It’s Hard To Argue With Gravity While Ordering A Hamburger

Being an expert must be harder these days.

Nobody seems to have any good answers to tough questions about the economy.

Morningstar pundits are usually pretty good when it comes to personal financial advice. But in is a recent answer on how to maintain yourself in retirement, they managed to coin the phrase ‘pre-tire’ when recommending that you just keep working.

… most retirees are going to have to make some hard choices … [it’s] hard to generate a livable income unless you have a lot of money, [so] working longer is going to be part of the solution for a lot of pre-retirees.

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Which is probably not the solution most people are looking for.

But whether you like that or not, at least they were working in the present, or near future.

On the other hand we have Mohamed A. El-Erian, CEO and co-CIO of PIMCO, who at the end of a good piece on The Real Tragedy of Persistent Unemployment suggests that,

… policy makers should also come up with a comprehensive strategy that focuses on improving human capital, particularly through a greater emphasis on education and training; expanding infrastructure and technology investments, in part by creating a more friendly tax system; encouraging a bigger translation of scientific advances into economy-wide productivity gains; and better protecting the most vulnerable segments of society …

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And while I can’t disagree with Mr. El-Erian, the time-frame for his solutions are measured in generations.

It’s a good time to remind ourselves that the fun is in the journey and not the destination.

And Somebody Already Mortgaged The Parachutes

J. Wellington Wimpy was many years ahead of his time, and at least honest, when he offered that, “I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.”