Print this out, put it up on your wall, and throw some darts. Here's the #1 cause of the mess we're in.

August 04, 2006

Print this out, put it up on your wall, and throw some darts. Here's the #1 cause of the mess we're in.

49 comments:

Bill said...: That Pic kind of looks like a Blow up Doll that has been used to many times in the Oral Pleasure Catagory.; August 04, 2006 4:38 PM
Anonymous said...: That will cause some nightmares.; August 04, 2006 4:45 PM
Anonymous said...: I was just looking in my dictionary for the definition of "hideous" and what do you know? His picture was right next to the definition.; August 04, 2006 4:51 PM
Anonymous said...: Now I have two pictures to throw darts at David Lereach and Alan Greenspan.; August 04, 2006 5:00 PM
Anonymous said...: I don't know why everyone is so upset, you could never understand anything that man said. He talk for 2 hours about the economy and nobody knew what he was saying. He should have been dumped years ago and commited to a care home.; August 04, 2006 5:05 PM
Anonymous said...: agreed, and... Ben (Bendover) is going to be the whipping boy for AG's F'up(S). Inflation will be out of control for the foreseeable future. Whatever you hear in the MSM regarding inflation now is total BS. Things are bad now as the economy is softening big time, look at today's job report AND inflation is showing no sign of letting up.; August 04, 2006 5:16 PM
Anonymous said...: Just a talking head for a system of private banks that are milking our country..; August 04, 2006 5:19 PM
Anonymous said...: My prediction: There won't be any statues of Alan Greenspan on the Mall in DC.

But it's Bernanke's ball now. He already told us what he will do, so I expect inflation to take care of all those nasty, burdensome debts. People living on fixed incomes are screwed.; August 04, 2006 5:31 PM
Osman said...: Sorry to disagree, but I think the man did an excellent job through his long tenure as Fed Chair. Some of his decisions and remarks are controversial but they are at most a blemish on enviable track record.; August 04, 2006 5:38 PM
Roccman said...: Keith - on this one you are wrong. The number one reason we are in the mess we are in is there are too many people on the planet [.]; August 04, 2006 5:44 PM
Anonymous said...: During the Bush administration Greenspan was seen visiting the White House on an almost weekly basis...far more than in any other administration.

He was just a tool of Rove/Bush to get W re-elected in 2004. 1% interest rates? Yep, that'll get the sheeple feeling real rich cause their houses went up a bunch.

They'll worry about the fallout later...or, maybe not at all cause they'll be out of office by the time the shit really hits the fan...and Greenie will be collecting his $50k speaking fees. Works for just about everyone...'cept us.; August 04, 2006 5:48 PM
Anonymous said...: UNEMPLOYMENT UP . . .Market UP today. . .hmmmmmm. . .doesn't anyone get it - if the economy and housing are tanking (one in the same) then companies are NOT going to make big profits, and the market will start crashing. . .they are cheering because Fed may not raise rates. . .I predict DOW back down to 9500 by December. . .; August 04, 2006 5:52 PM
Anonymous said...: Spinning_head, how about toning down the spin bullsh_t. During the Clinton administration, Greenspan and Robert Rubin were the architects of the deal with China where we gave up most of our manufacturing capability in exchange for their cheap exports. The great Bill Clinton claimed it was a win-win for both sides and ran around China on his victory tour. Ten years later and we now see who "won" in that deal.

Your comment that Greenspan is a Republican tool is only half right, he's just a tool period.; August 04, 2006 5:55 PM
Anonymous said...: He will go down as the big bubble blower.; August 04, 2006 5:55 PM
Anonymous said...: Mark in San Diego said predicts Dow 9500, Keith predicts Dow 8500....by 12/31/06.

Mark and Keith have taken too many darts in the head.....Dow is at 11,200 today and is not going to drop 3000 points in five months.; August 04, 2006 5:56 PM
Anonymous said...: even if nyc got nuked we'd never see 1% again; August 04, 2006 5:56 PM
Anonymous said...: sorry, my bad.....Dow is at 11,300 today; August 04, 2006 5:58 PM
Anonymous said...: Osman: Seriously?; August 04, 2006 6:00 PM
Anonymous said...: one word for auto effex. . .1987!!

if you think DOW can't drop 300 point by December.; August 04, 2006 6:02 PM
Anonymous said...: He's only #2. Bank of Japan is #1 culprit, but that's because they cared about their own domestic economy (as they should).; August 04, 2006 6:05 PM
The Thinker said...: I must strongly disagree with my friend Osman, the housing bubble is not the problem, it is the symptom. The true problem is the credit bubble, and this bubble was fueled by Greenspan’s low interest rates.

