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There Will Be Haircuts William H. GrossMay 1, 2013 “Good as Money,” proclaimed the ad for Twenty Grand Cognac. Being a beer drinker, and never having cashed in a Budweiser to pay for a fill-up at the local gas station, I said to myself “Man, that must be really good stuff!” Even in a financial meltdown I thought, you could use it in place of cash, diamonds, gold or Bitcoins! And if the Mongol hordes descend upon us during a future revolution, who wouldn’t prefer a few belts of Twenty Grand on the way out, instead of some shiny rocks...

Pending home sales rose more than expected while real personal income continues to struggle. And the personal savings rate remains low. Looks like a zero interest rate, leveraged recovery to me! April 29 (Bloomberg) — More Americans than forecast signed contracts in March to buy previously owned homes, another indication of progress in the housing market. The index of pending home sales increased 1.5 percent after a revised 1 percent decline the prior month. Excluding the April 2010 first time homeowner tax credit, this is the highest print since 2007. In related news, consumer spending in the U.S. rose more...

When asked if bank account confiscation will be going worldwide, Jim said, ”Well, it’s now in their bag of tricks, but yes, they can do anything they want too now. I for one am worried and I’m taking preparations. Who knows if I’m right or not, but I’d rather be safe than sorry as all of those people who had money in Cyprus have learned. They thought they had a normal bank account…but now it’s been [taken] with the sanctions of many governments and institutions.”

According to the BEA release this morning, personal income dropped by 3.6% in January, the biggest drop in 20 years. Meanwhile, the personal savings rate (as a percentage of disposable income) fell to its lowest point since 2007. As I have pointed out before, wages and salaries as a percentage of GDP continues to plummet since 1970. Of course, none of this is positive news for the housing market. The housing recovery cannot be eternally lifted by cash investors and The Fed zero interest rate policies. At least the 10 year Treasury rate is falling with wages and salaries. But...

(CNN) - Sen. Rand Paul cut another six-figure check to the United States Treasury Wednesday, taking the money he said he didn't need from his office's budget to make a tiny dent in the nation's massive federal debt. "We watch every purchase," Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, said at an event next to an oversized check for $600,000. "We watch what computers we buy, what paper we buy, the ink cartridges. We treat the money like it's our money, or your money, and we look at every expenditure." The $600,000 reflects more than 20% of Paul's annual office budget, according...

Nearly Half Of American Families Live On The Edge Of Financial Ruin Mandi WoodruffFebruary 4, 2013, 1:19 PM In the past few years, Americans have learned a thing or two about how quickly disaster can strike. And with each Hurricane Sandy, housing crisis, and stock market crash that rocks our world, we're faced with the realization that many of us simply aren't prepared for the worst. A sobering new report by the Corporation for Enterprise Development shows nearly half of U.S. households (132.1 million people) don't have enough savings to weather emergencies, or finance long-term needs like college tuition, health...

One of the earliest fears about tax-favored savings accounts like IRAs and 401(k) plans was that when this pool of savings grew large enough Congress would not be able to resist tapping it to help solve the nation’s debt problems. We’re about to find out if those fears—persistent for decades—have been justified. Everything including the sacred mortgage deduction is on the table as lawmakers wrestle with the fiscal cliff, a year-end avalanche of scheduled spending cuts and tax increases. With a combined $10 trillion sitting in IRAs and 401(k) plans, retirement accounts make a juicy target. Some of this money...

It may be time to take the tax hit and withdraw funds from private retirement accounts before they are forced into long term T-bonds. The Obama administration is reportedly quickly moving on plans to nationalize private 401k and IRA retirement accounts, and replace them with government sponsored annuities(aka Treasury bonds that the Treasury currently can’t sell to anyone but the Fed). National Seniors Council Director Robert Crone warns: “This whole issue is moving forward very quickly. Already there is a bill requiring all businesses to automatically enroll their employees in IRA plans in which part of every employee’s paycheck would...

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — A survey of about 1,100 Americans finds that more than 4-in-10 respondents admit they don’t have more than $500 in readily accessible savings. The survey is a kind of departure for CreditDonkey.com, a website that compares credit card deals. Not respondents all were poor. Some had big houses, big mortgages or 401(k)s, but still no more than five Benjamins to rub together right now. Jill Michal, president and CEO of the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey, reacts to the lack of liquid assets. “It doesn’t shock me, but it does scare me. You...

Just how much the Great Recession reshaped baby boomer retirements is becoming clearer: More than ever they expect to retire later or work when they're "retired." In 1991, just one in 10 workers told the Employee Benefit Research Institute that they planned to wait to retire until they were older than 65. By 2007, three in 10 said that. This year? More than four in 10. Boomers cruising toward a traditional retirement suffered a financial comeuppance in the economic slump that began in late 2007. The downturn sapped jobs, stock and housing values, and interest on savings. Many also were...

