Retirement, What Retirement

Retirement seems to be the one thing the working man looks forward to. Well thanks to the SEC, the first wave of financial predators has started to attack your meager funds.

In a 4-1 decision, the SEC has put in place a mechanism that will suspend your ability to redeem your Money Market (MM) funds. The purpose is clear, the SEC will prevent the investors from making a run on the MMs. It is obviously NOT your money.

Recall that during the early days of the Great Depression once Roosevelt gained the presidency, bank holidays were enacted. The supposed purpose was to prevent runs on the bank by the depositors hurring to withdraw THEIR money. Many banks failed. Many people got pennies on the dollar as the FDIC wasn't there to back insure the deposits.

Now we have a $12 trillion national debt according to the government. This doesn't account for all the internal debt between agencies. There is NO money in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid or any of the other trust (?) accounts. Congress spent it all.

The public wants every sort of government program, but is unwilling to pay for it. Tax revenue is where the real wealth Congress spends comes from. Tax revenue has been and will continue to be a major shortfall. The more people that lose jobs, the less the tax revenue. Look at the mess the people of California have made by voting for programs, but not for the tax revenues to fund them.

Simple math will reveal that the current national debt CAN'T be paid by taxation. Much of this debt is short-term. The government has had to convert long debt to short debt in order to get investors like China to roll-over their T-bill holdings.

It appears that our benevolent government is gonna try the Japan gambit; convert foreign holding to domestic holdings. Japan's debt is funded internally. The Japanese invest in their own economy by buying the equivalent of Treasury notes. If Japan defaults, it is their own people that lose their retirement funds.

With this SEC ruling, MM accounts are effectively frozen. Bailouts have become endemic. AIG, an insurance company, was bailed out in order to protect the holdings of Goldman-Sachs. As insurance companies are the large institutional investors, what will happen when the well of monthly insurance premiums dries up?

It takes little intelligence to figure out that this SEC ruling is the openning salvo in our government's move to nationalize retirement funds. The government is broke. China and other countries are trying to unwind their investment in US securities. Our retirement funds are going to be converted to government securities and our monthly premiums will pay for debt service. Don't fret none now. Your monies are secured by full-faith and credit of the US government. Makes you wonder, why the big push for national health insurance?

Any monies you have in the MM is effectively frozen. You no longer have the right to choose where to invest your meager holdings. In the words of the SEC, "We understand that suspending redemptions may impose hardships on investors who rely on their ability to redeem shares."

Nobody is talking about the greivious losses incurred by the pension plans aka retirement insurance. These retirement funds will be nationalized. Our debt needs the monies for debt service. Besides, you're suppose to die before drawing any benefits and your off-spring aren't really entitled to the fruits of your long career. Don't believe me? Why does inheritance taxation exist?

Can we escape or at least minimize the coming "hardships" before it is too late? I would contend that precious metals in-hand have always worked in protecting accumulated wealth. Of course if you tell anyone, you had better be willing and able to defend your wealth. People can't help but talk and your secret won't be.

Other options are eliminating personal debt, stocking up on food and supplies and most of all, get out of the city. Tools and the requisite skills to use them will insure a future revenue stream. Even lacking the skills presents a possible strategy for wealth generation with the tools. Have you ever gone to a tool rental business? Many if not most are in debt. Where do you think the tools will go when their debt is called in?

No folks, kiss retirement goodbye. If you haven't taken possession of your savings, it will shortly be possessed by our most benevolent and wise government. After-all, it is for our own good.