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OT: Stock and Investment Thread

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ashokan

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ScarletNut said:
When I was in college I took the post office exam and worked as a mail carrier for 2 summers. I was hired for 99 days . Any more than 99 days and I would have been eligible for unemployment benefits. Still, as a college kid it was a great job, better paying than any other employment I could have had.
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Lol I did the same thing for a summer - was a temp "casual carrier" who didn't need a uniform.
I had a rough route most days and had to use the "HALT!" pepper spray a half dozen times.
Letters in my hand - flats on my arm - pepper spray in my shirt pocket - I was a quick draw when needed.
I was always amazed that I could hear the dogs barking before I turned the corner in their street.
They knew I was coming and I knew they knew lol.
 
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RUinPinehurst

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ScarletNut said:
When I was in college I took the post office exam and worked as a mail carrier for 2 summers. I was hired for 99 days . Any more than 99 days and I would have been eligible for unemployment benefits. Still, as a college kid it was a great job, better paying than any other employment I could have had.
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That reminded me... I was a Teamster for a summer while at RU. Worked as a driver's assistant with 7Up Bottling out of Plainfield. There was a threshold point, where I was advised to quit before a certain number of work days was reached, so I could recover all my union dues. I did. My "adviser" was a lovely secretary, who had been a bunny at the Playboy Club resort (Vernon Valley?). She shared photos, too. Good summer. 😉
 
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tom1944

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BIGRUBIGDBIGredmachine said:
Fair enough. But I'll add the following since current Admin policy direction has become a hot topic vis-à-vis this thread.


Donald Trump planning no tax for below $150,000 earners? Here’s what US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said…​

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Love to see it especially if it does not lead to deficits. I would have a flat rate on anything over that amount and every type of income would be treated the same- capital gains, carried interest etc. would be taxed at the same rate as wages.
 
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Knight Owl

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tom1944 said:
Love to see it especially if it does not lead to deficits. I would have a flat rate on anything over that amount and every type of income would be treated the same- capital gains, carried interest etc. would be taxed at the same rate as wages.
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Of course it wouldn’t lead to deficits because we will be rich on crypto by then. Number go up.
 
BIGRUBIGDBIGredmachine

BIGRUBIGDBIGredmachine

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tom1944 said:
Love to see it especially if it does not lead to deficits. I would have a flat rate on anything over that amount and every type of income would be treated the same- capital gains, carried interest etc. would be taxed at the same rate as wages.
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I agree about the deficits but you lost me on your capital gains tax idea. Anyway it's noted tax revenues increased after TCJA, they didn't decrease as per CBO projections. Getting federal spending under control is the 800 gazillion ton gorilla.
 
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RU05

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ashokan said:
USPS is twisted-up in a weird way.
They don't like to hire full-timers because they want to keep salaries and benefits down.
They hold the civil service exams and then hire "disposable" people off the large stacks of applications.
People who get jobs usually have them for a few weeks/months and then they are gone.
A regular carrier for a route is getting unusual in a lot of places.

USPS does a lot of "minority" hiring (30% of USPO staff is black) so pols avoid examining it.
I use quotes because in some areas they are more of a majority
I've had immigrant carriers ask me where a street was and they could barely speak English no less read it well.

Be extra careful of "SurePost" items you buy.

Some places (like Newegg) will advertise "Free Shipping" and (unlike Amazon) will initially send a package out with UPS etc only to drop it off at the local post office and not a buyer's home. Those packages disappear at alarming rates. Some get left/lost during transfer and others get stolen (easier with dispersal of responsibility).

A few years back the mail got so bad locally that Schumer and Nita Lowey held press conferences over it.
Mail was just getting dumped in the woods, and mailboxes were getting robbed along with clerks stealing $1000s in stamps.
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Since we are doing the anecdotal thing, I see none of this. Have had my regular mail person for forever. A white guy who speaks fluent English.

And my buddies daughter was just hired for a full time position. Also speaks English fluently.
 
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mdk02

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RU-05 said:
Since we are doing the anecdotal thing, I see none of this. Have had my regular mail person for forever. A white guy who speaks fluent English.

And my buddies daughter was just hired for a full time position. Also speaks English fluently.
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My experience with a number of POs is that a 20 year worker, of any race, is positive. Newer is a mixed bag And NJ is generally better than NY
Why I don't know.
 
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Knight Owl

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RUBlackout said:
Well he was talking historically. Watch us invest now and lose 50% of funds!!!

It is a great concept to invest in US companies and supporting them
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That’s not the purpose of SS. And if we try really hard maybe we can get T-yields up to 10%!
Both “political parties” are a disgrace at this point. The Dems couldn’t keep themselves from attempting to increase the corporate tax rate. Billionaires should pay more for sure but just leave the corporate rate alone! It’s a major reason a lot of Centrists (what few are remaining) were turned off.
Disclaimer: This is a post about stock and fixed income markets only.
 
