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Guest Post: Retirement Account Fantasy And Middle Class Erosion – 1 Out Of 3 Americans Has Zero Dollars In A Retirement Account
From MyBudget360
Retirement account fantasy and middle class erosion – 1 out of 3 Americans has zero dollars in a retirement account.
From 1950 to 1989 top 1 percent earned roughly 7 to 8 percent of nationwide income. Today it is inching closer to 20 percent resembling pre-Great Depression levels.
Many Americans live precariously close to the edge of financial
insolvency flirting with economic disaster daily. If you casually
browse mainstream articles and watch any amount of television you would
think that the US still had a vibrant and strong middle class.
When we pull back the covers on the current financial situation we
realize that many Americans are merely getting by and many would like
to live in some 1984 Orwellian fantasy world where suddenly things are
back to financial equilibrium. 43 million Americans
are depending on government food assistance to get by. But many more
millions are merely living paycheck to paycheck hidden in the cellar of
the headlines. 1 out of 3 Americans has zero in any retirement account
(not one slowly eroding dollar). Half of Americans have $2,000 or less
which puts them one month away from needing government assistance.
With the volatile job market and turbulent Wall Street
middle class Americans are feeling the once prided stability being
slowly washed away. Let us examine how retirement is now becoming more
of a fantasy for many Americans.
Many Americans especially young adults realize that saving large amounts of money is a key to a sustainable retirement:
Over 84 percent of 18 to 29 year olds surveyed feel they need at
least $1 million saved up in order to stop working some day. 60
percent of those 30 and older feel that they will also need $1 million
saved up. Yet the actual figures are somewhat disturbing in contrast
to the perceptions of many:
Source: Census
The median retirement account for US households is $2,000.
This is why the vast majority of retirees depend on Social Security as
their primary source of funds in old age even though Social Security
was never designed to be a long term pension system. You’ll notice
that the average retirement account is closer to $50,000 a year but
this is heavily skewed by the top 1 percent that keep most of their funds in stock wealth.
The reason retirement is slipping through the fingers of many like
sand is the disjointed income equality in the country that has grown in
the last decade. If we look at income growth it has been heavily
tilted at the top:
Source: Census, Chart: Wikipedia
There has been virtually no real income growth for most Americans.
The real significant wage growth over the last 50 years has occurred at
the very top 10 percent of income earners in the country with this
inequality accelerating in the last bubble decade. What is more
important is that 75 percent of Americans largely depend on a job as a
primary source of income which seems rather obvious:
Source: Federal Reserve
If you examine the chart closely, it is only the top 10 percent that really benefit from a buoyant and thriving stock market. As we have mentioned earlier 1 out of 3 Americans has zero, nada, or zilch in their retirement account. The movement of the stock market
is like watching the score of a football game where the outcome means
nothing to the individual. Yet the problem is that Wall Street has
taken the one item that was stable like a rock for Americans, housing and turned it into another commodity to be gambled and speculated against.
The share of income flowing to a smaller and smaller group of Americans is draining the life blood out of the middle class:
“From 1950 to 1989, nearly 40 years of data the top 1 percent earned roughly 7 to 8 percent
of all the nationwide income. Today it is inching closer to 20
percent, a figure resembling the massive income inequality seen during
the Great Depression.”
Even within the top 1 percent the difference in incomes is striking:
This kind of income inequality is coming at the cost of the middle class.
Banks and the financial press would like you to believe that this isn’t
the case but just look at how far your dollar is now going. If you are
fortunate to have a retirement account it is likely you don’t have the
gambling devices of options, hedges, and other items that are largely
new casino devices for Wall Street.
Most Americans are comfortable with income discrepancies but not at
these levels and not when much of the gains are based on bets that hurt
the overall economy.
The problem as many are now seeing is the financial sector is largely rent seeking by pilfering the future of many middle class Americans.
The banking system extracts wealth by devaluing the US dollar, by
charging interest or fees on retail banking, and ultimately suckering
many Americans to dump money into a stock market that is operated like
a casino. Washington Mutual, a once popular bank used to offer free
checking for life. JP Morgan Chase took over Washington Mutual in a
government shotgun wedding. Now, Chase is looking to extract $10 to
$12 per month merely for having a checking account. Of course they’ll
waive this if you have $5,000 saved in a handful of their accounts.
Look above again. 1 out of 3 Americans have no savings so how will
this be accomplished?
As we mentioned Social Security is largely becoming the retirement
account default of many Americans. Yet the growing number of
beneficiaries is now putting strain on the system:
The above chart will only continue to show expansion. Where will
all this money come from? We have a smaller workforce with the young
that are already having a tough time saving any money in this economy.
Many of the good paying jobs of today require a college education and
college has largely entered its own student loan bubble.
Many of the future middle class are merely trying to service their own
massive debt even before they begin their careers. To save that $1
million will become a daunting task moving forward. Also, if the Federal Reserve has its way $1 million 30 or 40 years from now may not be much.
With 17 percent of Americans unemployed or underemployed many are
simply looking for that next paycheck let alone planning for a
retirement where they can sip margaritas in some picturesque beach
location. Wall Street
has pilfered the pockets of the middle class through bailouts for their
reckless gambling and incredible excess. Many Americans now understand
this yet the current political class is merely interested in protecting
the established plutocracy by pillaging the American village. Most
Americans are becoming exhausted by both political parties and their
pandering to Wall Street that provides a revolving door of money, jobs,
and connections.
The younger generation is seeing their ability to grow their net worth diminishing:
This figure has only dropped even further in the last few years.
Retirement was once thought of as a place where one would reach a
comfortable existence after many years of hard work. Not an
extravagant lifestyle but one in where a home was paid off and enough
money came in for food and daily necessities. But now with Wall Street
turning housing into a giant commodity
and stripping bear the employment base of the country; many are
wondering if retirement is even an option especially when the stock
market is at the same level as it was one decade ago.
Ultimately what needs to happen is to get money out of politics and
to split up commercial and investment banking. The answer is obvious
but the plutocracy is relentless
in keeping this game going as long as possible. As this continues,
retirement will continue to look more and more as a fantasy to millions
of Americans.
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Further, it is either not allowed or cost prohibitive to get your local bank to be custodian (can't find a local one to do it)... I probably would do it if I knew the custodian and felt I had a good shot at beating the crowd.
Always dicey to leave one's savings in the hands of those who might willingly hand them over to the authorities in times of officially sanctioned desperation, but if you have money in a 401(k), then you already lost that particular battle long ago (perhaps involuntarily).
