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Old 02-02-2015, 04:25 PM
 
Location: NNJ
15,050 posts, read 10,031,581 times
Reputation: 17213

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell View Post
Housing costs are substantially below record highs. Food prices are nowhere near record highs. Salaries for men have actually declined over the last 40 years, but salaries for women have shown substantial gains.
Housing is still high..

Food prices are still high..

Household income is what really matters... its pretty stagnant (some say slightly up.. some say slightly down...it doesn't matter..)


"Below record highs" means little in anything but number crunching.

Quote:
If you are waiting for someone to hand you the keys to wealth, you are going to have a long wait. Someone always ends up on the bottom. Thank you for volunteering. Not only are you clearing the track for people with more ambition, you really boost morale by giving everyone someone to look down on.
Absolutely agree....
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Old 02-03-2015, 08:09 PM
 
2,485 posts, read 2,209,931 times
Reputation: 2140
Quote:
Originally Posted by usayit View Post
Housing is still high..

Food prices are still high..

Household income is what really matters... its pretty stagnant (some say slightly up.. some say slightly down...it doesn't matter..)


"Below record highs" means little in anything but number crunching.

"

Absolutely agree....
You put lipstick on an entitlement, it's still an entitlement.
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Old 02-03-2015, 08:19 PM
 
Location: NNJ
15,050 posts, read 10,031,581 times
Reputation: 17213
Quote:
Originally Posted by Costaexpress View Post
You put lipstick on an entitlement, it's still an entitlement.
Yeh.. because a comment regarding the price of any sort of good or service is the definition of entitlement...

So if the prices where cheap.. would you call that prohibition?


As people already posted... not everyone agrees with you that the boom times are here... please be a bit more mature about it.
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Old 02-03-2015, 09:38 PM
 
Location: Clinton Township, MI
1,901 posts, read 1,820,997 times
Reputation: 2329
Quote:
Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell View Post
Things are truly great. New unemployment claims are the lowest in 15 years. Gas is under $2/gallon. Interest rates hover near historic lows. Venture money is out there for the asking.

For those of you too young to realize it, these are the good old days. It's time to get moving. If you don't make it now, you never will.
Oh yeah, these are the good ol' days alright:

- Cost of living is still high and continues to go up

- Cost of education is still high and continues to go up

- The cost of Health Insurance is going up due to having to pay for Obamacare

- My Generation (Gen Y) doesn't get on their feet on average until around the age of 27 which delays starting families, moving out on their own, etc.

- My Generation (Gen Y) is paying A LOT into Social Security for Baby Boomers and there's a strong potential we aren't going to get any of those payments back in 30-40 years when we are 60-65.

- The new jobs being created in the Economy are the low wage positions

- The welfare class is continuing to grow

- We are over $18 trillion in Debt U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time

- We are in a Specialized Skill Economy, further dividing the Haves and the Have Nots

- We are in a fake "recovery" pumped up by the Fed's low interest rates, stimulus, etc.

Your points about gas prices are irrelevant as those prices won't stay low forever, the prices have been increasing and will slowly creep back up to "normal" once again BY THE END OF 2015.

Interest rates are low NOW but at some point the Fed is going to have to take away the stimulus which is what the Stock Market and the "recovery" has been built upon. Venture Capital money is mainly being poured into Tech Companies, it's not just "out there" for any Joe Blow to grab.

The foundation of the Economy is weak, very weak. When the Fed takes away the stimulus, a lot of the air is going to come out of the Economy because we really aren't having a recovery based on any strong tangibles. When you add in the new Specialized Skill Economy, I say that America is on the Decline and by 2040 this will be a TOTALLY different country taken over by far left Socialists.
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Old 02-03-2015, 09:45 PM
 
Location: Wonderland
67,652 posts, read 60,510,911 times
Reputation: 101044
Just a note about SS - I'm 53. I've been paying in SS since I was 15. I have already received a letter from the SS administration warning me that I am not likely to receive all my benefits.

My husband is 57. He is still paying into SS though he received a letter from them last year saying that he has maxed out his potential benefits. In other words, he's paid enough in now to qualify for the maximum benefits - but whether he stops working today (which he can't) or works till he's 85 - he'll still have to pay in till he quits working, and he won't get a penny more.

Keep in mind that there are many, many BBers out there who are still working full time and paying into the SS system - and who will continue to work for possibly twenty more years - continuing to pay in. We're the largest generation ever born, and have paid massive amounts into this system. And the younger ones of us have already been told that doesn't matter - we're not likely to see the full benefits like those who are older than us.
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Old 02-03-2015, 10:44 PM
 
Location: Myrtle Creek, Oregon
15,293 posts, read 17,612,121 times
Reputation: 25231
Quote:
Originally Posted by usayit View Post
Yeh.. because a comment regarding the price of any sort of good or service is the definition of entitlement...

So if the prices where cheap.. would you call that prohibition?


As people already posted... not everyone agrees with you that the boom times are here... please be a bit more mature about it.
I'm quite aware that not everyone agrees. Have you looked at a list of the threads in the Economics forum? 90% of them are whines about how much better things used to be or how much worse things are going to get. It's a pernicious mind set that is stealing the future from millions of people.

