It better hurry.  More and more people are coming to the conclusion that Goldman Sachs purposely caused and profited from the global economic collapse, that it not only has the ability to manipulate the stock market, but also manipulates the White House, Congress, and the media, that it makes it’s money from creating and popping economic bubbles - creative destruction.  Goldman Sachs are the Masters of the Universe, they own the stock market casino, everyone is invited to play, but the tables are rigged, and in any case, they are the house and so they always win.  Even the usually compliant pro-business Wall Street Journal and the SEC are writing exposes and launching investigations.

So, what is going on with Goldman Sachs?  Are the perceptions and allegations true? Does Goldman Sachs control Wall Street and Washington? Did Goldman Sachs cause the global economic collapse?  Are the anti-Goldman Sachs bloggers right? The answer is yes, but as I will explain, Goldman Sachs are not the Masters of the Economic Universe.  And in any case, the important point that the bloggers and everyone else is missing, is not that Goldman Sachs is dangerous because it can manipulate Wall Street and Washington.  It’s been doing it for years.  The reason that Goldman Sachs is dangerous is because now everyone now knows it.
Goldman’s recent record profits came from proprietary trading, in other words, from trading it’s own money (generously provided by U.S taxpayers) in the stock market, commodities markets, overseas markets.  And, from the revelation via the arrest of a computer programmer, that Goldman Sachs has developed a  software trading program, which in the words of Goldman Sachs, could be used to “manipulate markets in unfair ways.”  Using this software program which is located on a server at the New York Stock Exchange, Goldman Sachs knows your stock bets before you place them, and can place their own bets accordingly.  Since March of 2009, Goldman Sachs has only had two losing days trading it’s own money, a statistically suspicious statistic.

Whether it’s profits came from a software program or proprietary trading,  is irrelevant, because Goldman Sachs has something more powerful than a computer program, a method of generating profits older than computers  - inside information.  Goldman Sachs has a revolving door of junior and senior executives who flow back and forth, between the firm and the U.S. Government, loaded with information on the future policy moves of the government. Goldman Sachs can then obviously use this information to anticipate, and place itself in position to profit, before anyone else in the market is aware.  Rent the movie “Trading Places” with Eddie Murphy  to see how this age old scam works.

The even bigger story, than the fact that Goldman Sachs can derive profits from manipulating markets using a software program, or that Goldman Sachs has insider information, is the fact that as Matt Taibbi describes in his excellent Rolling Stone article, Goldman Sachs can manipulate information itself.  “Goldman has its alumni pushing its views from the pulpit of the U.S. Treasury, the NYSE, the World Bank, and numerous other important posts; it also has former players fronting major TV shows. They have the ear of the president if they want it.”

If Goldman Sachs can manipulate the market with computer programs, insider information, and the ability to manipulate information itself, how then did Goldman Sachs get literally caught with it’s shorts down during the economic collapse? Why did Goldman Sachs have to send Treasury Secretary Paulson, it’s former CEO, to Congress threatening economic armageddon and martial law unless a nearly trillion dollar taxpayer bailout was passed?  Why did Goldman Sachs have to set-up AIG, with it’s former Goldman Exec Edward Liddy in charge, to be the funnel for billions of dollars of taxpayer money for Goldman Sachs?

Greed and arrogance.   Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein knew that the sub-prime mortgage market, that his firm helped create was going to implode, and placed his firms money in a position to take advantage of the housing bubble collapse.  Goldman Sachs’s competitors, Bear Stearns, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, were not as smart  or well connected, and were left holding bags of toxic assets when the credit crisis started.  Bear Stearns was the first to get into trouble.  Paulson picked up the phone and got $10 billion in Chinese money to keep Bear Stearns afloat.  Citigroup was next to get into trouble, and again Paulson picked up the phone, and got $5 billion in Arab money to keep Citigroup going.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Paulson, and former Goldman CEO,  assured foreign investors that their investments were safe.  Six months later Bear Stearns filed for bankruptcy,  poof went the $10 billion Chinese investment, and a Goldman Sachs competitor.  Bank stocks were tumbling, Chinese investors, Arab investors, Singapore investors, everyone who had been convinced by Paulson to invest in the U.S. financial system was losing money.

