How are we going to ride this out? Well, we’re going to have to get tougher than we’ve been in generations. A lot tougher.
Via Insty, Jeff Carter’s advice on advanced belt-tightening:
First, don’t call your broker when the market opens. He won’t know any more than you. If you get through, they will parrot talking points given to them by their research department prepared last night.
Second, don’t sell. That’s what the pros want you to do, panic. The end of the world isn’t near-although we are going to continue to go through some really rough patches. If you are looking at your retirement wilt away, don’t worry. Someday it will come back. I have seen my retirement funds get clocked several times, I am 49 and don’t plan on hanging it up for a minimum of 15 years anyway.
Third, a lot of the selling tomorrow morning will come from funds that have to sell to raise cash for margin. They have to put up cash to hold positions-only way to raise it is sell.
If you are out of work and panicked, I empathize with you. Take the cash you have and bet on yourself. Start a business. Get any job. It will keep your mind off the ups and downs of the market and if you start generating some cash it will make you feel a lot better.
Hold your elected officials’ feet to the fire. Write letters. There is only one way out of this mess. Cutting spending, and growing the economy. Too much spending and debt got us into this mess, less spending and growth can help get us out of it. . . .
Failure to reform entitlements, and passage of Obamacare, has decimated the budget. . . . A lot of folks out there will say this whole thing is politics. Some of it is. But most of it is simple math. By the way, 70% of the political donations at S&P went to Democrats. Well over 60% at the other ratings agencies went to the donkeys. Politics wasn’t the major piece in the downgrade.
My last word to you: Calm yourself down-you can’t control any of this. It’s a horror show that you choose to watch. The sun will come up and, eventually, things will straighten themselves out. If you have to, re-balance your portfolio. In the long run statistics will tell you that all your money will come back plus some.
Read the whole thing, and check out his charts; they show pretty clearly how we got where we are today.
The husband and I spent some time discussing our “retirement” today. We’re young enough that the word means “relocation nearer to family while continuing to work like dogs.” But at this point we need to stop the household red ink, and if we get into the black it won’t be very far.
We want to make our move in another year, and I had to point out that it’s likely to be two years from now; things will get better then. Right now, no business is spending any money on anything at all, and they haven’t since the “Affordable Care Act” was signed. Because they are all essentially waiting to exhale—waiting until the President gets voted out of office, and businesses can do business again.
The people of the U.S. knew that this part was coming. We probably don’t feel ready, because you never feel ready for a vicious second downturn within a Second Great Depression. But we’re more ready than we feel.
At least we are more materially privileged this time around; fewer people will actually go hungry in this Depression than they did in the last. This collapse will be less inhumane in some respects. But it will still mark us and our children; we’ll never forget what it was like to live through this.
What matters is how we handle it.
Volunteer at a local soup kitchen. Treat your friends and relatives with kindness. Don’t let the economy take your humanity away. Share what you have if you possibly can.
Keep your head down, work hard, and wait for better times.
- Excited
- Angry
- Not as Angry
- Bored
- Indifferent
- Sad
Families will have to become closer than they’ve been since the ’50′s and ’60′s; there’s been a turning away. We’ll have to have better communities too, again; neighbors looking out for neighbors.
With 330 millions disparate individuals all wanting or expecting different things, we’re bound to have conflicts. Let’s hope it all stays above the level of anarchy.
This period has the potential to be the bloodiest and most vicious time in our nation’s history, given the population, and the fact that without the level of religiousity and morality we had before (the value of an individual life isn’t what it was: the value of a thing decreases as it’s supply increases) and the crassness of today’s yout (how would you deal with a ‘Knockout King‘ if – when he approaches you?)…we’re in an oven, the gas is on, and people want to play with matches.
The only way poor Americans are going to survive our current economic troubles is by destroying their social safety net!
Hey, great snark! Let me try:
Everybody knows that the soilution to our debt problem is to give every poor person in America a new Cadillac!
Then we can all get rich washing each other’s cars!
Wow, popping up strawmen and shooting them down is so much fun, and ayone can play!
‘Cept it’s not snark, it’s in the original post:
“Failure to reform entitlements, and passage of Obamacare, has decimated the budget.”
