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Have we hit bottom yet? Questions and predictions for 2009
NY Daily News ^ | 12/31/08 | Michael Goodwin

Posted on 12/31/2008 2:23:42 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster

Have we hit bottom yet? Questions and predictions for 2009

Wednesday, December 31st 2008, 4:00 AM

/snip

1. Up, Up and Away? Like a fidgety kid on a long car trip, we want to know whether the misery on Wall Street will last. The adult version of "Are we there yet?" is "Have we hit bottom?"

Sorry to be a Gloomy Gus, but the worst is yet to come.

If you believe the economic collapse resulted from too much easy money, there is little reason for optimism. Both our governments and our families continue to pile up debts that exceed the ability or will to repay them. Something has to give.

Prediction: Look out below.

2. The New Normal. Remember when it was good to be normal and bad to be obnoxious? That changed about the time Hollywood started making heroes out of rebels without causes and ridiculing those who play by the rules. Reality TV, most of which involves bikinis and hot tubs, is creating a new generation of hedonists.

I got a dose of the arrested development result when I politely asked a teenage lout to turn down his blaring radio. He told me what to do with myself before declaring, "This is America, man." Indeed it is.

Prediction: Nice guys and girls will finish last in 2009.

3. Clinton versus Obama. The next President has fallen in love with the Abraham Lincoln concept of a cabinet full of rivals, but Abe never faced Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Obama's decision to nominate Hillary as his secretary of state gets her out of Washington while tapping her talent, but it won't stop their quest for a restoration of the Clinton presidency. Nothing can.

Prediction: First stories on friction surface within six months.

(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2009
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1 posted on 12/31/2008 2:23:42 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Have we hit bottom yet? I personally think we are still just looking over the edge into the abyss, the real fall has not started yet.


2 posted on 12/31/2008 2:35:09 AM PST by flash2368 (Scary Times)
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To: flash2368
the real fall has not started yet.

I suspect we will go through another bear rally of sorts before the real drop.

3 posted on 12/31/2008 2:39:42 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster (kim jong-il, chia head, ppogri, In Grim Reaper we trust)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

If you’re still asking, then no, we haven’t hit bottom yet...


4 posted on 12/31/2008 2:43:38 AM PST by piytar
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To: All

A Look back at 2008 (and 2007):

The question is, “ARE THEY FOR US OR AGAINST US?”
http://www.truthusa.com/AgainstUSorForUS.html


5 posted on 12/31/2008 2:48:04 AM PST by Cindy
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To: TigerLikesRooster
Obama's decision to nominate Hillary as his secretary of state gets her out of Washington while tapping her talent

Neither statement is true.

6 posted on 12/31/2008 2:51:28 AM PST by SolidWood (Sarah Palin - Everything that is Sweetness and Light!)
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To: SolidWood

I agree with you. She will never leave D.C. on her own choice. Her talent is not with foreign policy but with neutralizing (domestic) political enemies, aka politics of personal destruction.


7 posted on 12/31/2008 2:54:59 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster (kim jong-il, chia head, ppogri, In Grim Reaper we trust)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

I think those of us over 40 who have lived poor will survive best. We tend to be savers and conservers who never learned to live on credit.


8 posted on 12/31/2008 2:59:48 AM PST by cripplecreek (The poor bastards have us surrounded.)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
If you believe the economic collapse resulted from too much easy money, there is little reason for optimism. Both our governments and our families continue to pile up debts that exceed the ability or will to repay them. Something has to give.

Yep, something has to give.
One expert comes on TV and tells us we have too much consumer debt - for the good of the country we have to pay down our debt and live within our means. We have to start saving again. Another expert tells us our country is in bad economic shape because we aren't buying enough consumer goods. We have to regain our confidence and start buying again.
I made a New Year's resolution last year - pay down my debt. I quit impulse buying. I've been paying well over the minimum due and only charging enough to keep a couple cards active. One company slashed my credit limit because I wasn't using it. If I can keep it up I should be almost debt free by 2010 - then I can help the economy by buying again. Not much, and using a credit card as little as possible.

9 posted on 12/31/2008 3:03:41 AM PST by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
"Prediction: First stories on friction surface within six months."

