Congress may confiscate every state pension fund into the bankrupt social security system. Indications that this strategy is being discussed in Washington have come in to us from several sources over the last few days.

Tonight, a correspondent who has just come home from a Tea Party Townhall Meeting in Salado, Texas with US Representative John Carter (R-Round Rock) issued the warning. She said, “Representative Carter informed the crowd that talk has been bandied about Congress to appropriate every state’s pension plans into the bankrupt Social Security System.” She is absolutely 100% sure that she understood him correctly.

Dear readers, please understand that we are bloggers, and not professional journalists. Our information comes from ordinary folk who do the best they can to understand the political scene. Ordinarily, this would seem so outrageous that we would wait to share the news until we could get more clarification. But the current administration has moved with such breathtaking swiftness to federalize private assets and plunge our country into socialism, that we feel the need to sound the alarm, just in case.

We’ll keep updating this post as we find out more.

It’s Not a New Idea

From the Friday, January 29, 1993 issue of the Washington Post we have this article (archived by the Seattle Times) — Budget Cuts Vs. Social Security — Tap Pension Funds Worth $4 Trillion, Panel Tells Clinton — Employers Sense Danger ‘Once They Get Taste Of This’:

A bipartisan government commission yesterday recommended to the Clinton administration that it launch an aggressive effort to tap the retirement funds of millions of Americans to help pay for rebuilding the nation’s roads, bridges and highways and give the economy a lift.

President Clinton has indicated past support for the concept, which would represent an unprecedented effort by the federal government to deal with its budget woes by turning to the more than $4 trillion in cash, stocks and other investments held by pension funds.

Some opponents in the pension industry, who worry about protecting retirees, said they fear Congress might revoke the generous tax treatment afforded pensions if they actively oppose the initiative.

The recommendations by the congressionally chartered Infrastructure Investment Commission, which has had the strong support of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., include establishing the National Infrastructure Corp. It would be a new government-sponsored corporation that would encourage at least $30 billion in investment by pension funds. Several billion dollars in seed money for the new corporation would come from a new energy tax now under consideration.

Energy tax. Sound familiar?

And two people who watched the Democratic convention in 1996 said:

I was absolutely horrified to hear the Democrats propose at their convention that the government should take money out of private pension funds to sink into yet more federal programs.

The Democrats have already raided the Social Security fund to pay for their unending government spending. We do not need them ruining our pension funds the same way!

This is another Democrat scheme to take even more of our money without having to face public opposition to tax increases. We already have to work over four months a year just to pay the taxes on our wages – we should not have to sacrifice our pensions, too!

Vote against the Democrats and Clinton while you still have money in your pension fund, or you may not have any pension fund left when you retire.

The Argentine government seized control of the private pension funds in that country last fall. At that time the Telegraph considered the possibility that other countries would follow suit — Argentina seizes pension funds to pay debts. Who’s next?, October 21st, 2008:

Here is a warning to us all. The Argentine state is taking control of the country’s privately-managed pension funds in a drastic move to raise cash.

Should we worry about our pensions?

It is a foretaste of what may happen across the world as governments discover that tax revenue, and discover that the bond markets are unwilling to plug the gap. The G7 states are already acquiring an unhealthy taste for the arbitrary seizure of private property….

10:19PM  Full Metal Patriot — Congress is planning to raid EVERY state’s pension funds to prop up Social Security. This blogger has done some background research, and reminds us of earlier attempts to “redirect” retirement assets:

This rumor definitely caught my attention. After doing a little investigation, it looks like it’s entirely true. Last year, House Democrats were contemplating abolishing 401(k) tax breaks and redirecting those funds into a new system of government-controlled retirement accounts to which all workers would be forced to contribute. And more information about the Democrats’ immoral plans to ransack every American’s personal retirement has been reported on CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and Carolina Journal. Now that they control both houses of Congress and have a big-government socialist in the White House, it looks as though Democrats are ramping up their machinations.

Update August 23, 9:13AM:  A reader sends this link, possible reason for the federal government to get into a fight with the states; from the Financial Times — Pension funds back buy-out fight over bank deals:

A coalition of large US state pension funds has backed the private equity industry’s opposition to new rules on takeovers of troubled lenders, saying the plan would have a “chilling effect” on attempts to revive the country’s banking system.

The warning by funds from states including New York, New Jersey and Oregon, which manage billions of dollars on behalf of public workers and are big investors in private equity, will strengthen the buy-out industry’s lobbying against the proposed measures….

Update August 23, 9:13AM:  Canada Free Press — Government seizing your IRA and/or 401k and rolling it over into the bankrupt Social Security Administration: And Then They Came For My IRA:

….when one mentions the idea of this government seizing your IRA and/or 401k and rolling it over into the bankrupt Social Security Administration, the usual reaction — even after all the evidence of the last six months — is scoffing. “They wouldn’t dare,” I heard from one individual. “There would be a revolt,” said another. Still someone else commented, “If you think there was outrage over this health care bill, let them try that!”

Well, maybe, but given the arrogance of these Statists, that is a natural next step. It is one that has been floated before, and don’t think that it has gone away. Consider that individual retirement accounts, be they private or corporate, have been accumulated tax free. In the eyes of Obama, Pelosi, Reid, et al, that translates into you getting away with something. Somehow you got “free” money. We’re talking about accounts totaling hundreds of billions (possibly trillions) of dollars! Believe me, they’re salivating….

After what we have witnessed so far this year, anything is possible today in America. And even if they don’t actually do it, imagine how much windfall revenue would accrue to the federal government if the American people only thought they were going to do it. An executive for a large Midwestern company told me: “I would pull every dime out of my 401k, pay the taxes and penalties and stick the cash in my mattress before I would let those (expletive deleted) have it!”

Could that be the plan?