Economic Meltdown and Economic Pain, Credit Cards to Implode, Meat Rationing and the New Oil

ECONOMIC MELTDOW: Roubini Global Economics (rge.monitor.com) is noting in the article “The Real Risk Of Systemic Financial Meltdown: Funding Freeze Spills Over To The Corporate Sector” that banks, although cash-rich as a result of record liquidity being injected into the financial system, are hoarding their cash for fear of losing it to bad loans. The result of these bank policies is a dramatic reduction in non-financial corporations liquidity which could lead to greater corporate default.

ECONOMIC PAIN: An advisor for Prudent Bear Fund and Prudent Global Income Fund, David Tice, in a money news.newsmax.com article of 10/02/08 entitled “Tice: Five Years of Economic Pain Ahead “, predicts five years of economic pain ahead as a result of continuing restrictive credit and continuing declines in real estate. These situations will play out regardless of the bailout package and could devolve from a severe recession into a full blown depression.

CREDIT CARDS TO IMPLODE: theglobeandmail.com in their 9/29/08 article entitled “Credit cards to implode:’ analyst”, indicate that in the first quarter of 2009 bad credit debt in the U.S. will begin to start crashing down on the economy due to the deterioration of personal finances and the credit and mortgage crises

MEAT RATIONING: “Meat must be rationed to four portions a week, says report on climate change” shouts the guardian.uk.com article of 9/30/08. The piece by Juliette Jowit says that ”people will have to be rationed to four modest portions of meat and one liter of milk a week if the world is to avoid run-away climate change.” The basis for this recommendation is the report from the Food Climate Research Network at the University of Surrey. The findings in this report are in concert with those of the Ecologist magazine of October 2008.

THE NEW OIL: Energy Bulletin (energy bulletin.net) of 10/3/08 notes in the Staff article “Water-Oct 3”, “The basic story: 97% of the world’s water is salty. Humans use of the remaining 3% has boomed, the result of industrialization and the need to produce more food to feed a growing, wealthier population.”

NOTE: If the news appears bad and the prospects for the future appear grim: that’s simply because they are. These are difficult times with the prospect of still harder times yet to come. While this is true it is also true that mankind has endured some very hard times in the past. Remember we endured the dark-ages before coming into the renaissance. We must look up then look to ourselves.

In the meantime, keep your eyes on the horizon.