Last decade was the worst ever in the stock market

From The WSJ:

The U.S. stock market is wrapping up what is likely to be its worst decade ever.

In nearly 200 years of recorded stock-market history, no calendar decade has seen such a dismal performance as the 2000s.

Investors would have been better off investing in pretty much anything else, from bonds to gold or even just stuffing money under a mattress. Since the end of 1999, stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange have lost an average of 0.5% a year thanks to the twin bear markets this decade….

This past decade looks even worse when the impact of inflation is considered.

Since the end of 1999, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index has lost an average of 3.3% a year on an inflation-adjusted basis, compared with a 1.8% average annual gain during the 1930s when deflation afflicted the economy, according to data compiled by Charles Jones, finance professor at North Carolina State University.

After the 2004 election, you might recall, President Bush decided to spend his “mandate” pushing a scheme to privatize Social Security and encourage investment of retirement funds in the stock market. Many retirees — and many of those approaching retirement — lost a lot of their private nest egg in the market collapse that began last fall, but the damage would have been greatly compounded had they invested a good portion of their Social Security funds in the market as well.

In addition, the political system would have been under great pressure to try to make good on some of that financial loss — i.e., a senior citizens’ bailout on top of the banking bailout and Detroit bailout and stimulus package. The Bush proposal was a symptom of that era’s attitude toward risk, with all attention focused on the possible upside and very little on the reality that big losses are inherent in the system too.

511 comments Add your comment

Finn McCool

December 21st, 2009
12:14 pm

All you conservatives better enjoy christmas this year cause the tax bill is coming due next year for the health care christmas present Santa Reed is bringing us this year.

mwuahahahahahaha

@@

December 21st, 2009
12:16 pm

Come to think of it, Cheney’s doesn’t even compare to that of you, southpaws, yet still….

you lose!

Kamchak

December 21st, 2009
12:16 pm

No, he won it for running his mouth THE MOST against a sitting president.

The Just Say No-est Award.

AmVet

December 21st, 2009
12:17 pm

Kamchak, speaking of “awards”, DickHead deserves the Congressional Medal of Honor for gawdssakes!

The next GOP president can just issue a signing statement waiving those pesky military and silly valor language requirements…)

A helluva an American…

I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!

December 21st, 2009
12:17 pm

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) was even harsher, calling the internal Democratic negotiations – which included expensive provisions aimed at winning over Democratic holdouts – “corruption.”

“This process is not legislation. This process is corruption. And it’s corruption that’s obvious to the average American in this country,” Coburn said. “And it’s a shame that that’s the only way we can come to consensus in this country is to buy votes.”

WASHINGTON — A $100 million item for construction of a university hospital was inserted in the Senate health care bill at the request of Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who faces a difficult re-election campaign, his office said Sunday night.

Anybody else notice how the libs don’t whine about the deficit anymore?

They are hell bent on killing the United States, their life long passion, with debt.

Doggone/GA

December 21st, 2009
12:18 pm

“Ummm, yes it did”

Please quote the bill where the money was allocated for a project to protect the Salt Marsh Mouse (mouse, not rat)

“So Pelosi did not put an earmark in the bill to save the mice. In fact, there’s no money in the bill for mice. For this reason, we rate Pence’s remark False.”

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/feb/13/mike-pence/no-money-stimulus-san-francisco-mice/

Kamchak

December 21st, 2009
12:19 pm

Come to think of it, Cheney’s doesn’t even compare to that of you…

Yep. He has a loooong way to climb.

Taxpayer

December 21st, 2009
12:19 pm

So, Cheney is still getting all the recognition he deserves for doling out lip service. I didn’t get mine.

@@

December 21st, 2009
12:20 pm

THE MOST?

Less than a year’s worth compared to….let’s see (counting the 2000 election was stolen) and beyond?

2000 to 2008.

Nope! You, southpaws should’a won, but you didn’t. You lost.

Outhouse Go-Kart

December 21st, 2009
12:22 pm

Obobo may have won the election but he remains a LOSER and the kennedys await him in hell.

@@

December 21st, 2009
12:23 pm

So when are you southpaws gonna deliver the equivalent of Cheney’s GFY to Obama, your personal Bush?

Taxpayer

December 21st, 2009
12:25 pm

They are hell bent on killing the United States, their life long passion, with debt.

Be afwaid. Be vewwwwy afwaid. We’re gonna get U.