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RUBlackout

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Knight Owl said:
That’s not the purpose of SS. And if we try really hard maybe we can get T-yields up to 10%!
Both “political parties” are a disgrace at this point. The Dems couldn’t keep themselves from attempting to increase the corporate tax rate. Billionaires should pay more for sure but just leave the corporate rate alone! It’s a major reason a lot of Centrists (what few are remaining) were turned off.
Disclaimer: This is a post about stock and fixed income markets only.
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I know the purpose of SS but this was more out of the box thinking so that fund doesn’t go bankrupt. No other thoughts or considerations have been given and this country is so far in debt as it is that SS will not be bailed out.
This concept allows for better funding as well as US based investments. No different than a 401k plan where you can choose investments
 
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Rutgers Chris

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Knight Owl said:
Great idea! Put it all in the SP500 while CAPE ratio is around 35!🤣 God invented 401Ks for a reason!
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Clearly you watched the clip. He made the case for doing this staring in the 70’s and the returns that have been missed. Noting that those that can’t/wont access 401ks are being left behind stuck investing against their will in treasuries
 
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RUinPinehurst

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Rutgers Chris said:
The ponzi is running on fumes. He suggests an initial investment of $500B, doesn’t say where that comes from. It’s that or print money at some point to fund it in his opinion
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And what impact will this sudden inflow of $$$ have on equity pricing and valuations? Laughable. We need flat income taxes. Everyone pays. No loopholes. And SS contributions without cap limits.
 
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Rutgers Chris

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RUinPinehurst said:
And what impact will this sudden inflow of $$$ have on equity pricing and valuations? Laughable. We need flat income taxes. Everyone pays. No loopholes. And SS contributions without cap limits.
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Why is it laughable? I’m not sure repricing of equities and valuations would be an earth shattering problem
 
T2Kplus20

T2Kplus20

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Rutgers Chris said:
The ponzi is running on fumes. He suggests an initial investment of $500B, doesn’t say where that comes from. It’s that or print money at some point to fund it in his opinion
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+1
The new investment arm of SS doesn’t even need to directly impact the current program. Just use the extra money to close the gap and eventually enhance benefits.
 
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ashokan

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RU-05 said:
Since we are doing the anecdotal thing, I see none of this. Have had my regular mail person for forever. A white guy who speaks fluent English.

And my buddies daughter was just hired for a full time position. Also speaks English fluently.
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POs tend to hire local. If you have a good PO and upscale residents things can go well. If you have an urban crowd with moody workers , bad work habits, difficult residents, loose dogs and such then the PO can suck a lot. Its a bit like school districts where some are nice and some are brutal. Managers and staff can be stuck in hostile relationships. The expression "going postal" traced to the violence that was in POs.

When I was in HS the guys in my class who went to the PO did it because a parent got them a job. They tended to stay in those jobs a long time. I don't know what its like now but knowing people def helped getting hired.

The national turnover is pretty well known and that's a reason things dont go smooth

"The U.S. Postal Service is losing a whopping 59% of its early tenure employees per year, according to a new report, which employees say is creating a staffing crisis and souring morale at many locations around the country.

Postal employees across the country staged protests outside their facilities in recent days, saying poor treatment of staff and a lack of priority on hiring has led to toxic work environments. Particularly within post offices and other forward-facing positions, they said, staffing shortfalls have caused longer wait times and otherwise reduced service for customers. "

 
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Hent1955

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I may be wrong but I thought I read somewhere that one of the main reasons SS is going broke is because the politicians didn't keep SS in a separate trust fund but instead "borrowed" the monies and used it in the general funds. In other words, they broke the trust of the American people and spent our SS funds.
 
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RU in IM

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ScarletNut said:
I may be wrong but I thought I read somewhere that one of the main reasons SS is going broke is because the politicians didn't keep SS in a separate trust fund but instead "borrowed" the monies and used it in the general funds. In other words, they broke the trust of the American people and spent our SS funds.
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Not the reason its going broke but, “The US government began borrowing from the Social Security Trust Fund in 1983, with the Social Security Amendments of 1983, and this borrowing continued until 2010, when the program started running cash-flow deficits.”

Since it’s a borrowing, the Money is still an asset in the trust fund and a liability of the US.
 
T2Kplus20

T2Kplus20

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ScarletNut said:
I may be wrong but I thought I read somewhere that one of the main reasons SS is going broke is because the politicians didn't keep SS in a separate trust fund but instead "borrowed" the monies and used it in the general funds. In other words, they broke the trust of the American people and spent our SS funds.
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Al Gore agrees with you.

 
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mdk02

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ScarletNut said:
I may be wrong but I thought I read somewhere that one of the main reasons SS is going broke is because the politicians didn't keep SS in a separate trust fund but instead "borrowed" the monies and used it in the general funds. In other words, they broke the trust of the American people and spent our SS funds.
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In addition, IIRC, the interest rate on those borowings was below that of long term treasuries. The whole calculation of debt vs. equities was different 40-45 years ago when the market hadn't done jack in 10 years and 30 year t-bills returned 12-15%
 
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MURF87

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I always wondered if it might work if the Govt had SS monies into the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) that govt/military members contribute? I recognize the need to preserve SS guaranteed money/capital/contributions, but why not have something where workers have to keep a minimum of 75% of SS contributions in the TSP "G" fund, and allow folks to take the remaining 25% into a different TSP fund (ie., 2035 Retirement Fund, S Fund, etc.)? If folks aren't conversant in TSP or don't make a selection, every penny automatically defaults to the "G" Fund. Don't know if those percentages are the correct percentages, but someone can figure out the best percentage allocation.
 
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