@ vexed87,
I am not Sclass, nor do I play him on TV, but if I am to be confused with someone else, he is definitely on the preferred list!
But, damn, that was a scary chart that ducknalddon linked.
Everything is a bit wonky post 2007, the world over. The QE policies have odd effects.
Personally, I think we really can't tell much, until the next big recession, and see how that goes. This has been the third longest period between recessions in US history, and the record is less than two years away. So, how we fare through that, and afterwards will be interesting.
In the meantime, there was the great recession dip, followed by a slower than normal increase to the point where productivity is back up where it was, which is hardly all that can be hoped for, but not a downward trend either.
I wouldn't consider tying an all-time high in productivity a hallmark of doom, but that slow gain is worrisome. Again, it is easy to build opposing narratives from the same set of numbers.
Speaking of narratives, the FT link had a nice Krugman quote. It is fun to hear his quotes from back when he was an economist, and wrote about economics. He does know how to pen a phrase. It is startling to compare what he wrote for Slate, vs the **** he produces for his column in the NYT.
UK Household Savings Rate at successive record lows
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Riggerjack
- Posts: 3191
- Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2011 3:09 am
Re: UK Household Savings Rate at successive record lows
Whoops sorry about that 
Just saw a news report here that claimed that most of the growth in GDP since the recession has come from the wealthiest 1%, can't verify this as away from home and operating on smart phone, but an interesting piece of the puzzle nevertheless.
Just saw a news report here that claimed that most of the growth in GDP since the recession has come from the wealthiest 1%, can't verify this as away from home and operating on smart phone, but an interesting piece of the puzzle nevertheless.
Re: UK Household Savings Rate at successive record lows
Something to make you really wish for the end times...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... nment-help
To quote the most important excerpt from the article, "According to Jean Chatzky, a financial journalist at US network NBC, by the time you are 30 you should have at least the equivalent of your annual income saved for retirement. By 40 it should be three times your annual income; by 50, six times; by 60, eight times and by retirement 10 times. How do you do that? You save 15% of your income every year (most of it into the stock market) from the age of 25 onwards."
Cue the twitter mob, with young people despairing of how 'impossible' this is now. Didn't you know? House prices are soooo much more expensive! And what about student debt eh? It was so much easier in the past, especially for those nasty baby boomers, they had everything!
Particularly galling, of course, is that all this was just a week before the commemoration of Britain's war dead on Armistice Day, of whom a vast majority were young people. They sure had it easy. Do young people have some things harder today? Undoubtedly. House prices are higher, there is less job security. Do we have some things easier? Also undoubtedly true. The internet, low-cost international travel, etc.
I just wish that more people, of all generations (but especially my own) could recognise the good as well as the bad, and instead of focusing so intently on how the 'the system' has done them wrong, work on how they can improve and excel in that system.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... nment-help
To quote the most important excerpt from the article, "According to Jean Chatzky, a financial journalist at US network NBC, by the time you are 30 you should have at least the equivalent of your annual income saved for retirement. By 40 it should be three times your annual income; by 50, six times; by 60, eight times and by retirement 10 times. How do you do that? You save 15% of your income every year (most of it into the stock market) from the age of 25 onwards."
Cue the twitter mob, with young people despairing of how 'impossible' this is now. Didn't you know? House prices are soooo much more expensive! And what about student debt eh? It was so much easier in the past, especially for those nasty baby boomers, they had everything!
Particularly galling, of course, is that all this was just a week before the commemoration of Britain's war dead on Armistice Day, of whom a vast majority were young people. They sure had it easy. Do young people have some things harder today? Undoubtedly. House prices are higher, there is less job security. Do we have some things easier? Also undoubtedly true. The internet, low-cost international travel, etc.
I just wish that more people, of all generations (but especially my own) could recognise the good as well as the bad, and instead of focusing so intently on how the 'the system' has done them wrong, work on how they can improve and excel in that system.