Depressedallready

The Next Leg of the Crisis: Unavoidable Catastrophe

Right on! Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it! Think Weimar Republic when the government printed money day in and day out and when their money was so worthless that people used the money instead of firewood because they could not afford the price of firewood! Better yet.... When people in Germany prior to Adolph Hitler's takeover, had wheelbarrows of weirmarks because the prices of groceries rose by the hour. This is commonly referred to as HYPERINFLATION! which we, the US and the world are headed off to!


On Dec 15 09:58 PM Smarty_Pants wrote:

> With apologies to the spirit of Rudyard Kipling, a sampling of one
> of his poems regarding man's tendency to repeat the same mistakes
> again and again:
>
> Excerpts from "Gods of the Copybook Headings" (1919)
>
> ...
> They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
>
> So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful
> things.
> ...
> In the Great Moderation of Greenspan we were promised abundance for
> all,
> By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
> But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could
> buy,
> And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you
> die."
>
> Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards
> withdrew
> And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it
> was true
> That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four—<br/>And
> the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.
>
> ...
> And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
>
> When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
>
> As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will bum,
> The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!
>
>
>
> There is indeed nothing new under the sun. Our banking crisis is
> simply a distant cousin of past events.

Jim Rogers on the Next 10 Years

Mr. Jim Rodgers and the majority of those opinions that state that China will be the next coming superpower are failing to see the forest from the trees! People forget two very important points....while we, the US is maintaining our debt through China and all the other Eastern countries; they are "joined at the hip" with the world, but primarily through the US! The number one consumer nation is the US and the number one exporting nation is China! Keep in mind of the old axiom, "When America sneezes, Europe catches cold." That still applies to the Far East as well!

China does NOT play by any rules but their own! They manipulate and float their own currency to keep it low so as to maintain their balance of payment for exports! Their employment picture is not rosy either! Because many Americans lost their jobs, there are fewer consumers to purchase their products which means more Chinese getting their pink slips from their factories! China has also been guilty of "unfair trade practices" by unlawful dumping of their steel products and other products shipped to America! As unemployment becomes more deeply entrenched in our economy, so to, will the number of Chinese getting their pink slips from the factories because there are fewer and fewer American consumers unwilling to make the purchases that they used to make prior to this recession! Look at Japan's economic stagflation! A country far less in population of that of China; yet, they are experiencing a continuous stagflation/inflation for over ten years! If this is happening to Japan, who has a better capitalistic base, mega-corporations etc. then China; How can ANYONE predict that China will be the NEXT superpower! This Recession is more like a Depression, a Depression like no one else saw or experienced before! If you think the housing market and then the commericial market crash is bad......then, WAIT to the commodity Derivatives Markets hits the fan! It is NOT only the US and its investors but also China who owns a great deal of American stocks, bonds, real estate, and DERIVATIVES! I can just bet you that the "risk taking" of the Chinese Government is just as great, if not greater, than the "died-in-the-wool" followers/investors of Wall Street in the US! Look around! There is NOT one country within Europe who has NOT escaped the Wall Street debacle, because, the European banks/bankers have and are experiencing the same/similar problems of the US! Every country in Europe is NOW trying to protect their currency which ultimately means that the Euro is showing "cracks" with regards to a "Unified Europe!" Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Iceland are near levels of bankruptcy! According to past history, When national interests are threatened, either internally, or externally, nationalism raises its ugly head!

No, don't look at ANY country as being a "superpower" because there will be too many problems withi EVERY country, including China, with the problems that face every country that utilizes a FIAT MONETARY SYSTEM!

Analysts Don't Know Squat

I totally agree with Matthew Rafat concerning the advice of experts and also to those who stated that people listen to these experts NOT for their advice but they wish to hear and follow "those experts" that agree with their portfolio picks!

Now, you have "experts" out there that clearly what will happen in the economy two to three years from now based on a clear understanding of past Wall-Street and governmental spending spending trends. BUT because these people don't bury their heads in the sand like many, if not most, financial experts, investors call them "doomsday prophets."

