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Mervyn King: "World's Worst Financial Crisis Ever"
Bank of England Governor Mervyn King says:
We
are still halfway through the world's worst financial crisis ever.
He
is in good company.
The following experts have said that the
economic crisis could be worse than
the Great Depression:
- Fed Chairman Ben
Bernanke
- Former Fed chairman Alan
Greenspan (and see this)
- Former Fed Chairman Paul
Volcker
- Economics scholar and former Federal
Reserve Governor Frederic
Mishkin
- Economics professors Barry
Eichengreen and and Kevin H. O'Rourke (updated here)
- Nobel
prize winning economist Joseph
Stiglitz
- Investment
advisor, risk expert and "Black Swan" author Nassim
Nicholas Taleb
- Well-known
PhD economist Marc
Faber
- Former Goldman Sachs chairman John
Whitehead
- Morgan Stanley’s UK equity strategist Graham
Secker
- Former chief credit
officer at Fannie Mae Edward
J. Pinto
- Billionaire investor George
Soros
»
- advertisements -
The US Dollar goes up....
It is the Best Looking Horse in the Glue Factory.
One big problem with all these "Worse than the Great Depression!!!" pronouncements from these morons is that the public has been completely shielded from any of it, by their suicidal policies.
This may indeed lead to "The Worst Financial Crisis of all Time" but we ain't there yet, and won't be, unless they get out of the way, and let failure wreak its cure. Until then, it's zombie-time...
"Even 'Money' has to obey the third law of thermodynamics. Thus the overhang of false wealth is collapsing. This is not a depression. It's a winding down. We all live in Detroit."
Right. The banksters over-reached (on purpose?) and now there is far too much debt worldwide, private, pubic and corporate. The whole "civilized world" lapped up out-of-thin-air-credit-money like free champagne. Now it's late and we are looking at the bar tab in horror. And oops looks like we blew the grocery money last night too. When there is just too much debt the course of events turns inevitably to debt destruction. Deflation.
Sure if you know what you are doing you may trade profitably during deflation. But most people can't and will loose capitol trying. The average person who won't be trading his way to prosperity should pay down all his debt as quickly as possible, conserve capitol, and make sure he has a career that can not be outsourced. If there is some extra cash, invest in things that produce genuine value or provide genuine service to people.
The fact that we puzzle over what to do with our capitol proves we are heading into a cycle money destruction.
At what point does economic become political and depression become war?
By a strict definition I would say when people start dying by militant means; guns, molotovs, etc... (Thailand/Greece)
By a loose definition one could argue that both practical economics and politics both are, by nature, contests of confrontation. Have have not, more is the way, evergrowth, power and money expansion. That being said people die every day for the perpetuation of a system that is based on evergrowth/ponzi/boombust, that is proportionally and obviously against their interests. People die, egss get broke, nations starve, alls fair in love, economics, politics, and war. All this to say economy and politics is war, even when it becomes violent.
Why come, so stupid majority? Because 90% of the world is just looking for some cheese, no real assets to protect, are up against 10% that are willing to do anything to protect their assets. If the withouts starve it won't matter either way, nothing to lose, so they take the bankster/corpo/gov/market-casino system cheese; it's only logical. Comfortable or not comfortable, I'm not going to do something stupid, the choice is easy and clear. Until uncomfortable becomes the only unavoidable option, the obvious best action in some cases, or the enforced by might option. Then Greece happens. What do y'all think is going to happen when government unfunded liabilities, get unfunded? Hmmm? In America. No more Uncle Sugar by hyperinflation or default? You think the people that are going to die when the hose gets shut off are going to be all cool about it? I guess I still have stupid hope that Cougar isn't right, knowing that she is. Millions are about to die, and don't know, and won't know why they are about to get hit with a mack truck dose of wtf nobody could have seen it coming.
Good looking out, because some state of collapse is coming for the US sooner rather than later, and y'all had best on get ready for a month or two of rough'n it if need be.
Dennis Meadows of "Limits to Growth"
"Real capital, created by net energy, has likely been declining for years."
Even 'Money' has to obey the third law of thermodynamics. Thus the overhang of false wealth is collapsing. This is not a depression. It's a winding down. We all live in Detroit.
The last duty of a central banker is to tell the public the truth." -- Alan Blinder, Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve
You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet - BTO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJmBPCYt5LY
Pravda: "The crops are good."
