Our financial system is crumbling this week.

[sighyoung]

I'll be meeting with a financial advisor next week. I just think countries around the world don't trust the U.S. anymore and will continue to get rid of American debt such as Treasury bonds. I'm hoping that this is gradual. However, the passage of a huge irresponsible tax-cut bill or the Supreme Court empowering Trump to fire the chairman of the Federal Reserve, I think, will send lots of countries to the exits.

[Radbird]

Just another bad day on Wall Street

[mikechamp]

Maybe some adjustments need to be made to your portfolio? Ask a financial advisor:

Medicare and Social Security go-broke dates pushed up due to rising health care costs, new SSA law

The go-broke dates for Medicare and Social Security 's trust funds have moved up as rising health care costs and new legislation affecting Social Security benefits have contributed to earlier projected depletion dates, according to an annual report released Wednesday.

The go-broke date — or the date at which the programs will no longer have enough funds to pay full benefits — was pushed up to 2033 for Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund, according to the new report from the programs' trustees. Last year's report put the go-broke date at 2036.

Meanwhile, Social Security’s trust funds — which cover old age and disability recipients — will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2034, instead of last year’s estimate of 2035. After that point, Social Security would only be able to pay 81% of benefits.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/medicare-soc ... 26383.html

[cardinalkarp]

I was told here not too long ago that health care costs were in fact not rising.

[mikechamp]

I don't know how many of you keep up on financial news, but I felt this was something worth sharing for those who are plugged in... and those who aren't:

The investment chief at $10 trillion giant Vanguard says it’s time to pivot away from U.S. stocks

Greg Davis visited Fortune this month dressed like a Wall Street titan—and bearing a very un-Wall-Street message about a tepid future for U.S. stocks.

The 25-year Vanguard veteran’s outlook contradicts the prevailing position advanced by the big banks, research firms, and TV pundits that despite serial years of big gains, U.S. stocks remain a great buy. That bull case rests mainly on optimism that the Big Beautiful Bill’s deregulatory agenda and tax cuts will spur the economy, and that the AI revolution promises a new world of efficiencies that will shift earnings to super-fast track going forward. The powerful momentum that has driven the Nasdaq and S&P 500 to all time highs this week bolster their argument for more to come.

Davis follows the Vanguard mindset that, arguably more than any other, revolutionized the investing world over the past half-century. A big part of the Vanguard formula: Periodically rebalancing from securities that get extremely pricey by historical standards into areas that are undervalued versus their norms. In our discussion, Davis provided a master class on how the dollars in profits you’re getting for each $100 you’re paying for a stock influences future returns, and why now is such a crucial time to shift from what’s highly, even dangerously expensive into safe areas that look like screaming buys.

Put simply, Davis argues that U.S. equities are a victim of their own success. For Davis, the fabulous ride in recent years virtually guarantees that future returns will prove extremely disappointing versus outsized, double-digit gains investors have gotten used to, and that the investment pros predict will persist. The reason is simple: U.S. stocks have simply gotten so costly that their forward progress is destined to radically slow. “Our investment strategy group’s projection is that U.S. equity market returns are going to be much more muted in the future,” Davis warns. “Over the past ten years, the S&P returned an average of 12.4% annually. We’re predicting the figure to drop to between 3.8% and 5.8% (midpoint of 4.8%) over the next decade.”

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/inve ... 31121.html

[IMADreamer]

I'm certainly no financial expert but I personally just don't have faith in the US any more. I've been looking elsewhere for investments since the last election. With corruption out in the open and everything hinging on the whims of a nearly 80 year old child I don't see how you could faithfully invest in US stocks.

[Popeye_Card]

It has been an unsustainable run-up. Used to be that P/E ratios above 10 for established companies were a sign of an overvalued stock. Now you routinely see 20+, with some companies like Tesla occasionally topping 200. There is no way that can be sustainable.

[cardinalkarp]

Agreed, it’s not so much an IF, but WHEN are things going to completely crater.

There’s going to be a rough go of things sometime in the near future (I would think in the next 3-5 years), hopefully the country can come back from it.

[mikechamp]

If there were a ? at the end of the thread title, this article might be right on the nose:

This could be the most consequential week for the economy in years

The state of President Donald Trump’s economy is about to come into full view.

A slew of crucial economic data is set for release this week, including the jobs report, inflation, consumer confidence and corporate earnings. We’ll get the first glimpse at America’s second-quarter gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the economy. And, most crucially, the Federal Reserve will decide whether to cut rates or hold steady one more time.

As if that weren’t enough, Trump’s trade polices also come due: Friday is the administration’s self-imposed deadline for settling tariff rates for all 200+ US trading partners. Trump’s top economic advisers will be negotiating a trade framework with China in Sweden. And an appeals court will hear arguments this week about whether the bulk of Trump’s tariffs are even legal, to begin with.

Altogether, the data could paint a picture of an economy that is resilient — but slowing under the weight of Trump’s dizzying tariff changes, reductions in government workers and spending, and an aggressive deportation of foreign-born workers. Here’s a look at what to expect this week and why the data matters:

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/coul ... 42182.html

[IMADreamer]

Can we trust the data coming from this administration.