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Spread this message with Digg, Del.icio.us, Reddit, or Stumbleupon, and subscribe to the RSS Feed to track articles The Housing CollapseE-mail - editor@economyincisis.org |
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A Precursor to Another Great Depression? To large extent, the housing bubble has concealed the systematic destruction of America’s industrial and manufacturing base. Low interest rates have lulled the public to sleep while millions of high-paying jobs have been outsourced. The rise in housing prices has created the illusion of prosperity but, in truth, we are only selling houses to each other and are not making anything that the rest of the world wants. The $11 trillion dollars that was pumped into the real estate market is probably the greatest waste of capital investment in the nations’ history. It hasn't produced a single asset that will add to our collective wealth or industrial competitiveness. It’s been a total bust. The “easy credit” which created the subprime crisis in mortgage lending has now spread to the hedge fund industry. The troubles at Bear Stearns prove that Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson’s assurance that the problem is “contained” is pure baloney. The contagion is swiftly moving through the entire system taking down home owners, mortgage lenders, banks, rating agencies, and hedge funds. We are just at the beginning of a system-wide breakdown. The Bank for International Settlements issued a warning this week that the Federal Reserve’s monetary policies have created an enormous equity bubble which could lead to another “Great Depression”. The UK Telegraph says that, “The BIS--the ultimate bank of central bankers--pointed to a confluence of worrying signs", citing mass issuance of new-fangled credit instruments, soaring levels of household debt, extreme appetite for risk shown by investors, and entrenched imbalances in the world currency system. Millions of people who were hoodwinked into buying homes with “interest-only”, “no down” loans will now either lose their homes or be shackled to an asset of decreasing value for the next 30 years. They've been tricked into a life of indentured servitude. *This article is excerpted from Mike Whitney’s “Another Great Depression? The Fed’s Role in the Bear Stearns Hedge Funds Meltdown.” Read the entire article at: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=6209 © Copyright Mike Whitney, Global Research, 2007 Click here to contact your Representative in Congress. Spread this message with Digg, Del.icio.us, Reddit, or Stumbleupon, and subscribe to the RSS Feed to track articles
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guest says "Housing" on 01/19/08
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More than a comment I have a question ¿what is going to happen with the houses thar are taken from owners that can no longer pay for it?
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jimbob says "Economic adjustment" on 12/26/07
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In 1983, the rising dollar choked off U.S. exports, and the faster rising annual deficit under President Ronald Reagan pushed the prime rate into double digits. Given that economic climate, farmers saw the value of their farm land drop 60 to 80 percent of its value in a matter of four years. Plagued by undercollaterized loans on their land, and surplus commodities resulting in the worse farm prices since the great depression, farmers went bankrupt in droves, and rural communities faltered. All this occured as the Dow Jones Index began a vibrant bull market commencing 4th of July weekend, 1981 from an index level of 880. As a farmer, I thought we were in the middle of the worse depression, ever. Yet the general economy was in the greatest expansion in the history of the country. Fast forward more than a quarter of a century, and the inverse is occuring. Commodity prices are rising to record prices and farmland is the glamour investment of the decade, with prices for Illinois' best black dirt bringing up to $7500 per acre, and I think that it helps to remember that we live in a global economy, and that it is time for many economic interests in the U.S. to experience a correction. I doubt very much that we shall see a full fledged depression, because there are enough global interests doing well to support our economy. Lament if you like the declining economic clout of America. It is true we do not dominate the world like we once did. However, the mere fact that there is so much prosperity in parts of the world previously suffering abject poverty, is exciting, because world economic expansion is creating new consumers with disposable income, that may well serve as a base to set off the next economic expansion in the U.S.A. First, however, a portion of the U.S. economy will receive its penitence!
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guest says "Great Depression is just around the corner" on 11/09/07
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I believe from having read all these statistics that hell is lurking just around the corner, and that China is ultimately poised to surpass us sooner rather than later. Just look at the statistics - the debt has just surpassed 9 trillion dollars on Wednesday, saving rate (household) is negative, trade deficit is huge, inflation is creeping its head up (expect with record high oil prices and higher grocery bill due to the ethanol rush), falling (nosediving) home prices and also the account deficit. We'll be bunkrupt as soon as baby boomers are gonna drag the entire social security down the drain in a couple of years.
