Runawaysandwich, Hey

sandwich — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 21:57:13 -0600

Runawaysandwich,
Hey Joe......Here is a little positive in such desperate times.
Guess which food item went thru the roof by supply and demand during our recent economic failure? SPAM....yes, I said Spam! I'm serious, I've recently heard that "The World" just can't get enough of it. It is the #1 food item at the present. It is selling like crazy.
Just thought I'd lighten the mood.
Oh, also, I'm sure there is a Spam Museum in southern MN.
Call the Neighbors....wake the kids.. ;-)

Well Joe, you have proved

Schmitty53 — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:41:37 -0600

Well Joe, you have proved once again that some peoples minds are like concrete, thoroughly mixed up and permanently set.

Hiyah Schmitty53, Yup,

shades of gray recording — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:53:26 -0600

Hiyah Schmitty53,

Yup, indeed. But ya know, I really always liked gray, however recently I'm starting to equate "gray" with "bleak"(Geez, that doesn't look like it's spelled right). The more information I absorb the more dismal ( heh heh that doesn't look right either) the scenario appears to be. Did you hunt this year, btw?

Not again. Things are

Schmitty53 — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:17:25 -0600

Not again. Things are starting to look a little (gray) here Joe.

Heck Joe, Copy/pasting that

shades of gray recording — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:22:39 -0600

Heck Joe,
Copy/pasting that kind of info and stats just makes my silly little opinion seem a lot more "on the money" shall we say? Works for me! Thanks.

I hate copying and pasting

Joespoon04 — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:23:17 -0600

I hate copying and pasting articles because it fills up so much room, but the following is an excerpt from Paul Farrell's article "30 reasons for Great Depression 2 by 2011" on MarketWatch today [Full version can be found here:http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Well-Great-Depression-2-2011/story.aspx?guid=%7BB28B49B5%2DEFD1%2D4941%2DB57E%2DA2BA1545BA09%7D&dist=SecMostRead]:

Scan these 30 "leading indicators." Each problem has one or more possible solutions, but lacks unified political support. Time's running out. We're already at the edge. Add up the trillions in debt: Any collective solution will only compound our problems, because the cumulative debt will overwhelm us, make matters worse:

- America's credit rating may soon be downgraded below AAA
-Fed refusal to disclose $2 trillion loans, now the new "shadow banking system"
-Congress has no oversight of $700 billion, and Paulson's Wall Street Trojan Horse
-King Henry Paulson flip-flops on plan to buy toxic bank assets, confusing markets
-Goldman, Morgan lost tens of billions, but planning over $13 billion in bonuses this year
-AIG bails big banks out of $150 billion in credit swaps, protects shareholders before taxpayers
-American Express joins Goldman, Morgan as bank holding firms, looking for Fed money
-Treasury sneaks corporate tax credits into bailout giveaway, shifts costs to states
-State revenues down, taxes and debt up; hiring, spending, borrowing add even more debt
-State, municipal, corporate pensions lost hundreds of billions on derivative swaps
-Hedge funds: 610 in 1990, almost 10,000 now. Returns down 15%, liquidations up
-Consumer debt way up, now at $2.5 trillion; next area for credit meltdowns
-Fed also plans to provide billions to $3.6 trillion money-market fund industry
-Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are bleeding cash, want to tap taxpayer dollars
-Washington manipulating data: War not $600 billion but estimates actually $3 trillion
-Hidden costs of $700 billion bailout are likely $5 trillion; plus $1 trillion Street write-offs
-Commodities down, resource exporters and currencies dropping, triggering a global meltdown
-Big three automakers near bankruptcy; unions, workers, retirees will suffer
-Corporate bond market, both junk and top-rated, slumps more than 25%
-Retailers bankrupt: Circuit City, Sharper Image, Mervyns; mall sales in free fall
-Unemployment heading toward 8% plus; more 1930's photos of soup lines
-Government policy is dictated by 42,000 myopic, highly paid, greedy lobbyists
-China's sees GDP growth drop, crates $586 billion stimulus; deflation is now global, hitting even Dubai
-Despite global recession, U.S. trade deficit continues, now at $650 billion
-The 800-pound gorillas: Social Security, Medicare with $60 trillion in unfunded liabilities
-Now 46 million uninsured as medical, drug costs explode
-New-New Deal: U.S. planning billions for infrastructure, adding to unsustainable debt
-Outgoing leaders handicapping new administration with huge liabilities
-The "antitaxes" message is a new bubble, a new version of the American
dream offering a free lunch, no sacrifices, exposing us to more false promises
Will the next meltdown, the third of the 21st Century, trigger a second Great Depression? Or will the 2007-08 crisis simply morph into a painful extension of today's mess to 2011 and beyond, with no new bull market, no economic recovery as our new president hopes?
Perhaps some of the first 29 problems may be solved separately, but collectively, after building on a failed ideology, they spell disaster. So listen closely to "leading indicator" No. 30:
At a recent Reuters Global Finance Summit former Goldman Sachs chairman John Whitehead was interviewed. He was also Ronald Reagan's Deputy Secretary of State and a former chairman of the N.Y. Fed. He says America's problems will take years and will burn trillions.
He sees "nothing but large increases in the deficit ... I think it would be worse than the depression. ... Before I go to sleep at night, I wonder if tomorrow is the day Moody's and S&P will announce a downgrade of U.S. government bonds." It'll get worse because "the public is not prepared to increase taxes. Both parties were for reducing taxes, reducing income to government, and both parties favored a number of new programs, all very costly and all done by the government."
Reuters concludes: "Whitehead said he is speaking out on this topic because he is concerned no lawmakers are against these new spending programs and none will stand up and call for higher taxes. 'I just want to get people thinking about this, and to realize this is a road to disaster,' said Whitehead. 'I've always been a positive person and optimistic, but I don't see a solution here.'"
We see the Great Depression 2. Why? Wall Street's self-interested greed. They are their own worst enemy ... and America's too.

and so after seven weeks...

shades of gray recording — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:32:13 -0600

And so after seven weeks, $700 billion dollars evaporated, seven thousand jobs a week lost, we approach Thanksgiving, Christmas MuZak playing in stores a week before Black Friday, 14 days into the newly elected administration's already-predicted-to-fail transition, Wall Street jumping up and down (mainly down) speculating on whether or not the New Guys will be able to fix the broken machine, seven weeks before they even open up for business...