Nov 12, 2008 11:01am
Our “Slowdown” Will Rival 1929? You’ll Want To Read This One
EmailA grim assessment this morning from Merrill Lynch chief John Thain: "This is not like 1987 or 1998 or 2001. The contraction going on is bigger than that. We will, in fact, look back to the 1929 period to see the kind of slow-down we’re seeing now."
The crystal ball of just how bad this recession will be seems to be coming into focus and the prognosis is horrible.
And if you’re not totally depressed there’s this zinger from Best Buy today: "Since mid-September, rapid, seismic changes in consumer behavior have created the most difficult climate we’ve ever seen…"
Ugh.
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I believe Ron Paul said this and was laughed at so ha ha!
Posted by: Huh | November 12, 2008, 11:40 am 11:40 am
We have to start strictly regulating the financial markets again. The packaging, buying and selling of derivatives should be made illegal. It’s time once again to make sure that when you buy or sell something that something is an actual product.
Posted by: Bob Lee | November 12, 2008, 11:55 am 11:55 am
Betcha Thain is up to his eyeballs in under-the-table shorts and stands to lose his shirt unless he can trigger a panic.
Posted by: Yukon Sam | November 12, 2008, 11:56 am 11:56 am
Darn! I went and sold my gun a few weeks ago to pay a debt! And now I only need one bullet! I’ll have to use a different method.
I’ll find a home for our dogs, but the foreclosure guys can decide if they need to separate my remains from the rubble of our house.
Posted by: Rhys | November 12, 2008, 12:04 pm 12:04 pm
Then Stop the bail outs.
That is going to bankrupt the nation.
I have a feeling that is what someone wants.
So if the Democrats want to bail out the business out, let them do it with their own money, not the governments or the peoples.
Posted by: seah | November 12, 2008, 12:15 pm 12:15 pm
We are in a DEPRESSION!!!!
WHY WON’T THEY SAY IT!!!
LET THE MARKET CRASH!!!
Posted by: sisterdearest09 | November 12, 2008, 12:17 pm 12:17 pm
Why is it that when I go to the stores, they are always packed with people buying?! Is it bad sure, is it as bad as they say…no!
Rhys, your house is a thing, not as important as a life! If your statement was intended as a joke it isn’t funny, I had an uncle who took that very selfish way out…it was a way out for him, but the rest of the family was destroyed! (for many many years)
Posted by: samhiguchi | November 12, 2008, 12:17 pm 12:17 pm
Huh: Yes Dr. Paul has called this! Funny how history repeats itself. Deflation and depression! I’m going to hear Dr. Paul speak this evening.
Posted by: mrdrysdale | November 12, 2008, 12:27 pm 12:27 pm
When we take risks, we should be prepared to take the good with the ugly. The only way Capitalism can survive is to let it all crash.
When things go down, the first thing to go are the things we don’t need. Are we surprised that Best Buy is suffering more than the food industry?
Maybe a depression is what this country needs to pull it away from its obsession with materialism.
Posted by: dbob | November 12, 2008, 12:31 pm 12:31 pm
mrdrysdale – Enjoy the talk. He was my congressman when I lived near Galveston. Good man.
Posted by: Huh | November 12, 2008, 12:37 pm 12:37 pm
This all brings to mind when my father told me US Savings bonds were worth only 10 cents on the dollar. If the government continues bailing out one company after another are we not headed in the same direction?
Posted by: Terrance Smith SR | November 12, 2008, 12:43 pm 12:43 pm
Pestilance, Famine, War, Death
Posted by: steven brenner | November 13, 2008, 12:37 am 12:37 am
Rampant consumerism has led to this. Advertisers hawk debt, politicians offer short term fixes (more debt). This has been a long time coming. Our world cannot handle such massive population with dwindling resources. Expect depression, followed by a war or some catastrophic population reducing event. It’s time to start keeping what we have earned and PREPARE FOR THE WORST. Trust your family and your neighbors. The Government has jumped ship and doesn’t represent we the people any more. They won’t help.
Posted by: Heatherfeather | November 13, 2008, 1:03 am 1:03 am
MrDrysdale, totally agree with you. A depression is needed to cleanse us of our spendspendspend habits and instant gratification addictions, help us appreciate what we have, and live at a slightly simpler/slower way of life (and healthier i might add).
Another trend I see is there is going to be a global evening out of wealth. For example, Indian outsourcing is here to stay, until such a time as American workers are willing to work for similar pay. And so, India’s workers will gain wealth in this process while Americans lose, until it reaches a balancing or reverse tipping point. Barack would love this concept! We’re gonna spread it around the globe …
The only ones possibly exempt from this are the super-rich, the executives, ceos and board of directors, and high-level government.
