September 4, 2008

Economy: A Mess


Stocks plummet after retail, unemployment data

3% drop is big. Watch it swing right back up. Such swings have typically preceded past major economic crashes.... kinda like the nasty wobble before wipe-out, the bright light bulb before burn out, and the wild energy of a fly before death.

Jobless claims jump is bad omen for economy.

"Omen"? It's been a year since the big mortgage melt-dwon, and their still talking about omens for the future?

U.S. House Price Decline Could Be Worse Than Great Depression.

The higher the price, the further it has to fall. Raise your hand if you've heard a friend say, "If I had to buy my house now, I couldn't afford it." A modest house and a solid middle-class income... some speculators got rich and we're paying for it. But don't worry, the free market always corrects itself.

I was a little surprised by the date of a past article of mine. Remember the August 2007 real estate melt-down? Here's what I wrote in May 28, 2007:

Watch the real estate situation unravel this summer. Congress will try to save it, placing the burden on future tax-payers (so much for a "free" market in which bad business decisions are allowed to play out). We've seen it before in the same way the S&L double-scandal was swept under the rug. The twin debts will grow. Eventually, foreigners will diversify out of dollars, more so than they are already, and the US will decline like Spain and Britain did. The "hope" is that the US will do so with grace rather than a holocaust.


Photo Credit: "mess" by skepticillusion.

2 comments:

libhom said...

The corporate media keep understating how bad the economy is for middle class and poor Americans. As long as rich people are still doing well, the situation just isn't that much of a problem.

GDAEman said...

Yes. I give credit to Obama for making a distinction between the "Wall Street" economy versus the "Main Street" economy in his acceptance speech.

It's like, if Bill Gates walks into a base ball stadium, the average income in the stadium sky rockets.