ArchivesTag : debt crisis
Falling Home Prices in U.S. – How far?
In the fall of 2007 I spoke to a housing conference, and argued that the issue about to confront real estate in the United States was not so much the sub-prime mortgage debt crisis, though that was going to be huge. Rather, I suspected, the underlying issue is the severe mismatch between how much houses [...]
Full StoryOil Prices – Falling into Crisis
Every observer I know has been surprised by the historic crash in oil prices since July 2008. Many experts, including me, anticipated that the price would certainly fall, due to ending speculation and an economic slowdown, but the price has fallen off an historic cliff. How can this be explained? A blogger who goes by [...]
Full StoryFuture of Never Sold Housing and some underlying dynamics behind the financial crisis
It looks now, about mid-day Pacific time on September 25 that a deal is either concluded or nearly so for Washington DC to provide the $700 billion or more in relief that Wall Street apparently needs to sustain liquidity and keep the economy going. Arguments still rage about whether this is a good idea, a [...]
Full StoryPreferred Debt Future: Slow down, do nothing now
The debate continues in Washington DC about the proposed $700 Billion (really much more) bail out of Wall Street investment firms and banks. Objections are being appropriately raised about both the need to do this so quickly, and the need to do it at all. Our best reading now is that the best course is [...]
Full StoryThe future way out of financial mess
Last night I was interviewed by a columnist for the Puget Sound Business Journal, about the financial crisis shaking Wall Street and reshaping the U.S. Presidential election. I reprised much of the previous blog entry, and concluded that an amazing series of bad decisions are now cascading into this debacle, with a variety of unintended [...]
Full StoryFuture of Wall Street – A futurist perspective
The 500 point drop in the Dow today, 6th largest drop in stock market history, is indicative of three interrelated social-cultural-economic factors. First, in response to 9/11 various economic actors cooperated to loosen credit as a way to prop up the economy. Ironically, in retrospect this response perfectly enabled the fulfillment of the prime goal [...]
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