I have a question about Health Savings Accounts. I have a HSA that is no longer being funded. I have treated it like an IRA and have not used it since inception. With all the talk about Obamacare and what is in it, I am seeking advice on what to do with the funds in the account. Any suggestion (almost) will be appreciated.

MADISON — The dark fiscal clouds are starting to lighten in Wisconsin’s largest school District. But Milwaukee Public Schools‘ fiscal picture could be a lot brighter, had its teachers’ union chosen to open up its labor contract with MPS and agree to some salary concessions. Tweaking the deal could have saved scores of positions, opening up the opportunity for more teachers in the classroom, more programs to bolster the academic achievement of a school system that has seen its share of failure, and perhaps offering relief to Milwaukee taxpayers. Life is all about choices, and the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association...

Whether you've had some form of head trauma that has caused you to like Barack Obama or like all good hearted people, you can't stand him, his performance has objectively been terrible. Of course, we can debate WHY his performance has been so bad. His supporters would probably blame Bush, Republicans in Congress, ATM machines, fairy dust shortages and people forgetting to click their heels together three times before saying, "There's no place like home." On the other hand, people who haven't been drinking Barney Frankosaurus brand Kool-Aid might note that if Obama is going to blame Republicans for everything...

A gray-haired woman picking a flower with a young girl adorns the cover of an HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) brochure that promises investors both “the growth of the market” and “the security of FDIC Insurance.” By tying interest rates to everything from the Dow Jones Industrial Average to precious metals, the pamphlet for HSBC’s Market-Linked Certificates of Deposits explains U.S. investors have the potential to earn “enhanced returns” over as long as seven years. A separate disclosure states that they also may earn zero, getting just their original principal back after the CD matures, while brokers may collect fees of...

[W]HILE Greece has been criticized for just about everything, especially about going on a debt binge, to be fair, that is the kettle calling the pot black. Let’s be honest. ALL Western governments have been doing the same thing. Greece is merely the PRELUDE to the Decline & Fall of Western Society. This is always about politicians and their inability to manage anything whatsoever. It always comes down to their personal self-interests and until we reform our political systems BARRING reelection of ALL politicians to prevent a political class from rising, then politicians will always say: “Vote for me and...

The great myth of the last few decades is that people can establish sustainable savings by investing in other people’s debt. That is how relatively astute and candid writers, such as Jeremy Warner for the Telegraph, can claim that “Britain is still a hugely wealthy nation” and actually mean it. In his latest blog post, Warner tries to convince us that aggregate private debt in Britain is not so bad when we factor in “assets” as well.From his piece:Believe it or not, Britain is still a hugely wealthy nationLast week I drew attention to a report by Royal Bank of...

[T]he number one question pouring in is about the banks and their profit margin. Yes, the bottom line remains that the cost of money declines sharply for depositors while the cost of borrowing rises. Where the value of cash for three years is 0.7% to a depositor, for a fully collateralized borrower, the cost is about 4%. This is a profit margin for the banks of 571%. In other words, when the discount rate was 17% in 1981, this would have been the equivalent of a prime rate at 9707%. The profit margin at banks has NEVER been so high....

Because I know that FReepers are smart and ingenious I am coming to you for assistance and insight in being able to get unplugged from DirecTV. They are raising our rates again. We currently use Netflix, but are also considering adding HuluPlus. Hubby streams from his PS3 in his game room, and in the living room we stream via BlueRay. Hubby and I are trying to get details on unplugging without losing our ability to watch our favorite (cable) show. I've read numerous articles how people are doing this same thing but have not found a step-by-step instruction in what...

$456 million can be cut, commission report says Madison - A report by Gov. Scott Walker's commission to cut waste and fraud in government says Wisconsin can cut or avoid nearly a half-billion dollars a year in government spending. The report lays out a total of $456 million in annual spending that it says can be prevented by making changes at every level of government. Most of that spending - $373 million - is done by the state government with another $83 million by local governments. But not all of that money would necessarily lead to new savings for the...

How the U.S. National Debt Could Drain Your Savings January 9, 2012 By David Zeiler, Associate Editor, Money Morning Now that Congress has allowed the U.S. national debt to grow bigger than the American economy, it won't be long until the American public suffers the consequences by losing most of its savings to inflation.Figures for last year show the national debt officially exceeded 100% of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP). According to government figures, the national debt stood at $15.23 trillion at the close of 2011, compared to a GDP of $15.18 trillion. "The 100% mark means that your...