Haven't you lost enough $$$ in this economy already

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so, I called his financial advisor yesterday and told him to put hubby in a "safe" plan. It's now in a money market fund that is part of his IRA.

I have no choice. I have to stay where I am. I have no "safe" available. Neither of us will be able to retire on what is now in our 401Ks and you're not the only one. We couldn't buy a car with Both our 401Ks, let alone live on it.

We are late starters for retirement not until our late 40s funds (most of our employers did not offer pensions). We are now of the first retirement tier and although we own our home outright, if we live until we are 90, there is no way we can live off retirement 401Ks or SS.

My husband's father told him back in the 50s that we would experience something like what is happening today and stated it would be worse than the ཙ crash. It is sure starting to look that way, but we will survive some way, I hope.

We need to pray for the people on SS now that cannot survive. I, for one, would love to help them, but can't help ourselves at this moment.

That's the whole point. Bush acts like a dictator in complete privacy. Of course nobody can name names because this president thinks he can spy on whoever he wants without ever telling the person.

Just to take the first point: How about a speech he gave in 2008 which he criticized the US because most of us speak one measly language, while Europeans often speak 2 or 3? There is actually a pretty good reason for that, by the way. A person could drive in Europe a distance equal to the trip from Cincinnati to Chicago and pass through several countries. Some countries even have several dialects. Many European countries are tiny. Being multilingual in Europe is very practical. America is huge and people a couple of thousand miles away can understand one another in a single language, from youse guys to y'all.

I don't remember ever hearing a US president or presidential candidate publicly criticize his country the way this one has (well, maybe Kerry). And of course our foreign critics simply lap it up. I think Michelle Obama has some foreign language skills, but I've got to wonder in what second and third languages Barack himself is fluent. Surely he must be.....

I was unable to find the full text/location/date of the speech I am referring to, but here's a link to an article on it. Sorry, it does seem to be an piece that is overall critical of the great man, but then the mainstream would probably not have mentioned this at all

Oh, by the way, no spam file, I wrote it. Whether or not you find it witty, it's the way I view O's public criticism of the US, as though we are a collection of bumpkins he's stuck with and trying desperately to fix up.

5. I give what I can to the food banks and my church etc. to help those who need help.

I did not vote for President Obama. I do not think he is the messiah and I certainly will not blame him for the mess we are in right now simply because we all played a part. No one forced anyone to take house loans that they could not pay, no one forces us to use our credit card and run up debts and live beyond our means, no one predicted that you would take a loan and then lose your job and be in foreclosure and no one regulated the banks like they should of.

Now that being said, in a crisis it is so easy to look for someone to blame, become angry, and forget who we are. So my advice the next time you are at your kitchen table wondering how you are going to make ends meet, that you remember who you are, an American. I would also advise getting some debt management help.

So please, instead of running around with your hands up in the air thinking the worst and claiming the sky is falling, try listening to the Star Spangled Banner or something that is positive. I have found that this helps me a lot.

Now let us all take a good long look in the mirror, have a little faith in ourselves as a country and stop beating up on each other. Have a good day everyone and God Bless America.

5. I give what I can to the food banks and my church etc. to help those who need help.

Now let us all take a good long look in the mirror, have a little faith in ourselves as a country and stop beating up on each other. Have a good day everyone and God Bless America.

One of the more ridiculous statements going around over the last few weeks is "this is an Obama bear market." This statement is, well, ill-informed at best and fraudulent at worst. Let's look at why.

First -- who is saying this? Such economic luminaries as John Hawkins at Right Wing News (who actually asked Is Obama Deliberately Tanking the Stock Market?), Powerline, Brit Hume along with a host of other right wing bloggers. What all of these people have in common is their incessant chearleading during the Bush years despite mounting evidence of an upcoming recession. There are the same people who argued that ... housing is a small part of the economy ... most people are paying their mortgages ... the US economy will decouple from the rest of the world .... it's the greatest story never told ..... you get the idea. Simply put, these are people who have distinguished themselves by being some of the best contrary indicators around.

Secondly, the SPYs -- the tracking ETF for the S&P 500 -- dropped from (roughly) 155 in the summer of 2007 to (roughly) 85 at the end of last year. Yet I don't remember any of them saying that was the Bush bear market -- even though that's a drop of roughly 43%. No -- it's the new President that's causing the problems. In addition, when Bush took office the SPYs dropped from roughly 130 at the begging of 2001 to 85 in the fourth quarter of 2002. Yet somehow I don't think any of them blamed Bush's policies for the drop. Then it was the "lasting effects of the Clinton recession" or something similar.