Instead of using the money and trust of foreign investors to reform and fix the U.S. financial system, the former Goldman CEO maintained an obviously flawed and corrupt financial system, that continued to benefit Goldman Sachs.  Next came Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley.  Again, Paulson picked up the phone and called foreign investors, having been previously burned by Paulson, they decided to not take his calls this time around.   In a move that benefited Goldman Sachs, but would cause the global economic collapse, Lehman Brothers was not saved by Paulson.  Morgan Stanley, another Goldman competitor was forced into a merger with Bank of America, only after Paulson put a gun to BofA’s CEO Ken Lewis’s head.

For Goldman Sachs, the credit crisis and housing market collapse was not only profitable, it also helped eliminate long-time competitors.   What Goldman Sachs did not anticipate, or prepare for, was a global economic collapse.   In their arrogance, they just assumed that their man in Washington (Paulson), would be able to secure the financing needed to keep the game going.  In their greed, their man in Washington permitted Goldman Sachs’s competitors to fail, even if it posed the risk of crashing the U.S. financial system.

Goldman Sachs was positioned to take advantage of a U.S. economic collapse.  Their greed and arrogance, their lust for financial domination, their blind belief in their ability to shape events, did not prepare them for a global economic collapse.  Goldman Sachs, which had been conducting the world’s financial orchestra, got caught when the stage collapsed.  Their investments in commodities, in foreign markets, crashed when the U.S. economy crashed.  Goldman realized, that no matter how they were positioned, a sinking tide sinks all boats.  Goldman Sachs was forced to send their panicked former CEO to Capitol Hill with an $800 billion ransom note and a threat.  Give us the money or face a revolution from the American people.  It worked.

Now, instead of fooling foreigners into bailing out the U.S. financial system, Goldman Sachs was forced into fooling American taxpayers.  With their ability to manipulate politicians, and the media, over massive public opposition, Goldman Sachs was able to get their  three page Wall Street bailout bill passed in Congress and signed by President Bush.  Current President Barack Obama was instrumental in getting the bail out passed, taking time out of his campaign, to pressure Democrat Congressmen and women into passing the bill.  Goldman Sachs found their new man in Washington.

Under the Obama administration, the Federal Reserve and Treasury poured trillions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer money into the financial system,  no questions asked.  Despite the greatest financial crisis the United States has experienced since the Great Depression, the Obama administration has yet to introduce legislation in Congress, that would reform and re-regulate the U.S. financial system.  The Obama administration has obediently kept the game going.

Arrogantly, Goldman Sachs re-payed the foolish generosity of the American people, by using their money to create record profits and bonuses.  Instead of paying the price, for causing the global economic collapse, Goldman Sachs and their Wall Street cohorts have profited.  Under the cover of a populist president, it is the American people, who have payed the price for the greed on Wall Street.

The problem for Goldman Sachs, and their man in Washington - president Obama, and what makes Goldman Sachs so dangerous, is that more and more Americans are starting to figure it all out.  More and more Americans are beginning to realize that their economic future is being squandered, for the benefit of Goldman Sachs and Wall Street, and the politicians in Washington who represent them.  Foreign investors who were robbed, already found out that Wall Street is rigged, and now only provide enough funding to keep the U.S. financial system on life support, while they learn how to survive without the U.S. consumer.

What makes Golman Sachs dangerous, is that through their greed and arrogance, they have exposed to the American people the extent of their corruption of both Wall Street and Washington.  Goldman Sachs through their behavior risks destroying the confidence Americans have in their politicians and the confidence Americans have in placing their money on Wall Street.

And, here is where we get to your retirement, Wall Street is your Golden Goose.  To successfully and safely retire, requires that you place half of your savings on Wall Street, in order to earn the superior returns Wall Street has historically provided.  If you, the American people lose confidence in Wall Street and stop investing in stocks, you will have a much harder time achieving retirement.  Goldman Sachs through their behavior, their manipulation of the markets, the media, and politicians, risks destroying the confidence the American people have in investing on Wall Street.

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Another study, and another reason to retire early, you will sleep better in retirement.  French researchers surveyed 15,000 workers, seven years before they retired and seven after they retired, and discovered that 26% of respondents were sleeping better in retirement.

The reason why individuals sleep better in retirement, according to the research study, is the removal of work related stress.   Men who reported being depressed or mentally fatigued enjoyed the biggest improvement in their sleep once they retired.

