CNBC.com Article: Marc Faber: Market Setting Up for ‘Serious Setback’

Global markets have been weakening technically and are poised to head sharply downward, “Gloom, Boom & Doom Report” editor Marc Faber said Tuesday on CNBC.

On “Fast Money,” he stood by his call that stocks would fall 20 percent.

“Basically, I think QE3, which I think is unlimited, and bond purchases by the ECB bailout of countries have been largely discounted by the market, and the markets have been weaking technically, so I believe that we may have here quite a serious setback,” he said.

Faber discounted the role of government intervention as a way to improve economic conditions.

(Read More: Marc Faber: Stocks Will Fall; Jim Rogers: China to Rise)

“We need less policies, not more policies,” he said.

“I would love to see everywhere in the world, certainly in the Western world, government expenditures and government bureaucrats cut by minimum 50 percent,” he added. “That would turn me very bullish.”

Pressed for a place to put his money, Faber looked to Asia.

 

Read more of this story here.

 

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Spiking the Monetary Punch Bowl

October 5, 2012

How Helicopter Ben Helps Jobs and, Inadvertently, Gold

By Frank Holmes
CEO and Chief Investment Officer
U.S. Global Investors

The world’s central bank leaders continue to spike the monetary punch bowl, with investors imbibing on gold once again. This flurry of gold buying prompts many curious investors and doubting media to ask me two questions: 1) How can demand for gold and gold stocks continue; and 2) How high can the precious metal go?
To answer these questions, we need to look at the intentions behind the economic and political decision-making across several developed countries, analyze the causes, the effects, and the possible ramifications.
For example, one of the most debated topics today is America’s ongoing unemployment situation. Job loss has affected the lives and pocketbooks of millions of Americans and our friends and families, culminating to a center-stage position in the election this year. All eyes turn to President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney to explain how each intends to create jobs.

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CNBC.com Article: Tax Hikes Coming No Matter Who Wins White House

CNBC.com Article: Tax Hikes Coming No Matter Who Wins White House

 



Regardless of who wins the White House this November, the new health-care law will raise taxes on high-income Americans next year—and that could have implications for stocks and other assets.

Starting Jan. 1, there will be an additional 3.8 percent tax on investment income—including capital gains, dividends and rental income. It will apply to married couples with adjusted gross income of $250,000 or more and for individuals above $200,000.

There will also be a 0.9 percent tax next year on all salaries and wages earned above those same threshold amounts.

The new taxes, part of the 2010 health care law, are expected to help fund Medicare.

The tax hikes mean that the current dividend and capital gains tax rates of 15 percent will rise to at least to 18.8 percent next year for the wealthiest tax payers.

If Democrats win the White House and Senate, they are expected to push for a 20 percent capital gains and dividend tax rate, while Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney favors no change.

 

Read Full Article:CNBC

As Low Rates Depress Savers, Governments Reap Benefits

A consumer complaint is ricocheting around the world: low interest rates are eating away at savings, the New York Times reports.

Bill Taren, a retiree near Orlando, Fla., discovered in August that his credit union would pay only 0.4 percent annual interest on his saving account, even though inflation averaged 2.8 percent over the last year. So he and his wife decided to just stuff their money in the mattress, he says, because at least there “we can see the cash when we want.”

Jeanne and André Bussière, in Annecy, France, have a stable pension and a bank account that pays 2 percent interest — “almost nothing,” they say — even though the consumer price index rose an average of 2.5 percent over the last year.

Jiang Rong, an information technology professional in Xiamen, China, decided to dive back into the speculative real estate market rather than watch his savings wither at the bank. In China, too, the cost of living is outrunning savings, as local restaurants nearly double their prices.

The fact that interest yields are so low in so many parts of the world is no coincidence. Rates are determined not only by markets, but also by government policy. And right now many governments say they have good reason to keep their own borrowing costs as low as they possibly can. Just last week, the government’s report on job growth in the United States showed continued weakness, and an international forecasting group warned that the European economic powerhouse, Germany, will fall into recession later this year.

 

Read more: CNBC.com Article:

Who's Profiting From Your 401(k)?

 

CNBC.com Article: Who's Profiting From Your 401(k)?

Why investors have suffered below-market returns even as mutual fund management company owners enjoyed market-beating results.

In this election year, there's a lot of talk about how the middle class has been decimated by our economic woes. In a sobering study titled "[T]he lost decade of the Middle Class", Pew Research Center defines this beleaguered group as those with household incomes between $39,000 and $118,000.

According to Pew, since 2000 the middle class "has shrunk in size, fallen backward in income and wealth, and shed some – but by no means all – of its characteristic faith in the future."

Their median income has fallen from $72,956 to $69,487.

Full Story:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/48827909

Learn more at www.donaldjlester.com

Article: How Much Will It Cost You If Bush Tax Cuts End? A Lot

CNBC.com Article: How Much Will It Cost You If Bush Tax Cuts End? A Lot

Americans would shell out as much as $5,700 more a year if the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire at the end of 2012, according to a new analysis that highlights the perils and political consequences of the nation's fiscal cliff.

Full Story:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/48674247

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The Historical Shift in Social Security.

The Nest Egg is Boken as reported by Fox News.

New retirees receiving less in Social Security than they paid in, marking historic shift.

People retiring today are part of the first generation of workers who have paid more in Social Security taxes during their careers than they will receive in benefits after they retire. It's a historic shift that will only get worse for future retirees, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.
Previous generations got a much better bargain, mainly because payroll taxes were very low when Social Security was enacted in the 1930s and remained so for decades.
"For the early generations, it was an incredibly good deal," said Andrew Biggs, a former deputy Social Security commissioner who is now a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. "The government gave you free money and getting free money is popular."
If you retired in 1960, you could expect to get back seven times more in benefits than you paid in Social Security taxes, and more if you were a low-income worker, as long you made it to age 78 for men and 81 for women.
As recently as 1985, workers at every income level could retire and expect to get more in benefits than they paid in Social Security taxes, though they didn't do quite as well as their parents and grandparents.
Not anymore.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/08/07/new-retirees-receiving-less-in-social-security-than-paid-in-marking-historic/#ixzz22yWt5aKh