For the first time since 1949, the U.S. is a net fuel exporter Growth in health-care spending is near a record low The biggest contributor to the budget deficit over the last decade wasn’t stimulus spending, the Bush tax cuts, or two wars. It was tax evasion …Read More
No Comments » Ronald Reagan asserted in 1980 that it was “morning in America,” but in America now, it is the morning after. This drive toward an off-the-grid, eat-what-you-raise, bike-there-on-your-own, solar-powered collective fantasy is inevitable: Americans were pumped full of hope that more consumption would make them happier, and instead were left with a pile of debt. They were asked to admire the top of the income pyramid, only to find that they were looking at a pyramid
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Economists predict that American households will have to contribute an average of $1,398 per year to fulfill pension promises, according to a new study…READ MORE My Take: If the graph below and the information in the linked article are correct, then we’re most likely going to have some serious adjustments in the country sooner than later. Assuming pension problems create some serious problems for State governments, expect a period of time short or extended where
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For nearly a year and half now many foreign countries (mainly developing countries, but Australia is in the mix) have been increasing interest rates and increasing reserve requirements. This summer the Federal Reserve’s Quantitative Easing II will be ending. A national election is upcoming in 2012. As usual, a number of events are happening and are upcoming that can impact the performance of your portfolio. I’m not much for big predictions, but I think it’s
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Bill Gross of Pimco on political/economic realities that lie before the U.S.: Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security now account for 44% of total federal spending and are steadily rising. Previous Congresses (and Administrations) have relied on the assumption that we can grow our way out of this onerous debt burden. Unless entitlements are substantially reformed, the U.S. will likely default on its debt; not in conventional ways, but via inflation, currency devaluation and low to
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…the biggest single thing the federal government does these days is … cut checks. Lots and lots and lots and lots of checks that go to individual citizens — $2.3 trillion worth last year alone. In fact, according to a table buried deep inside the little-noticed Historical Tables volume of the White House’s 2012 budget, these “direct payments to individuals” accounted for more than two-thirds of federal spending in 2010. That’s a post-war high…READ MORE.
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