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[quote=livinincali][quote=The-Shoveler]Maybe that was why the posturing Ben was doing today, talking about the need to for easier lending standards,
Maybe a move to get additional funding.
Housing is all about credit markets (well and inflation).[/quote]

The problem is that all the growth in the economy for the past 20-30 years has come from increases in debt. If you back out the debt the economy has been shrinking. The entire goal of the fed is to trick people into taking on debt or at least spending every penny they have to grow the economy. 40-50 years ago growth came from saved capital, now it comes from debt. Now that the masses cannot or will not participate the leaders are getting desperate because they fully understand that all assets are priced in credit/debt. If that debt has to be liquidated then all the assets are going to fall in price,the big banks are going to go bankrupt and the masses are going to revolt because their retirement depends on that debt backed wealth. I.e. their retirement depends on their children and grand children to be obligated to produce them goods and services in the future. What better way that larding on student loan and government debt.

In essence people are holding wealth backed by debt and the debtors can’t pay in full so much of the wealth needs to be discounted. The big banks are playing a game of musical chairs in which they hope to be the one that isn’t holding the empty bag when the music stops. They are putting the taxpayer on the hook slowly over time. In my opinion the fed’s QE game is essentially a counterfeiting operation that has to walk the fine line between stimulating demand and not being detectable in prices. I.e. similar to somebody counterfeiting a million dollars in $5 bills and spending little bits here and there so that they don’t draw attention.[/quote]

That’s a pretty good explanation of wealth backed by debt, livinincali.
But if there is a debtor, there needs to be the counter-party creditor.
In this situation, who is the creditor? folks who buy the treasury bonds?
Is it the banks? The FED? Treasury? Foreign governments that peg their currency to dollar?

How are they going to react once they find out that there is very little for them to claim in terms of what they lent against (i.e. assets)?

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I have had very good experience with AAA and highly recommend their office off of Del Mar Heights.
I was looking for 20 year term.
Their super preferred rate (i.e. the healthiest individual rate) is competitive with other insurance companies.

My recommendation would be to go with at least 6x your mean pre-tax income over last 3 years. Obviously the insurance company will try to sell you too much but you have to consider your own personal situation e.g. if you have a working vs non-working spouse, number of children, time it takes for your family to bounce back and be ok without you etc.
Most people confuse life insurance with getting an estate for the family and overpay, but remember, the purpose is not to get your family rich off of your death, just give them some buffer to adjust to the fact that you will not bringing in the bacon for a few years.

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[quote=poorgradstudent][quote=UCGal]
We hear how Social Security is broke… yet they cut the employee contributions by 2% to stimulate the economy. We need to stop that. How do you fix Social Security while simultaneously cutting the revenue to pay for it? Obviously the goal is to eliminate it – but no one will say so. Raise the SS deductions back to their previous levels – and raise the annual income threshold. Do the COLA fix to reduce the increase to SS each year. That’s a good start.[/quote]
Social Security is not “broke”.
The government has been borrowing from SS for years to pay for things like unfinanced wars. Really, the government owes SS, not the other way around.[/quote]

Maybe going over the fiscal cliff will be the best thing ever to happen to this country.

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If you thought it through, how exactly are you going to sort legal vs illegal kids? And are you going to deny primary education if they refuse to pay? Which brings us back to my original question.

It is you who is judgmental. The elderly who become permanent residents do not have any requirement to learn English. A little bit of research and comprehension on your part would have helped. And “Hell, they are here and successfully applied for permanent residence so they qualify to pay for it.” means jack. It only shows that you will not be bothered to address how you separate them from the rest. The fact that they are living in multi-million dollar homes means nothing to what is being discussed here. Not sure why you would even bring it up unless you are anti-rich or simply jealous.

And by the way, the “I know somebody” personal anecdotes on online fora are a sure indication of lying and refusal to accept facts. Couple that with you bringing in “ideology” and accusing me of “greater good” when I only pointed out the consequences of what you were advocating shows that it is not fiscal issues anything you are concerned about.
You just want a forum to rant on. Keep on.

