Seen in Print

[healey36]

But I believe most bureaucrats in the federal government know that is very bad for the value of the dollar. Simply printing more money devalues the money, thus, damaging the USA economy, which affects the whole world.

Murph, I think Mr. Bernanke disproved that in the short-term...his 'quantitative-easing' resulted in money being printed by the 100's of billions and the inflation needle has barely moved. Inflation = inflating of the money supply thereby devaluing the money, but it hasn't happened. It's interesting that today economists are desperate for a moderate amount of inflation yet can't figure out how to get it. Forty years ago it was running at 12-15% in the U.S....we just need 2-3%.

All that money is washing around somewhere...when the inflation rates starts to move it will probably be breathtaking.

Also, remember most economists will tell you a weak dollar is not all bad. It makes our products (do we produce anything anymore?) cheaper overseas. Unfortunately it also makes all of the crap we buy from overseas more expensive. Ahhh, the benefits of globalization...

[rogruth]

My description above of my undergraduate costs in 1952 -1956 was in a small school of @ 1500 enrollment.
Most faculty members were being paid about $3200 a year. Department heads and others of that nature
were getting between $3600 and $4200 a year. The president was paid $5000. The school had a very
good reputation academically.
Teachers taught four or more hours a day depending on subject matter.
They were also glad to help students and seemed to really like teaching.
I don't see that as much today.
I don't think the drop-out rate was very high either.
Morehead is a small school in eastern Kentucky that even back in the
dark ages of my attendance drew from many states and several foreign countries.
I have been very underwhelmed by how my children were taught and treated in the
1980s while in school at Georgia Southern University which seems to be common.
College/university faculties have become in their own eyes the saviors of mankind
instead of their teachers.

Rant over. For now.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Of course not - those loans are designed to be mill stones around your neck forever.....

I'm not sure I'm on board with the conspiracy theory here. Is this Sallie-Mae that runs this for the Government? The income stream can't be that great looking at the defaults they are facing.

I look at how the loan is structured and just see that it is designed to last forever. I think that the sheer numbers of loans might be surprisingly large. And, now they are going after defaulters with criminal charges - either way, just like at the casino, the house wins.

I think the original intent was that the kid would pay for a piece, the parents would pay for a piece, and they'd borrow the difference. I don't believe the intent was ever that the kid would finance 90% of the bill. The problem is the kid makes virtually no money of his own, the parents blew all of theirs on homes too big, second homes, boats, RV's, cruises, Mexican/European vacations, Vegas/Atlantic City, etc.

Might be true - parents were thought to be the anchor on these loans and for tuition. Even parents - still paying their own mortgage - were finding it hard to pay for the kid's tuition.

They make no money -- Yes. Kids round here cannot survive on their own - take 3-5 of them just to rent a house as a group

Irresponsible parents - Sure, and I watched that spend, spend, spend idiocy for years wondering what they were thinking - of themselves, so it seemed, and now the bills are coming due for many of them since they are finding that they are ill prepared for retirement.

If you think that student loans are a crisis item, just wait until the retirement insanity hits and people find out that they can't afford to retire since they didn't bother to save a penny. I sat through the 3 day retirement course that the Gov't gives its employees (BTW< best course ever!), and I find out that of the 40-50 in the room that maybe 5 will be able to afford to retire.......no savings or laughable amounts....

[webenda]

Hmmm. I was a pretty good yuba player and had a lot of scholarship offers.

Yuba Players Marching Band Video: https://youtu.be/-KbrNcgsVVk

[healey36]

If you think that student loans are a crisis item, just wait until the retirement insanity hits and people find out that they can't afford to retire since they didn't bother to save a penny. I sat through the 3 day retirement course that the Gov't gives its employees (BTW< best course ever!), and I find out that of the 40-50 in the room that maybe 5 will be able to afford to retire.......no savings or laughable amounts....

I've sat through a few retirement-planning sessions and I have to say that a substantial amount of fear-mongering goes on there. When I read that you will need $3.5 million of retirement savings in order to retire comfortably I have to laugh. They presume that everyone will (a) continue to spend at 80% of their final salary, (b) suffer catastrophic health events before age 65, (c) live until 98 years old. There's no presumption that folks will actually attempt to live within their means (probably justifiably based on the way they lived for the prior 30-40 years, lol).

Rufus, for folks exiting the gate with a defined-benefits pension they've got a big leg up. For us self-funded types out here it's a bit of the wild west.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

If you think that student loans are a crisis item, just wait until the retirement insanity hits and people find out that they can't afford to retire since they didn't bother to save a penny. I sat through the 3 day retirement course that the Gov't gives its employees (BTW< best course ever!), and I find out that of the 40-50 in the room that maybe 5 will be able to afford to retire.......no savings or laughable amounts....

I've sat through a few retirement-planning sessions and I have to say that a substantial amount of fear-mongering goes on there. When I read that you will need $3.5 million of retirement savings in order to retire comfortably I have to laugh. They presume that everyone will (a) continue to spend at 80% of their final salary, (b) suffer catastrophic health events before age 65, (c) live until 98 years old. There's no presumption that folks will actually attempt to live within their means (probably justifiably based on the way they lived for the prior 30-40 years, lol).

Actually, there wasn't a lot of fear-mongering at all in the one I attended - just a lot of very hard facts.

