I think this man is among my new favorites. Hilarious things. Gerald Celente is a United States trend forecaster and author, and CEO of The Trends Research Institute founded in 1980. He is noted for predicting the 1987 stock market crash and the fall of the Soviet Union. There is a lot of people calling him an idiot. Maybe he is, maybe not, this piece however is great fun About
Please watch.
While having some respect for Mr. Celente, I think he is off track, maybe not so much about the effect, but instead by the cause. Commercial real-estate is a non-issue. With banks soon being nationalized (BoA preferred shares being converted into common stock any day now - approx. 45% government ownership), there is no end how many they can bail out. Also, they have probably learned their lesson the last 6 months, so instead of trying to act constitutionally and go by congress, they are just going to let the FED chew up anything that seems troublesome. The only problem up ahead is Ron Pauls HR 1207 to audit the fed. If it goes through before inflation strikes, things will turn mighty interesting. If it doesn't, I think Obama will be forced by the powers behind him to veto it, which might spell his own end when inflation starts soaring for real, and the "end the FED" movement gains national traction.
ReplyDeleteIf I had any faith in Bernanke and the FED what-so-ever, we could hope for Paul Volcker move - which will instantly turn this into the most horrific depression ever, but could salvage the dollar to some extent - but sadly I think the FED is too slow. Inflation is at risk of going mighty fast this time (I like tracking the monetary aggregates), so while there will definately be bankrupcies, I think that the US Gov't will in the end nationalize / subsidize / control every key industry. This will hold up short term, but unless they let go it's Soviet Russia. And letting go means bringing down the entire federal welfare machinery.
Also, worth noting is that many said that the sky would fall on our heads before the end of 2008 - so I think that Celentes time perspective is a bit short. I think they can keep the Leviathan moving for some time yet.
Keep this comment as a historical record will you, let's see if I was right in 2 years :)
I think you are both wrong, as I have said before. But it kind of depends on what happens. I would be very surprised if we do not se another crash this year, if that turns depressiontory directly, maybe maybe not. But within a year we will see.
ReplyDeleteI just thought this post was fun, I too think he is wrong to a certain degree, but he is at least closer to the truth than most politicians are.