Top Stories Of The Week - Ripped From The Headlines, May 3, 2024
Today, We Look Back At The Top Stories From This Week - Read, Share, & Subscribe - SherlocExposes.com
Get the new e-book from Ripped From The Headlines publishers RC Williams & Julianna Ormond, entitled “Empowered 2 ACT: Maintaining The Pillars Of Patriotism.”
In the rapidly evolving landscape of the 21st century where the currents of change often erode the bedrock of our societal values, the call for patriotic activism rings out with renewed urgency.
"Empowered 2 ACT: Maintaining The Pillars of Patriotism," is not merely a response to this call—it is a clarion call of its own, a manifesto for those who stand on the front lines in defense of liberty, tradition, and the enduring principles that constitute the foundation of our society.
Taking A Look Back At The Top Stories Of The Week
Ripped From The Headlines looks back at the top stories from this week.
Click Here to read the full article.
“A brisk new trade in the financial futures of millions of retirees is unnerving some US workers, regulators, and politicians who worry that private equity firms will invest corporate pensions recklessly.
Recent lawsuits challenging AT&T, Lockheed, and Alcoa’s plans to turn their pensions over to Athene, which is owned by Apollo, casts a broader spotlight on private equity’s push into new corners of finance.
For years, the business of taking over those pensions was dominated by a handful of century-old insurance mainstays like Prudential and MetLife. But private-equity firms have barrelled in. Apollo, KKR, Brookfield, and Blackstone have all bought insurance companies since 2019, and have been bidding aggressively to acquire pension plans.
Over the past three years, about $135 billion of corporate pension liabilities have moved from America’s biggest companies to insurers. They are converted from corporate promises, vestiges of an era of generous paternalism, into an annuity, a type of insurance contract that has become the hottest product on Wall Street.
In the process, they lose the backing of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., a government entity that guarantees workers’ retirement benefits if their pension plans fail. Instead, any insolvency would be resolved by state insurance funds, which operate similarly to the FDIC’s fund for bank depositors and try to make as many people whole as possible from what’s left.
THINGS TO PONDER:
Let’s be clear: There’s nothing wrong with making investments that make great returns… that’s actually the point.
But stories like this raise a legitimate question: Is making risky bets with millions of people’s retirements worth it?
Retirement funds are the promised land for investors…
If you can get in, it’s an unlimited stash of cash…
The challenge for private equity is two-fold:
The way they have made their money. The formula is to acquire assets, load them with debt, extract that money out to pay big returns, and then cut the quality of everything to squeeze out whatever is left, and then drive the asset into bankruptcy.
The market catches them with their pants down. This happened with state pension funds in California where the equity firm started making bad bets… they were told to make risker bets to make up for it.
Yikes. That doesn’t sound like a good match.
What’s worse is the last paragraph above:
“In the process, they lose the backing of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., a government entity that guarantees workers’ retirement benefits if their pension plans fail. Instead, any insolvency would be resolved by state insurance funds, which operate similarly to the FDIC’s fund for bank depositors and try to make as many people whole as possible from what’s left.”
This likely isn’t going to end well.
Brace For Impact.
Having a storable and stable food source is a must these days…
But getting good quality beef could get more difficult in the very near future.
Are you ready?
Our friends at Prepper Beef want you to be... and you'll get 15% off by using the promo code "cleancows" at checkout. Click below to grab yours now.
Click Here to read the full article.
“Over the past year or so, pretty much everyone who's looked for a job has told me the same thing: The job market is brutal right now. They've applied to dozens if not hundreds of openings, only to get one or two callbacks. No one's hiring, they tell me. I've never seen it this bad.
The dissonance finally started to make sense to me when Vanguard, the investment-management company, released its latest report on hiring. By looking at the enrollment and contribution rates of its 401(k) retirement plans, Vanguard is able to calculate a national hiring rate broken down by income level. And what the numbers show is a two-tier job market — one divided between a blue-collar boom and a white-collar recession.
Among Vanguard's lowest earners — those who make less than $55,000 — the hiring rate has held up well. At 1.5%, it's still above pre-pandemic levels. But among those who make more than $96,000? It's pretty depressing. Hiring has slowed to a dismal 0.5%, less than half the peak it reached in mid-2022. Excluding the dip in the early months of the pandemic, that's the worst it's been since 2014. If you make a six-figure salary, it really is a bad time to be looking for a job.
But there could be a bigger, more worrisome explanation for the downturn in white-collar hiring. Maybe companies are anticipating tough times ahead and trimming their budgets accordingly. ‘If you need to pull back on costs,’ says Fiona Greig, the global head of investor research and policy at Vanguard, "pulling back on expensive workers will reduce costs to a greater extent than pulling back on your lower-income workers." Translation: The more you earn when budgets are tight, the less an employer wants to hire you.”
THINGS TO PONDER:
It’s amazing what you’ll find when you dig into the numbers…
This writer, like many, has continued to believe the lies that “the economy and job market are great!”
Until they ask, “Why do I keep hearing different from actual people?”
And THAT is the right question.
Here’s the deal: The jobs that provide the most upward mobility are the most scarce… that means people are working, but no one can really afford anything.
That’s a recipe for disaster…
Which you’re seeing play out in real life right now.
With quotes like this:
“Maybe companies are anticipating tough times ahead and trimming their budgets accordingly. ‘If you need to pull back on costs,’ says Fiona Greig, the global head of investor research and policy at Vanguard, "pulling back on expensive workers will reduce costs to a greater extent than pulling back on your lower-income workers." Translation: The more you earn when budgets are tight, the less an employer wants to hire you.”
You should Brace For Impact. It’s going to get bumpy.
Did you realize that even something like a solar flare can knock out your electronics? Or kill your car?
Yes, you could be partying like it’s 1859 in the snap of a finger…Yikes.
Best to be protected right? But what to do?
Our friends at EMP Shield have it figured out. These guys are brilliant. They have EMP Shields for your car, home, and generator.
And it costs way less than you think.
Check them out today - click the link and save $50 on us.
#Nullos, #Smoothies, The #IRS In Your Pocket & More - Sherloc On The Air
Ripped From The Headlines & Sherloc Market Research founders Julianna Ormond & RC Williams filled in for Chris Hart On The American Adversaries Radio Show On AM950/ FM94.9 The Answer in Orlando, Florida last Friday, covering a range of important issues. Please enjoy the show commercial free below.
Get all of Sherloc’s insights BEFORE anyone else.
One price = early access to our trends & forecasts, special members-only video chats, and special events.
Get your subscription now… your future depends on it.
James Wesley, Rawles, publisher of SurvivalBlog.com has put together a “bookshelf” list of key things you should have. CLICK HERE to access the list.
Plus a recap of the 50 things you should have handy to barter.
Share this email with everyone you know. Sign up for a free or paid subscription. Paid members will receive our in-depth solutions.
Ripped From The Headlines is your daily digest of what’s happening in the world. We help you to understand what it means, why you should care, and what you should do.
Have a tip on a story, case, or issue that needs to be covered? Email us: info@investinanswers.com.