Agreed. It would also help to choose a solvent institution (relatively speaking) given this process would actually kill the depository institution, if done on a large enough scale.
I've got a simple IRA that my employer matches up to 3% each year... knowing the risks, I still dump 3% in just to get the matching... even if I take a 50% haircut, I'm still not in too bad of shape... found money really. Presuming of course, I can convert it from the ether. However, I have directed my wife not to participate in her employer's retirement plan given the matching portion can be clawed back if she no longer works for the company within 5 years of the payment of their portion... [aside from the fact that I lol'd at the investment options... fucking thieving ass financial managers].
I got a call from a financial manager asking me to put my money with him (not that I have any)... he was probably ~30 years old and just starting. I said, well, I might be interested in your proposal if you can handle my single investment need. OK! WHAT IS THAT?!? I need you to take physical possession of gold and silver bullion that will be held in my retirement account. UHHHHH??? Please let me know if you are interested or how much you would require me to pay for custodial fees. UHHH I DON... THINK... ERRR... click.
But, yes, always, always risky to have someone else hold your physical. The risk is only moderately mitigated by someone else holding it... you would also need to acquire a gentleman's agreement, AT LEAST, to ensure you could secure it upon government edict, etc. Obviously when the storm troopers come in, word is not much assurance, but it's better than nothing. I'm also inclined to take the tax hit given half of it was employer contributions and buy my own retirement plan without counterparty risk...
Exactly. I'll play roulette, but not pea-under-the-shell. Agreed on the amazing coconuts on some plan managers.
Have ya tried Everbank? i THINK THEY CAN RESOLVE YOUR PROBLEM. iT IS AN iNTERNET BANK WITH i THINK ABOUT 8-9 bN cAP. damn cap key-- Milestones
Not unless they have a local depository for PMs... and a guy I know on the inside that's willing to take a cut to get out the rest of my property before the zombies and/or storm troopers strike.
I closed my IRA's 6 months ago and went into PM- mostly silver. I was hesitant at first. My only regret is not doing it sooner.
Good luck to all, and a special thanx to Zero Hedge- the smartest site on the web.
I rolled my IRAs over last week, into commodities & metals ETFs for the time being... I'll be able to cash them out w/out penalty in March and then it's getting physical.
What kind of safes do you guys like?
I closed my IRA in 2008 and paid the taxes and penalties. Slept better ever since.
Who cares if I am one of the statistics with no IRA / 401k?
I got OUT when I saw what Argentina did (seizing private pension money and sticking the savers with long Argentine bonds).
and yet still they rush to but I Pads
f*cking pathetic if you ask me
I'm starting to feel more hatred towards Joe sixpack than bankers now
Bankstas=sinister
J6P = sinisterly stupid
Joe Sixpack doesn't have an iPad.
Joe 6 pack has a sixpack,well maybe a twelve pack.
A "well-insulated" 6-pack...keepin' em cold. ;)
Bankstas buy iFads too (to use in their McLarens).
"An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics." -Plutarch-
Decision Technologies: Currencies and the Social Contract http://culturalengineer.blogspot.com/2010/07/decision-technologies-curre...
+2000 years
Spend today. Save tomorrow.
It's catchy.
"Spend today; FUCK tomorrow"
More 'empowering'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEwSfbE9IXc
[N] Yea yea
[A] Aiyyo, put the Grant's over there in the safe yaknowhatI'msayin?
[N] Yea yea
[A] Cause we spendin these Jackson's...the Washington's go to whitey, you know how that go
[N] I'm sayin, that's what this is all about right? Clothes, bankrolls, and hoes yaknowhatI'msayin?
Yo then what man, what?
Visualizin the realism of life and actuality
Fuck who's the baddest a person's status depends on salary
And my mentality is, money orientated
I'm destined to live the dream for all my peeps who never made it
cause yeah, we were beginners in the hood as five percenters
But somethin must of got in us cause all of us turned to sinners
Now some, restin in peace and some are sittin in San Quentin
Others such as myself are tryin to carry on tradition
Keepin the schwepervesence street ghetto essence inside us
Cause it provides us with the proper insight to guide us
Even though, we know somehow we all gotta go
but as long as we leavin thievin we'll be leavin with some kind of dough
so, and to that day we expire and turn to vapors
me and my capers-ll be somewhere stackin plenty papers
Keepin it real, packin steel, gettin high
Cause life's a bitch and then you die
Life's a bitch and then you die; that's why we get high
Cause you never know when you're gonna go
Life's a bitch and then you die; that's why we puff lye
I woke up early on my born day, I'm twenty years of blessing
The essence of adolescent leaves my body now I'm fresh in
My physical frame is celebrated cause I made it
One quarter through life some God-ly like thing created
Got rhymes 365 days annual plus some
Load up the mic and bust one, cuss while I puffs from
my skull cause it's pain in my brain vein money maintain
Don't go against the grain simple and plain
When I was young at this I used to do my thing hard
Robbin foreigners take they wallets they jewels and rip they green cards
Dipped to the projects flashin my quick cash
and got my first piece of ass smokin blunts with hash
Now it's all about cash in abundance, niggaz I used to run with
is rich or doin years in the hundreds
I switched my motto -- instead of sayin fuck tomorrow
That buck that bought a bottle could've struck the lotto
Once I stood on the block, loose cracks produce stacks
I cooked up and cut small pieces to get my loot back
Time is Ill-matic keep static like wool fabric
Pack a full-matic and crack your whole cabbage
can i be your bitch? cause i am running out of dollars. i got my own jewlry, so you wouldn't have to buy me, nothing†
okay, but you have to supply your own beeper (or unlimited data plan).
can you throat (i don't need another "workman's compensation" suit)?
good thing about that bling...the wife tapped me out this xmas...that aaron basha charges one hell of a premium over spot on those damn baby shoes, but at least it'll recover the alpha before next xmas.
you got any throat lotion? i knew that reference was dirty, just have to search google.
rappers jus showin they fatass abstract reasoning capability in terms of planning for the future
p.s. ............. by the way, Mr. Federal Government .......... how is anyone supposed to save any money when you & Wall St. keep driving down wages !
