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I accidentally loaned all my money to the US government

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Re: I accidentally loaned all my money to the US government

#431

Post by Dlanv »

danuker wrote: post #402
avgcorrection wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Government Can Do Nothing Right has been the propaganda line of the right-wing of the American business community since the end of WWII. A lot of the business community resented the social democratic reforms of that time (those ’50s white picket fence times) and so they sought to first argue that government was useless, and then later prove it through their government-sucks politicians.

Compare OP's story to, say, creating a Facebook account. Why is the government's solution so much crappier? Why can a private company streamline a web experience much better?

The government probably spend a million dollars on the Treasury direct site, and Facebook spends billions on their site.

Re: I accidentally loaned all my money to the US government

#432

Post by everybodyknows »

Actionable item for US taxpayers:

> ... deposited to your TreasuryDirect account by the IRS as a result of an IRS tax refund ...

The how-to:

https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/research/articles/res_i...

Anyone know when this became possible? I've been buying I-bonds for years and it's news to me. Paper bonds have been a hassle, all-online is a huge improvement.

Re: I accidentally loaned all my money to the US government

#433

Post by 300bps »

redisman wrote: post #341
300bps wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing exactly like it but TIPS are Treasury Inflation Protected Securities. Probably best to buy them in a fund due to their complexities. Vanguard and Fidelity both have funds for them.

They are lagging or get less of a return. The TIPS I have are yielding 6.25% right now. Still a fine place to park if you think the market might dump more or go sideways. Just pay attention to when the dividend pays and don’t sell before that

Thanks for the extra details! What do you think of buying a TIPS fund instead of purchasing TIPS directly?

Re: I accidentally loaned all my money to the US government

#434

Post by omaranto »

everybodyknows wrote: post #401
omaranto wrote: post #302

I was (pleasantly) surprised to see that the analogous website for Mexico, where you buy government-issued bonds called Cetes, is significantly less confusing to use. That is not at all what I expect when comparing government websites between my native Mexico and the US! (Paying taxes is another example of something with much, much better UI/UX in Mexico, but there probably are not many other examples.) Also, the ref…

How does the interest rate on Cetes compare to inflation?

I think they are almost always pretty close to inflation, and have been both slightly below and slightly above it at different points in time.

Re: I accidentally loaned all my money to the US government

#435

Post by laurent123456 »

Jenk wrote: post #76
xkbarkar wrote: post #69

I thought this was funny. Weird comments in the thread about how he/she should have known better. Author is not making a complaint to demand internet outrage. There is no inflammatory justice warrior content here. Sheesh! Author admits they screwed up, decided to share the screwup, and who hasnt been trough that exact dunder blunder? Fun short read 8/10.

There is a strange human phenomenon, particularly visible online. Some folk see a title like that and it triggers a "How can I blame the author?" urge within before they even open the link.

Another strange human phenomenon is that comments that criticise other comments are guaranteed to be on top in HN.

It's boring, not even about the article, and barely accurate (only very few comments actually criticise the article's author), yet that's the first thing you read here.

Re: I accidentally loaned all my money to the US government

#436

Post by dcposch »

Jenk wrote: post #76
xkbarkar wrote: post #69

I thought this was funny. Weird comments in the thread about how he/she should have known better. Author is not making a complaint to demand internet outrage. There is no inflammatory justice warrior content here. Sheesh! Author admits they screwed up, decided to share the screwup, and who hasnt been trough that exact dunder blunder? Fun short read 8/10.

There is a strange human phenomenon, particularly visible online. Some folk see a title like that and it triggers a "How can I blame the author?" urge within before they even open the link.

Speaking of blaming the author.

This post is a fantastic example of the poverty trap. We design laws that, on paper, help the poor; and then we blame them for not taking advantage.

When in reality, they are poorly implemented, poorly advertised, and confusing.

With a $10k cap, this program is clearly intended to help people with low assets. How many people with a net worth under, say, $20k in the US? Tens of millions! How many of those would've really loved the extra $850 to offset this year's record inflation? Basically all of them! How many of them found this obscure website with awful UX and received the money? Approximately none!

Re: I accidentally loaned all my money to the US government

#437

Post by ChrisLomont »

discardedrefuse wrote: post #397
ChrisLomont wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Gone are the times Those times never existed for the vast majority of people. Minorities, single women, most men...... None of them had this rose colored past. Statistically, more people now have more income in the US than ever before. Each income level is higher, some more than others (and this is a static snapshot, most people move around income quintiles throughout a career), options for goods are higher, items a…

> Those times never existed for the vast majority of people. Minorities, single women, most men...... None of them had this rose colored past. I don't know about that. My minority, immigrant, non-English speaking grandparents and their siblings (several are still alive and in their 90's) all own their homes and are still collecting pensions from their blue-collar private sector jobs. Some of them worked in factories…

>I don't know about that

The majority of people never were in a pension plan, and even now a lot of people in pension plans don't work for that employer a full career, only getting partial payouts.

Currently the main source of retirement funds for most retirees is Social Security. So all those supposed people in wonderful pensions from the 1970s and so on either don't exist or make so little from those pensions that SS still pays more.

Don't assume your local situation is what the majority sees.

Re: I accidentally loaned all my money to the US government

#438

Post by elzbardico »

ChrisLomont wrote: post #363
elzbardico wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are desperate about the future. Gone are the times when having a good job, paying a reasonable mortgage for a reasonably paid house, saving a reasonable amount for retirement, while keeping a reasonable amount for emergencies (rare, before lay-offs become the knee jerk reaction of MBAs to fatten their bonuses). Due to the increasing financialization of the economy, more and more people feel like they need to b…

>Gone are the times Those times never existed for the vast majority of people. Minorities, single women, most men...... None of them had this rose colored past. Statistically, more people now have more income in the US than ever before. Each income level is higher, some more than others (and this is a static snapshot, most people move around income quintiles throughout a career), options for goods are higher, items a…

Contrary to what Americans apparently believe there is a world outside the US. Half my grandparents were black and yet they bought a house way younger than what I did

Re: I accidentally loaned all my money to the US government

#439

Post by skeptikal »

philliphaydon wrote: post #71
skeptikal wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a Canadian who’s (very) thankfully becoming American I can guarantee you that American government is very incompetent. At least in comparison to a Commonwealth one. The wait times, the level of uncaring, the general attitude was jarring when I first moved here. I even worked as for a few years for the gov, and the bureaucracy is even worse inside!

Serious curious question. Why would you want to become American if you’re Canadian?

Ive grown to love Americans (of all walks of life) in way I have never loved the people of any other country I’ve lived in. Not even the people of my parent’s country - the loss of which I still mourn.

Canadians, Ive loved least despite having a best friend and close family.

Re: I accidentally loaned all my money to the US government

#440

Post by skeptikal »

UncleEntity wrote: post #137
philliphaydon wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Serious curious question. Why would you want to become American if you’re Canadian?

Hell, Canadians usually correct me by saying ‘Canada is in America too’ when I tell them I’m ‘Mercian.

I have never heard a Canadian say that, in fact as a (also) Latin American immigrant it was made clear to me that “Canada is not America you retard” in high school.

I agree with Latin Americans, for what its worth. USA is “United States of America” not “United States, America”. But its a useless fight. In Spanish Ill be precise.

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