I don't know: quoting Soros from Feb 2009, especially in light of his ill-fated investment in Lehman? Seems like we've moved on. Not that the future isn't bleak but it's definitely a different game from here.
Same game, they're just more in your face about it.
Even IF the US Grovelment does take away your PMs, they will NEVER get your lead and brass.... This WILL NOT end well here, boys and girls.
I do not believe the three are seperable.
With retail investors absent this recent year long liquidity circle jerk rally, and a complete meltdown of the middle class, you have to wonder who the CB's and Politicians are even talking to any more. They are the definition of a circle jerk. It was clear that the "green shoots" nonsense was a failed attempt to put lipstick on the pig for Joe The Plumber and reverse the destruction of credit (consumer spending), but who are these idiots talking to now? One of them is going to come out one day soon and just tell it like it is... "Our only global solution over the past 25 years, more or less, to any problem has been either more debt, cheap money, war, a combination of all three. We are out of rabbits, there are no more hats either. This ship is going to sink." Everyone knows it, someone might as well say it.
it is best to ignore the central bankers and 'economists' even if they occasionally speak the truth for they are always pursuing 'their agenda' and everything they say and do is to further it and not to address any situation for the public good or to fulfill their stated mandate.
+1 -- Central bankers speak only to manipulate, and mislead. Often the best lies have an ounce of truth. They have *no* incentive to be honest, which is why their manipulations are couched in such contortions (why do you think they call it "Fedspeak"?)
Actually, looking back, you should *assume* central bankers are lying no matter what they say, and you'll be far closer to what's going on.
I've made it a habit to watch their statements: The majority of the time, they are literally doing the OPPOSITE of what they claim, even when they claim it under oath before Congress.
Market manipulation is their only purpose for speaking at all, and because of the system, they can do so boldly, without fear of reprisal nor accountability.
Hey GW....
Some major Xi's of the equation....
1) The bank ious are over 95% mortgage backed....in the past there was a much higher % in direct govt. ious....not now...and when these mortgage ious are marked to market in real terms ...the haircut is 50% or more....
2) The govt. has taken the path of more debt...and allowing the mortgage iou's to carry valuations that are not true...ie 40% not true...
3) When 1) and 2) are added together....more actual debt on top of bad debt....how can this be an inflationary event ?
4) The real victims....public savers....
Public savers are getting no rewards...
The rewards are being given to the banks that made the mistakes....
THIS is wrong.....but this is the type of policy that the IMF is pressing all over the world....as is the US...
How can this be good government policy ?
This really is not that complicated....It is what it is....
Some countries have far too much debt and are sacrificing their currency and certain population segments "savers" in order to enact their flawed models....
Thus the question becomes "what to do in this environment" ?
My conclusion is that "trading" albeit very difficult....is one of the very few solutions....a solution out of reach for the majority....
For "savers" there does not seem to be many ...if any valid solutions....This segment at the moment is one which is guaranteed to lose....
Albeit some gurus are suggesting that CASH is a solution....
ie Jim Rogers views the US $ as a flawed currency....and the printing of more dollars will just cause dollar depreciation....
So the question goes back to the issue of the bank ious debt destruction versus the effects of the printing press....versus other fiat currencies...
It is logical to assume that all fiat currencies are in trouble...
And one of the commonly mentioned favorable assets is farmland and what it produces....
But regarding food prices....how can they go up when the availability of money or average incomes drop by over 50%....A rich person's stomach is about the same size as a poor person's stomach....
Another broadly discussed asset being gold...but when gold is being discussed on late night TV and is available in vending machines....this would suggest who else is left to distribute to.....
It is clearer to me that trading is possibly the ONLY solution to pursue revenues....
What are your thoughts ?
This is partially true, and a dangerous statement. (However, as the banks show us, that's what's going on.)
In deflation, you "come out ahead" with a 0% return, with your money in your mattress. Of course, this assumes your money will still be worth something tomorrow.
The push for more than a decade has been for return -- risk be damned -- and that's what drove Granny out of CDs into CDOs and CDSs and SPVs and MBSs (the reach for return, specifically fixed income). Ponzi is fun while it lasts, but it doesn't last.
You're right that if you "need" return, there's no where to go except trading. However, the markets are rigged, and it's impossible to use the technicals nor the fundamentals to make decisions. You can do it based on chance, but no, odds are you're going to get screwed. I'd stay away. Specifically, what's going on is forced looting of the (retail and institutional) investor through market manipulation.