Ok, if most would drop to only spend 80% of their salaries, that would be an impressive improvement- far too many are spending 95% of it and the average person in the country is currently carrying $15k on their credit card(s). They aren't living within their means now! That was what I learned in that course - the people in the room had not started to save and some were retiring that same year. People are averaging way over 35% of their income just on housing alone in this area.

Rufus, for folks exiting the gate with a defined-benefits pension they've got a big leg up. For us self-funded types out here it's a bit of the wild west.

If I had started work 3 days later, I'd be in the FERS retirement system, which is basically a self-funded retirement system. I've been max'd out in that as much as allowed for decades on top of my old system pension. People ask me when I started to save for retirement, I answer "33 years ago". Less than 1/2 over 55 haven't started saving for retirement and last I heard less that 30% had $25 socked away to retire on. This is all going to implode.....

[rogruth]

Hmmm. I was a pretty good yuba player and had a lot of scholarship offers.

Yuba Players Marching Band Video: https://youtu.be/-KbrNcgsVVk

Thanks, Wayne. I fixed it.
No that is not a yuba player, that is a yousaphone player.

[healey36]

If I had started work 3 days later, I'd be in the FERS retirement system, which is basically a self-funded retirement system. I've been max'd out in that as much as allowed for decades on top of my old system pension. People ask me when I started to save for retirement, I answer "33 years ago". Less than 1/2 over 55 haven't started saving for retirement and last I heard less that 30% had $25 socked away to retire on. This is all going to implode.....

You're my hero...a rarity in a sea of despair.

The question is how will it implode? Will we have millions of zombie 'retired' people wondering the streets of America...no food, no housing, no hope? Sounds apocalyptic...Mad Max'ish... I suspect it will work itself out. The cold hard reality will hit and folks will figure out the way forward.

I cut my post-retirement spending to less than 40% of my pre-retirement income. That's probably a bit dire but I wanted to see how it would go for the first couple of years. If the ACA wasn't there I'd be, as they say in the shipyard, humped. Even if premiums increase 25% next year I'm still well below what I would be paying on COBRA. If I have to go buy insurance on the open market it will cost me roughly $1,400/month. Then it's back to work.

[robert.]

I to think it will all crash. I see so many folks over their head in CC. debt. They gut next to me buys his kids so much crap. play station and new bikes every summer. All on his credit card. He claims to be over $25.000 in debt. WTF. who keeps giving him a higher limit. I can remember sitting at my Grandfather's house. My mother was telling him about her credit card problems. He says " let me see your cards." She smiled like he was going to pay them off. Instead he just tossed them into the burning fireplace. "problem solved " he said. " you wont spend any more." I have been lucky with saving for the future. During high school i worked for a Penn grad/retired navy/retired RCA. comptroller. and notch baby. He told me "save for your future nobody else will" I was 17 and he set me up with an ira. I'm 48 now and with the exception of the last 3 years i have made the max contribution yearly. I have made some great gains and some well not so good choices. It's still worth more then i put in.

On a different note. how many over paid clowns do you think will kneel September 11 for the pre game national anthem?

[webenda]

No that is not a yuba player, that is a yousaphone player.

Thank you Roger, youse corrected me.

[rogruth]

Wayne,

That's OK. Many don't know the difference between a yuba and a yousaphone.
Some get around that problem by calling both bass yorn.

[webenda]

Actually, I knew the difference from a previous conversation we had on MTJ.

I was trying to make a play on words. The sousaphone player in the photo plays for the Yuba High School Marching Band, thus he is a, "Yuba Player."

[rogruth]

Actually, I knew the difference from a previous conversation we had on MTJ.

I was trying to make a play on words. The sousaphone player in the photo plays for the Yuba High School Marching Band, thus he is a, "Yuba Player."

Ahhh! Makes it much better. [But I didn't know that.]

[healey36]

On a different note. how many over paid clowns do you think will kneel September 11 for the pre game national anthem?

There'll be plenty...further evidence they've taken too many hits to the head.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

If I had started work 3 days later, I'd be in the FERS retirement system, which is basically a self-funded retirement system. I've been max'd out in that as much as allowed for decades on top of my old system pension. People ask me when I started to save for retirement, I answer "33 years ago". Less than 1/2 over 55 haven't started saving for retirement and last I heard less that 30% had $25 socked away to retire on. This is all going to implode.....

You're my hero...a rarity in a sea of despair.

I am aware of the rarity aspect - it's what worries me.

The question is how will it implode? Will we have millions of zombie 'retired' people wondering the streets of America...no food, no housing, no hope? Sounds apocalyptic...Mad Max'ish... I suspect it will work itself out. The cold hard reality will hit and folks will figure out the way forward.

Parallel to the housing collapse intersecting with "too big to fail" - millions that cannot affort to retire but too old to work..... Could put them on ice floes....

I cut my post-retirement spending to less than 40% of my pre-retirement income. That's probably a bit dire but I wanted to see how it would go for the first couple of years. If the ACA wasn't there I'd be, as they say in the shipyard, humped. Even if premiums increase 25% next year I'm still well below what I would be paying on COBRA. If I have to go buy insurance on the open market it will cost me roughly $1,400/month. Then it's back to work.

Our current spending is less than 50% of our combined incomes which my pension alone will cover.