[quote=flu] No one is saying their services shouldn’t be denied. What I’m saying is they should pay for it..It shouldn’t be subsidized. An yes, I did think through my response. Dollarswise… You offer something for “free” the system is an open door..More people take advantage of it…Who wouldn’t….Those asian elderly can afford to pay for it. Hell, they are here and successfully applied for permanent residence so they qualify to pay for it. Most of them live in side their kid’s multi-million dollar homes. Do you really think they cannot afford to pay for this?

Did you think about that one…Schools are letting our students go, are class sizes are going up, despite prop 30, we’re still going to have a budget crisis in our schools…And you think it’s ok, at the expense of kids, to offer “free” these free classes (especially when people can afford to pay for it)…Really??? wow…. Talk about thinking before speaking/writing…

Here’s something else you probably don’t know…
In the UC schools in the past, in just takes 4 students interests for a class to be offered. Some of the course offerings include such things like Ancient Asian Soap Opera History that one of my friend’s mom taught more/or less part time (and enjoyed full health benefits and subsequent residual payments) after doing it for 3-4 years…These things are also a cost.. Maybe 1 class here at one university isn’t a big deal.. But multiple that with the total number of UC schools that probably does the same thing, the CalState schools that do the same thing, and all the local community colleges that do the same thing…Tell me that these courses will lead to are absolutely necessary…

Before you get all judgmental. Why don’t you do some digging on what really happens, instead of being wrapped up in ideology of “greater good”.

If someone on the street is handing out free iPhones,toys..Of course people are gonna take it…Even people who don’t like apple products….

I guarantee you. If these “free” courses were just offered with a $30 fee. You suddenly would have a huge drop off in enrollment. Not that people can’t “afford” the classes. But the prevailing attitude is “heck, it’s free. I don’t really want to go..But it’s free”

Again, not saying things need to be completely eliminated. But come on, there’s a crapload of pork…And no one is addressing the pork…

Completely dumbfounded by the astonishing sense of entitlement that people have these days….So much for the “fake” fiscal responsibility as claimed by some folks here on piggs…[/quote]

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[quote=flu]
I don’t understand why we (taxpayers) need to support paying for students who aren’t of even legal residence here. In my area, they’re offering free english language classes to any adult living nearby. That comes out of a budget somewhere too.. And where I live, I mean it’s not that people can’t afford to pay for a language school if they really wanted it..[/quote]

Think of the consequences : If you do not pay for illegal students, it does not mean that illegals go away. It just means that in 13 years you will have a bunch of uneducated people living in your city. I am not sure if that is the price you would want to pay i.e. a bunch of non-literate folks around you.
In carmel valley I find that it is mostly senior asians taking these free english classes. These are well to do people who come here to visit their kids and grand kids. Why should they be denied a service that is provided to all adults over the county? Now do you want a bureaucrat to decide which neighborhood gets this fee service and which one doesn’t? And who pays his/her salary? Who pays for the school employee to decide on the immigration status of all kids in the school? And who gets to decide what educational course is employable and what is not? You?

I sometimes wonder if the so-called taxpayers think through their complaints.

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This is sickening. Didn’t some other posters get banned for needlessly bringing in partisan politics on every thread?
Seriously, you think Groupon would have held on to employees had Romney won? Have you even been following up on what’s happening with Groupon lately?
And SpaceX? Were they expecting a bailout if Romney won? This makes no sense.

[quote=paramount]Obama was “fired up” and so were the voters, and so now, the mass firings begin. Here’s a collection of today’s headlines. Please say a prayer for the families who will be suffering. Had Romney won, many of these companies would now be hiring.

