Where's Al's Lockbox?

When Obama talked with Joe the plumber about sharing the wealth, I thought he misspoke and was referring to income instead of wealth. However, this little article on Weekly Standard online makes me wonder. Do you want the government to confiscate your 401K and manage it for you? I don't think so. We need the lock box and we need it now.

Remember, if you like babies, freedom, and would not like the government to take over your retirement accounts, vote McCain. I'm MamaD and I approve this message.

House Democrats recently invited Teresa Ghilarducci, a professor at the New School of Social Research, to testify before a subcommittee on her idea to eliminate the preferential tax treatment of the popular retirement plans. In place of 401(k) plans, she would have workers transfer their dough into government-created "guaranteed retirement accounts" for every worker. The government would deposit $600 (inflation indexed) every year into the GRAs. Each worker would also have to save 5 percent of pay into the accounts, to which the government would pay a measly 3 percent return. Rep. Jim McDermott, a Democrat from Washington and chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee's Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, said that since "the savings rate isn't going up for the investment of $80 billion [in 401(k) tax breaks], we have to start to think about whether or not we want to continue to invest that $80 billion for a policy that's not generating what we now say it should."