Because something like a resolution is happening to the recent market fall-out, many people are breathing a sigh of relief that ‘it’ is over. Hold your breath folk, you’re gonna need it.
As shockingly frightening a rollercoaster as last week was, that was just a pre-shock. I have nothing to go on right now but instincts, but I will draw lessons from nature. Whenever the earth hiccups like that and immediately calms down, then that’s usually a sign that the big one’s to come.
And also I’m thinking that George Bush is not gonna leave without one more major attempt to turn this country to dust. Who needs enemies when you have him as president. His fingerprints all over this $700B bailout plan make me queasy. Everything that George Bush advocates, smells. Whatever he plans is never for the good of the country but for a small clique of cronies. The more I think about it, the more I have a baaad feeling. This might be a good time to put up the ‘Don’t Resuscitate’ sign on trickle-down wreconomics.
The so-called quick-fix will give many people in the ‘industry’ the comfort feeling that all is well. And because Americans have such short attention span, in no time it will be business as usual… extra stress on the ‘as usual’. Greed will be back being good, and supergreed will be supergood.
Ok, it’s more than instincts. If you look carefully at the recent history, you will see signs of a domino effect. What is happening is that some of the dominoes appear ‘untopple-able’, but that’s just because we don’t know the extent that they are weakened. No one knows what’s happening in deep, dark abyss of troubled loans, how far it really stretches.
Not all the usual suspects have been thrashed out and these guys usually run in packs. Part of the pack has already fallen, the Lehmans, Merrill Lynch, AIG, Bear Stearns, Washington (gulp) Mutual, BankUnited. If anyone had said 2 months ago that these companies were severely, even mortally wounded, they would have been laughed to scorn. Yet there it is.
Who next? Well, I believe other banks and insurance giants are precariously balanced, and since all these loans and stuff run through the entire economic body like a virus in waiting, I am watching the already weakened and barely surviving players like the airline and auto industries. I’m betting that a lot of their money, extra cash, pension funds, loose dimes in the seats, have been invested in ‘get rich quick schemes’. Ring the alarm, another bank is failing.
At the end of the day, Reaganomics and Bush’s voodoonomics will be severely exposed for the eternal bloodsucking vampire it is. And as usual, it is the bottom tier whose blood will be sucked most… those least involved will be those most affected.
While some politicos will soon say, “Let’s not play the blame game”, I say let’s do exactly that. An important election is a little over a month away. Now’s not the time to be forgiving.
The recent collapse is because of the abject failure of mainly republicans to regulate what needs to be regulated, under the delusion that the market is god and will sort itself out. There are also several politicians who will come out of this richer than sh-t. Mark my words. This is not all by accident.
What stories we haven’t been hearing are those of personal losses. In the latest seismic hiccup, many have lost much of their future rainy-day savings. Retirement savings… whooosh. Some of it will be recovered but most gone. And who is going to ask the teacher of 30 years, whose retirement plan has been set back 5 years or more, to re-invest in Wall Street? Not me Chuckie.
Money will go into hiding, safe places with very low yields. That will further aggravate the problems. Banks and pillowcases will get fatter yes, but that’s it.
Another thing, and Jamaica recently is an example of this, is that people whose money disappear so dramatically, will be fodder for get-rich schemes. Look for a rise in pyramid schemes and emails from Nigeria. Suckers.
All this will lead to further economic downturn. The only thing that can pull us out will be foreign loans (yes we gotta take them), CREDIT CARD REFORM, job creation and economic incentives for job creation. We are expected to spend the economy into good shape but when you are unemployed, shopping at Cartier is not a priority.
Without money in the poor man’s pocket, small businesses will suffer. A good indicator would be to look at malls near you now, and again in 3 months. If there are more empty spaces then…***
RACE IS AN ISSUE
Wow! Somebody finally decided to broach the subject. USA Today claims that Barack Obama might lose the election because of prejudice. Whowouldathunkit?
USA Today’s opinion is based on a poll at the following link http://news.yahoo.com/page/election-2008-political-pulse-obama-race. Interestingly, the poll suggests 40% of white Americans harbour negative views against blacks, and these include democrats and independents. These are likely to turn away from voting for Obama.
Even more interesting to me, is that the poll tries to hide a larger percentage of racism… “Race is not the biggest factor driving Democrats and independents away from Obama. Doubts about his competency loom even larger, the poll indicates. More than a quarter of all Democrats expressed doubt that Obama can bring about the change they want, and they are likely to vote against him because of that”.
Hmm. You are a democrat and you don’t think that Obama can bring the change you want, so you vote for the team that is even less likely to bring any positive change at all… but you are not racist? I might be putting myself out on a limb here, but you are either incredibly stupid or a racist! But shhhh, it will be our little secret.
