As Twitchy told you last week, congressional Republicans were considering a proposal that would cap pre-tax retirement savings at just $2,400 a year. There was a plenty of pushback — rightfully — against that, and Donald Trump initially responded with this tweet:
There will be NO change to your 401(k). This has always been a great and popular middle class tax break that works, and it stays!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 23, 2017
And then contradicted himself:
Trump said 401(k)s are “very important” to him because they benefit the middle class but suggested tweaks could be included.
“Well maybe it is, maybe we’ll use it as negotiating, but trust me, that’s one of the great things,” Trump said.
In other words, we have no idea if or how the government is going to mess with Americans’ retirement savings. But this morning, David Axelrod wondered aloud why messing with our retirement savings would be such a bad thing:
How many working Americans can afford to put $18,000 in their 401(k) accts per year? Seems like very few. Why NOT cap it at a lower number?
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) October 26, 2017
Needless to say, Axelrod himself got an earful:
https://twitter.com/MetricButtload/status/923537114121334784
Capping it at $2400 a year is absurd.
— Main Street Muse (@MainStreetMuse) October 26, 2017
More punishment for being successful?
— Denise Cote (@DMCote777) October 26, 2017
https://twitter.com/InklessPW/status/923530870199218176
Are you kidding? I am not a top earner but I contribute every dime I can. I am still capped by top heavy plan rules.
— Mark in Dallas (@Mark4124NH) October 26, 2017
Huh? As I get closer to retirement, I'm doing everything I can to put the max and make up in 401k. Don't understand your logic on this.
— David Trent (@Trentdavid) October 26, 2017
So instead of trying to educate the public towards more savings you’d suggest cutting everyone’s opportunity to save for retirement?
— Brett Boyer (@SurrealRealism) October 26, 2017
Are you f&@#ing kidding me?
— TrashRat (@trashytrashrat) October 26, 2017
Screw you. I earned this money.
— Physics Geek (@physicsgeek) October 26, 2017
Because it’s none of your damn business. I’ll put as much or as little away as I want. https://t.co/6N1njgyXlQ
— ? Thankful Ginger ? (@mchastain81) October 26, 2017
Dear @davidaxelrod,
What she said. https://t.co/ZQN7JWzycz
— Jared (@jaredstill) October 26, 2017
https://twitter.com/JammieWF/status/923544363468312576
Are you kidding me? Punish the middle class who have worked hard to try and save for retirement knowing we may not have SS in the future?
— Linda C (@lindachetkof) October 26, 2017
https://twitter.com/CuffyMeh/status/923538362497142786
In case you'd forgotten that this was originally an Obama idea. https://t.co/hgfrxv5cNV
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) October 26, 2017
And speaking of Obama ideas …
Well, fewer now that they're paying $20k out-of-pocket for health insurance. Thanks for that, BTW. https://t.co/LNPZMqLZag
— Anti-Smatter (@mdrache) October 26, 2017
Ouch.
GOP: *has very bad idea*
SANE PEOPLE: no.
TRUMP: *tweets fart noises*
SANE PEOPLE: wtf
DEMS: actually it's not that bad
SANE PEOPLE: kill me https://t.co/8hvP9yEm9K— kilgore trout was in the loop (@KT_So_It_Goes) October 26, 2017
Evidently Axelrod realized it was maybe a very bad idea, because a few hours later, he tweeted this:
Ok. Some persuasive arguments. I withdraw my question. https://t.co/ce6lTake5P
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) October 26, 2017
Wow.
Thank you for conceding.
— Char ? (@CHARHARTMAN) October 26, 2017
https://twitter.com/donnalichtman/status/923594062434840578
https://twitter.com/loiselle8503/status/923588597659389952
Oh. Wow. Good for him. https://t.co/MN86YGraVb
— Frank J. Fleming (@IMAO_) October 26, 2017
This is possibly a twitter first, in which someone concedes he lost an argument. Way to go.
— Michael Littwin (@mike_littwin) October 26, 2017
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