Companies cannot provide decent pensions because they are extracting too much profit and paying management too much. Nothing new about that.

So they go bankrupt, wipe off their obligations are shielded from suits and carry one with a leaner more subservient work force and profits are soon flowing again. Isn’t that the way it works?

That’s why I’ve been saying since the 1980s (when a lot of businesses went bust and people lost their retirement funds) that government needs to regulate how much businesses can extract in a time of need. It might even be wise to encourage more non-corp retirement savings — though politicians are loathe to encourage anything but buy buy buy economics.

that rate is going to be lower then inflation in a very short while, buy your assets now, buy your bussinesses now, do not buy stock now though

I’ve been saying for at least six months that everybody needs to be in hard assets, not stocks & bonds. So, considering cash will buy less later, it does make sense to buy hard assets now and plan to pay them off with inflated dollars later. But, the banks aren’t dummies, so don’t bet on getting any bargains on borrowed money.

I still don’t suggest anyone should borrow money unless it’s very very necessary. Businesses, on the other hand, is pretty much a risk investment to start with, so they should be more willing & able to ‘invest’ now. Invest in working assets!

As for values, they are illusory. What makes a house two hundred thousand today and one hundred thousand tomorrow? Same for art, stocks and anything else you might mention. Banks today are writing off billions. Where did these billions come from and more importantly, where did they go? How many more billions can they write off before hitting the bottom of the barrel? What can the Fed do to meet the challenge other than print money? There will be pain, but something better than capitalism may come of it. Or not.

I moved out of Manhattan 15 years ago and can’t afford to move back there because of the inflated costs and it’s not just housing. All others costs follow on.

With fixed incomes or incomes that are not growing fast enough you simply slid down the economic hell hole and eat cat food at the end.

If Bush’s strategy is to drag Congress down to his low level of public esteem, he is succeeding brilliantly

BINGO

Congressional Democrats need a Plan B.

Republicans chortle as they block Democratic initiatives — and accuse the majority of being unable to govern. Rank-and-filers are furious that their leaders can’t end the Iraq war. President Bush sits back and vetoes at will.

worse, Democrats are starting to blame each other, with those in the House wondering why their Senate colleagues don’t force Republicans to engage in grueling, old-fashioned filibusters. Instead, the GOP kills bills by coming up with just 41 votes.

The value of real estate, art, and money are completely illusory.

Enter at your own risk.

on art, I of course agree

on real estate, not quite

people have to live and the cost of living will have to neccessarily reflect wages

real estate values might burst, I agree, however so long as you are buying at an affordable rate for a house in your income range the price can’t really go lower then that by much…unless there is something that happens to the community to create an exodus

people should not have money right now is what I’m saying, In don’t know what assets to aquire, but cash is not it, I say carry as small a bank account as possible, buy on time at lowest rates as many assets as retain value as possible

The value of real estate, art, and money are completely illusory.

Enter at your own risk.

And the values of these and other markets are controlled and manipulated by others.

Take art. A totally greed driven market where the value of art is easily manipulated by a speculator bidding up the value of some artist he may own by making an an outrageous bid for a piece and all the others one shoot up in value as their value is PEGGED to the current market. Then dump some of the other pieces at enormous profit and on to the next pump and dump.

Real estate was/is a pump and dump that many players are making out, banks, real estate brokers, lawyers, mortgage lenders, builders, developers, even the tax collectors, schools which depend on assessed value taxes and the list goes on and on.

It’s all ponzi. It’s other name is capitalism.

I have a sense the economic debacle will assist in ‘bringing down’ this house of cards. But they are desperately trying to prevent that part from happening.

Thank goodness for Krugman! And so many trying to ferret out the truth.