41% Say American Dream Is Lost; 63% Say Economy Getting Worse

[dmcowen674]

11-16-2011

They are only 10 years behind when I said this. Guess just people are slow and takes time for them to feel the blow to the head.

Unless OWS is successful I don't see any chance the U.S. will recover.


http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/dail...-dream-lost-63-economy-getting-144604132.html

41% Say American Dream Is Lost; 63% Say Economy Getting Worse

A new survey by Yahoo! Finance shows Americans have a disturbing lack of hope and a frightening lack of retirement planning.


Among the highlights of the poll:


-- 41% of Americans say the 'American Dream' has been lost.


-- 37% of adults have NO retirement savings and 38% plan to live off Social Security.


-- 63% of Americans believe the economy is getting worse, including 72% of those over the age of 55.


These findings are consistent with broader trends The Daily Ticker has reported on in the past year: Despite macro data showing the economy has technically recovered from the 'Great Recession', the majority of Americans just aren't feeling it.



Considering 49 million Americans are living in poverty, the "real" unemployment rate is 16% and millions of Americans are facing foreclosure, it's no wonder many believe the recession never ended.

 

[Double Trouble]

11-16-2011

They are only 10 years behind when I said this. Guess just people are slow and takes time for them to feel the blow to the head.

Unless OWS is successful I don't see any chance the U.S. will recover.

OWS is about as successful as it's going to be. It brought the 99% - 1% discussion to the forefront, but beyond that I don't see any way for much of anything else to come from it. Even the protesters themselves don't seem to have much of a coherent message or goal that they're aiming for.

41% Say American Dream Is Lost; 63% Say Economy Getting Worse

Technically the economy might be showing small signs of heading in the right direction, but until employment picks up (if ever), the average person simply isn't going to feel that recovery. The amazing part is that even with this recession and the job market etc, millions of people are spending hundreds of dollars each year on iphones, ipads, large TV's and other luxury items. Reality disconnect I guess.

A new survey by Yahoo! Finance shows Americans have a disturbing lack of hope and a frightening lack of retirement planning.

Retirement planning is pretty much non-existent for large swaths of the population. Guess who's going to be picking up the tab for them? Yep, the taxpayer.

 

[dmcowen674]

The amazing part is that even with this recession and the job market etc, millions of people are spending hundreds of dollars each year on iphones, ipads, large TV's and other luxury items. Reality disconnect I guess.

<--------- No iPhone, No iPad and no large TV here.

 

[Dulanic]

Retirement planning is pretty much non-existent for large swaths of the population. Guess who's going to be picking up the tab for them? Yep, the taxpayer.

So the taxpayer is on the hook for all those people planning to live off SS in their retirement that they paid into their whole life? So we are just going to ignore the fact that they have paid into SS and SS has been self funded? I am by no means saying that SS is perfect, it sure as hell isn't. However, to keep saying that the tax payers are on the hook for their retirement is laughable.

Keep in mind I am by no means defending their stupidity of not investing into their own retirement. Simply that SS has been self funded and with a few changes here and there can continue to be.

 

[Ausm]

So the taxpayer is on the hook for all those people planning to live off SS in their retirement that they paid into their whole life? So we are just going to ignore the fact that they have paid into SS and SS has been self funded? I am by no means saying that SS is perfect, it sure as hell isn't. However, to keep saying that the tax payers are on the hook for their retirement is laughable.

Keep in mind I am by no means defending their stupidity of not investing into their own retirement. Simply that SS has been self funded and with a few changes here and there can continue to be.

All this uproar from the right about how SS is a drain on our economy is total bullshit.
I was reading an interesting piece about our SS system and what the percentages of heir wages went to SS.
The cutoff is 90K which is INSANE so if they adjusted the percentage on a more progressive scale with no cap then SS would NEVER have a insolvency problem EVER.

 

[DirthNader]

All this uproar from the right about how SS is a drain on our economy is total bullshit.
I was reading an interesting piece about our SS system and what the percentages of heir wages went to SS.
The cutoff is 90K which is INSANE so if they adjusted the percentage on a more progressive scale with no cap then SS would NEVER have a insolvency problem EVER.

That's all well and good, but the people that were fine with keeping SS taxes at their current levels throughout their working years and raiding the "trust fund" to pay for government programs they benefited from are the same ones that will take more out of SS than they put in.

