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Here are some more alarm bells that suggest the future's not looking so bright after all.
First is an article recapping the just released 78th annual report of the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), sort of the Central Bank of Central Banks.
Second, an article by Harvard economist and ex-Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence Summers. It's also very alarming reading. The money quote: "Unfortunately we are in an economic environment where we have more to fear than fear itself."
Last, and I can't post a link because the original article in Dutch disappeared the day after it appeared in De Financiale Telegraaf, the CEO of Fortis Bank (#20 in assets worldwide), Maurice Lippens said that the situation in the US banking system is far worse than previously thought, and they expected bank failures among around 6000 of America's smaller banks, and that large institutions such as CitiGroup and GMAC are also at risk.
This is dangerously real, folks. The much-bandied-about second half recovery is a fantasy. I'm sticking to my 2013 estimate...but a second-half recovery is still possible. Second half of the next decade, that is.
It's definitely changed my plans for a Colorado retirement house. Smaller, more energy efficient, and on enough land to grow subsistence crops and collect solar/geothermal energy are all factors now.
Last edited by Bob from down south; 06-29-2008 at 10:51 PM..
This isn't stuff a few less than optimistic people liike me thought up. We now have major banks, a former treasury secretary, and the BIS itself telling us it's just about to blow.
But then we have realtor Stuart Scott in Saturday's Colorado Springs Gazette telling people that there's no better time to buy a house than now. Bwaaaaahahahaha!! YGTBSM. First, he's a realtor. If his lips are moving, he's trying to sell you something. Second, no RE downturn in the last 75 years has been accompanied by the kind of deadly economic cancer we have growing now in the world's credit market and economy.
. . . It's definitely changed my plans for a Colorado retirement house. Smaller, more energy efficient, and on enough land to grow subsistence crops and collect solar/geothermal energy are all factors now.
Old McDonald's Farm rides again!
Say, aren't you back here in CO now, thought you were in the process of moving.
Judging by our vaunted Congress, there is NO reason to be alarmed, after all, they went on their 4th of July recess last Friday and decided that they did not need to address what some people feel are critical matters. From former VA Governor Mark Warner, running for the US Senate from VA, now that long-term good guy Senator John Warner is retiring:
"Legislators left Washington on Friday for the July 4th recess. They did so after failing to pass a bipartisan bill aimed at preventing the steepest decline in housing prices in a generation. They were unable to pass overwhelmingly popular legislation to stop pay cuts to doctors who accept Medicare, something that could endanger health care coverage for countless elderly citizens. The procedural gamesmanship became so absurd that a 492 page bill intended to reverse the effects of climate change was actually read aloud on the Senate floor, a tactic that took nine hours and eventually led to the bill's demise."
So there we have it. Congress says
"What, Me Worry?"
Guess I'll go down to Wally World and spend and consume and drive the hummer.
And guess what, we'll probably vote the vast majority of this do-nothing congress back into office. Anyone who votes for an incumbent needs to have their head examined.
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What Recession? What Depression?
