Not a good day for economic news...

[noonereal]

Originally Posted by whell

I love how some editorial writers post their own views by starting that their views are "what most Americans think"....

Well, it could be worse. Your posts could start by saying "what most Americans think".

LOL

[Arkay]

I said back in 2008-9 that the problems then were NOT being solved by the steps governments were then taking, but only shifted and postponed, and ultimately worsened by layering a layer of looming inflation over everything. (For those who remember, I predicted the 2008 near-collapse on AK more than a year beforehand (2 years?), although unfortunately (for me) the thread disappeared when the political forum was taken down and this one put up.)

I still hold by that: things were postponed and shifted, not truly solved. One immediate problem was traded for an equally serious future problem, and we are now edging into that. We are seeing the beginnings this year of inflation, in US$ terms, that could well be the most severe in the country's history. Added to the huge issues Europe is dealing with (been following the news from Greece and Spain? Read the FT?), and some serious structural and reporting flaws in China (plus the fact that their economy is still heavily affected by their export markets, as much as they'd like to say that isn't true), and there is nothing rosy-looking in the world today. Tough times are ahead, and anyone who thinks everything is rosy is living in the roaring side of the late 1920s (although the problems this time are different). Bought anything in Japan lately? It's a good indication of how bad everthing is looking elsewhere and how out-of-kilter the currency situation is becoming.

As the song says, "these jobs (and currency values, standards of living, etc...) are going, boys, and they ain't comin' back!" ...at least, not for a good while. The next few years will be a rocky ride for us all.

It's a good time to buckle down, look for safe havens, cut extravagance to the bone, and try to step lively as the world lurches through what is to come.