[Chuckmak]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Eli', 'T')he Chinese now have the power to destroy us, I think everyone would care if a loaf of bread cost 50 bucks. China can bring that about.

[fluffy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Eli', 'W')ell the reason everyone should care is because there will be no hiding from the fall out of this debt bubble.

Want a reason to care? read the article about China's nuclear option.

The Chinese now have the power to destroy us, I think everyone would care if a loaf of bread cost 50 bucks. China can bring that about.

[Twilight]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('fluffy', 'W')ell, if half your income goes on servicing your mortgage, then you can atually come out ahead if hyperinflation wipes you mortgage and only takes 40% of your pay..

[Cloud9]

Hyper inflation will hurt lending institutions. China will find itself holding a mountain of worthless paper as our land fills gradually consume Chinese goods. The party may be over on both sides of the Pacific.

[Twilight]

BBC: UK pensions 'black hole' closes.

That's right, rising stock markets and higher employer spending has propelled the top 100 UK companies' pension funds into the black for the first time in five years.

And it lasted all of two days.

[Zardoz]

Whew! I'm so glad it's all blown over, and everything is going to be fine and dandy:

ECB Adds Cash for Third Day, Says Market Normalizing
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he European Central Bank lent emergency money to banks for a third day, paring the amount and declaring that markets are returning to normal.

...The ECB, the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks injected $154 billion into money markets on Aug. 9 and $135.7 billion on Aug. 10 amid concern that U.S. subprime mortgage losses will curtail lending. Central banks in Japan and Australia, which pumped cash into their markets last week, today refrained from providing emergency funds. Stocks rallied worldwide and U.S. index futures advanced.

"The situation is gradually normalizing,'' said Jose Luis Alzola, director of economic and market analysis at Citigroup Global Markets in London. "However, fears will subside gradually rather than quickly.''

The Frankfurt-based ECB said it "notes that money market conditions are normalizing and that the supply of aggregate liquidity is ample.''

Central banks in South Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, India, and Malaysia have said they are prepared to add cash to their systems if required. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand today said it was "business as usual'' in its conduct of daily operations.

The International Monetary Fund said last week that "prompt action'' by central banks to add cash to the banking system should help avert a crisis in credit markets.

"Looking forward, while the situation is still evolving, we continue to believe that the systemic consequences of the re-assessment of credit risk that is taking place will be manageable,'' the IMF said.

[Twilight]

The fundamentals are crap and the central banks need to prop up the system with routine loans of cash with which to trade (funny how financial institutions are reluctant to lend and use their own cash!). I think the crisis is entering an event-driven phase now, we may see a continuation of the recent three days up, two days down pattern, with sharp falls on whatever the implosion of the week happens to be.

If there is no bad news, it might all coast along, but that depends on everyone being able to keep their mouths shut. Not for long though, they will have to announce results eventually!

[evilgenius]

They lenders of this emergency money could do this if they didn' t have obligations. People will starve because of the bailouts. They will starve anyway, but not so soon without this crap.

[Roccland]

The fed needs to avoid a panic...an orderly devaluation of the market and global unwinding of junk paper is the plan.

Once we are in a full on recession (READ : MSM certified)...then the rates get dropped.

For now...clear blue skys.

Everyone is eyeing the exits not daring to make a sudden move.

Too bad it is not gonna work...the smart money is out or is getting out...PO is about to become table talk... billions more in resets are on tap...and a brand new storm is in the atlantic.

This is gonna end really...really....really badly.

[Lore]

You have to listen to this Bloomberg audio link of Dr. Marc Faber (aka Dr. Doom) an investment analyst and entrepreneur born in Zurich, Switzerland. Put to you in the no BS Swiss attitude.

Bloomberg: Audio Link

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lore', 'P')ut to you in the no BS Swiss attitude.

[Eli]

Here is an article by Peter Schiff tell me if it does not ring true.


Link



$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')here once it was about saving, investment and production, now the US is more about massive consumption on borrowed money. "We have a very sick economy -- it's been papered over because everyone around the world has been willing to lend us money," Schiff tells The Australian. "Now they are finding we can't pay them back."

"Everyone thinks the US is the No1 economy in the world. We're not. All we've been doing is consuming stuff on borrowed money. There's no savings."

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Roccland', 'T')his is gonna end really...really....really badly.

[dutchcyclist]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/80fa0a2c-49ef-1 ... fd2ac.html

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dutchcyclist', 'h')ttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/80fa0a2c-49ef-11dc-9ffe-0000779fd2ac.html

[evilgenius]

Watch out for the rising dollar and falling gold. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it will catch many of those fleeing to safety. Right now everyone is going in different directions and nobody knows if their path will lead to safety. Those that can use the situation of falling gold should do it to obtain gold for the long term, not for the short term.

Gold will probably suffer because most of the people running for safety will eventually seek US government bonds and that will drive up demand for dollars. Also, defaults reduce money supply and reduced supply will buoy the dollar. A higher dollar will keep gold low. Buy gold for the long term as it suffers reduction, buy gov bonds now to reap short term reward.

[Zardoz]

The Dow dropped 207 points today, closing at 13,029.

U.S. Stocks Fall on Wal-Mart Forecast, Concern on Redemptions

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'U').S. stocks tumbled after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. cut its profit forecast, money managers continued to suspend investor redemptions and the Fortress Investment Group LLC hedge fund said takeovers have dried up...

...Sentinel Management Group Inc., the Illinois-based cash- management firm that oversees $1.6 billion, froze client withdrawals after saying that credit-market turmoil made it impossible to trade.

Sentinel, based in the Chicago suburb of Northbrook, said it contacted the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for approval to halt redemptions "until we can honor them in an orderly fashion,'' according to an Aug. 13 client letter posted on TheStreet.com Web site. Regulators said the firm never made such a request.

[DantesPeak]

The US mortgage market is shutting down faster this evening than ever before - barring the time the US banking system was closed down by President Roosevelt in the Great Depression (aka banking holiday).

Wells Fargo and other have pulled out of the sub-prime mortgage market and General Motors' mortgage division will no longer have anything to do with lower quality loans, and is reducing the amount it will finance on jumbo (large) mortgages.

I don't expect the result of the housing bubble collapse to proceed any better than the events in this country did from 1929 to 1934 - with the same massive loss of financial wealth and dislocation.

[Eli]

It is becoming increasingly clear that the Fed is doing their level best to hold this hedgefund economy together.

And it is also becoming clear that their best is not good enough.


The current thing that pisses me off is all the Wall St. suits are crying for a fed cut because they are losing some money. The fed lowering the rate is going to do fuck all for housing. The banks are already moving to higher real interest rates because of all the foreclosures and their own losses.


The other thing that is going to start showing up shortly is US companies that were losing money and that were in trouble are going to have to start declaring Bk. With the cheap debt laying around they were able to keep things moving, when they go to refi they are not going to be able to do it.

[Zardoz]

Consumer pessimism hits 2-year high: ABC/Post poll

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he survey also showed that 57% of the consumers surveyed think the economy is getting worse, the highest since October 2005, while 15% say it's getting better.