Dear John: Why don’t you take your idea of allowing one-time withdrawals from retirement accounts for housing and let us spend the money on anything — a new car, home repairs, debt reduction, etc.? I know the only thing that keeps me from tapping my accounts for consumption is the tax penalty. M.G.
Dear M.G. Nearly 10 years ago, an economist and friend of mine named Walter J. Williams and I proposed that people should be allowed to tap into their retirement accounts as another way of stimulating the economy. Despite the fact that our nation is in dire shape right now — and out of ideas — our proposal has gotten nowhere.
The plan was first proposed in the 2004 second-quarter Milken Review and in my Post columns.
And the original, broader idea we presented did, in fact, have what you are proposing.
Theoretically, at least, you could stimulate the economy when monetary and fiscal policy aren’t working by allowing people to buy anything with the retirement money they’ve saved.
If, for instance, the auto industry is in tough shape — as of course it was a few years ago — you could allow people to use retirement money to buy cars. Then Washington wouldn’t have to spend hundreds of billions in taxpayer money for bailouts.
Consumers who want new cars but don’t have the non-retirement cash would bail the automakers out with purchases.
Pick another industry and it would also work — computers, furniture, peanut butter . . . OK, not things like peanut butter. But you get my point.
Okay — theoretically that broad plan would work. Practically, however, there are some problems with all but real estate purchases.
All the other stuff you would buy is disposable. A car will last only so long before you need another one. The same with computers.
Only real estate could truly be considered an investment on a par with stocks and bonds, the traditional things we put in our retirement portfolios.
And if I haven’t gotten anywhere with the real-estate part of this plan, I’d be moving backward if I included the other kinds of purchases in my writings.
But thanks for figuring it out. Do you happen to know anyone on the Nobel committee?
Send your questions to Dear John, The NY Post, 1211 Ave. of the Americas, NY, NY 10036, or john.crudele@nypost.com.