The Next Ten Years - Crystal Ball

[audreyh1]

Are we talking seal flu? Ebola? Something else?

What's really scary is that Brewer said the "Ebola" word back in 2012, and it happened!!!

 

[Closet_Gamer]

I certainly agree with you that the entitlement mentality is stronger than ever, but it appears to me the media is making more noise about taxing the rich than the public is. As long as the money is coming (borrowing of course) I don't think the general public cares if the rich are getting taxed more or not. This Gallup poll suggests it isn't a major priority issue.

Poll: Global warming and taxing the rich rank low on voters' radar | The Daily Caller

I think (hope) that we'll find a better way to deal with the extremes (Uber-rich and perpetually poor/welfare) as I think that's what really causes the issue.

The biggest dis-service to the U.S. conversation on this topic was the invention of the phrase "millionaires and billionaires"...the two have nothing in common. It's like saying "the problem is these mice and elephants."

I don't think most people have a problem with someone who works hard, takes some risk and winds up comfortable (millionaire). I do think most people have a problem with corporate execs and others who make $20M+ per year and give themselves 20% raises while telling the front line guy/gal that they get 2.5% again and no increase in the 401k match. Unless you invent something and start the company, no one should earn multi-generational wealth EVERY YEAR.

At the other end, I don't think most people have a problem helping get $20k of college tuition help to the child of a family making $60k/yr. Nor do we have a problem bridging a young woman who finds herself with a child and no job over to a stable life. We do have a problem with the people who never plan for their future (college, retirement) and those who use food stamps to buy some stuff and then ringing a basket of expensive food out with cash as they work the system.

I hope we find way to say "enough" to both ends without pretending that everyone in the middle is the problem.

 

[REWahoo]

What's really scary is that Brewer said the "Ebola" word back in 2012, and it happened!!!

Pffft...

He heard it from me in 2008:

... recurring ebola virus outbreaks...

 

[marko]

The biggest dis-service to the U.S. conversation on this topic was the invention of the phrase "millionaires and billionaires"...the two have nothing in common.

I take it as shorthand for "anyone who is better off than you". We're creating an envy society.

I just wish for once, just once, one of these donkeys would define "middle class". When most of us hear middle class, we think of someone in the $50K to $120K income range (more or less, YMMV).

When these stooges say middle class, I suspect they're talking about the 'working poor'.

 

[MichaelB]

Hopefully another interesting thread won't be lost due to off-topic comments with political undertones.

 

[audreyh1]

Hopefully another interesting thread won't be lost due to off-topic comments with political undertones.

I hope so. The original thread was miraculously not closed, so imoldernu was able to bring it back to life. It would be so great for this thread to survive without closing!

 

[audreyh1]

2012, 2013 and 2014 gave our retirement portfolio a nice boost!

I don't think people expected those years to be huge equity market up years.

 

[Mulligan]

I think (hope) that we'll find a better way to deal with the extremes (Uber-rich and perpetually poor/welfare) as I think that's what really causes the issue.



The biggest dis-service to the U.S. conversation on this topic was the invention of the phrase "millionaires and billionaires"...the two have nothing in common. It's like saying "the problem is these mice and elephants."



I don't think most people have a problem with someone who works hard, takes some risk and winds up comfortable (millionaire). I do think most people have a problem with corporate execs and others who make $20M+ per year and give themselves 20% raises while telling the front line guy/gal that they get 2.5% again and no increase in the 401k match. Unless you invent something and start the company, no one should earn multi-generational wealth EVERY YEAR.



At the other end, I don't think most people have a problem helping get $20k of college tuition help to the child of a family making $60k/yr. Nor do we have a problem bridging a young woman who finds herself with a child and no job over to a stable life. We do have a problem with the people who never plan for their future (college, retirement) and those who use food stamps to buy some stuff and then ringing a basket of expensive food out with cash as they work the system.



I hope we find way to say "enough" to both ends without pretending that everyone in the middle is the problem.

The absolute numbers get so big Krotoole, it is hard to differentiate between a millionaire and billionaire to someone who has little. That is probably where the confusion comes in for some. I am part of a 40 billion plus pension trust fund that services safely 75,000 recipients and 125,000 plus in the pipeline as current workers. Yet Bill Gates alone has accumulated 80 billion my himself in his lifetime. It is just incredibly hard to wrap my mind about all of that wealth accumulated by one man.
I am not condemning his wealth or even suggesting it being confiscated. Just an observation of how big that is compared to a successful pension fund. I mean he could take over our COLA'd pension system and take care of all of us in the system and he would still have half his money. Now that definitely is one difference between a millionaire and a billionaire!


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[Closet_Gamer]

The absolute numbers get so big Krotoole, it is hard to differentiate between a millionaire and billionaire to someone who has little. That is probably where the confusion comes in for some. I am part of a 40 billion plus pension trust fund that services safely 75,000 recipients and 125,000 plus in the pipeline as current workers. Yet Bill Gates alone has accumulated 80 billion my himself in his lifetime. It is just incredibly hard to wrap my mind about all of that wealth accumulated by one man.
I am not condemning his wealth or even suggesting it being confiscated. Just an observation of how big that is compared to a successful pension fund. I mean he could take over our COLA'd pension system and take care of all of us in the system and he would still have half his money. Now that definitely is one difference between a millionaire and a billionaire!


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I think we're saying the same thing...millionaires and billionaires are totally different animals...which is why the phrase does a dis-service to the important conversation about wealth concentration and policies associated with dealing with the issue.

 

[unno2002]

2016 the leading edge of the baby boomer generation pass 70, and are going to be forced to start withdrawing from tax-deferred accounts.


Before that, as more and more boomers hit Social Security eligibility, that program will be stressed beyond the ability to cope, since the "trust fund" is an illusion. There is no money there, it has all been spent.


Within the US, government debt continues to grow. Does anyone believe that it will ever be repaid, in funds that have any actual meaning or value?


What happens if/when the value of the US dollar approaches zero? What happens when foreign suppliers refuse the dollar, and will no longer sell anything to anyone in the US for dollars?


Good luck.

 

[audreyh1]

What happens if/when the value of the US dollar approaches zero? What happens when foreign suppliers refuse the dollar, and will no longer sell anything to anyone in the US for dollars?


Good luck.

Are you serious?

Is the US the only country with debts or coping with deflation or economic problems? Is the US dollar dropping? Are foreign suppliers finding other markets with robust economies full of consumers clamoring to buy their goods?

It sounds like we're going to hell in a hand basket until you start noticing that a lot of other countries are in much worse shape!!!

 

[unclemick]

I worry that after the first 21 years of ER I have graduated to a regular ol retired phart or couch potato or?



heh heh heh - as for the world, I vaguely remember'duck and cover' but I got my Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas and it's been uphill ever since - in spite of my pessimism.

 

[Walt34]

It sounds like we're going to hell in a hand basket until you start noticing that a lot of other countries are in much worse shape!!!

That's what makes me optimistic too. Yeah, we got some problems. But everyone else's are worse!

 

[M Paquette]

I hope that in ten years, more people will learn to turn off the cable news and think for themselves. There's more to life than being informed of what to be afraid of today.