Jay Weber Show transcript 6-5-25
This might be another indicator that the economy is finally improving Fidelity says American workers are-finally-putting away about 15 percent of their income for retirement.
That has been the ‘long time’ target for those of us who can’t rely on a pension in retirement-
And it has been a ‘long time’ goal for the investing industry-in general- to get us there.
It’s one of the basic rules or beliefs of investing for retirement: how much of my income should I be putting away for retirement?
About fifteen percent has been the ‘industry’ answer.
It’s been about fifty years since this savings vehicle became available for people-and the govt says about 70 percent of private sector workers now have a 401k.Also, more companies are automatically enrolling their employees in one.
Still- the boomer generation has been so bad at saving for their own retirements, that experts say about 4 in ten households are at risk of not being able to maintain their current standard of living in retirement.
It's shocking to see what a high percentage of boomers saved virtually nothing for retirement.
They are also the generation that was ‘half in and half out’ of the larger pension system as a means of retirement. All sorts of boomers worked at jobs that gave them a pension- especially when they were young. And then, halfway through their working lives- most private sector companies dropped their pension systems and shifted workers over to a 401k system-where mostly- we are saving for our own retirements.
That has all sorts of boomers getting ‘some amount’ of pension from a job or jobs they had-as young people- but having to supplement it with their own retirement savings.
I’m technically ‘Gen X’.... but those of us around 60 sort of...just missed...those private sector jobs that came with pensions. Or only have very small ones to look forward to when we retire.
For example- I started working for the Hearst corporation here in Milwaukee in the early 90s...and that job came with a pension. Then they sold the radio stations, and the subsequent owners didn’t offer a pension...and...so...40 years later...when i retire...i can look forward to a whopping 180 dollars every month....in my Hearst pension.
It’s the only pension I have.
180 dollars a month-which might pay my cell phone bill in 10 years. That’s about it.
The good news is the 401k system is working well for retirees. The markets have performed ‘at least as well’ as promised -over time- and those nest eggs have grown.
We also seem to be poised for a good market run now that the genuinely dreadful and economy-killing democrats are out of power again- and president trump and republicans are poised to pass their big reconciliation bill- that’s expected to give another lift to the economy.
And by the way: the left’s worst nightmare is coming true: the economy is improving-and- the American people know it.
It’s that second part that’s really driving the libs crazy: that their relentless efforts to gaslight the public mostly aren’t working out for them. Sure, some number’ of nitwits are going to believe their lies- but most won’t-
And with the democrat’s own ‘highly trusted’ government statistics to prove the economy is improving- none of their lives are holding water.
This week- a new economist/you gov poll found that- already- five months into the Trump era...six in ten republicans and even one in ten democrats admit...the economy is getting better.
By all sorts of different government and private sector measures, now.... Inflation is down around a healthier margin again, consumer confidence is rising, very good private sector jobs are suddenly being created after years of stagnation, all the ‘experts’ who predicted trump’s tariff gambit would force us into a recession are being proven wrong.
In fact- my friends- this week the Atlanta federal reserve bank increased its second quarter estimate for GDP growth again. Last week they said we should expect to see a very robust 3.8 percent GDP growth. Then, on Monday, they increased that projection to 4.6 percent growth.
That’s stellar.
These numbers suggest that the US economy, which really hasn’t been strong- or even firing on ‘most’ cylinders since Biden and the democrats unleashed runaway inflation on us- is finally starting to look strong, again.
And yes, this is just based on a couple months data, and inflation could start to rise again, or things could turn south if trump misplays his tariff strategy...but even the risk of that happening seems to have lessened greatly.
So, these so-called ‘expert economists’ who were so doom and gloom two months ago...are now starting to talk about nearly 5 percent GDP growth and hundreds of thousands of good paying private sector manufacturing jobs that Trump’s trade deals are starting to create.
It’s not going to surprise anyone in this audience-but none of the doom and gloom and panic that the so-called ‘smart people’ and trump haters have been insisting is coming our way- hasn’t.
Simply hasn’t.
Optimism has returned-even before- congress passes this big, beautiful reconciliation bill-which I have been insisting has all sorts of big wins in it- even if Elon Musk and Ron Johnson and some others have gotten all hung up on the lack of deeper spending cuts.
Do not destroy the possibility of doing all of this ‘good’....by insisting on only focusing on the ‘bad’...or what we could have done better on...in this bill.
President Trump and republicans in congress-really are giving the American people the economic recovery they voted for.
I thought it was incredible that Trump and Kudlow and Laffer and Moore-and that ‘first term’ team of experts have us the greatest economy-by every measure- in the last 50 years.
Then I thought i was incredible when they ‘turned off’ the economy over covid- only to turn it on again-and have the country poised for truly massive and historic growth- only to have the Biden regime come in and snuff out what could have been one of the greatest economic eras in American history-
Heck-if Donald Trump wouldn’t have won a second term he would have gone down in history as having created one of the strongest economic eras in the history of the country.
But- if he can manage to duplicate that in term two? I mean-
Could there be-any? - debate that he’s one of the greatest presidents of the modern era-and maybe- ever?
In just five months-president trump and his team have gotten pledges for something like seven trillion dollars in new manufacturing investment in America.
That’s incredible.Biden sought to create-none.
Every ‘manufacturing incentive’ Joe Biden’s team created only seemed to help China...because they were all ‘green energy’ related...and guess where all of the ‘rare earths’ and raw materials and manufacturing are- if we are going to litter America with solar panels and windmills.
In China.
Biden’s fake and forced ‘green energy economy’ was doing nothing for the American people or the American worker-nor would it have-regardless of the trillions of wasted tax dollars the leftists are willing to spend on it.
President trump’s far more realistic and reasonable approach is already creating hundreds of thousands of good paying, new manufacturing jobs. 345-thousand jobs were created in April...and most of them were full time manufacturing...not part time, low paying, and ‘govt jobs’ of the sort that we got during the Biden era.
President Trump is giving. The American people the economic recovery they voted for.
photo credit: Getty Images
audio version of the segment here> Americans are getting the economy recovery they voted for