She is 100% right. It is all about "buy the fucking dip" now... hehe
you don't have to commit your capital forever, as long as Ben is heading the fed.. hehe
Anyway, this piece is no news. Nothing new. We can find every piece of data on wiki. Keep saying "American is not rich anymore" won't help anyone.
supposedly the Boomers are depending on the equity in their houses for retirement (assuming they have any equity left)
the fact that very few people have any significant money in an IRA / 401K plan makes the dependency on real estate more obvious
there really isn't any good way to free equity from real estate short of selling
this lack of IRA/401K money and the resultant dependency on using the real estate equity is going to push a significant number of housing units onto the market in coming years
these units will add to the existing glut of for-sale housing and help depress the markets for years to come
according to Martin Armstrong's cycle work we only have 22 more years before the real estate market bottoms ...
Bronzie,
I had this discussion with someone recently. People should downsize the housing. Everyone thinks they will sell their McMansion when the time comes for TOP DOLLAR. There will be glut of large homes. Smaller 1-story homes in desirable locales should hold up better in terms of effective demand and pricing. Add "No tax" states to the picture...
Also add to the fact that 10,000 people a day starting in Jan 2011 will be jumping aboard the SS titanic.
Buy,consume and buy some more and save for retirement, yeah right!
Tyler-
For you, man. Happy Holidays!!
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,736680,00.html
My uncle Carl passed away Monday. Left a 160 acre farm and a house in the city paid off. Money in the bank, seeds bought for next year, 12 cows still breeding. he always told me " mans got to have income". His mom parents used to feed the hobos coming up from the railroad tracks in the first depression. He goes out with full military honors and taps playing on bagpipes at the family graveyard. Wonder how the common man leaves this planet in the future.
edit: He just missed his 96th birthday.
@ lndmvr
My sympathies on the loss of your grandfather. I note that he never "retired." Retirement was a 20th century concept to sell utopia to the middle and working class. The only real retirement is the hereafter.
May he rest in peace. Another of the greatest generation.
My sympathies on the passing of your uncle, obviously a wise man. If love of money is the root of all evil, then farming is the seed of all good. May he rest in peace and your family continue prosperous.
My symphaties also and I also celebrate that the Estate will remain more or less intact.
Outstanding!
Banksters fault, YES.
Our tax system's fault, YES.
And the tax system was designed (lobbied for) by ... banksters.
"Progressive" income taxes means that the bar is continually raised, as you earn more, you pay more, minimising the chances of you being able to save (stolen by tax system).
Then as you save, inflation eats away the value of your savings (stolen by banksters). So you go into the stock market and are creamed there as well...
Having read through the entire tax code some years back (as an activist concentrating in forensic economics) I am always dumbfounded as to how the crooks in congress forever claim that "it just happened" as if by accident.
The classic case: when Louise B. Mayers' attorney bought off a few congress critters so that a section of the tax code would apply to him (one had to have performed specific actions to receive a tax break before and only before the section was written into law -- thereby only applying to Mayers in 1954), describes how each and every section of the tax code was created; individually customized for super-rich individuals and corporations.
"describes how each and every section of the tax code was created; individually customized for super-rich individuals and corporations."
Could you PLEASE introduce this whenever we hear from folks claiming that our taxes are primarily about socialist intent?
wow - you're the first I've met that read the whole damn thing, but glad to hear confirmation of my gut (and it's not just a "hunch" - have done plenty of reading, too). All you gotta do is ponder the concept for a second... what in the hell else could fill up half a library (in small print) except line after line after paragraph legislating treatment of very specific situations? Written by whom? Ergo... your conclusion
Having worked as a financial advisor in New York, I can testitfy that 80% of the people we saw in NYC (and were within 10 years of retiring) only had enough saved to live for 3-4 years only. They will either have to work for the rest of their lives and never retire, or lose everything they have... The situation is catastrophic.
While I support the idea that people should be prepared for their own retirement, I don't suppose there's any middleground...e.g. a low-impact barrista job to support a drastically down-sized lifestyle?
Do I need decades of my peak salary saved if I retire at 72?
How much is offset by their SS 'entitlements'?
Whistling past the graveyard, in a literal sense. A serious concern is that, going forward, the masses who dwell in this financial oblivion of their own design, who saved nothing, spent everything, and have never grasped the difference between "want" and "need," will one day petition the Government ( perhaps the term, "agitate" ) to forcibly remove capital from those who did save and did not indulge themselves throughout life -- to be directed to themselves, for the "good of the nation." IRAs and 401(k)...403(b)...this syndicate in Washington will raid each and every one of them, through "luxury" taxes or any confiscatory scheme they see fit, to keep the streets quiet, as it were. Once again, like the Imperium Romanum of old, the mob will rule; and the purple toga-draped plutocrats will do whatever they can to maintain their marble seats of power in the modern-day financial equivalent of the Curia.
One could point out the parallels between our pre-emptive strikes and the use of foederati as signals of unmaintainable empire.
There is every reason to believe this is EXACTLY what will happen. Hence, to protect your savings you will need to move it beyond the confiscatory reach of .gov.
Additionally, it will be virtually impossible for the mob to differentiate between those with wealth derived morally and those immorally through fraud, theft, and manipulation (presuming the mob even cares to differentiate)... this is ultimately why we head to civil war and/or massive exodus of the productive.
I doubt that, but there is a slim possibility of it. Remember that 401k, 403b, 457 plans, all of these are "qualified accounts" and they Oare heavily protected, even against personal litigation. One could sue you for your assets yet not be able to get anything in these accounts. Also, annuities and insurance products are protected from litigation as well...
Mont Bleu, when the Government has a need, said need is sated...ask GM bondholders !
It just seems too complicated, just to take over fiat money? I mean, why not just print it?
+ 100
This is pretty much what TARP, QE and GM bailouts were about. Lots of people rented or lived in modest homes. Lots more people got %125 LTVs on over valued McMansions. When the SHTF the government took from the frugal and gave to the spendthrifts and the banksters who enabled them.
I see only two paths in our post moral hazard world. Go Gault and have so little taxable income and assets that you aren't able to afford a ticket on the first unsinkable ship in the world. The second option is to be so wealthy that you can buy your way onto any lifeboat. Normal middle class aspirations and responsibilities will not only ensure you go down with the ship but your are blamed for it it as well.
Before we denigrate the entire American public, it might be worth recalling that many if not most people worked hard, and did save into their IRAs and 401ks... only to see their savings and pensions pillaged by the fraudsters on Wall St. Not to mention paying into SS which then just became a big IOU as congress robbed it over the years. People trusted that they didn't need to bury their PMs in the ground as in ancient times... the experience of the last 50 years indicated that there was a social contract in place. Now of course, all bets are off, but let's not blame the millions of people who held up their end of the deal.
At NEW YORK Taxes and COSTS yes. Broke in 4 years.
