Financial Crisis

[Abrak]

Interesting post Abrak and I think I have mentioned globalization a few times.

I called it: The race for the bottom.

The next victim will be Africa.

Abrak, interesting post about globalization - however don't you think there is a logical disconnect when you say:

1) Globalization is not as inexorable as you might think...

2) In any case globalisation is vastly overrated

3) Globalization is achieving ever decreasing returns which will eventually crack the underlying model...

In the third point you accept that globalization is already here and working (or not working), which directly opposes point number 1, yes? (2nd point exhibits the same logical disconnect, but more subjective)

Either way, I tend to agree with you, Plarex, that Africa is toast.

Yes well, globalization cant really be very successful and less successful at the same time admittedly. So the idea is essentially that globalization is now bringing about diminished or negative returns - so either it will decline naturally as economies assess this trend or it will continue until it collapses under duress. Globalization can become less influential because the 'structure' that enables it, namely fixed exchange rates/free trade, collapses because of the very effectiveness of globalization itself.

So globalization has the potential to decline both naturally and through its continued success (and destructiveness). As an example, consider someone like Paul Krugman, who I believe earned his Nobel for his work on the economic benefits of free trade. He claims to be 'working on this' which would seem essentially anti-globalization 'under current rules' (my bet being that a fixed exchange rate regime (with capital controls) is not what he considers free trade.)

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/3...e-mercantilism/

The real breaking point for globalization is the 'impossible triangle' whereby there are 3 variables 1) exchange rate 2) monetary policy and 3) capital movements that cannot ALL be achieved at once. You can only control 2 out of 3. Axiomatic (in any real sense) to globalization would be free capital movement which means a country can only control either its exchange rate or monetary policy/economic growth. (I.E. countries like Ireland and Latvia being forced to raise interest rates/deflate to maintain Euro peg. Or Thailand's futile attempt to protect the baht.)

Now India/China are basically cheating through a fixed exchange rate combined with 'capital controls'.

That's why Krugman's blog starts...

'...we know that China is pursuing a mercantilist policy: keeping the renminbi weak through a combination of capital controls and intervention, leading to trade surpluses and capital exports in a country that might well be a natural capital importer. We also know, or should know, that this amounts to a beggar-thy-neighbor policy — or, more accurately, a beggar-everyone but yourself policy.'

[MJP]

Obviously this is an inherently silly exercise but so is a financial crisis thread when there isnt much sign of one around.

what recession and where?

Another 'where' for you.

Koh Samet. Old friend has a restaurant there for the last 9 years. Says December was 16% up on last year . . . when the airport was closed. Also said straight after Xmas 'it died'. Reckons this is how it will be from now on. Zero confidence in recovery.

My advice? Get out more and see the effects on the ground.

[AlexLah]

Interesting post Abrak and I think I have mentioned globalization a few times.

I called it: The race for the bottom.

The next victim will be Africa.

Alex I'm not sure if it's your writing style or not, but your posts read as if you are the one coming up with these "ideas."

The Race to the Bottom is a well-documented idea and all economists have heard of it.(Please provide some links) Anybody with half a brain can imagine the scenario.

You say, "I think I have mentioned globalization a few times." In what context? Either way, I think Abrak articulates his thoughts on the matter and takes them to a point while you just post vagaries. (I just try to keep it simple without using many words)

Either way, I tend to agree with you, Plarex, that Africa is toast. (It is something we agree upon and calling my car a B!tch).

Welcome back Jcon and I apologies for me calling it the race to the bottom, it should have been: It's called the race for the bottom.

Just try and ask the average citizen about globalisation, they have no clue, so you say they have less then half a brain?

I tried to put it down in very simple words Jcon., can you? Even if you can, many people would not notice as they are to busy making ends meet.

Many times when I meet with those highly educated people, they just come up with numbers and % bla bla bla. not able to explain it to the average person if they where asked, they just keep rambling and present charts and more bla bla.

Globalisation means, big corporations are looking for people that want to work for lower wages anywhere to produce the goods that people want, with the only intention to make a higher profit.