The stories might not surface, but the frictions are going on.

Big time. We may not even get to confirmation hearings.

10 posted on 12/31/2008 3:06:20 AM PST by alloysteel (Balkanization - perhaps one of the few remaining ways to preserve American ideals.)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

here’s a bright spot:

http://www.sacbee.com/business/story/1501773.html

(exerpt)
Experts debate role of housing in Sacramento economy’s recovery
By Jim Wasserman and Dale Kasler

“One bright note is that the (housing) sector that led the economy into this morass is about to turn the corner, perhaps as soon as this summer, and will start to lead us out,” said Scott Anderson, senior economist at Wells Fargo & Co.”

Supply is down. It would take 3.9 months to sell today’s nearly 11,000 listings in Sacramento County and West Sacramento. A year ago: 12.2 months.

• Sales are up. After 37 months of declines in the region, something new began in April: eight months of year-over-year sales gains. Prices better match area salaries.

• Conservative lending and safe loans are back. Nine in 10 California mortgages this year had fixed rates, according to the California Association of Realtors.


11 posted on 12/31/2008 3:17:22 AM PST by blueplum
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To: cripplecreek

I agree...I am not worried for myself or family but I do fear for those families who havn’t a clue about Economics 101.


12 posted on 12/31/2008 3:33:06 AM PST by SouthDixie (We are but angels with one wing, it takes two to fly.)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

During the Great Depression, the big crash of 1929 saw the Dow plunge from a high of 380 on Aug 26 to a low of 228 on Nov 11, then the market rallied back to 295 on Apr 11, ‘30.

From there, the market declined to it’s absolute low of 42 on July 5, 1932.

Folks, in historical terms, we’re still in “December 1929” today.


13 posted on 12/31/2008 4:03:09 AM PST by Yo-Yo
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To: R. Scott
"One expert comes on TV and tells us we have too much consumer debt ....  ...I made a New Year's resolution last year - pay down my debt."

My resolution is to stop listening to TV experts.

14 posted on 12/31/2008 4:11:06 AM PST by expat_panama
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To: TigerLikesRooster

I predict something bad happening sometime around the 20th of June in 2009. That would be three and a half years before “the end of the world on Dec. 21 2012”, the mid point of the tribulation.


15 posted on 12/31/2008 4:15:31 AM PST by rsobin
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To: TigerLikesRooster

My prediction:

Liberal blue states in the northeast and midwest will go down the crapper, and government will steal money and resources from functioning conservative red states in the south to prop up the welfare bums and thieves.

Haven’t we seen this scenario before?


16 posted on 12/31/2008 4:17:23 AM PST by sergeantdave (Michigan is a bigger mistake than your state.)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Have we hit bottom yet? with obama in office the answer is yes for four long years even with his training wheels on.


17 posted on 12/31/2008 4:20:02 AM PST by Vaduz
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To: rsobin
I predict something bad happening sometime around the 20th of June in 2009.

So that's the day I'm going to break a nail. Good to know in advance, so I can be prepared. ;-)

18 posted on 12/31/2008 4:20:03 AM PST by Allegra
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To: sergeantdave
It would be the case of too few red state folks bailing out too many blue state people, the wealthy, yuppies, and welfare class, the works.
19 posted on 12/31/2008 4:22:14 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster (kim jong-il, chia head, ppogri, In Grim Reaper we trust)
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To: rsobin
Indeed something “bad” might happen and many Christians miss that they will live through part of the tribulation. The rapture doesn't happen at the beginning if one reads Revelations carefully. We will be asked to accept the ‘mark of the beast’ in order to...buy, barter, etc.

I've been saying 0bama will bring in a new monetary system in Spring 09. Cash as we know it is going away. Look at what they are saying about consumers.

We're not using our cards, many are resorting back to cash. They don't want us to do that! They are going to collapse the current monetary system. I've been told what I am insinuating is un-Constitutional, but look at what we elected. He doesn't even believe in the Constitution as it is written.

I posted just a few days ago that even being in gold/silver coins might not be any good. Most Americans wouldn't even recognize a real Morgan dollar, let alone accept it in trade.

20 posted on 12/31/2008 4:37:05 AM PST by EBH ( Directive 10-289)
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