I have first-hand knowledge of friends that went $60K ==> $3+M recently, and are still in their positions. I expect them to be at $0 when this is done. Don't go there.
Literally, you're seeing casino manipulations -- people will "win" at the slot machine periodically, just to keep them playing. Never underestimate the fantastic power of the House to psychologically manipulate the players, to keep them playing, and maximize the fleecing. It's a true Science. (Unlike economics.)
Just clicking through the links and noticed the Volcker article Has expired.
Dick Fuld joins Legend Securities
http://www.cnbc.com/id/37159098
If people like Fuld are getting jobs, then SURELY the depression is over.
we must be in the 'green shoot' phase of recovery..
Sure - all these guys love to say that. Always ask "whats the benefit ?- to the speaker?)
- For the policy makers and politicians on the list the benefit is - it lets them to any damn unconventional thing they want - after all they are trying to get us out of a "great depression"
- For the talking heads and academics - It gives them what they most desire - attention. How many people are going to tune in to these guys if they did'nt have a really really shocking and scary story? Dry as dogpoop otherwise. They love to spice it up.
The March 2009 bear market rally ended last week.
http://tinyurl.com/39ptoac
http://www.zerohedge.com/forum/latest-market-outlook-1
i'm with you, and appreciate your terse confidence. got some faz and ryder shorts, gold and tips, and lots of dry powder. going half in at 600-ish s&p. if dips big further, all in doubling down. saving some for individually owned real estate too. think i'll get myself a nice house on a lake for a few gold coins.
(ponders whether there is a stockmarket after a crash to the bottom of the hill with S&P500 @ 300-600 and whether things will definitely look brighter than being at the top looking down).
Damn, money has no value, so I have to work (hunt/farm) to eat. Won't be able to do that in a house. Mass event of return to hunter/gatherer? Can't be true. Collapse in prices for food by the likes of Pfizer/Monsanto? No ability to purchase food imports? No transport..hmmm surely not. What's the price of gas, power and water? Screw healthcare, no-one will pay the cost, well excpet the top 2%.
even trying to comment on this would be nothing more than a broken record for the average ZH'r community! Live long and try to prosper everyone...!
Too bad none of them want to face the truth head on -- the extremist version of free trade that they have been advocating for decades is unhealthy, and is the root of the problem. As an economy hollows out, both the people and the government will go deeper into debt as they try to maintain their standard of living.
With all the rationality of a tweaked-out meth-head...
its not a secret its just the the folks are dumbed down as they watch the news on TV and listen to dope heads like john brovo
some thing that sinclair has said for years .. and his projection for gold and things economic
but to be to early is not recognized the experts are just now becoming experts after the horse is out of the barn,and have had the flash just recently
Yeah, I tried to tell people back in '08 - when Soros says "this shit is retarded," as he did in a speech at Columbia, he will do his damndest to rip the balls off every penny ante government out there, so long as he's still breathing.
He fled the Nazis. He remembers. He takes no shit. I disagree with his approach in many respects (and I find his philanthropic efforts both misguided and damaging), but when he speaks, the only people who matter listen.
The media is just so deluded that they're not worth listening to. It's worse than Pravda in the USSR or even your typical Chinese paper. They're much, much dumber, much more corrupt, and most of these bastards fail to even turn a profit.
Pravda was the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, and as such never claimed any indpendence or objectivity or balance of views, a fact that many people in the Soviet Union were aware of. This is unlike the US - or the globalised world in general - where they mean stream media still claim objectivity and independence where there is none. However, still many people believe that to be true. It's much more insidious and dangerous.
Foxnews is the official news of the GOP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! p.s.but i love traci byrnes !!!!!!!!!!!!!
I actually like this post of yours. You forgot to mention that if you expressed your real views you went sent to die at hard labor.
you are so correct about the strong delusion purveyed by the state controlled media (msm) about which bill colby before his murder stated was all under the control of the cia. such candor is one reason he was murdered.
as angry as it makes me, disbelief is perversely understandable when you discover that the jewish leaders of czechoslovakia and hungary denied the existence of the holocaust in 1944 even after 2 eye witness escapees from auschwitz informed them of the systematic murder of jews.
in our case, the msm, educrats, leaders, and people have a vested interest in maintaining the lies that authority knows best and that our vaunted "meritocratic" system does not fail. there will be no acknowledgement of culpability or failure from these people. instead we will be treated to an endless (main) stream of self delusion, power worship, and bullshit.
there is lots of info on the net about tried and tested methods used by media to capture a viewers attention, making it difficult to stop watching and listening. the 2 second chop edit, the colors used, the sound, all combined to affect concentration and comprehension. this mesmerizing or hypnotic effect results in normal intelligent people ending up feeling dopey for long periods after viewing. study results say its very bad for kids. Maybe if the tv were shut down there would be a revolt. did some one here say mind control?