People need to look around and see what is happening in the world. The recession is over. It has been over for years. At 5.6% national unemployment, we are back into the full employment zone. 5% unemployment is full employment. Everybody else is either just between jobs or is unemployable. Federal income tax rates are lower than they have been in 30 years. Mortgage interest rates are still remarkably low, saving home buyers tens of thousands of dollars on the price of the average home.

Current economic conditions are as good as they have been at any time in the last 40+ years, but all you hear is endless whining.

Wake up, people.
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Old 02-03-2015, 11:18 PM
 
Location: Sunrise
10,865 posts, read 16,952,848 times
Reputation: 9084
Quote:
Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell View Post

Current economic conditions are as good as they have been at any time in the last 40+ years, but all you hear is endless whining.

I've been around to see the past 40+ years. Current economic conditions aren't nearly as good as they were during the 1990s. Hell, the mid to late 80s were better for someone just starting out.

2014 to present have been personally great for me. But I'm not about to call this "the good ol' days." I see how my neighbors and co-workers are doing.
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Old 02-03-2015, 11:38 PM
 
Location: Sunrise
10,865 posts, read 16,952,848 times
Reputation: 9084
Quote:
Originally Posted by KathrynAragon View Post
And the younger ones of us have already been told that doesn't matter - we're not likely to see the full benefits like those who are older than us.
Those older than you? They're otherwise known as Baby Boomers.

You're a late Boomer in the first years of "the screwage zone." You will pay in more than your older peers did -- at least your husband will. You, your husband and me (and everyone else in this screwage boat) are all carrying the ever-so-slightly older Boomers who are already at retirement age. There are MILLIONS of these older Boomers. They're the last group to receive the full societal compact -- work hard, put your money in and get your full retirement. They get 100%. You get a slightly worse retirement -- 80% of what you should get, if my quickie math is correct.

I'm solidly in the screwage zone. I'm in the screwage zone of "pay in your entire life and Social Security will likely be insolvent by the time you retire." So complain about how you've maxed your benefits but still have to pay in. My generation and later will pay in our entire lives and get nothing. That's how it's set to go without massive overhaul -- which keeps getting delayed so that older Americans can suck away as much out of Social Security as possible.

Enjoy your retirement money. And do make sure to call me "lazy and entitled" as I plow in five figures* a year for your retirement. This is why you are still solidly a Boomer and I am not. You don't want to be lumped in with your older peers. But at least you're going to get something from Social Security. I get an IOU.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/20...e-day-run-out/

* EDIT -- With the increase, it's actually closer to $7,500 per year for me and another $7,500 for my employer.

Last edited by ScoopLV; 02-03-2015 at 11:59 PM..
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Old 02-04-2015, 01:34 AM
 
106,139 posts, read 108,118,136 times
Reputation: 79692
Quote:
Originally Posted by larry caldwell View Post
i'm quite aware that not everyone agrees. Have you looked at a list of the threads in the economics forum? 90% of them are whines about how much better things used to be or how much worse things are going to get. It's a pernicious mind set that is stealing the future from millions of people.

People need to look around and see what is happening in the world. The recession is over. It has been over for years. At 5.6% national unemployment, we are back into the full employment zone. 5% unemployment is full employment. Everybody else is either just between jobs or is unemployable. Federal income tax rates are lower than they have been in 30 years. Mortgage interest rates are still remarkably low, saving home buyers tens of thousands of dollars on the price of the average home.

Current economic conditions are as good as they have been at any time in the last 40+ years, but all you hear is endless whining.

Wake up, people.
nah , these times are just less bad , they are far from the best of times.
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Old 02-04-2015, 03:31 AM
 
Location: NNJ
15,050 posts, read 10,031,581 times
Reputation: 17213
Quote:
Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell View Post
I'm quite aware that not everyone agrees. Have you looked at a list of the threads in the Economics forum? 90% of them are whines about how much better things used to be or how much worse things are going to get. It's a pernicious mind set that is stealing the future from millions of people.
Sure... CD much like many places online are a sounding board for frustrations. Nothing wrong with that.

The difference between you and I is that I don't disregard people/individual sentiment. Yes people whine about this and that... sometimes it is irrational. At the root, some of them.. even many of them.. have REAL and VALID underlying concerns.

Several people have already answered.. they either don't believe its boom times or (like me) like what the reports/stats/news but it will take time for it to make any real impact to daily life... Why are you ignoring/discrediting them?

So, for example... you claim that the cost of goods and services are lower than the highest in the decades (whether or not we agree is besides the point). Who cares if they haven't broken high priced records.. Does that really bring any solace to the person struggling to make ends meet today? No. I tried to point this out and I found your response afterwards a bit condescending.



I was alive during the 90s. My father is a child of the early 1940s (immigrated here in the 70s). Both of us have had discussions of how times have changed in day to day lives.. they are not better. Heck... I moved to my current location and purchased my home in the later part of the 90s. I can say 100%, that things are not better. However, I do like what I see in the reports/news/stats and it gives me hope that translates to real impact in daily lives; cautiously hopeful.
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