bad government spending
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Will the Government Start Taking 401(k) Money?
With Washington battling over what to do about its $16.4 trillion debt pile, rumors are swirling that the government will start taking 401(k) money to cure its fiscal ills.
There's plenty to take.
A study published by the Investment Company Institute in 2012 stated that U.S. retirement assets at the mid-point of the year totaled somewhere in the neighborhood of $18.5 trillion.
If you look specifically at what most Americans take advantage of - IRAs and 401(k) plans - they have amassed $3.5 trillion and $5.1 trillion, respectively.
These large sums of untaxed money are proving to be very tempting to an administration looking for revenue to help rein in our whopping national debt.
"The government is spending money like a drunken sailor, and they need to get their meat hooks into any cash stock pile they can," Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald explained in the accompanying video on why the government could start taking 401(k) money.
Here's why you should be alarmed.
Our Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald first explored this story in 2010. Check out his analysis here: Why the Government Wants to Hijack Your 401(k)
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One of the Decade's Biggest Examples of Wasteful Government Spending
In February we told you that despite nearing $15 trillion in debt - now close to $16 trillion - the U.S. government decided to spend $592,000 last year to figure out why chimpanzees throw poop.
Now we've discovered yet another example of wasteful government spending that has burned up more than $1.5 billion of your tax dollars - with nothing to show for it.
We're talking about the fruitless pursuit of a biofuel known as cellulosic ethanol, surely one of the greatest government boondoggles of the past decade.
Cellulosic Ethanol Production: What You're Paying For
Both Republican and Democratic administrations have showered companies with grants and loan subsidies with the goal of turning materials like wood chips and switch grass into an ethanol fuel that could be used in automobiles.
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Federal Budget Deficit Climbing Dangerously Higher on Continued 2011 Government Spending
On the heels of U.S. President Barack Obama's State of the Union address - during which the commander in chief highlighted the need for investment in innovation - a steep federal budget deficit projection yesterday (Wednesday) showed the harsh reality of the U.S. government's spending spree.
In the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) economic outlook report, the nonpartisan body estimated the budget deficit would reach $1.5 trillion in 2011, or 9.8% of gross domestic product (GDP). The report cited the Bush-tax-cut extension, low production, and a weak labor market as key factors for reducing revenue, increasing spending and pushing the deficit higher in fiscal 2011.
This year's federal budget deficit is up from $1.3 trillion in 2010 and $1.4 trillion in 2009. The deficits, when measured as a percentage of GDP were the largest since 1945, reaching 8.9% in 2010 and 10% in 2009.
