I hope I'm not the only person out there feeling like i've been taken to the cleaners by the government more than once with taxes. Now with the proposed bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae by the government, that will force taxpayers to step up and bail them out. Now here is the bad part of this. We pay taxes to the government for many priveleges that we have and I agree with, and we pay mortgages to live in houses. We are charged interest on these loans that we pay to other companies, mainly Freddie and Fannie to prop them up. Now because they got greedy and loaned out bad money and over leveraged themselves and are now faced with bankruptcy, the taxpayers have to bail them out.
Do you think you'll get a tax break because of this or a lower interest payment on your mortgage to bail out the company? Of course not, you'll get to pay more. So here's the catch 22. You make less money and bring home less because of increase in taxes, interest rates go up, so you pay more, the dollar is getting devalued so your money is worth less, and you're supposed to invest for retirement on your own because the government failed to realize that unless they invest the Social Security money appropriately, we're going to run out. What a fine mess!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Tough TImes
I think that we all realize that the times are tough throughout the country, contrary to what the government will have you believe. The stock market, which is what most people look at for a read on the economy, is not doing so well. I don't see an end in sight any time soon. You hear the talking heads on TV telling us a plan for this and a plan for that, but that short-sighted view of the country is not helpful.
Our problem is that we are an instant gratification society, myself included, but this is the worst kind of behavior. We need to be forward thinkers and help to solve problems that exist, not with a piece of duct tape, but with solid foundations. The problem is that we've been down this road for so long, we don't know how or where to begin. Plus there are so many different problems, that there is no one fix.
Another issues is that we can no longer think of ourselves as a single country. The world is integrated whether we like it or not. We need to think about everyone. Wars don't help at all so this is no place to take us.
I feel sorry for the government officials because they have a mess on their hands and not really good way to fix things. Part of the problem is that the officials who make the policies are the main reasons why we are in the messes because they created ways to get us into these messes.
All I know is that we have some big problems on our hands that need some serious attention and good ideas, not speeches. We need some action and not words. God Bless Us!
Our problem is that we are an instant gratification society, myself included, but this is the worst kind of behavior. We need to be forward thinkers and help to solve problems that exist, not with a piece of duct tape, but with solid foundations. The problem is that we've been down this road for so long, we don't know how or where to begin. Plus there are so many different problems, that there is no one fix.
Another issues is that we can no longer think of ourselves as a single country. The world is integrated whether we like it or not. We need to think about everyone. Wars don't help at all so this is no place to take us.
I feel sorry for the government officials because they have a mess on their hands and not really good way to fix things. Part of the problem is that the officials who make the policies are the main reasons why we are in the messes because they created ways to get us into these messes.
All I know is that we have some big problems on our hands that need some serious attention and good ideas, not speeches. We need some action and not words. God Bless Us!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
That's Ridiculous
I heard a story on Tech Trader that just about took the cake. The story about dead CEOs of major companies and their benefits after they've died. To summarize, we're not talking about small change here, but billions, yes that's billions of dollars to dead people. I'm sorry about losing them, but they certainly don't need the money, nor do the estates of the people. If the families of the CEOs along the way didn't or refused to save enough money so that they could be fine, then that's their problem. The shareholders and taxpayers and everyone else shouldn't have to keep Fe-Fe in her 6 mansions.
Talk about fleecing of America. That' terrible. Give the money to charities, pay down more company debt, give it to shareholders, but don't waste it on dead people. It's no wonder there is a dichotomy between the rich and the poor. A billion dollars could help out a lot of other people. We are all to blame for this horrible use of commonsense.
Talk about fleecing of America. That' terrible. Give the money to charities, pay down more company debt, give it to shareholders, but don't waste it on dead people. It's no wonder there is a dichotomy between the rich and the poor. A billion dollars could help out a lot of other people. We are all to blame for this horrible use of commonsense.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
We Made It
Well we survived another day of Fed business and we actually managed to have an appropriate response in the markets. Albeit it was a bit tense for the first 15 minutes after the announcement, until people levelled their heads and realized things were heading in the right direction. Now the followthrough will be the real test. I think that we'll have a short term upwards movement and then a bit of hesitation and consolidation, but we should be able to create a short-term bottom about here.
I'm still not thrilled about the devaluation of the dollar, but once step at a time. I still believe the fundamentals need to be addressed and taught to everyone all over again. Unfortunately, human nature will cause a similar crisis to occur again later in life with a different mechanism.