Taxpayer

December 21st, 2009
12:27 pm

As I recall, it was Bush that delivered the GFY blow to Cheney. Alas, poor Libby. We knew him all too well. He took one for the scumbag and got left holding the bag to boot. One of the few good things that Bush managed to accomplish in eight years was to finally say no to Cheney.

Kamchak

December 21st, 2009
12:28 pm

Bush may have won the election but he remains a LOSER and the Reagans await him in hell.

fyt

Bosch

December 21st, 2009
12:29 pm

getalife

December 21st, 2009
12:31 pm

Yeah, we know it is corruption coburn.

Don’t pray to fix it .

Just fix it .

Kooky wingnuts,

Geez.

larry

December 21st, 2009
12:32 pm

Is this the same Sen.Colburn who is involved in Sen. Ensign’s mess? Isn’t he part of that C-street crowd? And who wished on the floor of the Senate to pray for the death of a fellow Sen. ? Is that the man you speak of? If there is anybody who knows about curruption , its him.

JackLeg

December 21st, 2009
12:32 pm

Hey I have a stupid idea, only spend money that you have, how irresponsible is that… Run our country like a business; if they are losing money fire them….

jconservative

December 21st, 2009
12:32 pm

“We were attacked in 2001
We went to answer the attack in Afghanistan
We followed the trail into Iraq”

The above from an earlier post by one of our felloe commenters is incorrect. There was no trail to follow that lead to Iraq. We simply created the trail to Iraq out of thin air.

Let’s not re-write history please.

Bosch

December 21st, 2009
12:33 pm

JackLeg,

“Run our country like a business”

Not like an American business – where the senior management get all the money and the rest of the workers get shafted….wait a minute.

Doggone/GA

December 21st, 2009
12:34 pm

“Run our country like a business”

They did. The previous admin ran it like Enron.

larry

December 21st, 2009
12:35 pm

Actually , we have been running it like a business

Bosch

December 21st, 2009
12:36 pm

We need a C-Street crowd thread.

Bosch

December 21st, 2009
12:36 pm

Maybe after Christmas – that one would probably get ugly.

Finn McCool

December 21st, 2009
12:38 pm

Not like an American business – where the senior management get all the money and the rest of the workers get shafted….wait a minute.

And we would be speaking Japanese or Chinese becuase they would have outsourced our military and other public works.

Kamchak

December 21st, 2009
12:40 pm

Maybe after Christmas – that one would probably get ugly.

Might even change Santa’s naughty/nice list.

Mrs. Godzilla

December 21st, 2009
12:43 pm

C Street….the “Family”

Rachel Maddow has done some great investigative work on those
knuckleheads.

Robert

December 21st, 2009
12:45 pm

Doggone/GA

Source = http://biggovernment.com/2009/11/19/politics-california-style-nancy-pelosi-and-henry-waxman/

“If you keep following the breadcrumbs, the San Francisco South Salt Pond Restoration Project has a division, the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project that supports the Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse habitation project. The final clue to the connection with Stimulus funding, comes from the Milpitas Post, a non-profit newsletter from March 2009 that gleefully reports their good fortune in receiving a Stimulus grant.

So, thanks to California-style politics, and despite Speaker Pelosi’s obfuscations, millions of dollars of taxpayer money did fund pork projects such as the habitation of the San Francisco Harvest Marsh Mouse.

From the Milpitas post, http://www.southbayrestoration.org/news/articles/MilpitasPost080509.pdf

Posted: 08/05/2009 03:41:31 PM PDT
“Santa Clara Valley Water District announced it will receive a
portion of federal monies under the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009, covering Pond A8 of the Alviso
Slough Restoration Project, which is meant to increase the
habitat of endangered or threatened species in the San
Francisco Bay.”

Robert

December 21st, 2009
12:47 pm

Doggone/GA

I have heard recently that some of the accounting gimmicks used by the Democrats to show how this healthcare bill saves money would put Enron to shame.

Doggone/GA

December 21st, 2009
12:48 pm

Robert…none of that is quotes from the actual bill. You said the bill allocated money for that project. Again, please quote the BILL where it says that.

Disgusted

December 21st, 2009
12:51 pm

Nope! You, southpaws should’a won, but you didn’t. You lost.

Obama is a southpaw and he won. Does that count?

