Another potential nail in the coffin of liberty

Ever wonder what the face of tyranny looks like?  Want to hear what the complete demise of the Declaration of Independence and similar Charters of Freedom sounds like?  Here it is:


I took the time to watch this entire piece and piece together a few thoughts.   Below is a timeline of my comments as I watched the video. My comments are in red.

4:45  ....Executives knew that most workers would not contribute to the tax-sheltered plans that were set up specifically for this purpose.  Oh really?  Guess they got that one wrong, eh? 

5:09 ...Companies expanded 401(k) plans "at the EXPENSE of defined benefit plans"...Yes, to decrease said EXPENSES!  i.e. to make the company stronger thereby insuring that some jobs would be salvaged.

5:17 ....She is now using 401(k) and Pension interchangeably.

5:43....POTUS has a plan to take 3% of employees pay and place it into a 401 (k)....Personal Mandate?

5:49...Now shes says "voluntary"....This is making almost no sense.

5:48...Households under 65K get $1000 from the govt. (i.e. taxpayers)

7:10.....getting into "flaws" with 401(k) plans....first up 3% is not enough (no shit sherlock, this is one reason Obama's plan would fail, not 401(k)'s)

7:23...Flipping now to the middle to upper class workers....what happened to those making under 65K?

7:31..."People tend to not save much more than 3%"....And why is it that those of us who save more should be forced to cover them too??

7:39..."People tend to spend their retirement accounts before they retire".....Yes.  That is their friggin right and most people I know do not take that decision lightly.  They are fully aware of the consequences.

7:48..."These accounts are managed by "for profit" companies"........Thank Goodness!  Especially if they have a percentage arrangement.  Although, some of us have invested the time in managing this for ourselves.

8:18..."Brokerage fees are quite large."  Fact:  these fees are miniscule in comparison to the amount of capital that is currently taken from you by the federal government!

8:20..."Brokerage fees are hidden."  Really?  Only if you cannot read a flipping contract.

8:48..."Even if your account makes it to retirement." You will blow it on vacations, remodeling, etc. YOU ARE TOO STUPID TO SPEND IT WISELY.

9:15...Another contradiction....now 401(k)'s must be managed by workers "on their own".  See 7:48.

9:19...Most people are too stupid to do it themselves.

9:55..."Most folks buy high and sell low.  Which is the opposite of what they should do."  YA THINK?

10:12..."People cannot time when they are old.  If the market is down when you retire, you can do nothing to protect yourself"...FALSE.  Obviously, Teresa needs some financial education of her own.

10:40...."In a nutshell" the current 401(k) system has nothing wrong with it except that it is VOLUNTARY, COMMERCIAL, and INDIVIDUALIZED.   In other words this lady is a complete and total communist.  She thinks it should be MANDATED, NATIONALIZED, AND COLLECTIVIST. Like say, Venezuela?

10:52...."401(k) system has failed".....I imagine there are a few million folks who just might disagree with your diagnosis there.

11:05...Retirement-usa.org heralded as a great organization....I would call it an aberration of liberty.

11:33...."Pensions should be universal and mandated"....sounds eerily similar to another program that the majority of Americans are opposed to...

11:53...."Employers should contribute as well"...because you deserve more of your employers money for the same amount of work.

12:05 ...."Remove tax breaks on retirement savings for those in the top brackets"....i.e.  Steal money from the Productive, successful people and give it to someone else...what a great incentive to better yourself!

12:23....Contradiction again...the retirement savings should be pooled and "professionally" managed.  Supposedly by the same people she was criticizing at 7:48

12:41....People should not invest in themselves by learning about their own stake in finance.  They should stick to the one job they know. (x-ray techs, etc.)     Sounds familiar, say like in the Soiet Union or perhaps the caste system of India?

13:10...."Obama's plan only helps the mutual fund industry. They have gotten rich off of the expansion of 401(k) programs."   Okay, now I am thinking she is against universal health care because  after all it would only benefit insurance companies. 

13:20....Again with the high fees....Except that right now this system is VOLUNTARY and her plan changes that little fact.

14:14....Okay, you just took care of that problem.

14:50...."All workers would contribute 5% of their pay every pay period."   Because of course, the government will do a much better job at growing your account than you ever could.  Plus those of you who may take the time to learn about how to manage your retirement accounts have to sacrifice on behalf of those who slack.  This so reminds me of the Grasshopper and the Ant Revisited.

15:05...I can only imagine the joy with which employers (you know, the guys that create jobs) will meet a 2.5% labor cost increase.  Gee, I wonder what that would do to prices?

15:24..."$600 to everybody who has a GRA."  And just where do you think that money will come from?  This has to be the weirdest math problem I have ever heard.   (FYI $600 is 3% of $20k)

15:50 ..."Quasi-government agency?"  You mean like, oh I don't know, The Fed?

15:55...Oh yes, the infamous not-for-profit angle.  

15:57..."Publicly accountable trustees."  Like say the SSA, or Fannie Mae?

16:07..."Hiring money managers"....you mean like the professionals you so detested at 7:48?

16:14..."Managers would be the best managers possible."  Because of course the best managers possible will want to work for a not-for-profit, quasi-government organization.

16:48...complete nationalization of the retirement investment industry.   Lots of jobs lost there too madame.

16:58..Oh, I would bet the boys on Wall St. would be so happy to help you after you cost them billions!

17:04....Wow!  She can now predit how long people are going to live!

17:31..."Indexed to inflation. " Just like the guaranteed SS COLA (that Congress witheld in 2008)?

17:50...She can guarantee a 6% return.  Amazing, what a soothsayer this woman is.

17:55...She keeps mentioning the 25% loss in these accounts in 2008.  Of course, at this point in time she would have had no idea that anyone who stayed in the market would have realized a return of almost 43% in the second half of 2009.  IT'S CALLED THE FREE MARKET AND IT IS NOT RISK AVERSE.

18:34....I was waiting for this.  All of this is really about one thing.  The redistribution of wealth. 

19:06..."One of the fasted growing tax breaks in the federal system."  How can this be if only 50% of workers are even in these types of plans?

19:24..."US Treasury was denied  $110B? " It's not their money in the first place.  It belongs to the people who earned it and who are working within the law to save for their retirement.

19:43..."Someone who makes $20k gets nothing from this tax break because they don't even pay income taxes."  AS IT SHOULD BE.  If you don't pay taxes, why the hell should you get a tax break??

19:52..."Someone making $200K can get up to $7K in a federal subsidy"  It makes perfect sense!  It is what is called property rights!  You have no right to what that individual earns.

20:19  Another contradiction.  In the beginning we were in a Depression.  Now we are in a Repression.  Although in fairness, I believe she misspoke at the beginning. 

20:29..."Construct a retirement reform that truly supplements SS".   How about doing the opposite?  Doing away with all these Ponzi type arrangements and letting people have control of their own destiny?  It's called FREEDOM.


Although this video was produced in April 2009, this movement has not gone away.  The organization RetirementUSA is a serious threat to personal liberty.  This organization is comprised of weakened unions such as the SEIU and the AFL-CIO, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, and a host of academic elites.  In short, it is a collectivist think tank.  Learn more about this nemesis of personal liberty and individual rights here.