Dollar Devaluation

I just read where $10,000 worth of Berkshire-Hathaway stock bought in 1964 sells for $80M today...even with recessions.

 

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Hi BDA,

I'm mostly in agreement with you - that life is what we make it - however, this time it is different for many. There are a lot of folks that did everything right - they got an education, they worked hard, they saved, they did all the right things . . . and they still got thrown under the bus.

It's the middle class en toto that's being eliminated systematically while the wealth is being redistributed to the top 1% that causes me the most concern. It used to be that you could get a good paying mfg job with little education and be able to buy the house and send the kids to college and thereby join the middle class OR you could actually afford to go to college and by obtaining an education, joing the middle class. Alas and alack, both of these doors are shut.

We need to have a viable and growing middle class or I fear for the nation.

peace,

rono

 

one thing I think is true ... most people in the US live way beyond their means ... most carry credit card balances over $10k

and when times are good they dont save ... they spend

 

That phubanks is the most true statement in this post.

And because we as citizens spend more then we make on a whole whether in good times or bad our government also does the same and here we stand complaining about a solution (cloudsweep) that was arrived at.
Does anyone else have one better...nope just I paid where's mine. Well "mine" was spent maybe not on you but it's gone now it's it.
How about we fix this so I/we dont have to keep paying into a system that is broken.
Nope instead we'll keep avoiding it and letting it get worse until there is no fixing. This has been a problem for along time, look at those charts.

 

As the economy goes so does the dollar !!

 

The thing about this is, about 73% of the GDP of the last decade was this deficit spending. If people would have done what you said, we would of had this problem 10 years ago....maybe sooner. I too have a solution, 70% taxes on anyone who has a net worth over 1M dollars and remove all the loopholes. But, I'm sure this solution is as popular as Sweepers.

 

Howdy,

Absolutely and for these people, I really can't work up a lot of sympathy when sh*t hits the fan and they get into a jam.

But if I'm not mistaken, isnt' this what our elected officials in washington have been doing for some time now? Both personally and publically, we've become a nation of borrowers and consumers, instead of savers and producers . . . and the party is coming to an end and I fear it won't be pretty - not for those that borrowed insanely nor a gov't that did the same.

alas,

rono

 

Sort of related:

I am curious, how many of the CT members actually devote time outside of CT to educate family, friends, others about monetary interests and bullion?

I only do it on a select basis. Finances are a touchy and personal subject for many, but when I feel a crack open, I take it and and drop some seeds.

 

As you said, you try to, but many don't want to listen. I'm always telling people don't worry about investment, worry about paying off debt. Debts usually demand at least 14% interest or more. There aren't many investment you can make and get 14% guaranteed return. So, paying off debt is like reverse investment.

I'm always telling younger people to invest in themselves, education. The return from educating yourself vastly outperforms any material investment, and it can't be confiscated or taken away.

Part of the problem with people spending is that they can't settle for 2nd best. Instead of buying a car for $10,000 that can get them around, they want the big luxury model or the nifty sports car. Something that cost $40,000 because at this time they can afford it...so why not? If they bought the car for $10,000, they could of saved all that money and bought their next car without even financing and saved even more money. But, who wants that crappy $10,000 car when they can have that luxury sports car?

 

Sunflower, whenever i tell people the dollar has lost 95% of it's value since 1913 ... they usually say that can't be right. it's hard to tell people anything!

 

I don't disagree on the "living within their means" part. I haven't had any debt for at least a decade and that includes the house I live in. Paid it all off years ago. So for the most part, this economic meltdown has mostly been an academic study for us. Biggest issue for me is if I do lose my job, my healthcare goes too and that is a backbreaker to buy once you get above a certain age. I digress however.

What scares me is when the day comes, and it's not that far off I'm afraid, when they start coming after the little bit left that belongs to the people who have played by the rules. Inflation is already here for a lot of little things that start to add up, and they have already started to increase the local taxes. My guess is this is the tip of the iceberg and it won't stop until everything is gone. They can and change the rules when they need to. They did it decades ago when they took the people's gold and handed them paper in return. They can and will do it again.

 

Wow that's a scary one too...

 

Hey you just coined a new word, dullusional, Sort of like a boring delusion?

 

yes. that's funny

dull people are dullusional!

 

I think it's only because people have very, very short term memories. People don't want to talk about or even try to remember what happened last year. 1933 may as well have been 100 B.C. at this point.

 

I agree wholeheartedly. I was alway taught to save a dollar for every dollar I spent. I didn't buy my first new car until I was 40 (I'm 51 and still driving it).

Unfortunately, those of us who work hard and save are now considered the "evil rich" and must be made to pay for our "transgressions". The Dems have the world completely upside-down! :rolling:

 

I don't disagree with this either, but extreme overspending while using the money to grab more control of the population isn't a monopoly of either party now. The only difference between the Democrats and the GOP when it comes to spending is in who holds their leash. The entrenched interests on both sides have no interest in making real changes because it will affect their own personal grip on power. It's the reason why no bankers have gone to jail and are still collecting huge bonuses and why we are still maintaining a nuclear triad and troops on 900 foreign bases, though the needs for this level of defense disappeared 20 years ago.

As long as they can print dollars at will with no connection at all to the real economy, the temptation for politicans to do so will be too great.

 

I always laugh when politicians say they will create legislation "so that this will never happen again!" I give it 8 years before we hear that again...maybe less.

 

Hi Sunflower,

I do what I can, but as you point out, it can be a touchy situation. Often you have to be a little sneaky - give them things to read, give the kids silver dollars for christmas, admit to your own investment directions (you don't have to talk in dollar amounts to share that you have stashed away some AGEs or ASEs). I also use other investment forums to beat the drum.

You do what you can and that's about it.

rono

 

Hey, I'm no fan of the GOP, either. I'm an extinct species that used to be known as a "Conservative Democrat". Although I'm still here, I have no female with which to mate. :crying: