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Here is some information you may not want to here
about inflation. Lets take health care. These numbers are from
personal experience.
I had a triple bypass in 1995. Total bill for
hospital and doctors came to $70,000.
In February of this year I had a stent put
in. A simple operation. Total billing was $350,000. Hospital
room runs about $12,000 a day. I could have stayed at the Ritz Carlton
with all the amenities for far less than that.
Nursing care. I paid $2500 per month for
my mother in a nursing home for 7 years until she died in 1987. My mother
in law cost $4500 per month when she passed away 5 years ago. A friend of
ours is currently paying $7000 per month for her husband and was notified that
the price will rise to $7500 per month in June. A one bedroom retirement
apartment in this area runs from $4500 to $5500 per month. so if you
aren't insured plan on early bankruptcy and look for a comfortable bridge to
live under. There was no coverage for nursing home for my mother and
mother in law so that was all out of pocket expense. fortunately I was
able to pay for it. The other alternative was not an option.
This is from Consumer Reports and shows how our
congress looks out for us. The drug lobby rules. We can import lead
painted toys from China along with their tainted food products. We can
import fruits and vegetables from around the world that have been sprayed with
all types of pesticides that have been banned in the US. But we can't by
drugs from other countries. Of course I wouldn't by drugs from China but
here is something to think about.
15 mg Actos 30 tablets cost $86.13 in the US and
$21.48 in Japan.
10 mg Lipitor 30 tablets cost $68.37 in the US and
$19.53 in France
70 mg Fosamax 30 tablets cost $64.16 in the US
and 23.61 in Japan
20 mg Nexium 30 tablets cost $92.04 in the US and
$19.26 in Germany
10 mg Singular 30 tablets cost $83.40 in the US and
$43.02 in France.
All manufactured by US companies with drug patents
still in force.
The assumption is that health care costs will
double in the next 7 years. I think sooner based upon the past. So save
your pennies and look to tomorrow.
So if you believe that there is no inflation and
the government will take care of you I have 5 bridges in the San Francisco Bay
area for sale relatively cheap.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 3:46
PM
Subject: Re: [RT] Credit Cards
Thanks Bob.....very good information.
Ron
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 5:05
PM
Subject: Re: [RT] Credit Cards
Well Ira, I'm a cynic too. You and I grew up in an era when people
paid for what they could afford and saved for what they couldn't
afford. We grew up in a time when a man's handshake was sufficient to
close nearly any deal and a man's honor was the most important possession he
owned. I have a great fear for the U.S. and that fear is based on
several things. In no particular order of importance, they
are:
Education: Our education system which was one of the top 5
in the world is now 29th and getting worse. The "No Child Left Behind"
idiocy has meant that many of our children graduate from high school unable
to read or write with proficiency. They have little to no idea where
continents are located let alone counties and their math skills are about
what you and I were taught in 5th grade. The dumbing down of American
children will come with a terrible price one day and it's all being done for
the sake of political correctness and the powerful teacher's union.
Boomers: As the baby boomers retire, there will be a load put
on social security and medicare that can not be sustained. There will
simply not be sufficient workers to support the system and yet, how can we
dismantle a system these people paid into their entire lives? The
money should be there. It would be there if the government hadn't and
doesn't spend it all every month by transferring it into the general revenue
fund and then selling bonds to pay the retirees back *their* money.
Health Care: The costs are completely out of control and the
quality is dropping. Based on mortality rates for infants and cancer
plus a few other qualifiers, we are now dead last in health care among
industrialized nations. We are paying more and getting less and if
that isn't enough to be concerned and furious about, we have some
politicians who want to give it free to everyone. That would be the
end of this country in terms of fiscal responsibility. It simply would
bankrupt America in short order. To try and support such a system, we
could expect to pay what some European nations pay in income taxes which
currently are as high as 70% of gross. It isn't totally due to
politics either, we have hospitals being run by doctors who know as much
about how to run a business as they know about fly fishing. Step one
would be to get those people out of control and get businessmen/women
running them.
National Debt: We have written checks that
our children can't cover and their children can't cover and we keep adding
to that total. If I were a candidate for the presidency, I would vow
to cut spending by 5% across the board every year for 5 years excluding only
social security and medicare since that money belongs to those who paid
it. I would pay government department heads based on how much they can
save each year rather than how large their budget is with the caveat that
quality of service must be maintained.
