WSJ:
lately, current and prospective retirees have been hit on many fronts at once: They have less money, they earn less on what they have, their houses aren’t rising in value and the prospect of working longer to make up the shortfall has dimmed significantly in a lousy job market.
“We will have to learn to make do with a lot less in material things,” says Gary Snodgrass, a 63-year-old health-care consultant in Placerville, Calif. The financial crisis, he says, slashed his retirement savings 40% and the value of his house by about half.
Banks, home buyers and bond issuers are all benefiting as the U.S. Federal Reserve holds short-term interest rates near zero to support a recovery. But for many of the 36 million Americans who will turn 65 over the next decade—and even for the 45 million who have another decade to go— the resulting low bond yields, combined with a volatile stock market, are making a dire retirement picture look even worse.
Low yields present retirees with a difficult choice: Accept the lower income offered by safer bonds, or take the risk of staying in the stock market. Either way, their predicament could put a long-term damper on the consumer spending that typically drives U.S. growth.
[…]
With the overall unemployment rate hovering at 9.5%, many older workers have now found themselves at the back of the line to return to the work force. “Many employers seem to think it is not worth their time or effort to train me in a position,” says Kathleen McCabe, 59, a former apartment manager in Tulsa, Okla., who has been out of work since April 2009. “They assume I will leave for retirement soon.”
The diminishing work prospects will require many older folks to make do with less—a discouraging outlook for firms hoping to sell them everything from restaurant meals to cars.
As of 2008, the latest data available, people aged 65 to 74 were spending 12.3% less than they did ten years earlier, in inflation-adjusted terms. They cut spending on cars and trucks by 46%, household furnishings by 35% and dining out by 27%. At the same time, they spent 75% more on health care and 131% more on health insurance.
The impact isn’t limited to people on the verge of retiring. Younger people, too, will have to reduce consumption now to save enough money to get by in retirement. That’s one reason Richard Berner, chief U.S. economist at Morgan Stanley in New York, estimates that even after the economy recovers, consumer spending will grow at an annual, inflation-adjusted rate of about 2% to 2.5% in the long term, compared to an average of 3.6% in the ten years leading up to the last recession.
Selfish bourgeois bastards. There ought to be a law forcing them to spend. And not just on health insurance this time.
Yes we can. CHARGE!
(h/t Mike S)
what this portends for high cost of living states like California is really a lot to get your head around… suffice to say you might want to hold off on buying a house here anytime soon
I think every Boomer who goes under water should be forced by the bankruptcy judge to watch every episode of “Family Ties” in order.
Not so funny now, is it motherfucker?
Wait until the collective weight of all of Barry’s inane crypto-fascist power grabs finally craters the stock market. When the Dow is at 400, who is going to bail America out?
Great going, Socialists! Hope you like subsistence farming. To the Collective!
Sidenote: How will all of our effete Little Lord Greenleroys take to physical labor in the new luddite reality?
What’s your meatspace job, LMC? Head Torturer at Rendition Center #325? You have a cruel streak in you, you do.
Beware the Stalinist relocation plan, moving 40 millions of our over sixties to be dropped off in Afghanistan to fend or not fend, as the case may be. win – win
I read Obama said yesterday he never felt as confident about where we’re heading as he does now.
He’s really dense, huh?
There ought to be a law forcing them to spend. And not just on health insurance this time.
I agree. There’s always firearms, ammunition, reloading supplies, hand tools, reference books, food stuffs, medical supplies, and so on. Stuff that will be handy in the event of an economic collapse.
Or an out-of-control Federal goobermint. But I repeat myself……
I say we just put Nancy, Barney, and Barry in charge of Taliban and Al Queda finances. Problem solved.
“What do you mean I’m overdrawn? What? A trust fund? I had cash in that account for a dozen martyr operations!”
“NANCY!!!!!!”
We could put the same people in charge of constructing the Freedom Tower, which is the same hole in the ground it’s been for a decade, in charge of building Cordoba House.
Ten years from now it would still be a vacant Burlington Coat Factory. Problem solved.
I’m on a roll!
He knows how November will turn out.
FROM THE POLITICO COMEDY SITE:
Hot button: GOP candidates knock global warming
By DARREN SAMUELSOHN | 8/18/10 11:19 AM
GOP candidates are unafraid to question global warming science.
You know we’ll get there. It’s how the Great Unwinding goes. The good part is that well before that a competing monetary system arises.
On its own.
Pesos?
Wouldn’t tortillas be more, um, edible?
There has never been a more selfish, self-indulgent, silly generation in American history.
I guess I’ll move out of the city and start making trading whiskey. I expect commodities and the ability to make them will be a good source of wealth.
Barter?
Sex for canned goods will be super popular with the folks that will be rising to the top of the new ‘Lord of the Flies’ economy.
Oh wait, fungible isn’t about growing fungi? Sorry.
I say we just put Nancy, Barney, and Barry in charge of Taliban and Al Queda finances. Problem solved.
Yes, put Barney in charge of AQ finances.
PLEASE!
Sex for canned goods will be super popular with the folks that will be rising to the top of the new ‘Lord of the Flies’ economy.