MOVE out and go somewhere nice, cheap and quiet and live on essentially nothing and triple that number of years before broke. Hell the Smokes are less than half what NY state charges.
My entire monthly outflow is less than about 1/3 of a typical rent in a cockroach dump on the Manhattan Island.
Baby boomers near 65 with retirements in jeopardy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/27/AR201012...
"Nearly 3 out of 4 people file to claim Social Security benefits as soon as they're eligible at age 62. ..The monthly checks are about 25 percent less if you retire at 62 instead of full retirement age"
Goes to show how broke most boomers are..
Nice report. My only quibbles are these three points:
1. The United States is built upon, among other things, a culture of specialization. I agree with you that there is an income disparity, but I would argue for different reasons listed above. What you're presenting is a shadow of the larger influence specialization has had on wealth distribution, specifically specialization in the financial markets. The cheapness and ease of access to financial markets means a lot of people are pooling their collective pennies and giving it to "specialists". Result: a handful (relatively speaking) of ridiculously wealthy individuals in comparison to a much larger and faster growing population base. Regardless, you'd expect income growth to be fastest at the top. After all, money chases talent. I'll leave it at that, since delving deeper is a much larger discussion, one in which I don't think you and I are too off from seeing eye to eye.
2. One-third? Not that I'm arguing with this statistic, but it's incredibly misleading. IIRC those under 35 or so represent ~one-third of the population. This is the exact same age group you'd expect to see carry little or no savings at all, since in terms of lifetime earnings/consumption, this is smack-dab in the middle of when people burn through cash the fastest trying to raise an early family, start a home, and are not quite in the fat portion of their earnings potential/career trajectories. A more telling picture would be this statistic broken out by age group.
3. Net worth of Americans 25-35 is another incredibly misleading statistic, since it doesn't take into account the shift in education attendance over the past 25 years. More Americans are deferring employment for advanced education, and are opting to delay careers/employment, stay at home longer, etc for whatever reason (infamously, the much higher net-worth of their baby-boomer parents). You would expect the median to skew heavily downward with a much "fatter tail" of a mean now as compared to 1985 - the attempted education failure rate means those folks have lost out on several years of critical learning/skills while the much smaller portion of successes see rapidly-rising incomes. Same as #1, I'll leave it at that since going deeper is probably not suitable for the comments section.
Money chases talent? My best friend and I are equally talented, yet he is employed with over $300k in the bank and I am unemployed and virtually penniless! His dad is his employer, real chasing of talent!
I also fall into the 25-35 Demographic. And, as I said that I am virtually penniless, I wouldn't agree with anyone that I didn't try to save. I jumped into the tech boom and got slaughtered. I jumped back into stocks around 2005 and got slaughtered. Bought a condo AFTER the crash and the equity is getting slaughtered. Taxes have gone North and have slaughtered more savings potential. Condo fees, gas prices, food prices and other new regulatory fees and fines that have appeared the last decade have also slaughtered my capability of saving!
My prospects of retirement are NIL. I am deferring my career in the name of "mutual exploitation of this no-win game"! I am done with the corporate world for good.
I don't doubt the two of you have the same set of skills. Unfortunately, I wasn't talking about skillsets. I was talking about talent, be they technical, socio-political, or genetic and the ability to time the market as it were this case. I also wasn't talking about (nor do I think anyone has suggested) the lack of effort people have put into saving. Given a reasonable set of expectations about the future, people will adjust savings and consumption accordingly. These are adjusted even further for the phase a person's life is in. For those in the 25-35 bracket, the assumption is your income will grow to afford your lifestyle - that's the risk taken to provide better education to your children and a safer environment to your family. Historically this has been a safe bet, but that may not necessarily be the case any longer and for a long time. America is different/unique in that retirement is seen largely as an individual accomplishment and an almost inalienable right, whereas for many countries parents often rely on their children for support into the sunset. I think this is likely the direction you'll see the United States move towards as the baby-boomer retirement wave crests.
Keep in mind, this is all "on balance". The good die young, no deed goes unpunished, and the road to hell was paved with honest intentions. The woefully galactic and dostoyevskian unfairness of an individual's life, however, is something with which we will always struggle.
I would suggest ignoraing Nopat as it sounds like the typical "human resources" boob.
You make the point, and one finally being made by many, that America is NOT a meritocratic society (assuming it ever was, even briefly); but decidedly an anti-meritocratic society.
Which is why it is in the state it is in today; an absolutely corrupt plutocracy.
First, HR I am assuredly not. It's a new year, I'm trying to be polite, so I will leave it at this. My reputation, albeit poor and unknown except by a few, should make your first statement abundantly and obviously...not...true.
That being said, don't be an asshole. The world, nevermind the US, has never been a meritocracy. People get paid for what they know. Sometimes that means how to do something. Sometimes that means not what, but who. 100% of the time there's no guarantee its of any value. Don't act like this is some big fucking mystery, these have been the rules since time began and they always will be.
I was troubled by a fourth element. The report focused on the value of the individual accounts rather than the retire assets held by an individual or family unit. I imagine the typical saver has more than one retirement account and that a family unit has many more. I am of modest means, but my wife and I have nine different retirement accounts. We are not relying upon the retirement accounts for retirement but as a possible augmentation to other assets. I doubt we are unique.
Good point. My wife and I are in the exact same situation. The other thing to keep in mind is the assumption that retirement accounts are the only way to store wealth. Going to the market's been cheap and easy, but people still by and large invest in what they know. Collectibles, antiques, wine, classic cars, and most importantly property are all stores of value, and will forego retirement savings if they think they can do better in these than the overall market (which has, historically IMO been the case). The drop in values poses an issue, but I don't think it's the biggest. The larger problem is how to absorb folks liquidating these assets, in the large quantities they'll be doing it in, and at a time when the economy is relatively weak. Welcome to economics 101 - what happens to the price of something scarce and in demand when it becomes less scarce and less in demand?
America is fucked.
While I certainly agree with the spirit of articles like these, all of these pieces suffer from one fatal flaw: they don't reflect empirical reality, and therefore lose all their potential power.
The literal truth is that, while the top 1% is indeed all-powerful, the facts of life for the bottom 99% in no way reflect the statistics in these types of articles--that is, the 99% are not suffering materially in any common understanding of the term. While America has a very small group of truly disenfranchised poor people (migrant workers, rural pockets, and the like), the great American "proletariat" lives very well by world standards, courtesy of Uncle Sam: plenty of food, nice houses, cars that run, adequate healthcare, etc.
