401k
The Perils of Big Government

Over the past eleven months, a recurring theme of mine has been to ruminate on the perils of big government and what we can do to combat the over reaching arm of federal encroachments on our liberty and freedom. Since some of you are new to the blog, and since I transferred quite a few of those essays from the old site yesterday, I thought I would take the opportunity to point you to the “Prime” tab which will hold links to those essays for your reference.
As an introduction, in reverse order of appearance, here are ten essays on
The Perils of Big Government
- ObamaCare Son of Social Security
- Conservative or Libertarian, We Stand Against Statism
- Your 401k Are Belong to Us
- Reclaiming the American Spirit
- Aristocracy and Oligarchy – How We Got Here
- Apathy, Willful Ignorance and Corruption
- Federal vs State Governance
- Get Government Out of Health Care
- History of Constitutional Decline
- Your Government Wants To Eat You
Note also that within the “Prime” tab are what I consider to be some of the best writing by other bloggers I’ve run across in my travels. I don’t always have time or think of bookmarking a post so the list is a bit short for now. Most of my time online lately is focused on defeating the Godzilla of a government we’ve been growing, so if your wondrous work is absent, please take no offense at the omission, it may be that I simply haven’t read that particular work or wasn’t in a situation where I was able to make a note. Either way, the fault I’m sure, lies with me.
In addition to the random readings titled “From Other Blogs,” my friends at The Resistance have been very busy assembling valuable information for us to use and peruse. Those links will be posted on “Prime” also as they come available. I will try to make a note of when I make an addition to the “Prime” tab here on the front page but do check out that page from time to time as I may have forgotten to make note. They don’t call me “Mind-Numbed” for nothing.



Your 401k Are Belong To Us

I’ve recently seen posts from the Troglopundit and No Sheeples Here concerning the remarks of VP Obiden on the transfer of our 401k retirement funds to a newly created, government run program. What? Another government run program proposed by the Obummer regime? Say it isn’t so! *cough*.
This particular gem reminds me of a guy I went to school with, which is to say, we were in the same building from time to time. Anyway this piece of work would come up behind you at lunch, reach around to put his finger in your dessert while asking “Hey, are you going to eat that?” I assume he thought that if he ruined it you would let him have it. As it turned out, he got it alright but not like he planned.
Our schoolyard bully of a government is trying the same tactic. They play havok with the stock market, run the banks, mortgage companies and private sector crazy with their socialist, anti-capitalist agenda, then turn around with a cupped ear to pretend we called for help, offering assistance we did not ask for.
What we are asking for, that they could clearly hear if they removed the boot from our collective necks, is for them to leave us the flock alone!
This 401k business came to my attention back in November of ’08. I thought it was spooky to say the least and was about to write a letter to some congress person or another (I no bloggy at the time), then what do you know, an election broke out that took my train of thought away from the 401k issue.
It seems that Congress has had it’s eye on your 401k for a while. Back in November of 08, the Carolina Journal Online published a detailed article on the hearings being conducted by the Democrats in the House to investigate retirement and pension plan “reform” with regard to the stock market fluctuations of the moment.
The most alarming of the speakers was Teresa Ghilarducci, who as my research showed, was no stranger to the idea of wealth redistribution through the tactic of class envy politics. To paraphrase, she used the “We’re too stoopid to be trusted to make our own decisions” excuse to thinly camouflage the underlying redistribution mantra. But then, she really didn’t hide it too well:
In a radio interview with Kirby Wilbur in Seattle on Oct. 27, 2008, Ghilarducci explained that her proposal doesn’t eliminate the tax breaks, rather, I’m just rearranging the tax breaks that are available now for 401(k)s and spreading spreading the wealth.
In a Feb. 2002 paper she wrote:
Congress also can’t change human nature. Good humans are notoriously bad investors. Human charming traits include overconfidence (we rank our appearance higher than those around us), saliency (to think what just happened with happen with a higher probability) and we want instant gratification (Shiller 2000). Increasingly, middle-class workers are using their so-called retirement accounts as liquid savings to buy housings, finance periods of unemployment and fund children’s education. In short, human nature is such that we buy high, sell low, and trade too often.
