Infinite Unknown

- “The battlefield is the United States of America” (Sovereign Man, April, 24, 2013):

When you’ve got a guy like Senator John McCain who says “The battlefield is the United States of America,” it tells you that almost nothing is safe in the Land of the Free.

Whatever remains of civil liberties is going to feel the full brunt of the state’s boot heel.

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Tags: Collapse, Dictatorship, Fascism, Global News, Government, New World Order, Pension, Politics, Retirement, Society, U.S.

- Ring the Bell for Manhattan Real Estate: Calpers Buys the Top Again (Liberty Blitzkrieg, April 17, 2013):

The dumbest of the dumb money has finally decided now is the time to buy Manhattan apartments.  The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (colloquially known as Calpers) just loves taking assets off of other people’s hands at the top.  Let’s not forget the 10,200-acre desert site in Arizona they bought for $400 million in 2006, which was then sold for $32.5 million in 2011.  Well the not so savvy managers of California’s retirement funds are at it again, once again paying the sum of $400 million, but this time for 345 apartments in Manhattan’s wildly overinflated real estate market.  If there was ever the equivalent of a bell ringing at the top this has to be it.

From Bloomberg:

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System bought 345 apartments in two adjacent Manhattan towers from a partnership including Carlyle Group LP (CG), gaining rentals in New York as lease rates approach a peak.

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Tags: CalPERS, Economy, Global News, Manhattan, Mike Krieger, Real Estate, Retirement

- Carmen Reinhart: “No Doubt. Our Pensions Are Screwed.” (ZeroHedge, April 11, 2013):

“The crisis isn’t over yet,” warns Carmen Reinhart, “not in the US and not in Europe.” Known for her deep understanding that ‘it’s never different this time’, the Harvard economist drops the truth grenade a number of times in this excellent Der Spiegel interview. Sweeping away the sound and fury of a self-serving Federal Reserve or BoJ, she chides, “no central bank will admit it is keeping rates low to help governments out of their debt crises. But in fact they are bending over backwards to help governments to finance their deficits,” and guess what, “this is nothing new in history.”

After World War II, all countries that had a big debt overhang relied on financial repression to avoid an explicit default. After the war, governments imposed interest rate ceilings for government bonds; but, nowadays, she explains, “monetary policy is doing the job. And with high unemployment and low inflation that doesn’t even look suspicious. Only when inflation picks up, which is ultimately going to happen, will it become obvious that central banks have become subservient to governments.”

Nations “seldom just grow themselves out of debt,” as so many believe is possible, “you need a combination of austerity, so that you don’t add further to the pile of debt, and higher inflation, which is effectively a subtle form of taxation,” with the consequence that people are going to lose their savings. Reinhart succinctly summarizes, “no doubt, our pensions are screwed.”

This will take 3 minutes to read – read it. Understand what she is saying. Continue reading »

Tags: China, ECB, EU, Europe, Fed, Federal Reserve, France, GDP, Global News, Government, Greece, Ireland, Japan, Pension, Politics, Retirement, Spain, U.S.

- Obama Proposes Retirement Account Limit In First “Wealth Tax” Salvo (ZeroHedge, April 6, 2013):

The witch-hunt against the “rich” (as defined by a random group of people) through the establishment of creeping global capital controls continues. First, it was Europe deciding that €100,000 in savings is the “fair” threshold on savings above which any haircut goes, with Cyprus demonstrating first. and next Italy making it clear local depositors above the threshold will also be impaired in the future; then a group of journalists mysteriously lands millions in top secret files exposing essentially every offshore bank account: a perfectly legal option, however when mixed in with the implication that this money is all tax-evasion gotten it provides for a combustible mix, and now it is America’s turn to fire the first shot across the capital control bow, because as part of his proposed budget, Obama plans to set a limit of how much one can spend per year on retirement through tax-preferred retirement plans. As it turns out, according to the Obama administration it is only fair to spend a total of $205,000 in nominal dollars per year on retirement, but not more.