The US Government will continue these programs of support, indeed will continue to expand them aggressively, during our lifetime. Now, we can discuss the wisdom of running a society/Govt in this kind of insane manner all day long, but articles like this will never gain any traction because they just aren't congruent with reality.
Dude, Uncle Sam is broke. These programs will end abruptly and the people who have never learned to care for themselves will be completely f*ed.
Dude, that's a different topic...
Good response. Discussions about poverty should only be in absolute terms -- not relative terms. All those who want income equality only talk about it in US terms and never global terms -- apparently they just want income equality within the top quintile of the world.
If the equal income crowd are so caring, wouldn't the care about the bottom half of the world living on $2 a day?? Talk about "unfair."
And no one ever defines precisely what level of income equality is "correct." Apparently the only way to eliminate poverty is to make all economic outcomes equal (despite having fought against that concept for decades -- which I mistakenly thought we won).
"The share of income flowing to a smaller and smaller group of Americans is draining the life blood out of the middle class"
Ah yes, the fallacy that for every winner there is a loser as the economic pie is a static size and only relative outcomes matter (forget absolute outcomes). Maintaining absolute income levels is viewed as life blood draining. I hope people can get as rich as they want without those in the bottom half complaining -- despite the bottom half being in the top quintile in the world and paying virtually zero federal income taxes.
For those who believe the "top" got their money via government, I would suggest you replace your elected official with one whose highest priority is to dramatically reduce the scope and size of government. As can be seen, doing the opposite consistently over the past, say, 100 years is not working out so well. Blaming the "top" who take advantage of incompetent, inept and corruptible government is misplaced (although feel free to boycott those you believe are excellent at "using" government to their advantage in fulfilling their mission to make money).
But the source bad government is government.
Indeed, this is a fallacy. That should be for every winner, there must be several losers. The ratio 1:1 is way too low to represent anything.
But of course. Globalization has largely benefited to the US people, that has been a major recipient for the wealth transfer operated on the world scale.
Dureness starts when the exterior is no longer capable of supporting the US grand life style. Not before.
So what? I pulled $20K out of a Roth IRA last October when I first heard about QE 2.0 I know that I'm a victim of FDR's Social Security Ponzi Scheme (and every other reckless spending and entitlement program) and that there will be no 'benefits' to which I am to be 'entitled' when I reach whatever age the government says I have to be to start 'collecting'. It's now on the individual to take responsibility for their own financial future and right now the smart bet is on PM's. I have 30-40 years to recover if I am wrong about this...but the rules have changed and we don't play (20-30 somethings) on the same field as our parents and grandparents did.
I don't think it's wise to have $'s in your "retirement account" either
$'s for spending, gold for saving
Ellen Brown has lost the plot
having been against the FED she now says QE2 is a good thing
It doesn't matter who prints it, printing to get out of debt is wrong
you should livce within your means
I have never met a lawyer that knew jack about finance.
I know a little... but the difference between me and the rest is that I understand my limitations. Your comment is spot on though, in general... but, the cream of the crop... literally the smartest people on our planet are the top tier attorneys who are being used as think tanks and lap dogs by the financial elite in financial games... (thankfully, even they suffer from hubris on occasion).
Almost all of my friends, co-workers, and family have decent jobs. However, 99% haven't saved a dime of their income. The other 1% only have a small 401k, depositing the minimum of their paycheck. The main problem is stupidity. The second problem is the goverment because people know that if they get fired or let go, they can easily get assistance from the goverment. Maybe we should start with our education system.
www.nacocapital.com
As one of that 1/3 that has ZERO in any retirement account (well, depends what you call "retirement"), I am also in the top 10 percentile which derives the majority (almost all) of my income from a business. Began my business life in 1982, went bankrupt (a very painful experience) in 1991, but revived the business in 1998 and since have worked at my own pace on my own time (some call that semi-retirement. I do.). I may not have a lot of fiat, but I have a nice store of AG, home free and clear and working on a second.
I just turned 57 and never saved a nickel until I was maybe 53. I've got a positive net worth, growing business, 1 1/2 homes, no dependents and no need for social security. If my projections are correct, in three more years, I'll be able to cut back on work to less than 2 hours per day (currently about 5) and live quite comfortably on what I have and what I earn. My projections take into account a massive national depression, so I'll do even better if the economy somehow magically improves over the next 3-5 years.
It's not always about money. The retirement myth, as I call it, has been pushed by Wall Street to induce average Americans to gamble in stocks. I've seen it ruin plenty of people, including my father (RIP) who was still working at age 84 and still playing stocks and options. I tried to get him to stop and invest in gold in the early 2000s, but he wouldn't listen and died in 2009 with much less than he wanted to leave behind.
His life was a lesson to me. The stock market is no better than gambling on sports or horses, and with substantially worse returns. Final word, too many people fret over money when they should be concerned about ASSETS and NET WORTH. In my business, I routinely turn profits of 200-500% on assets I purchase and resell, skimming the best for myself.
If people actually knew what they were doing with money and assets, this country would be a whole lot better off, but then, my business wouldn't be as lucrative.
Gold, silver, real estate (especially arable land), RARITIES, tools of trade, cash and equivalents are my only investments. Stocks are for speculators, otherwise often known as bag-holders and suckers.
My dad's life was a giant lesson to me as well. He made alot of money but never saved, never invested and kept consolidating loans rather than pay them off. He always thought the money was going to keep rolling in and didn't read the Tea leaves when they changed. I've resolved to do the exact opposite. Good post!
Self-employed too...
Silver retirement account for my golden years...
Don't count on earning forever...would be nice, but don't count on it...
Back in the 1970's - when I was working my way through a state University business program - they were telling kids back then that SSI would be broke by the time we retired. I took that to heart & made my own way - Sorry for the rest of you if you weren't paying attention in class
I had lunch with a dear friend of mine from London who is working in New York just before Christmas and was asking about living in the US.
One of the comments she made was about the fact that most Americans appear to live on their credit cards and don't save anything. One of her friends recently had a relative who was ill - the friend had no emergency savings put by and had to put all the expenses of visiting the sick relative on a credit card.
Anecdotal maybe, but indicative?
DavidC
I just heard an unbelievable stat: Autos in the US have been held on to for longer and longer every year since 1980! (CNBS interview of CEO of Snap-On, concerning demand for do it yourself repairs). Short GM, long CarMax. (!)
Why is that unbelievable? Longer financing + improved vehicle quality = longer ownership windows.
My vehicles are rather basic. Manual crank windows and what have you.
