Friday, January 8, 2010

US Treasury is getting desperate

The US Treasury is Moving to try and allow the conversion of IRA's and 401K's into annuities backed by the US government
The U.S. Treasury and Labor Departments will ask for public comment as soon as next week on ways to promote the conversion of 401(k) savings and Individual Retirement Accounts into annuities or other steady payment streams, according to Assistant Labor Secretary Phyllis C. Borzi and Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Mark Iwry, who are spearheading the effort.

I am flat out disgusted. The treasury knows it cannot fund its upcoming issuance's so it is not looking to fleece people out of their retirement by giving them the "option" of a safehaven for their money. Forcing people into Treasuries as an "annuity" is exactly what Social Security allegedly is. Except that Treasury stole the money that was collected in FICA taxes and spent it!

This may be the only way for Treasury to hold down interest rates to something reasonable in the intermediate term, but doing so will instantaneously remove a major source of funding for the stock market - that is, the monthly and quarterly inflows from retirement accounts.

This is not good.....

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