In recent years I've reported on some of the hardest hit markets in the U.S., from real estate to health insurance to retirement plans. In such time, I've seen cyclical paths to recovery, and I've always wondered where there's logic in feeding a crisis with another crisis.

Take the latest House bill from Florida Republican Rep. Bill Posey. The Housing Recovery Act of 2011 would allow plan participants to tap into their accounts early without penalty, if they use it to purchase a foreclosed home.   

It's another way to help out the housing market, but I can't help but liken Posey's retirement plan bill to Obama's Cash for Clunkers in 2009. Both are government incentives used to stimulate stale markets, but neither were ever meant to be a panacea. And in reality, probably neither could remarkably sway the markets either way.

Continue Reading for Free

Register and gain access to:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.