And all of the BS that comes with it.

[Naam]

Globalisation means, big corporations are looking for people that want to work for lower wages anywhere to produce the goods that people want, with the only intention to make a higher profit.

it's too easy to blame the big corporations. more applicable is "...to produce the goods people want to buy but are willing to pay for less and less".

[Naam]

Obviously this is an inherently silly exercise but so is a financial crisis thread when there isnt much sign of one around.

what recession and where?

Another 'where' for you.

Koh Samet. Old friend has a restaurant there for the last 9 years. Says December was 16% up on last year . . . when the airport was closed. Also said straight after Xmas 'it died'. Reckons this is how it will be from now on. Zero confidence in recovery.

My advice? Get out more and see the effects on the ground.

i don't doubt any of the facts you listed but as you mentioned we both seem to live in different worlds. when i cross my property line i see new commercial buildings not only coming up but also occupied with a variety of shops which seem to do business.

[Naam]

Brace Yourself for a Hard LandingBernanke Tightens the Noose

Tightening the Noose

The Fed is engaged in various covert-strategies to recapitalize the banking system. At the same time, Bernanke, Summers, Geithner, and Obama have stated repeatedly, that they're committed to slashing the long-term deficits. This means that they plan to reduce liquidity and push the economy back into recession so they can launch a surprise attack on Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.

Full Article at link above

from well informed circles we know that this 'gang of four' plans to enlist Mount Pinatubo and St. Helens and make them erupt in a concerted action in order to generate a tsunami which will bury Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.

[MJP]

what recession and where?

Another 'where' for you.

Koh Samet. Old friend has a restaurant there for the last 9 years. Says December was 16% up on last year . . . when the airport was closed. Also said straight after Xmas 'it died'. Reckons this is how it will be from now on. Zero confidence in recovery.

My advice? Get out more and see the effects on the ground.

i don't doubt any of the facts you listed but as you mentioned we both seem to live in different worlds. when i cross my property line i see new commercial buildings not only coming up but also occupied with a variety of shops which seem to do business.

Where do you live? Because I work in land regeneration for redevelopment (major sites, globally) and I tell you right now, it's dead.

[flying]

AP: 2009 bankruptcies total 1.4 million, up 32 pct

By MIKE BAKER

Associated Press Writer

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- U.S. consumers and businesses are filing for bankruptcy at a pace that made 2009 the seventh-worst year on record, with more than 1.4 million petitions submitted, an Associated Press tally showed Monday.

The AP gathered data from the nation's 90 bankruptcy districts and found 1.43 million filings, an increase of 32 percent from 2008. There were 116,000 recorded bankruptcies in December, up 22 percent from the same month a year before.

While experts believe some of the increase is due to a natural recovery as consumers and attorneys become accustomed to a recent overhaul of bankruptcy laws, the numbers indicate clear correlations to recession-weary regions. Arizona saw the fastest increase, a jump of 77 percent from the year before, followed by Wyoming (60 percent), Nevada (59 percent) and California (58 percent).

Emile Harmon, who owns a law firm in Tempe, Ariz., said the firm has doubled its staff to handle the surge in bankruptcy filings. The lawyers have been steadily shifting away from their other areas of business, civil lawsuits and divorce cases.

"Bankruptcy is kind of swallowing the whole practice." Harmon said. "There's little time to do other stuff."

There's also no sign that things are slowing down. Harmon said bankruptcies have been coming in waves, first with those 18 months ago who had adjustable-rate mortages, then with those who lost their jobs due to the housing downturn. Now he's finding wealthy individuals and business owners who have finally succumbed to lower incomes and shrinking home values.

"A lot of the people we see were in a really good financial position two years ago," Harmon said. "People really look at you and say, 'I can't believe I'm here.'"

For three years, filings have been steadily rising back toward levels reached early in the decade before Congress overhauled the nation's bankruptcy laws. The 2005 alterations made bankruptcy filings more cumbersome, a move that followed fears from lenders that some consumers were abusing the system to wipe away debts.

