SADDLY, THE ANSWER COULD BE YES...
AND 2008 WILL BE THE BIG TEST...
THE SCARY THING ABOUT THIS RECENT "FUNK" IN THE ECONOMY IS THAT IT'S NOT COMING FROM WALL STREET...
OR THE MARKET MASTERS OR THE SPECULATORS...
THE PROBLEMS FACING THE US ECONOMY NOW ....ARE TOTALLY "MACRO" IN NATURE... IT'S NOT OVERPRODUCTION OR EXCESSIVE SPECULATION... IT'S A COLLAPSING CURRENCY...AND A SCARILY LEVITATING BOND MARKET...COMPLETELY UNDER THE CONTROL OF FOREIGNERS...
REMEMBER WHEN THE DOT COM BUBBLE CRASHED IN 2000...GOLD WAS LOW AND THE DOLLAR WAS HIGH VERSUS THE EURO, IT'S MAIN COMPETITOR.
THE CLOSEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT WOULD BE THE 1970'S ...AND EARLY 80'S....
AFTER THE 1971 DISASTER WITH GOLD CAUSED BY THE ABANDONING OF BRETTON WOODS...THE US ECONOMY WENT INTO A SLOW SWOON...
REMEMBER, GOLD DID NOT SKY ROCKET THE VERY MINUTE THE US DOLLAR WENT "OFF GOLD," AFTER BRETTON WOODS...
EVERYTHING LEVITATED FOR A WHILE...
THINGS LANGUISHED. THEN LANGUISHED EVEN MORE....THEY ALWAYS DO...
THINK ABOUT THE SINKING OF THE TITANIC... EVERYONE ON BOARD THOUGHT...OH, WE'LL JUST FLOAT HERE UNTIL THEY PICK US UP...!
THEN ANOTHER LOW GROAN DEEP INSIDE THE SHIP... AND THE REST IS HISTORY...
THIS "SLOWNESS" OF THE MACRO ECONOMY'S "TECTONIC PLATES".... SEEM DESIGNED TO MAKE EGGHEAD ECONOMISTS LOOK STUPID WITH ALL OF THEIR "GLOOM AND DOOM."
BUT THEN ANOTHER GROAN...DEEP WITHIN THE SYSTEM...
SLOWLY PEOPLE STARTED ACTING DIFFERENTLY...
OF COURSE, THE OBVIOUS PROBLEM WAS THE WAR IN VIETNAM AND "ON POVERTY." AND THE LATE 60'S SPECULATION ON THE STREET...
THIS WAS IGNORED AS THE CAUSE OF THE DEEP SYSTEMIC "GROAN"...
BUT THE UNEASE PERSISTED...
THERE WERE THE MEDIA APOLOGISTS...LIKE KRUGMAN AND OTHERS TODAY....
WE DIDN'T HAVE "PLUNGE PROTECTION" LIKE TODAY...
THEN THERE ARE THE ACADEMIC WHORES WHO WILL SAY WHATEVER THEIR TENURE MASTERS WANT THEM TO SAY... ACADEMIA HAS IT'S OWN INTERNAL RULES AND MORES IN THIS DISMAL "POST-MCCARTHY" ERA.
THE COMPARISON TO THE 1970'S WILL BE A MAJOR THEME FOR 2008...THIS IS ONLY THE FIRST INSTALLMENT...
2008 IS THE YEAR THE WORD "STAGFLATION" REENTERS THE AMERICAN MEDIA VOCABULARY...
BUT IT COULD BE MUCH MUCH WORSE... THERE COULD BE A DEEP GROAN DOWN IN THE BOWELS OF THE SYSTEM... YOU CAN ALMOST FEEL IT COMING EVEN NOW...
