tax revenue to fund its foolish spending programs. The goal of government seems to be to grow its power and control over the economy by making as many people as possible dependent upon it for their livelihoods and well-being as possible--- whether through food stamps, social security, Medicare, Obamacare or crony capitalism. The latest in the long list of bad ideas emanating from Washington comes from the most recent Obama budget proposal. Under his plan, a taxpayer’s tax-preferred retirement account, like an IRA, could not finance more than $205,000 per year of retirement – or right around $3 million this year. What is not clear is whether this plan will apply to 401ks also. But these types of proposals reveal the mindset of the ruling class. In country that saves too little in general and for retirement in particular, let's punish those who would sacrifice today in order to take care of themselves tomorrow with penalties on excessive savings. What types of incentives do these proposals put in place? Has the American Dream now changed from individuals and couples achieving financial to favored groups and constituents achieving complete government dependence. These are the types of measures governments resort to that have no controls or discipline over their spending. Artificially low interest rates are already punishing savers and rewarding debtors like the US Government. Now the government is trying to tell us how much we can save for retirement because they need their money now to sustain current levels of spending. Think Cypress can't happen here? Think again.

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