THE BANKS: Meredith Whitney discussing some of the things that U.S. banks aren’t saying out loud with Street Talk (moneynews.newsmax.com) on 8/11/08, says that banks still aren’t being candid concerning their losses in mortgage-backed securities. Ms. Whitney, an Oppenheimer analyst of some repute, believes that not only are we not nearly finished with write-downs but the huge amounts of monies poured into the banking system have been merely stabilizing without enhancing growth.
Banks will continue to be hurt also, she says, by continued home value declines. She predicts a nearly 40% reduction in home values from their peak.
GEO-POLITICS: Russia’s recent invasion of Georgia seems to have caught the U.S., NATO, and the EU flatfooted. Questions are now being raised, according to a piece (8/10/08) in WorldNet daily.com, concerning Russia’s willingness to use military force to achieve political influence over former Soviet Union states and the effects of this new aggressiveness on future oil prices and availability (note that the major Baku-Tbisli-Ceyhan oil pipeline serving the West runs through Georgia).
Israel vs. Iran : In a recent Jerusalem Post (8/11/08) article it was noted that the U.S. Secretary of State pointed out that Israel is a sovereign nation that will make it’s own decisions concerning war and peace. Also noted in the article were comments from Israel that any S-300’s sold to Iran (to upgrade it’s air-defense capability) would be neutralized.
Iran : A newsmax.com article of 8/10/08 indicated that the Iranian government is “ ready to confront sanctions” and that their nuclear policies will remain “ under any circumstances’.
OIL AND FOOD: In a worldnet daily.com article of 8/07/08, it was noted that while gas prices are falling, “ higher energy prices are pushing food prices through the roof, according to the Siena Research Institute.”. Joseph Farah elaborated … “ this is a petroleum-based economy and rising prices for every other commodity are directly tied to skyrocketing energy costs.”.
Food : Arnaud de Borchgrave in his recent piece “ World Food Crisis Underway”, presented by newsmax.com on 8/08/08, refers to a recent report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (entitled “Global Food Crisis” ) which says in part …”The current crisis is unlike any food emergency the world has faced in the past. It is caused by a web of interconnected forces involving agriculture, energy, climate change and new market demands from emerging markets.
“All this carries grave implications for economic growth and development, international security and social progress in developing countries.”
FARMLAND: Bloomberg.com, on 8/05/08, in an article entitled “U.S. Farmland Values Reach Record on High Crop Prices (Update2) “ by Alan Bjerga, notes that while the rest of the country is in the midst of a housing crisis ” The value of all land and buildings on farms…increased 8.8% from a year earlier.” This appears to be the result of large increases in commodity prices such as wheat (77%) and soybeans (78%) over roughly the same period.
The above information coupled with the uncertainties it implies should be a strong impetus for individual family preparation. This is why we’ll be discussing expanding our three-day storage program to a full week of storage/preparation this coming Friday, 8/15/08.
In the meantime, keep your eyes on the horizon.
0 Responses
Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.