LA Times discovers Clinton’s “balanced budget” secret
For more than ten years we’ve heard about how fiscally conservative Bill Clinton balanced the budget and how fiscally irresponsible Republicans screwed that all up with their wasteful spending on tax cuts and two unnecessary wars. I’ve been saying for years that the only reason Bill Clinton had year-over-year surpluses the last few years of his presidency is because he slashed the military and the Pentagon spending and because of Roth IRA conversions. The LA Times finally came around to the Roth IRAs idea earlier this week.
In 1997, Clinton and Congress created the Roth IRA – after tax money growing tax free. They also allowed for pre-tax money in IRAs and 401ks to be converted into Roth IRAs, after you paid the taxes due on your pre-tax money. Billions of dollars that wouldn’t have been taxed for more than a decade was suddenly taxed. So billions in unexpected revenue flowed into the Clinton Treasury.
And now, liberals see how this is working to their disadvantage – with $billions of untaxed growth sitting in private Roth IRAs, they don’t have any new schemes to get their grubby little paws on it. So the LA Times recommends that the government scrap the Roth and break yet another promise to tax payers and retirees.
Gleckman is the editor of TaxVox, a blog published by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center in Washington. Here’s Gleckman on Roths for the rich: “In the long run, turning billions of dollars from tax-deferred to tax-free savings will be a huge loser for Treasury. My colleagues at Tax Policy Center figure that, through mid-century, allowing unlimited Roth conversions will reduce federal revenues by $100 billion.”
Whatever the answer for individuals, there’s little doubt that Roths are wrong for America. They’re Frankensteins, fated to wreak havoc. It’s time to retire Roth IRAs.
The Times reaches the conclusion that anything that’s good for the taxpayers is bad for the government – which is usually true. That’s why the Bill of Rights protects us from the government. The untaxed growth in my Roth IRA helped pay for my house (under certain conditions, you can withdraw limited amounts of the growth and principal from a Roth before age 60 – I called the IRS first, so should you) so the government didn’t get a share of my money, but it went into the economy just the same. Where do you think it did the most good?
Category: Liberals suck, Media
Same logic applies to Cash for Clunkers and the stimulus.
Interesting thing about those “surpluses”, they didn’t exist! The following link shows the national debt increased every year through the 90s. If there was a budget surplus, the debt would not increase.
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt.htm
I knew about the military being slashed and then allowed to atroph, but not about the Roth IRAs. Nice catch.
Obama is killing the debt and he will do better than Clinton ever could.
Rub…I am with you. There has not been a true cash surplus in the gov’t since 1960-ish. Clinton’s “surplus” was nothing more than an accounting shift of the money. Mises.org.
As for the Roth IRA’s…I’ve got a client who is getting hammered because he didn’t seek our advice about meeting those conditions and he could have! I feel pretty bad for him. And it went to generate jobs,too.
#4: Killing the debt? How so, pray tell? He and his liberal friends have increased it 10 fold or so. And, FYI: The President does not have the power to spend or not to spend. He can only work in collusion with those who hold the pursetrings- the House of Reprehensives.
To accuse a President of either spending or saving is wrong. He can influence perhaps, but not actually spend. George W. Bush, was doing well, things were improving until the Democraps took control of the House with the 2006 mid terms. Since then it went downhill FAST!
@6 once again you need me to read my post to you. Ya’ll just pissed off that Obama beat Bush in 2008! Hate on playa!
#7 ObamaGirl2012,
Bush didn’t run for President in 2008. The President is restricted to serving 2 terms under the 22 Amendment to our US Constitution.
Bush ran, and won, in 2000. He ran again, and won again, in 2004. He served the full eight years. Therefore, Bush did not run for president in 2008.
Um… no he stole the 2000 election and again in 2004!
Obumbler 2012, you have OD’d on the kool-ade dummy. You have no clue, you have no facts, you have only worn out, tired, loser rhetoric. Oh, and another snot gob on your nose, you have Tellis. That alone would make any good conservative girl puke. Get a life.
Last time I checked 9/11 happened on Bush’s watch, oh and look on Obama’s watch we have not had an attack douche bag. Watcha say to dat punk?
Obumbler 2012; DouCHE, 9/11/01, was proven to have been planned during the last 3 years of the Clinton administration.
Sheesh, it is a wonder that these trolls have the energy to use a computer, even a shared one, what with having to walk to the welfare office, the free clinic, and to the free food church.
And Obumbler 2012, Tellis is a wuss, needing you to suggest that you might want someone to “leave him alone”. Y’all are a joke.
Something tells me OG/Tellis is a 14-year old troll in mommy’s basement (and seriously, dude–COMCAST?) who hasn’t the first clue of which they speak.
If ignorance is bliss, OG/Tellis is in the fucking rapture.
@14 NHSparky. “If ignorance is bliss, OG/Tellis is in the fucking rapture” Amen, Brother.
ObumblerGirl2012: Doofus, he has put his voters/supporters down. First, Y’all think he is an “African-American”? Ha, he didn’t even give you the whole thing there. He is a Mulatto, raised by his white momma, like a rich white boy. Y’all only got 1/2 of what you bought. HA!!! And don’t even go to the “racist” shit on me, I don’t like his white half either.
And why don’t you get off the Ghettonesian language? Can’t speak English? Thought so…………….
Frank who you be calling a douche, just because you be douching yo clit at night don’t mean that you can call me a douche fo shizzle
The Clinton “Surplus” can be found in something called “intra-governmental holdings”. The games they play with accounting in Washington ONLY show the public debt in the Clinton “balanced budget” myth. Allowing for the debt that is associated with the intra-governmental debt explains WHY the ongoing national debt went up EVERY year under Clinton and shows how they abused OUR SS money by spending it on budget and replacing it with worthless paper “IOU’s” that must be paid back by the government later. Well now how do you think they are going to pay it back later? Yeah – with OUR tax money. So we get to not only pay for our SS twice, but we get the “honor” of covering the interest to do so as well. If a private company or citizen did this they would be in jail.