Screen grab.Posted on 03/02/2013 6:22:13 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Screen grab.
Noted hedge fund manager Stan Druckenmiller, 59, on Friday warned that the U.S. economy is headed for a “storm” that could prove to be far worse than the financial meltdown of 2008.
But first, if you’re not familiar with his name, here’s what you need to know: He’s one of the most respected and successful hedge fund managers in the past 30 years.
Obviously, you don’t achieve that type of success (or notoriety) on Wall Street by running your mouth. That being said, if Druckenmiller, a former partner of billionaire liberal philanthropist George Soros, is predicting serious economic trouble for the U.S., perhaps we should listen.
“I see a storm coming, maybe bigger than the storm we had in 2008, 2010. And really, the reason could happen without people looking as for a lot of similar reasons that we could get into,” he said during an interview with Bloomberg TV’s Stephanie Ruhle.
“But the basic story is, the demographic bubble I was looking at way back in ’94 that started in 2011, we are right at the first ramp-up of this thing that is about to hit,” he added.
His comments were made during a larger discussion on the dangers Social Security, Medicare Medicaid, and unfunded liabilities as high as $211 trillion, pose to future generations.
“I think people like me and others need to speak out. It’s about the future, not about the present where the problem is,” he said.
“While everybody is focusing on the here and now, there’s a much, much bigger storm that’s about to hit,” he added. “I am not against seniors. What I am against is current seniors stealing from future seniors.”
Watch the Bloomberg TV interview here.
However, if it’s any consolation, Druckenmiller isn’t totally without hope. Indeed, he actually thinks the U.S. has a chance of turning this ship around.
“With the proper education and with proper voices out there, we could have 40 million kids marching down to Washington,” he said.
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Here’s the signal for the next phase of the fabian engineered economic crisis. Good thing they have all that ammo on hand to quell the riots.
There are two very glaring signs that the collapse of society is imminent: the federales are buying billions of rounds of ammo asap, knowing resupply will be impossible a year from now, and the federales have ordered lots of targets which depict children, pregnant women and old men as shootable targets now. The oligarchs destroying America see their goal as now in reach and are preparing their ‘government’ army to protect them from US when the end arrives. One can only pray the end is more like Agentina than Bosnia ... but I’m convinced it will be worse than Bosnia when the tens of millions in the big cities are no longer being trucked their food and piped their potable water. The time to bloat is past for civilians. Time to clean the battle weaponry and arrange the compound.
There might be a little quelling in the beginning, but it will be for show while the oligarchs disappear to their pre-arranged hideaways and island fortresses. All that ammo is stored to protect the oligarchs when the collapse arrives as planned, so they can escape to their compounds to wait out the slaughter by chaos and disease.
A "moderate" Republican, apparently.
No thanks.
And you're just another one with a big mouth.
—— My elderly mom....who has payed into SS/Medicare all of her working life has been told she can’t have knee replaceable knee surgery for two years. She’s in chronic pain. -——
I have family in the UK. This is typical of their system, and will be our future.
This graph shows that the average man and woman (average defined in the study as average income over their working lives and living to the average life expectancy) who start receiving benefits in 2010 get over 3 times more in benefits than they pay in to the system! Of importance, the study accounts for inflation by calculating all past taxes and future payments in 2010 dollars to provide an accurate comparison.
If the notion that Medicare recipients are simply "getting back what they paid in" is false then where is the money coming from? Simply, the excess received is being borrowed from younger generations and the cost is more than we can bear.
As far as medical costs are concerned, the more government sticks its filthy stinking paws in it, the faster the costs rise. The obvious answer is to extract government from health care. Additionally, medical costs are greatly effected by scumbag “jackpot justice” lawyers (like John Edwards, for example). Serious tort reform can bring down the costs significantly.
... the study accounts for inflation by calculating all past taxes and future payments in 2010 dollars to provide an accurate comparison.
Do the calculations adjust (to 2010 dollars) only the raw dollars that were paid in, or do they add the average compounded interest that would have been accumulated on top of those raw dollars had individuals invested the exact same number of dollars in exactly the same way over the course of their working lives themselves?
I’m a 64 YO baby boomer. Being self employed, my “skin in the game” was 15.6% of my income towards Social Security and Medicare premiums. I started working when I was 12 to buy my own clothes and paid SS premiums from 18, supported myself through college. Blah blah from there.
Lets talk about your “skin”.
How correct you are. Just like the housing bubble that burst, it will become painfully obvious as they say to themselves, what the heck were we thinking? It is so obvious the plan in place can't last forever.
When I look up the definition of Medicare it says “a social insurance program”. Should the government have started it or stuck their noses into such a program? No. But they did and it is forced participation. Not voluntary.
Given the fact that it is defined as a “social insurance program” it would operate like any other insurance program. A person will more than likely spend more on health costs than premiums contributed. The young and healthy subsidize the ill. It’s not stealing from anybody.
Like I said, the government had no business getting into the business of healthcare. Have a fit with them if you want to. Wait until the full effects of of Obamacare kick in. We ain’t seen nothing like the stealing from one segment for another yet which will occur. And it will all be forced participation.
(but your chart is real pretty)
You might want to read the rest of the thread. RIMTB was being sarcastic.
He should have used SARC then. Did a good job of getting me riled up as you can see.
Won't matter once the propaganda machine of the Left hits the airwaves - the eeeevillll seniors will be demagogued and the brainwashed youth will go on the offensive. Death panels for "healthcare" will expand to include 'senile selfishness" as a fatal and untreatable disease which requires immediate euthanasia.
Of course, it is obvious that government is not going to be extracted from health care. Just the opposite. With the addition of Obamacare, the government has effectively taken over health care.
Tort reform will not bring down costs significantly. They will lessen them, but the real reason is that actuarially the system is unsustainable. There are fewer and fewer workers for every retiree as the country ages. In 1950 there were 16 workers for every retiree. Now there are 3.3 and by 2050 there will be just two. The welfare state is unsustainable.
The actual study is contained in this link: Medicare is Bad Medicine for Young America
Here is the study The data, sources, and assumptions are contained in the report.
The study aside, most people are unaware that the Medicare premiums for parts B and D cover only 25% of the costs. The remaining 75%, by law, must come from the General Fund. In FY-2011 this amounted to $222 billion. This number will increase dramatically as the number of those over the age 65 doubles in the next 20 years. Medicare will consume the entire federal budget if not reformed.
Given the fact that it is defined as a “social insurance program” it would operate like any other insurance program. A person will more than likely spend more on health costs than premiums contributed. The young and healthy subsidize the ill. It’s not stealing from anybody.
Like any insurance policy, those costs should be factored into the premiums. The reality is that the premiums don't cover the costs. You must either increase the premiums or cut benefits or a combination thereof. Insurance companies that offer policies that are actuarially unsound will go bankrupt. The same holds true for the welfare state.
Mark Steyn said that if Americans want a Norwegian welfare state, they must be prepared to pay Norwegian-level taxes. Instead Americans want all the benefits the welfare state can offer, but they don't want to pay the bill. Something has to give.
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