Alcoa, Inc. Message Board
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The payroll tax is really not a tax. It's a premium. Now we can argue whether or not government should be in the retirement business but the fact is they are. So you and your employer pay into Social Security and you receive a defined benefit for that money when you retire. The more in the higher the monthly benefit. You also get disability insurance. Your kids get an educational benefit and so on.
If SS is going broke paying less in will only make matters worse & bankrupt it sooner. It's no different than an insurance policy.
Of course liberals call it a payroll tax because they don't want the lower middle class and poor to pay into it but they still want these same folks to get full benefits. In other words an expansion of the welfare state. I wouldn't be surprised to hear them next demand upper middle class and the rich take out IRA's in the name of a poor person. Don't laugh. That's where America is headed. Government run everything so we can all be equal. It takes a village you see! - Reply to
They need to reduce staff NOW! They should have sold this company already.
by socooltoinvest •May 17, 2013 11:25 AMLet's talk once we get a pro business president, Bernanke raises rates and companies go back to investing in their businesses again. Today you have no growth slugs like consumer staples trading 20 times for a little manufactured EPS growth. Like 1% worth. Market is a joke with Bernanke funny money. Techs as a whole have suffered because there is no investment in business today.
Nobody seems to get the obvious. With Bernanke's policy there is no reason to invest in business. No reason to hire, buy tech or much else. It's THESE ceo's that only care about options. That's why unemployment is high and salaries low. We need higher interest rates to get companies to invest in growth again. Obama & Bernanke need to go! I mean 5 years of the same and it still doesn't work?? Let's do more of the same the next 5 years!LMAO -
It's not just Brocade but most techs are doing poorly because companies are not spending!
Blame Bernanke and 0% rates & QE. The game today is this. Companies are issuing CDO's at near 0% and using that money to buy back stock manufacturing EPS. Top lines are all down. CEO's are not hiring nor investing in their businesses. That's why no tech buying. Buy only what breaks for the most part. They simply are looking to cut costs and play the game and cash their options.
Also we have lousy economic policy from the administration. Time for Obama & Bernanke to both take a hike! -
That's a bunch of BS. It amounts to like 46B this year out of 3.7T budget. It's a pimple on an elephant. It's only a cut in the rate of increase. Spending will be higher this year than last and higher next year over this year. Most of the cuts are troop withdrawals.
Keep in mind they added 80B for Sandy relief year and Bernanke is printing 85B per MONTH! Sequester is BS excuse. Now get rid of Obama Care, loosen up regulations and get some tax reforms and economy will soar! Lets face it. The administration is horrible! -
Bernanke has a welfare for the rich policy with QE forever. So companies are buying back stock with by issuing CDO's at about zero rates to pay for it while also throwing some back in dividends. This is why revenue is weak.
So companies will NOT invest in their businesses. They will only buy tech when they have to or hire when they have to. So tech earnings and employment suffer because of 0% rates and QE. They fat cats get richer, paintings and Manhattan RE goes up while the average family suffers. The whole thing stinks and won't change anytime soon. Roll back ObamaCare and get the FED out of the way and they economy would soar. -
So a typo? After spending 100's of billions over the decades in education liberals tell us things are worse than ever. Even with the dumbed down education we have. Most college grads today don't know the difference between to, too and two? Hell some of our affirmative action grads can't even write??LMAO So sad. Liberalism has been a colossal failure. So what do we do?? More of the same that doesn't work. More taxes will solve everything. Yea right!
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It never ends. Looks like we can't even have rates at 75 bips. How about the world outlaws interest rates?? Anything for the pigs on Wall Street.
Bernanke belongs in jail. He is nothing more than a common thief. He is forcing savers to spend their principle to survive until there is nothing left. He's killing old people. Just what liberals want. Everybody ultimately dependent on government. Then collect all the guns. Then change the flag to the sickle and hammer. Then a partnership between the rich and politicians. What a disgrace. We need another revolution! -
Another Obama "green" investment with the people's money to the tune of over 500 million. Another Solendra. Dept of energy playing venture capitalist. We are broke and liberals continue to throw our money down the toilet trying to pick winners in business.
Government should get out of the way and go away. -
Ant attempt to get spending under control meets with political threats. They always get rid of the most popular fist or employees that will hurt people so tax increases get passed. Give them pain so they will beg for higher taxes.
The FAA cuts controllers delaying flights first. Give them pain. In reality the FAA has seem their budget go up 150% (3B) since 2008. Also we have even LESS flights. If any company ran their business like this they would be out of business. Typical liberal spending machine that never ends. Oh and Obama without question has ordered these priorities! -
Ah Cramer telling us how great these earnings are. Blah blah. This is typical of this bloated hyped up market. Coke reported revenue LESS than last year so negative growth. EPS was lowered to 45 cents, same as last year and Coke reported 46 cents. The got that extra yoy penny from stock buybacks and cost cutting.
