by pup55 » Thu 16 Jul 2009, 11:10:34
By the way, if Kunstler was here, he would tell you that the entire US Economy is operating under a secret regulatory protocol.
We have dumped trillions of dollars of loan guarantees in the hope that the entire financial system does not collapse.
What, exactly has changed from last December, to make this any less likely? Have there been any real concrete actions taken to restore credibility in the system? No, with the exception of the further looting of the economy by Goldman Sachs, it is exactly the same system that was near-catastrophe all last year.....
So the only thing that is holding it together at the moment is the faith, however misplaced, that the government has its hand on the wound and is stopping the bleeding.
Does anyone know what his or her house is worth at the moment? No. There is still no real estate market in the nation. What is the level of confidence in the 30 largest industrial companies in the nation to make and sell any sort of products right now? None, with the exception of the low end retailer Wal Mart, which does not create any products, but just sells what it can import as cheaply as possible. What about job security? Does anyone feel more secure in his or her job than they did a year ago? A few, perhaps in the legal and defense industries, other than that Doubtful. Have the perpetrators of human history's largest wealth transfer been held accountable? Except for the bit-player, Bernie Madoff, the answer is no. Consumer Spending: Without the ATM better known as the home equity loan, it is clearly impossible for consumer spending to occur at the same level as it did in 2007.....
It is possible, although implausible, that we will return to something that approaches the system as it was a year ago. The Intel Corp, for example, has claimed that it is doing a bit better selling its microprocessors at the moment....
But at some point, you cannot eat a computer.
