Well, since you’re already here, something for your Saturday late morning or early afternoon:

Sister Toldjah, who is anything but simple (although it’s a great song albeit one that pre-dates her by a decade and a half if not more… but I digress), found this nugget of discontent in Investment News (helpful hint: if you want to know what’s actually going on in the economy, read the trade papers):

Powerful House Democrats are eyeing proposals to overhaul the nation’s $3 trillion 401(k) system, including the elimination of most of the $80 billion in annual tax breaks that 401(k) investors receive.

House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., and Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee’s Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, are looking at redirecting those tax breaks to a new system of guaranteed retirement accounts to which all workers would be obliged to contribute.

And reaction from people who actually know what they’re talking about when it comes to such matters?

“From where I sit that’s just crazy,” said John Belluardo, president of Stewardship Financial Services Inc. in Tarrytown, N.Y. “A lot of people contribute to their 401(k)s because of the match of the employer,” he said.Mr. Belluardo’s firm does not manage assets directly.

Higher-income employers provide matching funds to employee plans so that they can qualify for tax benefits for their own defined contribution plans, he said.

“If the tax deferral goes away, the employers have no reason to do the matches, which primarily help people in the lower income brackets,” Mr. Belluardo said.

Another expert weighs in:

“This is a battle between liberalism and conservatism,” said Christopher Van Slyke, a partner in the La Jolla, Calif., advisory firm Trovena LLC, which manages $400 million. “People are afraid because their accounts are seeing some volatility, so Democrats will seize on the opportunity to attack a program where investors control their own destiny,” he said.

Funny how the party that preaches personal liberty can’t trust you with you own paycheck, now isn’t it…

Another story from the publication is worth a gander:

The majority of financial advisers have little faith in President-elect Barack Obama’s ability to put the nation back on a sound economic footing.

An exclusive InvestmentNews survey of 968 advisers this week found that 61% lacked confidence in the new commander-in-chief’s ability to resolve the country’s economic woes.

Hang on to your wallet while you can.

P.S.  Told you it was a great song: