There's actually nothing in the United States Code that specifies whether or not "Cash or deferred arrangements" (U.S. Code § 401, subsection (k), or "401(k)"),

There's actually nothing in the United States Code that specifies whether or not "Cash or deferred arrangements" (U.S. Code § 401, subsection (k), or "401(k)"), is privately managed. A 401(k) can be a publicly managed pension! A 401(k) is a type of pension. A 401(k) agreement can straight up be cash payments! > (A) [...] a covered employee may elect to have the employer make payments as contributions to a trust under the plan on behalf of the employee, or to the employee directly in cash; It's just that no one does that. That trust that is mentioned is the stock portfolio approach that nearly every organization uses. > How would a politician siphon from your retirement? I guess you weren't listening to political discourse for the last 8 years, you know, where politicians repeatedly suggested that we add additional taxes specifically to 401(k) trusts, annually, as another form of expense ratio.