Special inspector general for the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, Neil Barofsky, said US Taxpayer cost for bailout and stimulus programs would be 24 trillion dollars. Granted this maybe a bit pessimistic view, but the main issue is there is NO transparency int he US government. When there isn't transparency, abuse is sure to follow. Without transparency, I fully believe 24 trillion may become a reality.
Lets do some simple math. 300 million US citizens (about), 24 trillion, that is $80,000 per citizen. WOW. Considering the total outstanding debt of the US was 5.5 trillion in 2000, that is startling. And this doesn't include Social Security/medicare benefits.
In any event, it is no wonder the White house is avoiding releasing updated budget information. I'll let the secret out: there is no "budget", just an open ended spending spree.
Lawrence Summers, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, said the U.S. economy’s growth pace next year is “very much in doubt.
And government jobs such as USPS are having financial issues, "Top executives are now saying that the USPS will default on a $5.4 billion payment to prefund future retiree health benefits on September 30, 2009. And its government affairs representatives are now telling Congressional staff that the Postal Service may not be able to make payroll in October and will be forced to issue IOUs instead."
Commercial real-estate prices fell 7.6% in May, according to Moody's Investors Service, as both dollar volume and transaction count reached record lows in the nine-year history of the firm's Commercial Property Price Indices. The indexes are down 29% from a year ago and 35% from their October 2007 peak.
Who cares about the real economy! Stock market is in BULL mode
Frankly, there is no end in sight to this bull market. And therefore that usually indicates a top in the near future. However, I am selling/covering positions to avoid being margined out. The higher the market goes, the harder it will fall, unfortunately. Since the market did not pull back to 810 as I had hoped, when it does turn, I fear the worst.
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