As we go through life, we will gradually be able to learn from these issues that we keep bringing on ourselves, hopefully so we don't make the same mistakes again.
I'm still not thrilled about the devaluation of the dollar, but once step at a time. I still believe the fundamentals need to be addressed and taught to everyone all over again. Unfortunately, human nature will cause a similar crisis to occur again later in life with a different mechanism.
As we go through life, we will gradually be able to learn from these issues that we keep bringing on ourselves, hopefully so we don't make the same mistakes again.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Unfair Federal Reserve and Economy
What is the Federal Reserve? Basically it's a bank. What has gotten the United States into the economic mess that we are in? Basically the banks. I understand that we need to have banks to stabilize the economy because they offer a lot of avenues for commerce as well as flexibility, but when the heads of the banks themselves don't have control over what is happening in their own trenches, how does the population have a chance?
I feel the worst for the shareholders, pension holders, and employees of Bear Sterns, because they are the ones who just lost everything. Think about a person who has their pension heavily tied to the firm. They got wiped out over the past week. Most people don't follow their money that closely to know that they've got to get out before they are wiped out. The fund managers will not tell them because they'll lose the commission, so the individual is left behind.
I can't blame entirely the economic troubles on just the banks, the consumer has done it to itself, but the banks have let it go on for years. But what is the Fed going to do about it. Print more money to devalue the dollar even more, give more loans to others so they can give more loans to others who have already defaulted on their previous loans. Now that makes a lot of sense, doesn't it.
Some ownership has to be taken some where along the line, and it has to stop at many levels. We've just created a horrible cycle that we will need to fix, but the trouble now is which end to we starting fixing first. We can't fix the housing market without basically giving away money to people to buy or build new houses. The problem is, it's a loan that will most likely not be serviced. You can't fix the dollar, because it's not worth anything. You can't fix the banking industry because there are too many people with their hands in the cookie jar, and everything is too intertwined. You can't fix the government, because it won't listen to reason or make sharp decisions because of the political backlashing.
The people are the ones who will be the most hurt. Wasn't that what our country was built on? Now I don't know how to fix all the problems, but we've got to stop blaming people and start fixing things fast. We can't blame the President because he didn't crash the economy since being in office, it was the fools from decades ago, who started us off with a deficit, and then the trickle down theory took over. People are to blame, the poor ones to the ultra-rich. We all live above our means and we don't take responsibility for ourselves or our families.
Our economy and that of the world's economy will not be fixed overnight with bailouts from the Fed or interest rate cuts. Tax rebates in the hundreds of dollars won't fix things, because the people who will get the rebates will simply blow it on a TV or some other token and go on with life. We need to start over with self discipline and good management of ourselves. The adults need to learn ourselves and then teach our kids as soon as they can walk about the real life, and to take care of things.
Think about this. Would the government rush in a bail out your mom and pop business if it started to go belly up? Would you be able to lobby the government for tax credits or rebates because you felt like it? I wish the government would start to think about the country as a family owned business, where people care about the job that they do and who they help and not just about "What's in it for Me". I wish the government would spend more time with this country and stop worrying about all the other countries.
Enough is enough! We need to help ourselves and help quickly. The people and the government need to work together to fix things. Everyone needs to take a step back and a deep breath, and put our heads down and fix this great country.
I feel the worst for the shareholders, pension holders, and employees of Bear Sterns, because they are the ones who just lost everything. Think about a person who has their pension heavily tied to the firm. They got wiped out over the past week. Most people don't follow their money that closely to know that they've got to get out before they are wiped out. The fund managers will not tell them because they'll lose the commission, so the individual is left behind.
I can't blame entirely the economic troubles on just the banks, the consumer has done it to itself, but the banks have let it go on for years. But what is the Fed going to do about it. Print more money to devalue the dollar even more, give more loans to others so they can give more loans to others who have already defaulted on their previous loans. Now that makes a lot of sense, doesn't it.
Some ownership has to be taken some where along the line, and it has to stop at many levels. We've just created a horrible cycle that we will need to fix, but the trouble now is which end to we starting fixing first. We can't fix the housing market without basically giving away money to people to buy or build new houses. The problem is, it's a loan that will most likely not be serviced. You can't fix the dollar, because it's not worth anything. You can't fix the banking industry because there are too many people with their hands in the cookie jar, and everything is too intertwined. You can't fix the government, because it won't listen to reason or make sharp decisions because of the political backlashing.