I am holding on to them as long as I am able. I have a feeling one of them will increase in value as the electric crap laden with luxury cream puffs continue to suffer short life spans.
Who knows how that stat reads in absolute terms: average car holding period has risen from 36 months in 1980 to 37 months now?
Just DIY changed all shocks on my 2001 model in October. I look forward to driving it another 9 years...
meow, meow, meow, meow, I like chicken.
meow, meow, meow, meow, I like liver.
don't buy that flat screen,
buy some silver...
Using the fact that the top x percent own y percent of the national income does not tell us anything that is productive towards solving the needs of those at the opposite end of the economic spectrum. In fact, it lead us to junk reasoning, and wealth destruction. This is especially true when we compare who is wealthy today with the wealty of several generations ago.
I say this because we have never in the history of humanity had such powerful productivity tools. A single person with a good idea and sufficient persistence can create billions of dollars in wealth in a short time. This is even more true when one of these "super producers" can assemble a team of people who are similarly talented.
Did the founders of Google destroy the wealth, liberty or take the property of anyone when they invented that tremendous company?
Nobody complains that the singer Madonna was “greedy” when she earned $91.5 million for her 2008 US tour, or finds that baseball player Alex Rodriguez is “greedy” when he signs a contact worth over $275 million, or frets that in the 2007-2008 fiscal year, 23 private U.S. colleges each paid their respective presidents over $1 million in total compensation, at least according to the New York Times.
If we can't in all fairness object to Modanna's income, or ARod's or that the founders of Google had enough money to buy a nicely outfitted jumbo jet of their own, then who EXACTLY are we complaining about? And why do we think we have the right to covet and then expropriate their wealth or income? We should be smart enough to know we cannot make a poor person rich by making a rich person poor.
No, the problem with lower income people is that they have made life choices that are not as economically rewarding as other people have made. Life is not easy, and people make mistakes. But one thing is certain: we do not sufficiently impress on young people that the consquences of not being careful about the way the conduct their lives are often that the will never be able to make the most of their talents. And we never tell them how foolish it is to consume all their incomes on things that do not have long-lasting value. If a person is free to live their lives and when they get old they have no savings, whose fault is that? Now that we have gotten in the habit of socializing the losses of the banks, and the losses of General Motors and the losses of Fannie Mae, are we going to compound all these mistakes by socializing the losses of the middle class? There are not enough dollars in the whole world available to be borrowed to socialize these failures. And that is the reason we used to appreciate the value of moral risk. At some time, moral risk will return, whether we like it or not.
very valid points. i remember in the 80's (maybe 70's) John Denver installed a huge gasoline storage tank in his McMansion back yard. aspen just went down on his shit.
people are just jeolous, basic human instinct.
LOL! I remember that story, at the time. People just went full retard on that one, 'cause he was perceived as such a saintly figure. He died when he forgot to change over his fuel tanks while flying his plane, engine conked, and he augured in. Ironic, no?
do you know john freeman M.D. ?
yes a lot of speculation on his accident. i believe this scenario over he was trying to take his own life. a lot of people just did not like this man. his maid said he couldn't sing. my best girl friend from H.S., husband knew him. went over to his house a couple of times. innocuous, at best.
proLiberty, your point about moral risk is on point. Why shouldn't the middle class want and expect the government to bail them out when they see the socializing of the banks', GM, AIG and even European banks' losses?
It is the old, "do as I say, not as I do" problem.
Bernie?
My best friend owns his own business, has a six-figure income, $30,000 in credit card debt, and not a single penny in savings, retirement or otherwise. I suspect he's typical.
But then, isn't that what our government has taught us by example? The US Treasury announced on Dec 10th that for the first 2 months of the fiscal year, debt is 49.65% of the budget. We're spending $2 for every $1 of revenue we receive in taxes!
And this is why I remain convinced that an economic calamity is inevitable!
It's a big cluster-fuck of a revolving door- business+government+academia. What did Einstein say about solving our problems?...
The calamatiy is, as you note, inevitable. It was built-in, perpetual growth on a finite planet.
You confuse economic growth to be always tied to same factor increased resource use.
The real unemployment rate is going to remain excruciatingly high given that people defer retirement, government potentially raises retirement age, and the real workforce pool continues to grow creating poor wage growth pressure and fierce competition for positions.
Meanwhile, the Fed punishes anyone with savings by devaluing the currency through monetization of the debt. Why would anyone want to save, when they know their money with be worth LESS tomorrow?
We can not defy the laws of sound economics forever!
+1
Interesting summary Nopat and you make some relevant points. The U.S. must become a producer economy again. While the U.S. has a low capital base to work with, regulation that levels the playing field can be enacted to increase the labor participation rate and this should start with energy.
As for the Boomers, I would call it a reverse inheritance for Gen X and younger. Best to get moving on increasing that labor participation rate of the younger generations will only be likely to afford overstuffed "retirement" facilities instead of being able to afford to take them in.
The problem with the $1M figure for a necessary savings target for retirement is that it is almost impossible to save that much in a zero interest rate environment. You would have to save $25K a year, every year, for 40 years to acheive $1M. The only practical way for the average Joe to save that much is by compounding, which requires at least a moderate level of interest rates.
Bingo! That was the calculation that made us realize that we were never going to be able to retire As Seen On TV. That was a hard pill for my husband to swallow. I think he went though all of the stages of grief. The worst was when he wanted to just start blowing all of our extra cash on toys "since we're not going to be able to enjoy ourselves later on anyway."
Fortunately, I was able to tap in to his numismatic streak and convince him to buy PMs instead. He thought I was just indulging him in his hobby. :)
Yeah, had this epiphany in 2000. I finally figured that I'd never "retire," and that instead I'd look to become productive for the future...
Never forget showing this right-wing moron the Case-Shiller historical graph to back up my assertion that housing prices were going to fall (full impact had not occurred in my area up to that point). He blew it off (probably as some "left-wing conspiracy story"), saying that the younger generation will have to have houses. Why was this guy so combative? He had several homes, most likely purchased during the binge-buying days. Have no run across this individual in several years now; suspect that he's lost those homes, and is likely blaming it on the "socialists."
Moral of story: focus on fundamentals rather than spending all one's energy scapegoating others for one's failures...
Oh, and great for you in figuring things out. We owe it to future generations to understand the concepts of honesty and what our true fundamentals are (one of which is to be productive [and I don't mean as a cog in some corporate machine]).
