Where do we go from here? Personal Finance in the 21st century
We are nearing the end of the first decade of the new millennium. In the early years of the new century, we witnessed some of the largest accumulations of wealth of all time.
But as time passed, the housing market and the stock market showed the emperor without clothes. As companies grew from pension plans for retirees when you know how much they get when they retired to defined contribution plans, where workers took the market risk, which seemed like a great idea, suddenly has become an albatross, a sign of evil omen of bad times ahead.
No matter what the index looks, markets have fallen beyond all expectations worst either. But what is worse is the fact that a loss of 28, 35 or 40% means for people who have no other liquid asset base.
The richest 1% of American control in 33% of all private wealth in the country. The next 19%, consisting of professional business owners, executives and small control 51% of wealth. That leaves 80 percent of American workers to share a miserable 16% of the wealth of the nation's economy. This means that employees and wage earners, while making up the bulk of the U.S. workforce, have little control over their own destiny.
Whether you are a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or independent, what I say applies equally to all members of your group members. Most of them are going to bust hell open. Most lawmakers in both houses of Congress are there to receive payment. If not, while in office, then after.
No wonder that ordinary Americans have little say in what happens in the world. There is no pressure for ordinary people. There is no Senator is going to go to work to push for legislation that benefits the average Jane and Joe.
But there is a price for having wealth. The more you have, the more you want. In the '60s, the reporter asked how much money is enough. John D. replied: "Only a little more."
A study of New York of those who make over $ 200,000 per year showed that while they were much better than most American, who were more aware of their relative lack of wealth compared to those earning more than them. In other words, they had more anxiety because they do not make millions per year than those earning less than $ 100,000 per year
Instead of emphasizing the honored one day's wages for honest work, and the reality that the vocation of every person, no matter how trivial or mundane, there was a value in itself, we found that running an enterprise elimination of labor are the most balanced, rather than those whose effort allows the product is released.
With President Obama working to get your package approved Health Care, there may be some light at the end of the tunnel. Moreover, the law of unintended consequences can take root and produce a return to the falls in 2009. But there is still much work to do, not only by those in power, but by ordinary people like you and me.