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Housing Fades as a Means to Build Wealth

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8/28/2010

    
More Than Half of U.S. Pension Funds Could Disappear - As many as 31 states could see their pension plan assets dry up by 2030, this according to a new study from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. In a new research paper titled: Policy Options for State Pensions Systems and Their Impact on Pension Liabilities,” Associate Finance Professor Joshua Rauh explains that the large and daunting group of troubled states pension funds “are headed for run outs and financial disaster”.
  
How States Hide Their Budget Deficits - In April, the New York State Comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, issued a damning report on the Empire State's financial practices. Albany's budgets, he observed, increasingly employ "fiscal manipulations" to present a "distorted view of the State's finances." Money shuffled among accounts to hide deficits, loans made by the state to itself, and other maneuvers Mr. DiNapoli called a "fiscal shell game" are meant to "mask the true magnitude of the State's structural budget deficit."
    
The Great American Bond Bubble - Ten years ago we experienced the biggest bubble in U.S. stock market history—the Internet and technology mania that saw high-flying tech stocks selling at an excess of 100 times earnings. The aftermath was predictable: Most of these highfliers declined 80% or more, and the Nasdaq today sells at less than half the peak it reached a decade ago. A similar bubble is expanding today that may have far more serious consequences for investors. It is in bonds, particularly U.S. Treasury bonds. Investors, disenchanted with the stock market, have been pouring money into bond funds, and Treasury bonds have been among their favorites. The Investment Company Institute reports that from January 2008 through June 2010, outflows from equity funds totaled $232 billion while bond funds have seen a massive $559 billion of inflows.

Stack of Stuff:

Housing Fades as a Means to Build Wealth

The Case Against Homeownership

 

 

 
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