Three "doomsday prophets" that predicted the current economic recession we are in through the mortgage/credit meltdown are in great demand for their financial foresight, or should I say, financial common-sense. Nouriel Roubini, Peter Schiff, Peter Schilling, and McAlvaney are in the "limelight" because of their warning from two years ago that our economy would be headed for a major housing/credit crisis. Two years ago they were ridiculed. Now, like the commercial on EF Hutton....When Roubini, Schiff, Schilling and McAlvaney speak......EVERYBODY LISTENS or SHOULD listen considering that their predictions and the accuracy of their predictions have been 100%. Just like the prophets of the "Old Testament", nobody wants to hear "bad news". They just want to hear WHAT they want to hear. And the truth won't "go away" just because "Wall Street" want to keep up their "illusion" of continuing "good times and easy credit." Peter Schiff has recently stated that all of his predictions have not materialized as yet. But based on the reckless financial policies of our government and Wall Street, rest assured, they will. All of the above individuals comments can be seen on You Tube, and to a lesser degree, on Yahoo financial news.

Friday's Employment Report: A Sobering Dose of Reality

Let's face it! Our entire economy has been based on deceit and greed since the 1950's. Our banks and lending institutions thought up new credit tools to expand their profits to make money through a stroke of the pen! Now, these same new credit tools like CDO's etc are coming home to roost through fraudalent lending practices and fraudalent fine print contracts. The average consumer now is estimated to be sixteen thousand dollars in debt because of the easy flow of credit and the "If I can't afford it by cash, I'' charge my credit card attitude." The "I want to have it all and now" philosophy as perpetuated by the banks, lending institutions, mortgage institutions, multinational corporations like General Motors, Ford, Chrysler etc has been built on "greed, mismanagement of fiscal resources, easy credit with little accountability, and most of all BUILT ON DENIAL! Everyone has watched Wall Street and the US Government practices of printing more money on the printing presses causing inflation and at the same time spending more money then they make calling it "the Deficit"! The rooster is now coming home to roost and Uncle Sam pretends that they don't have a clue for the rising inflation rates and unemployment rates in this country! Any individual/household who spends more than they make, who live well beyond their means can expect to stay economically solvent for any period of time! If we regard these people as financially irresponsible, if not morally bankrupt; then it still applies to those governmental officials, institutions like the Federal Reserve as well! You can deny all you want that massive government deficits will not effect our economy, businesses in general, and the general populace but fiscal irresponsibility and outright greed has repercussions whether the individual practices them or the US Government/corporation... practices them! The rooster is coming home to roost and the era of instant greed through contrived credit tools/institutions is fastly coming to an end! Our government's uncontrolled spending as seen in the unbalanced budget will be seen in generations to come! Straddled by the costs of our government's deficit and the tightening of credit accross the board, our United States will no longer be the world's number one power. We will be looking inward to help solve our problems that we created through unbridled greed by both the large corporations as well as through our elected officials of our government. Both the House and the Senate have been bought out by special interest groups, unbridled spending, pork barrel projects, etc. Our nation will be headed to the same direction/destiny of Rome.....Economically bankrupt and morally bankrupt!

Wake Up America, You’re Sinking

Bulleye! Right on the mark once again! I always wondered why the FBI and police can manage to catch the felons with their "sophisticated" database but we can't find/track the "illegal aliens?" This argument makes a lot of sense, something most people probably didn't even think of! Unless our economy gets off the "fiat" money standard our economy and standard of living WILL go downhill BECAUSE our politicians, bankers and especially the Federal Reserve both act and believe that putting more money out into the economy will not only keep our economy from sinking deeper into the recession or a major depression but more important, our government has and takes no responsibility towards its citizens. Our government is so accustomed to the "quick fix" that it can no longer believe that the days of "quick fixes" are permanently gone! EVERY country that has gone off the "gold standard" has encountered massive disruptions in the economy and the steadily demise in the accustomed standard of living! Those history lessons are even NOW being ignored! England was the number one power during the 18th and 19th century! It only took seventy to one hundred years and England/Great Britain has also become a third world country with regards to political and military power!

Our country, like Great Britain has been accustomed to "military intervention to problems. Our government can no longer continue its pursuit of military operations throughout the world or like Rome, the constant monetary strain in the maintenance of our military operations will result in the demise of our country....to that of a third world nation. History does not lie and if this country continues to maintain/pursue such policies, we will also experience what the past countries/cultures learned firsthand!