Economic `Armageddon' predicted

http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=55356 ^ | 11/23/2004 | Brett Arends

[Travis McGee]

And I dare say, you don't risk being over run by angry starving hordes from any nearby urban megapolis!

[rdcorso]

This guy Roach isn't a dummy.I have read his stuff for the past two years and he has been consistent but bearish,especially on the dollar and bonds.I agree with him that Greenspan will go down in history as the worst federal reserve chairman ever.Bubbles are bad for the economy and that is all Greenspan does is make bubbles.The tech bubble was tiny compared to the real estate, bond, and debt bubbles that touch millions more people.Artificially low interest rates created a borrowing binge that drove up housing prices to record levels.All bubbles must pop and when the next ones do we will be in a world of hurt.It's not something you blame the president for just like Clinton shouldn't get credit for the booming 90's.It's the entire system that needs an overhaul.We can't survive with a culture in Washington that spends like drunks and thinks it can print more money to pay for it.They are debasing the value of our dollar and we need to get them under control.I hope Roach is wrong but I bought gold and silver and companies that produce it back in 2002 partly after reading articles along the lines of what Roach is saying.We need to put a limit on how much the politicians can spend and how much money they can print or we will definitely go down eventually.

[Squantos]

Zactly...I can only hope we're far enough away.

BTW..........

http://www.af.mil/news/story_print.asp?storyID=123009257

[Travis McGee]

The ultimate irony is that Greenspan was a goldbug before he was seduced by the Fed.

“In the absence of a gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value. If there were, the government would have to make its holding illegal, as was done in the case of gold.” (Gold and Economic Freedom, by Alan Greenspan-1966)

[Travis McGee]

Too cool! Great story! Go Air Force!

[Squantos]

I think Mr Tillman was looking down on all servicemen and women during that game......:o)

[durasell]

I've been reading Roach for ten or twelve years now. He's pretty good. Oddly, I saw him on cable television in a hotel in Vegas and he wasn't as impressive as his writing.
But yeah, he's a bit on the Gloomy Gus side.

What people here fail to realize -- and it's just now dawning on me -- is that they believe the President, et al are "in charge" of the economy. And that speaking out about a perceived weakness or future weakness is mistaken for speaking out against the President.

A)The President is not "in charge" of the economy in so far as he can control it to any reasonably precise degree. And Greenspan only has the blunt tool of interest rates.

B)Yeah, the housing bubble is pretty bad. When/if people start getting tossed from their homes, you're going to see some pretty annoyed people. Also, the only thing that made the dot.com hit less than emotionally catastrophic for a lot of these people is the thought that their homes are rising in value. If that value starts sinking, well, it could get ugly.

C)Along the lines of debt -- the pols, the consumers, etc. They should all just stop it. For the life of me, I don't understand why someone would refinance/pull equity out of their home -- essentially selling it back to the bank -- to buy cars, vacations, gigantic televisions and other assorted nonsense.

[AdmSmith]

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