Who would've thought we'd have come so far, so fast.
As described in this Bloomberg article, the U.S. Department of the Treasury is now officially looking at ways to force a portion of every 401k/IRA account---or some other as-yet-nonexistent, government-mandated employee benefit account---into "fixed payment annuities", which in plain English, means that most of the money would be channeled into long-term Treasury bonds.
Officially this is all about "retirement security" (sounds nice), but it would also constitute a de facto seizure of private assets in order to fund government deficits at negligible interest rates---a stealthier version of what recently happened in Argentina.
Even more amazing, by opening the matter to public comment through publication in the Federal Register---where all draft regulations go prior to being implemented---the Treasury is indicating its position that something along these lines can be done through administrative fiat, rather than an act of Congress.
Presumably, any such action would be softened with talk about allegedly straightforward "opt-out options" and the small fraction of your 401k that would be affected. But make no mistake, this is shaping up to be an unprecedented money-and-power-grab by the Federal government, one that stands to affect potentially every working American.
Like they say, "every crisis is an opportunity", for the government, at least.
Disclosure: No specific stocks mentioned