Now it is up to Ben to try to mop up Greenspan’s mess.; August 04, 2006 6:06 PM
"Hunter" said...: Gee wiz, I thought he was a genius. Remember the "Greenspan put" he was supposed to protect your holdings because he was on our team. People worshiped him like a god and it will turn out his hubris was his downfall. Consensus was that the all powerful god could control markets and completely avoid business cycles. Pride goeth before a fall. Just remember the guy is human and it is abundantly clear now. Hey Alan, thanks for the world of hurt the economy is going to be in next year.; August 04, 2006 7:22 PM
Anonymous said...: mark -

dow drop 300 points by dec? probable

dow drop 3000 points by dec? improbable; August 04, 2006 7:29 PM
Anonymous said...: improbably is not impossible; August 04, 2006 7:38 PM
Anonymous said...: Greedscam, the ultimate Vogon.; August 04, 2006 8:01 PM
Anonymous said...: Mark in San Diego said predicts Dow 9500, Keith predicts Dow 8500....by 12/31/06.

I say Dow 9700. So, I am agreeing with Mark. If it drops below that then forget about equities, except gold stocks, for years. It will bottom around 3500-5000.

I am giving no time line.; August 04, 2006 8:45 PM
Roccman said...: I'll go with Kuntsler and say DOW at 4700 by 12.31.06; August 04, 2006 8:47 PM
Anonymous said...: "Keith - on this one you are wrong. The number one reason we are in the mess we are in is there are too many people on the planet"

Nope. Greed and the human desire for easy riches did it. The easy money enabled the greed and the frenzy.

Easy money and a loaded gun are similar. The gun doesn't kill until someone uses it. People have to use the easy money to get in the trap. No use, no trap. I am not in debt and my guns have not killed anybody. Thank God, at least not yet.; August 04, 2006 9:08 PM
Anonymous said...: Keith - on this one you are wrong. The number one reason we are in the mess we are in is there are too many people on the planet.

This is easily solved.; August 04, 2006 9:31 PM
Anonymous said...: JFK tried...

On June 4, 1963, a virtually unknown Presidential decree, Executive Order
11110, was signed with the authority to basically strip the Federal Reserve
Bank of its power to loan money to the United States Federal Government at
interest. With the stroke of a pen, President Kennedy declared that the
privately owned Federal Reserve Bank would soon be out of business.
Click Here

It’s time to take our country back…
AMERICA: FREEDOM TO FASCISM
"FOUR STARS (Highest Rating). The scariest damn film you'll see this year.; August 04, 2006 9:53 PM
Anonymous said...: an easy-credit society is a prosperous society --- Some moron, CNBC

An armed society is a polite society --- Some moron, Baghdad; August 04, 2006 11:33 PM
Anonymous said...: I agree that Greenspan's job was made trivial by Japanese and Chinese induced deflation.

Even Robert Rubin (to his credit) recognizes that the resulting imbalances now are very dangerous.

By the way, even uber-hawk Volcker---and Ronald Reagan---was saved by unpredictable external factors:

The unexpected discovery of significant oil in Britain and Norway in the early 80's (as well as Prudhoe Bay, Alaska), both friendly NATO countries.

We had cheap oil for 20 years as a result---and this probably helped end the Cold War---as Russia's economy fell down the well with cheap oil.

That is now ending, permanently. Peak Oil is upon us, and will be immensely more important than the Housing Bubble.

get informed {and frightened} at The Oil Drum

By the way, Mexico's giant oil field, Cantarell, is now crashing, unstoppable production declines at 8% per year.

Cantarell is the 2nd biggest oil field ever discovered, next only to the titan of titans, Ghawar in Saudi Arabia. Ghawar is peaking now. When Cantarell and Ghawar go, so goes the world.

Ben Bernanke may end up the Sam Insull of this new era.; August 04, 2006 11:47 PM
Roccman said...: last anon - you nailed it !!!

www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net
www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net
www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net

The housing crash - dollar crash - and market crash are small puppies when compared to PO.

The oil drum is an EXCELLENT web source - top scientists, PHDs, geologist...ect Best on web for current discussion about the CURRENT crash in oil supplies.; August 05, 2006 12:06 AM
Anonymous said...: During the Bush administration Greenspan was seen visiting the White House on an almost weekly basis...far more than in any other administration.

He was just a tool of Rove/Bush to get W re-elected in 2004. 1% interest rates? Yep, that'll get the sheeple feeling real rich cause their houses went up a bunch.

++++Yep, you nailed it. The future economic health of our country was sacrificed so that Dubya could get re-elected in 2004.; August 05, 2006 12:48 AM
Anonymous said...: Is that an ugly corpse from Hell?; August 05, 2006 1:36 AM
Anonymous said...: iTulip.com called this one 7 years ago when everyone thought things were going swimmingly.

It's yesterdays news. Nonetheless, it's good that it's finally permeating the public consiousness that free money isn't a good thing.

Cheers, Haggis; August 05, 2006 1:47 AM
Anonymous said...: Dow 7,500 guaranteed. It's all tied together, just watch.

It's not Greenspan, Bush, Lereah or anybody else's fault except the morons who have no self-control.

