February 26, 2007

The Rat Bastard Speaks: Greenspan Warns Of Likely U.S. Recession


* Cause greatest bubble in recorded human history - check

* Deny you did that - check

* Tell everyone that housing crash has ended - check

* Warn today of a recession but don't say your stupidity was the cause - check

* Go home and admire your Presidential Medal of Freedom - check

Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned Monday that the American economy might slip into recession by year's end.

He said the U.S. economy has been expanding since 2001 and that there are signs the current economic cycle is coming to an end.

"When you get this far away from a recession invariably forces build up for the next recession, and indeed we are beginning to see that sign," Greenspan said via satellite link to a business conference in Hong Kong. "For example in the U.S., profit margins ... have begun to stabilize, which is an early sign we are in the later stages of a cycle."

"While, yes, it is possible we can get a recession in the latter months of 2007, most forecasters are not making that judgment and indeed are projecting forward into 2008 ... with some slowdown," he said.

Greenspan said that while it would be "very precarious" to try to forecast that far into the future, he could not rule out the possibility of a recession late this year.

"We are now well into the contraction period and so far we have not had any major, significant spillover effects on the American economy from the contraction in housing," he said.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

And London will follow the US:

"First-time buyers turn to 100%-plus mortgages" - heard that anywhere before?

http://money.guardian.co.uk/property/firsttimebuyers/story/0,,2021870,00.html

blogger said...

.
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I know it's only Monday, but isn't it about time for a major hedge fund to blow up (you know, the "bagholder")?

And is there a process for getting the medals back from Greenspan and Bremer?

Anonymous said...

No surprise to me that a recession is coming... I've been saying that since about June when I noticed there was an inverted yeild curve and also knowing what I know about the wonderful housing market...

The only question that I have is how bad will it get...

Anonymous said...

So after 9/11 and the .bomb fiasco he should have done what, raise interest rates?

Man you people are so uneducated.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
FlyingMonkeyWarrior said...

Survey: Central Banks Selling Dollars

Marie Albin, Financial News Editor
Monday, Feb. 26, 2007

Central banks around the world are diversifying their reserves away from U.S. dollars, according to a new survey sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

MoneyNews readers are well aware of plans by China and Iran to reduce their U.S. dollar holdings, but this study reveals that other countries including Italy, Russia, Sweden, and Switzerland are also paring their dollar reserves.

"Central banks are open to saying they've been diversifying to improve returns and reduce exposure to any single currency," Sean Callow, senior currency strategist at Westpac Banking Corp. in Singapore, tells Bloomberg. "There's no doubt that when they say ‘diversification' they mean selling dollars."

The report, titled "RBS Reserve Management Trends 2007" shows that 19 of 47 central banks surveyed had cut their share of dollars while 10 had increased their dollar reserves. Twenty-one central banks said they've added to their euro reserves compared to seven who had sold euros. Nine have added pound sterling to their reserves. The central banks surveyed account for $1.5 trillion in reserves.

This survey is significant because if the world starts selling dollars, the fate of the American way of life could change for the worse. Currently, U.S. federal spending relies heavily on foreign investment in the U.S. – foreigners buy U.S. Treasuries, effectively financing our way of life.

If that foreign investment dries up, Americans will face higher taxes, fewer, if any, benefits from entitlement programs, and an overall lowering of our standard of living.

http://www.newsmax.com/money/archives/articles/
2007/2/26/120350.cfm?MN=1&promo_code=2E3A-1S=AL

Anonymous said...

I thought Greenspan was an idiot never to be trusted...unless he says what you idiots want to hear, is that it?

Cash That Car said...

Greeny is such a tool!

Anonymous said...