Another European study published a year ago, showed that chronically stressed workers had a 68% greater chance of having coronary heart disease, proving that work can kill you.  And, although the study has yet to be conducted, it is my belief that retirement improves your sex life.

All of these studies conclusively prove that retirement is good for your health.  So, how can you take advantage of these studies, retire early, and improve your health?  Easy.  Get Green Retirement.  Green Retirement is designed to help you retire early.  Unlike traditional retirement planning, Green Retirement allows you to control your retirement savings needs, and when you can retire.  With Green Retirement you decide when you want to retire.

Visit the Green Retirement website and find out how much savings you need to retire, try our free retirement planning to discover when you can retire, and use our free retirement calculators to plan your early retirement.

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Traditional retirement planning uses your salary to calculate your retirement savings needs,  if you earn $80,000 per year, you need $1,600,000 to retire.   You can retire when you have $1,600,000 in savings.

Green Retirement calculates your retirement savings needs based on how much you will spend in retirement.  A much more accurate method, that allows you to control your retirement savings needs, and when you want to retire.  If you create a $3,000 per month retirement spending budget, Green Retirement calculates that you will need $900,000 to retire, almost half the amount of savings traditional retirement planning calculates.  Reduce your retirement spending budget and you can retire even earlier.

If you create a $2,250 per month retirement spending budget, Green Retirement calculates that you will need $600,000 to retire, a million dollars less than traditional retirement planning!  Enabling you to retire years earlier.  By controlling your retirement spending, you are controlling your retirement savings needs, and when you can retire.

When do you want to retire?  You are reading the Green Retirement Blog, visit the Green Retirement website, where you can find out how much savings you need to retire, when you can retire, and learn more about how Green Retirement planning can help you retire when you want.

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Not buying it? Don’t believe the recession is over? Think the numbers are bogus?  Smart you are.  A recession is declared when the GDP shrinks for two consecutive quarters, and a recession is declared over, when the GDP rises for one quarter.  The GDP consists of consumer spending, manufacturing, exports, government spending.   Consumer spending accounts for 70% of the U.S. GDP.

When the recession started, and American workers began getting laid off, those that had been laid off and those who were worried about getting laid off, cut back on their spending sending the GDP into a nose dive.  In response, the U.S. Government embarked on a massive stimulus program, to counter the decline in consumer spending.  The third quarter GDP result of 3.5% was produced by the cash for clunkers program, an $8,000 first time home buyer credit, and stronger exports from a weakened dollar.

Without the U.S. Government pouring tens of billions of dollars, into the hands of Americans to spend on houses and cars during the third quarter, the recession would not be over.   The cash for clunkers program is done and the first time home buyer credit will end soon.  How is the U.S. Government going to create positive GDP growth in the fourth quarter and beyond?  What tricks and gimmicks will they use to keep our consumption economy growing?

In an effort to keep the U.S. economy growing, the Obama administration is asking Congress to extend the first time home buyer credit, extend unemployment benefits, and is proposing to give retired seniors a $250 check in 2010.  To keep the economy growing, and the housing market from crashing again, the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates at zero.  Government spending and manipulation is unsustainable, as huge debts and deficits become increasingly difficult to finance, and artificially low interest rates will eventually create another stock market and housing bubble.

The problem is that U.S. economic GDP is 70% consumption.  As long as their is 10% unemployment and growing, consumption is going to continue to decline, and so will the GDP.  A true economic recovery, not a government manufactured recovery, will only occur when unemployment begins to decline.  When more Americans have more money to spend.  And when Americans become confident that they are not going to lose their jobs.

If the unemployment situation does not change in the next couple of quarters, where more jobs are being created than are being lost, the great economic recovery will end and the U.S. economy will experience a double-dip recession.

If you have been delaying your retirement, you should consider taking advantage of the recent stock market and housing market rally, and retire now.  Visit the Green Retirement website, find out how much savings you really need to retire, and try our Free Retirement Planning to discover when you can retire.

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Happy Halloween! Would you like a retirement trick or treat?  If you use traditional retirement planning - you are in for a trick.  If you use Green Retirement - then you are in for a treat!