Posted by: dma | November 13, 2008, 2:43 am 2:43 am
oops, i meant dbob instead of mrdrysdale, misread the quote pointer.
Posted by: dma | November 13, 2008, 2:47 am 2:47 am
Does anyone think that all of our lying, cheating and thieving government officials, the heads of the banking system, CEO’s, CFO’s, and on and on, are going to stop this chaos they’ve created as a cover to use it to rob us, and they’ll cease and change there ways by us simply asking them nicely to stop robbing and cheating us?
Go ahead, give it a try! Vote out one lying and cheating SOB and vote in another! Write your congressman who has an 11% approval rating and a giant shredder next to his mailbox.
WAKE UP!!!
Posted by: Impissed | November 13, 2008, 6:13 am 6:13 am
WAIT A MINUTE! I thought The Anointed One was going to issue us all pink bubblegum ponies that farted rose petals! And free lemon-scented limos that ran on sunshine! And everyone the world over would love us now and instead of war or famine we’d be showered with goose feathers and cookies!
OF COURSE there’s a depression coming. Let’s see if some more liberal social engineering can tweak us out of it. My money says not, but whatever. Let’s see if taking everything away from people who work, and doling it out to crack whores and welfare queens, will fix everything. Again, probably not.
Posted by: Baygee | November 13, 2008, 9:08 am 9:08 am
GOD HELP US
The love of money has corrupted every one in Government. We need to vote everyone of them out and start over with hard working common sense Americans.
Posted by: koifish | November 13, 2008, 10:58 am 10:58 am
How many more times can this economy be “tweaked”? Things go up, things go down and the more we try to keep them from falling the harder they will fall when it all collapses. Keep government out of the market and it will take care of itself with occasional “corrections”. All I want the government to do it protect my borders, national infrastructure and stay OUT of my pockets!!!
Posted by: Joyce | November 13, 2008, 1:08 pm 1:08 pm
So long as we have Barnie ‘Rubble’ Frank and Chris Dodd and Pelosi deciding what is good for us, you will continue to see the wolves with feathers in their mouths telling the farmer he forgot to lock the chicken coup. Wake up America and call for the resignation of these incompetant idiots.
Posted by: Aroleflin | November 13, 2008, 1:47 pm 1:47 pm
I haven’t seen so many unsupportable statements since the senior citizens’ tennis tournament at the nudist colony. You’re as wrong-headed as my kid sister’s Barbie collection. I could go on, but there’s no point. If you don’t like federally funded programs, get off the Internet.
Posted by: Karen | November 13, 2008, 6:20 pm 6:20 pm
I have a question about all the illegal immigration situation this Country is suffering; Both the Senate and The House claim there is really no easy way to stop the flow of these people searching for “The American Dream,” that is an almost “impossible mission” to accomplish…What about during WWII when OUR Country “rounded~up” the Japanese~Americans, and put them all behind fenced~in “Internment Camps,” SUPPOSEDLY FOR “their own protection.” Those Japanese~American people were for the majority, TAX~PAYING CITIZENS of this Country ! Many were Professionals; Doctors, Dentists, Lawyers, Nurses, Teachers, College/University PROFESSORS, and so on…They all had to SELL all their assets, homes, cars, other property for pennies~on~the~dollar of the value..IF they were lucky. So many of these AMERICAN CITIZENS had to simply ABANDON all they had worked so hard for. Please explain WHY the US Government was capable THEN,to “control or contain” a certain group… and NOT ABLE TO DO IT NOW, PLEASE ! Does ANYONE have any thoughts about THIS ?
Posted by: Daisey | November 13, 2008, 7:21 pm 7:21 pm
Would someone please tell me by what name we are supposed to address the new Pres. by?When he was adopted by his stepfather (verified by Michelle,his wife) he became Barry Soetoro,and a citizen of Indonesia. When he returned to Hawaii,he became Barry Dunham,and also when he went to Occidental College for 2 years and then left for Columbia Univ.,we donot know what he was known by,because no one who was in the class that graduated in ’83 ever saw him,nor were there any pictures of him in the class year book. Then,he became Barack Hussein Obama when he went to Chicago. G-d only knows where he was born at-that would fill a book just on the phoney birth certificates he claimed were his. Any ideas?
Posted by: HaroldC | November 13, 2008, 7:57 pm 7:57 pm
I was raised during the first Great Depression. The government owed very little and 50% of America were farmers. As one can see,we’re not even close in any of these areas,anymore. Doubt if very few could hitch up a mule without a few trips to the hospital,much less do it right. Oh well,came in with the first one and probably go out before this one is over. Lots of luck,anyway.
Posted by: HaroldC | November 13, 2008, 8:15 pm 8:15 pm