tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2986124651030959736.post618892947047373866..comments2024-03-29T08:03:35.151-05:00Comments on Stocks, Bonds & Politics: Sold 100 NPM at 13.9/ING & Italian Government Bonds/Bought PAUDX/Unusual Allocation Funds/Current Forecast on When the Fed Will End its JIHAD Against the Saving ClassTENNINDEPENDENThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17444227958539559639noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2986124651030959736.post-68981436363200227882011-07-12T12:33:56.843-05:002011-07-12T12:33:56.843-05:00That's right. It would be a voucher for $10K/y...That's right. It would be a voucher for $10K/yr and Medicare will be $18K, anyone that's shopped health insurance at 60 like me, knows that.<br />A big offshoot of no interest is 55yr olds aren't retiring and many taking teen entry jobs. I'm sure the banks could pay 2% on a 1yr CD. The FDIC mandates they can't raise over .75%(or .5% ?) the average rates paid in their locality unless they contest and prove something.<br />So we have the Fed/Treasury telling banks NOT to foreclose and NOT to pay interest on CDs. If they borrow at .30 and buy 10yr@ 3%, 2% wouldn't kill these walking zombies but would be huge shot of juice into the economy, of course, it's all to prevent flight from stocks also.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2986124651030959736.post-42846690817378266642011-07-12T12:17:56.164-05:002011-07-12T12:17:56.164-05:00The average middle class person retires with less ...The average middle class person retires with less than $100,000 in savings. And a large percentage of them will have far less than that amount saved. A typical amount might be $20,000 to $50,000 plus no debt on their home but with some other consumer debt. <br /><br /> Those savings are not producing any income for most of them and that situation is likely to continue well into 2012. <br /><br /> Their savings are mostly in bank savings accounts and certificates of deposit, possibly some in money market funds. Those type of assets yield nothing of course. And social security benefits are inadequate to live on, even for the frugal. <br /><br />Even those who have ventured into bond funds are receiving a return now less than their inflation rate. Those people have already cut spending to the bone and are eating into their principal. <br /><br />The Ryan budget plan would have the greatest adverse impact on the middle class and the poor. There can be no legitimate dispute that the GOP proposal on Medicare would end up bankrupting virtually the entire middle class during their retirement years, that is, those who are now 55 years old or younger. Those people simply do not have now, and will never have, the leeway to pay health insurance premiums double what my generation will be paying.TENNINDEPENDENThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17444227958539559639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2986124651030959736.post-53565804479967937182011-07-12T11:55:06.600-05:002011-07-12T11:55:06.600-05:00I wish the saving-class had representation, lobbyi...I wish the saving-class had representation, lobbyists, SOMEONE. I read the last census (Repubs were so against) showed 5 mil more Americans, many over 65, went into poverty. I bet more since then. Not a word of this in the media. I've tried to help my dad get some income on about $45K, it's very difficult despite what I consider good picks. Smithfield bond 7.5%, GYB, NYB, HBC-A, GOV PVR. and he was flat in June, but up modestly in a year. Entries were all good. He pays about $110 commission. I'm not putting the other $20K to work. He always relied on +/-5% interest and maybe $15K/yr total to supplement Soc Sec/pension. At least he made more than .25%. It's a crime. Tom Hoenig is are only ally.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2986124651030959736.post-3172307695173615242011-07-12T09:36:51.107-05:002011-07-12T09:36:51.107-05:00I will reference a study by two economists in tomo...I will reference a study by two economists in tomorrow's post that the abnormally low Federal funds rate cost 2.4 million jobs in 2010. While that number is an estimate, subject to debate, it is based on the common sense point that the savings class, mainly retired people, have reduced their discretionary spending due to the deprivation of any return on their savings. It is unquestionably difficult for many retired persons to live off their savings and social security, particularly when the savings earns no income and cash inflation for them is running hot. <br /><br />I heard a perceptive reporter ask a GOP politician a question. If tax cuts for the wealthy create jobs, why did Bush have the worst track record on job creation in modern American history after the BUSH tax cuts which inured primarily to the benefit of the wealthy? I would have added the period after the recent extension of those cuts. He replied that those cuts did not go deep enough, and more was needed for the job creators to create jobs. That was the justification for the RYAN budget proposal to increase the tax breaks for the wealthy. This is not what I would call learning from experience. <br /><br />Only thinking Republicans, such as David Stockman, realize that a budget compromise has to include tax increases and spending cuts. Given the fragile state of the economy, withdrawing government spending has to be over the long term, to avoid a shock effect to an economy barely limping along after massive fiscal and monetary stimulus.TENNINDEPENDENThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17444227958539559639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2986124651030959736.post-89731418317345332702011-07-12T09:16:27.804-05:002011-07-12T09:16:27.804-05:00Someone pointed out, re: "don't tax the j...Someone pointed out, re: "don't tax the job-creators", that Florida has had Republican governors since 1999 and has one of lowest tax structures of any state, yet the unemployment rate is above nat'l ave @ over 10%. Businesses need customers, not more tax giveaways! The multi-conglomerates will hire overseas, not here, because they know they can pile up overseas profits and wait for another repatriation tax holiday, even use it as bribery against a US administration in an election year. 90% of the last windfall went to stock buybacks, stock grants to big shots, dividends & acquisitions, not jobs here. Bush, at the time, said no stock buybacks with the money.Never enforced, of course.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com