Dean Wright is Global Editor, Ethics, Innovation and News Standards. Any opinions are his own.
Let’s say it up front: Almost all of you will find something in this column to take issue with.
That’s because the subject is the conflict in Gaza and perceptions of bias in reporting on it. News consumers detect media bias on [...]
Saft's comments are both accurate and misleading. Accurate in that attaining an 8% return in the next year or two will be challenging. Misleading for those with a longer horizon.
The 8% assumption was never meant to be an every year number but rather an average with some years doing much better and others doing much worse. For those who have a short-term horizon in terms of retirement, Saft's point is correct and a problem.
For those with a reasonably long horizon it is still a reasonable benchmark. Despite the current market, the average annual compound return of the S&P 500 for the past 39 years remains in 10% range (about 8% capital increase + about 2% dividend return). Unless one believes the economy will never recover, the long term assumption of 8% remains reasonable.
Although the article does highlight many key issues concerning the global economic market it follows a continual theme that fails to recognize the lack of a Federal Sales tax. The US economy originally was built on manufacturing, domestic expansion, and foreign export providing an extensive robust base to stabalize the dollar. As the economy shifted to a global footprint the US has failed to recognize the weight of the income tax on US corporations. This has resulted in lower cost imports, a shift of manufacturing off-shore, and then inevitable devaluation of the US dollar. To compete globally the US must overhaul the antiquated tax code and convert to a sales tax.
This makes perfect sense. I just graduated from college recently, and spent three of my four years there without a TV, only my wireless connection to the school network. Nowadays, it makes less sense than ever before to even own a TV. All of my favorite news sources are online, and movies and TV shows can be rented and watched online (I'm in the habit of renting movies on iTunes and then watching them in my living room on a 21" flat screen monitor that I can connect to my laptop).
Frankly, it's becoming difficult for me to imagine that television as a medium won't become obsolete and abandoned in my lifetime.
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8:43 pm EST