What all of these idiots are forgetting is the simple fact that the economy is the backdrop of the stock market. When the economy does well the stock market does well. When the economy doesn't do well, the stock market doesn't do well. And to that end, the economy isn't doing well right now. Let's look at some recent news events.

From the BEA:

Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and propertylocated in the United States -- decreased at an annual rate of 6.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008,(that is, from the third quarter to the fourth quarter), according to preliminary estimates released by theBureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP decreased 0.5 percent.

From the BLS:

Nonfarm payroll employment continued to fall sharply in February (-651,000), and the unemployment rate rose from 7.6 to 8.1 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Payroll employment has declined by 2.6 million in the past 4 months. In February, job losses were large and widespread across nearly all major industry sectors.

From the Federal Reserve:

Reports from the twelve Federal Reserve Districts suggest that national economic conditions deteriorated further during the reporting period of January through late February. Ten of the twelve reports indicated weaker conditions or declines in economic activity; the exceptions were Philadelphia and Chicago, which reported that their regional economies "remained weak." The deterioration was broad based, with only a few sectors such as basic food production and pharmaceuticals appearing to be exceptions. Looking ahead, contacts from various Districts rate the prospects for near-term improvement in economic conditions as poor, with a significant pickup not expected before late 2009 or early 2010.

Consumer spending remained sluggish on net, although many Districts noted some improvement in January and February compared with a dismal holiday spending season. Travel and tourist activity fell noticeably in key destinations, as did activity for a wide range of nonfinancial services, with substantial job cuts noted in many instances. Reports on manufacturing activity suggested steep declines in activity in some sectors and pronounced declines overall. Conditions weakened somewhat for agricultural producers and substantially for extractors of natural resources, with reduced global demand cited as an underlying determinant in both cases. Markets for residential real estate remained largely stagnant, with only minimal and scattered signs of stabilization emerging in some areas, while demand for commercial real estate weakened significantly. Reports from banks and other financial institutions indicated further drops in business loan demand, a slight deterioration in credit quality for businesses and households, and continued tight credit availability.

From the FDIC:

Expenses associated with rising loan losses and declining asset values overwhelmed revenues in the fourth quarter of 2008, producing a net loss of $26.2 billion at insured commercial banks and savings institutions. This is the first time since the fourth quarter of 1990 that the industry has posted an aggregate net loss for a quarter. The ?0.77 percent quarterly return on assets (ROA) is the worst since the ?1.10 percent in the second quarter of 1987. A year ago, the industry reported $575 million in profits and an ROA of 0.02 percent. High expenses for loan-loss provisions, sizable losses in trading accounts, and large writedowns of goodwill and other assets all contributed to the industry's net loss. A few very large losses were reported during the quarter-four institutions accounted for half of the total industry loss-but earnings problems were widespread. Almost one out of every three institutions (32 percent) reported a net loss in the fourth quarter. Only 36 percent of institutions reported year-over-year increases in quarterly earnings, and only 34 percent reported higher quarterly ROAs.

I could go on, but you you get the idea. The news of the underlying economy has been terrible (at best). And that's what's causing the problems.

I have seen at least four conservatives express concerns about Bush on several occasions, and they even elucidated them. Of course, you would have to take off those blinders to see them but you aren't about to do that. What a joke. As far as your remarks about racisms, I consider your remarks extremely racist. And never mind the fact that black Americans, one of whom was quoted here, are also defending Bennett. Their voices don't count because they must be Uncle Tom's, right. AGAIN, a racist way of thinking.

I would imagine it is $250,000 on the bottom line profit since that is what we all pay taxes on. I agree that a business with a gross income of $250,000 is not all that much, as a rule of thumb, probably $125,000 net. On the other hand if it is $250,000 NET that's a pretty darn good income and I say they could well afford to pay a few measly dollars so those making a net of say $25,000 could have a little relief. But the middle or lower class workers are going to get NO relief because the big businesses are going to protect their greed and the small businesses have to raise their prices to survive. Example: We ate at a family owned restaurant the other night. Sirloin steak was $17.95 the last time we ate there was $21.95. The owner posted a sign apologizing for the price increases but said he didn't have any choice if he was going to stay in business because of his wholesale prices going up. THANKS Bush and big oil.