Doggone/GA

December 21st, 2009
12:51 pm

“I have heard recently”

Not good enough. Please provide links to that info.

Jenifer

December 21st, 2009
12:52 pm

Normal, 12:14,

Much more logical than Scout’s “reasoning”.

Bosch

December 21st, 2009
12:52 pm

Kamchak,

Oh, Santa knows. He always knows…..

Hey Mrs. G.!

I have that book on my Christmas list!

Mrs. Godzilla

December 21st, 2009
12:57 pm

Robert

December 21st, 2009
12:57 pm

Doggone/GA

You may not agree on stimulating the rats in San Francisco, but what about these other examples? Remember, we were told that this bill would provide funding to stimulate the economy, create much needed jobs, reduce unemployment, and this would be“temporary, timely, and targeted”.

Here are some examples of our tax dollars not being spent on projects to reduce unemployment:

$50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
$380 million in the Senate bill for the Women, Infants and Children program
$300 million for grants to combat violence against women
$2 billion for federal child-care block grants
$6 billion for university building projects
$15 billion for boosting Pell Grant college scholarships
$4 billion for job-training programs, including $1.2 billion for “youths” up to the age of 24
$1 billion for community-development block grants
$4.2 billion for “neighborhood stabilization activities”
$650 million for digital-TV coupons; $90 million to educate “vulnerable populations”

Normal

December 21st, 2009
12:58 pm

New one upstairs and I’Z first… :D

GreenJeans

December 21st, 2009
12:59 pm

“And we would be speaking Japanese or Chinese becuase they would have outsourced our military…”

In that case, shouldn’t we already be speaking Xe?

Doggone/GA

December 21st, 2009
12:59 pm

“but what about these other examples?”

Here’s something for you to ponder: the point of the stimulus bill was to stimulate the moribund economy, and to provide jobs. If the money was spent on projects that provided jobs and purchased goods and/or services then they met the goal of helping to stimulate the economy.

Mrs. Godzilla

December 21st, 2009
1:00 pm

Bosch

Bosch

Just bought this one…..can’t put it down.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Robert

December 21st, 2009
1:00 pm

Doggone/GA, you wanted a link about the accounting trickery, here ya go. Pretty damning to say the least.

http://www.factcheck.org/2009/11/gimmicks-in-the-health-care-bill/

Mrs. Godzilla

December 21st, 2009
1:01 pm

Well said Doggone @ 12:59

Robert

December 21st, 2009
1:02 pm

Mrs. Godzilla, you are late to the party. I already provided my sources. Look up.

Jenifer

December 21st, 2009
1:02 pm

“C Street….the “Family”

Rachel Maddow has done some great investigative work on those
knuckleheads.”

That she has. Such hypocrites they are.

joe matarotz

December 21st, 2009
1:05 pm

First, take a look at Jay’s math for the “Hide it in your mattress” retirement plan:

If you work thirty years and save 20% of your income each year, at the end of your career, you will have saved 6 years of income. (20% is one fifth of your earnings. You save one year of income every five years.)

How many here are actually saving 20% of your income each year?

After retirement, what do you do then for the sixth year, and every year thereafter? Social Security only? You receive a statement four months before your birthday itemizing your benefits. Can you meet expenses on the monthly amount you will receive?

And don’t forget the I word – Inflation. Even at a modest 3% per year, your savings are worth 97% the first year of retirement, 94% the second, and so on.

Hmmm. Hiding in your mattress is not a good plan.

Now let’s consider the Rule of 72.

Definition

The estimation of doubling time on an investment, for which the compounded annual rate of return times the number of years must equal roughly 72 for the investment to double in value.

If you invest a dollar at 7.2%, your money will double in 10 years. 7.2 x 10 = 72. If you invest at 9%, your money will double in 8 years. 9 x 8 = 72. These returns assume that all interest and priciple remain on deposit.

The average return on the stock market, from Jan. 1, 1978 to Dec. 31, 2008 was 8.05%. A dollar invested in 1978 grew to $7.27.

If you are not investing in securities for the long term, you are losing money for yourself.

“But Joe”, you ask, “what about safe investments, like treasury bills?”

If you invested $100.00 in 1928, before the Great Depression, here is what it would be worth today:

Treasury Bills – $1064.64

Treasury Bonds – $6013.10

Stock Market – $112,068.10

Here is a good link to see this for yourself: http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/datafile/histretSP.html

Don’t let newspaper writers influence your investment strategy. If they were that good, they wouldn’t be writing for a newspaper.