This is why Social Security can not be ended. There would be a true revolution and much violence. So many workers move from job to job or work as temps, they have 401ks with maybe a couple thousand dollars that gets eaten by fees and losses so the point of saving seems hard to justify. Housing and medical costs as a percentage of income are rediculous. I'm still hopeful that there will be some breakthroughs in medicine that will radically lower the cost of most care but I won't hold my breath. Like many I plan to work until the day I die. The idea of retirement is only for the lucky few.
Unfortunately, every breakthrough in medicine in the past 20-30 years has increased the cost of healthcare. I've never understood why people want to retire in their 50's. I wonder what they're going to do with themselves for 30-40 years. Working isn't so bad. It gives older people something to do and lets them interact with other people.
.
"I've never understood why people want to retire in their 50's."
"Working isn't so bad."
Retiring earlier from a job/profession in which someone directs you in favor of doing something you want is a great reason why early retirement is good.
I agree that working isn't so bad - so long as you actually enjoy the work that is.
Also, early retirement, if affordable/doable, opens up a position for a younger person which isn't a bad idea either. The next generation needs to work and raise a family too.
+1. Depending on profession, the workplace can be mentally crushing. The core responsibility of modern managers is to put the more complex tasks and risks on those identified as capable of it. With the threat of termination or resignation on failure. If such task does not exist, create one (since this is a financial blog: think Derivatives, CDOs, MBSs, etc.)
Other workers are allowed to be in a quasi apprenticeship indefinitely at slightly reduced pay. If the competent workers master the domain imposed on them, management will force them into other areas to make improvements, usually with no real compensation gains relative to responsibility (having to fight a learning and political curve again.) Even when compensation increases are ostensibly fair, the system of taxation: both formally by the government; and informally by time on task; creates diminishing returns for the worker as their competency increases. Essentially, the worst components of communism and capitalism, and what Ayn Rand wrote about extensively.
Thats why unions fight for early retirements. Unfortunately, other aspects of Unionized approaches create things like General Motors, most Federal and State agencies, and our public schools.
We need a washout of our dated business management and psychological theories (and reactionary opposition to same) before the true recovery of america can occur.
Very good post wisefool!!! I see that around me everyday and I know what eveybody's compensation is in my company... it just floors me......
"Retiring earlier from a job/profession in which someone directs you in favor of doing something you want is a great reason why early retirement is good."
This is a great statement to ponder! I'd want to ask why people just don't look to do what they "want" to begin with! There are two likely issues here, the first being that people may not know what they "want" to do, and are muddling along until they figure it out, if they ever really do; the second has to do with finances, though I'd argue that in so many ways "finances" is just an excuse, as there are generally lots of ways to approach something, though they're not likely going to ensconce one in any lavish lifestyle (not like shown on the TV).
I'll admit that this is a bit simplified, myself being a pretty good example that it's not that simple, but I think that the mindset needs to start changing. And I think that the foundation should rest on spending time on this planet doing things that we feel good about doing, and no, that doesn't mean that we can all run out and be professional surfers, rather, it has to do in context with having sustainable societies, ones that require people to be productive (not "consumers" led around by the balls by corporations).
Inflation means they can print dollars, not buying power. SS won't save you.
We have $42 in our retirement account. It would be zero, but the minimum withdrawal is $50. I'm waiting for DOW 15000 so I can finally pull it all out.
Our PM amounts are quite different.
Our vision of retirement has changed quite a bit over the last few years. I just want a snug little house on a lot of land with a good garden and an orchard and some livestock. I think we'll be able to save up for that if we continue to live frugally now.
Try not to delay too long! It's lots of work out on the land... I had to compromise, had to obtain debt for my property instead of buying it out-right: my thinking is that PMs will be worth more in the future, and that I'll be able to pay off my debt easier (I nailed the lows on interest rates, so at this time the projection is holding in my favor).
I spend my frugally-earned money (via work) so that I can buy land on which I will work. Meanwhile people have been spending so that they can be entertained... I guess that I'm wagering that iFood won't be coming out, otherwise my hedge will look pretty stupid :-)
We can always sell mom and dads silver service...silver>30.00
"Let them eat cat food," The Lloyd Blankfein, Jamie Dimon, Warren Buffet & The Ben Bernank replied.
Oh, and they wanted to thank "retirees, workers, widows & orphans for the cash, and the broker-dealers for the payola."
Why don't these poor people just short EUR/CHF?
who needs to save
just buy the dip, oh and buy an I pad to
Unfortunately, This is the way its been since the biblical days. There are the fortunate, There are the less fortunate. I have no money saved for my retirement. I believe there is paradise after this trial called life on Earth. A world free of debt, Hate, Money and classes. My life is in gods hands. For now, Im doing OK.
It sucks when buying a lotto ticket seems to have the highest probablility of funding a retirement for millions. Go long on cat food.
Also, after days of nail biting tptb here deigned to let me in -thanks!
Great article, great comments. Lawrence Kotlikoff wrote a pretty good book about it nearly 10 yrs ago called The Coming Generational Storm, worth a look. Unfortunately, the reality is that the govt writes laws that say they cannot actually be bankrupt because some stuff doesn't count and some stuff does. What would happen if all of us could declare Special Accounts with all our debts, make up the value of our homes or other assets and then make our own special declarations about our individual net worth or financial standing?? I've been in the mkts for a while but don't claim to understand accounting or economic theory.......but broke is broke. Its a total circus.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-11/u-s-is-bankrupt-and-we-don-t-even-know-commentary-by-laurence-kotlikoff.html
Eric Hoffer, the "longshoreman philosopher" once said, "Money is freedom." This concept, of course, is anathema to our consumer-oriented society. Work [plus saving] makes you free - it doesn't get much simpler than that. The dilemma is that one must have a decent education, a decent-paying job and the ability to solve problems, all of which are out of reach of way too many people - it doesn't look very pretty, does it?
For rich people everything is free. In effect, we have a social contract that says some people get to live for free. Of course the rich "pay" the bulk of the taxes, etc, but that's all smoke and mirrors to fool us proletarians. Basically they get to live for free.
Hm... got me to thinking...
The claim is that the rich pay the majority of the taxes. Let's just allow this to be accepted as true... The confrontational issue should be, however, whether they work or not; and to this I'd say, no, not really, not in any real sense of the imagination.
The rich pay to keep us enslaved. When we stop using/honoring Their currency then that is when we are free (though that doesn't mean that we stop working! it will, however, mean that They have to start working!).
Best retirement plan I've heard recently is to die on your 60th birthday of acute hooker and blow poisoning.
