Ugh, the thing that is flooring me right now is the (apparent) lack of attention to the GLOBAL nature of this downturn. That hasn't happened since, oh, what was it, 1929?....
Been trying to wrap my brain around the notion of a deflationary spiral (also 1930's) since bobcors terrific Nov post.
Seems like the odds are stacked better to be short equity and long I-dont-know-what-except cash.
OTOH, since we're providing antecdoes, things are not terrible out in DC land. A couple of my telecom friends are out of work, and a few others dodged some fairly severe layoffs. With the Gov spending base, it seems things here are better than elsewhere, though still no where near as good as they were not too long ago.
> ...if Dubya keeps slapping duties on imported steel, lumber, textiles, etc. we will be repeating the same "Smoot-Hawley" tariff mistakes we made in the 1930's and this Recession could very well turn into a Depression or, some kind of insidious "deflation" ~ where the last thing anybody wants to do is borrow money - whether for capital equipment, home or auto loan :-
-Steve |