Do your homework and find a reliable investment counselor. It’s your money and you need it to work for you.

Robert

December 21st, 2009
1:05 pm

$1 billion for the Census Bureau – Jobs created? What does Recovery.org say? We were promised every dime would be tracked.

A big chunk of the stimulus package is designed not to create wealth but to spread it around. It contains $89 billion in Medicaid extensions and $36 billion in expanded unemployment benefits—and this is in addition to the state-budget bailout (see “Rewarding state irresponsibility” below).

The Medicaid extension is structured as a temporary increase in the federal match, but make no mistake: Like many spending increases in the stimulus package, this one has a good chance of becoming permanent. As for extending unemployment benefits through the downturn, it might be a good idea for other reasons, but it wouldn’t stimulate economic growth: It would provide an incentive for job-seekers to delay reentry into the workforce.

Summary:
$89 billion for Medicaid
$30 billion for COBRA insurance extension
$36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits
$20 billion for food stamps

Robert

December 21st, 2009
1:06 pm

The problem with trying to spend $1 trillion quickly is that you end up wasting a lot of it. Take, for instance, the proposed $4.5 billion addition to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers budget. Not only does this effectively double the Corps’ budget overnight, but it adds to the Corps’ $3.2 billion unobligated balance—money that has been appropriated, but that the Corps has not yet figured out how to spend. Keep in mind, this is an agency that is often criticized for wasting taxpayers’ money. “They cannot spend that money wisely,” says Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense. “I don’t even think they can spend that much money unwisely.”

Robert

December 21st, 2009
1:07 pm

$2 billion for renewable-energy research ($400 million for global-warming research)

You think any of the scientists in the news recently got any of that money yet?

Mrs. Godzilla

December 21st, 2009
1:08 pm

Robert

I did.

Again, it’s about the wetlands.

Robert

December 21st, 2009
1:13 pm

Doggone/GA

December 21st, 2009
12:59 pm

“but what about these other examples?”

Here’s something for you to ponder: the point of the stimulus bill was to stimulate the moribund economy, and to provide jobs. If the money was spent on projects that provided jobs and purchased goods and/or services then they met the goal of helping to stimulate the economy.

No, we were told and warned by President Obama that failure to act on an economic recovery package could plunge the nation into a long-lasting recession that might prove irreversible, a fresh call to a recalcitrant Congress to move quickly.

In an op-ed piece in The Washington Post, the president argued that each day without his stimulus package, Americans lose more jobs, savings and homes.

Thogwummpy

December 21st, 2009
1:16 pm

Bookman is a mental child…he thinks risk should not be a part of adult life. Why do such fools get access to write their fascist/communist agenda? He’s the same sort of dork that can’t grasp that the GREEDY poor and their activist cadres were the designers of the economic meltdown, via the establishment and abuse of subprime mortages; “mansions for the poor.” And before anyone responds, my brother in law works for Fannie Mae, and a decade before the bubble burst, he complained about all the po’ folks that were lying on their loan applications, and they couldn’t do anything about it because “no doc” for the poor became policy out of fear of being sued by ACORN under the CRA. Liberals YOU tinkered with capitalism with your empathy for the under-achiever…it is YOU that caused the financial collapse. And brother, you bet we’re keeping score and stockpiling our pitchforks…you’re day will come!

Robert

December 21st, 2009
1:17 pm

Mrs. Godzilla,

Moving on to something more costly then. What about the $650 million for digital-TV coupons; $90 million to educate “vulnerable populations”?

How does that put Americans back to work?

Mrs. Godzilla

December 21st, 2009
1:18 pm

Oh and Robert

You would do wonders for your image if you would source your stuff
rather than attempt to make some think those are your words and not the work of Stephen Spruiell & Kevin Williamson.

Robert

December 21st, 2009
1:20 pm

Doggone/GA,

Had a chance to look at the link you requested? The one about the accounting gimmicks used by the Democrats?

