It’s Friday, and remember how Grandma told you that you should save for a rainy day? Well check this out from CNN. Those of you that followed that advice are apparently messing things up for the rest of us:
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“The government calculates savings by totaling up after-tax income and subtracting spending. The remainder is considered savings by the government even if consumers are using the leftover money for investing or paying down debt instead of saving it in a bank.”
So go out and spend rather than pay down that credit card debt.
http://messages.finance.yahoo.com/Mutual_Funds_(A_to_Z)/Mutual_Funds_F/threadview?m=tm&bn=29756&tid=3&mid=3&tof=7&rt=2&frt=2
Hutch-
Sorry about Igor, I don’t know what set him off this morning.
For Glen Beck fans, here he’s talking about an "Inconvenient Debt"
[Thanks L.!]
Thanks Twist,
It was probably the Yahoo message board link,
(which didn’t work anyway).
China has bought US treasuries because their balance of trade left them flush with US dollars. Now they and others are buying treasuries to prop up their previous investments even as the inflow of dollars from their exports to the US are dwindling.
This is sure going to get interesting.
Igor says: furious
I say: unsustainable
for those that are not glenn back fans (or even those that are fans) this gave me a good chuckle for my friday.
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/218576/february-11-2009/truth-from-the-gut
i’m not a fan but i do think he’s right about a few things….including the possibility of something worse than the depression.
Ah, the power of media bias. Glenn Beck does set himself up with his eyes. Passion does get misunderstood. Has anybody checked out MSNBC lately? Coo Coo
The whole “savings it bad” crowd are morons. That attitude is the poster child for instant gratification. Ignoring the fact you can be laid off at any moment and have to fall back on your savings to make ends meet, you sure as hell can’t count on a company to take care of you in your old age. What are you going to do? Forget retirement and work until you die on the job? Besides, savings get spent eventually – either used up in retirement/emergencies or used as principle for investments. It just doesn’t happen -right now-. But then, alot of people can’t seem to think more than 5 minutes ahead..
I guess I’ve been wrecking the economy ever since I got out of college.
I have been completely debt free after I sold my SoCal house in 04. No student loans, pay cash for cars, money in the bank and growing. I have absolutely 0 revolving credit that carries a balance (use credit cards to get points and such but pay off each month)
I’ve also been told that I am crashing the housing market because it’s cheaper to rent.
Perhaps I was just born in the wrong generation. My mom makes fun of her mom about the crazy things she did (her mom lived through the great depression). Lately, my grandma sounds cooler than ever.
Chuck Ponzi
PS Linenoise is absolutely correct. Noone in my generation has even a stitch of job security. Most have no savings; in part because salaries were depressed through global wage arbitrage; and in part because of rising costs from immigration. You put 2 and 2 together, and people under 35 are definitely needing to scale back and reassess the situation; the old rules no longer apply.
Chuck,
You sound exactly like me (finacially).
Number one, Glenn Beck gives conservatives a bad name. He gives humanity a bad name. He breaks down in tears when he reflects on VP nominee Palin. He’s also been flogging a revisionist FDR history book on his show. I am ashamed to say I even know that. Beck and his ilk are absolute masters at distortion.
His debt figures? I don’t know. I won’t watch the video – BUT … I’ve been watching the debt numbers for years. … they’re astounding. Not just the indebtedness of the American public, the indebtedness of American business.
The debt statistics are actually worse than they were in 1929. Most economic forecasters haven’t seem to taken that into account.
Mish, Roubini, Ritholtz, and Taleb have. But, even now they’re being marginalized by CNN and Fox news. Amazing.
Looking at the retail numbers, it doesn’t look to me like people are out there “Spending one for the Gipper.” I know I’m not.
There needs to be a realization on the part of the government that the country is broke and people can’t/shouldn’t borrow any more.
Clearly what is good for individuals and families is to save. In the long run, what is good for families is good for the nation. Once we’ve all had a chance to save up our down payments and adjusted our lifestyles, we’ll have money to save and invest. Sure there’s a lot of pain between now and then, but that can’t be avoided, no matter how many trillions they try and throw at the problem.
yossarian,
nice to read your comment. i was afraid that i was the only one who felt that way about beck. 3 hrs a day on the radio and an hour on tv? i assumed everyone loved him with that kind of air time (and the contract that FOX gave him). he does make me laugh hysterically sometimes….especially when he speaks of palin like she is a saint.
LOL!!!! igor gave me “weeping” he must of seen beck talkin about palin too!!