I contend that, although it may be true in some instances, overall, it’s not the stoopid investors making bad choices, it’s the government intrusion into the marketplace and purposeful manipulation by the powerful elite in Washington that has wrought this economic downturn.
UPDATE: Doug Ross comes through with some corroborating info.
Folks, we must stop them from destroying this country. Their aim is nothing short of a socialized America, with a majority of the population dependent on government for every want or need. Witness Greece and the EU to see how that turns out.
Hey Teresa, Nancy, Harry and Barry, keep your freaking paws off my 401k!
A little background info I gathered:
Mzzz. Ghilarducci is on staff at The Economic Policy Institute. That name sounds pretty benign doesn’t it? I wonder who pays for those enlightening little reports that come out of the institute. I’ll tell you what though, “Agenda for Shared Prosperity” sounds like wealth redistribution to me, which is socialism or communism how ever you slice it.
If you are interested, here are the papers and records of testimony I found in 2008 plus a few more I found today. In no particular order:
http://edlabor.house.gov/testimony/2008-10-07-TeresaGhilarducci.pdf
http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/lwp/people/Wertheim/papers/ghilarducci/ghilarducci_12_06.pdf
http://www.press.uillinois.edu/journals/irra/proceedings2002/vi-ghilarducci.html
http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/edu/hedcew6-87.000/hedcew6-87.htm
http://republicans.edlabor.house.gov/archive/hearings/107th/eer/enronthree21302/stein.htm



- A trainwreck in Maxwell
- Alamo City Pundit
- Empower Texans
- Holding the Line in Texas
- Jefferson County, TX Election Info
- Jefferson County, TX Republican Party
- Karen Brantley Writes
- LandShark 5150
- Michael Berry
- Mr. Conservative
- RagingElephants.org
- Southeast Texas TEA Party
- Texas GOP Vote
- Texas Legislative Update
- Texas Libertarian Party
- Texas Rainmaker
- Texas TEA Party Patriot Groups
- The Peter Morrison Report
- The Thinker
- Truth for American Teens
- Votexas.org
- 100 Search Engines For Scholars
- AFA Conservative Voter Guide
- American Civic Literacy Report
- C-SPAN
- CATO Institute
- CATO@Liberty
- Climategate Book | Brian Sussman
- Congress.org
- Docs 4 Patient Care
- GovTrack
- Heritage Foundation
- John Birch Society
- National Legal and Policy Center
- Open Congress
- Operation Black Storm
- Presidential Speech Archive
- Project Vote Smart
- Roll Call
- Russell Kirk Center
- TEA Party Patriots
- TEA Party Patriots Contract From America
- Tenth Amendment Center
- Texas TEA Party Patriot Groups
- Truth for American Teens
- US Elections.com
- Washington Watch
- zeitgeist2012 on OBGYN Blasts New York’s Abortion Abomination
- zeitgeist2012 on Give!
- William Campbell on About & Comment Policy
- Zilla on The Mother of All Conspiracies
- robot on About & Comment Policy
- C-SPAN
- Daily Mail
- Drudge Report
- Fox News
- Glenn Beck
- Guardian UK
- Human Events
- Invest Bus Daily
- Jeruselam Post
- Mark Levin
- Memeorandum
- News of the Weird
- NewsBusters
- NewsRealBlog
- Red State
- RIGHTNETWORK
- Rush Limbaugh
- Slate
- Smoking Gun
- The Blaze
- The Daily Caller | TheDC.com
- The Powers That Be
- Townhall.com
- Trending Right
- Wash Examiner
- World Net Daily
- WSJ Opinion
AmericanSnipers.org
- Argghhh! The Home Of Two Of Jonah's Military Guys..
