Run don't walk from this market

[Sandhog]

Another indicator that 24/7 news coverage is not such a good thing. Who watches good news? I miss the nightly news with Conkrite. Does that age me or what

Who doesn't miss Uncle Walter. They don't have evening news like they use to. I stop watch TV news altogether since it's so bias with political agenda behind it. I remembered watching Saturday Night Lives and they always made satire out of Barbra Walter but don't recall ever about Uncle Walter.

 

[Sandhog]

It's definitely a healthy thing for you, personally,that your "expectations" of the job market are positive and let's all hope that people get back to work, especially in the higher paying jobs.

I work with engineers in Mexico that make 22k/yr for US firms such as Intel and Continental Auto. Are those jobs coming back to the US at 100k per engineer? Not sure about that.

Here is an official web site that lists average engineering salaries in Mexico. Keep in mind, the figures are monthly but in pesos which is about 10:1

Portal del Empleo :: ¿Cuáles son las carreras mejor pagadas?


Expectations have a lot to do with the problem itself in that many Americans expected their houses to continuing going up in value, took equity loans, and now wondering what hit them.

That's pretty much what happen with Japan, Korea, and now China. When I was a pup, everything in a bargain store was made in Japan. Then made in Japan slowly disappear from bargain to luxury line when made in Korea took over the bargain store...etc.

No, I don't think those high paying jobs will return to US. If Mexicans are as smart as others, they will be in same economic standard as us. That's what happens when a corporation is driven by profit from shareholders. In order to make profits, cut in the labor cost. I waiting to made in China replaced by made in Mexico. I beginning to see lot more made in Mexico. Wrangler blue jean are now made in Mexico. That might explain why my waste line keep increasing. They don't know American size.

 

[dtbach]

That's pretty much what happen with Japan, Korea, and now China. When I was a pup, everything in a bargain store was made in Japan. Then made in Japan slowly disappear from bargain to luxury line when made in Korea took over the bargain store...etc.

No, I don't think those high paying jobs will return to US. If Mexicans are as smart as others, they will be in same economic standard as us. That's what happens when a corporation is driven by profit from shareholders. In order to make profits, cut in the labor cost. I waiting to made in China replaced by made in Mexico. I beginning to see lot more made in Mexico. Wrangler blue jean are now made in Mexico. That might explain why my waste line keep increasing. They don't know American size.

And on it goes.. ..

 

[brewer12345]

Who doesn't miss Uncle Walter. They don't have evening news like they use to. I stop watch TV news altogether since it's so bias with political agenda behind it. I remembered watching Saturday Night Lives and they always made satire out of Barbra Walter but don't recall ever about Uncle Walter.

I guess I am just a bit too young to have ever watched Walter Cronkite. In my adult lifetime all I remember is that news anchors are a bunch of shtbirds sensationalizing horrible events and that none of them are worth listening to. The closest I come to the definition of a halfway decent news presenter is Tom Keene on Bloomberg.

 

[Purron]

I guess I am just a bit too young to have ever watched Walter Cronkite. In my adult lifetime all I remember is that news anchors are a bunch of shtbirds sensationalizing horrible events and that none of them are worth listening to. The closest I come to the definition of a halfway decent news presenter is Tom Keene on Bloomberg.

Check out Colbert's take on Scott Pelley - Katie Couric's replacement....

Scott Pelley's First CBS Broadcast - The Colbert Report - 6/7/11 - Video Clip | Comedy Central

 

[Nords]

A mix of pension and/or annuity plus investment portfolio is a very good idea, and I don't recall seeing it recommended in any of the literature on investing.

Milevsky's "Are You a Stock or a Bond?". Otar also recommends it for certain marginally-capitalized portfolios that are skating too close to the edge.

Agreed. I don't think people of modest means living on CPI-linked income streams feel like they've come close to "keeping pace" with the cost of the essentials they buy. Sure, the cost of big screen TVs and cruise vacations are falling (which help lead to a "flat" CPI), but if most of what you are buying is food, energy, health care and education, the CPI is a joke.

I dunno. Every year I need fewer calories to do my daily routine, so I'm buying less food. Wal-Mart and Costco have put vicious price pressure on even the commissaries. Some years our property's fruit & veggie production is way too much, other years we're buying fruit from the stores.

As energy prices rise, people spend more money on insulation & conservation. Our photovoltaic array paid for itself late last year and we don't have to worry about "energy inflation". If you looked at our energy bills you'd think the price of oil had collapsed.

Health care (for the military) has been flat the last 15 years. This is an area where inflation would make it a lot easier to keep a doctor interested in treating Tricare patients.

Education... perhaps, but how long do people stay in school?

The biggest changes to our CPI have been interest rates and electronics, both of which have collapsed far more than my COLA pension has risen. Other big influences on our CPI have been ER (no more commuting expenses, healthier lifestyle) and becoming empty nesters (no more commuting expenses, healthier lifestyle!). In other words, for the last nine years of ER our expenses overall have been a big drop. Who cares what the CPI is?

I think it's really really hard to maintain an unchanging lifestyle for (1) long enough to be able to calculate a personal CPI and (2) long enough for it to become an issue when compared to pensions & budgets.

I agree that there are issues with healthcare expenses. It just hasn't been our personal history.

 

[Running_Man]

Milevsky's "Are You a Stock or a Bond?". Otar also recommends it for certain marginally-capitalized portfolios that are skating too close to the edge.