He fled the Nazi's?? He was 15 years old when the war ended. What does Soros know about Nazi's?? Heck I might as well ask my mother , she is German and in her nineties.. george was just a pup. Soros is a Liberal stooge.
15 Years old was more than old
enough to carry a rifle and fight on the front lines for both the partisans and the Nazis.
Many US Soldiers enlisted at 15.
One of the most admired soldiers in this country was 15 when he enlisted.
We are fighting 15 year olds right now in
Afghnistan. 15 Years of age has been found
sufficient not only as soldiers but for Gas
chambers too. They can be turned into killing machines or can be killed by the thousands.
In 1945, there wasn't such a thing as a young pup at age 15 from Europe.
I agree. I have family and friends that were in the exact same situation as Soros, and they had to flee, and some were just babies, but they remember walking at night for hours in the snow without knowing if they'd live or die.
Somethings never leave a person and how it effects someone is unpredicatable.
see my post above. what does his age have to do with his fleeing? you don't like his politics. too bad. the plural of nazi is nazis, not nazi's. and do, ask your mother.
Punk
Bring it on.
Okay I agree but Soros fled the Nazis? Soros was Judenrat; a useful Jew: "Auschwitz is a nice place! I'll keep your things safe until you get back!"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judenrat; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useful_Jew
His approach is, well, if there is a hell I hope he burns there forever.
since you like wikipedia, check out its entry for soros. says he was told, at age 13, to report to the jewish council and then to hand out notices to jewish lawyers to report to the authorities. he showed them to his father who said to tell the lawyers that if they report they will be deported. soros then was sent to live with an agricultural ministry official (whom soros's father bribed), posing as a non-jew even while the official was working to confiscate jewish property. so i'd say, yes he fled the nazis and probably has some memory of it. not a hero with such as the 13 year old audrey hepburn, but who of us are?
Okay, so he's not a parasite. I see. Poor guy. Glad he's doing okay now. Nothing like standing on the shoulders of war criminals to get ahead.
The people reading Pravda all knew that is was pure propaganda. They were much wiser that what we have for an educated American public. It is self induced ignorance here.
This is 100% correct. A Russian I worked with said exactly the same thing.
During the Cold War, and especially during the Nuclear War fear of the 80s, Americans were paralyzed with fear over the possibility of nuclear war. Movies were made, speeches, nuclear war drills, etc. We were fucking idiots for swallowing this hook line and sinker.
In Russia during that time, no one paid attention to the propaganda because they knew nothing would happen.
The only ones that were scared were the fragile Americans who were so afraid of their nice, soft way of life would be destroyed from a Soviet attack, or nuclear war.
It's the exact same phenomenon that occurred during the 50s and the communist witchhunts.
The American government controls its people through the use of fear.
+10
According to Orwell, "happiness can exist only in acceptance."
I would argue that even in former Soviet Bloc countries, the citizenry these days is much more delusional and naive than 30-40 years ago. Apparently, people enjoy being idiots because that essentially makes them happy.
This is absolutely true. Some people will get angry with you if you enlighten them, because it takes them from their happy (ignorant) place.
You'll certainly like this one, also from Orwell:
"In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
The problem is - these days "the ruling circles" wouldn't try to suppress you or destroy you physically. Instead, they'd try to put a tinfoil hat on you. If you don't allow that, they'll call you "immature" or "populist". Just follow the financial reform debate, and you'll see how it works..
I used this exact same analogy with a friend a few days ago, comparing the captive US corporate media to the USSR's old Pravda and Izvestia. He thought the comparison was extreme --- I told him it was probably much closer than most Americans could possibly realize.
But of course, most of us here already know that.
Great post and I'm especially happy to see recognition of this - It's worse than Pravda in the USSR. Because it's true.
I remember in the 60's mocking US news reels of what dumb gruel they had to swallow over there. Now here we are with Americans trapped in their own glass bubble.
And amazingly its still a secret =/