So the stock is UP almost 3% today. LMAO They "beat the street". Oh and for this no growth company you get to pay a PE of almost 21! That's outrageous. But this is what you get with Bernanke printing trillions. This whole house of cards is going down. When who knows?? But this game of beating expectations which are lower than the year before won't last forever. Oh and Bernanke sees no bubble???LOL It's a joke.
Oh and we are back to the CPI coming in at 2% every report too. The government keeps lying. Houses can go up 10%, food 10%, everything else 10% and they will report a CPI of 2%. LOL So Bernanke has cover to keep printing. Like I said it's a sick joke. -
China stockpiled commodities for years after the collapse. They then built cities but nobody lives in them. Ghost towns. They also "invested" in infrastructure. They have so much excess capacity it isn't funny with no demand. So things looked good building all these things but now what?? A good reason why government can't run an economy.
In short there is no global economy. Only central bank printing with companies buying back shares with low rates and manufacturing profits through cost controls. They are not expanding, hiring and investing in their businesses. Thank Bernanke and Obama for this. Eventually PE's will get so high that the market will collapse. When?? Who knows??
BTW....AA's report wasn't good. They had their earnings lowered so they could meet them. AA earned what they did last year so no growth. This market is on very thin ice indeed! -
Just another result of Obama's failed policies. He is now 5 years in and things are worse than ever. We have a FED economy built on counterfeit money so we get counterfeit results. In reality Keynesian policies don't work. They just lead to higher debt and crony capitalism. Participation rate also dropped to the lowest level since 1979.
Let's see?? Obama had a 1T stimulus program on borrowed money and increased spending by a mammoth 5% of GDP creating the mother load of new debt. We got green government investment in his favorite companies that went Bankrupt. No surprise. Government can't run private industry. It can only destroy it. Obama got the FED to go to 0% rates and now a balance sheet of 3T+ and rising 1T/yr of funny money. That hasn't worked either. It is creating a new equity bubble but that's a different conversation.
The killer is all the effort into ObamaCare, Dodd Frank and radical EPA laws. That was a waste of time that is making things worse. Employers are sitting on their hands because they still don't know their total liabilities. So they don't hire and invest. Just cut costs and buy back stock. Over regulation which solves nothing but costs companies billions in compliance waste is something we don't need now. EPA radical laws cost more profits for no real gain. Oh and we also got tax increases on the rich. Funny nobody mentions this as a job killer?? Only sequester. We added more in spending for Sandy than sequester will take away.
So Obama and his minions want more of what didn't work. Higher taxes, more government spending, more government regulations and more government control over the economy. We never learn and will end up where Russia did. A bankrupt has been! -
The FF rate should be 2% over the inflation rate or ~4% today. The 30 year is very risky unless you want to hold for the full 30 years? Who would buy a 3 1/2% coupon in 5 years when rates could be 7% and hold for another 25 years?? NOBODY unless a big drop in price to get the yield up to 7%.
Second it would be unfair & not sound for a 80-90 year olds to have all their money in stocks? No financial adviser would ever suggest that.
Third it was OK for Bernanke to be the buyer of last resort when the #$%$ hit the fan but that should have lasted 6 months tops. Thee was no reason to bring rates to 0% and leave them there another 4 years?? We could easily have a 2 1/2%-3% FF rate today without harm to the economy. That would still get us 5 1/4% mortgages which is historically cheap. There should be some cost to money & we need price discovery to get real equity values not propped up ones. Subsidized rates have big consequences down the road. I can hear it now. I want a bailout because I bought my house at 3% mortgage and now can't sell at 7%??LMAO
Lastly the FED just cannot let the securities run off?? Treasury would then have to return the cash back to the FED when they get redeemed just like any investor. If not America goes into default. Nobody would touch a US security. So where does treasury get 3T? Taxes are the only place. The FED is in a box.
My point is contrarian but rates too low create more problems than they solve. Savers will spend the interest so that is natural stimulus. Companies will stop borrowing for nothing to buy back stock and invest in their business for growth. That means hire workers and expand. Stock market will get over the free money ending and bid up stocks once they see the organic growth that happens. It will also get government to get off their butts and pass pro growth legislation and answer for those policies that do not work. In other words a more healthy economy. Enough already being at depression levels when there isn't one -
That's a stupid statement. It's like saying a patient abused himself for 20 years, goes to the doctor with a terminal disease and dies in 6 months and according to you it's the doctor's fault because it happened on his watch?
So Bernanke is printing a trillion per year that eventually will have to end. So when it does the market will tank. I guess according to you it will be that president's fault since it happened on his watch even though Obama has one of the most reckless policies ever?? Whatever happened to the famous liberal excuse for government mandates called "root causes"??LMAO -
The housing mess started under the Clinton administration. In fact it was Barney Frank during the 90's working with HUD that ordered Fannie/Freddie to increase their sub prime loans to 50% of their portfolio as well as other no down payment schemes.
