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. . . Steve Pearlstein of the WaPo says its just getting started. IMO, the tax rebate was an election year gimmick to try and shove the bad news far enough downstream to assure a GOP victory. I'm not fooled.
If this fella's speaking the truth, then our govt. has truly become a bastian of craven patsies. And if there was indeed a contract signed with the Saudis, its high time we breached it. The fact that the basta*ds really can't increase output, and really aren't the "swing producer" anymore, surely justifies doing so. F 'em!
- the climate/ag crisis in the midwest falling on top of the following;
Flooding ?
- inflation due to money supply from the fed and lenders (through the 20s), but a devaluation of worth in the end as people stopped buying things and the fed neglected to prime the pump with an injection of cash (through the early 30s);
Inflation (permission of vast speculation, oil, food and grains/biofuel, education, insurance, etc....and federal neglect of these markets' activities? ) ?
- consequential "underconsumption" (inequity of wealth resulted in too many have-nots unable to keep pace, and falling flat when credit ran out, e.g.) - wealth had concentrated under the free market - and under low tax rates for the rich - to something too unsustainable for the economy at large (MOST couldn't buy what the super rich had to sell them);
What is to come? (Let's hope not...though probably already here to some extent)
- some bank runs, while banks could no longer collect on debt from those that had nothing or were too overextended credit wise, and so failed themselves;
Bear, Lehman, Citi, ... ?
- late/inadequate federal action to stem it, and federal actions that angered other countries;
"Going it alone" ?
- (and some retaliatory international action against import tariffs, so reduced international trade);
...to "going it alone" ? Or reduced trade due to some similar problems abroad?
- while some of this was towards inflating the value of gold around the world (diminishing the availability of the monetary backing, for example) and, especially for the UK - which was trying to roll back over to a gold standard - by importing more gold as a backing to credit and buying up the gold from within the US;
Swap "oil and other now speculative commodities" for "gold" in this text?
- and some of these factors were not mutually exclusive, and actually resulted in strong feedbacks.
Let's hope not? And do what we can (at this point) to avoid it?
. . . Steve Pearlstein of the WaPo says its just getting started. IMO, the tax rebate was an election year gimmick to try and shove the bad news far enough downstream to assure a GOP victory. I'm not fooled.
A good article--probably written before the massive digger the stock market took yesterday. The bunch of Tiny Tim optimists may be dancing around, singing "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" and happily trying to tell us everything is OK, but they're dancing in a mine field. The last two days should illustrate that. Forget the fact that the Dow shucked 4% yesterday. A better measure is the Standard & Poor index (which tracks a much larger number of stocks and segments in the US economy). The S&P just finished its worst week SINCE 1930. Oil hit another record today, and I see nothing to staunch that short of a collapse in demand caused by a massive recession--and that is likely to be exactly what we get.
Ironically, Colorado may get really whipsawed in this. A severe economic recession will tank every segment of the Colorado economy, save the energy industry. If, in fact, the recession is severe enough to cause demand destruction in the energy markets, Colorado's energy industry could also get stabbed. That would knock the last leg out from under the rickety stool that is the Colorado economy. Colorado's agricultural economy, which has been abused by both national trends and Colorado's visionless sprawl model in the last decade or so, may be the only thing left that has some viability to it. How ironic would that be?
This article, written for plain Joes, is interesting because it details how $200 oil and $7 gas would affect everything from hand lotion to the cost of filling a container cargo ship.
If this fella's speaking the truth, then our govt. has truly become a bastian of craven patsies. And if there was indeed a contract signed with the Saudis, its high time we breached it. The fact that the basta*ds really can't increase output, and really aren't the "swing producer" anymore, surely justifies doing so. F 'em!
I've never heard of Lindsey Williams before...there's some obvious truth in some of what he says, but nearly all of the crazy conspiracy theories out there start with verifiable truth and then slowly mix in half-truths and outright falsehoods to reach a very flawed conclusion.
What bothers me about this guy is that he's hawking a book. I can spot a sales pitch from 10 miles away, and he's selling something for personal profit. He's trying to use his former position as a chaplain to sell a product today...his sales pitch is just too much like a TV televangelist chumming for easy money to ignore. I found his credibility shot to hell right out of the gates.
But...addressing individual bits of truth in the message...if the big foreign oil producers ever do denominate oil in euros or another currency, servicing the national debt will reach a whole new level of pain, and the dollar will indeed be hammered badly.
In some way, having that happen might drive us to toughen up and get back to work again. Or it could rip out our soft underbelly and leave us to join the Roman Empire in a long history of failed empires.
From watching discussions in this thread and in other forums, I'm not sure which it'll be. There are a lot of overindulged weaklings out there...but I suspect there were also many of the same breed in 1928.
I'm seeing a lot of downward movement in asking prices for exurban Colorado Springs houses in the last few weeks. Maybe people are starting to come to grips with the new realities. Maybe.
What bothers me about this guy is that he's hawking a book. I can spot a sales pitch from 10 miles away, and he's selling something for personal profit. He's trying to use his former position as a chaplain to sell a product today...his sales pitch is just too much like a TV televangelist chumming for easy money to ignore. I found his credibility shot to hell right out of the gates.
My perception exactly. What credibility are you referring to. IMO, he has none. Just another guru selling his book.
Agreed. But why would Williams make something up like Gull Island? I believe him on what he overheard in those meetings after that discovery. It also doesn't surprise me that the powers that be put the kabosh on it almost immediately. If he were a fraud, there'd be dirt on him somewhere. I can't find any. He must be doing a heckuva job staying below the radar-perhaps for his own safety. I Googled him and saw that someone he once knew up at Prudhoe, and respected then, threatened his and his family's lives very recently.
Last edited by Sockeye; 06-29-2008 at 10:04 AM..
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The world with $200/barrel oil