Bankruptcies surged to slightly more than 2 million in 2005 as consumers rushed to file before the new law took effect but then plummeted to 600,000 in 2006. They've been climbing ever since and in 2009 became the seventh-highest year on record, behind only the years 1998 and 2001-2005.

The 2005 spike had been preceded by a steady climb from 1.5 million in 2001 to 1.6 million in 2005.

John Pottow, a bankruptcy professor at the University of Michigan, said the return to the highs of earlier this decade illustrates the failures of the 2005 overhaul bill. He said the measure largely made filings more costly and time-consuming by forcing consumers to undergo a paperwork-heavy test to determine eligibility for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and adding liability for attorneys who provide help.

"It never made sense in the first place that you could change the laws and make all these bankruptcies go away," said Pottow, who would like to see the 2005 law changes repealed. "If people are encountering financial distress, you can only scare them away for so long before they come back again."

While every state saw a rise in bankruptcies, Alaska (up 12 percent), Nebraska (12 percent) and North Dakota (14 percent) performed best.

[12DrinkMore]

Essential reading

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/c...144/144w254.htm

On closer examination there is a remarkable difference. With every cycle of the 86.5% loan-deposit ratio every £1 deposited is reduced becoming less than £0.50 after 5 cycles and less than 1 penny after 32. With a loan-deposit ratio of 137% — lending £137 for every £100 — not to mention 174% or indeed 322%, the story is drastically the opposite. Imagine a banker gets the first £1 deposit in the first week of a new year and lends it out. Imagine that twice every week in that year the amount lent out comes back to him as a deposit and he sustains such deposit creation process with a ratio of 137% twice every week for the year. This is a perfectly plausible scenario on the current electronic financial markets. By the following New Year’s Eve, the final amount he finally lends out from the original £1 is over £165 trillion (165 with 12 zeros, or over 16 times the amount governments have so far injected into economy). The total amount lent out in a year by a banker is over £447 trillion. Significantly with a loan-deposit ratio 100% or above no reserve is created.

We are not out of this mess by a long way.

Until recently the world enjoyed a sustained period of high growth and low inflation and the fact that it came to such an abrupt end does not come as a surprise. It was in the very nature of the pyramid scheme mechanism. The deposit creation process with a ratio above 100% guaranteed impressive-looking economic growth figures. At the same time there were no extra cash hitting Main Street, as there was no extra cash printed. In this context, the high growth of property prices is no surprise. In their huge majority and extent, these are, in practice, cashless interbank transactions. The world stayed oblivious in this economic miracle like customers of a pyramid scheme being happy with the figures on their statements until they wanted to withdraw money. But like with any pyramid scheme, the financial system ran out of cash, with the outcome of a lack of liquidity, not high inflation.

Edited January 6, 2010 by 12DrinkMore

[Abrak]

On closer examination there is a remarkable difference. With every cycle of the 86.5% loan-deposit ratio every £1 deposited is reduced becoming less than £0.50 after 5 cycles and less than 1 penny after 32. With a loan-deposit ratio of 137% — lending £137 for every £100 — not to mention 174% or indeed 322%, the story is drastically the opposite. Imagine a banker gets the first £1 deposit in the first week of a new year and lends it out. Imagine that twice every week in that year the amount lent out comes back to him as a deposit and he sustains such deposit creation process with a ratio of 137% twice every week for the year. This is a perfectly plausible scenario on the current electronic financial markets. By the following New Year’s Eve, the final amount he finally lends out from the original £1 is over £165 trillion (165 with 12 zeros, or over 16 times the amount governments have so far injected into economy). The total amount lent out in a year by a banker is over £447 trillion. Significantly with a loan-deposit ratio 100% or above no reserve is created.

Oh come on..It is like 1st year banking analysis whereby if your L/D ratio is over 100% then your money multiplier is obviously infinite...

It assumes of course that there is a banking system in a closed economy - or a single economy in the world. Assuming you are running a current account deficit by definition your banking system will trend to an L/D ratio of over 100%.

Next it will about fractional reserve banking creating infinite money...

Edited January 6, 2010 by Abrak

[flying]

Next it will about fractional reserve banking creating infinite money...