The people are the ones who will be the most hurt. Wasn't that what our country was built on? Now I don't know how to fix all the problems, but we've got to stop blaming people and start fixing things fast. We can't blame the President because he didn't crash the economy since being in office, it was the fools from decades ago, who started us off with a deficit, and then the trickle down theory took over. People are to blame, the poor ones to the ultra-rich. We all live above our means and we don't take responsibility for ourselves or our families.
Our economy and that of the world's economy will not be fixed overnight with bailouts from the Fed or interest rate cuts. Tax rebates in the hundreds of dollars won't fix things, because the people who will get the rebates will simply blow it on a TV or some other token and go on with life. We need to start over with self discipline and good management of ourselves. The adults need to learn ourselves and then teach our kids as soon as they can walk about the real life, and to take care of things.
Think about this. Would the government rush in a bail out your mom and pop business if it started to go belly up? Would you be able to lobby the government for tax credits or rebates because you felt like it? I wish the government would start to think about the country as a family owned business, where people care about the job that they do and who they help and not just about "What's in it for Me". I wish the government would spend more time with this country and stop worrying about all the other countries.
Enough is enough! We need to help ourselves and help quickly. The people and the government need to work together to fix things. Everyone needs to take a step back and a deep breath, and put our heads down and fix this great country.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Welcome to My Thoughts
As a short introduction, I'm not an economist, a financial guy, or anything other than a participating member of the USA. I'm a loyal, tax-paying, law-abiding citizen who happens to love to study business, finances, and the economy. I'm actually a periodontist, which is a dentist who specializes in the gums and bones of a person.
I decided to write this blog, more as a journal and an outlet for my thoughts on where things are going with our country and economy. Since I'm new to the world of money, I don't have decades of experience, but what I do have is a brain that can think logically and I am far enough removed from the world of economics that I don't have tunnel vision or am I being paid by Big Money to do certain things.
I feel that our world is no longer separate with regards to the rest of the world's economy. The global stock markets have definitely shown that the last couple of years. The US economy and business world is no longer the powerhouse that we once were. We are not a wealthy country by any means now, but we don't know that yet. The US is far down the list of wealthy nations, but noone is paying attention to that. It's kind of like the bully on the playground not realizing that the rest of the kids are growing up also!
Our current market turmoil is brought on by noone else but ourselves, and the way our lives have been structured over the past couple of decades. We are a nation of spenders, who borrow the money in order to spend it without any regards for paying it back. Most of us think that we can charge our lives to some foreign piece of plastic and make small payments over time. We do it with our houses, cars, vacations, food, phones, cable, clothes, and everything else. What we fail to realize is that there is a bill due sometime.
This is the thought of what we do through life, and we ignore it while we're working because we can make the payments and we don't feel it so much. The issues come when we retire, or for the younger generation, when our parents retire. This mindset is ingrained and yet the retirement income is nowhere near what is needed, so people dig a deeper hole. This then sets up a cycle that is passed on from generations with no end in sight.
Look forward to the next post: What to Do About our Economy
I decided to write this blog, more as a journal and an outlet for my thoughts on where things are going with our country and economy. Since I'm new to the world of money, I don't have decades of experience, but what I do have is a brain that can think logically and I am far enough removed from the world of economics that I don't have tunnel vision or am I being paid by Big Money to do certain things.
I feel that our world is no longer separate with regards to the rest of the world's economy. The global stock markets have definitely shown that the last couple of years. The US economy and business world is no longer the powerhouse that we once were. We are not a wealthy country by any means now, but we don't know that yet. The US is far down the list of wealthy nations, but noone is paying attention to that. It's kind of like the bully on the playground not realizing that the rest of the kids are growing up also!
Our current market turmoil is brought on by noone else but ourselves, and the way our lives have been structured over the past couple of decades. We are a nation of spenders, who borrow the money in order to spend it without any regards for paying it back. Most of us think that we can charge our lives to some foreign piece of plastic and make small payments over time. We do it with our houses, cars, vacations, food, phones, cable, clothes, and everything else. What we fail to realize is that there is a bill due sometime.
This is the thought of what we do through life, and we ignore it while we're working because we can make the payments and we don't feel it so much. The issues come when we retire, or for the younger generation, when our parents retire. This mindset is ingrained and yet the retirement income is nowhere near what is needed, so people dig a deeper hole. This then sets up a cycle that is passed on from generations with no end in sight.
Look forward to the next post: What to Do About our Economy
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