Gloom and Doom

[hogwild]

Here is a link to the latest Ben Stein article:

http://finance.yahoo.com/columnist/a.../yourlife/7314

I think he is trying to make the point that people should save more.* Duh.

But, if people take to heart what he is saying, it would seem to destroy any incentive to save.* That is, why save high value dollars to spend later when the value of the dollar is way down.

[SteveR]

He is pushing Financial Advisors, Emerging Market Funds, and Annuties.

EMs are fine but the other stuff is a stretch in saving the economy from the Gov.
If everyone saved more, spent less and dumped it into the market the effect would seem to be a drop in prices (too much money making prices erode) and a drop in sales...leading to a drop in manufacturing...leading to a drop in purchases of raw materials...leading to price erosion due to a surplus of materials...leading to lower stock prices due to lower profits....etc.

[MonarchDon]

I just read this and despite Bens monotone and depressing voice or "Act" if you will, I think he makes some very interesting points in the article. This country has huge debt and no apparent desire to control or eliminate it. While he may sound bearish on America I think he is putting out a possible scenario that should be taken very seriously.

[2B]

Originally Posted by MonarchDon

I just read this and despite Bens monotone and depressing voice or "Act" if you will, I think he makes some very interesting points in the article. This country has huge debt and no apparent desire to control or eliminate it. While he may sound bearish on America I think he is putting out a possible scenario that should be taken very seriously.

Anyone who would recommend variable annuities to anyone for any reason has no credibility because they have demonstrated beyond any doubt that they are a paid financial who**. Unfortunately, comparing who**s to someone that recommends variable annuities is doing an injustice to who**s everywhere.

As to our debt.... As a percentage of GDP, it is almost the lowest it has ever been in our history. Now if you go back to Andrew Jackson's administration he was the first, last and only president that eliminated the national debt. How he did it and what it caused could be the subject of another post that should probably be on a different board.

Gloom and doom must be addictive. I can't remember when it hasn't been around me and intently anguished over by the masses. The truth is that we're probably better off by most of the measures that we have ever used.

Are there problems? YES. Would I do anything different if I was king? I like to think so but we're probably better off no one is king.

The boobs running our country are probably doing a better job than the generations of prior boobs that ran it before them. Of course, they are still doing a pretty pathetic job of it.