Per The Hill, “The proposal would save around $9 billion over a decade, a senior administration official said, while also bringing more fairness to the tax code.” Ah yes, “fairness.” This means that as a result of the artificial limit, the Budget will set a total cap on retirement plans of about $3 million. Anything above that, feel free to please spend on your peas instead of saving, or just invest in Bernanke’s stock market ponzi. After all, that is the only artificial indicator Obama has to point to, when “proving” his policies are working.

Of course, once the administration’s destructive policies of attempting to inflate away the debt finally funnel through to the economy, and inflation explodes, that $205,000 may or may not be enough to buy a loaf of bread. But why pretend to even think logically or ahead at this point. It’s not like anyone has any real plans about the future of the country when the president is actually willing to release statements like this: “Under current rules, some wealthy individuals are able to accumulate many millions of dollars in these accounts, substantially more than is needed to fund reasonable levels of retirement saving.”

Why thank you Mr. President for telling the people what you consider “reasonable.” Of course, it would be so much below you to simply go on the record as saying the rich (arbitrarily chosen as those who have over $1 million in assets… or $500,000… or $50,000 – who knows, it’s “arbitrary”) are now fair game and all those who recently received an Obama phone would be legally excused if they were to accidentally eat them. Because all is fair in hate and class warfare.

And speaking of hate, that is precisely the cover that Obama will use to pass his proposal: Continue reading »

Tags: Barack Obama, Government, Obama administration, Pension, Politics, Retirement, U.S.

- Have Americans Given Up on Saving for Retirement? (TIME, March 7, 2013):

In the wake of the Great Recession, retirement-minded Americans are feeling an unprecedented amount of futility. They are undersaved and — worse — see little reason to do anything about it.

That’s the alarming conclusion in a new report from the Deloitte Center for Financial Services, which found that 60% of preretirees believe health care costs will consume their savings no matter how much they save. Similarly, 39% believe investment returns won’t be high enough to provide decent retirement income regardless of how much they manage to put away.

Deloitte found exasperation at every turn: 58% don’t have a retirement plan; nearly 40% don’t know what an annuity or mutual fund is; and 20% expect to rely purely on Social Security for their retirement needs. More than half don’t trust anyone’s advice.

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Tags: Collapse, Economy, Global News, Government, Politics, Retirement, Social Security, Society, U.S.

- Do You Want To Scare A Baby Boomer? (Economic Collapse, Jan 17, 2013):

If you want to frighten Baby Boomers, just show them the list of statistics in this article.  The United States is headed for a retirement crisis of unprecedented magnitude, and we are woefully unprepared for it.  At this point, more than 10,000 Baby Boomers are reaching the age of 65 every single day, and this will continue to happen for almost the next 20 years.  The number of senior citizens in America is projected to more than double during the first half of this century, and some absolutely enormous financial promises have been made to them.  So will we be able to keep those promises to the hordes of American workers that are rapidly approaching retirement?  Of course not.  State and local governments are facing trillions in unfunded pension liabilities.  Medicare is facing a 38 trillion dollar shortfall over the next 75 years.  The Social Security system is facing a 134 trillion dollar shortfall over the next 75 years.  Meanwhile, nearly half of all American workers have less than $10,000 saved for retirement.  The truth is that I was being incredibly kind when I said earlier that we are “woefully unprepared” for what is coming.  The biggest retirement crisis in history is rapidly approaching, and a lot of the promises that were made to the Baby Boomers are going to get broken.The following are 35 incredibly shocking statistics that will scare just about any Baby Boomer… Continue reading »

Tags: Collapse, Global News, Government, Pension, Politics, Poverty, Retirement, Social Security, U.S.

- R.I.P. Retirement: 28% Of Americans Are Raiding Their 401k Plans (ZeroHedge, Jan 15, 2013):

This trend has been in place since the financial crisis, but the fact that it is accelerating is extremely disconcerting.  First off, this is not the kind of behavior that should be witnessed in an “economic recovery.”  Second, we need to remember the huge percentage of Americans on food stamps and/or disability.  As I have discussed previously, many of them also have jobs.  So essentially, a wage and a check from the government is still not enough to survive.  They still need to tap into a loan from their 401k plans.

