15 March 2008

News on American Economy Worsens

The news on the American economy only increasingly worsened through the week. The most stunning and alarming development was the Federal Reserve Board's bailout of the financial services giant Bear Stearns only days after a huge $200 plus billion cash infusion for banks and financial institutions. This is the first time a step of this magnitude has been taken since the Great Depression. Whispers also are occuring concerning the financial viability of Lehman Brothers and other corporations. Look for more shocking news to continue. Other economic news was just as grim. The dollar continues to swoon to record lows across the board against all other currencies; oil prices crossed the $110 per barrel threshold this week which makes this fuel the most expensive in history, surpassing the prior peak set in 1980 when adjusted for inflation; the price of gold reached an incredible $1000 per ounce; and inflation in the prices of other consumer goods continues to rise, most painfully in the area of food and groceries. Some businesses within the US are now starting to refuse to take dollars for payment of goods and services. And everywhere, people are shutting down their spending and starting to seriously hunker down in the looming collapse now underway. The Bush junta seems paralyzed and unable to act in any way. They look and sound a lot like the bumbing idiots that made up the administration of Herbert Hoover over 75 years ago. Will history largely repeat itself ? Hopefully not, but overall, things are looking quite bleak.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0314economy0315.html

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fi-petruno15mar15,0,7779108.story?page=1&track=ntothtml

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080313/ap_on_bi_ge/diving_dollar

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts03132008.html

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/03/15/recession_is_here_economist_declares/

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080324/ehrenreich

*****

No comments:

Post a Comment