augustus

You seem to think this asset bubble in real estate is permanent. It is not!! Prices are already crashing in SF, Austin and Phoenix.

What???? 80% of Americans See Savings Decline Since Pandemic Peak WWW.PYMNTS.COM 80% of American households by income have seen a decline in their liquid assets since the 2021 peak of the pandemic, after adjusting for inflation. And when the stock and real estate markets tank......................

15 steps backward, 1 step forward. Time to celebrate! Or said another way, shoppers finally balk at higher prices, forcing stores to lower prices. Or another way. People have run out of money. The free money too. Giving me 40 cents off an item that is $2.50 higher than it was just two years ago does give not give me any warm and fuzzy feelings.

That's how you do it! Crank up the prices just long enough for people to forget what it was and then drop it to way more than it was...sit back and watch em happily clear the shelves!

Amazing how SF is cleaned up for the APEC conference. Just unbelievable. Time for a drag queen parade I think. And where did they put all these homeless? I can't find anything on the news about where they were sent!

I don’t need a government report to tell me what I see and what I’m experiencing, and it isn’t rosey. Nothing I see or experience is pointing in very positive direction. These inflation numbers are a Mark Twain statistic, and the man on the street knows it. But if you go to college, you can become stupid enough to believe this nonsense. Go buy a good used car and explain to the seller how low this inflation is. Then go get it repaired with these fantasy percentages in mind. The loss of purchasing power has been huge.

The people aren't celebrating. Grocery prices are up 30% over the past couple of years. Car insurance, home insurance, property taxes are sky high. Obamacare premiums taking a big jump in 2024. Half the population is delaying medical care because they can't afford the copays and deductibles! It's all over the news! And millions of people have been evicted from their homes because of soaring rents.

Yes, you were right on the money! I remember.

A historian said more men fell out from the heat than the fighting. In those days the uniforms were made out of wool.

Vivien Leigh, whose birth name was Vivian Mary Hartley, was born on this day in history on Nov. 5, 1913, in Darjeeling, India.

What does that even mean?? There should be higher unemployment? That's a good thing?

Are you serious? Things are NOT "darn good economically"! People are drowning in debt trying to maintain their standard of living from this inflation that you seem to think doesn't even exist.

That 25% is spread out over the life of the contract. Barely keeps up with inflation unfortunately. This inflation has wrecked the country.

The new fixed rate for I-Bonds purchase from November 1, 2023 thru April 30, 2024 is 1.30% plus the inflation rate. At least your purchasing power is maintained and a 1.30% rate of return on top of that. Savings Bonds are really a long term investment IMHO. Treasury Department announces new Series I bond rate of 5.27% for the next six months WWW.CNBC.COM The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the new rate for Series I bonds through April 2024.

I didn’t know there was rehab for a habitual liar.

Exactly! An insanity defense.

And you often have to hire a lawyer to get the insurance company to pay benefits. Hopefully we won't need long long term care. Maybe a year or less.

US 1-MO 5.418 US 2-MO 5.446 US 3-MO 5.516 US 4-MO 5.54 US 6-MO 5.603 US 1-YR 5.493 US 2-YR 5.248 US 3-YR 5.081 US 5-YR 4.976 US 7-YR 5.009 US 10-YR 4.968 US 20-YR 5.294 US 30-YR 5.057 These are the interest rates on Treasury paper this day. Rates are rising, especially the longer maturities, without the Fed taking action. Economists are calling this the "term premium" because investors want to be compensated more for unknown risks, the largest risk being the rising national debt. You can get 5.6% on a 6-month T-Bill and in a high tax state that's equivalent to about a 6% CD.

I'm not buying it. The National Debt and yearly deficits are too high and is starting to destabilize the financial system. The Fed could start printing money again.

You get the interest on the bonds or coupons. Bonds FLUCTUATE in value based on current market interest rates. Let's say you buy a 5-year Treasury bond today paying 4.5% annually, which is payable every 6 months. You paid 100 cents on the dollar for the face value of the bond and are guaranteed 4.5% interest and when the 5 years is up, you get 100 cents on the dollar back at maturity. The big problem is that bonds fluctuate in value based on CURRENT market interest rates, what you called the seesaw effect, before the maturity date. From the time you brought that 5-year Treasury to the maturity date it will fluctuate in value. The reason for this is say you brought a 5-year Treasury in 2020 when they were only yielding 1% and today, 2 years later, a 5-year is paying 4.5%, no one will buy your 5-year from 2020 paying 1% when they can buy a 5-year paying 4.5%. To make up for this discrepancy, your 5-year from 2020 can only be sold at a DISCOUNT to par value, or 80-85 cents on the dollar to make up for that difference in current rates. That discount to par value makes it equivalent for a buyer to purchase your old bond paying 1% and get a 4.5% interest rate available today. It works in reverse too. If you brought a 5-year paying the 4.5% today and market interest rates were to plunge, the par value of your bond would increase to 120 cents on the dollar (something like that) and you could sell it at a gain. But again, if you hold on to that bond to maturity you will get the face value of 100 cents on the dollar. The longer the maturity of the bond, the MORE fluctuation in face value of the bond. As an example of this fluctuation, there is that 20-year ETF that is down 46% in value from 2020 because of rising interest rates and their bond holdings consist of low interest rate bonds brought before the rise in the rates. This is the danger of buying a long bond, but also you could have a really good capital gain if interest rates were to drop. I personally don't like bond funds. I would buy individual bonds. Hope this helps.

The politicians are trying to protect themselves when they get busted.

You can get around 5% for a fixed rate annuity from NY Life and Mass Mutual (2 highly rated companies) through Fidelity. The terms are 3-4 years. It's not bad, especially if you are trying to defer income until you retire, as the interest accumulated in an annuity is tax deferred until maturity and you expect to be in a lower income tax bracket in the future. You can also continue the deferral by rolling it into another annuity.

Depends on the inflation rate and how the economy is doing. If the economy suddenly goes into a dive or there is a financial shock the Fed will cut rates quickly. This is borne out by history. Hard to predict though.

Well now we heard her version. There's more to it. Sounds like she was on a body sculpting vacation from her part-time studies as a husband seeker at Lehman Arts & Crafts U. You don't mess with airport security in the Middle East. You do exactly what they tell you and don't sass them. Especially if you're American. They don't like Americans. And they don't respect American women. Her "gentle push" was probably an angry shove. The young have learned how to spin the truth just like an old politician.

It is rough taking care of the elderly. They can be so difficult especially the women and their mouths. My aunt was a handful. Whatever their personalities were younger remains as they get older. God bless those people that work in Nursing Homes, they are way underpaid particularly the aides.