The price of gasoline has dropped very fast, about 80 cents in one month. For anyone with a job, this leaves more money left over to pay for everything else, or pay down debt, or even buy gold.
The shock waves from the Lehman BK are still travelling around the world, having hit letters of credit, consumer auto financing, and credit card financing.
It appears that the letter of credit issues are being addressed, and we should see the ports unclogged in a few weeks.
The credit card problem is partially fixed, since many of the banks can use credit card debt as collateral with the FED.
>>>The auto financing problem is critical, and needs to be fixed to some degree before the end of the month.<<<
Auto sales are off in most parts of the world, and have the potential for spreading the downturn.
However, if credit for autos can be fixed quickly, the world could make a tranisitons to just a nasty cyclical downturn.
The chances of that are less than 50%.
If not, it things cold get much worse. |
