Market Forces, Clenched
Suit-and-Tie Criminals And The Baby Boomers 401(k)
Tulip mania was a period in the Dutch Golden Age during which contract prices for bulbs of the newly introduced tulip reached extraordinarily high levels and then suddenly collapsed. At the peak of tulip mania in February 1637, tulip contracts sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman. It is generally considered the first recorded speculative bubble. The term "tulip mania" is often used metaphorically to refer to any large economic bubble. @wikipedia
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is an index that shows how certain stocks have traded.
The index hit its all-time low of 28.48 during the summer of 1896, but many of the biggest percentage price moves in The Dow occurred early in its history, as the nascent industrial economy matured. The Dow averaged 5.3% compounded annually for the 20th century, a record Warren Buffett called "a wonderful century"—when he calculated that to achieve that return again, the index would need to reach nearly 2,000,000 by 2100.
Artificial demand constitutes demand for something that, in the absence of exposure to the vehicle of creating demand, would not exist. It has controversial applications in microeconomics (pump and dump strategy) and advertising. Synonyms for "artificial demand" include "fake demand" and "false need".
Vehicles of creating artificial demand can include mass media advertising, which can create demand for goods, services, political policies or platforms, and other entities.
Another example of artificial demand can be seen in penny stock spam. After purchasing a large number of shares of an extremely low-value stock, the spammer attempts to create artificial demand by implementing a spam-based guerilla marketing strategy.
@gold-eagle.com
In 1978, Congress amended the Internal Revenue Code by adding section 401(k), whereby employees are not taxed on income they choose to receive as deferred compensation rather than direct compensation. The law went into effect on January 1, 1980, and by 1983 almost half of large firms were either offering a 401(k) plan or considering doing so. By 1984 there were 17,303 companies offering 401(k) plans. Also in 1984, Congress passed legislation requiring nondiscrimination testing, to make sure that the plans did not discriminate in favor of highly paid employees more than a certain allowable amount. In 1998, Congress passed legislation that allowed employers to have all employees contribute a certain amount into a 401(k) plan unless the employee expressly elects not to contribute. By 2003, there were 438,000 companies with 401(k) plans.
Originally intended for executives, the section 401(k) plan proved popular with workers at all levels because it had higher yearly contribution limits than the Individual Retirement Account (IRA); it usually came with a company match, and in some ways provided greater flexibility than the IRA, often providing loans and, if applicable, offered the employer's stock as an investment choice. Several major corporations amended existing defined contribution plans immediately following the publication of IRS proposed regulations in 1981. @wikipedia
The Baby Boomers inflated the stock bubble with their life savings. The Baby Boomers are the highest earners in the US. The Baby Boomers are starting to retire, meaning they will no longer be pumping the market.
@brakson
@2.bp.blogspot.com
Robert Shiller's plot of the S&P Composite Real Price-Earnings Ratio and Interest Rates (1871–2008), from Irrational Exuberance, 2d ed. In the preface to this edition, Shiller warns that "[t]he stock market has not come down to historical levels: the price-earnings ratio as I define it in this book is still, at this writing [2005], in the mid-20s, far higher than the historical average. … People still place too much confidence in the markets and have too strong a belief that paying attention to the gyrations in their investments will someday make them rich, and so they do not make conservative preparations for possible bad outcomes."
Price-Earnings Ratio
The income distribution of the United States is far more unequal than most people realize. In fact it is so lopsided, it is hard to represent on a single graph. For more see @lcurve.org
sauce
The current account is the difference between a nation's exports of goods and services and its imports of goods and services, if all financial transfers and investments and the like are ignored. A nation is said to have a current account deficit if it is importing more than it exports.
Confessions of an Economic Hitman
@aggie86md
sauce The video employs clips from a 2004 "60 Minutes" Interview with 2001-2003 Secretary of the Treasury, Paul O'Neil. O'Neil,a Permanent Member of the then formed NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL (NSC), was eventually FIRED in 2003, for what he OPPOSED and witnessed in the Early days of the JUST elected 2001 Bush Whitehouse.
