thestatedtruth.com | January 2, 2011
The United States and its leaders are stuck in what is called a predicament. They need the economy to improve in order to generate jobs, but the economy can only improve if people have jobs…. They need the economy to recover in order to improve our deficit situation, but if the economy really recovers long term […]
thestatedtruth.com | January 2, 2011
Here in lies the problem….Fred Siegel, a historian at the conservative-leaning Manhattan Institute, has written of the “New Tammany Hall,†which he describes as the alliance between public officials and labor. “Public unions have had no natural adversary; they give politicians political support and get good contracts back,†“It’s uniquely dysfunctional.†In California, pension costs […]
thestatedtruth.com | January 2, 2011
It should be a national law that the IDIOTS running things at least understand basic math! If so, we wouldn’t be in this mess now. This sets the table…..you can’t go back to 2008 spending levels and still see growth in the economy. Plain and simple! On the other hand, we can never grow our […]
thestatedtruth.com | January 1, 2011
TrimTabs’ Charles Biderman reviews fund flows below….says this will end badly once QE2 ends unless we have endless quantitative easing  forever! Hmm, endless QE, now there’s an idea that only the government could conceive of! Equity fund flows were mixed. Global equity funds posted a respectable inflow of $87 billion in 2010, up modestly from $62 billion in […]
thestatedtruth.com | December 27, 2010
The median (defined as the amount separating the top 50% from the bottom 50% but not an average) retirement account for U.S. households is $2,000 (in other words half the population has more than $2,000 in retirement and half has less). This is why the vast majority of retirees depend on Social Security as their primary source […]
thestatedtruth.com | December 25, 2010
thestatedtruth.com | December 25, 2010
The new world order will see tax hikes every where, it’s unavoidable! Cities across the nation are raising property taxes citing rising pension and health-care costs for their employees and retirees. Local officials and government workers say a confluence of factors is driving the increases, including the need to make up for staggering investment losses […]
thestatedtruth.com | December 21, 2010
This pension issue will have to be addressed front and center very soon…..Virginia stopped requiring public employee pension contributions back in 1983, but the free lunch is now OVER! It’s a snow ball going down hill, and we all know how big the snow ball is at the bottom.  Kick the can down the road, until one day the […]
thestatedtruth.com | December 8, 2010
ICI reports equity domestic funds saw outflows of $1,801MM last week, which is the 31st consecutive outflow.Â
thestatedtruth.com | December 7, 2010
Here is the real reason that the old folks get no cost of living increase for Social Security……Inflation data relies heavily on housing prices and removes food and energy costs. No kidding! Ah, but Congress gave themselves a raise this year, I guess they looked at it the other way around. U.S. government inflation data is “a […]
thestatedtruth.com | December 7, 2010
thestatedtruth.com | December 6, 2010
This is an interesting summary of a review on retirement plans “Broken Promises” from Knowledge@Wharton …… From the women’s movement to the sexual revolution, the generation of 77 million baby boomers born in the United States between 1946 and 1964 has spent the last five decades loudly breaking new ground. Now, as they head toward their “golden years,” […]
thestatedtruth.com | December 5, 2010
Let’s put these two answers in deep perspective….Troubling is putting it mildly! Q: [On calls to cut the deficit] We’re looking at ten, 15, 20 years from now, a situation where almost the entire federal budget will be spent on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and interest on the debt. There won’t be any money left […]
thestatedtruth.com | December 3, 2010
Thinking the Unthinkable By Bill Bonner  This week, like the last one, was dominated by euro babel. Speaking in their various tongues, all at once, Europeans were talking nonsense. Especially Jose-Ignacio Torreblanca. The senior fellow at the European Council of Foreign Relations begins: “in an ideal world,” he says it is “fair and rational” for […]
thestatedtruth.com | December 1, 2010
Under orders from Congress pursuant to the Dodd-Frank financial legislation, the Fed has finally released details of its emergency lending starting in 2007. Huffington Post is providing an excellent live-blogging round up as new discoveries are made from the Fed’s data release. Here are some of the more interesting insights: Mutual funds, hedge funds and […]