And yes, in its current form SS will be a drain on the economy, just like interest on the national debt. The money has been spent, the only way to "fix" it is to tax the present and future at a higher level, paper over it with money printing, or default.

 

[Ausm]

That's all well and good, but the people that were fine with keeping SS taxes at their current levels throughout their working years and raiding the "trust fund" to pay for government programs they benefited from are the same ones that will take more out of SS than they put in.

And yes, in its current form SS will be a drain on the economy, just like interest on the national debt. The money has been spent, the only way to "fix" it is to tax the present and future at a higher level, paper over it with money printing, or default.

SS in it's current form is solvent to 2030 or so. I believe instead of raising the retirement age which I think TOTALLY sucks they should implement the ideas from my previous post.

 

[DirthNader]

SS in it's current form is solvent to 2030 or so. I believe instead of raising the retirement age which I think TOTALLY sucks they should implement the ideas from my previous post.

It's solvent until 2030 if you overlook the fact that the bonds in the trust fund have to be paid back before you can issue a check to anyone.

The moment SS payments exceed SS receipts the program become another just another debt to service.

 

[Ausm]

It's solvent until 2030 if you overlook the fact that the bonds in the trust fund have to be paid back before you can issue a check to anyone.

The moment SS payments exceed SS receipts the program become another just another debt to service.

So what is your proposal to deal with the problem?

 

[Londo_Jowo]

<--------- No iPhone, No iPad and no large TV here.

No wonder you piss and moan so much.

 

[Texashiker]

Unless OWS is successful I don't see any chance the U.S. will recover.

As long as people continue to vote the two party system, you are probably right, the US will never recover.

For things to improve, we have to have a complete change of government.

But with so many yellow dog democrats and republicans, a real change in government will never happen.

 

[rudder]

-- 37% of adults have NO retirement savings and 38% plan to live off Social Security.

And I bet those 37% never put a dime into any sort of mutual fund. If you start early adulthood putting away $100 month into an average performing mutual fund.. you will not need social security when you are 65. $100/month sounds a lot.... but I see people with $140 cable bills, $100 mobile phone bills, $600 month car payments.

The American dream of having the government take care of you is lost as it should be. There is plenty of opportunity out there. People won't take advantage of the resentment towards big corporations... they would rather sit in a tent and bitch about no opportunities.

 

[the DRIZZLE]

So the taxpayer is on the hook for all those people planning to live off SS in their retirement that they paid into their whole life? So we are just going to ignore the fact that they have paid into SS and SS has been self funded? I am by no means saying that SS is perfect, it sure as hell isn't. However, to keep saying that the tax payers are on the hook for their retirement is laughable.

Keep in mind I am by no means defending their stupidity of not investing into their own retirement. Simply that SS has been self funded and with a few changes here and there can continue to be.

They are going to get far more back then they paid in and far more than they would have gotten if they had directly invested in treasuries (which is what SS does). My generation is going to have to do the reverse to subsidize them. We'll end up paying far more in then we get out to pay for their retirement.

 

[shiner]

<--------- No iPhone, No iPad and no large TV here.

Stop shopping at stores that sell $7 milk and make you show ID for Balsamic Vinegar and maybe you can afford a few nice things.

 

[DirthNader]

So what is your proposal to deal with the problem?

Something along the same line as you discussed; I agree the cap on income subject to the payroll tax should be removed.

Further, the retirement age needs to be raised. Life expectancy has increased, there's no reason retirement age shouldn't as well. As I mentioned earlier, the baby boomers, on average, will take out more in SS benefits than they paid in. This is directly attributable to increases in life expectancy.

Finally, any changes that are implemented need to apply to all people - none of this "over age 55 exempt" nonsense. The over 55 crowd is who put SS in its current situation, there's absolutely no reason they should be exempt from any sacrifices made for the sake of keeping SS solvent.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Their was a recent article in the Economist that paints this same picture. They say 40&#37; of americas "white collar" jobs are and will continue to be replaced by increasingly intelligent software.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/babb...-intelligence?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/ludditelegacy

Another implication is that technology is no longer creating new jobs at a rate that replaces old ones made obsolete elsewhere in the economy. All told, Mr Ford has identified over 50m jobs in America&#8212;nearly 40% of all employment&#8212;which, to a greater or lesser extent, could be performed by a piece of software running on a computer. Within a decade, many of them are likely to vanish. &#8220;The bar which technology needs to hurdle in order to displace many of us in the workplace,&#8221; the author notes, &#8220;is much lower than we really imagine.&#8221;

In their recent book, &#8220;Race Against the Machine&#8221;, Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology agree with Mr Ford's analysis&#8212;namely, that the jobs lost since the Great Recession are unlikely to return. They agree, too, that the brunt of the shake-out will be borne by middle-income knowledge workers, including those in the retail, legal and information industries. But the authors' perspective is from an ivory tower rather than from the hands-on world of creating start-ups in Silicon Valley. Their proposals for reform, while spot on in principle, expect rather a lot from the political system and other vested interests.

