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Unemployment High, Lower Debt Levels – Will Government Spending and Debt Help Economy?

U.S. economic data are “alarming,” signaling the recovery is losing momentum, Mohamed A. El-Erian, Pacific Investment Management Co.’s chief executive officer, wrote in an opinion piece in the Washington Post.
Unemployment is high, consumer debt and credit is shrinking and small companies are having trouble obtaining bank lines of credit, wrote El-Erian, who is also co-chief

Continue reading Unemployment High, Lower Debt Levels – Will Government Spending and Debt Help Economy?

Retirement Benefits, Accounts, Longevity: Delay, Change Lifestyle

If you are planning to retire soon, think again. Retirement, it appears, is only for the few, the rich or the benefit endowed.

First, given reduced benefits, reduced personal and retirement accounts, and increased retiree longevity, workers who have a choice will delay retirement, change lifestyles, and accept that retirement as they envisioned it may not

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Prosperity’s Robin Hood – Taxes from the Rich and Bailouts to the Poor

The major themes within the economy these days continue to be upcoming tax increases, new proposed bailouts and wealth transfer programs, and increasing federal debt.

Matthew Lynn, the author of “Bust,” a forthcoming book on the Greek debt crisis, says that the debt crisis in Europe may be undermined by opposition to bailouts. What he

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As we invest, will the stock market let us retire?

We invest in the stock market so that we can retire some day. What we expect from the stock market is a return on our investment – a return that includes an “equity premium.” The equity premium appears to be getting smaller.

There are several reasons for this.

Better information, and the tools to analyze the information, has become

Continue reading Will the Stock Market Let us Retire? Where did the Equity Premium Go?

Spend, Save and Invest - Our Moral Hazard

On October 18, 2007 , Harvey Rosenblum wrote an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal titled “Fed Policy and Moral Hazard.” Mr. Rosenblum was aiming his thoughts toward the Federal Reserve and the “Bernanke put”, citing support for further fed easing in light of few signs of inflation.

Tucked inside his contribution to that day’s

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Rethinking Housing: The Meaning of Homeownership has Changed

The meaning of homeownership has changed.

Here is what it means to be sensible about buying a home:

You should save up at least a 20 percent down payment.
You should get a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage.
You should spend no more than 30 percent of your gross income on housing.
If you have student loans or credit-card debt as well

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Tax Cuts for the Rich Increases The Taxes They Pay – The Wealthy Are Different

Why don’t we change the tax system and have a flat tax or a consumption tax?

Caroline Baum, Bloomberg News columnist, helps us to understand the government’s reluctance to simplify the tax structure.

Caroline Baum:

Why, after all this time and an extensive body of data, are we still questioning whether reductions in marginal and capital-gains tax rates

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How to Borrow and How to Lend - Lessons From The Interest-Only Mortgage

We learned some important lessons about consumer and borrower behavior from how interest-only mortgages were used during the housing boom which, now, seems so long ago.

Interest-only mortgages gave borrowers the ability to lower their monthly mortgage payment and save the difference. What the mortgage industry experienced was an outcome that was less noble. In fact,

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Our Retirement Planning Problem: We Make Mistakes on How We Earn, Spend, Borrow, Save and Invest

Gregory Salsbury, executive  vice president of Jackson National Life Distributors, has identified the greatest mistakes we make on how we earn money, save, spend, borrow and invest that affects our retirement planning:

We’re too focused on the five years prior to retirement and the first five years of retirement.

We’re too focused on a specific number which supposedly

Continue reading Our Retirement Planning Problem: We Make Mistakes on How We Earn, Spend, Borrow, Save and Invest

Multiculturalism and the Unwillingness of the Rich to Pay More Than Their Fair Share

 Rich Karlgaard (Forbes publisher) eloquently shares his view on why we can’t have multiculturalism as we have it today and also have the rich willing to pay more than their fair share.

Rich Karlgaard:

Since the 1960s, American and European lefties have wanted two things that are inherently in conflict in a free society. One is greater

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