thestatedtruth.com | December 1, 2010
Yes, you are wondering how this is possible while the market is going up? The logical answer is the powers to be (government) have total control of things for now….but if something should happen to change that (and it will), run baby run! ICI reports for the week ending November 24, we had $2.6 billion in outflows from […]
thestatedtruth.com | November 29, 2010
We are all going to be real frugal if this plan see’s the light of day! Currently, individual retirees with $34,000 in outside income and couples with $44,000 must pay taxes on 85 percent of their benefits. The Third Way plan would require individuals earning $50,000 a year and couples receiving $60,000 to pay taxes on […]
thestatedtruth.com | November 27, 2010
More than 90% of employees opt for a lump-sum payout from their pension plan when given the choice.  So the Pension Protection Act was signed in August of 2006 by President George W. Bush. But who does it protect. Well certainly not the employee! Interestingly, the current change has received so little notice that most people aren’t […]
thestatedtruth.com | November 25, 2010
Inquiring minds want to know….how do we ever close this gap! Corporate pensions in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index with about $1 trillion in assets are now 77 percent funded this year, down from 82 percent at the end of 2009.  The $380 billion pension shortfall is the biggest since at least 1994, according to […]
thestatedtruth.com | November 25, 2010
From Bloomberg News By Zoltan Simon Nov 25, 2010 Hungary is giving its citizens an ultimatum: move your private-pension fund assets to the state or lose your state pension. Economy Minister Gyorgy Matolcsy announced the policy yesterday, escalating a government drive to bring 3 trillion forint ($14.6 billion) of privately managed pension assets under state […]
thestatedtruth.com | November 15, 2010
The rate will tell the story. If the rate is reasonable then it is illogical. If it is illogical then QE (Quantitative Easing) has started to bail out states.           Jim Sinclair This two-part sale of so-called revenue anticipation notes (Rans) allows California to bridge the gap to its tax season in the spring…… Hopefully!  Notice […]
thestatedtruth.com | November 14, 2010
thestatedtruth.com | November 12, 2010
The trouble continues at the U.S. Postal Service. It lost a record $8.5 billion, and said almost two thirds of the deficit, or $5.5 billion, covered health-benefit costs for future retirees. Hey, here’s a novel idea (not)…. let’s raise the cost of postage stamps every year, that way the postal workers can keep their retirement benefits. The U.S. […]
thestatedtruth.com | October 21, 2010
Why California is About to Fall Into an Ocean of Unpayable Debt Perry Wong, Director of Regional Economics at the Milken Institute is co-author of a new report, Addressing California’s Pension Shortfalls: The Role of Demographics in Designing Solutions.  His conclusion: We’re talking about a perfect storm: more state services needed for an aging population, […]
thestatedtruth.com | October 21, 2010
French unions to the government….you can’t do this to us or it will end an entire network of welfare benefits that make France an enviable place to work and live. Are they kidding?   No they’re not! PARIS (AP) – Protesters blockaded Marseille’s airport, Lady Gaga canceled concerts in Paris and rioting youths attacked police in Lyon […]
thestatedtruth.com | October 20, 2010
ICI reports the latest fund flow data: flows into everything are up… except domestic stocks. The only silver lining: the outflow is declining, and we may see an inflow next week. The only marginal buyers continue to be the primary dealers (using POMO cash), pension funds, and algos. Weekly Flows: Cumulative Flows:
thestatedtruth.com | October 19, 2010
This Is How To Fix Congress!    Congressional Reform Act of 2010  1. Term Limits.    12 years only, one of the possible options below..   A. Two Six-year Senate terms   B. Six Two-year House terms   C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms 2. No Tenure / No Pension. A […]
thestatedtruth.com | October 12, 2010
Words of a wise man, pay attention everyone!  By Bloomberg News October 12, 2010 Advanced economies risk a lost decade unless policy makers recognize the severity of the wounds left by the financial crisis, said Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive officer of Pacific Investment Management Co. El-Erian, who popularized the phrase new normal to describe how […]