In conclusion, we must
wonder how the economy in America is going to prosper under the conditions
described above with a service oriented atmosphere sans high wages and high
skills. We have a debt that seems impossible to deal with and a
banking system in nearly total disarray. We are a people living for
today with little regard for the future and we are spending the savings of
our workers paid through social security, unemployment and medicare as fast
as those savings arrive. From our government to the bus driver, there
are nearly zero plans for the future. The Fed thinks the answer is to
make money even easier to get and the only positive coming out of that is
the banks are hoarding the money to cover their own losses rather than
lending it out. The dollar is plunging against most other currencies
and commodities are pushing inflation ever higher. For equity
investors the future does not look positive unless one shorts the markets
and this is not easy for mutual fund investors.
Oh well, we've
had 2 good days .. maybe we found a bottom. And maybe all those higher
costs Ira mentioned will go back down soon.. right after oil goes back to
$12.00 a barrel and it snows here in Southwest
Florida.
Bob
At 11:21 AM 2/26/2008, you wrote:
Bob:
Another problem is that when
all of this comes to an end will price actually come down. Once the
suppliers realize that we will pay these high prices how far will they
back off? I don't think we will see lower prices after ethanol is
done for. At least not prices where they were when it all
started. Time to start baking your own bread again. There are
depression type conditions for many families. I just paid $4.85 for
a $1.00 loaf of bread. Milk is up 30% in just a couple of months and
right now there is no end in sight.
The housing problem has hit about bottom or will by July or August
of this year. Right now there is about an eleven month supply of
homes. By the end of this year or the first quarter of next year the
banks, investment banks and mortgage companies should have been able to
write down their bad loans and the last of the ARMs will have kicked
in. The $168 billion stimulus package will have taken effect.
Those that are gong to go bankrupt will have done so and those that are
really deep in debt to credit card companies will be paying between 24%
and 50% interest on their balances.
What the government needs to do and won't because of the money they
receive from lobbyists and invested companies is
re-establish usury laws, increase interest rates to stop inflation,
reduce government spending on farm supports and ethanol production,
stimulate construction of hydrogen filling stations and put together some
of the old New Deal projects that will put Americans to work. Stop
the tax breaks for farming out production and services overseas and bring
those jobs back home.
It is all a
dream right now and I know that our government won't do what is necessary
but what is expedient for their own self service. They will increase
their own salaries, increase their own retirement benefits and health care
benefits and screw their constituents, the American people. This is
not a political dissertation, it is fundamental analysis.
After all of these years, yes I am a
cynic.
Just one man's opinion,
Ira
www.delta100.com
- ----- Original Message -----
- From: BobsKC
- To: realtraders@yahoogroups.com
- Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2008 4:51 PM
- Subject: Re: [RT] Credit Cards
- The latest scam being brought down on us is the ethanol nonsense
which has raised food prices and will continue to do so until someone
steps up and explains that ethanol costs more to produce than fossil
fuel and it pollutes worse than gasoline. We need to begin
building nuke plants again and do so without regard to who wants what in
their backyard. Next, we need to figure out what we're going to do
with the waste. (I suggest an island in the Bering Sea).
Then, we need to put some serious money into hydrogen fuel cell
development and add as much solar and wind power as is reasonably
possible. Farmers may be getting rich off ethanol but
most of us are just paying for a political game when we shop at the
grocery store. Worse, the game is destined to fail and fail at our
expense. Surprise!
- Bob
- At 06:57 PM 2/24/2008, you wrote:
- Here are some interesting facts from today's
paper. With the mortgage default rate rising there are more and
more people living off of their credit cards. I can imagine, I
just paid $4.85 for a loaf of bread that was less than $2,00 a year
ago.
- Total credit card debt in the U.S. is $943
billion
- The number of credit cards is 1.2 billion
- The number of credit cards per person is 7
- The Average debt per household is $9,840
- The annual debt service cost per household is $1500
- Only 7% or the households have no credit cards
- Only 32% pay their bill monthly
- 8% of the card holders owe more than $25,000
- The U.S; Savings rate is 0.5%
- Not a really good picture for a consumer driven
economy.
- Ira
- www.delta100.com
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