On a quiet night on a mountain overlooking a large suburb somewhere in California, several people gaze down upon the sleeping township:

All is quiet save for the trees gently rustling in the night’s wind. And yet in the distance a faint sound, carried by the wind, can now be heard.
A voice offers, “Listen closely and you can hear a faint sound."
A gray-haired CFC executive replies, “Is it perchance the footsteps of another CFC suitor?"
“Quiet now”, I say. “Ah yes, I can hear it now also”. But there is no suitor, and the former to which you refer was only a phantom.”
Again the gray-haired one’s muffled whisper: “Perhaps a messenger brings word of further buy-backs.”
“Be still my gray-haired friend”, is my reply. “There is no messenger. It is a clicking. An ever growing clicking. Perhaps a thousand locusts,” I surmise.
As if thunder struck the gray-haired one recoils in sudden recognition of the sound, and is off in frantic flight. But as he runs for safety, he shouts back, “Save yourself. The growing din is not of locusts, but from multitudes of Delayed Detonation Debt Instruments in final stages of countdown sequence.”
“But others are not running”, I shout back.
“Pay them no heed, they are the bag-holders,” the gray-haired one replies.
“But where do you run to” I ask.
“Save yourself. The CFC debt bombs will soon be upon us,” was his only reply.

http://messages.finance.yahoo.com/Stocks_%28A_to_Z%29/Stocks_C/threadview?m=te&bn=3223&tid=33240&mid=33240&tof=12&frt=2#33240

Anonymous said...

flyingmonkey,

good lord man, you expect anyone to take you seriously with a post from newsmax.com?

Take a look at the ads on that website (how to meet women, how to increase your sex drive, how to invest in gold, get ricj quick schemes, how to avoid paying taxes) and you know in about 5 seconds who its readers are: lonely, middle aged paranoid men who haven't been laid in 20 years.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
FlyingMonkeyWarrior said...

Not takin sides, just postin.
Remember I read a Lot of News.
IW

Anonymous said...

The only question that I have is how bad will it get...

isn't there a new stock market bubble?

Anonymous said...

GOT GOLD

Anonymous said...

Hey Anon of 8:13 p.m. I got your uneducated for you. The dotcom meltdown (excuse me, THEFT) was bad enough, but it was, after all, just paper profits going "POOF". Yeah, I got burned too. Easy come easy go. The easy money of easy Al was a claim against future earnings. Believe me, they WILL get blood from a turnip. We needed to take our medicine then but now it's way too late. It's terminal. The only way to survive this mess is pay down your damn debt and convert to the only honest money that a working person has left (yes, here it comes) Gold and Silver. Take your best shot and watch your aim, 'cause it's off.

Anonymous said...

Just to give independent confirmation on the potential of a recession. Back in December an economist was interveiwed by CNN for an article where she also predicated a general recession at the end of 2007. While Mr. Greenspan is looking to corp profit stabilization and noting the housing contraction has not spilled over. The economist from CNN noted that the general economy usually suffers a downturn about 1 year after the housing sector suffers a recession, i.e. the spillover takes a year to filter into the general economy. She stated it was amazing to her that more people did not pick up on this correlation and how the tracking b/t housing recessions and general recessions had a 100% historical correlation. This is all coming from memory so it might not be 100% accurate but if anyone knows the article feel free to post.

Anonymous said...

Can you believe anything Yoda says? This is the same ass-munch who told me to get a ARM.

Anonymous said...

I remember "experts" predicting a recession in 2003 and 2004 and 2005 and 2006. Predict a recession will happen every year and you're bound to be right eventually.

What is amazing to me is that anyone takes anything any economist has to say seriously.

I'm reminded of this joke:

Accountant, economist and mathematician are all up for a job. Interviewer asks the accountant what 2+2 is. Accountant says 4. He then asks the mathematician what 3+3 is, answer given is 6. Finally he asks the economist what 4+4 is. The economist thinks about it long and hard and responds, 'well what would you like the answer to be?'

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

The recession is in the future and always will be! -A. Greenscam

Frank R said...

Does anyone really need to hear it from an economist?

Idiots "buy" homes with funny money. Homes are overpriced and loans are underpriced, for the first 2-3 years anyway. The payments convert, the homedebtors cannot make them, and it's foreclosure time. Mass foreclosures. Mortgage companies go bust, credit tightens, prices crash, recession.

Really, a 5th grader could understand that. Who needs an economist?

Anonymous said...

I was in a presentation in early 2006 conducted by an economist that consulted for large companies. He predicted a recession in 2008 and 2009 based on nothing other than what the bond markets were predicting back out in early 2006. He has been 96% accurate in his forecasts.

Anonymous said...

Greenspin, verb,
Used to explain bad economic tidings as good economic news.
similar function to an inverter in a computer chip.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.