thestatedtruth.com | October 11, 2010
Retired folks are now getting liitle or no interest on their savings (if they have anything left) and now this happens to them!  For many older people, every little bit matters. It really looks to this observer as if our government is out of touch with reality and favoring the rich. WASHINGTON     As if voters don’t have enough to be […]
thestatedtruth.com | September 27, 2010
It looks like we could have saved the U.S. tax payers a few trillion dollars if the government would have realized the basics of the problems a year and a half ago! New World Thinking: The government can save everything. Reality: The government can’t save anything but will try, in the process it will usually make things worse!  Paul Krugman […]
thestatedtruth.com | September 23, 2010
Is there a message to Congress in this! House Republicans announced a governing agenda today that would cut federal spending, extend expiring tax cuts and repeal the Democrats’ health-care law. The program was released by party leaders at a hardware store in Sterling, Virginia, as Republicans make their case to voters to retake the House […]
thestatedtruth.com | September 23, 2010
Sorry, But The Answer Of Too Much Debt Is Not More Debt In Price Is Knowledge If you told Rip van Bondtrader that gold had risen to a record during his decade-long slumber, he’d want to know what the inflation outlook was, and how badly he’d gotten killed on his bond investments. He’d be astonished to […]
thestatedtruth.com | September 22, 2010
The stock market is now virtually unchanged in 2010, even as almost $80 billion in equity-capital has been withdrawn.  So here is the question: How is this possible? Well….it’s a deep subject and we don’t know! 20’th Consecutive Week Of Outflows Beginning on May 5, there have been 20 consecutive outflows from domestic mutual equity funds. […]
thestatedtruth.com | September 22, 2010
Talk about tough times out there, this shopping habit says it all. Bloomberg: Wal-Mart CEO “I don’t need to tell you that our cusÂtomer remains challenged…You need not go farther than one of our stores on midnight at the end of the month. And it’s real interesting to watch, about 11 p.m. customers start to come […]
thestatedtruth.com | September 20, 2010
According to calculations from the Federal Reserve, household wealth tumbled a whopping $17 trillion during the crisis – or about 27%. Since the depths of the crisis, however, Americans have recovered about $5 trillion of household wealth. Only $12 trillion to go! For perspective, $12 trillion is nearly equal to one year’s US GDP. It’s […]
thestatedtruth.com | September 18, 2010
The End of Social Security As We Know It By Ian Mathias Baltimore, Maryland On September 30, America will quietly begin a generational shift. This will be the final day of the government’s fiscal year 2010, and consequentially, a very notable day for Social Security. September 30 will be the last day – maybe for […]
thestatedtruth.com | September 17, 2010
The median expected investment return for more than 100 U.S. public pension plans surveyed by the National Association of State Retirement Administrators remains 8%, the same level as in 2001  “It’s unrealistic,” according to John Bogle, founder of mutual fund giant Vanguard.  He says the return assumptions in place at most pension plans can’t be meet. […]
thestatedtruth.com | September 15, 2010
ICI’s latest data discloses that in the week ended September 8, domestic funds saw outflows of $2.2 billion, following last week’s massive $7.7 billion. And ETFs experienced outflows as well. So far September has experienced nearly $10 billion in outflows, even as the market has ramped by over 6%. This is the 19th sequential outflow […]
thestatedtruth.com | September 15, 2010
The funded status of the 100 largest corporate defined benefit pension plans dropped by $108 billion during August 2010 as measured by the Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index (PFI). The funded status decrease was primarily due to a significant decrease in corporate bond interest rates that are the benchmarks used to value pension liabilities. Though […]
thestatedtruth.com | September 14, 2010
A $108 Billion Deterioration In ONE MONTH www.zerohedge.com     09-14-2010 According to actuarial and consulting firm Miliman, in August 2010, the funded status of the 100 largest defined benefit pension plans sponsored by U.S. companies dropped by $108 billion to a 10-year low of 70.1%. Yes, that’s a $100 billion + deterioration in one month! The […]
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