Perhaps not infinite but leveraged extremely & all based on what?

Are normal people allowed such slight of hand?

[Naam]

Where do you live? Because I work in land regeneration for redevelopment (major sites, globally) and I tell you right now, it's dead.

4km as the crow flies from the center of Pattaya.

[Naam]

Next it will about fractional reserve banking creating infinite money...

puleeze... not again the story of the big bad wolf to scare the little boys here. aren't they scared enough?

[MJP]

Where do you live? Because I work in land regeneration for redevelopment (major sites, globally) and I tell you right now, it's dead.

4km as the crow flies from the center of Pattaya.

Well there you go.

Lot of Russian crime money pouring into that dump. Condos are selling, land isn't though. Sure it's a hotspot of activity, but not necessarily for normal or even particularly nice reasons.

I stayed there recently, in Jomtien. Hotelier said for the time of year occupancy and the restaurant were down at least 50%. Her daughter would always nag her about going out for dinner, they do this rarely and cheaply now. She admitted to be extremely worried about the future.

A friend who has a resort on Koh Samet is at 30% occupancy when he would normally be full. This has been going on all year. Very worried.

That restaurateur friend on the same island, sold 38 big breakfasts on New Year's Day 2007. This year? 1. Yes. One. Very worried.

Notice how commodities and stocks continue to rise with rising unemployment? It's all stimulus money and it's falling into the wrong hands.

Add to that, there's no confidence out there.

Depression on.

[sokal]

Where do you live? Because I work in land regeneration for redevelopment (major sites, globally) and I tell you right now, it's dead.

4km as the crow flies from the center of Pattaya.

Well there you go.

Lot of Russian crime money pouring into that dump. Condos are selling, land isn't though. Sure it's a hotspot of activity, but not necessarily for normal or even particularly nice reasons.

I stayed there recently, in Jomtien. Hotelier said for the time of year occupancy and the restaurant were down at least 50%. Her daughter would always nag her about going out for dinner, they do this rarely and cheaply now. She admitted to be extremely worried about the future.

A friend who has a resort on Koh Samet is at 30% occupancy when he would normally be full. This has been going on all year. Very worried.

That restaurateur friend on the same island, sold 38 big breakfasts on New Year's Day 2007. This year? 1. Yes. One. Very worried.

Notice how commodities and stocks continue to rise with rising unemployment? It's all stimulus money and it's falling into the wrong hands.

Add to that, there's no confidence out there.

Depression on.

Condos are still reasonable in Pattaya compared to the west but I think prices are going down. I spend allot of time in Pattaya.

Stimulus does not work, stimulus is inflation by definition.

[MJP]

Where do you live? Because I work in land regeneration for redevelopment (major sites, globally) and I tell you right now, it's dead.

4km as the crow flies from the center of Pattaya.

Well there you go.

Lot of Russian crime money pouring into that dump. Condos are selling, land isn't though. Sure it's a hotspot of activity, but not necessarily for normal or even particularly nice reasons.

I stayed there recently, in Jomtien. Hotelier said for the time of year occupancy and the restaurant were down at least 50%. Her daughter would always nag her about going out for dinner, they do this rarely and cheaply now. She admitted to be extremely worried about the future.

A friend who has a resort on Koh Samet is at 30% occupancy when he would normally be full. This has been going on all year. Very worried.

That restaurateur friend on the same island, sold 38 big breakfasts on New Year's Day 2007. This year? 1. Yes. One. Very worried.

Notice how commodities and stocks continue to rise with rising unemployment? It's all stimulus money and it's falling into the wrong hands.

Add to that, there's no confidence out there.

Depression on.

Condos are still reasonable in Pattaya compared to the west but I think prices are going down. I spend allot of time in Pattaya.

Stimulus does not work, stimulus is inflation by definition.

Agree, agree and agree . . . although a friend that has a Real Estate agency reckons View Talay 5 and 7 is it, some go for 17m Baht. I did see stuff slashed from 3.2 to 1.29m a few weeks ago there.

Exactly. Stimulus is not stimulus. It's bullsh!t.

