back up 2
following up on yesterday's post. but wait! you neglected interest. heh. okay. so i redid the numbers with interest rates ranging from 0% to 10%. that'd be above and beyond inflation. everyone knows that interest is just a way of transferring money from the young guy to the old guy. but heh. let's follow the numbers anyway. oddly, interest rates help both the young guy and the old guy. raising interest rates reduces the amount one needs to save. workers need to save between 2% and 20%. when they retire they have between 6x and 9x their salary. the average savings over their lifetime is between 2x and 4.3x their salary. which means the calculated need for savings is at lowest $30t and most reasonably $45t. which matches the tangible net worth of the us. excluding financial services. so not only does yesterday's result stand, the financial services bubble is much much much larger than even i expected. it's entirely bubble. with no real value whatsoever. which will come as a tremendous shock if and when it bursts. imagine some 80% of the nation's perceived wealth vanishing with the sweep of an accounting pen. kinda scary, isn't it?