Letter to the Editor: An Investor Account and the Results

Editor:

September 26, 2022

Just looked at my Charles Schwab account, at the close today. Not a large sum for decades of saving and investing, still a good savings; but I looked back further. On January 4, 2022 the value took an unrealized capital loss of 18.33% loss. My IRA account has seen similar losses. The biggest one was during Obama’s Administration minus $400,000 on my IRA account. Oh yes GM got bailed out big banks got bailed out, but small investors got the shaft!! So then can I say that my biggest gains were during the Trump Administration? YES! Wiped out by (Biden) Democrat spending and now probably we are facing big tax increases and higher energy and grocery costs. Many Economists say the way to cure inflation is by increasing Government Spending – hmmm – are you falling for that fallacy? Others point to the fact proven over and over that spending restraint is the cure. Too many dollars (government spending) chasing too few goods is inflationary. The increase in interest means that the expense to our debt would exceed millions of our dollars – we the taxpayers are on the hook for that debt. Government produces no goods, no production only costs! We should realize what the difference is in CPI and PPI inflation numbers. One is a consumer index the other is a producers index. Sooner or later the producer has to regain his costs which – duh – adds to consumer costs. The least able to absorb these costs is the retired and the lower end of our economic stratum. Inflation is the most cruel tax of all – for no one can escape.

But we get words or deniers that things are not as bad as they really are. The political way – deny , deny , deny – its not my fault it is my predecessor. Point the finger at anyone but the one who caused the problem in the first place. Way to go Joey! You have a place in my Christmas Card List – NOT!

Human beings would believe even the most outlandish lie as long as it fell close to what they wished to be true. –Tom Clancy page 209 Chain of Command by Marc Cameron

Remember November.

Regards, and blessings

John Stiegelmeyer

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GS September 29, 2022, 8:02 pm Sir, You are a treasure. We should all appreciate your very entertaining opinions – I certainly do! This fixation on inflation really has you panicked. Have you talked to your advisors to see if they could adjust your portfolio? Increased focus on Bonds – sorry, probably too late now. As for myself, you have me wishing I’d invested in the maker of Depends since you are so scared by this stretch of our current economic cycle. In fact, as of September 16th, Schwab’s in-house analysis assessed the following: “we've entered a new phase of rapidly moderating price growth, despite some nascent signs that inflation has peaked.” So according to your guy’s analysis inflation has about run its course. What’s going to suck is a recession if we have one like we last did under President Bush. Economic cycles are a fact of life in a free economy. Exceptional economic hardship has most recently been caused by initiating the war on terror and invading Iraq while cutting taxes instead of instituting a ‘war tax’ on those who didn’t serve; combined with the unfettered growth of the sub-prime lending market. So, we are at war for more than 20 years, continue to cut taxes and totally ignored every responsible attempt to navigate a pandemic. And you think we got here because of decisions made by a single old man over the last 2 years. I’m no economist, just a realist who reads non-fiction rather than Clancy novels (by they way, he’s been dead for years and was a running joke among the military he wrote about) but I think maybe you have ulterior motives in playing ‘chicken little’ about the economy. Very Respectfully, Glen Shepherd, VHS Class of ’81; Go Vikes! Go Air Force, Beat Navy!

GB September 28, 2022, 7:24 am Right on point John.. This administration is a clinic for failed leadership. It is the example/ examples of everything leadership should NOT be. Everything is initiated with no real plan in place. Everything! The criminals are the ones currently running this country.

DL September 27, 2022, 4:32 pm You really should read that Tom Clancy quote, while you're looking in a mirror, sir. It was you that elected the most prolific con artist in our country's history, to be our "president." Quite frankly, I'm sick of hearing about your personal monetary losses. Do you not understand that 330 million people are riding in the same boat as you? Once again, you seem to believe that all Democrats must be 100% behind what the Democratic President does. That couldn't be further from the truth. Can you not think back to a time in your life, when all Americans wanted our leaders to be successful? If that was true for you now, you wouldn't write a letter like this. This letter has only one purpose, "To Own The Libs". You want all Democratic Presidents to fail our country, so you can "Own The Libs". Our most successful president, in the last 30 years, was President Clinton. But, all that was important to your leaders, was that he committed adultery. Something that had nothing to do with how successful our country was at the time. I didn't condone that behavior. But, I also didn't think it deserved spending millions upon millions of taxpayer money on. Even your cult leader thought it was the best thing he did in office, and kept feeding the Clintons millions of dollars, for 15 more years. I had never had hatred for any president, since Nixon (I was only 8 years old when he resigned), until Trump was elected. Because I knew what Trump was. He had told the world what he was, for decades, before 2016. He continued to tell the world what he was, right through that campaign and beyond. He has conned everyone that still supports him, or would support him, if he's allowed to run again. I must ask you. Did you write letters like this in the last year of the W. Bush presidency? What was it that kept you from recovering all of that money, that you must've lost, during the Obama presidency? The Dow almost tripled it's wealth in those 8 years. It seems odd that you lost money, while the rest of the country was doing so good. Did you really enjoy the roller coaster that Trump put you through, with the stock market? In 4 years he got the Dow up to 28,000 pts, then lost every bit of those gains. Suddenly it was back to the 18,000 value that he had inherited, before going back to near record highs. Seems like the same thing has happened with the current president, except for the late recovery. But, there's still 2+ years for you to reap those rewards.

RB September 27, 2022, 1:56 pm My biggest losses came during the Bush Administration when he nearly collapsed the economy. Yes, it carried over to the first year of Obama but it did make significant gains during Obama’s 8 years. Bush inherited a budget surplus from Clinton and in his 8 years nearly saw the economy collapse. Trump inherited 72 straight months of job growth and left Biden to pick up the pieces after ignoring Covid. Covid, BTW, is the primary reason the market is still paranoid. Still waiting for a letter-to-the-editor detailing our criminal former president. You know, tax fraud, foundation fraud, Trump University fraud, Georgia election fraud, and the January 6th insurrection. Guess they are just little things John unless done by Democrats! Still waiting!

Opinion : Letter to the Editor: An Investor Account and the Results

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