April 05, 2007

The IMF, not understanding that the housing ponzi scheme was global, says the world will be OK even as US melts down. Not.

I think someone needs to get a copy of "In Come the Waves" or "Manias, Panics and Crashes" over to the IMF, eh?


Man, how can so many smart people be so dumb?

World growth to 'resist US blip'

The US is the world's largest economy and has shown signs of slowing as a weaker housing market has dampened consumer confidence and spending.

However, the IMF said that the problems were US specific and should not spread.

According to the IMF, the US economy will now grow by 2.6% in 2007 and by 3% in 2008.
That is a slower rate of growth than the IMF predicted in September and reflects the increased problems in the US housing market.

Since the turn of the year, problems with the sub-prime mortgage market have further fanned fears about a slump in house prices.

Sub-prime lenders provide mortgages to people with poor or non-existent credit histories, and higher interest rates have pushed defaults to a record level.

The worry for the IMF is that while the effects of these problems have been limited, should they spread then their impact on other nations could become far greater.

"With the US slowdown to date largely driven by the cooling domestic housing market, spillovers to growth elsewhere have been limited," the IMF said.

"If the housing market downturn spread to consumption and business investment, however, then cross-border spillovers could be significantly larger," it warned.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

is the imf headed up by wolfowitz, the same guy who sold the american public or the Iraq invasion? then it all makes sense...

Anonymous said...

Hummmmm. Sounds just like the same mantra here where the "housing sector recession" will not spillover to the rest of the economy and the "sub-prime meltdown" will not spillover into prime mortgage lending.

Anonymous said...

The economy of the European Union is (collectively) the world's largest.

Anonymous said...

I guess the IMF needs to start reading HP.

Anonymous said...

yada yada yada, I bet they have all their money in Yen and Gold though.

Chris said...

Doesn't this article contradict itself in the first few sentences? The IMF says the US problem won't affect the rest of the world, but then they lower the global GDP because of it?

Roccman said...

Globalization is dead.

May 07 the SHTF.

Barring bombs in Iran.

Either way we are screwed beyond belief.

best get food, ammo, and water.

Anonymous said...

Good catch Chris G.

Unknown said...

Sounds like people rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic and expecting different results.

Anonymous said...

The little Duch boy has his finger in the damn. Come Jan '09, you'll see him hauling asses and elbows down the road!

Anonymous said...

the problem is that none of the insiders want to be the one who is blamed for causing a run on the banks.

Anonymous said...

Actually, most of the world will be ok even as the US melts down.

In case you haven't noticed... most of the so-called "Third World" are slowly but surely re-orienting their trade away from the "west" and towards the "global south (non-white)" world.

They are doing this in preparation of a US meltdown.

And the South East Asian states have pledged to work together to prevent another Asian financial crises like in the late 90's.

The IMF is right... even without the US, the world can easily reorient it's trade away from the USA within a 3 to 6 month period.

There's a reason why we see China and Venezuela, for example, forging trade deals. Or Russia and Iran going forward with trade deals. They are getting ready.

Anonymous said...

Globalization is dead.

May 07 the SHTF.

Barring bombs in Iran.

Either way we are screwed beyond belief.

best get food, ammo, and water.

April 05, 2007 2:07 PM


What happens in May?

Roccman said...

The world wakes up to the geologic issue of peak oil.

Expect $4.00 gas.

Plan for $7.00 gas. With a war with Iran - expect $20 gas (if you can find it)

and at these prices it is still cheap.

Gas and crude inventories down...all of the worlds largest oil fields in decline...demand screaming ahead...and hurricanes on the way.

This summer will be the summer of reckoning...and it will get severly worse very quick.

Think this is some kind of "urban legend"

Google Peak Oil - then get some food, water, ammo, an escape plan, and silver/gold.

Stock up on meds...get clothes and bug out bags at the ready...if you live in a large city best pick a spot to bug out to that is one gas tank away.

Serious folks...and this does not touch on a war with Iran...if that happens...duck and cover...

It is the end of the world as we know it.

Anonymous said...

Having been in Poland recently and having my sister (who is married to a builder) give me reports from Australia....I can assure you with complete certainty that in these 2 countries (at least), the bubble is as big as it is here.

Anonymous said...

ssshhhh,

Sinis, don't disturb Richard, he's downstairs playing with his toys.

Anonymous said...

Little Dutch boy with his finger in the dyke....and she liked it!

Anonymous said...

It's because they're not dumb. Those at the very top engineered this thing, just like they did 1929.

Imagine if you were controlling the BIS, had no morality, and just finished reading Mania and the Madness of Crowds.

It ain't rocket science.

Anonymous said...

Keith. These ideas are new to you, but Mania was written in 1837 I believe. The guys in power have a completely different agenda and do not share our common morality.

A "conspiracy" of that magnitude sounds crazy until you begin to look at the information rationally.