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^ Outsourced but also computerized with software and advanced programming.
People also need jobs to pay their property taxes which keep increasing every year while wages and employment is becoming more unsteady. Why? Because of unions and their entitlements. School unions are the worst; complete parasite on the economy.
What's so sad about America today is even if you outright own a home with no mortgage you have to pay rent to the school unions and greedy local districts that keeping raising the rent.
And the more luxurious your home - the more money they want from you because hard working people should be punished. Which i think is ridiculous because what if a working class family finds it a necessity to live in a large house because of a large family? Should they pay $30,000 every year to school union minions? The large homes which have hardly any taxes are usually because their is not much of a school district and therefore no such a large union representation that wants to suck your wallet.
And you are right social security is going to be bankrupt eventually. Socialism has always failed. A free market where only you determine your future is what this country was supposed to built on.
Expecting the government to take care of you is no plan.
i think your perspective makes assumptions that this system will break down completely, sometime in your lifetime. A breakdown of a sophisticated society due to its finances would not be unprecedented, but that doesn't mean it will all happen suddenly, next Tuesday.
the market has the ability to stay irrational far longer than you have the ability to stay sane and solvent. You invest in the market that exists , not in the market that ought to exist.
Also, don't see homes selling in the millions anymore.
I see ALL homes selling in the millions someday.
I see a day where someone who makes $100/hour is living below the poverty line.
google "Weimar Republic" if this seems outrageous to you.
Like le roi I do not see all this sort of thing bringing about the collapse of civilization.
I do see this bringing about the collapse of many people's retirement plans.
i think your perspective makes assumptions that this system will break down completely, sometime in your lifetime. A breakdown of a sophisticated society due to its finances would not be unprecedented, but that doesn't mean it will all happen suddenly, next Tuesday.
the market has the ability to stay irrational far longer than you have the ability to stay sane and solvent. You invest in the market that exists , not in the market that ought to exist.
I can see some great truths in your perspective. Though maybe I don't agree 100% - I think it brings up great points worth considering.
OK, back in the day that a $5/day wage was good, a house could could be had for only a few thousand dollars. The price didn't go up, the value of the dollar went down. This was caused by creating money out of thin air. I see no indication that is going to stop all of a sudden.
Rather, I'd say it's just the relentless toll of inflation each year, sometimes a lot, sometimes not much at all, but always ever upward.
For example, I bought a house for $50K, made payments until the mortgage was paid off, owned it for 30 years, sold it for $300K. Most of my friends think I made $250K profit, but that's not correct at all. Over the same 30 years money became worth one-fourth of what it was worth when I bought the house, so that $50K in purchase price was really worth about $200K in today's inflation-robbed dollars. In actuality I made about $50K profit, not the $250K thought by people who don't understand economic and financial issues.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mortimer
I'm not observing deflation. I'm observing the decline in value of an asset class, but I'm not confusing a declining housing market with deflation.
Me too, not seeing any deflation yet. I'm seeing a decline in specific assets (houses) and I'm seeing inflation in areas that the government likes to lie about, where they just cast a blind eye towards some basic living expenses and calculate the official inflation on things that aren't inflating as quickly. For example, medical expenses, which look to me like they're inflating about 20%-30% per year. How can we have little or no inflation and yet medical costs are going up so drastically?
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcmsinger
What's so sad about America today is even if you outright own a home with no mortgage you have to pay rent to the school unions and greedy local districts that keeping raising the rent.
In actuality I made about $50K profit, not the $250K thought
by people who don't understand economic and financial issues.
I'd like to point out that had you made that kind of "profit" trading
a stock or owning some property that increased in "value" by
that amount, you would have been taxed on your "profit."
If I have a 1-ounce gold coin - like a Krugerrand - that I bought in 1977 for $300
or something and I "sell" (*) it today for $1,500, I get taxed on the "gain" of $1,200.
Lots of "people who don't understand economic and financial issues"
think it's unfair that people get a "tax break" on Long Term Cap Gains.
This is a great example of how inflation is a hidden tax that the
government can blame on business "profiteers" and such low-lives.
(*) for "people who DO understand economic and financial issues,"
I did not "sell" a coin, rather, I just exchanged one form of money for another.
mortimer, no one said anything about a collapse of civilization. What I am talking about is globalization and feel that people should get on board. What point are you trying to make?
mortimer, no one said anything about a collapse of civilization.
bayarea-girl, yes they did. It was inferred and it is always inferred when talking about the collapse of the money. I was agreeing with the person that inferred it.
It also really doesn't matter if anyone said anything about it. I did. I made it part of the topic by bringing it up. Is that a problem?
Quote:
Originally Posted by bayarea-girl
What point are you trying to make?
bayarea-girl, why are you asking me that?
I have made a point that you have refuted over and over, but now you don't know what point I am making? Go back and read your own posts.
And you are right social security is going to be bankrupt eventually. Socialism has always failed. A free market where only you determine your future is what this country was supposed to built on.
Just to pick a few nits but SS is not entirely socialism and is actually pretty much free market in a number of ways. The only part really in trouble is medicaid and much of the rest of it disability, death, retirement have strong correlations between monies paid in and benefits recieved so it really is better termed mandatory insurance.
Now, when unsustainable benefits (medicare) are heaped out for political reasons etc. then that has definite socialistic qualities.
The irony is that some of the people most opposed to mandatory insurance like healthcare, auto insurance etc. don't stop to think that in non-mandatory situations you are just as socialized if not more by having to cover for all the people refusing to pay anything into the system because they spend all they have and have no assets.
I personally like the idea of some 26yo roofer having to pay into the health system rather than just default on any emergency medical care he might have and then the bill gets spread around to the rest of us in higher charges.
mortimer, what is your problem? No I don't really know what your point is. I am puzzeled, that is why I was asking you what point you are trying to make. Yeah the government and bankers are crooks, not news to many of us. Haven't really refuted anything just posted my take on things. You can make any point you want that is why we are on citydata. Again, just confused in one of your posting and reponses to me you said you don't believe that current events will bring about the collapse of civilization just retirement plans and now you write the opposite. Anyways, I don't want to hijack the thread just trying to understand another person's point of view.
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