When the boomers lose their pensions. That's when it will get violent.

[syswizard]

Quote from budcampbell:

Not where I live. In fact many appear to be doing better than myself. But the comment mainly was pertaining to the fortitude of many Americans, who in my book make up what is known as "America", not to be confused with US gov't which is going broke and becoming increasingly paranoid and estranged from it's citizenry.

Baloney. I've been in the throes of capitalism as an independent contractor past 20 years. I should be retiring. Instead, I'm working harder than ever just to pay all of the highly paid professionals...doctors, lawyers, pharmacists, dentists. In many cases I've got to work a whole day to pay for just an HOUR of their time.

A friend of mine worked for the government for 30 years. Just retired....huge benefits, and retirement compensation. He's set for the rest of his life.

How could this happen ? One word: socialism.

 

[zdreg]

Quote from syswizard:

Yes, sorry...poor choice of words. It succeeds in the manner of only preventing depression.

"preventing depression." that is left wing professors liberal economic doctrine and wrong. you will end up in an inflationary depression. take a look at Zimbabwe currently
or argentina under peron or brazil in the bad old days. you will have the worst of both worlds inflation and depression like economic conditions. people use their time, not in useful activity of producing good and services, but in attempting to game the system as the currency loses value.

 

[zdreg]

Quote from budcampbell:

You sound like the sorehead that I could become. I ran a small business for 21 years, similar scenario to yourself, i suppose. Maybe your field became crowded or conditions changed,anyway I sold out in 2002, after 911, that great seminal event that changed the US for good. I maintain hope, because that is all that is left.

syswizard is not a sorehead. in exchange for job security government workers were supposed to get less pay and benefits than the private sector. instead they ended up with more job security and more pay and benefits.

 

[piezoe]

Quote from morganist:

Unless you buy precious metals.

If those metals have sufficient, rising industrial demand they may more than keep you even with inflation. However Most precious metals over the long haul just keep you even with inflation plus or minus a small percent. We are currently in a speculative gold bubble because of economic uncertainty. Don't count on this lasting for thirty years. The price of gold in dollars will rise more or less continuously, of course, but wouldn't it be better to take on a little more risk and try for a net gain after discounting for inflation. If you have gold that you bought 4 or more years ago., now might be a good time to take your profits and get out until the bubble bursts. The price should hold up, however, at least until the Euro situation is resolved.

Personally, for long term investing i like something with compounding dividends.

 

[piezoe]

Quote from denner:

I suppose if you lived in the wrong neighborhoods right about now, you'd think it was borderline anarchy and a third world country. That's one thing about the US, there are many third world aspects to it that most people conveniently side step or try to forget about. I just think this country will continue to evolve into a more typical third world type culture...and with that, the "have nots" will begin to infringe more and more upon the "have's"...which is to say that I believe third world type of crime will become epidemic and that's scary enough. Underreported high inflation, lowered standard of living, chronic joblessness, and hundreds of thousands of "at risk" youth's roaming around the city streets (and suburbs) with a chip on their shoulder looking to even the score...

I guess that I could ramble on about how I see this unfolding, but it would take a bit more effort to organize all my thoughts on the topic.

Maybe stock in security equipment and monitoring companies is a good bet for the future?

I hope you are wrong, but I fear you are probably right. The U.S. must rebuild its middle class and increase opportunity if it wants to avoid your scenario. There are two thing that would have to happen, but won't, I fear, before it is too late. The first is to bring military spending in line with other developed nations. We're spending at the rate of $4K/ capita the rest of the world is spending at an order of magnitude less. The second thing is to bring medical costs down to fall in line with other developed nations. We must have, at minimum, a 50% decrease to achieve that.

These things can't happen overnight. But goals should be set and steady progress made. All we need to do is hold the line on costs and other nations will catch up to us. But we are not doing even that.

 

[zdreg]

Quote from piezoe:

If those metals have sufficient, rising industrial demand they may more than keep you even with inflation. However Most precious metals over the long haul just keep you even with inflation plus or minus a small percent. We are currently in a speculative gold bubble because of economic uncertainty. Don't count on this lasting for thirty years. The price of gold in dollars will rise more or less continuously, of course, but wouldn't it be better to take on a little more risk and try for a net gain after discounting for inflation. If you have gold that you bought 4 or more years ago., now might be a good time to take your profits and get out until the bubble bursts. The price should hold up, however, at least until the Euro situation is resolved.

Personally, for long term investing i like something with compounding dividends.

"We are currently in a speculative gold bubble because of economic uncertainty."
gold is not showing signs of a bubble.

The price should hold up, however, at least until the Euro situation is resolved.
this statement is doubtful. it is based upon the assumption that gold is at its current level because of the euro crisis. assuming that case, which I don't , the gold price is likely to go lower
before the crisis is resolved because the market is a discounting mechanism.

" Don't count on this lasting for thirty years. "
people do not have time horizons of 30 years

"If you have gold that you bought 4 or more years ago., now might be a good time to take your profits and get out until the bubble bursts. "
this is a fallacious type pf argument.
it doesn't matter when u bought a particular asset class. one has to make a decision based upon their perception of a future target price within their time horizon.

 

[piezoe]

Quote from Scataphagos:

There was a story just this week about Boomers getting $100,000 LESS in SS retirement benefits than they paid in.

These "stories" are just that. They have no value other than to mislead. It will always be the case that those who die younger than their actuarial death age may receive a total benefit less than, to varying degree, than what they contributed. At the same time a significant number may receive benefits considerably in excess of what they contributed. This is the nature of Social Security and a result of its most beneficial attribute.

 

[piezoe]

Quote from zdreg:

"We are currently in a speculative gold bubble because of economic uncertainty."
gold is not showing signs of a bubble.

The price should hold up, however, at least until the Euro situation is resolved.
this statement is doubtful. it is based upon the assumption that gold is at its current level because of the euro crisis. assuming that case, which I don't the gold price, the gold price is likely to go lower
before the crisis is resolved because the market is a discounting mechanism.

" Don't count on this lasting for thirty years. "
people do not have time horizons of 30 years

"If you have gold that you bought 4 or more years ago., now might be a good time to take your profits and get out until the bubble bursts. "
this is a fallacious type pf argument.
it doesn't matter when u bought a particular asset class. one has to make a decision based upon their perception of a target price within their time horizon.

Gold is in a speculative bubble driven by economic uncertainties. No particular economic uncertainty need be assumed. (There are quite a few currently)

Now might be a good time to consider selling your gold! It is always better to sell high rather than low.

 

[denner]

Quote from piezoe:

Gold is in a speculative bubble driven by economic uncertainties. No particular economic uncertainty need be assumed. (There are quite a few currently)

Now might be a good time to consider selling your gold! It is always better to sell high rather than low.

The problem with your analysis is that you are assuming this "economic uncertainty" will be resolved or HAS been resolved. Nothing could be further from the truth.

 

[zdreg]

Quote from piezoe:

Gold is in a speculative bubble driven by economic uncertainties. No particular economic uncertainty need be assumed. (There are quite a few currently)

Now might be a good time to consider selling your gold! It is always better to sell high rather than low.