In case you forgot, here it is again.
http://www.factcheck.org/2009/11/gimmicks-in-the-health-care-bill/

Robert

December 21st, 2009
1:22 pm

Mrs. Godzilla, sometimes I forget to post sources. I think for the most part I have. Here ya go. It actually has alot more facts about how this stimulus is “De-stimulating” the economy.
Thanks for the reminder, by the way.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YjcyODIyZGM2MGU1ZDdkNDgxZDc3OTNjYjM4ZDY1ODI=

Mrs. Godzilla

December 21st, 2009
1:23 pm

Robert aside from the fact somebody has to make and ship and store and sell the converter boxes….it would be nice if folks could still see news and weather in case of emergency.

You got a problem with educating vulnerable folks?

Mrs. Godzilla

December 21st, 2009
1:25 pm

“I think for the most part I have.”

We shall see.

Robert

December 21st, 2009
1:28 pm

Mrs. Godzilla, I have no problem educating any. That is what I am trying to do with you.

As far as money being spent on converter boxes, and how that stimulates the economy….what do you think of this?

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/71353-mark-penn-got-6-million-from-stimulus

Mark Penn’s two firms awarded millions from stimulus for public relations work
By Alexander Bolton – 12/09/09 12:00 AM ET

“A contract worth nearly $6 million in stimulus funds was awarded by the Obama administration to two firms run by Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton’s pollster in 2008.

Federal records show that a contract worth $5.97 million, part of the $787 billion stimulus Congress passed this year, helped preserve three jobs at Burson-Marsteller, the global public-relations and communications firm headed by Penn”.

So Mrs. Godzilla, we spent nearly $6 million to preserve three jobs? How does that help the unemployed in this country find work?

Bosch

December 21st, 2009
1:29 pm

“The problem with trying to spend $1 trillion quickly is that you end up wasting a lot of it.”

Which is why they aren’t spending it quickly, and it is tracked on Recovery.org.

Robert

December 21st, 2009
1:30 pm

Mrs. Godzilla, like I said, I have provided sources when I thought about it. I think the majority of my posts have included sources. Why no comment on the $6million awarded to Hillary’s pollster?

Robert

December 21st, 2009
1:34 pm

Bosch @ 1:29 “The problem with trying to spend $1 trillion quickly is that you end up wasting a lot of it.”

“Which is why they aren’t spending it quickly, and it is tracked on Recovery.org.”

You still believe the data on that website? It still shows, even after discrepancies were brought light (remember all those phantom jobs and those phantom congressional districts?) They are still promoting this lie, as just seen a few minutes ago on the website:

Jobs Created/Saved as Reported by Recipients
640,329
10/30/2009

Bosch

December 21st, 2009
1:35 pm

Robert,

Yes, I do – much more than I do an article from “the Hill.”

Robert

December 21st, 2009
1:38 pm

Bosch @ 1:29 “The problem with trying to spend $1 trillion quickly is that you end up wasting a lot of it.”

So, if we haven’t spent all of the first trillion in jobs stimulus money, then why do the Democrats want to pass a second jobs stimulus bill? Wouldn’t it make sense to use up the money in the first bill before borrowing more from China for another stimulus?

Robert

December 21st, 2009
1:40 pm

You honestly believe that all of the money is being accurately tracked on that website? You honestly believe that the stories of phantom jobs and phantom congressional districts are a lie? It’s not just “the Hill” that I could use as a source either. This is common knowledge by now.

Big D

December 21st, 2009
1:51 pm

Robert, have you ever seen the cartoon where the guy is yelling at the dog for craping in the floor and the dialog baloon shows what the dog is hearing…BLA…BLA..BLA. The dog is a liberal democrat. We will soon see.

Scout

December 21st, 2009
1:51 pm

Jennifer:

The point is …….. better or best. I suppose the NFL could make a rule that one player on each team on the field had to be a woman or even a man weighing less than 150 lbs. It would be entertaining football still but not the “best”.

In combat, not having the “best” costs lives.

P.S. I keep wondering when Congress is going to apply the Americans Disability Act to the military …………. you know, the armored wheelchair brigade ………. political correctness run amok.

AMVET:

I saw that program also. Wow! I don’t know which is worse ………. that or SEAL training. Those guys had my admiration.

Robert

December 21st, 2009
1:57 pm

UPDATED: Hillary still owes Mark Penn $1 million — but he got the $2.8 million stimulus contract, so no biggie.
By: David Freddoso
Online Opinion Editor
12/09/09 3:40 PM EST

According to its October 2009 quarterly finance report, the Hillary Clinton for President campaign has one outstanding debt: $995,500 owed to Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, LLC, which is run by Democratic pollster Mark Penn.