I dunno. Every year I need fewer calories to do my daily routine, so I'm buying less food. Wal-Mart and Costco have put vicious price pressure on even the commissaries. Some years our property's fruit & veggie production is way too much, other years we're buying fruit from the stores.

As energy prices rise, people spend more money on insulation & conservation. Our photovoltaic array paid for itself late last year and we don't have to worry about "energy inflation". If you looked at our energy bills you'd think the price of oil had collapsed.

Health care (for the military) has been flat the last 15 years. This is an area where inflation would make it a lot easier to keep a doctor interested in treating Tricare patients.

Education... perhaps, but how long do people stay in school?

The biggest changes to our CPI have been interest rates and electronics, both of which have collapsed far more than my COLA pension has risen. Other big influences on our CPI have been ER (no more commuting expenses, healthier lifestyle) and becoming empty nesters (no more commuting expenses, healthier lifestyle!). In other words, for the last nine years of ER our expenses overall have been a big drop. Who cares what the CPI is?

I think it's really really hard to maintain an unchanging lifestyle for (1) long enough to be able to calculate a personal CPI and (2) long enough for it to become an issue when compared to pensions & budgets.

I agree that there are issues with healthcare expenses. It just hasn't been our personal history.

While what military personnel have paid has remained the same for the past 15 years, cost increases have been incurred and merely rolled into the US budget deficit. In actuality military healthcare is rising for the past 10 years at a 10 percent annual rate far in excess of the CPI. It just that the recipients have not had to share in the additional costs.


Military's health care costs booming - USATODAY.com

 

[M Paquette]

While what military personnel have paid has remained the same for the past 15 years, cost increases have been incurred and merely rolled into the US budget deficit. In actuality military healthcare is rising for the past 10 years at a 10 percent annual rate far in excess of the CPI. It just that the recipients have not had to share in the additional costs.

I suppose we could just ask the military personnel to chip in a reasonable copay.

"Well, Private, it looks like that IED took off both legs at the knee. The field care and initial surgery comes to $34,000. Each C-leg prosthetic will be about $45,000 for your particular case, or you can go with the basic limb for $2,500. Your twenty percent copay and deductible comes to $24,400 for the C-legs, or $7,400 for basics."

Yeah, that'll work. That's four and a half months of base bay for basic prosthetics, or a year and a half of pay for something that might let him walk again with sticks.

The additional cost will, as always, act as a free market incentive to discourage over-use of medical treatment and facilities, encouraging our soldiers to take better care of themselves and avoid getting blowed up.

 

[DoraM]

I suppose we could just ask the military personnel to chip in a reasonable copay.

Or we could ask the rest of the free world who benefit from our boys being on the front lines to chip in a bit. It used to be you get spoils from war, now all we get is bills.

Maybe next war the EU can send their boys in while we sit at home.

 

[Nords]

C'mon, guys, don't get trolled off topic. Plenty of other threads where that's already being discussed.

How 'bout that market today?

 

[brewer12345]

Or we could ask the rest of the free world who benefit from our boys being on the front lines to chip in a bit. It used to be you get spoils from war, now all we get is bills.

Maybe next war the EU can send their boys in while we sit at home.

Ah, yes, the "benefits" of our imperial military adventures: dead children, shattered economies, destroyed infrastructure,Agent Orange, spent uranium shells, never-ending conflict, sectarian wars, etc. I cannot imagine why the recipients of our largesse aren't more forthcoming with monetary support.

 

[73ss454]

YouTube - ‪Country Joe McDonald - "Feel Like I'm Fixing To Die"‬‏

 

[DoraM]

Ah, yes, the "benefits" of our imperial military adventures: dead children, shattered economies, destroyed infrastructure,Agent Orange, spent uranium shells, never-ending conflict, sectarian wars, etc. I cannot imagine why the recipients of our largesse aren't more forthcoming with monetary support.

I wonder if the 6 million plus that died in German concentration camps would have felt a bit different if our largesse had stopped Hitler a few years sooner.

Sometimes you actually have to step up and do something to stop bad people doing horrible things to those around them.

 

[brewer12345]

Sometimes you actually have to step up and do something to stop bad people doing horrible things to those around them.

Which is exactly what every jihadist, guerilla, freedom fighter, etc. has running through their minds as they resist 'Merkin troops.

 

[Purron]

C'mon, guys, don't get trolled off topic. Plenty of other threads where that's already being discussed.

How 'bout that market today?

Market today? Yup, it was up pretty dang good. But hey, don't bother folks while they're gettin' all negative and stuff. We remember walkin' a mile to school in the snow..and we liked it..we loved it!

 

[ziggy29]

I dunno. Every year I need fewer calories to do my daily routine, so I'm buying less food. Wal-Mart and Costco have put vicious price pressure on even the commissaries.

But where is this "price pressure" coming from? Largely from increased unemployment (as more stuff is made in cheap-labor markets) and thus putting downward pressure on wages. It feels like a race to the bottom and I don't know the market in the long term (or publicly-traded businesses in general who are more obsessed on this quarter than the long term) will be the better for it.

 

[steelyman]

C'mon, guys, don't get trolled off topic. Plenty of other threads where that's already being discussed.

How 'bout that market today?

Yes, it has become somewhat meandering. And I'm not talking just about the market.

 

[REWahoo]

I smell bacon...