10 Things That Are Going Right

KIpplingers via yahoo ^ | Friday

[BenLurkin]

Never in modern memory have Americans been so gloomy about their future. A record 90% of registered voters say the country is seriously off on the wrong track, according to the most recent ABC News poll. Whispers of a recession at the beginning of 2008 have turned into a full-blown financial panic, despite unprecedented intervention from Washington and other capitals around the world. ...

But take heart. The editors of Kiplinger's Personal Finance and Kiplinger's forecasting put their heads together and came up with ten things going right these days....

1.Oil Loses Its Swagger: {snip}

2. A Tipping Point for the Auto Industry: After years of talk and false starts, finally, all the major carmakers are furiously developing hybrid and alternative-fuel vehicles{snip}

3. Interest Rates Are Low and Headed Lower: {snip}

4. Homes Are More Affordable: {snip}

5. Your Bank Savings Have Never Been Safer: {snip}

6. Stocks Are on Sale, and Many Bonds Offer Terrific Yields: ... Individual blue chips are selling at bargain prices. {snip} Triple-A-rated tax-free bonds, an extraordinarily safe investment, are paying 5%-plus for ten years and 6% for 20. That's more than the Treasury offers for bonds of the same maturity.

7. The Miracle of Technological Innovation Continues: . {snip}

8. Prosperity Reigns in the Heartland: ... Exports of U.S. farm products will increase more than 40% by value this year. {snip}

9. A New Tone and Direction in Washington: {snip}

10. Shoppers Can Expect Great Gift Buys This Holiday Season: {snip}

So chin up. We've been through hard times before. To quote Rudyard Kipling, "If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs ..."

[FlingWingFlyer]

Never in modern memory have Americans been so gloomy about their future.

If they're "gloomy" now, they are in for a very rude awakening if they elect "That One." They might want to get used to "gloomy."

[ChessExpert]

Everyone wants to lend me money on attractive terms.

[smokingfrog]

Who wrote this? Mary Poppins?

[cherry]

like I said on anther thread, there may be spots that are not doing so well, but all the higher end restaurants we passed tonight were all full....and at least an hour or more wait at the high end restaurant we went to......

I don't see panic....I do see people shopping for what they need...enjoying themselves.....

[BenLurkin]

No...Mary Poppins was a socialist, you know.

[Chaguito]

Mary Poppins, indeed. “hybrid cars and alternative fuels.” What a way to speed the plunge into automaker bankruptcy!

[PetroniusMaximus]

“9. A New Tone and Direction in Washington: {snip}”

Yea, exit stage left.

[FlingWingFlyer]

That may be true but now that the media tinglers have climbed in bed with Camp Obama, will the public believe them?

[smokingfrog]

A spoonful of øbama helps the socialism go down / In the most delightful way

[Dilbert San Diego]

I never understand these polls about “right track/wrong track”. They don’t define the terms. If you ask anybody about this, they decide for themselves about what it is they are concerned about. Everybody except the independently wealthy are personally concerned about the economy, for example. Does that mean that all of those people think that the nation is on the wrong track? To listen to some people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, you would swear that race relations haven’t changed at all since the 1950s. Anyone with that mindset will say the country is wrong. etc. etc.

[goodnesswins]

BRAVO!!!!! What YOU said!

[KarlInOhio]

Triple-A-rated tax-free bonds, an extraordinarily safe investment, are paying 5%-plus for ten years and 6% for 20. That's more than the Treasury offers for bonds of the same maturity.

The fact that AAA corporate bonds pay more than government bonds is almost always (maybe even always) true. They are considered riskier than government bonds, therefore they pay more.

[JaneNC]

I think it was Mary Poppins.

To counter this...I might add

We have a guy who wants to tax us and disarm the USA running for President and he has the stupid vote locked.

[JSteff]

“Triple-A-rated tax-free bonds”

The key words there are “tax-free” which most likely means municipal and other government entities bonds. Of course they can pay more, they get the interest from citizens.

That is what makes them so bad for the public. Sure they will pay you more because it comes from a bottomless source of returns; the common citizenry.

It actually shows the gall of our politicians and government administrators on all levels. “Sure we can pay that sort of interest, who are they going to complain to?”

[KarlInOhio]

The key words there are “tax-free” which most likely means municipal and other government entities bonds.

Yep, I definitely misread that. I should quit posting after midnight.

At equal risk levels, I would expect the tax free bonds to pay less than 3/4 of what treasury bonds because people look at their after tax returns and most people who invest in tax-free bonds usually are at the high end of the tax scale. The fact that they pay more means that people see that there is a huge risk premium in cities and states. That is not a sign that "Things are going right".

[bpjam]

and I’ll show you ten things that the Media doesn’t give a SH!T about!