Portugal

There is a saying that epitomizes the dangers of surrendering too much of your independence:"Those who giveth can also taketh away." With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that in Portugal- and, most likely, a number of other nations in the months and years to come- state- provided pension funds are no longer safe from the government's all-powerful reach.

As the country continues to drown in a sea of red ink caused by generations of politicians pandering to generations of over-demanding citizens punch-drunk from to many trips to the public winery, the Portugal Cabinet agreed this week to transfer the assets from four of the country's biggest banks to the government treasury, in order to "bridge"a yawning budget gap that threatens to bankrupt the nation.

As bad as it sounds for Portugal and raiding the retirement funds of millions of Portuguese is bad, that coundn't happen in the U.S., right?

But it has already happened. Do you remember last summer when lawmakers were haggling over whether or not to raise the debt ceiling? While lawmakers dithered over how much more hock to put the country into, the Obama administration authorized the Treasury in May to "tap federal retiree programs to help fund operations." A news search for stories reporting that Treasury had paid back those funds found nothing, by the way.