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This is not good news, Eric. We are currently in a situation where 60% of our adults of working age pay no federal income tax. It is understandable why they support more government handouts and eschew those jobs available to flip burgers or work in warehouses. The 40% of us who pay the bills are told to keep paying. Now they want to hire thousands more IRS investigators to check on every transaction we make over $600 to make sure us 40%ers aren't stiffing them for a few more bucks. I have no objection to paying my "fair share," but as my share grows, someone else gets a free ride. There are too many folks without skin in the game.
Another interesting statistic: Laborforce penetration rate
https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000
CNBC reports that India has a coal shortage.
China is not alone — India is also teetering on the edge of a power crisis.
As of Oct. 6, 80% of India’s 135 coal-powered plants had less than 8 days of supplies left — more than half of those had stocks worth two days or fewer, according to ...
The power crisis would likely have an immediate impact on India’s nascent economic recovery which is being led by industrial activity instead of services, according to Kunal Kundu, India economist at Societe Generale.
read
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/12/coal-shortage-india-could-soon-be-on-the-brink-of-a-power-crisis.html
Isn't it wonderful that our congresscritters have reached a deal to kick the can down the road one more time. I have to wonder how many of them need to have the bull market continue for awhile so they can live in the manner to which they would like to become accustomed.
And maybe a flock of pigs fly by?
No, there isn't, Eric, and that is a shame.
My doctor's office just got a supply of the booster shot. Ms. Doris and I are scheduled to get it tomorrow morning. This takes another load off my mind, considering all the idiots out there who refuse to get theirs.
Do you think the infrastructure (mostly in name, only) bill passing will push the market up, due to more deficit spending, or down, due to more deficit spending, Nick?
https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/smith-wesson-headquarters-tennessee-gun-legislation
My only question is, what the he11 took them so long? why would a company like Smith and Wesson stay in Massachusets where they are hated by the politicians in power. Take your business to a state that likes you. Tennessee is a great match.
I don't see any way out of this debt spiral without pain. The greater the debt, the greater the pain. Perhaps someone who is smarter than I am can explain it to me, but I don't think It can go on forever.
My use of the word "transitory" brought up a memory. Way back in the 1930s the state of Pennsylvania built a superhighway from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. They decided to pay for it by charging a temporary toll until all the debt from building it was paid off. Our turnpike commission found a loophole. They kept borrowing money every year. That way their debt would never be paid off. Not only do we still pay tolls nearly 90 years later, but they increase frequently. So much for transitory or temporary.
It simply amazes me that people are willing to lose a good job because they don't want to get the Covid-19 vaccine. But then, why would that amaze me? Statistically, 50% of the population is of below average intelligence, since an IQ of 100 is supposed to be average. I suspect most of those who refuse vaccination are in that category, but believe firmly that they are very smart
As to inflation, it hit the Dollar Tree stores. They announced that everything will no longer be one dollar. Prices will be increasing to $1.25 to $1.50. Of course our government tells us this is just transitory. In the words of the immortal Yogi Berra, "Who woulda thunk it?"
Anyone know how many shares we get?
Bonds that pay interest rates of 5% tax free or 6-7% taxable are worth having, Nick.
Yield on the 10 yr treasury bond hit 1.5% today. This is still way below what it would take to make that bond a good income earner for the average person who does not have 50 million or so to park there. Low interest rates benefit those who make their living selling stocks to those of us who have noplace else to park our pittance, so I suspect the fed will keep those rates low for some time to come. OK, color me cynical.
Of course those in favor of more gun control will not understand what the carnage in Chicago proves, but it does prove that gun control does not take guns out of the hands of criminals. If it did, there would be no such carnage.
So the fed says they did not pee in the punchbowl and will keep on keeping on? Does this mean they will keep printing money so the wall street elite can keep making more of it?
JMHO, Nick, but I think the stock market will not be the only game in town when one can get 3% on a CD or 5% on a bond. Those days are coming back again. Most really high yield CDs today still pay less than 1%. To get more than that, you have to lock up your money for 5 years or so.
Not really surprising, Nick. After all, where can one put money so it earns a decent return? Certainly not bonds or CDs. The only game in town is the stock market, so established by the money printers at the Fed. The government tells us that inflation is not a danger and that this spike in prices is temporary, so in the words of the immortal Alfred E Neuman, "What me worry?"
Those with thinking caps on think exactly that, Nick.
An ancient Chinese curse is, "May you live in interesting times." I guess this is one of those interesting times, at least for us investor types.
I guess this is one of those "interesting times" mentioned in the ancient Chinese curse?
Whatcha think, Nick? Did someone finally pee in the punch bowl?
The bad things usually happen during October. I want to be ready for that in case this is another such year.
I am still in the process of eliminating individual stocks from my investment portfolios. I don't have a good feeling about being heavily invested right now, especially since the W 1 FE unit and I are approaching the age of 80 like a runaway freight train.
I was told by the same guy who retired with a debt load that debt was the American way. I actually did live in what most would call poverty when I first got married in 1960. I supported the beginning of a family on an income of $45.01 after taxes per week. I never want to go back to that.
My father in law taught me most of what I know about accumulating wealth. I don't have all that much by some standards, but what I have is the result of saving, and of course, spending less than what comes in. I have seldom indulged in new cars, and we live in the house we bought in 1965 for the princely sum of $14,100, which at the time was a lot of money to us.
I have little sympathy for those who live from paycheck to paycheck with Master Card maxed out. The lesson they never learned was how to do without something they wanted but did not REALLY need.
A few years back, a friend retired. He told me he would like to go on one of the hunting trips with me, but he would have to pay down some debt first. my Jaw dropped. I couldn't believe anyone was stupid enough to give up a good paying job and retire who had debt and nothiing saved. I guess I was wrong in that belief.
Now, That one is funny. Edward Jenner is also dead.
I'll bet every single person who Louis Pasteur gave his rabies treatment to is also dead.
I like it. No need for fancy. The big guy wasn't fancy.
I have considered Gary and his wife Carol friends for about two decades. I'm gonna miss ya, buddy. Hope you have a great shooting range in heaven.
It is wet here in beautiful and semi-tropical downtown Saint Thomas today. The leftovers from Ida dumped over six inches of rain on us. As a positive thing from this, we don't have to water the garden. The garden is still producing a bumper crop of tomatoes.
It has little to do with either the far right or far left, Nick. The common denominator is stupidity. You must remember that Trump did everything he could to expedite the development and release of the vaccine. Most Trump supporters I know have been vaccinated. I do know of several who voted for the alsheimers patient in charge of the country who have refused vaccination. They are not the brightest candles on the candelabra either. Well, at least now we don't have those mean spirited tweets to gripe about, do we.
I was in elementary school when Polio was a huge fear for parents, Eric. When Jonas Salk came up with the injectable vaccine, parents marched their kids into any clinic that had it, and when the Sabin oral vaccine came out, we got that one too. I had two friends who got polio. One died and one was permanently crippled. Anti vaxxers are idiots, and a pollutant to the gene pool, but perhaps I am a bit harsh. I do pity those who die needlessly, but my sympathy is limited. Like Nick, I will get the booster as soon as I can.
We have been married for 61 years, Eric. It is one of the lessons I learned early on.
My W 1 FE unit is much more of a harda$$ than I am (believe it or not). She has said for some time that hospitals should refuse to admit people who have not been vaccinated. Her thinking is that choices have consequences, and not getting vaccinated is such a choice.
Pretty much the way it is, Nick.
I don't think Biden is capable of that sort of thinking, Eric.
Keep in mind that there are far more renters than there are landlords. Politicians count votes and could care less about what is right or wrong.