Traditional retirement planning tricks you into working longer than necessary.  The formula used by almost all financial planners, over-estimates your retirement savings needs, and by design turns you into a wage slave.  Because the traditional retirement planning formula uses your salary to calculate your retirement savings needs, every year you get a raise in your salary, the amount of savings you need also goes up.  And up, and up.  If you earn $80,000 per year, and you get a 5% raise, the amount you need to retire also goes up by $80,000 - from $1,600,000 to $1,680,000.

It is virtually impossible to actually ever retire using traditional retirement planning.  Now for the treat!

Green Retirement is a new formula that puts you, not your salary, in control of your retirement.  Your salary is irrelevant, you determine how much savings you need, and when you want to retire.  Not only can you retire earlier with Green Retirement, you can retire when you want to, you do not need to delay your retirement.

See for yourself.  You can compare how much savings you need to retire using traditional and Green Retirement Planning, and find out when you can retire, on the Green Retirement website.  Boo! Happy Halloween.

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In 101 nations around the world, in groups large and small, people are gathering holding signs and forming human signs spelling out the number 350, in an attempt to gain media attention and to put pressure on their governments to sign the upcoming Copenhagen Climate Treaty.

The number 350 represents the sustainable limit of  parts per million of carbon,  earth’s atmosphere can contain, without destroying human life on our planet.  We’ve already past 350 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere.  Earth’s atmosphere contains 387 ppm of CO2 and climbing.

Organizers of the 350 event are hoping that a massive grassroots showing will convince reluctant governments, especially the United States, to sign the Copenhagen Treaty and begin reducing CO2 levels in the atmosphere.  The Obama administration has indicated that the U.S. Senate will not be able to ratify the treaty before the big Climate Change international gathering occurs in Copenhagen this December.

You don’t need to wait for politicians to get their acts together or depend on organizations like 350 to reduce climate change.   You can have a dramatic and positive impact on climate change by simply retiring early.  That’s right, retire early saving the planet, retirement is the single best action you can take to reduce climate change.

Working creates a lot of CO2 that’s destroying the planet.  Better than recycling, changing light bulbs or driving hybrid cars, your global warming impact naturally declines when you retire.  No more commute, dry cleaning, suits and pantyhose, flying and driving to business meetings, your retirement will prevent tons of extra CO2 from entering the atmosphere.

So significant is the impact retirement has on the environment, that Green Retirement was developed to save the planet, by helping you retire early.  Green Retirement enables individuals to retire early, years earlier and with much less savings than traditional retirement planning, by calculating the positive financial benefit reducing your consumption has on your retirement savings needs.  Try our Green Calculator to see how reducing your expenses, enables you to save more for retirement, and retire with less savings.

Reducing your consumption before and after retirement, allows you to save more for retirement, and retire with less savings, A win-win for you and the planet.  Traditional retirement planning over-estimates your retirement savings needs, damaging the planet, by forcing you to work longer.  Find out if you can retire today with Green Retirement’s Free Retirement Planning.  Do the world a favor and retire.

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In honor of National Save For Retirement Week, this Green Retirement article shares with American workers, two ways to save over a million dollars towards retirement.

Save 20% for 20 Years
For example, a couple earning $80,000 per year who saves and invests 6% of their income, would have $500,000 in retirement savings after 20 years.  If they increase their savings rate to 20% of their income, after 20 years, they could have $1,600,000 in retirement savings.  Enough savings to enjoy a comfortable and secure retirement.

How do you save 20% of your income? Spend 20% less of your income.  If you earn $80,000 per year - save $16,000 per year towards retirement.  After giving 30% of your income to the government in taxes, you will be left with $54,000 to spend and invest, taking out $16,000 per year to save for retirement will leave you with $38,000 per year for living expenses - a budget of $3,167 per month.  Can you do it?

Green Retirement Planning Software includes budgeting and expense tracking, designed to make creating, and maintaining a budget simple and easy.

Save Your Raise
If you can’t cut your current spending, you are living paycheck to paycheck, there is another way you save a lot of money for retirement - save your raises. Every time you get a raise in salary, save it and invest it, do not increase your consumption.  If you earn 80,000 per year, and next year you get a 5% raise, save and invest the difference between your two paychecks, and after 20 years you could have $1,750,000 in retirement savings.

Using this retirement savings method enables you to gradually increase your savings rate by maintaining your current consumption.  Whichever method you choose to increase your savings, you can do both at the same time,  make sure that you get out of debt before you start saving.  Paying off a 19% credit card balance, is the same as earning 19% returns in the stock market, and it will enable you to save even more towards retirement once the debt has been paid off.

