[dmoy]

> . If we are seeing slowing growth, or even population decline, can we expect the markets to contract right a long with the population. What will that mean for everyone’s retirement accounts?

Shit, the bigger scarier one is housing and ss. A huge percentage of people's retirement is either directly in housing (i.e. their house is their only asset), or indirectly in housing via their (mbs or other mortgage related bond products). If population declines housing prices may crater, and if population declines ss payouts may also crater. Gonna be a rough period of time (decades?).

[al_borland]

I have this theory that a big driver of the lack of housing, and the resulting high prices, is due to the lower rates of marriage. More single occupancy homes means more homes are required. This goes hand in hand with a declining birth rate. So this breakdown in the family structure could be at least partially responsible for both the rise and collapse of housing prices. That’s kind of interesting.