Doug Smith SRA
Member
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2002
- Professional Status
- Certified General Appraiser
- State
- Montana
A terrific article worth wading into:
A Nation In Debt
How we killed thrift, enthroned loan sharks and undermined American prosperity
barbara dafoe whitehead
Link to A Nation in Debt
Doug
A Nation In Debt
How we killed thrift, enthroned loan sharks and undermined American prosperity
barbara dafoe whitehead
Link to A Nation in Debt
America now has a two-tier financial institutional system—one catering to the “investor class”, the other to the “lottery class.”
The investor class, with ample access to institutions that foster wealth-building discipline, is served by a bevy of insurance agents, tax lawyers, stockbrokers, tax accountants, deferred compensation experts and investment bankers. They are likely to work in organizations with 401(k) plans, profit-sharing, Keogh plans, deferred income compensation and retirement savings programs. The lottery class, on the other hand, works in jobs that offer few pro-thrift benefits. As of 2004, seventy million of America’s 153 million wage earners worked for employers without a retirement plan. Rather than being courted by investment firms, they are targets of modern-day, made-to-look-respectable loan sharks. Tens of millions of working Americans who might join the class of savers and investors under more favorable circumstances are being recruited into a burgeoning population of debtors and bettors.
Doug