How Much Retirement Savings Do You Need?
Saving for retirement is a great idea, everyone should do it, but the question you should be asking when you start saving is “how much savings do I really need for retirement?”  Traditional retirement planning calculates your retirement savings needs based on your salary.  A worthless guess that over-estimates your retirement savings needs - forcing you to work longer than necessary.  Green Retirement Planning calculates your retirement savings needs based on how much you will spend in Retirement.  A much more accurate method that enables you to control your retirement savings needs and when you can retire.

For example, the couple who earns $80,000 per year and has a $3,167 spending budget, traditional retirement planning calculates that the couple will need $1,600,000 to retire, while Green Retirement calculates that the couple needs $950,000 to retire.  That is almost half the amount of necessary retirement savings between traditional and Green Retirement planning.

Green Retirement enables individuals to retire with hundreds of thousands of dollars less in savings, and a decade or more earlier, than is possible with traditional retirement planning.  Saving money for retirement is good, saving more money than you need for retirement is bad, it keeps you working longer.  You can find out how much savings you need to retire by trying our quick retirement calculator, or by using our free retirement calculators, on the Green Retirement website.

So, there you have it, two green ways to save over a million dollars for retirement.  Save 20% of your salary, save your raises, or do both.  And finally, in honor of National Save for Retirement Week, Green Retirement is offering readers an incentive to get  started saving for retirement - Free Retirement Planning.  Find out for free, when you can retire, and how much savings you need for retirement.

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Why is the dollar collapsing?  How does it affect you and your retirement?  The reason the dollar is collapsing is very simple, it’s basic economics, the law of supply and demand. The Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury are “printing” more dollars, while investors are purchasing fewer dollars, causing the value of the dollar to decline.

The Obama stimulus plan alone, created $787 billion more dollars, not to mention a couple of trillion dollars created by Federal Reserve accounting magic.  There’s a lot of extra dollars in the global economy than were there when the economic crisis began two years ago.  At the same time, foreign buyers of dollars have reduced their purchases, causing the Euro, Yen, and other foreign currencies to rise against the dollar.

And to make matters worse, U.S. and foreign investors who are concerned about a weakening dollar, have been purchasing commodities such as gold and oil.   The price of an ounce of gold has increased by $300, since I wrote “Is Gold in Your Retirement Portfolio” a year ago, and the price of a barrel of oil has doubled.

The reason the dollar has not collapsed even further is mainly because the American people are buying more dollars.  The personal savings rate has gone from near zero, when the economic crisis first began, to a whopping six percent today.  And, all this extra savings is going into money market funds, not the stock market, which buy U.S. Treasuries, in effect dollars.

So, how does a collapsing dollar affect you and your retirement?  Well, the first thing a collapsing dollar does, is cause the price of imports to go up.  Everything from gasoline to sneakers, clothes and televisions, ninety percent of what is on the shelves at Wal-Mart becomes more expensive.  A collapsing dollar, due to increased printing of dollars, causes inflation. Since your salary is not increasing, the amount of money you have left over after shopping is less, you become poorer.

The second thing that occurs when the dollar collapses, is that eventually the Federal Reserve will have to increase interest rates, to entice investors to buy dollars in the form of U.S. Treasuries.   Higher  interest rates is  good news bad news depending on if you are retired or not.  If you are not yet retired, higher interest rates increases the cost of your debts, and causes your stock market investments to lose value.

If you are already retired, higher interest rates increases the retirement income you receive from your U.S. Treasury Bond and bank CD investments.  If interest rates go from 2% to 4%, in effect, your income from bonds will double.  However, inflation caused by the collapsing dollar, will diminish the extra income you receive from higher interest rates.

As long as the U.S. government continues to run large budget deficits, while keeping interest rates low, the dollar will continue to decline.  Should you worry about the falling dollar? Not yet.  There are a lot of Chicken Little commentators yaking in the media that “the dollar is falling, the dollars is falling!” In reality, the dollar has simply returned to it’s pre economic collapse value, and from here will continue it’s slow decline.

Foreign investors, Chinese, Arabs, Europeans, and others, who hold trillions of U.S. dollars and are fed up with U.S. foreign and economic policy, would be hurt by a dollar collapse and won’t let it happen.  Instead, they are meeting to discuss ways to gradually unwind their dollar positions, while at the same time protecting their current dollar investments.