According to The Hill today, the same firm received a $2.8 million stimulus subcontract “for media services and outreach to help prepare ‘unready’ households for the DTV transition” — a contract that Republican Senators contend was “pure waste.”

Thanks to Mark Penn, a handful of people avoided the inconvenience of losing a few days’ television service. And thanks to the stimulus, Penn is not being inconvenienced so much by the now-defunct Clinton campaign’s outstanding debts to him.

The Hill’s story states that Clinton’s campaign paid off its debts to Penn in July, but the relevant FEC document says that only about one-third of a $1.5 million debt was repaid during the third quarter of this year, and that $995,500 in debt to Penn’s firm remained as of September 30.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Hillary-no-biggie-78895787.html

Want more links, Bosch? The more I read though, the worse it sounds. I can provide others if you like.

Robert

December 21st, 2009
1:59 pm

Big D,

Yeah, I hear ya. The funny thing to me is that once you present actual facts these people seem to disappear.

Robert

December 21st, 2009
2:04 pm

Bosch, can you show me on the recovery.org website how the $6 million given to Hillary Clinton’s former pollster was tracked? Can you also show me how this saved those three jobs? They have to be included in the 640,329 number. I have tried and the whole transparency concept is not working. Maybe there is a trick to it. Please help, thanks.

Jimbo

December 21st, 2009
2:19 pm

“a scheme to privatize Social Security ”
You wish bookman, you wish you could control your own money – oops, sorry, you don’t wish that, you’re a typical demoNcrat blaming anyone but your beloved oBOZO for your problems.
If I pay for others health care, when do I have to buy them a house, get them a job (laugh), give them my car?
Keep them stupid, keep them poor
And they WILL come back for more

And what about drug tests for welfare? Couldn’t even brooch the subject could you?

THANKS FOX NEWS for telling the truth.

Robert

December 21st, 2009
2:29 pm

Look at how frequent the posts were for Doggone/GA, Mrs. Godzilla and others before I gave them the proof they asked for. Now they have disappeared. I was hoping to debate the accounting gimmicks used by the Democrats, or to debate why it’s ok for millions in taxpayer’s money to be given to Hillary Clinton’s former pollster to save 3 jobs (when she still owed them nearly a $million). Let’s debate the merits of this instead of blaming Bush for everything.

Again links to the accounting gimmicks used: http://www.factcheck.org/2009/11/gimmicks-in-the-health-care-bill/

The Dogfighter Returns

December 21st, 2009
2:45 pm

oh lord. here we go again.

republicans and dems are the same. both have taken an oath to screw the american public, that’s why they send you a bill every year.

if i sent someone a bill and they paid it everytime, would i stop sending them a bill? :) :) hell no.

stop wasting your time arguing about which party is responsible. they are both respobsible and the joke is on the clowns who waste their time going to vote for them.

The stock market is a ponzi scheme. just one generation robbing the next. Unfortunately the gangsters on wall street are running out of tricks to keep the indices moving up.

While you are thinking of holding your stock for a long time Goldman is laughing all the way to the bank.

Suckers :) :) :)

The government will save me right?

December 21st, 2009
3:19 pm

Jay, you are a genius! Why I’ll just take all of my 401K money out and rely on the government to save me when I get sick, retire, or die. How dare Bush ask for individual responsibility and free market solutions to retirement?!!

I’m not going to blindly defend anything Republican (or Democrat) but those of you that are wanting the government to pay for your retirement, healthcare, etc…and put no thought towards how it is paid for will simply bankrupt you and your family’s future. We need only look to latin american countries that took on too much debt and what it caused.

Big D

December 21st, 2009
3:40 pm

Robert, as I posted a few days ago. We live in a time where the volume and complexity of the information overloads most peoples ability to decern it for right or wrong, leaving the final jugment over to feelings instead of logic.

MAC

December 21st, 2009
4:14 pm

worst decade for movies too as evidenced by the favorites listed in your prior blog post

Gordon

December 21st, 2009
5:31 pm

Leave it to Jay to criticize someone who at least tried to do something about the Social Security problem. If you don’t like the privatization plan Bush proposed, what is your solution? Let me guess – force everyone to keep their money in an unsustainable program which will eventually be means tested, forcing some people to forfeit hundreds of thousands of dollars they have not only earned but paid taxes on. Sound about right?

willie

December 21st, 2009
5:59 pm

It is so sad the progressive liberal liars took overt the democratic party! It will leave it in shambles for decades. Sooo sad for many Americans.

willie

December 21st, 2009
6:02 pm

Speaking of movies! You can not watch a movie without homosexuality in it. For a population so small they sure are getting a lot of attention from the perverts in Hollywood.