He was appalled at the Secrecy and Contradictions in the George Bush he thought he knew. It was apparent a new agenda was rolling...and he wanted NO part in it. War plans were in the works, long BEFORE the 911 World Trade Center attack. Far from a tragedy, 911 was an OPPORTUNITY for the Bush/Cheney White House to proceed with Plans. @www.ronpaulaudio.com
sauce
Earmarks make up less than 2% of the budget. They talk endlessly about less than 2% of the budget while ignoring the 800 # gorilla.
John Mccain "And the worst symptom of this disease is what my friend Tom Coburn calls earmarking as a gateway drug because its a gateway, its a gateway to out of control spending and corruption. And we have former members of Congress now residing in Federal prison because of the evils of earmarking and pork barrel spending. You know, we spent $3 million dollars to study the DNA of bears in Montana...It corrupts people. Thats why we have, as I said, people under Federal indictment in charges."
Duke Cunningham, Congressional War Profiteer and Corrupt Public Official
The information presented here is common knowledge among the investment class. These players knew we were in a speculative bubble, and instead of "doing no harm" by alerting the hysterical public of the errors of their ways, they continued inflating the bubble, and paying themselves very handsomely to oversee it all.
Organized crime does exist, in spite years of official denials. The worst criminals in this nation wear suits to work, but they are well connected and make sure the conversation never is focused on their crimes, but rather to bashing organized labor or endless debate on earmarks, a mere 2% of the Federal Budget.
Ironic indeed that these criminals wind up in the prison industrial complex they helped to build.
The fruits of our labor were diverted from our savings accounts and the public treasury fund a lavish lifestyle for an elite few, where returns were guaranteed regardless of any "talent" these firms employed.
They oversaw the robbery of the Baby Boomers entire life savings.
They oversaw the robbery of the Treasury.
They have the balls to point the finger at the blue collar worker and call him greedy for wanting a few more crumbs of the pie?
@unitednatures
The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class
@uctelevision
Distinguished law scholar Elizabeth Warren teaches contract law, bankruptcy, and commercial law at Harvard Law School. She is an outspoken critic of America's credit economy, which she has linked to the continuing rise in bankruptcy among the middle-class. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Council Lectures"
If you have read this far, may I suggest for further reading;
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith (online book)
Then plant some tulips in your victory garden
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is an index that shows how certain stocks have traded.
The index hit its all-time low of 28.48 during the summer of 1896, but many of the biggest percentage price moves in The Dow occurred early in its history, as the nascent industrial economy matured. The Dow averaged 5.3% compounded annually for the 20th century, a record Warren Buffett called "a wonderful century"—when he calculated that to achieve that return again, the index would need to reach nearly 2,000,000 by 2100.
Artificial demand constitutes demand for something that, in the absence of exposure to the vehicle of creating demand, would not exist. It has controversial applications in microeconomics (pump and dump strategy) and advertising. Synonyms for "artificial demand" include "fake demand" and "false need".
Vehicles of creating artificial demand can include mass media advertising, which can create demand for goods, services, political policies or platforms, and other entities.
Another example of artificial demand can be seen in penny stock spam. After purchasing a large number of shares of an extremely low-value stock, the spammer attempts to create artificial demand by implementing a spam-based guerilla marketing strategy.
@gold-eagle.com
In 1978, Congress amended the Internal Revenue Code by adding section 401(k), whereby employees are not taxed on income they choose to receive as deferred compensation rather than direct compensation. The law went into effect on January 1, 1980, and by 1983 almost half of large firms were either offering a 401(k) plan or considering doing so. By 1984 there were 17,303 companies offering 401(k) plans. Also in 1984, Congress passed legislation requiring nondiscrimination testing, to make sure that the plans did not discriminate in favor of highly paid employees more than a certain allowable amount. In 1998, Congress passed legislation that allowed employers to have all employees contribute a certain amount into a 401(k) plan unless the employee expressly elects not to contribute. By 2003, there were 438,000 companies with 401(k) plans.