What should you do to protect yourself against a declining dollar?  The most important thing you should do is get out of debt - read “Get Out of Debt by Going Green“.  You should also be using proper asset allocation for your investments.  40% S&P 500, 40% Short-term Treasury Direct TIPS, and 20% Emerging Markets and Gold ETF’s.  (only a suggestion- please consult your financial planner for investment advice)

One last point, you can’t control the dollar, but you can control the amount of savings you need to retire and when you can retire.  Visit the Green Retirement Website, try our free retirement calculator, and our free retirement planning.  Discover how you can retire years earlier than you imagined possible by going green.

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The Dow hit 10,000, while the dollar collapses, and unemployment reaches 10 percent - it’s not a coincidence.  Unemployment and the collapsing dollar are the two principal reasons why the Dow Jones 30 has risen 50% from it’s low in March. Artificially low interest rates, and investment bank speculation, have also played a significant role.

In an effort to boost their earnings, and beat Wall Street analyst expectations, the large American multinational corporations that comprise the Dow Jones 30 index laid off hundreds of thousands of their employees.  The rise in their stock prices has come, in large measure and literally, at the expense of their employees.  While unemployment may be bad for the economy, in the short run, it is very good for the corporate bottom line.

Since many of the Dow Jones 30 corporations are multinationals, earning a significant percentage of their revenues in foreign markets, they have benefited tremendously from the collapsing dollar.   Not only are their American produced exports instantly more competitive, more importantly, many of them manufacture and sell their products overseas.  A declining dollar, automatically increases their income, when the revenues from foreign sales, are exchanged back into dollars.

A collapsing dollar may be bad for U.S. consumers, increasing the cost of imports, which makes Americans poorer and produces inflation, but it is very good for multinational corporations.

Artificially low interest rates, created by the Federal Reserve to protect banks, has also helped the Dow Jones 30 rise to 10,000.  Several of the corporations in the Dow Jones 30, are large banks that have benefited from the ability to borrow at near zero interest, while collecting much higher interest payments from their customers.

Near zero interest rates has also helped the Dow reach 10,000, as large institutional investors such as mutual funds, who had fled to cash during the economic collapse, return to the stock market seeking higher returns. Record profits at Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan, were gained from speculating in commodities such as oil,  helping Dow components Exxon and Chevron.

Individual American investors, with their 401k’s and IRA’s, scared out of the stock market during the economic collapse, did not participate or benefit from the 50% rise in the Dow to 10,000.  Many individual investors are kicking themselves for missing the stock market rally.  Wondering if they should get back into the stock market, or if Dow 10,000 is a result of a bear market rally, and as soon as they begin investing again they will get punished yet again?

If you are an investor, who has been dollar cost average investing with a proper asset allocation, the question is unimportant. You would have been buying stocks when they were cheap, selling them when they were expensive, and would not have been burned by the economic collapse or missed out on the recovery.  The question of, is the Dow too high or too low, should I get in or out, is a question for herd investors.  Investors who are easily panicked, who follow the herd into pastures that have already been eaten, and who never realize that the Wall Street cowboys are fattening them up for the kill.

So, if you are investing for your retirement, make sure that you are dollar cost averaging using a proper asset allocation model, and try our free retirement calculators to discover how much savings you really need to retire.  And, if you were delaying your retirement, you should seriously consider taking advantage of the stock market rally to retire now.

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President Obama announced that he will be asking Congress to approve one time $250 payments to go out to 50 million retired seniors who will not be receiving a Social Security COLA increase next year.  “Even as we seek to bring about recovery, we must act on behalf of those hardest hit by this recession,” Obama said in a statement. “This additional assistance will be especially important in the coming months, as countless seniors and others have seen their retirement accounts and home values decline as a result of this economic crisis.”

While $250 may not sound like very much money, it is the equivalent of only an extra $20 per month, any amount is welcome  for seniors who are earning near zero interest on their government bonds.   The program which costs $13 billion, will increase the deficit, but should be seen as an intelligent and humane effort to stimulate the economy.   Think of it as “Cash for Human Clunkers!”

If you are a retired senior, try our free retirement calculators, and find out how much you can safely spend in retirement.

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