[flying]

Didn't someone recently forecast that Timmy would have to resign this year due to something that would come out in the news/wash?

Timothy Geithner, told American International Group Inc. (AIG) to withhold details from the public about its payments to banks at the height of the financial crisis

More....

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/geithner...nts-t/19306868/

In 2008 the New York Federal Reserve Bank -- then chaired by current Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner -- urged American International Group (AIG) not to disclose to the public its Credit Default Swaps (CDS) settlement payments to global banks. AIG ultimately received $182.3 billion in bailout funds and credits from the government. The Bloomberg News report about this incident is based on emails between AIG and the New York Fed obtained by Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), a ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The New York Fed played an important role in AIG's bailout, providing it with an $85 billion credit line in September 2008. The bailout was expanded three times, and included a $60 billion Fed credit line, an investment of as much as $69.8 billion from the Treasury and up to $52.5 billion for so-called Maiden Lane facilities, a Fed program to buy mortgage-linked assets owned or backed by AIG.

The emails reveal that the New York Fed decided to pay $62.1 billion in CDS settlement payments to Goldman Sachs Group (GS) and "more than a dozen banks" but it wanted AIG not to disclose these payments to the public. Issa subpoenaed the emails after the New York Fed had urged AIG not to negotiate a discount on the CDS settlement payments to these banks -- which Bloomberg refers to as a "back door bailout" of the banks.

AIG then found itself in a tug of war between the New York Fed and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The emails reveal that New York Fed lawyers were urging AIG not to disclose the names of the CDS payment recipients and to withhold disclosure of its $9.8 billion in so-called synthetic collateralized debt obligations, which bundled derivative contracts rather than actual loans.

But the SEC argued that such disclosure was required, ultimately prevailing in AIG's March 15, 2009 disclosure of $27 billion in payments at 100 cents on the dollar. But the New York Fed also got part of what it wanted, since the disclosure did not identify the securities tied to the swaps or list the value of individual purchases by each bank.

My blood has been boiling while summarizing these facts. I feel a strong sense of outrage about them. Ultimately, free markets mean that companies succeed or fail based on the investments they make. But when failure was a real possibility, our government decided that free markets should be shut down and replaced with something decidedly un-free.

The two parts of un-free that bother me most? First, taxpayers financed a massive bailout of the bad bets of a handful of very wealthy bankers and insurance executives. And second, the government wanted the bailout recipients to keep quiet about it.

Is America still the land of the free?

Edited January 7, 2010 by flying

[AlexLah]

Globalisation means, big corporations are looking for people that want to work for lower wages anywhere to produce the goods that people want, with the only intention to make a higher profit.

it's too easy to blame the big corporations. more applicable is "...to produce the goods people want to buy but are willing (able) to pay for ".

I am sure you have never worked for a big corp in the last twenty years.

Edited January 7, 2010 by AlexLah

[flying]

There is a God :D

State Tax Revenue in U.S. Drops Most Since 1963, Study Says

By Brian K. Sullivan

Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. state tax collections fell the most in 46 years in the first three quarters of 2009 as the recession shrank revenue from sources including personal income, the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government said.

Revenue dropped 13.3 percent, or $80 billion, compared with the same nine months of 2008, to $523 billion, the institute said. Collections in the third quarter alone sank 10.9 percent to about $162 billion, according to the report released today by the Albany-based body. It was the fourth straight quarterly decline. The institute is the public policy research arm of the State University of New York.

“The first three quarters of 2009 were the worst on record for states in terms of the decline in overall state tax collections, as well as the change in personal income and sales tax collections,” Rockefeller analysts Lucy Dadayan and Donald J. Boyd wrote in the report. The institute explores ways to help state and federal governments work better.

The worst economic slump since the Great Depression has forced states to cut spending, raise taxes and pass down costs to local governments to cope with $193 billion of combined budget deficits in the current fiscal year, according to a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities report issued last month.

Budget gaps have opened in 31 states since fiscal year 2010 began, Dadayan and Boyd wrote, citing a National Conference of State Legislatures study.

