by MrBill » Wed 15 Aug 2007, 10:52:27
Roccland wrote:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')r Bill I applaud you for looking at the little guy, but in my mind rates are gonna be dropped...maybe today...but at some point rates are going down...
Then the real pain begins.
And if prematurely then global inflation is going to the moon, so kiss your purchasing power good-bye. Another disincentive to save. Another sop to the over-indebted consumer, the banks, the credit industry and everyone else that lives off other people's savings - wealth accumulation - including the government.
I can feel the frustration in these forums. Unless you're quick, you're dead, and even then what works for a small group cannot by definition work for everyone, so a lot of people are going to get screwed, and not the just the ones who richly deserve it.
If you earn an average of $50.000 per year in constant dollars and work for 40 years you can earn a maximum of $2 million dollars. So by default the most you can spend over your life-time is also $2 million. If you ignore interest earning investments and capital appreciation net of inflation, fees, taxes and other costs.
If you carry a $300.000 mortgage on a house that nominally costs $300.000 to purchase at 6% for 30-years you will pay $1800 per month or $648.000 in total. That is $348.000 in interest alone.
If you carry a $30.000 car loan for 5-years at 7.5% you will pay $600 per month or $36.000. That is an extra $6000 in interest. If you always have a car loan then you can multiply that by say 7 times or $42.000 in interest over 35 years.
If you carry a $10.000 credit card debt at 15% for one year you will pay $900 per month or $10.800 (to pay it off not just pay the interest). That is an extra $800 in interest. If you carry that $10.000 balance for a decade that is another $8000.
That all comes out of your $2 million in life-time earnings in addition to your income taxes and other living costs. Never mind setting aside money for contingencies.
We have to (collectively) shake people to their senses. People that think money can be created out of thin air are also likely to think that money does not matter, so debt does not matter, so that government deficits do not matter, so therefore who you elect does not matter either. Imagine being bribed with your own money and thanking the government for it? And on it goes.
It is a real education campaign to make people see that economics and finance affects them directly. It is not just some theoretical concepts of little practical value. Maybe that is why I take these issues so seriously?
p.s. I hope I have not made any calculation mistakes. If yes, my apologies in advance.
The organized state is a wonderful invention whereby everyone can live at someone else's expense.