DAVID--AJC's truth Detector

December 21st, 2009
6:07 pm

AMERICA…………YOU ASKED FOR THE (lower) FRENCH SOCIALIST LIFE-STYLE…..WELL…ENJOY

Just a Thought

December 21st, 2009
6:28 pm

The only thing I’d like to add to this conversation is that I’m sick and tired of politics. When the hell are we going to get people in Washington to truly represent us? When the hell are we going to stand up? Our system is corrupt and damaged to the point to where we the people are going to have to rise up and show these arrogant, self-centered a-holes who they work for.

I didn’t attend school, pay off my student loans, and work my way to where I am so that some sorryass s.o.b. in Washington can take it.

Mark in mid-town

December 21st, 2009
7:27 pm

I don’t know if this has been pointed out already — but Bush’s proposal to allow a proportion of one’s FICA taxes to be invested in the stock market would not have taken effect until 2009. Since private contributions would have begun after a collapse in the stock market, chances are that those investing in private accounts would be off to a very strong start.

Hmmmmmmm

December 21st, 2009
7:58 pm

Taxpayer, either your 12 years old or you are totally delusional….. Could you be that IGNORANT about everything political….

Hmmmmmmm

December 21st, 2009
8:30 pm

I’m ready when you are Just a Thought…..

Libiterian

December 21st, 2009
9:12 pm

Jenifer wrote:

“The investor class got what they wanted: republicans controlling everything. Did they learn their lesson? I doubt it.

What does the Republican Party have to do with investing?

Libiterian

December 21st, 2009
9:21 pm

Bookman wrote….

“After the 2004 election, you might recall, President Bush decided to spend his “mandate” pushing a scheme to privatize Social Security and encourage investment of retirement funds in the stock market.”

Jay, what are you talking about? Yes, Bush along with the support of the Dems and Reps passed a drug bill because the Seniors of this Country, those that vote in great numbers, pushed the Gov. to take money from the young and give to them. Just like SS and Medicare. Bad move I agree.

BUT, Bush controls no ones 401K or IRA. Bush can’t make anyone invest in anything. If you want to see who talked us all into investing in risky stocks go talk to the Stock Brokers. This is not a BUsh problem at all. If you think I am wrong put forth some evidence that shows Bush had the ability to make people invest their money in a particular stock. Its my 401 and IRA and its my decision and mine alone.

Hmmmmmmm

December 21st, 2009
9:34 pm

Libiterian, Bush is the uninformed person’s scapegoat….. These Washington politicians have this country split, fighting each other, while they SUCK this country DRY. It is totally ABSURD how people on this blog fight back and forth, as this country slowly goes down the toilet… Some of the comments on this blog are UNBELIEVABLE! Truly the END IS NEAR!

Libiterian

December 23rd, 2009
7:03 pm

Agreed Hmmmmmmmm……if they can keep us fighting with each other then we forget about thier sorry butts stealing everyone blind!

Truth be known I would say 70% of us could reach basic agreements that we all could live with. The other 30% are just head cases. I just want to be left alone and to be free. Is that to much to ask of my neighbors?

[...] The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is carrying the Wall Street Journal story about how the “Last decade was the worst ever in the stock market“. I get almost daily hate mail from people who don’t like my pointing it out – like I [...]

Phred

December 26th, 2009
6:37 pm

“…The adults are back in charge and fixing things now though…” Taxpayer

Surely this was written as a jest, yes?

The Chicago mob that’s currently – and very temporarily – ruling in DeeCee will be swept from power shortly – they are inept, incompetent, nasty and inexperienced at anything other than community agitation. They’re quickly making the Bush years look wonderful by comparison, and that’s NOT an easy thing to do.