If there is one sliver of hope it is the money the greatest genration is leaving behind to those who can't seem to save anything (but somehow the iPod upgrade is really important to them).
http://www.seniormarketadvisor.com/Exclusives/2010/12/Pages/Boomers-to-i...
That money is being paid to nursing and assisted living homes.
...especially with an 8 hour viagra induced hardon
Pisses me off
I have spent the last 10 years sacrificing, woprkin g abraod and have saved loads. I was hoping to retire very soon
Now my currency has been devalued and i get feck all interest anyway.
If I could get away with it I would have no hesitation in slitting bernankes throat
A cockroaches life is worth more to me than that c"*&nts
Blaming the dealer is meaningless. It's the game that's always been played: it's just that most didn't get it (and thanks to the Internet it's easier to "get it" now, that is, if one wants to open one's eyes).
Now that you're awakened it should be clear what you need to do.
maybe the folks will now stop buying the expensive cars, houses, vacations and otherwise expensive lifestyle at teh cost of never having money for retirement.
You are correct. But it is not even "expensive" things - they can not afford any restaurants, cell phone, cable tv, movies, any new car, house bigger than 1,200 sq ft, etc... yet they will continue over spending and not saving for their own retirement. They believe you and I are going to take care of them via federal income taxes (of which they pay none).
House over 1,200 SF? Shit Seer, my buddy and his wife anhve a master bedroom-matser bathroom suite that might almost be that big - just kidding, but it is huge!
Yeah, seriously, I don't get it, even my parents who bring in easily five times what I do don't live like the mythical Joe Sixpack I always hear about. My house is only 1000sqft, I just paid off my car, and I don't have the money for cable TV or a night out at the movie theatre, let alone a vacation out of state...
When 2/3 of the world's population lives on $3/day or less it's pretty clear that we've only been kidding ourselves all along...
The word for the day is: sustainability
All this talk about sustainability is bullshit when it comes from people making $100 million a year to do nothing even resembling work. Don't fall for it, they want _you_ to live like a subsaharan African while they live it up in a phony "sustainable" orgy of opulence.
do the public pensioneers, with retirement in their 50's and a huge % of their final salary as pension benefit--
did they answer the survey saying they have no retirement funds--ie-its just a monthly benefit
LOL! The DOW is GREEN!
Bang Da Ho! BAng Da Ho!
Until you can't bnag No Mo!
how sick is that
everyone who is short the market should sue the FED for manipulation
OMG,
You made me laugh so much, I blew a snot bubble.
Financials up! How in the fuck? Is this just a case where things falling faster make things falling slower appear to not be falling (even rising)?
But what about share of wealth, which is assets and liabilities? It has been flat for the rich and going down for the top 10%:
http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h410/zirb1/share_wealth_rich.png
If you're worried about having enough $$ for retirement. Consider moving east. I saw plenty of retired folks heading to Cambodia and Thailand as their retirement went alot further over there.
Elderly Californians and Floridians are moving to Mexico and Panama in numbers that would surprise a lot of people.
The problem with those two destinations is that they'll fare quite badly in the event of another global financial crisis (not to mention the intense violence, kidnappings and such in Mexico), health care is relatively subpar (although competent doctors and facilities can be found to perform standardized procedures and even surgeries at a fraction of the cost in in the U.S.), and there are infrastructure and crime 'issues,' to put it mildly.
Then again, many urban areas in the U.S. seem to be descending on a clear path downwards towards 'developing nation' standards, anyways.
But the fact that so many elderly Americans are choosing to relocate abroad, to developing or non-developing nations, for financial reasons, and not because of the weather, is pretty incredible, in and of itself.
Peter Schiff just mopped the floor with the Fox business cheerleader.
He knows exactly whats going on. !
I think gary north has a pretty good perspective on things, especially the chinese government, check out this article:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north923.html
I agree with his end statement, that whenever you go out and buy that cheap flat panel tv, thank your benefactor, the central bank of china.
It's the blame-someone-else-don't-look-in-the-mirror claptrap. Did China cause the US housing bubble, the one that created all those financial-weapons-of-mass-destruction? Did China keep US interest rates low?
I think that it's high time to quit blaming others and face up to what we've done to ourselves.
B9K9
Post more often wouldya?
I'll second that request!
A good day. B9K9 and Gloomy both show up!
The social construct of "retirement" is less than 100 years old. In the thousands of years of human civilization we have never had such a massive percentage of the population that felt it was no longer necessary for them to be productive, contributing members of society.
We may find that mass "retirement" was just an interesting social experiment of the 20th century that didn't pan out. True retirement should be based on an individual being so productive during his youth that he can live on the fruits of that labor until he dies. The cold hard truth is that most people are simply not that productive.
Like so much of our current system, today's "retirement" is based on a ponzi-like model of infinite growth. The larger new generation supports the old. And like all ponzi schemes you reach a point where growth slows or stops and the system falls apart. Without immigration (legal and illegal) US population growth would be negative (or nearly so depending on whose numbers you trust). Negative growth is the death knell for all ponzis.
I don't claim to know much, but I'm not discounting the possibility that mass retirement has merely been an interesting experiment. It won't be let go without a fight from those to whom it has been promised. But things that can't go on forever... don't.
This is more Marxist nonsense to convince the reader to embrace wage controls.
"Most Americans believe... most Americans would say...blah blah blah." Really? Most Americans? Really, you spoke to most Americans and that's what they told you?
Cass! I found you again, you bastard!!!
and the market just keeps chuggin' UP....led by the mighty Dow; started their 2pm push early...around noon. actually they push the button for the "turn" at 10:18 am. CAN'T WAIT for end-of day... ooops: double-top on the one-minute chart, uh oh. oh shit, the tension is killing me
2 pm ramp now fully engaged, albeit 6 minutes late - looks to be another, yet one more, miracle finish...c'mon wit dose 52-wk highs! where's Harry?
Humans are hyper-rational economic beings, as long as the state showers benefits on the lazy & irresponsible and punishes savers and investors-savers and investors will decline.
I'm actually surprised more people haven't stopped saving & investing and pulling the cart and not jumped on for a free ride.
It must be that god damn WASP work ethic, oh well demographics will fix that eventually.
I love the zerohedgies. There are no banksters stealing, they're just hard working finance professionals contributing to a better life for all.
It's all the governments fault. Hank Paulson and the Bernank would never have lied about tanks in the streets to save the squid's rotten ass. Nope, Dubyah thought it all up himself and got McCain and Obama to go along.
Yup.
Jee-zus!