Now they want to give Military Pensions to Wall St

[smackdown]

Regarding your comment about keeping 401K accounts out of the markets... If we fully regulate mortgage lending to standards... it is safely possible to use the native growth as an investment vehicle. Consider... if the requirements were Fixed Rate, Fixed Term, Fixed Debt ratio, Minimum 2 Years proof of Income, Certified Inspection, Certified Appraisal, Certified Survey and Template Mortgage & Note terms... (eliminate the franchise Realtor involvement). What we would have is-- quality properties appreciating because they are in demand, substandard properties falling away from financing eligibility and becoming what used to be-- handyman specials (for cash sale only). Sprawl would be eliminated. Blight would be eliminated through reconstitution as cash sales.
The weight of new costs (new construction starts) would primarily be commercial since such properties experience more wear through use and the need to look fresh.

If the source of mortgage funds was no longer banks via the Federal reserve, but genuine cash based on the validated value of properties across the nation, the interest you pay becomes the pool that fuels 401K accounts. It becomes stabilized by cyclical balancing. Houses cannot arbitrarily increase in value without wages counter-balancing and meeting the Debt-to-Income requirements. Taxes become static-- that is, they are the same nationwide. A stable tax rate stops government from using more money than it has collected. Balance again. The rise and fall of population correlates directly with the housing supply. Too many people without enough housing means less revenue going into each 401K. Too little population starves the revenues at the source (suggesting immigration has intrinsic value).

There are two factions that need to be banned from participating in stabilizing America-- the financial sector and government personnel equivalents. It isn't something that people who make money from money grubbing can solve. Both of these factions-- grub. Lenders cannot. Everything described in what I say here has implications. The loans must be perfect, the portfolio must perform, the attributes must be audited deftly. It was never the "job" of the People to watch those who handle their finances because they cannot be trusted. That needs to be a system that has no extraneous variable.

[lifewasgood]

DOD cost to much, However the cost can be attributed to political madness and Fraud, waste and abuse. DOD will cut, change modify military pensions and medical benefits before they will cut a program that is producing obsolete aircraft, that are over budget, behind schedule just to satisfy politicians that have a stake in the production. It gets down to jobs in Congressional districts, which I have commented before. If you cut DOD programs it will cost jobs. If you change medical and retirement, it cost the future generations of military folks. Therefore if DOD is to be cut where it needs to be cut, get ready for another million + unemployed.