"If there is any one strikingly obvious feature of the U.S. economy in the past 15 years, it's the serial asset bubbles, one after another. Take a look at this chart. Why did our economy become dependent on asset bubbles for 'growth'? One way to find an answer is to ask: cui bono, to whose benefit? Correspondent Jeff W. has the answer: the financial sector and the central government." Continue reading →
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2013/03/debt-in-america-details.html
"NPR Morning Edition featured a story today about non-traditional retirements: Seeing The (Northern) Light: A Temporary Arctic Retirement. Instead of waiting until 65, Winston Chen decided to stop working for an entire year mid-career and moved his family to a small Norwegian island in the Arctic Circle with only 180 residents. Our society seems to feel that education is for the young, work is for the middle-aged, and leisure is for the elderly. But what if you decided to snip 5 years from those retirement years and sprinkle them between your working years?" Continue reading →
"The tax gap isn't the deepest divide in America. The deepest gap is the pension divide, between those few who have a guaranteed cushion in the form of defined-benefit pensions, which promise a fixed annuity at retirement, and those who don't. How the candidates address this divide, cultural as well as political, is crucial, far beyond November. To understand the current mindset, it helps to consider the pension culture of the past. In the early 1980s, many companies, as well as governments, offered employees a defined-pension benefit when they retired. Thirty years ago, about 62 percent of American workers were covered by some kind of plan like this." Continue reading →
"PBS had a recent article about retirees who stay in the work force beyond age 65. It interviewed economists. What it did not do was provide statistics on how many Americans work until age 75. The answer is: hardly any. Most Americans do not have enough savings. They retire anyway. Most Americans believe in the tooth fairy: the federal government. They think the checks will keep coming. They will not budget. They will spend their $120,000 long before they die. Then what?" Continue reading →
"If the organization known as Okupatutambien, or 'Become a Squatter Too' has its way, the country will see a mass expropriation of abandoned or repossessed property to resolve the housing crisis. According to a 117-page “Squatters’ Guide” published on the Internet by the group, there are 3 million empty homes in Spain, or about 100 for each of the 30,000 homeless. The guide advises would-be squatters on how to stake out, enter and remain inside properties, leaving the rightful owner and authorities powerless to evict them. It also offers free counseling from an office in downtown Madrid on how to siphon water and electricity from municipal supplies and how to deal with law-enforcement officers." Continue reading →
"A 'squeezed generation' of middle-aged Europeans are convinced they are going to be poorer in retirement than their parents, according to a global survey that found the Chinese the most confident about their future and the French, Germans and Spanish the most pessimistic. Americans are the most sure they will enjoy their retirement, the British are among the most likely to worry about being lonely, while individuals in Eastern European countries are uniformly morose about their future. In the survey, 43% of Japanese said they associate retirement with 'insecurity' compared to just 13% in China and the US, and 15% in the UK." Continue reading →
"How will I pay my bills? I’ve decided to sell 10% of my (after tax) income for the next 10 years of my life. Why? I’m realistic enough to know that as a 19 year old female, with no proven track record, I have about a 0% chance of finding someone to invest in Senior Living Map. So to up the stakes, I’m offering a piece of me. I can’t guarantee Senior Living Map will be a success but I can guarantee that I will be. So instead of asking you to “bet” on my first venture, I’m asking you to bet on me. I’m asking you to bet and believe that in 10 years time, 10% of my income will be your best investment." Continue reading →
"The system is broken, the middle class is disappearing, being carved through the middle by a trillion dollars in student loan debt, and everyone is still raising tuition faster than inflation. And 50% of kids with college degrees now are underemployed. And that one statistic that 'if you go to college you make a million dollars more' is totally flawed and I explained why using basic Statistics 101 knowledge. I talked about the girl who was practically naked while hula hooping so she could make debt payments from a tip jar. I spoke about the two kids who were now clerks in an eyeglass store getting paid by the hour, and they felt they were 'lucky' because their other friends did not have jobs." Continue reading →
"Under the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA) signed into law as part of ObamaCare in March of 2010, students may borrow money directly from the federal government regardless of their credit score or any other financial 'issues' they may be facing. They are not priced according to any 'individualized measure of risk' nor are there loan limits. They are instead politically determined by Congress with undergraduates receiving lower interest rates than graduate students, but graduate students allowed to borrow more than undergrads. This forced entry by the government into what was once a private market transaction has numerous consequences." Continue reading →