“2010 is going to be very difficult for the states and the next year is likely to be significantly worse,” Rockefeller Deputy Director Robert Ward said in an interview.

California’s Deficit

California’s deficit is going to total $20 billion for the next 18 months, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a speech yesterday. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, is scheduled tomorrow to release his budget plans for the state, the largest issuer of municipal debt.

New York is grappling with an $8 billion budget deficit, Governor David Paterson said in his state-of-the-state speech yesterday.

“The great recession hit virtually every single source of tax revenue and pushed a number of states to revise revenue forecasts numerous times throughout fiscal 2009 and 2010, with significant impacts on services,” Dadayan and Boyd wrote.

State income tax revenue was down 11.8 percent in the third quarter, sales tax collections were down 8.9 percent, and corporate income tax declined 22.6 percent, according to the study.

The Obama administration’s $787 billion stimulus package made up as much as 40 percent of the revenue losses states suffered, Ward said by telephone.

“It is a very significant amount of compensation but by no means eliminates the problem,” he said.

Ward said economists are split over whether the economy is recovering. He said taking an optimistic view “states still have some way to go just to stop the losses.”

[Naam]

Globalisation means, big corporations are looking for people that want to work for lower wages anywhere to produce the goods that people want, with the only intention to make a higher profit.

it's too easy to blame the big corporations. more applicable is "...to produce the goods people want to buy but are willing (able) to pay for ".

I am sure you have never worked for a big corp in the last twenty years.

you got that right Alex as i stopped working 20 years, 2 months and 8 days ago. but one does not have to work for any big corporation to obtain whatever information one requires. a well known fact is also that corporations are generally established to generate profits/returns for those who coughed up the money and management normally strives to maximise profits, not only for the company and the shareholders but also for their own pockets through bonuses and profit shares.

[Naam]

Where do you live? Because I work in land regeneration for redevelopment (major sites, globally) and I tell you right now, it's dead.

4km as the crow flies from the center of Pattaya.

Well there you go.

Lot of Russian crime money pouring into that dump. Condos are selling, land isn't though. Sure it's a hotspot of activity, but not necessarily for normal or even particularly nice reasons.

that explains why a lot of the big banknotes circulating in this "dump" have a read marker stamp "derived from russian crimes"

next!

[MJP]

Where do you live? Because I work in land regeneration for redevelopment (major sites, globally) and I tell you right now, it's dead.

4km as the crow flies from the center of Pattaya.

Well there you go.

Lot of Russian crime money pouring into that dump. Condos are selling, land isn't though. Sure it's a hotspot of activity, but not necessarily for normal or even particularly nice reasons.

that explains why a lot of the big banknotes circulating in this "dump" have a read marker stamp "derived from russian crimes"

next!

Please yourself. My sister-in-law is a real estate agent there, says the condos are selling, in cash to Russians . . . reckons mainly the criminal element.

Just what I'm told.

[midas]

an inherently silly exercise but so is a financial crisis thread when there isnt much sign of one around.

So are you saying that the current state of the financial markets are perfectly acceptable to you ?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...id=a8dZOpzRxVj4

[Naam]

an inherently silly exercise but so is a financial crisis thread when there isnt much sign of one around.

So are you saying that the current state of the financial markets are perfectly acceptable to you ?

i can't speak for Abrak but as far as i am concerned the current state of the financial markets are perfectly acceptable to me. that applies of course only to the specific segment i have invested, cashed in most of my profits and have still a few hot kettles bubbling.

nota bene: financial markets are not limited to DOW, Nasdaq and S&P in the Greatest Nation on Earth™ were poor ignorant suckers lose their money making fund managers rich who handle their IRAs, 401ks and what not bullshit schemes invented to save a buck in taxes but lose two bucks in other ways.

[midas]

i can't speak for Abrak but as far as i am concerned the current state of the financial markets are perfectly acceptable to me. that applies of course only to the specific segment i have invested, cashed in most of my profits and have still a few hot kettles bubbling.

nota bene: financial markets are not limited to DOW, Nasdaq and S&P in the Greatest Nation on Earth™ were poor ignorant suckers lose their money making fund managers rich who handle their IRAs, 401ks and what not bullshit schemes invented to save a buck in taxes but lose two bucks in other ways.