Teco Coal officials announce layoffs

Momentive Inc plans temporary layoffs for 150

Wilkes-Barre officials to announce mandatory layoffs

600 layoffs at Groupon

More layoffs announced at Aniston Weapons Incinerator

Murray Energy confirms 150 layoffs at 3 subsidiaries

130 laid off in Minnesota dairy plant closure

Stanford brake plant to lay off 75

Turbocare, Oce to lay off more than 220 workers

ATI plans to lay off 172 workers in North Richland Hills

SpaceX claims its first victims as Rocketdyne lays off 100

Providence Journal lays off 23 full-time employees

CVPH lays off 17

New Energy lays off 40 employees

102 Utah miners laid off because of ‘war on coal’, company says

US Cellular drops Chicago, cuts 640 jobs

Career Education to cut 900 jobs, close 23 campuses

Vestas to cut 3,000 more jobs[/quote]

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[quote=paramount]I think all (8) videos are pretty easy to sit through (Ann is a good speaker) – and at the end you’ll have (IMO) a decent understanding of CDS, REPO, mark-to-market, deficit to gdp ratios, fractional banking and more.

I sort of understood what they were before I watched the video’s, but Ann really makes it easy to understand.

At the end I think you’ll truly understand why the feds are printing 90+ billion/month.[/quote]

We have had all kinds of conspiracy theories…from the FEDs being evil themselves to fractional banking being the root cause to some sort of secret entity controlling the world.
It is interesting that she adds a new one in that she thinks the folks running the system now are stupid (essentially it boils down to this) and are immoral in a cristian sense.

I just don’t see the kind of disruption she is talking about when interest rates jump 3%. But I am no expert…would love to hear from the banker types on the forum.

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[quote=zk]I can see how, if one shared her paranoid, apocalyptic fantasies and also wanted to feel as macho as her, she would be appealing.[/quote]

I could not pay attention to what she was saying, I was fixated on the tie. Whats with that tie?

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[quote=no_such_reality]I’m curious, how many have verified if your lawn guys are legally employable?[/quote]

I was betting this would be like a second or third response, but had to wait all the way into second page to see this.

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[quote=UCGal]My lawn guy sometimes skips a week… but I don’t complain because he’s free and lives here. He’s got two unpaid interns learning the business… they’ll probably get paid someday.

It helps that we’ve been moving more towards zero scaping… and the lawn is small and can be handled with a push reel (human powered) mower.[/quote]

Very funny. But he is not really free. He was complaining about you at the bar 🙂

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[quote=squat250]it’s always been hard to get out of the rat race…
those rats are so quick. and resourceful.

this is one of my favorite books ever. it’sby a guy who was observing rats in NYC, and then wrote all about them. you will learn a lot about rats. ikind of cherish this book.[/quote]
That guy must have loathed rats more than I did.
Rats have a good deal going if you have the right space-time perspective. And by the way rats never race in straight lines.

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[quote=flu][quote=dumbrenter]

If you come down from your preachy perch a little bit it will do you good to be informed that some folks can come out way ahead than an 8% rate on short term gains (but with boatload of risk). My accountant’s fault is that he does not give those special “tricks” rich people get even when I was going to pay for the “service”. That is contrary to the point your were making earlier.[/quote]

Really? someone can make more than 8% on post tax? Really? No kidding????

8% is a conservative estimate average over 8 years… Most people (not all) but most people don’t do better than that over 8% yoy. You might be an exception..

My point was the following… If you had $XXX in your 401k and $XXX in your post-tax account….And are have to “pay a lot of ordinary” income on investment gains, why didn’t you do this in a tax-exempt or tax deferred account, and put your safer investments that don’t churn as much into your post-tax account?

There is no trick to this.. It’s just common sense.
Most likely whatever you trade is available in either post tax or pre tax/tax exempt account….

And I’m only exclusively talking about equities you buy. If you’re talking about some other type of investment, including employee stock/stockoptions/etc well that’s a different game.

Anyway. peace… Have a nice weekend.[/quote]

Peace. I’m mostly drunk past 6pm. And did I say this is the beer week?
All my friends calls me freak. So is my returns.
nothing I say past 6pm can be held against me.
Maybe I’m on a lucky streak, Maybe I’ll bomb in a a few tax years. I never know at the beginnign if my investments payoff that big. Had I known, I would have done the same on my IRA. But I end up with a big gain on my regular and not much on my IRA. Maybe I should open a fund with stocks/options I start with in my IRA and ask people ot short it.
Either way, it helps to be little less preachy and a little more, I don’t’ know what.
I hope yo find peace just like I do at 8pm friday.