Wherever did poor Republicans get the idea that if they grovel before their betters, Republican Jesus will do something nice for them in return?
It’s really, really creepy.
Reforming entitlements =/= destroying the social safety net.
In fact, reforming entitlements is saving the social safety net.
Be honest.
Reforming entitlements = tax cuts for the rich.
No, Doll. Reforming entitlements will make them sustainable.
“Reforming entitlements =
tax cuts for the richlong term fiscal solvency so we can continue to pay for a safety net”FTFY
So would increasing taxes on the rich.
And again, be honest.
reform = cut.
Reform = make sure drastic, excruciatingly painful measures aren’t necessary in ten years.
Haha,
Just can’t say it, can you?
You want to cut America’s social safety net now, when so many are suffering.
When so many are in need.
“You want to cut America’s social safety net now, when so many are suffering.”
She may not, but I do.
There’s no such thing as a safety net. People are suffering BECAUSE of this safety net and all the insolvency, instability and uncertainty it has created. We are a nation of debtors and beggars BECAUSE no one saves, no one cares for their neighbor, no one prepares for the future.
Why? Because of this illusory “safety net” that you seem to think can be spoken into existence with rainbow wishes and unicorn farts. And taxes. Lots of taxes. Taxes from all those “rich” people you seem to think you can whip and beat like slaves.
Guess what: When you kill the golden goose, you don’t get no eggs, golden or otherwise. Those rich people you want to rob blind? They’ll just stop producing. Cut back. Hide their wealth. Move off shore. Leave. And I applaud them for it.
You, and everyone that believes what you do, are THIEVES with the souls of rats. You don’t have the stones to steal the money yourselves, so you vote for politicians that will do it for you.
IT’S NOT YOUR MONEY. They earned it. It’s theirs. You want it? Then grow a pair and STEAL IT YOURSELF.
Church Leaders: Budget Cuts Hurt the Poor
“An alliance of American churches, including the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, met with President Obama last week, urging that programs aiding the poor be exempted from any spending cuts.”
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/church-leaders-budget-deals-hurt-the-poor/
Oh dear, looks like someone went and actually read what Jesus said in the Bible.
Time for all good CINOs rush to the aid of their rich masters!
ponce, you realize that we’re out of money, right? And that the rich don’t have enough to cover the deficit? And that any plan to deal with the debt will have to include entitlement reform AS WELL AS encourage economic growth?
And people think conservatives are Manichean…
So Ponce, Do you have a job…is the person who hired you a rich person? Or is your employer a poor person. Unless you’re self employed, the owner of the company who hired you is most likely considered rich.
I’m self employed and I can tell you one thing…I have never been hired by a poor person…ever.
So when your employer is taxed and regulated to the point where he can’t even break even, he’s going to start letting people go. Will you be one of those people? Think about it.
Shorter Mike G.
If the rich have to pay 3% more in income tax, they will all quit their $250,000+ a year jobs.
“If the rich have to pay 3% more in income tax, they will all quit their $250,000+ a year jobs.”
No, they will stop producing the marginal output that puts them in that bracket. Congratulations, you’ve lost both your precious revenue AND the productivity necessary to correct the downturn.
Your philosophy is destructive, your goals are antithetical to human happiness, and your means are both immoral and illogical.
Go away and leave my countrymen alone, you thief.
Poor Americans aren’t entitled to anything save 1) Life, 2) Liberty and 3) Property.
They aren’t entitled to my money. They aren’t entitled to a rich person’s money. They aren’t entitled a damned thing.
I don’t owe “poor Americans” a damned thing. I will take care of those around me. If someone (by that I mean an actual human being I can see, touch, get to know, i.e. my neighbor) needs help, I will help them as best I can. I will volunteer for and look after those that can’t help themselves. For those that can but won’t, I’m arming myself for their eventual “protests” against “oppression”.
I will not sacrifice one cent of my wealth for “poor Americans”.
Why? Because “poor Americans” aren’t even people. “Poor Americans” is a euphemism for the Welfare State Bureaucracy and the various government agencies whose sole interest is their own inexorable expansion.
“Poor Americans” have bankrupted this nation. May the “poor Americans” your heart bleeds for lose everything they seek to steal from actual Americans.