Dave

December 26th, 2009
11:45 pm

Americans who vote for the Democrats or Republicans should be ashamed of themselves
between the two parties they have laid America bare ,gutted looted and raped USA.
The only Americans left worth their salt are not voting for either of the two criminal parties.Not that it matters ,with electronic voting machines the people no longer have free and open elections.
It would take a full scale mass uprising to get back what was once the property of the American people.
But with 100,000 of the smartest and richest Americans leaving USA for good each year what is left will be the grunts and inbreeds .Certainly they are not smart enough to see the enemy. America the New Roman Empire has met it’s Waterloo
America could of withstood any army but the nation’s fools have done it in.
ring around the rosies the DUMBO chased the ASS ashes to ashes we all fall down.

walt235

December 27th, 2009
12:14 am

It’s the jooz , stupid! Most of the evil has been done and controlled by this evil tribe of parasites! The holohoax is a k!ke lie, but jooz are in dire need of a mass extermination!

bonanzaman

December 27th, 2009
1:06 am

Yes you-whine, The government has issued stocks but only the creators have them. The rest of us can go to hell.

Mr. Blair M. Phillips

December 27th, 2009
7:57 am

A fully funded public health care programme is a “G-d send”. Canadians had it at one time, It was during the 70’s. It was awesome. The only thing I suggest is that you make sure that the Corporations and the wealthiest top 10% pay their “fare share” of taxes. It will still leave them with bags of money and the citizens of the country will have the opportunity to get and stay relatively healthy.
St. Catharines,Ont.,
Canada

MrB

December 27th, 2009
8:57 am

This comment is sure to get drowned out in the tsunami of partisan rhetoric, but isn’t it obvious that both the Republicans AND the Democrats have conspired to sell-out America? The “enemy” isn’t Communism-socialism or Capitalism, the enemy is the central banking system, on which both Communism and Capitalism depend. Recall that Wall St. and London bankers FINANCED the Russian Revolution AND rebuilt the Soviet Union after WW2. How then has this become a “partisan” right/left, conservative/liberal issue? Save your slings and arrows for the REAL enemy of the people: Perpetual debt-credit slavery imposed by an unaccountable global central banking system. Slaves are neither Republicans nor Democrats. They are just SLAVES, arguing over who’s entitled to the largest portion of the scraps falling from the table.

Partisans of the so-called “left” and so-called “right” are retarding and misdirecting the entire converstation.

ew_keane

December 27th, 2009
11:48 am

95% of congress has college degrees.
I wonder how many of that 95% have JD’s or some other kind of law degree?
Strike the root, boycott the college boys and vote for working men.

C. Cope

December 27th, 2009
1:33 pm

The fact is:

You all voted dumbocrat all these years … and here we are.

You all voted repukocrats all these year … and here we are.

This blame game does not negate the fact that no matter which party is steering the ship … here we are.

robert the hostile bicyclist

December 27th, 2009
1:36 pm

This is what happens when you get irresponsible and rely on others to do what you should have gotten off your ass and done yourself.

You only have yourselves to blame.

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SilverFox

December 27th, 2009
3:22 pm

Of course it was the worse decade in our history, we’ve so much government involvement & incompetent bureaucrats who were suppose to monitor the stock market. We can expect more government bureaucrats involved in the coming years which will only make the market even more dismal.

My recommendation to making a tax-free profit, without capital gains, is not/not buy stocks or even gold, but invest in a 2-year supply of canned food. You’ll going to eat them anyway & the expiration dates are 2-3 yrs so buy now & pay 2010 prices when you eat them in 2013. There’s no capital gains on the money you’ll save with inflation.

For sure, there will always be domestic or world crisis that will inflate the price of food even more.

John

December 27th, 2009
4:53 pm

“misdirecting the entire conversation.” Exactly!!!

The Y2K Scam was run under the Clinton/Gore Crime Team.

The Exotic Mortgage & Investment Scam was run under the Bush/Cheney Crime Team.

Obama is nothing but a slick talking/lying lawyer who is protecting & covering up for the corrupt politicians of both parties as well as the financial wizards.

Just like they bailed out the banksters with our money, now they are going to bail out the insurance companies with forced pay health care.

The Dems have reneged on everyone of their campaign promises: end the war, end NAFTA/CAFTA, prosecute Bush/Cheney Crime Team, Reinvestigate 911, Bring troops home, etc, etc, etc.

During 2010 the public is going to find out that they have Bernie Madoff Statements with inflated figures, when the money is long gone.

Go read the Bill Moyers & William Black Investigative News Articles on PBS and you will see whats been going on in your country for the last 2 or 3 decades at least.