Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I agree with newbiehere but my two cents is I don' like the new rules on medicare. Like paying twice because you saved too much and made investments that is worth something so instead of 104 per month you up to almost 300 a month. never thought of a fair tax before but have been thinking. And this should be in retirement/politics except medicare is retirement.
Besides Apt buildings and golf courses please list his other money making accomplishments.
Everything else with Trumps name on it has failed.
He is the best politician out there because he has convinced a lot of people that he has all the answers.
He hasn't convinced me.
It's obvious that you are bias against Trump. So let me understand, A man is successful at 90% of his business making him a multi Billionaire and in your mind he failed. WOW!
I have been successful in my field and yet I have failed at several things, but on the other hand I have succeeded at the majority of my projects. My failures were a learning event that taught me how to succeed at future attempts, so by osmosis, my failures were turned into successes. This is what separates the masses.
BTW n my post, I said that Trump is an unknown in a government job.
But isn't Socialism the backbone of a strong economy?
Strong military to defend us.
Good infrastructure consisting of,
Rail
Highways
Bridges
Open waterways
Airports.
Public education for all
Law enforcement
After we have all those items payed for by taxes then the Capitalists can go about their business as long as they employ Americans.
When corporate profits come before the basic needs as it is now our country declines.
Right now our roads, bridges, rail system need a lot more work than a tax break for Capitalists sending our jobs overseas.
That's the typical smoke-and-mirror argument that radicals use to conceal the true nature of Socialism. The ultimate essence of Socialism is about ownership of Surplus Value.
Socialism means that above a certain income level (that Socialists get to decide), your income is no longer your income, but it belongs to the state. State collects it and re-distributes it to other individuals it deems worthy -- read loyal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bobdreamz
#3: It's amazing that nations like Germany who are more "Social" in their Retirement & Worker programs are robust in their Economies while America thinks a fair Minimum Wage is detrimental to the economy.
Not sure how much you know about Germany and its retirement problems. The whole Western Europe for that matter, but it is not idyllic as you portray.
It's obvious that you are bias against Trump. So let me understand, A man is successful at 90% of his business making him a multi Billionaire and in your mind he failed. WOW!
I have been successful in my field and yet I have failed at several things, but on the other hand I have succeeded at the majority of my projects. My failures were a learning event that taught me how to succeed at future attempts, so by osmosis, my failures were turned into successes. This is what separates the masses.
BTW n my post, I said that Trump is an unknown in a government job.
Trump is not successful in 90% of his businesses just building development and golf courses.
He bankruptcies in ventures outside of RE are why I call him a failure. Just because he decorates everything in gold does not mean everything he touches turns to gold.
At the risk of becoming too political in this discussion I'd have to say that any attempt to separate politics from it's cousin economics is a truly futile process. Economics, and it's social side, politics, are always in the forefront of any considerations regarding our future.
As far as party politics go, both are now in the position of inheriting a pretty sad mess from past mistakes, from both parties, and any hope of real change has gone the way of the easy money that characterized that past. This can't be about Trump, Clinton, or Bernie, it will be about whether the American people are really ready for change, not the usual bickering on TV that has passed for too long as our political system.
No candidate has any real autonomy from the power of the party. Once we can agree on that we may just be able to begin moving forward with a more realistic view of what is really available to us all, the pie has been shrinking for most of America and this upcoming election can't bring anymore to the table than the two parties have conjured up in the past.
Pouring money into a military that has become more or less a private army for the financial interests certainly can't be continued, the space ventures are not an absolute necessity either, greasing the palms of one's supporters won't get it any longer, so, when we speak of government obligation we should be able to see that our own interests are the real priority. And NO candidate has addressed these expenditures in any meaningful manner. When we all agree on what constitutes the real meat and potatoes of our common concerns the pols will have to listen to us, instead of talking down to us.
Since I started paying attention to presidential politics – maybe in the 1980s – it seems that our choices every four years have gotten increasingly worse.
For retirees (or near-retirees) with investment portfolios, best would be a pragmatic pro-business candidate, who elides either left-wing or right-wing populism. This not being intended to be a political thread, I won't tout particular names or lob accusations. But it does seem to me that the overall political climate is not friendly to investors. We're living in a time of populist backlash.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pat Answers
...And I'm not happy that over these last years we've gotten almost 0% on our $ set aside. It really doesn't seem fair.
It's been a zero-growth 21st century, especially for those of us who invest heavily abroad, and who in the late 1990s were convinced that the magic of compound-interest (capital gains, dividends and so forth) would see them through. Instead, the world seems to be stuck in a stagnant, low-growth mode, where the salient concern is how to avoid losing one's principal, rather than how to secure exponential gains. I doubt that any politician, of any stripe, whether in Congress or in the Presidency, can make things materially better. They can however make things worse. Our present choices aren't appealing, but assuredly some are less appealing than others.
My personal philosophy is that the candidate with the cheeriest, simplest bromides is the least trustworthy and the least competent.
Since I started paying attention to presidential politics – maybe in the 1980s – it seems that our choices every four years have gotten increasingly worse.
For retirees (or near-retirees) with investment portfolios, best would be a pragmatic pro-business candidate, who elides either left-wing or right-wing populism. This not being intended to be a political thread, I won't tout particular names or lob accusations. But it does seem to me that the overall political climate is not friendly to investors. We're living in a time of populist backlash.
It's been a zero-growth 21st century, especially for those of us who invest heavily abroad, and who in the late 1990s were convinced that the magic of compound-interest (capital gains, dividends and so forth) would see them through. Instead, the world seems to be stuck in a stagnant, low-growth mode, where the salient concern is how to avoid losing one's principal, rather than how to secure exponential gains. I doubt that any politician, of any stripe, whether in Congress or in the Presidency, can make things materially better. They can however make things worse. Our present choices aren't appealing, but assuredly some are less appealing than others.
My personal philosophy is that the candidate with the cheeriest, simplest bromides is the least trustworthy and the least competent.
Much of the concern the common person on the street has is feeling like the big business crowd has increasingly gotten the lion's share of gains over the last few decades.
TARP "bailed out" mega banks who had lent stupidly and QE has further goosed the financial markets. Has the common man with a portfolio benefited? Sure, but not to the extent that banks and major corporations have.
If Bernie is elected we can expect he will push for added benefits. Unfortunately those benefits seem to involve things like free college tuition which does not help us seniors. Taxes are likely to increase. In addition Bernie talks about "going after Wall Street." I am not sure what that means except he wants to increase capital gains taxes. In addition to more taxes when we try to withdraw from our investments, the stock market is likely to slide severely. I am not sure what Hillary want to do. She is perhaps more moderate on spending but she for sure wants to increase capital gains taxes.
On the Republican side, I have an even harder time understanding the platform. Trump seems to enjoy making outrageous statements to gain attention and he also makes lots of promises but beyond those I am lost. Cruz and Rubio don't seem to have much of a chance for being elected, but they seem more interested in evangelistic ideals such as killing gay marriage and eliminating abortions. The Republicans seem to want to spend much more on the military so costs and taxes are not likely to remain constant with them either.
What do you think of the likely outcomes and -- beyond the useless act of voting -- what can we do to adapt?
Bernie will be hog tied like Obama is. The only honest one by the way
Hillary is Republican party lite.
Trump is on an ego trip.
Cruz and Rubio have been bought and sold.
Any way you look at this, we lose.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