I am a bubble believer but believe it happened only because of all the idiots who took the bait. Quit whining about being a victim of this or that. That's the one sure fire way to out yourself as a Democrat. They are ALWAYS the ones crying about being a victim of something. What a pitiful mindset that political party has. Only a puss* would identify themselves as a Democrat anyway.; August 05, 2006 2:32 AM
Anonymous said...: You're absolutely right that it's an individuals responsibility. And blamemeistering sucks.

But you also can't excuse or ignore a policy that puts whiskey in the hands of drunks. It deserves a post mortem and critical thinking about its impact.

And when real interest rates are zero, even prudent people start looking around for a return on investment.

Cheers, Haggis; August 05, 2006 2:51 AM
Anonymous said...: Greenspan's legacy is still up for grabs. But no one should be throwing darts yet. Keep in mind, he was there for 20 years, and his tenure conincided with a period of great prosperity. The U.S. has chugged through one economic challenge after another, starting with the Stock Market crash of 1987 (with a recession in 1990-91 that was nowhere near as deep as it might have been) through the Bush I deficits of the early 90's, through the Asian crisis of 97, LTM, techcrash of 2000-01, 9/11, etc. A economic catastrophe in 07-08 will color his legacy but we are a very long way from throwing darts at this guy, those of us who value objectivity and fair-mindedness, that is, which may rule out most of the folks on this blog starting with Keith.; August 05, 2006 3:26 AM
Anonymous said...: Wait a minute... there's something familiar about that photo.... hmmm... add a long beard and a turban and OH MAH GAAAADDD. We know where Osama bin Hidin.... Of course Bu$hco says Osama don't matter no more (no more elections for that gang).; August 05, 2006 4:08 AM
Anonymous said...: Maybe Mel Gibson was right, after all.; August 05, 2006 4:39 AM
Osman said...: ok, so you're the Fed Chair. It's the Spring of 2001 and the tech bubble clearly popped in March of last year. The economy is reeling, unemployment is rising , and you've been raising rates for some time now in a futile effort to slow the economy down.

The economy isn't just slowing down, it looks like it's going off a cliff and the stock markets are cratering.

What do you do?

And remember, hindsight is 20/20. You don't know the future.; August 05, 2006 5:28 AM
Anonymous said...: You guys are too tough on Greenspan. He didn't invent the 80/20 loan, the no doc loan, the ARM, I/O loan, or the I/O option loan. He did over-react to the NASDAQ meltdown and kept rates too low for too long. But I also agree with the anon poster who pointed out that Greenie had a 20 year run and maybe he won't be judged purely on the last three years.; August 05, 2006 5:39 AM
blogger said...: Os - here's what I do - I take interest rates down to near 1%. I have no problem with that move.

The problem I have is keeping 'em low for 2 years too long

I remember one day in 2002 thinking to myself - man, I should go buy another house - the bank is giving money away

But I didn't because the economy was toast and I could lose my job at any moment. But plenty of smarter people did just that - they went out and bought 20 houses with the free money - and bought and sold them to others doing the same thing. The 1% rates allowed the Ponzi scheme to start and stay; August 05, 2006 9:04 AM
Anonymous said...: :But I didn't because the economy was toast

If you work in the tech sector, the economy's still toast.

Hey, there's been an uptick during 2004-05, but in contrast to company's shedding 20-50% of their headcount, it's only a glimmer of the recovery of the early-to-mid 90s before the '96 NASDAQ take off.; August 05, 2006 6:25 PM
Anonymous said...: How are Democrats or anybody blaming Greenspan "victimizing" themselves? Saying that Greenspan messed up the economy is painting yourself as a victim? Greenspan and The Fed put into place the primary actions that allowed this system to go into this possible melt-down, thats not victimization, thats rightly blaming him for his poor governance and greed that have messed things up for the entire economy, not just the fools who bought houses near the peak. The only people with a victimization complex are BushCo and is neo-cons. Whenever anyone points out their poor governance and their contribution to one of the largest economic bubbles in history some Republican immediately jumps up and starts screaming "STOP VICTIMIZING YOURSELF! WE CANT BE WRONG!". Geeze, get over yourself. This is far from being any kind of Democrat-Republican divide issue. If you read this blog regularly you'll see both liberals and conservatives identify the nation's economy as being messed up right now, the only people who think everything is fine and dandy are the pro-banking neocons.; August 05, 2006 10:08 PM
Anonymous said...: Ahh for the good old days of straight forward B.S! With such a loveable cast as... C. Keating, M.Milken, A.Cranston, K.Lay, J.Skilling, D.Dominelli, The Hunt Bros., J. Delorean, B.Ebbers, S.Sullivan and every member of the cast and crew of congress and the senate! None have ever made snakeoil so desirable as these! Feel free to add to this list!; August 07, 2006 2:32 AM
Anonymous said...: Greenspans exit from the Fed was rather timely don't you think!; August 07, 2006 4:46 AM
Anonymous said...: That's the same glassy-eyed look i get everytime i eat Thai or look through the local real estate rags!; August 08, 2006 3:51 AM