Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

I think recession, but I'm not sure how deep and long.  A recession should cut demand and then prices, but not always.  I lived through 1980-81.

After tax monies vs pretax, most of mine is pretax (IRA).

If "they" fiddle with income tax rates I might shift my IRA to a Roth and take the one time hit.

since my income was down a bit last year, I converted some IRA to Roth and took a small hit.

I'm concerned about the housing slowdown we are faced with. All of our work is in Wisconsin, Illinois (85%) and Indiana.

If developers start shutting off new subdivision work, we will not be in good shape. It's already slowing down.

The thing I hate the most about owning a company is having to let people go. I fear this is coming, just like in 2008/9.

We went from 27 people down to 4 (including the two owners) in a matter of months.

Economic policy has consequences. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. This is bad.

We have 42 people, for now.

Housing will slowdown for sure in those states imo. They are dying states with bad growth- people aren't moving there in droves like they are in say Texas, FL, AZ, NV, NC, SC, GA. Interest rates were already going up on 30 year fixed mortgages, and with the fed hiking fed funds rates .75% just a few days ago and then saying they'll probably do another .50% to .75% hike in July- 30 year fixed rates just going to continue to go up. A monthly payment on a 30 year fixed rate on the rates from the past few years prior to the recent increases on an $800,000 property is equal to the monthly payments on a $500,000 property today.

Personally, I think what they are doing is pretty stupid. The inflation on necessary daily essentials, food, consumer goods, and vital commodities like gas that we're seeing right now is due to a few things- not the housing market and credit card spending.

We're experiencing higher prices because;

a) we still have supply chain issues bc US literally relies entirely on China for almost everything...MAYBE START CHANGING THIS. When there is less supply of something and demand increases...well prices go up. Invoke emergency powers production acts and put the squeeze on manufacturers and suppliers to leave China or give them massive tax breaks to relocate to the US.

b) US refinery capacity is way down- 7 refining facilities closed during COVID and many Gulf refineries were battered by hurricanes in 2020 and 2021- US lost anywhere from 1.2 to 1.5 million barrels per day of refining capacity due to this. US refineries produce 17 million barrels per day. US consumes 20.5 million barrels per day. Maybe declare an emergency and send billions in federal funding to beefing up refineries and building new ones- instead of THROWING MONEY DOWN THE DRAIN IN UKRAINE. OH AND PUT IMMEDIATE TEMPORARY BANS ON EXPORTING US GAS & OIL.

c) lift every and all sanctions on Russia. they have not worked and have only backfired. They've caused prices in the West to skyrocket and turbocharged inflation in the West. And not to mention the Putin treasure chest is at all time highs with Russia getting 60%+ premiums on their oil & gas. You'll see oil prices cool down immediately if they do this.

d) there has been price gouging and large companies taking advantage of the situation. https://www.accountable.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-04-04-Largest-US-Retailers-2021-Profits-FINAL.pdf

e) Biden needs to go over to Saudi Arabia get on all fours and suck off MbS until he agrees to ramping up Saudi production and exports to flood the market. I don't care if he's got to give up his first born crack head son to do this- he needs to get it done and make it happen.

Sky high oil prices = inflation. It's basic economics. Oil is literally interwoven into every aspect of modern life. Take a second to think about it. Oil prices go up that much that quick....price of EVERYTHING goes up. Need to get oil prices back down and stable for inflation to cool off. And this senile old f**kface Biden hasn't been doing jackshit to try and make that happen.

With 5 Mil at age 60 you could take $250K/year and still have the same money at 90. This assumes around a 6% return on investment.

My question here is are we talking raw cash/reserves or including I guess what I’d call first-house equity?

Like if you have a nice home that appreciated to $1.2 million, that’s a type of wealth, but it’s inaccessible without another large investment.

I'm not sure a politician with "reasonable tendencies" can get and stay elected to Federal office, or at least not gain a position of real influence.  Most House members just vote party line anyway.  So, their votes are basically locked down no matter the issue (with a few exceptions, especially if they have an election pending).

In my view, a radical progressive Senator like say Bernie is not much different from a "moderate" Democrat, on most votes, save Manchin and maybe Sinema.  This is even more true in the House where there is a bit of leeway.  It's largely true for Republicans as well, they line up and vote party line whether they are "reasonable" or not.

The do rename post offices at times.

Age limits, term limits, not happenin'.

Along with a lot of other wishful notions.

Age limits, term limits, not happenin'.

Along with a lot of other wishful notions.

never say never....could happen. not likely any time soon, but doesn't mean it can't or won't in the future.