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Winter's Coming for the Boomers: Part 2

Isn't the real problem overpopulation? I believe it is. Unfortunately, even though it's a problem that should be simple to solve, we probably won't. That's because of most of the world's peoples beliefs in religion and/or cultural traditions. I fear we probably are doomed to see starvation and disease do the job of controling the Earth's swelling population. The attendant suffering of that outcome is a far greater sin than birth control or even abortion (though I'm no fan of the latter personally).

If you look closely at China's success over the last 15 years you will see that it happened after the Government implemented their draconian but effective population control laws. It's too bad it can only be done in a totalitarian country because the results are spectacular. Compare the Chinese people's lives today with the 1980's when hundreds of millions were starving and there was no wealth or even a middle class. Compare their lives today with the people of Africa, the Middle East, or large parts of South America.

It is quite easy to have great faith in God (your choice) and still understand that we individually decide whether to have children or not.

No matter what your political leanings are, it's obvious that with a billion or two fewer people on the planet, peak oil, global warming, climate change, large scale extinctions of species, wars and starvation in the third world would be way smaller, or even nonexistant, problems!

The Real Cause of Foreclosures: No Skin in the Game

Speaking of having "no skin in the game", isn't that true of most lenders from 2004-2006? After dispursing money to almost anybody willing to sign up for a mortgage, they sold it to Fanni, Freedy, Mers, or Wall Street money barrons who packaged the mortgages up into MBS packages, CDO's, etc. Thus, neither they nor the original lenders had any "skin in the game"! They didn't care if the mortgages ever got paid. By the way all of those bastards are still holding the dollars they made from those deals.Shouldn't they be held liable for the damage they did? They nearly crashed the entire world's financial system. It was probably the biggest fraud ever committed. Worse, the crime has gone unpunished. Worse yet, Bush, Paulson, and Bernanke gave the crooks even more of the citizen's money.

Of course now that prices are low, you can bet those individuals who made obscene profits selling and reselling all those bad loans and CDO's are in there (like vultures) picking up the bargains.

We are all witnesses to the most massive transfer (read robbery) of wealth from the Middle Classes the the very rich that has ever occured. Moreover, it doesn't end soon or even in our lifetimes. Sadly, our grandchildren will still be paying on the government debt incurred to pay for TARP.

Here in South Florida, most of the forclosured homes going for 60% or more off of 2006 prices are being bought with CASH! No Government programs needed.

Economic Decapitation via Cap and Trade

Excuse me Whidbey, but didn't the GOP also have an obligation to "do little or no harm" to the economy, the environment, and and the millions of people who are now finacially ruined because of the policicies of 2000 - 2006?

It is common knowlege that the economic of crisis of 2008 really began with the unleashing of Wall Street banker's unlimited greed and dishonesty; all made possible by "untangling regulations" that had previosly held them in check.

Economic Decapitation via Cap and Trade

I wish S A would stick to publishing info about investing instead of blathering political rhetoric.

What good will it do if people make more money now or in the next few years, if their children's and grandchildren's lives are a disaster because of our generation's greed, ignorance, and short- sightedness!

Six Ways to Cut Our Debt and Advance Obama's Agenda

How about a tax on foods, snacks, and drinks based on positive or negative food (health) value. Slap a tax on foods with high saturated fat, transfats, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, high fructose corn syrup, high calorie count, high sugar content, low nutritional value, and high amounts of artificial color and/or flavors. Offset the tax by a reduction based on the amount of vitamins, minerals, protein and fiber the item has. Few shoppers would buy an $8.00 12 oz. bag of Cheese Dooldles or a $4.00 2 pack of Twinkies. On the other hand, fresh vegetables or low fat meats would be discounted so a rational eater's grocery bill might even be reduced from current amounts.

The income from the tax would go towards Medicare and Medicaid helping to slow the coming insolvency of those programs. Also helping, would be the improvement in the health of the population as people slowed the rate at which they have been poisoning themselves with junk food. The cost of the programs would go down if people were in general healthier. Those healthcare programs should also automatically exclude smokers and those who have no genetic or accidental cause for their fatness and/or poor cardiovascular fitness. Those are usually preventable conditions caused by poor lifestyle choices just like smoking, excessive drinking, or non-medical drug use. The general population of tax payers should not have to pay for the poor choices of others. Reductions in benefits could be on a scale graduated by the degree of excess fat or poor fitness. That way people would be rewarded in dollars for improvements in fitness and/or reductions in their fat to weight ratio.

I am looking forward to comments and additions or exceptions readers have.

End of the Recession in 2009?

Those that compare these times to the Great Depression, don't seem to remember to consider that The Congress and Hoover's administration did what most economists today consider to be the wrong things to fight a contraction. Consequently, they exacerbated a disasterous set of problems. Everyone knows the result.
Another difference is that In the 1929 - 1933 period the large economies of the world could be counted on one hand. Today we have a G20. Many countries that were European colonies or third world countries in 1929, today are wealthier and more productive than Weimar Germany in 1932. Today's world economy has much more depth, diversity and dispersion. It's also much more intertwined. Maybe unfortunately in the short run, but an eventual advantage.

