President Obama’s proposed budget would reportedly cap returns on high-end retirement accounts.

The Obama Administration’s new budget will cap retirement savings for the nation’s super-rich, but it’s possible that it could affect even smaller-scale savers.

According to advance reports, the administration’s budget due out on Wednesday will propose a cap limiting the amount of annual return a retirement account can create to $205,000. If that proposal were enacted today, that would mean retirement accounts would be limited to $3 million in assets. The White House estimates that caps on the tax-preferred accounts would generate $9 billion over 10 years.

“Under current rules, some wealthy individuals are able to accumulate many millions of dollars in these accounts, substantially more than is needed to fund reasonable levels of retirement saving,” the White House told Politico last week.

Most Americans may greet this news with a shrug; after all, only a tiny sliver of Americans saving for retirement have that much money saved up. According to a new analysis from the Employee Benefit Research Institute, only around 0.06 percent of total IRA account holders had $3 million as of the end of 2011, and 0.0041 percent of 401(k) accounts had $3 million as of the end of 2012.

Still, there is the potential for that cap to affect yet more people. One is a changing financial environment. Based on past annuity prices, EPRI projects that the account threshold could fall as low as $2.2 million, and even lower if and when interest rates grow.

Of course, a threshold of $2.2 million would still only take into account a small sliver of Americans. But depending on how such a plan is administered, it could discourage employers from providing retirement plans, fears one expert.

“I think a lot of what people are missing about this is this is most likely going to be very, very difficult from an administrative complexity standpoint for employers to deal with this,” says Jack VanDerhei, research director at EPRI.

Exactly how such a plan would be implemented is impossible to know right now, as the details are still sketchy. But the difficulty of keeping track of an employee’s retirement account—particularly if that employee has multiple accounts held over from last jobs, for example—could cause some employers to throw up their hands, says VanDerhei.

He’s not the only one who has voiced concerns about this. Last week, Brian H. Graff, the CEO of the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries fretted in a statement that businesses would “lose their incentive to maintain a plan, and either shut down the plan or greatly reduce benefits.”

There’s nothing to do right now but wait and see the details of the administration’s plan, however.

“Obviously they have something in mind. And whether that means no additional deductible contribution, whether that money has to literally be taken out of the account, we unfortunately don’t know,” says VanDerhei.

Of course, all this is contingent not only on whether employers find the policy troublesome, but also whether the cap will actually go into effect. Given that presidential budgets tend to be wish lists of an administration’s priorities, not to mention constant congressional gridlock, that possibility may be slim, or at least a long way off.

Saving more than is needed? What a freakin’ retarded statement! This guy is doing everything he can to make more and more people dependent on the government. Just look at the welfare rolls since he’s taken office. Look at the number of people getting on disability through Social Security. Look at the entitlement stuff, I mean ads on TV promoting free phones and $1/month service. One such ad even says the feds are cracking down on fraud in the Lifeline phone service and that YOU need to hurry and get yours before its too late. This is insanity! What has happened to the independent American spirit that made this country great? Where is it? I can’t believe it’s gone. I just refuse to believe that. However, when you look at groups like Occupy, welfare abusers, and the rest of the “give-it-to-me-for-free” crowd, it’s no wonder that we’re following in the same footsteps as Rome, Greece, and the Ottoman Empire. What happened to them? The people lost their morals and their conquering spirit (to conquer life’s obstacles, not necessarily other people) and they fell. They fell like lead balloons. They went down in flames. Are we going to go that way, too? Will we let this happen? When and how will we stop our once great nation from becoming a 3rd world country? It’s time we act. It’s time we stop these people from taking us down a path that we may never return.

I mean, where does this guy get off telling the American people they can’t save so much for their retirements?  What business is it of this douche bag if I save a dollar a year or one million dollars a year?  He wants everyone equal, but not in the right kind of equality.  He wants us all equal as slaves to the system, rather than equal in opportunities to be our best.  The feasibility of his desires may not be there, but the fact that he wants this is disturbing enough.

I have come to the conclusion that Obama is inherently evil.  He’s just an evil hate-monger in disguise as a warrior for the people.  I’d rather be poor and free than comfortable and dependent on the system.  I’d rather live in a tent or a makeshift shelter in the woods than live under his oppressive thumb.

Mr. President, you are an embarrassment to this country and especially to our founding principles.  You are a joke of a man.  You are an idiot and you make Jimmy Carter look presidential.  Moron!

Molon Labe

III