From the Washington Post:

More than one in four American workers with 401(k) and other retirement savings accounts use them to pay current expenses, new data show. The withdrawals, cash-outs and loans drain nearly a quarter of the $293 billion that workers and employers deposit into the accounts each year, undermining already shaky retirement security for millions of Americans.

A report due out this week from the financial advisory firm HelloWallet found that more than one in four workers dip into retirement funds to pay their mortgages, credit card debt or other bills. Those in their 40s have been the most likely culprits — one-third are turning to such accounts for relief.

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Tags: Collapse, Economy, Global News, Government, Politics, Retirement, Society, U.S.

- So You Want To Retire? Five Disturbing Statistics About Retirement: An Infographic (ZeroHedge, Jan 11, 2013):

To all Americans in their twenties, thirties, forties, or even fifties, naively looking forward to their retirement, we have two words: “good luck.”One look at the flow chart below and we can’t help but wonder: just how many Americans actually follow the “plan” of what they should do to prepare for retirement. A million? Two? Less? And how soon before the government decides it knows what’s best for everyone in this particular touchy topic – because since the US welfare system is now hopelessly broken and unsustainable, then the retirement “option” for virtually everyone is a non-starter – and begins imposing behavioral mandates, not to mention taxes, to “steer” the population into the proper “avenues” and “channels”?

Tags: Global News, Retirement, Society, U.S.

- Spain Plunders 90% Of Social Security Fund To Buy Its Own Debt (ZeroHedge, Jan 3, 2013):

With Spanish 10Y yields hovering at a ‘relatively’ healthy 5%, having been driven inexorably lower on the promise of ECB assistance at some time in the future, the market has become increasingly unsure of just who it is that keeps bidding for this stuff. Well, wonder no longer. As the WSJ notes, Spain has been quietly tapping the country’s richest piggy bank, the Social Security Reserve Fund, as a buyer of last resort for Spanish government bonds – with at least 90% of the €65 billion ($85.7 billion) fund has been invested in increasingly risky Spanish debt. Of course, this is nothing new, the US (and the Irish) have been using quasi-government entities to fund themselves in a mutually-destructive circle-jerk for years – the only difference being there are other buyers in the Treasury market, whereas in Spain the marginal buyer is critical to support the sinking ship. The Spanish defend the use of pension funds to buy bonds as sustainable as long as it can issue bonds – and yet the only way it can actually get the bonds off in the public markets is through using the pension fund assets. The pensioners sum it up perfectly “We are very worried about this, we just don’t know who’s going to pay for the pensions of those who are younger now,” or those who are older we would add.Via Wall Street Journal: Spain Drains Pension Fund In Borrowing Spree

Spain has been quietly tapping the country’s richest piggy bank, the Social Security Reserve Fund, as a buyer of last resort for Spanish government bonds, raising questions about the fund’s role as guarantor of future pension payouts.

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Tags: Bonds, Collapse, Debt, Economy, EU, Europe, Global News, Government, Pension, Politics, Retirement, Spain

- An Hour In The Company Of Kyle Bass (ZeroHedge, Dec 19, 2012):

Last year’s AmeriCatalyst interview with Kyle Bass provided much more color than the normal 30-second soundbites that we are subjected to when serious hedge fund managers are exposed to mainstream media. This year, Bass was the keynote speaker and in the following speech (followed by Q&A), the fund manager provides 60 minutes of eloquence on the end of the grand experiment and its consequences. From Money Printing and Central Bank Balance sheets to Japan and the psychology of the current situation – which in many cases trumps the quantitative data – the question remains, “when will this unravel” as opposed to “if?”; Bass provides his fact-based heresy against the orthodoxy of economic thought “On The Financial Nature Of Things” extending well beyond his recent note. Must watch (there’s no football or X-Factor on tonight).

Make sure to stay tuned to the last 2 minutes when Kyle succinctly sums up our society…

YouTube

Tags: Banking, Barack Obama, Ben Bernanke, Bonds, Collapse, Debt, Dollar, Economy, EU, Europe, Fed, Federal Reserve, Financial Crisis, GDP, Germany, Global News, Government, Japan, Kyle Bass, Obama administration, Pension, Politics, Quantitative Easing, Retirement, Social Security, Society, U.S., War