For Whom The Closing Bell Tolls
Mike Whitney loses his optimism
"What a week for the stock market. On Wednesday the market took a 360 point nosedive followed, two days later, by a 220 point belly-flop. By the time it was over, the trading pits looked more like a sausage-packing plant than the world's financial epicenter. After the bell, downcast traders could be seen tiptoeing through the carnage on their way to the local liquor store to load up on "Stoly" and boxes of Franzia---anything that would steady their nerves and put the week behind them.
(...)
This is a bear market now. The last bull was dragged from the Street on Friday with a harpoon in its chest.
The subprime contagion has now spread beyond the US and Europe to markets in the Far East. No one is fooled by Bernanke's sunny predictions that the economy will bounce back next year with a strong showing in the first quarter. That's baloney and everyone knows it. The economy has stumbled down the elevator shaft and is just waiting to hit bottom. Consumer confidence is flagging, housing is falling, foreign capital is fleeing, and the greenback is one flush away from the sewage-treatment plant. Bernanke's soothing bromides are meaningless."
I'm no economist but even I can see the handwriting on the wall. For many reasons the dollar is finished and no one knows how that will play out long term, but prices are starting to rise astronomically around here.
I put in my supply of rice and beans a long time ago.
related - remember that safety net that was ripped out from under everybody's feet last year? Those new laws for which the banks spent millions in a huge lobbying effort?
Bankruptcy Law Backfires as Foreclosures Skyrocket
"Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Washington Mutual Inc. got what it wanted in 2005: A revised bankruptcy code that no longer lets people walk away from credit card bills.
The largest U.S. savings and loan didn't count on a housing recession. The new bankruptcy laws are helping drive foreclosures to a record as homeowners default on mortgages and struggle to pay credit card debts that might have been wiped out under the old code..."
"What a week for the stock market. On Wednesday the market took a 360 point nosedive followed, two days later, by a 220 point belly-flop. By the time it was over, the trading pits looked more like a sausage-packing plant than the world's financial epicenter. After the bell, downcast traders could be seen tiptoeing through the carnage on their way to the local liquor store to load up on "Stoly" and boxes of Franzia---anything that would steady their nerves and put the week behind them.
(...)
This is a bear market now. The last bull was dragged from the Street on Friday with a harpoon in its chest.
The subprime contagion has now spread beyond the US and Europe to markets in the Far East. No one is fooled by Bernanke's sunny predictions that the economy will bounce back next year with a strong showing in the first quarter. That's baloney and everyone knows it. The economy has stumbled down the elevator shaft and is just waiting to hit bottom. Consumer confidence is flagging, housing is falling, foreign capital is fleeing, and the greenback is one flush away from the sewage-treatment plant. Bernanke's soothing bromides are meaningless."
I'm no economist but even I can see the handwriting on the wall. For many reasons the dollar is finished and no one knows how that will play out long term, but prices are starting to rise astronomically around here.
I put in my supply of rice and beans a long time ago.
related - remember that safety net that was ripped out from under everybody's feet last year? Those new laws for which the banks spent millions in a huge lobbying effort?
Bankruptcy Law Backfires as Foreclosures Skyrocket
"Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Washington Mutual Inc. got what it wanted in 2005: A revised bankruptcy code that no longer lets people walk away from credit card bills.
The largest U.S. savings and loan didn't count on a housing recession. The new bankruptcy laws are helping drive foreclosures to a record as homeowners default on mortgages and struggle to pay credit card debts that might have been wiped out under the old code..."
posted by nolocontendere at 8:24 PM
4 Comments:
I'm not big on apocalyptic scenarios, but things are looking very VERY scary.
A huge story that few news organizations are running is that several nations which so far have subsidized our teetering frailty are poised to sell every dollar they have. If that happens it won't be worth the paper itself.
Namely China, who owns how much of our debt? 20%?
Eventually, they were going to start yanking that chain... and they have begun:
http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2007/08/08/afx3997945.html
"On your knees, running dog lackey!"
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