Effate Loc: El Dorado Hills, Ca.

Other than it being a novel v***s and comments he made that were probably intended to downplay it to calm the nation and his “prescriptions” explain what “blew it off completely” was. Seems to me in the p******c autopsy we found (and are still finding) much of what the “experts” were saying (from Trump/Biden administrations) were wrong either because the v***s was novel or possibly for more nefarious reasons.

btbg

You are totally wrong about ignoring the v***s. He should have completely ignored it instead of the 15 days to stop the thread. F***i lied to Trump and the American people and decisions were made based on those lies. He should have ignored everything that F***i said and fired him. Then they should have charged F***i with lying about the v***s as well as with illegally funding g**n of f******n research in China.

Then Trump should have told the elderly and those at high risk to shelter in place and have food and supplies delivered to them and told everyone else to go on about their business.

Had he done that he would have been reelected and the economy would not have been destroyed.

Shutterbug1697 Loc: Northeast

The ENTIRE World Economy was effected by the C****-** P******c, it wasn't just the United States.

China, which as of 2 years ago produces 28.7% of the World Supply Chain goods, was also shut down, which created a snowball effect of shortages all around the world, or did you forget that not so minor detail?

What's so bad about today's economy?

Don't try to equate the Stock Market and your 401K performances with the economy, because they're not the same thing by a long shot.

Your mismanagement of your stock portfolio or your 401K account is your own fault.

If you didn't read the warning signs before the P******c hit and move your stocks and funds to a safer haven, you only have yourself to blame.

If you were smart enough to have made those moves in time to salvage your investments, then more power to you.

The inflation rate in the United States is falling.

We're in better shape than many countries.

https://www.investmentmonitor.ai/insights/which-countries-have-the-highest-level-of-inflation-in-2023/

Put the blame on the oil companies for raking in HUGE, record setting, profits in the BILLIONS each quarter, while the cost of goods sold keep going up.

It takes fuel to move products from raw goods, to the manufacturers, to the distributors, to retail or to end users.

Ignoring the v***s K**LED way too many people in the United States before the scientific data was collected on how the v***s was spreading. That negligence falls squarely on trump's shoulders because trump CHOSE to disband the agency which monitored infectious diseases around the world. You can claim that it wasn't disbanded, but rather they were reassigned to different departments. But because they were no longer working in close proximity and association with each other, they weren't closely monitoring the rapid spread of the C****av***s in its initial stages.

Ebola and Dengue Fever are two other diseases which the US and the world have got to keep a close eye on.

https://www.cfr.org/article/perilous-pathogens-how-c*****e-c****e-increasing-threat-diseases

Effate Loc: El Dorado Hills, Ca.

You asked , “What’s so bad about today’s economy?”

Well, most reporting today states a majority of Americans are stressed and feel the negative affects of the economy. Saudis just announced a new production cutback which will certainly raise fuel prices again and inflation and the economy are disproportionately affecting the poor or low income earners. For example: https://www.dallasfed.org/research/economics/2023/0110

btbg

China created the v***s, then let it lose on the rest of the world while shutting their own economy down. That is all on them.

There was no reason for the U.S. to shut down. It was a serious mistake. As to oil, it is not big oil's fault that the price of oil has gone up. That's due to U.S. energy policy. And, finally, the economy and the stock market are obviously not the same thing, but both are negatively impacted by the same things.

As for moving my 401K, I don't have a 401K, and my wife is not old enough to touch hers without significant penalties, so there was no way to move it. It is progressive policies that shut us down during c***d and progressive policies that tanked the stock market as well as raising the price of fuel and impacting inflation.

If you really think the economy is going well, you are just plain nuts. The economy is upside down. You can make 20 dollars an hour pumping gas, and even more working for Panda Express, while some jobs that require college degrees have not seen wages go up. That is unsustainable. When non-sk**led labor makes more money than sk**led labor the economy is going to be in serious trouble.

Shutterbug1697 Loc: Northeast

Do you not how 401K's work?

Within the vast majority of managed 401K plans, there are riskier investments, and options for less risk. If you, or your wife didn't take advantage of diversifying across the different kinds of risk investment options within her 401K plan, then that was really poor planning on the decision maker's part.

In years past, I've moved funds around within the plan from underperforming options to better performing ones without taking any funds completely out of my 401K plan as a whole.

But I no longer have any of my previous 401K plans. I'm old enough to have been able to withdraw the funds from my plans without any penalty.

I got out before the market started to tank several years ago.

btbg

The market started to tank when Biden was elected. Her plan is from the state of Oregon and there are three options only for moving funds. We moved from the most high risk to the most conservative. We do not have the option you speak of.

I'm glad that you are reasonably well off. That being said, it has nothing to do with the conversation we are having.

Shutterbug1697 Loc: Northeast

The Stock Market has done better since President Biden took office, than it did under trump.

https://www.macrotrends.net/1358/dow-jones-industrial-average-last-10-years

https://www.macrotrends.net/2488/sp500-10-year-daily-chart

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/stock-market

btbg

That's not actually true. It was doing great under Trump then crashed at the start of c***d.

The recovery has nothing to do with Biden and our stocks lost more value under Biden in two years than in four under Trump where they actually gained value.

All Biden did was sit there while people went back to work. Since then things have not been positive.

Shutterbug1697 Loc: Northeast

The Stock Market is HIGHER under President Biden than it was under trump.

Try looking at the links I provided in my previous post.

btbg

Then please explain how our mutual funds lost about 15 percent of their value in 2022.

mwalsh Loc: Houston

Bad choices of mutual funds...

Triple G

He already mentioned limited investment options. The fund managers aren't providing fiduciary responsibilities.