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guest says "Capitalism damages America Democracy" on 10/25/07
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This reader is missing the point. Capitalism does not destroy Democracy. It actaully breeds it. Capitalism without moral standards, or any system other government, will destroy any nations economy. When sefishness reigns supreme without any moral check, even a capitalist system will eventually fall. Communism or socialism by design never is,was, or will be an facilitator of Democracy. Everyone may be me more "equal" but only equally poor. A return to a true Judeo-Christian tradition is where we need begin. Once a people are morally strong, all other issues of social, political, and economic concern will mend themselves.
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guest says "Capitalism damages America Democracy" on 08/02/07
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Capitalism's natural end result over time id the destruction of Democracy.
When the wealthy gain political control they begin to shift the laws to favor them and punish the poor. The commonwealth of the people is raided and falls into the hands of a few overrich corporations and individuals. As these corporations and individuals continue to grow more powerful, they take more control more money away from the people. Perhaps the greatest illusion of our time is that we live in a Democracy. In fact, your vote will only be counted for preapproved millionaire Democrats and Republicans. Our system of corporate dictatorship preemptively excludes non-rich candidates except those who will become part of the machine. Both socialism and communism were superior systems in protecting workers and the natural rights of man. Thanks to Reagan who helped destroy Communism, the people of Russia are far worse off, there are more loose nukes, and America can launch unchecked wars against sovereign nations as it violates the Constitution of its own people. |
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guest says "The Impending Economic Collapse" on 08/01/07
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Based upon much extensive research of news articles printed outside this country, the rest of the world is talking about something the mainstream press will not discuss, the truth about the US economy. Maybe this is why the Bush Administration is so hard pressed to attack Iran. America is headed for a depression and eventually it will spread worldwide…It has already started in some countries such as Zimbabwe.
In lieu of the massive debt we’ve accumulated and the lowest personal savings since the Great Depression, the housing crisis, financial crisis, economic crisis, the trade war, military escalation and political crisis; we are a society on a fast decline! You wouldn’t know it in the States because mostly everything in the news media is meaningless entertainment or violence. Things look pleasant thus far, besides. Never mind what the doomsayers are forecasting, right? The Globalists have planned this event for a long time and they are scrambling to protect their finances and interest this very moment. The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency. Vladimir Lenin I suggest you become financially literate, quickly, by reading what the rest of the world is writing about regarding the American Economy. Other countries are writing our obituary. It is critical that each person pay off any debt – as much as possible. Links To Explore: Europe US Housing Market Crash to result in the Second Great Depression http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article383.html Markets fear global 'credit crunch' http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/06/29/cncredit129.xml Global Liquidity Crisis when the Credit Boom comes to an End* http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article1204.html?ref=patrick.net Related to Global Liquidity Crisis when the Credit Boom comes to an End* FOREIGN OWNERSHIP OF SELECTED U.S. INDUSTRIES http://www.economyincrisis.org/content/ownership A Chronicle of America's Very Great Depression http://www.newropeans-magazine.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5589&Itemid=87 In Asia When hedge funds implode http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/IF27Dj02.html Careful what you wish for, China may grant it http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/IF22Dj02.html More Asia Explaining the Collapse II - In Economics http://article.wn.com/view/2007/06/28/Explaining_the_Collapse_II_In_Economics/ Australia Markets brace for sub-prime fallout http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21991181-643,00.html US nerves hit UK fund manager http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21991178-643,00.html More European US Economy: Perfusion by Fed and Wall Street conceals recession http://www.newropeans-magazine.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5830&Itemid=87 Global systemic crisis / Summer 2007 : Fed looses control on US interest rates http://www.newropeans-magazine.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5915&Itemid=87 Impact phase of the Global Systemic Crisis: Six aspects of America’s "Very Great Depression" http://www.newropeans-magazine.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5171&Itemid=87 This was written last year on October 16,2006 and so far the prediction have came true....Go back to some headlines this year on the US economy. The three periods of the impact phase http://www.leap2020.eu/The-three-periods-of-the-impact-phase_a563.html?start_liste=10&paa=2&PHPSESSID=19b48b7e8afe63571c0428c0d77c311e Notice USA & Canadian Positive Twist on Financial News Stocks fall, but second quarter remains strong http://www.usatoday.com/money/markets/2007-06-29-market-fri_N.htm Dollar's amazing surge halted by weak GDP and business outlook reports http://www.mytelus.com/money/news/article.do?pageID=ex_business/home&articleID=2714041 After much pain and agony of denying, then accepting our economic demise, I owe it to you as brothers and sisters to get the word out without fail. I hope you will research the links I provided for you to understand the seriousness of our economic condition. The only intent of this information is to give everyone the opportunity to get prepared. Please be delicate with your friends and family when informing them of the nature of this material. Many will still be in denial but even if one person listens and prepares you will have made an impact. Now if you prepare and the crisis is averted….then you win as well. Store food, water, etc. and treat it like you do with health insurance….it is insurance. This website provides great links for survival. Protect your assets. If you’re 68 years old or over, you experienced that era and endured the hardships. If your birth date is after 1940 we have no idea what’s in store. For us baby boomers, generation X’s and Y’s here is a brief history of the Great Depression Era: TIMELINES OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION: 1920s (Decade) • During World War I, federal spending grows three times larger than tax collections. When the government cuts back spending to balance the budget in 1920, a severe recession results. However, the war economy invested heavily in the manufacturing sector, and the next decade will see an explosion of productivity... although only for certain sectors of the economy. • An average of 600 banks fails each year. • Organized labor declines throughout the decade. The United Mine Workers Union will see its membership fall from 500,000 in 1920 to 75,000 in 1928. The American Federation of Labor would fall from 5.1 million in 1920 to 3.4 million in 1929. • Over the decade, about 1,200 mergers will swallow up more than 6,000 previously independent companies; by 1929, only 200 corporations will control over half of all American industry. • By the end of the decade, the bottom 80 percent of all income-earners will be removed from the tax rolls completely. Taxes on the rich will fall throughout the decade. • By 1929, the richest 1 percent will own 40 percent of the nation's wealth. The bottom 93 percent will have experienced a 4 percent drop in real disposable per-capita income between 1923 and 1929. • Individual worker productivity rises an astonishing 43 percent from 1919 to 1929. But the rewards are being funneled to the top: the number of people reporting half-million dollar incomes grows from 156 to 1,489 between 1920 and 1929, a phenomenal rise compared to other decades. But that is still less than 1 percent of all income-earners. 1922 • The conservative Supreme Court strikes down federal child labor legislation. 1923 • President Warren Harding dies in office. Calvin Coolidge, becomes president. Coolidge is no less committed to laissez-faire and a non-interventionist government. • Supreme Court nullifies minimum wage for women in District of Columbia. 1924 • The stock market begins its spectacular rise. Bears little relation to the rest of the economy. 1925 • The top tax rate is lowered to 25 percent - the lowest top rate in the eight decades since World War I. 1928 • Between May 1928 and September 1929, the average prices of stocks will rise 40 percent. The boom is largely artificial. 1929 • Herbert Hoover becomes President. • Annual per-capita income is $750. More than half of all Americans are living below a minimum subsistence level. • Backlog of business inventories grows three times larger than the year before. • Recession begins in August, two months before the stock market crash. During this two month period, production will decline at an annual rate of 20 percent, wholesale prices at 7.5 percent, and personal income at 5 percent. • Stock market crash begins October 24. Investors call October 29 Black Tuesday. Losses for the month will total $16 billion, an astronomical sum in those days. 1930 • By February, the Federal Reserve has cut the prime interest rate from 6 to 4 percent. Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon announces that the Fed will stand by as the market works itself out: 'Liquidate labor, liquidate real estate... values will be adjusted, and enterprising people will pick up the wreck from less-competent people'. • The Smoot-Hawley Tariff passes on June 17. With imports forming only 6 percent of the GNP, the 40 percent tariffs work out to an effective tax of only 2.4 percent per citizen. Even this is compensated for by the fact that American businesses are no longer investing in Europe, but keeping their money stateside. The consensus of modern economists is that the tariff made only a minor contribution to the Great Depression in the U.S., but a major one in Europe. • Supreme Court rules that the monopoly U.S. Steel does not violate anti-trust laws as long as competition exists, no matter how negligible. • The GNP falls 9.4 percent from the year before. The unemployment rate climbs from 3.2 to 8.7 percent. 1931 • No major legislation is passed addressing the Depression. • The GNP falls another 8.5 percent; unemployment rises to 15.9 percent. 1932 • This and the next year are the worst years of the Great Depression. For 1932, GNP falls a record 13.4 percent; unemployment rises to 23.6 percent. • Industrial stocks have lost 80 percent of their value since 1930. • 10,000 banks have failed since 1929, or 40 percent of the 1929 total. • GNP has also fallen 31 percent since 1929. • Over 13 million Americans have lost their jobs since 1929. • International trade has fallen by two-thirds since 1929. Congress passes the Federal Home Loan Bank Act and the Glass-Steagall Act of 1932. • Top tax rate is raised from 25 to 63 percent. • Popular opinion considers Hoover's measures too little too late. Franklin Roosevelt easily defeats Hoover in the fall election. Democrats win control of Congress. 1933 • Roosevelt inaugurated; begins 'First 100 Days'; of intensive legislative activity. • A third banking panic occurs in March. Roosevelt declares a Bank Holiday; closes financial institutions to stop a run on banks. • Alarmed by Roosevelt's plan to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor, a group of millionaire businessmen, led by the Du Pont and J.P. Morgan empires, plans to overthrow Roosevelt with a military coup and install a fascist government modelled after Mussolini's regime in Italy. The businessmen try to recruit General Smedley Butler, promising him an army of 500,000, unlimited financial backing and generous media spin control. The plot is foiled when Butler reports it to Congress. • Congress authorizes creation of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Farm Credit Administration, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the National Recovery Administration, the Public Works Administration and the Tennessee Valley Authority. • Congress passes the Emergency Banking Bill, the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, the Farm Credit Act, the National Industrial Recovery Act and the Truth-in-Securities Act. • Roosevelt does much to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor, but is concerned with a balanced budget. He later rejects Keynes' advice to begin heavy deficit spending. • The free fall of the GNP is significantly slowed; it dips only 2.1 percent this year. Unemployment rises slightly, to 24.9 percent. 1934 • Congress authorizes creation of the Federal Communications Commission, the National Mediation Board and the Securities and Exchange Commission. • The economy turns around: GNP rises 7.7 percent, and unemployment falls to 21.7 percent. A long road to recovery begins. • Sweden becomes the first nation to recover fully from the Great Depression. It has followed a policy of Keynesian deficit spending. 1935 • The Supreme Court declares the National Recovery Administration to be unconstitutional. • Congress authorizes creation of the Works Progress Administration, the National Labor Relations Board and the Rural Electrification Administration. • Congress passes the Banking Act of 1935, the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, the National Labor Relations Act, and the Social Security Act. • Economic recovery continues: the GNP grows another 8.1 percent, and unemployment falls to 20.1 percent. 1936 • Top tax rate raised to 79 percent. • Economic recovery continues: GNP grows a record 14.1 percent; unemployment falls to 16.9 percent. 1937 • The Supreme Court declares the National Labor Relations Board to be unconstitutional. • Roosevelt seeks to enlarge and therefore liberalize the Supreme Court. This attempt not only fails, but outrages the public. • Economists attribute economic growth so far to heavy government spending that is somewhat deficit. Roosevelt, however, fears an unbalanced budget and cuts spending for 1937. That summer, the nation plunges into another recession. Despite this, the yearly GNP rises 5.0 percent, and unemployment falls to 14.3 percent. 1938 • No major New Deal legislation is passed after this date, due to Roosevelt's weakened political power. • The year-long recession makes itself felt: the GNP falls 4.5 percent, and unemployment rises to 19.0 percent. 1939 • The United States will begin emerging from the Depression as it borrows and spends $1 billion to build its armed forces. From 1939 to 1941, when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, U.S. manufacturing will have shot up a phenomenal 50 percent! • The Depression is ending worldwide as nations prepare for the coming hostilities. Roosevelt began relatively modest deficit spending that arrested the slide of the economy and resulted in some astonishing growth numbers. (Roosevelt's average growth of 5.2 percent during the Great Depression is even higher than Reagan's 3.7 percent growth during his so-called 'Seven Fat Years!') When 1936 saw a phenomenal record of 14 percent growth, Roosevelt eased back on the deficit spending, worried about balancing the budget. But this only caused the economy to slip back into a recession in 1938. • World War II starts with Hitler's invasion of Poland. 1945 • Although the war is the largest tragedy in human history, the United States emerges as the world's only economic superpower. Deficit spending has resulted in a national debt 123 percent the size of the GDP. By contrast, in 1994, the $4.7 trillion national debt will be only 70 percent of the GDP! • The top tax rate is 91 percent. It will stay at least 88 percent until 1963, when it is lowered to 70 percent. During this time, America will experience the greatest economic boom it had ever known until that time. The above timeline has been compiled by Steve Kangas from the Resurgence Magazine. See also cycle of past depressions. It is my belief; that out of this event will the New World Order present their problem-reaction-solution to usher in their control mechanisms (National ID, Big Brother, surveillance) for all global citizens. A new currency will be presented in various stages (Amero, Phoenix) and we’ll be told that a global citizen will bring about new change. Don’t be fooled. When liberty is taken away by force it can be restored by force. When it is relinquished voluntarily by default it can never be recovered. It is not the fact of liberty but the way in which liberty is exercised that ultimately determines whether liberty itself survives. -Dorothy Thompson If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that too. -Somerset Maugham All we have is time on our side. |
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guest says "Couldn't agree more" on 07/31/07
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"Democrats and RepubliKKKans are to blame"
I agree 110% |
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guest says "Housing collapse" on 07/31/07
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Central Banks server a purpose, and certainly socializm and protectionist policy's aren't the answer...let the market work its wonders Smith had it right...this will pass, and no its not end times. i don't plan to wait on a hill top, but it is exciting. remember 1987 the end was upon us, well so was Carter...
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guest says "Worldwide CB Collusion" on 07/31/07
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Mike Whitney quotes:"The Bank for International Settlements issued a warning this week that the Federal Reserve’s monetary policies have created an enormous equity bubble which could lead to another “Great Depression”. The UK Telegraph says that, “The BIS--the ultimate bank of central bankers--pointed to a confluence of worrying signs", citing mass issuance of new-fangled credit instruments, soaring levels of household debt,"
In fact, the Fed's destructive activities have been matched by every G8 Central Bank- after all, what keeps one nation from simply amassing the wealth of other nations (by surreptitiously emitting money) unless every other one does the same thing? The absurd rise in U.S. home prices has, for example been matched pound for pound in England. The beneficiaries are Big govt.- higher property taxes and income taxes on illusory higher income. The answer: Get rid of Central Banks. no nation with a functioning Treasury Department and the will to balance its budgets NO MATTER WHAT needs these parasites. |
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guest says "Democrats and Republicans are to blame" on 07/30/07
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Thanks to the supply side economics of Reagan, followed by Bush 1. Clinton and Bush 2 we are bearing the fruits of "Free trade" agreements.
Is the problem fixable? Yes! How? *We need to boycott all imports from China and Mexico *deport all illegal aliens stealing jobs *Impose $1 million salary caps on overpaid CEOS and guarantee $25 minimum wage for legal citizens *Nationalize health care and dismantle Medical Insurance *Enact 25 year retroactive tax on the wealthy to recapture unfairly acquired wealth. *Impose 100% estate tax on all and every estate valued above $1 million in total assetts. *nationalize Exxon/Mobil to recapture underpaid taxes. Will this work? Absolutely! Will it be done? No. Why? The global corporations that dictate the course and policies of our country are not interested in doing the right thing or ceding control. We should welcome collapse to begin anew and restore Democracy to America. |