- BLACKFIVE
- Blogs of War
- Defence of the Realm
- Defense Tech
- DoD Buzz
- Jihad Watch
- Oath Keepers
- Pat Dollard
- Rethinking Security
- The Captain's Journal
- The Cyber Loop
- The Jawa Report
- The Sniper
- ThreatsWatch
- You Served® – Veteran and Military Blog and Military Podcast
- About & Comment Policy
- Give!
- Motivation
- Prime
- God and Government – pt. 2
- Reclaiming the American Spirit
- Aristocracy and Oligarchy – How We Got Here
- Free Speech Impediment (With Every Purchase!)
- A Libertarian Leaning Conservative…
- Medina vs. Perry – A Discussion on Strategy and Open Thread
- God and Government – pt. 1
- Political Projection and Demagoguery
- Woodshed Politics
- This is Your Congress on Drugs
- Apathy, Willful Ignorance and Corruption – What More Do We Need?
- “The Naked Insurance Saleswoman” or “Federal vs State Governance”
- Get Government Out of Health Care
- A Critique on Conservatives
- Thoughts On Liberty
- Your Government Wants To Eat You
- Texas Mandatory Evacuation Law – Hurricane Party Like It’s 1984
- Socia.list
- Texas 11
- US Timeline
- A Charging Elephant
- A Conservative Shemale
- A trainwreck in Maxwell
- Ace of Spades HQ
- Adrienne's Corner
- Althouse
- Always on Watch
- America's Watchtower
- American Digest
- American Glob
- American Perspective
- American Power
- American Thinker
- Amusing Bunni's Musings
- An American Lion
- And So it Goes in Shreveport
- Andy's Place
- Another Black Conservative
- Anthroblogogy
- Arlenearmy's Blog
- At The Point Of A Gun
- Atlas Shrugs
- BackyardConservative
- baldilocks
- Big Government
- Blogs 4 Palin
- blonde sagacity
- Blue Collar Philosophy
- Blue's Blog
- Bonzai from the Right
- Bread Upon the Waters
- Breitbart.com
- Bride of Rove
- Cafe Hayek
- Carol's Closet
- CARPE DIEM
- Cassy Fiano
- Catholibertarian
- Caught Him With A Corndog
- Cmblake6's Weblog
- Cobb
- Conscientiously Conservative
- Conservative Hideout 2.0
- Conservative Perspective
- Conservative Resources
- Conservatives on Fire
- Coordinated Illumination
- Critical Political Thinking
- Cubachi
- Cynthia Yockey, A Conservative Lesbian
- Da Tech Guy
- Day by Day Cartoon by Chris Muir
- DeanO
- Diary of a Right Wing Peace Loving Pussycat
- Didn' I Tell You?
- Discover the Networks.org
- Doug Ross @ Journal
- Drunken Wisdom
- Duh Progressive
- Dust of the Balance
- Dustbury
- Error Theory
- Eternity Road
- Everything Is Backwards
- Eye of Polyphemus
- Fausta's Blog
- Feed Your ADHD
- Fishersville Mike
- five feet of fury
- Fleece Me
- Flopping Aces
- Founding Bloggers
- Four Right Wing Wackos
- Front Page Magazine
- Frugal Cafe' Blog Zone
- Full Metal Patriot
- Furthermore
- Fuzzy Logic
- Gateway Pundit
- GeeeZ
- Ghost of a flea
- Goomba News Network
- Gorges' Grouse
- Grandpa John's
- GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD
- Green Mountains Homesteading
- Grizzly Mama
- Hack Wilson
- Haemet
- Holding the Line in Texas
- Hot Air
- Hotairnews
- Hummers & Cigarettes
- IMAO
- Imperfect America
- In a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
- Innominatus
- Instapundit
- Interesting News Items
- iowahawk
- iOwnTheWorld
- Ironic Surrealism
- JammieWearingFool
- John Lott's Website
- Jumping in Pools
- Just a Conservative Girl
- Karen Brantley Writes
- King Shamus
- Kristin's Mishmash
- Lady Cincinnatus
- LandShark 5150
- Last Refuge of a Scoundrel
- Laughing Conservative
- Left Coast Rebel
- Left Coast Resistance
- Left-Wing Institute For Civil Discourse
- Legal Insurrection
- Legalize The Constitution
- Liberalguy
- Libertarian Buddha
- Liberty at Stake
- Liberty Defense League
- Lilac Sunday
- Linkiest
- Little Miss Attila
- LMAObama
- Maggie's Farm
- Maggie's Notebook
- Makes My Brain Itch
- Mako Snark
- mean ol' meany
- Michelle Malkin
- Mister Pterodactyl
- Moe Lane
- Moonbattery
- motorcitytimes.com
- MOTUS
- Mr. Conservative
- My Bossier
- my thoughts on freedom
- Nation of Cowards
- NewsRealBlog
- Nice Deb
- No Sheeples Here!