An ample ammo stockpile might be more appropriate for a ‘Lord of the Flies’ economy, Mr. W. But there’s nothing wrong with barter in a world of chaos. Just go easy on the “Buy Or Die” fire sales.
As a boomer, I might be spending IF my job were secure. It’s not, so I’m not. And if anybody thinks I’m rich, they need to get off of the drugs.
I don’t necessarily need canned goods but that would be a nice bonus
That’s gonna be the mother of all DIY projects. Get your parts together now.
I’m laying in tampons and moisturizer by the case. I will be King.
As a retired boomer who doesn’t it the popular definition, can I register my anger at being lumped in with ALL boomers?
I understand the situation, but leave me the FUCK out, please. I don’t contribute to the problem.
Thanks.
As a retired boomer who doesn’t it the popular definition, can I register my anger at being lumped in with ALL boomers?
Depends, do you now or have you ever enjoyed the biting social commentary that is “All in the Family”?
We have tapes, you know.
From Instapundit:
“UPDATE: Who Are You, And What Did You Do With Barney Frank? I think Frank may actually be worried about November. Anybody seen a recent poll from his district?”
I repeat: There. Are. No. Safe. Seats.
I repeat: 50% PLUS of Democrat congressmen gone.
Sex for canned goods. Sex for canned goods. Sex for canned goods.
I am going to spend a crapload of money at Sam’s later today. And I may just stock up on cute women’s shoes while I am at it.
JD, did a foot fetish come on suddenly? Just wondering.
If you can get sex for canned goods, imagine what you can get for a pair of Jimmy Choo’s, or Salvatore Ferragamo’s
After losing my job twice in the last 2 years due to cutbacks, I don’t foresee me spending any real money until after 2012. I honestly think we’ll see recovery if/when 2010 turns Congress back conservative and Obama is out of the White House in 2012. Its all about speculation in terms of how the economy is going to even out and I think most sensible people know anti-business democrats scare the crap out of Wall St. Until that changes, forget about recovery, much less growing the economy. Hell, I think the economy would see a job if anybody but Obama was elected, even Clinton or another moderate Democrat (moderate is probably a bad word- how about “pragmatic democrat”).
I’m having flashbacks to my exes shoe addiction (which not coincidentally also caused my personal recession). Having not ever seen an episode of sex and the city, I had no idea shoes cost taht much.
moving 40 millions of our over sixties to be dropped off in Afghanistan to fend or not fend
Pakistan is the best place to get rid of cadavers (warm and cold) these days, I hear. Nobody will notice a few thousand more in the current pile.
Any theories as to why the donors aren’t falling all over themselves to donate to the Pakistani floods as opposed to the Haiti earthquake?
Sex for canned goods.
This doesn’t work so well for a female like myself who is already stocking up on canned goods (and TP and toothpaste and little propane tanks).
Maybe auto repairs for canned goods or summat.
You mean Hollywood demanding 24/7 that we text something or other for Pockeestawn relief, dicentra? Good question.
if someone offers you sex for toothpaste walk away
Oral sex for denture adhesive, that’s another story.
#2 – that, sir, would be contrary to the prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment… but I like it all the same.
Oral sex for denture adhesive, that’s another story.
…….
Never mind.
I will enjoy watching the thin veneer of modernity slip off of the DC area.
You trolls want to save the planet by reducing America’s carbon footprint, right? Well your personal carbon footprint is going to be pretty small when the power’s off and you’re living in a van down by the river.
– A shoe fetish system of barter might not be all that appealing.
– A friend of mine built his wife a large hanging shoe rack for the closet. They’re both hard nosed Lefties, so none of her many pairs of flip-flops and sandals could be characterized as “sexy”.
– He named it the “wall of death”.
Q: After Barack’s 14th century dystopiam ideal is realized, once all the women have been forced to submit to the Shariah based patriarchy, how will we be able to pick out the leftist gals?
A: I’m guessing that they will be the ones enjoying it the most, based on their tacit support for it to this point.
Oh, and just so you know, the sexualization of young American girls by the over-culture, and the promiscuous behavior that attends it, mean that you don’t have to wait for the end of the world, you can get some head for a pair of Jimmy Choos right now!
Ain’t the feminist revolution grand? Thanks gals!
i pick up a female hitchhiker in downtown philly in the early ’80’s. she asked if i wanted a clinton. i left her off at the next corner.
These are people who started their working lives at a time when labour
unions were strong, taxpayers outnumbered retirees nearly 10 to one,
housing was as cheap as borscht and the basic personal exemption
covered most of a living wage. They congratulated themselves on
building an elaborate “social safety net” at the expense of their
children. Their great numbers have allowed their preferences and
superstitions to dominate culture and media. They’re the ones who
burned through tonnes of pot and then launched a War on Drugs when
they grew bored with it; they drove mighty-bowelled Mustangs and
Thunderbirds in their youth, and only started worrying about the
environment when they no longer needed a capacious backseat to
fornicate in; they espoused and took full advantage of sexual
liberation, but were safely hors de combat by the time AIDS reared its
head. The first time I see one shopping for dog food, I doubt I’ll be
able to suppress a laugh.