Actually, that’s supposed to be…They are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. A person must earn property.
My apologies for nitpicking.
It’s not nitpicking, it’s clarification. I use “property” in the sense of the right to ownership of what one homesteads through free exchange or via labor, not the actual objects homesteaded. “Pursuit of happiness” is Jefferson’s framing of that right.
I prefer using “property” because it draws in stark relief the difference between what is advocated by ponce et al. and the Founders.
Yes, that’s exactly it, ponce. Everybody who thinks that entitlement reform is necessary for us to avoid bankruptcy (and ensure that we can afford a safety net well into the future) is really Snidely “Bleeping” Whiplash looking to screw over those who are suffering. /sarc
And hey, increasing taxes on the rich would work…if the rich had enough money to pay off our current deficit.
Relying solely on tax increases for the rich to aid in deficit reduction — even when paired with significant spending cuts — doesn’t cut it for two reasons, said Tax Policy Center senior fellow Roberton Williams.
First, the income of the top 2% of taxpayers is typically more volatile than that of taxpayers lower down the income scale, so when the economy sours, so often do those high-end income streams. That means less revenue than expected will flow into federal coffers.
Second, even if that weren’t true, there just aren’t enough rich people to generate the kind of revenue needed to substantially reduce deficits.
To show the disparity, consider some recent calculations by the Congressional Budget Office. Raising all six income tax rates by 1 percentage point would yield an additional $480 billion over 10 years. By contrast, raising the top two rates by 1 percentage point would yield just $115 billion.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/12/news/economy/national_debt_taxes_obama/index.htm
Any debt plan needs to include reductions in spending, not just with entitlements, but in defense, Medicare, Social Security, and discretionary spending.
Entitlement reform is coming, whether you like it or not. It is only a matter of when, and the sooner we get it done, the less pain there will be.
Why trust our future to either of the parties when both have expanded government, both threatening our freedom and destroying our fiscal well-being? Ron Paul time!
And why, exactly, do you think that Ron Paul is any more likely to fix things than any other Career Politician up there would be? Ron talks a good fight, but when push comes to shove, he gets as much Pork as anyone else does.
He’s perhaps even more devious than most of them are. So why should I consider him to be more trustworthy?
And, don’t forget the sumbitches who made this happen, the way they were put into office, or the propaganda that supported them during their time. There are so many idiots out there that those who are not really need to be deliberate, and active. Cheers.
“Volunteer at a local soup kitchen. Treat your friends and relatives with kindness. Don’t let the economy take your humanity away. Share what you have if you possibly can.”
Wonderful advice. I might add: Don’t let politics take away your humanity, either.
It’s not just the ACA. It’s a comprehensive assault on business and our way of life, using the tools of the regulatory state to attack us in every way possible and lower our standards of living. Perhaps many of the misguided fools advocating for a vast new web of regulation are well meaning; but the few evil SOBs at the top are fully aware that the effect will be to grind our businesses into dust and to reduce our economic well-being and reduce us to dependency on the government.
Nothing wrong with a “knockout king” that a little hot lead wouldn’t fix. Preferably permanently.
I saw a live security video recently taken in a Texas Walgreen’s parking lot. Citizen A pulled in and got out of his car. Troublemaker B, a much larger fellow, got out of his car and approached Citizen A. Troublemaker B started throwing punches. Citizen A blocked one punch, stepped back, pulled a gun and shot Troublemaker B right in the face. Troublemaker B dropped like a ton of bricks. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he was dead.
Citizen A got back in his car and drove away. As far as I’m concerned, I think Citizen A did just exactly what he should have and Troublemaker B, if he lives, will probably think twice before he pulls that type of stunt again. Robert Heinlein was right when he said “An armed society is a polite society.”
Talk of third parties is foolish. Third parties must start at the city ,county, and state level, in all states or spread to them. Until such time as voter registration in this ‘third’ party is ubiquitous in America, it cannot win against the ‘machines’. Pick the least worst current party with whose basic philosophy you most agree. Work within that machine to strengthen its commitment to those philosophies with which you agree. Republican or Democrat, it will be one or the other for the time being. Join and fight for the party which most closely matches your worldview.
