Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
@AndyJ. +100. So many of the so called experts think it won’t happen because it would be so catastrophic. The problem is that kind of thinking is RATIONAL. It will take plenty of repuglicans to make a deal and it’s very unlikely you can find very…
@YBB…. As a long time Schwab customer I follow all things Chuck closer than others. My perception is that all my investments are safe but my Schwab Bank checking might pull a FRB or SVB and become something else. My question is whether a Schwab Pri…
@stayCalm. Well stated. For democracy to function the country needs people of good will and competency. The house majority lacks enough of both to be counted on to do the right thing. Plenty of experts think default won’t happen because it would…
I think we need to remember that Liberals have taken the worst of corporate capitalism and moderated its worst and greediest impulses. If it weren’t for Liberals there would have been a revolution in this country long ago. Of course the morons of t…
@staycalm. “Itching for a showdown.” “Just because.” You nailed the bigger issue here. When the history of this cluster fuck is written 40 years from now it might indeed be bigger than the obvious. It might be that the no nothing caucus had …
@Hank. “Why oh why,,,,?” I am not telling you anything you don’t already know but that is the ultimate reason that the modern repugnant party exists. To cut taxes on the wealthy to zero and at the same time rid corporations of all government regu…
@old_joe. True believers or power hungry hypocrites,,,,, America has a repuglican problem that’s destroying this country from within. And it’s not going away.
@Mark. Think about this. The vast majority of one of one of the two political parties of the United States still think he is the savior. After everything that has happened. That includes the rank and file as well as the party professionals. We a…
@LewisBraham….. I am a Schwab customer and have negotiated zero transaction fee for Vanguard Funds. If I recall it does not include Admiral class funds and the mechanics are awkward. You are charged the fee and then it is reimbursed. But it wasn’t a…
@Yogibearbull. This morning MSNBC has a piece about how the using the 14 may be the only way out,,, why it would be risky and how it may play out. Ironically the author sees it as a win win for both sides. Sorry I haven’t a clue how to provide a li…
@LewisBraham. Thanks for sharing that LB. Even for a self proclaimed pessimist Zandi’s report takes one’s breath away. I guess I am fortunate,,,,, I have no job to lose and no adjustable rate loans to go up. On the other hand medical providers m…
@sma. “ when your bank closes ,,,,,,” my friend will just go his his backyard and dig up another few hundred bucks. Maybe he is not so dumb after all. At the end of the failed negotiations,,, will it be the 14th amendment, the trillion dollar coi…
@mikeM. Virtually all Trump supporters and for that matter most repugs vote against their pocketbooks. So to answer your question “would they?” Why wouldn’t they now?They always have. Their culture war issues matter more than anything to them. E…
@msf. Let us say that Treasury’s will not be paying their coupon and are not paying at maturity. And for the sake of pessimism let us say that Social Security payments are delayed. The question is where to keep funds liquid and safe until the re…
As far as equities go default will surely create a great buying opportunity. The question is where to keep the dry powder. Until the situation is resolved the upside is limited but the downside is very significant.
@rforno. As far as I am concerned you nailed it. They have no problem crashing,,,,,, I trimmed our equity allocation today and I did no such thing in 2008 or 2020. Today there are bad people with power who don’t care what happens to the global e…
@Bee. “Some political theater.” I don’t know but theatre implies some kind of a script. I am certain that McCarthy has no script, no plan and really no hope. I would like to know how anyone can sense the possibility of a solution if you can’t fi…
A more challenging problem is accidentally switching your language preference to Chinese. I did that last night and it was difficult to reverse my mistake because everything was in Chinese.
@MSF. thanks for your thoughts. The AEI is not on my reading list. My take on denialism is simply that here and on other boards the very possibility of default is hardly discussed, not that it wouldn’t be horrible. I guess as Martha Reeves wou…
@ Mike W. I just said the same thing to my wife. But wouldn’t that cost Kevin the genius his speakership? I agree that he and Jeffries and five patriots could save the day but Kevin would lose his gavel the next day.
@Anna. I appreciate your comments. I think part of the problem is that no one really knows what to do to protect themselves. I have seen advocates for Treasury instruments and avoid them. I have heard Gold but I can’t imagine switching out equiti…
As evidenced by the lack of interest in this discussion, default denialism is indeed real. Maybe the speaker of the house will suddenly care more about the country than his new title and he will get control of the crazy caucus. But not likely.
@Sven. + 10! “ Does anyone follow the debt ceiling debate?” Thank you for bringing this up. I started a thread in Feb. about default denialism. The country, this board, my family,,, still in denial. X date is getting closer and the government is …
At LewisBraham. His 15 year streak ended in 2006. A remarkable achievement. Think that record will ever be broken? Seems unlikely. Who was Bill Miller?
Nicholas Fund. Third ave value. Sogen international. Mutual shares. Of course Fidelity Magellan. Those are just the ones I can remember. But they come and they go.
I might add to be very certain of exactly how long the money must remain in its new home to retain the bonus. And other fine print. I once lost a bank transfer bonus because I bought a CD with funds from the ONLINE savings account I had transferre…
@Crash. Actually for a person with very little ambition becoming self employed was a bit awkward. But no more looking for another job and no more bosses made it work. For exactly 30 years. Of faking it.