Agreed financial markets are not limited to “ DOW, Nasdaq and S&P in the Greatest Nation on Earth™ ”

But how do you know for sure how many public officials in other countries than the Greatest Nation on Earth™ are up to their

necks in fraud ( you know that which you think homeowners should not be involved with ) and corruption as well

………….and THAT is a crisis

[midas]

Commercial property………….. the next crisis

Reis: U.S. Office Vacancy Rate Hits 15 Year High at 17 Percent

http://www.businessinsider.com/reis-us-off...-percent-2010-1

[Naam]

i can't speak for Abrak but as far as i am concerned the current state of the financial markets are perfectly acceptable to me. that applies of course only to the specific segment i have invested, cashed in most of my profits and have still a few hot kettles bubbling.

nota bene: financial markets are not limited to DOW, Nasdaq and S&P in the Greatest Nation on Earth™ were poor ignorant suckers lose their money making fund managers rich who handle their IRAs, 401ks and what not bullshit schemes invented to save a buck in taxes but lose two bucks in other ways.

Agreed financial markets are not limited to “ DOW, Nasdaq and S&P in the Greatest Nation on Earth™ ”

But how do you know for sure how many public officials in other countries than the Greatest Nation on Earth™ are up to their

necks in fraud ( you know that which you think homeowners should not be involved with ) and corruption as well

………….and THAT is a crisis

which doesn't concern me either.

[midas]

i can't speak for Abrak but as far as i am concerned the current state of the financial markets are perfectly acceptable to me. that applies of course only to the specific segment i have invested, cashed in most of my profits and have still a few hot kettles bubbling.

nota bene: financial markets are not limited to DOW, Nasdaq and S&P in the Greatest Nation on Earth™ were poor ignorant suckers lose their money making fund managers rich who handle their IRAs, 401ks and what not bullshit schemes invented to save a buck in taxes but lose two bucks in other ways.

Agreed financial markets are not limited to “ DOW, Nasdaq and S&P in the Greatest Nation on Earth™ ”

But how do you know for sure how many public officials in other countries than the Greatest Nation on Earth™ are up to their

necks in fraud ( you know that which you think homeowners should not be involved with ) and corruption as well

………….and THAT is a crisis

which doesn't concern me either.

So if US homeowners just do what they are in fact legally entitled to do it generates this response

from you :-

“not paying your debt when you are able to pay is FRAUD! in my country and a lot of others you are either forced to pay or you go to prison. period! “

And yet corrupt banksters, public servants and officials committing fraud generates a “ which doesn't concern me either ” response from you…………

Your double standards are astonishing

And the way YOU think is also a CRISIS

[flying]

Record 40% Of Unemployed Without Job For 27+ Weeks

Any way you look at it, 40% of the unemployed, or 4% of the workforce, a record number of people, or 6.1 million, are now unemployed for over 27 weeks. In November this number was 5.9 million, and a year ago it was a meager 2.5 million. Green shoots.

The average duration of unemployment has surged to 29.1 weeks, from 28.6 weeks in November, and 19.5 a year ago.

Edited January 9, 2010 by flying

[midas]

This remark I saw on another site makes sense to me and i have seen it mentioned before.

i.e. that in reality Bernanke and his printing press will never be able to

keep up with the loss of wealth and purchasing power that has occured.

any comments ?

Consumer Credit Plunges $17.5 Billion On Consensus Of -$5 Billion, Largest Drop On Record

“ Shadowstats reported that M3 rate of change of money supply has gone negative.

The FED can print a few trillion here and there but it sure ain't getting into the real

economy, 12-14 Trillion dollars worth of wealth destruction and soon rising can not

be offset by 2-4 Trillion in printing and borrowing.

I say GDP declines 75% at

least, if not more. How about the early 1900's?

Deflationary collapse is inevitable ”

US_consumer_credit.pdf

Edited January 9, 2010 by midas