Actually, it would be a nice change if we had two major political parties which were committed to individual freedom, honest government, and low taxes.
Even a dog can dream.
The only way we’re going to get out of this recession is to take even more money from the people who earn it to give it to the spongers.
It’s all very well to be optimistic about the future, but what if you’re watching your retirement wilt away and you’re already retired?
Well, most of us will have to make adjustments to our now-reduced circumstances. Which sucks, but at least we aren’t living in the Kansas Dust Bowl, and at least the odds are good that things will improve in two years.
We are trying to save the country so that our parents don’t have to avail themselves of the “Ernest Hemingway Retirement Plan”.
Cutting government spending on entitlements, making participation in entitlements voluntary, reducing regulations, and lowering taxes will grow the economy, and save those who really are dependent on the entitlements.
We appreciate ‘ya, but save it for yourselves. They’ve already blown things up so badly that I’m not going to get to retire until I’m 70 anyway. (Assuming that my job doesn’t get shipped to China before then, which is about a 50-50 coin toss right now.)
I would have loved to be able to retire in five or six years, but the way Congress and various others have screwed the markets up over the last five years or so? It’ll be 10 or 11 years.
And given the way Barry is making employing people in this country too expensive, I’ll probably wind up being a greeter at WalMart when I’m 64 or so.
No way the markets are going to have come back enough by then. I’m too expensive to entertain when I’m off work.
Will this pathetic joke of a president do the USA a favor & finally resign,even though we’d have to face Bozo, er, I mean Biden the President?!?!?!?!?…
If Obummer were to resign, we could impeach Biden, because that wouldn’t be Raaaaacist. Then we could have President Bohner.
On second thought, maybe we just ought to grit out teeth and put up with Biden until we could elect someone competent……
What does everybody have against the rich? I want to be rich. Don’t you? Are the rich cartoon villains or are they the people who started a business, hired your son or daughter, and worked 18 hrs a day to get ahead? Envy, like jealousy is an emotional cancer. My Grandfather died with 3 million in the bank. He drove his old ford pickup to feed the cattle every day before going to the office. He built a business, hired people, created jobs and property for those around him. But when he died the family had to sell the business to pay the taxes and 127 people lost their jobs. Taxation destroys jobs & prosperity. Like fire it should be use carefully and under adult supervision.
I think people who hate the rich have in their minds the old cartoon of Scrooge McDuck diving into a swimming pool filled with gold coins. Or the top-hatted Monopoly man running off with bags of money. They think Bill Gates has $65 billion lying around in old bills inside a vault. “Now, if we could only put that money to work for the people…” But none of these images is true. Rich people own stocks (shares of companies) and bonds (loans to companies) that enable companies to employ the rest of us. Or they own government bonds and T bills, which keep the country afloat.
Rich people–or their accountants–know that money lying around as money is wasted opportunity. Money is human energy captured in tradable form, not much different from works of art and anything else of value. But money in a pile is essentially dead, frozen, not living up to its potential.
To paraphrase Thomas Paine: “I prefer prosperity. But if austerity must come, let it come in my time, so my children can have prosperity.”
I can think of one entitlement that could use a hefty dose of reform – food stamps. Of course, if you say, “cut food stamps” it comes off like you’re callous, and hate the poor. But just go to the USDA web site and plug your family info into their calculators – according to their “thrifty” plan, I should be spending TWICE AS MUCH on groceries as I do currently for my family of four. I spend HALF AS MUCH as people on food stamps, simply because I’m thrifty and I know the value of living within my means. I don’t have a cell phone, we don’t spend $75 per month on cable television. I’m willing to bet that a lot of people on food stamps do…in fact I think I’ve been in line behind them at the Costco, while they’re buying racks of lamb and tiramisu cupcakes with their LINK cards. This is the kind of stuff we are subsidising…there is so much room to cut without even coming close to being inhumane.
Touche. Optimism is the greatest force in the universe. IMHO.
I have always wanted to live in interesting times. Just not THIS interesting. Two years can’t come soon enough. I fear it will take much longer than that to repair this self inflicted damage. By “self” I mean the leftists assault on their own country. In the mean time I have been planning since 2008 for what is to come and I probably will not be sharing it with my progressive neighbors. You made your bed, now lay in it.