Originally intended for executives, the section 401(k) plan proved popular with workers at all levels because it had higher yearly contribution limits than the Individual Retirement Account (IRA); it usually came with a company match, and in some ways provided greater flexibility than the IRA, often providing loans and, if applicable, offered the employer's stock as an investment choice. Several major corporations amended existing defined contribution plans immediately following the publication of IRS proposed regulations in 1981. @wikipedia
The Baby Boomers inflated the stock bubble with their life savings. The Baby Boomers are the highest earners in the US. The Baby Boomers are starting to retire, meaning they will no longer be pumping the market.
@brakson
@2.bp.blogspot.com
Robert Shiller's plot of the S&P Composite Real Price-Earnings Ratio and Interest Rates (1871–2008), from Irrational Exuberance, 2d ed. In the preface to this edition, Shiller warns that "[t]he stock market has not come down to historical levels: the price-earnings ratio as I define it in this book is still, at this writing [2005], in the mid-20s, far higher than the historical average. … People still place too much confidence in the markets and have too strong a belief that paying attention to the gyrations in their investments will someday make them rich, and so they do not make conservative preparations for possible bad outcomes."
Price-Earnings Ratio
The income distribution of the United States is far more unequal than most people realize. In fact it is so lopsided, it is hard to represent on a single graph. For more see @lcurve.org
sauce
The current account is the difference between a nation's exports of goods and services and its imports of goods and services, if all financial transfers and investments and the like are ignored. A nation is said to have a current account deficit if it is importing more than it exports.
Confessions of an Economic Hitman
@aggie86md
sauce The video employs clips from a 2004 "60 Minutes" Interview with 2001-2003 Secretary of the Treasury, Paul O'Neil. O'Neil,a Permanent Member of the then formed NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL (NSC), was eventually FIRED in 2003, for what he OPPOSED and witnessed in the Early days of the JUST elected 2001 Bush Whitehouse.
He was appalled at the Secrecy and Contradictions in the George Bush he thought he knew. It was apparent a new agenda was rolling...and he wanted NO part in it. War plans were in the works, long BEFORE the 911 World Trade Center attack. Far from a tragedy, 911 was an OPPORTUNITY for the Bush/Cheney White House to proceed with Plans. @www.ronpaulaudio.com
sauce
Earmarks make up less than 2% of the budget. They talk endlessly about less than 2% of the budget while ignoring the 800 # gorilla.
John Mccain "And the worst symptom of this disease is what my friend Tom Coburn calls earmarking as a gateway drug because its a gateway, its a gateway to out of control spending and corruption. And we have former members of Congress now residing in Federal prison because of the evils of earmarking and pork barrel spending. You know, we spent $3 million dollars to study the DNA of bears in Montana...It corrupts people. Thats why we have, as I said, people under Federal indictment in charges."
Duke Cunningham, Congressional War Profiteer and Corrupt Public Official
The information presented here is common knowledge among the investment class. These players knew we were in a speculative bubble, and instead of "doing no harm" by alerting the hysterical public of the errors of their ways, they continued inflating the bubble, and paying themselves very handsomely to oversee it all.
Organized crime does exist, in spite years of official denials. The worst criminals in this nation wear suits to work, but they are well connected and make sure the conversation never is focused on their crimes, but rather to bashing organized labor or endless debate on earmarks, a mere 2% of the Federal Budget.
Ironic indeed that these criminals wind up in the prison industrial complex they helped to build.
The fruits of our labor were diverted from our savings accounts and the public treasury fund a lavish lifestyle for an elite few, where returns were guaranteed regardless of any "talent" these firms employed.
They oversaw the robbery of the Baby Boomers entire life savings.
They oversaw the robbery of the Treasury.
They have the balls to point the finger at the blue collar worker and call him greedy for wanting a few more crumbs of the pie?
@unitednatures
The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class
@uctelevision
Distinguished law scholar Elizabeth Warren teaches contract law, bankruptcy, and commercial law at Harvard Law School. She is an outspoken critic of America's credit economy, which she has linked to the continuing rise in bankruptcy among the middle-class. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Council Lectures"
If you have read this far, may I suggest for further reading;
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith (online book)
Then plant some tulips in your victory garden
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