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[quote=flu][quote=dumbrenter]

You are very abundant with your sentences.
The middle class obviously does not agree with you. If you replace the middle class with a teenager, your post sounds like a parent.
Good for you about getting an 8% dividend rate, I am stuck paying taxes on capital gains on short term profits all through this time. Even my accountant refused to help me with that.[/quote]

Well, who’s fault was that? Your accountant didn’t hold a gun to your head to tell you to buy tax unfriendly things in a post-tax account…It wasn’t like there was any hidden information about special tax treatments on dividend income for the past 8 years. So why didn’t you do it?

In an unfavorable tax environment, you would do most of your short term trades in your tax sheltered or taxed deferred account, and you would let your post-tax accounts contain the passive funds that have very little turnover and/or dividend yielding investments, so that it can compound…

In tax favorable environment, you would do the opposite and realize as much gain as you in post-tax accounts and put your passive investments into your tax sheltered account as a safety net, thinking that your tax bill now will be lower than in the future…

This isn’t rocket science…It’s sounds like poor tax planning on your part.[/quote]

Abundance does not a return make. If this sentence does not make sense, it is the fault of the beer week.

If you come down from your preachy perch a little bit it will do you good to be informed that some folks can come out way ahead than an 8% rate on short term gains (but with boatload of risk). My accountant’s fault is that he does not give those special “tricks” rich people get even when I was going to pay for the “service”. That is contrary to the point your were making earlier.

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Will they have nets on the buildings too.

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[quote=flu][quote=dumbrenter][quote=paramount]
IMO it’s largely because of people like flu that we in fact enjoy abundance.[/quote]

You mean people who flood the threads with political posts and tax rants are actually contributing to our abundance?[/quote]

What political post? Why do you think this is about politics. This has nothing to do with politics…It has everything to do with fiscal policy. Same crap if it came out of the GOP ass for all I care.

Have you stopped and think about this…

For the past decade middle class americans had a lot of tools at it’s disposal to accumulate wealth besides slaving away at a day job as benefits from a day job/w2 income erodes… However middle class didn’t take advantage of the tools when it had them available.

Today, middle class america is in dire situation..It needs those very tools to accumulate/replenish wealth for which it lost….BUT, now those tools aren’t available….

Now that you won’t have tools available to accumulate wealth besides your day job, and now like most likely your day job’s salary is flat to going down to begin with… How do you propose to be ever get out rat race…For instance, how do you ever think you’ll be able to afford housing instead of perpetually renting from a landlord…You can’t just count on a w-2 job…

Something happened in the mist of our industrial change. Companies and institutions shifted the burden of guaranteed future from pensions that were provided by private and public companies into individuals (401k, self directed retirements, individual investments)…You were on the hook for growing your own money…And at the time, the government provided you a lot of tools to help you get there. That was the key and that was the only shot any middle class american had to get out of the rat hole. It’s gone…It’s not coming back…

If you’re not worried, you should be, especially if your young.

http://www.investinganswers.com/investment-ideas/stock-market/death-pensions-5-emerging-trends-will-affect-us-all-2153

You think taking a 15 dividend rate isn’t going to affect middle class. Let’s think about this…

If you were middle class, and you tucked away your savings in a dividend investment that produced 8% return, you were able to accumulate wealth for the past 8 years much faster than if you were taxed at your normal income tax rate (probably 25-30% if you don’t have a schedule A deduction)…That would have benefited you directly…(Whether you chose to be financial literate, understand, and do it yourself, that was your decision…)..

If that 15% cap rate is gone, even if you wanted to accumulate wealth now for instance to save up for a primary home, you don’t have that option anymore…Gone…You lose, not rich people… You’re still stuck at square 1…Rich people still have their expensive accountants and loopholes they can exploit…That’s historically what happens all the time…[/quote]

You are very abundant with your sentences.
The middle class obviously does not agree with you. If you replace the middle class with a teenager, your post sounds like a parent.
Good for you about getting an 8% dividend rate, I am stuck paying taxes on capital gains on short term profits all through this time. Even my accountant refused to help me with that.

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