Stupid banks with their stupid ARM loans and stupid greedy people screwing up our economy...
401K:
Personal Rate of Return from 01/01/2008 to 10/15/2008 is -40.0%
College Fund:
Rate of Return since Inception (of the plan not the baby) is -36%
You have to be kidding me!! How about another 700 Billion?
I know in the long run it will be fine but at this rate the 'long run' might out last us all. The only bright side is that we are buying more shares for our money right now. Hope these shares don't disappear all together though.
So I've decided to find out the Upside of the Economic Downturn, here we go:
- In times of economic uncertainty, certain products still prosper. Lipstick, is a cheap pick-me-up alternative to the more extravagant retail therapy. Sales have been up.
- For men, suit sales plummet, while tie sales go up as a cheap wardrobe refresher
- declining divorce rates
- Lobster prices have dropped
- Lighter traffic reported in L.A.
- thrift stores have seen a big upturn
- interestingly I've read that there are more babies from this down turn ( guess more people are staying home instead of going out.)
- People are cutting back on their 'keeping up with the Jones' spending and actually trying to live within their means, something that has needed to happen for awhile now
- People like Paris Hilton and everyone on MTV's Sweet Sixteen show now really look like the out of touch idiots that they are
- Did I mention the Lobster prices!! - best part of it all I feel
3 comments:
Reduce, reuse and recycle might look better to people, not to mention the fourth lesser known R of repair.
well, it's like the famous John Maynard Keynes once said, "In the long run, we're all dead."
I know that as an economist, I'm dismal, but here's the reality. Divorces go down, but spousal and child abuse go up. Rape increases, as does most kind of crime. People are losing their cars at a higher rate then they are losing their houses (probably why traffic decreases). People are abandoning their pets at a rate not seen in 40 years and shelters are busting at the seams. Since donations aren't as tax deductible as they used to be (thanks, President Dumbass) donations to food banks are at an all time low in some areas, just when they are needed the most. And with inflation at something like 5 percent this year (if I remember right) food is way more expensive. Babies stress family budgets, why is having another one now a good thing?
Ok, I can't say anything bad about the lobster... I love lobster. And it's a good thing to get rid of conspicuous consumption, but if you've read Thorstein Veblen (and I highly recommend him), you know it only lasts for a little while. People will get rid of function over form first.
I'm sad that people couldn't figure out that Paris Hilton, etc were freaks anyway, but hey, better late than never, I suppose.
umm. lobster...
oh yeah, vote the fu^%ers out.
As I blog surfing instead of doing some computer homework (who thought that a master's in computer science was a good idea for me???) I found this and thought you would enjoy it.
If you had purchased $1000.00 of AIG stock one year ago, it would now be
worth $49.00.
With Fannie Mae, you would have $16.50 left of the original $1000.
With Bear Stearns, you would have less than $5.00 left.
If you had purchased $1000.00 of Freddie Mac stock you would have $49.00
left.
If you had purchased Lehman Bros., you would have nothing left.
But, if you had purchased $1000.00 worth of beer one year ago, drank all
the beer, then turned in the cans for recycling, you would have $214.
Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily
and recycle. This is called the 401-Keg Plan.
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