MEGAN MCARDLE: Are Democrats Plotting to Steal Your 401(k)? “They don’t need some secret, subtle way to take the contents of our retirement accounts; they can do it the normal way, by raising tax rates. (This, by the way, is why I’m not-so-hot on Roth IRAs; I suspect that there’s a fair danger that the capital gains in those accounts will ultimately be taxed, at least for wealthier retirees.)”

UPDATE: Reader Dale Burnett writes:

The fact that there is even conversation about the possibility of 401Ks being stolen is frightening. I’m not talking about some boogeyman that Republicans have ginned up. I’m talking about congressmen who have voiced nascent support for the idea. Any of them who contemplate that this *might* be a good idea should be tossed into the street. Some ideas should never even get to the contemplation stage.

And even the contemplation may tend to depress saving and investment, as fear of government expropriation tends to do.