THE MARKETS WILL BE WAITING FOR OBAMA FOR THE NEXT FEW MONTHS...
EVERYTHING HAS TO BE PUT THROUGH THE FILTER OF THE NEW ADMINISTRATION...MOST LIKELY ALL DEMOCRATIC WASHINGTON IN JANUARY...
CLEARLY, THE CRISIS WILL NOT BE OVER ... AND IT COULD BE WORSE.
BUT SO FAR THE CRISIS SEEMS CONFINED TO WALL STREET... OF COURSE MAIN STREET HAS BEEN SICK FOR YEARS...ALMOST UNNOTICED IN THE BUBBLE ECONOMY...
THIS IS SIMILAR TO THE 1920'S WHERE THE "FARM DEPRESSION" STARTED IN THE MID 1920'S...AND THEN TRICKLED UP TO WALL STREET...
AND OF COURSE OUR SUMMER OF $4 GAS DID NOT HELP...IT WAS THE CHERRY ON TOP OF THE COMING DECLINE.
CLEARLY AMERICA'S STRUCTURAL PROBLEMS ARE COMING HOME TO ROOST... THE CHINESE ARE NOT GOING TO BUY US BONDS FOREVER...
IN FACT 2009 COULD BE THE YEAR OF THE GREAT RATIONALIZATION...WHERE THE US LOSES IT'S "EXCEPTIONAL" STATUS...AND HAS TO OPERATE LIKE ANY OTHER LARGE ECONOMY IN THE GLOBAL SYSTEM...
I WOULD LOOK FOR A WEAKER DOLLAR AND HIGHER RATES...THAT WILL BE THE FIRST TASTE OF RATIONALITY IN THE US... THIS RESULT IS ALMOST INEVITABLE GIVEN THE STRUCTURAL STATE OF THE THE AMERICAN DECLINE...
THE ABSOLUTE DEMISE OF US MANUFACTURING THIS YEAR...WITH JOB LOSSES GOING FROM ABOUT 5000 PER MONTH...TO RECENTLY 50,000 PER MONTH WILL BE KEY TO FUTURE HISTORIANS STUDYING..."WHAT HAPPEN IN 2008!"
ESSENTIALLY THE MIDDLE CLASS HAS BEEN LIVING "DOWNSCALE" FOR YEARS... THE WORKING CLASS IN AMERICA DOWNSCALED DECADES AGO...
NOW, THE BI-COASTAL ELITES WILL GO DOWNSCALE...
A TOTAL RETHINK OF THE STATE OF PLAY WILL BE NEEDED TO REVERSE ANY OF THIS... THE OLD SYSTEM FAILED A LONG TIME AGO...ONLY IT WAS NEVER REPORTED OR CONFRONTED...
2009 WILL BE OUR NEXT 1932...
THE GREAT RE-THINK IS UPON US... AND AMAZINGLY I DO THINK IT'S "DOABLE"...
THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO START ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS....
WITHOUT THE RIGHT QUESTIONS...THE RIGHT ANSWERS ARE IMPOSSIBLE...
EXAMPLE....WHY NOT SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE NOW...? IN THE MIDST OF SYSTEMIC COLLAPSE...WHAT BETTER TIME TO JOIN THE REAL WORLD ON HEALTH CARE...
JUST ONE STEP IN THE RESTORATION OF TRUE AMERICAN COMPETITIVNESS...