— Colby Cosh, “Watching boomers in turmoil is worth a recession”,
National Post, Feb. 24, 2009
Magistrate:
Do you set down your name in the scroll of youth,
that are written down old with all the characters of
age? Have you not a moist eye? a dry hand? a
yellow cheek? a white beard? a decreasing leg? an
increasing belly? is not your voice broken? your
wind short? your chin double? your wit single? and
every part about you blasted with antiquity? and
will you yet call yourself young? Fie, fie, fie, Sir John!
— Shakespeare, 2 Henry IV
It will almost be worth the crash just to see the trolls who rail against America’s lack of perfection realize how truly, amazingly, staggeringly good we have it in America.
Thanks to Barry, it’s on the way trolls! One day you and your ilk are making a buck-fifty for shuffling paper at the EPA and next you’re giving head for toothpaste. At least you’ll quit bitching about some amorphous drivel like ‘social-justice’.
‘Cause it’s hard to bitch with your mouth full.
I just read Michael Lewis’s The Big Short, and tend to see all the economic news through that filter at the moment.
I just read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and now there are a lot of hours of my life that I will never get back. Fucking Swedes.
you’re kidding that book’s on its way to me – the original movie is on netflix I was told it’s acceptable to watch that and just read the next two books
– TMI – The economic situation can be summed up in the line: “All the money that’s fit to print”
– The Light Bringer says we’re doing fine. He said it’s not fast enough, but he and his policies saved us from a depression. Of course, his economic advisers are floating backdoor pieces to the MFM, softening everyone up with talk of a “double dipper”, but that’s just silly nonsense I’m sure, I think.
– All of which I take it to mean, he’s happy, and we’re still not killing each other for food. so there’s that.
The movie isn’t bad. They speak in foreigner though and everyone is a pervert.
Scott Pilgrim is funnier than hell, btw.
cover provided by “All the news that’s fit to print”
I just wanted people to die because I disliked them so much. It seemed like it would be a good movie. One of those bad book / good movie things as opposed to sensational book / average to bad movie ones.
they signed Daniel Craig for the reporter guy and this hoochie for the girl for the big budget Girl Wif Dragon Tatoo 3D extravaganzer
I tried like 4 time to make the link and I failed her name is Rooney Mara
I want to go see Scott Pilgrim. Isn’t that the same kid that was in SuperBad?
And the Juno one too.
yes same same
Yep, that’s him, Michael Cera. ‘Feets also linked a video where he high fives a guitar-playing gorilla.
she’s so happy she got to wear her new boots
I saw a headline at Daily Beast that brought the Cera kid to mind in the SuperBad, it read something like — Peter Beinart: Democrats should grow a pair.
sdferr – sadly, if you read that article, you will find out that it is your fault, and they long for BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuusssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhh
i like that
JD, I won’t read the article because I simply can’t care what Peter Beinart has to say or think anymore, not that I ever did very much. I put up with listening to him once in awhile some years ago, but no more.
Oh, I cannot listen to him without throwing things at my television.
The West universalist yet unique. Islam too, has universalist or at least universalizing pretensions. About China qua Chinese I know too little to say with regard to their views of the universalism of their civilization.
But will the question finally turn on the functionality of our tools and toys?
Mr. W’s 328 needs a link because it’s so good. So… Who Are You, And What Did You Do With Barney Frank?
That’s #28, not 328.
Althouse acquires a sixth sense. I see Death Panels.
geoffb – The trolls there are almost as dishonest as the ones here.
And the ones if they are not dishonest must be brain-dead stupid. Usual choice for the lefty. “Am I evil? Or just stupid?” Heads or tails.
Consider this: What happens when the Dow hits 400? Will farmers still ship food to market? Will there be shippers to bring food, clothing, gasoline and heating fuel to market? How long do the lights stay on when the electric workers aren’t being paid? How long do the grocery stores stay open? How long does the local water plant keep operating? What if what’s coming makes the Great Depression look like a minor economic correction? What the hell are you going to do if you live in a city where you depend on all this infrastructure?
Interesting times we live in….
Dude, that’s the fifties when the boomers were either in elementary school or not yet born.
This was built in the thirties, Greatest Gen time and the early 60s, boomers range from just born to High School then.
True enough. You like jeans and Tees, Rock ‘n Roll? Is this a purposely done thing??
True. Early born boomers there.
Nixon, Reagan, Greatest Gen. again.
Guilty.
I’m not “hors de combat” even yet and certainly wasn’t in the 80s.
Fine, my dog can get his fresh meat from your leg then.
Will there be shippers to bring food, clothing, gasoline and heating fuel to market?
Insulin.
Where will diabetics get their insulin from? This is what worries me the most. I’m not diabetic and neither is anyone in my family, but there’s a lot of insulin-dependent folks out there, and they’ll drop like flies, they way diabetics did 200 years ago.
Not like you can stock up on the stuff.
“Colby Cash” sounds like the perfect name for a pretentious Gen-X asshole, by the way.
Colby Cosh.
Johnny Cash.