Today 's problems would probably lead to an equally disasterous economy as 1933's, IF the same things were being done by today's governments. However, that is not at all the case. Also, it has always been true that it takes 6 to 9 months for just a FED rate cut to show results in a normal downturn. This is certainly an unprecedented downturn, but the response has been unprecedented and massive. Still, to expect quick positive results in the face such a complicated web of fear, failure, and financial corruption is foolish. When mountanous bubbles burst, involving every asset class, it takes a while to reach the valley floor. However, the responses of the governments and entrepeneurs of the world will keep us from sliding into the sea. BTW, we all know that the stock market moves according to where traders think earnings will be in 6 to 8 months. That suggests that most of us will still think our personal, community, and state economies are bad to rotten when the market rallies. Remember there's trillions of dollars waiting to be put to work. I don't think that latter was true in 1932.
All the discussions above regarding the continuing to rise in unemployment failed to mention that employment, being a trailing indicator, is usually the last thing to improve.
My belief is that this time residential and commercial real estate will be the last to show real strength.
Lastly, I have appreciated the excellent comments by so many of you. The Charts and interpretation the author shared were at worst still interesting. Also, those of you that have completely dismissed the author might consider the PHD that follows his name. Just a thought....

The Shallowest Generation

This was certainly an intriguing article! The many informative charts were superb. The pupose of an essay is to keep a focus and make a point . Great job.
However, the reality is, as many responders have pointed out, rarely all black or all white (except, it appears, if you're a Republican). To me the charts and explanations show that many of the problems blamed on the Boomers actually started under Reagan and BushI who of course were not Boomers. The icing on the cake was really heaped on though by the administration of George the second(a Boomer). We've experienced what happens when an almost religious effort at DEREGULATION gives greedy people a green light to abuse the system, and consequently, the economy and the citizens.
I like many responders also worked hard, lived frugally, saved and invested. Most of the great points have already been made by other commenters. Some have commented about the FED it's chairman. However, I don't think the point was made that the real pupose of the FED is to create inflation which is a hidden tax on all of us. It penalizes those who would save and rewards those who borrow and pay back with cheaper devalued dollars later. The other purpose of the FED is to feed the Boom and Bust Cycle. Remember the low interest rates of the late 90's and the easy money policy that led the so called "dot com" boom and bust? Why bust?... because the FED very suddenly cut off the money supply and raised rates faster than the econmy could adjust. Result?
An entire generation of stock market, IRA, and 401-k investors had their life savings decimated. How dare they try to move from the Middle Class into the ranks of the wealthy. The same goes for all the uppity entrepeneurs of that period. Next, after a few years, many people were lured by FED's excessively low rates of 2003-2006 to get into the real estate boom and bust. AGAIN, The FED popped the bubbled it inflated. This time many home buyers who did nothing more wrong than to buy a house at the wrong time or be taken in by Mortgage Brokers and Bankers who used bogus appraisals to justify the inflated housing prices of the time.
Now those who have paid their bills their whole lives and were proud of excellent credit scores, find themselves owing 100 to 200 thousand dollars more than there house is currently worth, even with a 20% down payment! Today many wealthy investors are coming to South Florida to scoop up foreclosed houses at 60% to 70% off the inflated 2006 prices, If the FED's goal is to set up massive tranfers of wealth away from the Middle Classes (not just Baby Boomers), then it is succeding superbly. Of course, they always seem to be tardy at stopping the downturns, so the cycles are amplified to the down side squeezing any stalwart or responsible types determined to hang on.
BTW, the dead beats who took out the subprime loans were as often as not lured into houses they could not afford by the same unscrupulous lenders I mentioned before. Once they were foreclosed on, the Banks began dumping their houses on the market, thus driving prices down. That made more homeowners give up on their loans, get foreclosed on, and so on like a monstrous real estate snowball rolling down a very long and painful slope. The next wave of foreclosures will be the resonsible folks rolled over by the snowball. How does one justify paying back hundreds of thousands of dollars more than the house is worth to the banks that were involved in the creation of the problem? It will be impossible for someone at the front of the baby boomer pack to recover from such a financial disaster. Of course, once again a massive transfer of wealth away from the MIddle Classes, insuring that they never are allowed to amass true wealth. As the charts in the article showed, the wealthiest portion of the population keeps getting richer! It's part of the plan!

If you would like to learn more about the FED and it's creation and practice, copy and paste this link into your browser,
seekingalpha.com/artic...
OR a longer and even more eye opening article at this link
philologos.org/bpr/fil...

Sarah Palin: Wall Street's Candidate

It would seem logical to look at the Democratic Party's website to see what taxes they hope to increase and what taxes they hope to reduce. An intelligent person would know not to listen to a Republican candidate for accurate information about Democrats want to do. Likewise, the Democrats are not a reliable source of information about the Republican party's plans. I won't bother to correct the inacuracies in her statements because if you believed them without checking for truthfulness, you're too stupid to to reason with. Never take a politician's word for anything,especially about their opponents.

Sarah Palin: Wall Street's Candidate

It would seem logical to look at the Democratic Party's website to see what taxes they hope to increase and what taxes they hope to reduce. An intelligent person would know not to listen to a Republican candidate for accurate information about Democrats want to do. Likewise, the Democrats are not a reliable source of information about the Republican party's plans. I won't bother to correct the inacuracies in her statements because if you believed them without checking for truthfulness, you're too stupid to to reason with. Never take a politician's word for anything,especially about they're opponents.