Bill Gross, the California-based Pimco bond-fund manager, says the
days of double-digit stock and bond returns are over. He contends
the world has changed: �It�s a low-return world now. And the future
will not resemble the past.�
The
reasons for the change, according to Gross, will be due to China and
India�s rise as low-cost providers of inexpensive goods and
services, near-record indebtedness of companies and individuals, and
demographic changes (especially in USA and Western Europe), because
it�s difficult to pump up consumption in an aging society.
The
interesting thing about reading the prognostications of financial
experts is they believe that most everyone will be in agreement with
them.
Fortunately for the U.S. economy, 98% of the country�s 30 million
enterprises are entrepreneurially driven companies whose leaders are
not listening to Gross. They�re too busy working at building their
operations. So although it may be a low-return world for the largest
bond fund, Gross� comments appear irrelevant for the majority of
hard-working entrepreneurs. They are people, such as ourselves, who
focus on cash business and use barter as a supplement whenever
possible.
In
the words of the late, famous entrepreneur Sam Walton (founder of
Wal-Mart), who, when asked how he felt about an impending recession,
smiled and replied, �We don�t plan to participate in it!�
