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Monday, July 02, 2007

Mike Whitney: Another Great Depression?

I've gotten a little wary of Mike Whitney's proclamations about the
economic sky falling. He's been saying this for a couple of years.
However, I think the Bear Sterns hedge fund debacle and the
other things he talks about here really might be a signal that
the economy is ready to burst. Whole article here (portion below): http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=6209

"And, there’s a bigger fear on Wall Street than the fact that 2 hedge funds are headed into bankruptcy, that is, that a sudden tightening of credit will send the over-leveraged stock market into a downward spiral.

"The market is particularly sensitive to any rise in interest rates or tougher lending standards. It's become addicted to cheap credit and any break in the chain will cause equities to plummet.
Economist Henry C K Liu sums it up like this:


“The liquidity boom has been delivering strong growth through
asset inflation without adding commensurate substantive
expansion of the real economy. …. Unlike real physical
assets, virtual financial mirages that arise out of thin air
can evaporate again into thin air without warning.
As inflation picks up, the liquidity boom and asset
inflation will draw to a close, leaving a hollowed economy
devoid of substance. …A global financial crisis is inevitable”.
(Henry C K Liu “Liquidity boom and looming crisis” Asia Times)


"In other words, the “virtual” wealth of Wall Street is a chimera which was created by the Fed's inexorable expansion of debt. It can vanish in a flash if the sources of liquidity are cut off.

******Article Ends With This

"We should now be able to see the straight line that connects the Fed's low interest rates to the impending stock market meltdown. The problems began at the central bank.


"Presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) summed it up best when he said:


“From the Great Depression, to the stagflation of the seventies,
to the burst of the dot.com bubble; every economic downturn
suffered by the country over the last 80 years can be traced
to Federal Reserve policy. The Fed has followed a consistent
policy of flooding the economy with easy money, leading to
a misallocation of resources and artificial “boom” followed
by recession or depression when the Fed-created bubble bursts”.

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