Helpful Articles

 

 Economics

 

These are articles that were written to help develop ideas for journalists that work for The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Kiplinger’s, Smart Money, AARP, newspapers, financial web sites, etc. They’ve been used as a source of quotes for these publications.

 

Four big reasons to worry about our financial future

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-frightening-future-for-financial-analysts-2016-02-03

 

Seven problems that deserve investors’ attention—politicians too!

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/seven-problems-that-deserve-investors-attention-2015-08-04

 

Financial success requires sacrifice

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/financial-success-requires-sacrifice-2015-07-08

 

When a reduction in consumption is a good thing

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/when-a-reduction-in-consumption-is-a-good-thing-2015-06-25?cb=logged0.8765984076095272

 

Tax rates are far higher than we realize

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tax-rates-are-far-higher-than-we-realize-2015-06-08

 

The short-term focus is destroying our retirement.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-short-term-focus-is-destroying-our-retirement-2015-04-20

 

5 disastrous trends impacting future retirees--and one solution

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/5-disastrous-trends-impacting-future-retirees-2015-03-12?page=1

 

How retirement plans vastly underestimate inflation

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-retirement-plans-vastly-underestimate-inflation-2015-02-03

 

100 years of inflation history.  This includes inflation for each year as well as longer periods for a convenient data source.

 

Retirement shortfall strains parents and kids.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/retirement-shortfall-strains-parents-and-kids-2014-05-20?link=MW_home_latest_news

 

Four valuable holiday gifts for retirees on a budget

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/4-valuable-holiday-gifts-for-retirees-on-a-budget-2013-12-19

 

Baby boomers and those that follow are going to be hurt as much by the lack of savings as the national debt. 

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/baby-boomers-beware-2013-01-14?link=mw_home_kiosk

 

What are we thinking?  Our country is in deep financial trouble--and the corrective actions from the Administration, Congress and political candidates are all too anemic to help. You may want to join me with some investments that will increase with inflation and a Roth to reduce the future tax burden.

 

An Avalanche of Gold Watches is coming.  We need quick and large corrections to our current economic conditions. See how bad it can get.

 

King for a Day.   Have some fun trying to find a way to solve our national debt problem. You've fired the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, got rid of the Secretary of the Treasury and bullied Congress into doing whatever you want. So you can control taxes, government spending and interest rates on the national debt. Simply click on the arrows in the program, and the future economy is in your control.

 

King for a Day article.  This article illustrates the dramatic steps you must take to save the country from economic disaster for our children and their children now that you are King and fired many of the previous people that got us into this trouble.

 

Where is this country heading?  I’ve extended the work in my previous article, Looking Ahead, in order to try and find some solutions to our nation’s debt problems.  It’s tough, but see what is required in this article.

 

Looking Ahead.  This is a narative that explains the economic difficulties coming from the growth of government spending beyond its means, the need to be able to support the interest on our debts, the aging of our population, and the cumulative effects of previous over-consumption. It also describes what individuals can do to protect themselves.

 

A problem without a solution.  This article describes the future we face as a consequence of high government debt, lack of accumulated personal savings, and compounded by the growing number of elderly compared to the number of workers to support their entitlements.

 

The aging problem.  The rapid growth in the aged part of our population and the reduction in the number of workers has political as well as economic overtures.  There will be major conflicts between the two groups in the future.

  

Can we recover from excessive consumption?  This article quantifies the absolutely huge savings problem baby boomers face.

 

Spread sheet with source material for Can we recover from excessive consumption?  This spread sheet lets you put in your own assumptions to see if you can find a solution to what is likely an impossible problem for baby boomers.

 

On Being Conservative.  Over my many work and retirement years, I've learned being conservative has helped me a lot.  This paper describes my thoughts and experiences.

 

Common Sense Economics.  There are ways to save the jobs of firefighters, police, and teachers while reducing the totally devastating debt burden of future generations.

 

No Economist Will Tell You This!  This article will alarm you and your friends and may well change your attitude about saving and investing.

 

The Gold Watch.  This article describes how the government uses "the gold watch" protocol to convince the people that it needs more money.

 

Why won't the government, finance industry and financial media tell the truth?  Our future as well as following generations will have to cope with the devastating conjunction of three inescapable facts:  (1) People have saved very little for two decades, (2) pension plans are being replaced by savings plans, and (3) our population is aging.  The government and financial concerns are desperately hiding the combined effects of these facts so that people will spend more, not save more.

 

Doesn't anyone get it?  Apparently economists forget that people have to save money to retire.  They hardly ever do.  Apparently they think the decline of savings rates in the last twenty years is just a reflection of the fact that people want to spend all of their income which, in turn helps the economy.  However, once the Boomers start to realize they have not saved enough, kiss all of these economic recovery theories goodbye

 

Solving the nation's debt problem with I.O.U.S.A  This is an article containing my comments on the movie I.O.U.S.A. as well as my notes taken during the movie.

 

Inflation can destroy retirement.  This article may help you understand inflation better as well as find some investments that can offset inflation’s deleterious effects.

Retirees get blasted by inflation.  Retirees are likely to experience inflation rates higher than the 3% annual increases often used as the default value in retirement programs.  This article explains why they should expect to see higher rates in the future.

 

Our nation is headed for trouble.  Are you?  This article shows that there is a virtually inevitable economic catastrophe coming—and the financial community is unwilling to admit it because of the impact on their ability to sell their most profitable products.  However, it will affect every one of us in one way or another.

 

Prosperity Depends of the Most Dismal Part of the Dismal Science.  This article discusses the importance of planning and saving for the future and offers some commentary on the views and excuses of some economists for the current abysmal national savings rate and pervasive debt at every level.

 

Government's Retirement Double-Talk.  The best interest of Congress is not your best interest when it comes to the subject of spending vs. saving. This article shows how a Congressional report distorts the amount people should be saving while hiding its own lavish benefits. It also provides valuable insight into retirement planning methods, or as some would say, retirement planning myths.

 

A Different Perspective.  The economy likely will get worse in long-term. Wall Street has to make a bad picture look good to make money. I Bonds may be good haven.

 

The Future Is Likely To Be Tough (PDF File)*.  The financial industry has huge overhead to cover. Senior company executives are taking far more than they and heirs can spend, financial reports overstate earnings, pension funds and individuals are using unrealistically high future return assumptions, etc. Diversification should be your first line of defense.

 

A National Tragedy (PDF File)*.  For the last decade, people have been saving far less than historical averages. This is likely to lead to a baby boomer’s tragedy as the elderly become a larger percentage of the population with few workers to fund the public programs that provide their medical and often other needs. With a significant part of the population without money to spend, the economy is likely to go to pot.

 

Pattern for Disaster (PDF File) *.  Here we see some national savings statistics depicted graphically. The national savings have been low for so many years that it would take extraordinary annual savings to catch up. That’s a very unlikely thing to happen, especially when everyone is being encouraged to spend more.

 

Will Reduced Tax Rates Help Your Retirement? (PDF File)*.  This paper suggests that it is important to save the money you get from the tax rate reductions and reviews the implications for taxable vs. deferred-tax accounts (401(k), IRA, etc.), allocation/reallocation, and retirement planning forecasts.

 

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