- NoOneOfAnyImport's Blog
- North Face Search
- NOT ONE RED CENT
- Obama Fail Blog
- Obambi
- Obi's Sister
- One Conservative Estimate
- Operation Black Storm
- Ordered Liberty
- Outside The Beltway | OTB
- Paco Enterprises
- Pajamas Media
- Paladin's Page
- pamibe
- Paps Thoughts
- ParaPundit
- Pat Dollard
- Patriot Speak
- Phil Kerpen – Economic Policy Analysis and Advocacy
- Pirate's Cove
- Pixie Place
- Political Bullpen
- Political Clown Parade
- Political Debate Forums
- Political Realities
- PoliticalJunkie Mom
- Potluck
- Present Discontent
- Pretty Fly for a Jersey Guy
- Primordial Slack
- Proof Positive
- Pundit & Pundette
- Rabid Sanity
- RagingElephants.org
- Randy's Roundtable
- Reaganite Republican
- Republican Redefined
- Riehl World View
- Right Ideas
- Right Truth
- Right Wing News
- Right, Wing-Nut!
- RightKlik
- RIGHTNETWORK
- Ruby Slippers
- S. Phillips
- Saberpoint
- Sentry Journal
- Sharp Elbows StL
- Si Vis Pacem
- Signal 94
- Smart Girl Politics
- Smash Mouth Politics
- Snark And Boobs
- Spellchek
- StormBringer
- Story Balloon
- Tabitha Hale
- Tea Party News
- teresamerica
- That Mr. G Guy's Blog
- That's Right
- The Anchoress
- The Bitter Americans
- The Black Sphere
- The Busted Nut
- The Camp Of The Saints
- The Classic Liberal Blog
- The Conservative Lady
- The Conservative Pup
- The Current
- The Daley Gator
- The Foundry
- The Freeman | Ideas On Liberty
- The H2
- The Jawa Report
- The Lazy Farmer
- The Lights of Albuquerque
- The Live Wyer
- The Lonely Conservative
- The NeoSexist
- The Observatorium
- The Observer
- The Oh, bama FILES
- The Other McCain
- The Pagan Temple
- The POH Diaries
- The Powers That Be
- The republican Mother
- The Resistance
- The Saloon dot net
- The Silent Majority
- The Sniper
- The Sundries Shack
- The Thinker
- The TrogloPundit
- The Volokh Conspiracy
- The War Planner
- The Warrior Bard
- The Wisdom of Soloman
- theblogprof
- thelotusblog.com/
- Theo Spark
- They Say / We Say
- Thinklets
- This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here
- Thoughts and Rantings
- Thoughts of a Regular Guy
- Three Beers Later…
- TL In Exile
- TOTUS
- Track-A-'Crat
- Trestin Meacham
- Truth and Consequences
- Two Heads are Better than One
- Unintended Consequences
- US Cavalry Veteran
- Verum Serum
- View From The Porch
- Viewed From The Right
- Villainous Company
- Virtual Mirage
- Warrant One Girl
- Washington Rebel
- Watts Up With That?
- Western Hero
- What Bubba Knows
- What Makes Us Right
- What the…?!
- What Would The Founders Think?
- What Would the Founding Fathers Do?
- Woodsterman
- WyBlog
- YankeePhil
- Zilla of the Resistance
M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
« Dec | ||||||
1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |