WD Retirement Series Part 1: Work Until You Die?

A couple of weeks ago, The Wall Street Journal and CNBC shocked Americans when they reported on a new study released by the Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index. The study looked at the retirement plans and situations for citizens in 47 nations. The conclusion was very concerning. Retirement in the United States got a grade of C+, the same grade that Colombia and Kazakhstan received.

According to the study “Social Security and 401(k) plans leave Americans less secure than retirees in much of the world… Many American retirees are stretched thin and rely on family for financial support, said Katie Hockenmaier, U.S. defined-contribution research director at Mercer’s wealth practice. In the past few years, high inflation further strained the finances of retirees, reducing the spending power of those living on a fixed income.”

Media headlines and commentary don't paint a better picture. Here are some examples…

• “Congress is interested in upping the retirement age [AGAIN!]. ‘Quite simply, the Social Security Administration’s trust fund is underfunded and fairly soon will not be able to meet its future retiree payment obligations,’ says Boston-based Robert Reilly, a member of the finance faculty at the Providence College School of Business and a financial advisor at PRW Wealth Management.” — Forbes, March 2023
• “‘At 75, I Still Have to Work’: Millions of Americans Can’t Afford to Retire. Number of U.S. Workers Aged 75 and up Expected to Increase 96.5% Over Next Decade as Some Say ‘We Must Work Until We Die’” — The Guardian
• “More Americans Say They Can Never Retire” — The Hill, August 2023
• “Americans Believe They’ll Never Have Enough Saved for Retirement” — New York Post, April 2023
• “Joe Biden's Proposed Social Security Changes Come With Unintended Consequences for the U.S. Economy” — Motley Fool, August 2023

Make no mistake, we are staring at a crisis of epic proportions. As the Biden administration spends money like a drunken sailor, our national debt is expected to balloon to $89 trillion in the next five years. Read that again: $89 trillion!

Sending billions to fund wars in the Ukraine and the Middle East, forgiving college student loans, and funding social programs of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, etc., while the country is experiencing runaway inflation is going to force the federal government to make some harsh decisions.

Where’s the government going to get the money to pay for it all? We have an idea.

Because this nightmarish situation has played out before.

So sit back, take notes, and get ready to prepare yourself for the inevitable, because…

This is the story of when a sitting president issued “Law 26” — allowing the government to steal your entire life savings, kill your retirement, and force citizens to either starve or work forever.

The nightmare story you’re about to read is 100% true. 

It happened on a rainy Tuesday morning on October 21, 2008, when the president sent an urgent bill to Congress.

It was the height of the global financial crisis. Everyone was panicking, even the government. 

But the left-wingers in charge also smelled an opportunity… A chance to make a seismic change to the financial world they’d been wanting for years.

That’s why even though the purported goal of this urgent bill was to “protect” ordinary investors like yourself from the market turmoil caused by the financial crisis…

The way it did so was by giving the government complete authority to seize control of the country’s private pension system.

No public debate. No discussion.

Just a few weeks later, the Senate passed the bill into law…

And with the stroke of a pen, the government engineered a wide-scale “reset” of the entire retirement system.

Billions of dollars in the private pension system — equivalent to a staggering 12% of GDP — were transferred to the government’s hands virtually overnight.

The government had complete control of the retirement money!

And millions of hardworking and self-determined citizens instantly saw their financial futures placed in the hands of a corrupt and authoritarian left-wing government.

Skeptical economists suspected that this so-called “reform” was just a cover-up…
That it was nothing but a blatant cash grab by a desperate government intent on raiding these private pension funds to cover looming debt repayments.

A subsequent report by the International Federation of Pension Fund Administrators proved their suspicions right…

But by then, it was already too late.

Today, the country is a complete nightmare for retirees.

• It’s suffering the worst cost-of-living crisis in 30 years, with inflation having shot up to over 100%.

• Pensioners have been left out of wage increase negotiations by the labor unions and are still receiving the same meager payments as before. 
• Heavy-handed social welfare policies have drained the government’s coffers — a “populist policy trap” that’s resulted in a perpetual economic crisis — yet almost 40% of the population still lives in poverty.

As you’ve probably guessed by now, the country where this happened wasn’t America but rather Argentina.

I know most Americans believe that what happened in Argentina would never — and could never — happen here on American soil.

They think our economy is far too strong for the government to ever need to raid our private retirement accounts…

That our constitutional rights and system of checks and balances would prevent that from ever happening.

I understand why they — and maybe even you — might think that way.

But let me ask you this…

Before March 2020, did you ever think the government could ever order you to “stay home,” “shelter in place,” or close your business until further notice?

Did you ever imagine that the government could prevent you from leaving your own home…

Forbid you from having contact with your parents, siblings, or even your own children…

And threaten you with fines and jail time for not complying?

Now, what if Biden came on television and said, “For the greater good of the United States, and to save Americans from suffering, starving, and dying, the U.S. government needs the nearly $38 trillion sitting in pensions, IRAs, 401(k)s, and saving accounts”?

Would you be willing to give up your hard-earned money and investments to the federal government?

In my next Wealth Daily Retirement Series installment, I’ll explain why the COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions were just a test run for a much bigger goal by the government.

But understand we have a plan to protect our assets from the greedy hands of the government. We need a fortress the government can’t penetrate.

Until next week…

We always get to the good grass first,

Brian Hicks

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Brian is a founding member and President of Angel Publishing. He writes about general investment strategies for Wealth Daily and Energy & Capital. For more on Brian, take a look at his editor’s page.