Hey, DC: Raiding 401(k)s is not the solution

IT’S time to start paying attention, America. Once again, there is a big problem brewing on Capitol Hill, where some politicians still don’t have their priorities straight.

The pols are under the disconcerting delusion that raiding workers’ 401(k) plans is a way for them to “pay” for the tax cuts they will grudgingly give us.

They would rather reach into your pocket and jeopar- dize your retirement than make common-sense adjustments elsewhere.

They want to change the only well-functioning retirement self-savings plans, which would be a disaster for the American family, the economy and the stock market.

Let’s start with the basics. Saving for retirement is just about the only way to make sure you don’t spend your golden years living in squalor. After the stagnant wage and unemployment picture of the last decade, we need to encourage more people to save more, not less.

Ask a retired person how they would fare on just $1,369 per month from Social Security.

Due entirely to Washington’s mismanagement of the trillions they’ve collected, Social Security is expected to run out of money in just over 15 years, anyway.

Every working American pays 6.2 percent of his or her paycheck, and employer’s match an additional 6.2 percent, to Uncle Sam for their entire working life. And they are still going broke.

What pols should do is expand 401(k) deductions in order to bail out Social Security.

I cannot comprehend why the Washington half-wits can’t just do a simple tax cut and walk away.

Just cut every tax rate by 5 percent, and let the paychecks rise, let businesses find America a more appealing place to do business, and bask in the glory of growth.

Think about it. The lowest bracket would go to 5 percent — that’s a 50 percent tax cut for them. The big earners would go to 34.6 percent, a 13 percent reduction, and corporate would go from 35 percent to 30 percent, saving 14 percent.

That would help the poorest the most, and all brackets would spend more.

But I like to keep things simple — and make mathematical sense. As for politicians, they wouldn’t know simple if it knocked at the door.

Anything the feds touch, they break.

Home mortgages: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the multitrillion mortgage byproducts that nobody in Washington wants to talk about, are a disaster. To this day, they sit in “receivership,” and it’s still much too hard to get a mortgage.

Student loans: Sallie Mae destroyed the private student loan market while tuitions have grown in the doubledigits, and well-endowed universities are allowed to shelter all their billions tax free without any tuition reduction mandates.

Health care: Obamacare was going to save “the typical family $2,500 per year.” The truth is that insurance rates have skyrocketed and competition is nonexistent.

Now big government is encroaching on our retirement savings? It’s our last bastion of economic freedom.

I can’t be more emphatic about this. Hands off our 401(k)s!