Not sure where you get criminal from? The war was voted on by all of Congress with the support of all our allies. It seems now very credible that Saddam's WMD's ended up in Syria where Assad is using them on his people just like Saddam did. Still the other 9 out of 10 reasons have all proven to be true. Obama has continued with Gitmo and killing terrorists with drones. If Bush is a criminal so is Obama! However this is the only thing I agree with Obama on. He is doing the prudent thing. -
"Health insurers are privately warning brokers that premiums for many individuals and small businesses could increase sharply next year because of the health-care overhaul law, with the nation's biggest firm projecting that rates could more than double for some consumers buying their own plans.
The projections, made in sessions with brokers and agents, provide some of the most concrete evidence yet of how much insurance companies might increase prices when major provisions of the law kick in next year—a subject of rigorous debate."
"Insurers are "not being shy that premiums are going to increase in 2014," and are urging brokers to "brace our clients," said John Lacy, vice president of group benefits at Bouchard Insurance, a brokerage in Clearwater, Fla. His firm has been hearing from carrier representatives that individual premiums in Florida could go up 35% to 50%, on average, and small-business rates around 30%, though it hopes to find strategies to blunt the impact."
Like the "Affordable Housing Act" under Clinton which eventually made housing unaffordable the "Affordable Care Act" will make Health Insurance unaffordable too. Instead of letting the free market work. government manipulation always leads to shortages and higher prices. Expect to pay more for Care that is rationed. We never learn. The people?? Too busy wasting their lives texting nonsense all day. -
Hmmm?? Cyprus wants a 10% tax stealing that sum from bank deposits to pay for debt they can't pay. Bernanke has already stolen over 10% from bank deposits because America can't pay its bills. Same thing. Only difference is Cyprus is being more obvious.
He is good at creating bubbles with his constant printing of funny money. Consumer Staples at 20 times for 1-2 percent growth??LMAO Stocks will go up as Bernanke prints because that cash has to go somewhere. He is also buying 80% of all our debt nobody else wants. How long can that go on?? So the people are being herded into stocks with 0% rates as PE's soar. This will end badly like it always does. Some poor slob as president will have to pull the plug then the whole house of cards comes crashing down.
Bottom line this economy is horrible. Earnings are being manufactured. The FED is trying to cover for an inept Obama administration. No employer wants exposure to ObamaCare & massive new regulations so they sit on their hands. Job splitting the new tactic to avoid the new taxes. It's a mess. This is why AA and all materials are in the dumps. Central Bankers led by Bernanke and socialist politicians have ruined the global economy,. Money printing will postpone the inevitable but eventually the &(%% will hit the fan. Enjoy the phony rally while it lasts. -
With inflation running at 2%+ over the past 5+ years Obama through Bernanke has stolen over 10% of people's savings. Inflation is a tax. FF's rate should be 2% OVER the inflation rate. So Bernanke has stolen over 10% of saver's money already heading toward 15%-20%. The guy is a thief and a poster child for why the illegal FED should be abolished.
I don't know how the guy can keep a straight face when he testifies?? He says there is no inflation but said the same thing when houses were going up 30%/yr yet says we have deflation when they correct in price?? Funny that home builders are complaining about the high labor and input costs this week on their reports. That is the definition of inflation which obviously is picking up steam. Bernanke will go down as one of the worst ever. He will be tops though as one of the best lairs ever. -
Yet the market keeps going up on Bernanke funny money. Man is this going to end badly again. ORCL has a monopoly and this is the first time they missed in years on both top/bottom line. FDX is a proxy for world wide growth. Also CAT sees profits decline by a large amount. Mining business in the "dumps".
These are world class companies in 3 important areas. Transportation/Tech/Equipment. Europe, China and Asia in general all in economic decline. US companies manufacturing earnings through stock buybacks, firing people and paying them less. We have no leadership from Obama & the Senate. In fact we have economic roadblocks they set up. Obama Care, Dodd Frank, and radical EPA all need to be reversed with tax reform. So Corporate CEO's sit on their hands.
So it looks like the sugar high is wearing off. All Bernanke did was bring us back to where we were in 2008. Everybody is back to high leverage. Real Estate bubbles in cities like NY. Etc. We started to clean up balance sheets and deleverage in the first year but that's all gone. Now we have to go through it all over again. Worse we have to find buyers for 3T in bonds??LOL What a mess. No country has ever printed & taxed their way to prosperity. -
You do realize don't you that Obama has initiated a help with down payment program for those with no money (mostly blacks & other minorities) to be paid for by banks as part of their penalty for being guilty of robo signings and the mortgage collapse in general?? Obama has also pumped in billions into FHA encouraging lending to these poor credit borrowers since FHA only has a 3 1/2% down payment requirement.
We never learn. This too will end badly as FHA is about to go belly up. House prices are too high and no matter how hard government tries to prop them up and continue to lower lending standards they eventually fall to where the free market will clear them. Just wait until all these trillions in bonds Bernanke bought get thrown into the market. Rates will soar. Either that or we go into default. Oh Treasury can raise taxes by all these trillions to pay for them but the people are tapped out. Stay tuned...