Letter from America
By
Julia Newbould
Mon 22 Sep 2008
It's interesting times here in Obama country.
It's interesting times here in Obama country.
As I write from the Morningstar head office in Chicago, presidential hopeful John McCain has overtaken Barack Obama in the polls with the announcement of his vice-presidential running mate, Sarah Palin.
The Obama camp has yet to respond effectively and the result is predicted to be extremely close.
It seems to be a simple choice of whether the United States is more ready for a black man or a woman in the White House and the result will be interesting on a social level as well as a political one.
How the economy will respond to the eventual result will also be interesting.
Economically, the big news has been the US Government taking control of Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac.
This has been regarded as a huge move in the right direction for the economy and has certainly been reflected in the stock market.
At Morningstar, the forecast in the next year is somewhat bullish despite chief executive Joe Mansueto revealing the only positive funds at the moment have been the target-date funds.
And the BRIC economies are also very interesting to investors in the US currently.
Retirement income needs are the great focus for the US at the moment.
Even out and about with non-financial services Americans, talk turns to superannuation and the Australian market.
It is interesting how informed about the Australian example some ordinary Americans are.
The belief is Australia is very socialist in its economic policy.
This is also coloured by the now outdated information that all Australians are still entitled to 17.5 per cent leave loading.
Still it's good to know we are making some impact on the citizens of the world's third most populous country.
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