Chapter 166: Even 401 Plans Were Worth It

Words : 983 Updated : Oct 6th, 2025

Section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code allowed employees to defer compensation without being taxed until it was withdrawn. The accounts were basically tax-free unless you contributed more than the specified amount. For the securities industry, this was a major benefit because these accounts primarily invested in securities-related assets. Looking from the perspective of the future, this thing was really awesome. But in the current situation? It's just unfortunate. Tax-free is nice, and increasing retirement security is great, but there's a catch: your investments have to be profitable. Right now, the U.S. stock market was dire. Making money was impossible; just not losing much was considered genius. The amount involved in a 401 plan is huge; it's unlikely they would invest heavily in high-tech stocks. They prefer blue-chip stocks. The idea was pretty good. It did well when first introduced. Unfortunately, the Dow only leaped for two days before it started to weaken again. "William, did all your companies join the 401 plan?" "Of course. This tax reduction plan is pretty good. Why not participate?" The young Bush couldn't say anything and saw William as calm while Washington was in chaos. "Investing only to lose money right away -- what's the deal?" "Oh, come on. How can you see it that way? This thing has at least a twenty-year cycle. A month's data is useless and doesn't need to be disclosed." The government hoped to stimulate the economy. For them, the 401 plan was a massive weapon. The current situation was not what they wanted. "Dad, he said a month doesn't matter -- twenty years might." "Tsk, I know it takes time. This guy seems to be going along with the plan. I just want to know why." "Isn't it simple? He doesn't like those unions, and this is to shut them up." "Ugh, those bastards are rubbish." ... William White's companies made it hard for union organizations to mix in. Unless he acquired companies, these guys were tough to fire. New companies were almost comedic; there were practically no union members. Typically, large companies have strong unions and good benefits, while small and medium companies don't have much oversight, and benefits are naturally worse. William White's case was unusual. Labeling him a small-to-medium enterprise is ridiculous. In this era, a company with over $1 billion in assets wasn't small; $2 billion was enormous. The critical issue was his quirky companies had limited employee numbers. Okay, "limited" is relative; the raw number wasn't small. For example, that gaming company had over 2,000 employees. But dude, your enterprise was valued at over $2 billion; having 10,000 would be reasonable. Why just over 2,000? The California government had already talked with him multiple times. As long as he set up factories, everything was negotiable. To be honest, these conditions are quite good. But unfortunately, what is William White? A politician's promises for him meant the same as chit-chat -- useless. Even in modern times, no way he'd open a factory. Looking from the outside, American land prices were lower, and taxes weren't outrageous. Workers' wages were a bit high but still manageable. ... "Filson, let me put it this way: when you talk wages, Japan was about 50% lower than us. Their incomes are rising. Maybe in less than a decade, Japan's income will be close to ours. Even if incomes were the same, Japan's production cost would still be at least 20% lower than ours." "Boss, what's the reason? I really don't get it." "Haha, not just you. Even the conditions in California and Texas tempt me, but no. Any large factory, and unions would cover our enterprise. They're all lunatics." "Is it really that serious?" "Sigh, look, why don't you take a trip to Detroit? I'll have Max get a few people to go with you." "Boss, will you invest in cars?" "Why not? The current troubles are caused by unions. I just won't open a factory in the U.S." William White had some extreme views. Unions were indeed a part of the problem, but there were also other issues, though what exactly was unknown. No matter how high unemployment was in the U.S., you couldn't find many workers -- especially simple manufacturing workers. As for overtime, if 10% of people were willing, that would be good enough. More than that was wishful thinking. ... "Max, you call this Detroit?" "Yeah, it's nice here. You best not visit other places." "How come there are so many idle folks?" "Boss labeled this as a city of sin, and I quite agree. As to why it's like this, unions must bear much responsibility." "The unemployment rate here must exceed 20%." "Haha, more than that. Official data is nonsense. This place is done for. It's better off completely destroyed." "Dang, unions seem to be causing a fuss again." "Yep, demanding higher incomes. Haha, they're going broke, so how can they increase?" According to William White, companies and workers are like a married couple. Though there are often conflicts, they manage to get by. Unions changed everything. They're like divorce lawyers specializing in disputes. If the two sides stopped fighting, they'd just be redundant. Filson returned to Los Angeles and never mentioned the factory again. He was puzzled as to how William White, who hadn't been to Detroit, knew so much about it. Well, maybe he went before. Did the boss notice the problem many years ago? That must be it. Otherwise, it's unexplainable. Capitalists naturally disliked unions, but not to this extreme extent. Alas, here's a problem. Keeping unions out short-term might work, but doing it long-term is impossible. ***** https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.

Chapter 166: Even 401 Plans Were Worth It

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