
Originally Posted by
Gia2608
I actually have a degree in economics so, while the people in this thread are all very knowledgeable I look at these facts and figures with a more scientific approach, but based on historical trends and models and not just current day statistics and graphs. It is late and I do not feel like using SAT vocab so bear with me. I am going to go back tomorrow and read some of these longer posts in detail. I agree the post recession growth is "anemic", median income growth is stagnant as fuck- even if it has gone up it is not even close to being on par with the increase in expenses (like energy, groceries or even health care as Eric pointed out).
I think we are going to see prosperity in this country again in the near future because of American innovation and the fact that we do not "need" manufacturing jobs anymore. It is more beneficial to our economy to train people who do manual labor to fix our infrastructure and implement new technologies like solar and wind energy than to build widgets that we can get in china for 4.00. There are 2 major, major problems that are going to really cause problems. Sorry if anyone talked about this.
1. More baby boomers are retiring. They believed they would have social security and many had pensions that lost value in this last crash, as they were tied to portfolios and mutual funds that lost value. I have a client whose pension went bankrupt and while he still gets a check it is 40% of what he planned to retire on.These people are also living longer due to medical advances. This, unless social security is abolished (which I do not see happening) it is going to become to burden of younger people to pay MORE into social security. I would bet money that this will happen within the next 2 presidential terms.
2. Young people are straddled with debt. I am not talking about people who bought a 52" TV on credit, I am talking about massive student loan debt because we were beat upside the head to go to college only to graduate and learn employers want to pay people with a bachelor's degree a few bucks over min. wage; that plus rising housing costs means there is little to save even if they are frugal and try to put money away- they have to actually invest to see any return and many young people (30 and under) do not have one month of living expenses in the bank; never mind invest with a planner or Scott trade account what the fuck are they going to do? Work until they die? Start saving for retirement at 50?? I know 2 people besides me that have a retirement or brokerage account and mine (brokerage) is nothing to write home about at the present moment. Most of my friends are not in the adult business if this matters. I know I am still young and in 20 years or so it will be much healthier but I have to make a very significant contribution every month to feel like I will be able to keep my lights on and fridge full in old age; never mind do something I might enjoy in my retirement like travel or play the occasional game of golf.
I agree with Eric that our tax code needs a huge overhaul- the whole thing of people getting refunds every year is asinine, dated and a huge waste. I think we should have a better way of estimating people's tax liabilities so they are not over paying and then we waste resources to figure out how much to give back. It is archaic. Eliminate the whole damn thing. I will go more into that later on. Of course, I am referring specially to the US.
My point is, even if US household wealth "rises" there are many factors off-setting that marginal increase that will make it harder and harder for middle class people. I do not think we will ever see prosperity like we did post WW2. This could be compensated for if people planned a little better but I am worried that they will not.
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