 

[Jaskalas]

41% Say American Dream Is Lost; 63% Say Economy Getting Worse

That mean we can throw out the President with your support behind us?

 

[Macamus Prime]

This is the new American dream;
1) Get into a corporation
2) Figure out how to cut 10&#37; of the work force by outsourcing (near/off shore)
3) Move up
4) Repeat
5) When you get close enough to suck the dicks of the board of directors, you start focusing on cutting 20 to 25% of the work force by outsourcing
6) Increase the prices charged for your products/services
7) Squeeze your suppliers
8) Between steps 1 to 7, be sure to point out how a poor person you saw the other day was drinking a beer on the street and therefore every poor person out there is a drunk who should be swept under the rug

This nation is lead by a group of dismissive, detached and delusional elitist swine who make it their #1 priority in life to degrade and look down on people who want to work and make an honest living.

If you question their actions, you are a lazy communist who supports terrorism. Yet, these fingermen pigs will gladly send work to China and do business with Middle Eastern dictators who support terrorist groups.

Greed is turning this country into a distopia.

 

[shiner]

God damn those corporations!!

 

[Dulanic]

They are going to get far more back then they paid in and far more than they would have gotten if they had directly invested in treasuries (which is what SS does). My generation is going to have to do the reverse to subsidize them. We'll end up paying far more in then we get out to pay for their retirement.

I am not even close to retirement age myself. I agree SS needs some changes. However, I by no means expect to get a 10% return on my money. I fully expect it to be similar to insurance. We all hope to get our money worth, but if we die at 60, we won't. I fully expect that I will most likely break even on it if that.

It is meant to be a safety net (hence the name security) and should have some return on our investments, if run properly. But obviously not as high as investing ourselves. I am OK with portions of SS going to make sure someone who paid in and then had something catastrophic happen to them receives enough to survive. That is the idea behind the safety net isn't it?

However, do not get me wrong. Our system is not perfect and it does need changes. Some people take advantage of the system, and I think we need far better monitoring of these abuses.

 

[Texashiker]

God damn those corporations!!

How many of those products were made in countries that exploit low wage workers?

How many of those companies moved their factories overseas, which placed the local tax burden on homeowners instead of businesses?

How many of those companies use tax loopholes to avoid paying US income taxes? Such as moving their main offices outside the US.

How many of those companies gave their board of directors and CEO a nice multi-million dollar bonuses, while paying employees barley above minimum wage?

 

[spidey07]

Doing a heck of a job Barry, a heck of a job. Just 3 short years of his presidency and this is where we're at. Why in the world would anybody want 4 more of this misery?

 

[shiner]

How many of those products were made in countries that exploit low wage workers?

How many of those companies moved their factories overseas, which placed the local tax burden on homeowners instead of businesses?

How many of them did so to avoid outrageous union labor costs?


An example being a GM assembly plant where the father or a friend of mine worked. He drove a forklift from one end of a building to another all day long and was paid $40 an hour for doing so. He always loved to give us shit when we were in college about how we were wasting our time getting a degree when all you had to do was find a cush union job. Well, the joke is on him now. In 99 GM informed the plant workers that they needed to renegotiate their contract for cost savings. The union voted not to accept lower terms. The plant is now closed and they all lost their jobs. Morons.

 

[Jaskalas]

As long as people continue to vote the two party system, you are probably right, the US will never recover.

For things to improve, we have to have a complete change of government.

But with so many yellow dog democrats and republicans, a real change in government will never happen.

Not at the federal level, but states can take the lead and force the changes we need.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Doing a heck of a job Barry, a heck of a job. Just 3 short years of his presidency and this is where we're at. Why in the world would anybody want 4 more of this misery?

per the economist article I referenced there is not much any party can do to bring jobs back. 50million knowledge worker jobs were identified as replaceable by software.