Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Another Good Reason To Diversify?

And by "diversify" I mean gold and silver buried in the back yard...or better yet, in a nearby national forest. 

From Zero Hedge

1) Borrowing retirement funds is becoming a popular tactic.

Forced loans have been a common tactic of bankrupt governments throughout history.

Plus there’s recent precedent all over the world; Hungary, France, Ireland, and Poland are among many governments that have resorted to ‘borrowing’ public and private pension funds.

2) The US government has already done this with federal pension funds.

During the multiple debt ceiling fiascos since 2011, the Treasury Department resorted to “extraordinary measures” at least twice in order to continue funding the government.

What exactly were these extraordinary measures?

They dipped into federal retirement funds and borrowed what they needed to tide them over.

In fact, the debt ceiling debacles were only resolved because the Treasury Department had fully depleted available retirement funds.

3) They’ve been paving the way to borrow your retirement savings for a long time.

Two years ago the government launched a new initiative to ‘help Americans save for retirement.’

It’s called MyRA. And the idea is for people to invest retirement savings ‘in the safety and security of US government bonds’.

Since then they’ve gone on a marketing offensive involving the President, Treasury Secretary, and other prominent politicians.

(Most recently Nancy Pelosi published an Op-Ed in the San Francisco Chronicle a few days ago promoting the program.)

They’ve also proposed a number of legislative reforms to ‘encourage’ American businesses to sign their employees up for MyRA.

Just last week, Congress introduced the “Making Your Retirement Accessible”, or MyRA Act, which would charge a penalty to employers whose workers don’t have a retirement account.

The proposed penalty is $100. Per worker. Per day.

Imagine a small business with, say, 10 employees who don’t have retirement accounts. The penalty to Uncle Sam would be a whopping $30,000 PER MONTH.

There’s a word for this. It’s called extortion.

Obviously when facing a $30,000 monthly penalty, an employer will pick the easiest option.

Given the absurd amount of government regulation on the rest of the financial industry, MyRA is the fastest choice.

8 comments:

  1. As it turns out, I *do* have national forest nearby... ;)

    Go at least 8 feet down to avoid ground penetrating radar and metal detectors.

    Go for coins like the Eagle and the Maple Leaf; bullion bars are too hard to assay and verify - and less liquid.

    Oh and keep track. Why do we still find big coin hoards from the middle ages and the Roman Empire? Because they didn't have GPS, folks...

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    1. Yes. Good advice lewy.

      And...silver dimes are a better investment than silver bars. Just sayin'.

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    2. Oh yes! So called "junk silver" coins from a coin dealer - trades very close to actual silver price, and they are self verifying - essentially can't counterfeit them; anyone with a clue can instantly tell a real one.

      Bagz. I haz.

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  2. Retire debt-free, and don't assume your social security and/or retirement accounts will be accessible (if they still exist at all by that time).

    Think outside the box.

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  3. I'm concerned too lady red but I can't leave a coherent comment as I understand little about investing and finances.

    Bookkeeping I know. Economics not so much.

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  4. The thin-skinned teleprompter reader is STILL blabbing, blah blah blah. He's cutting into my "The Five" time and I resent it, it's one of the few programs on FNC I like. @#$%^&

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  5. I love how leftists always brand as evil anyone who suggests that Social Security be privatized. They don't want to make it any harder for the government to use our money than they have to.

    As I recall, the only reason Bill Clinton supposedly had a balanced budget was because they figured Soicial Security holdings into the mix -- when they should be kept separate.

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