I'm under the impression that the global meltdown hasn't really 'kicked in'. Sure the rock has been thrown in the pond and we've all read about
the splash, it's a case of just waiting for the waves and ripples to hit us now.
Also, I'm not entirely sure that property investments and such are the way to get us out of this kind of mess. I think it was the way property has
been dealt with over the last couple of decades that's been partly the thing that got us into this mess in the first place.
I understand that this primarily a 'capitalist' society (or at least capitalist of sorts) and that profit is to be made with anything but, at the
same time, housing/shelter is a fundamental human need. Yet, the drive to make money from this particular market has made it increasingly difficult
for many people to secure such a basic need.
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WOW sounds like these "smart" guys from GD1
1. "We will not have any more crashes in our time."
- John Maynard Keynes in 1927
2. "I cannot help but raise a dissenting voice to statements that we are living in a fool's paradise, and that prosperity in this country must
necessarily diminish and recede in the near future."
- E. H. H. Simmons, President, New York Stock Exchange, January 12, 1928
"There will be no interruption of our permanent prosperity."
- Myron E. Forbes, President, Pierce Arrow Motor Car Co., January 12, 1928
3. "No Congress of the United States ever assembled, on surveying the state of the Union, has met with a more pleasing prospect than that which
appears at the present time. In the domestic field there is tranquility and contentment...and the highest record of years of prosperity. In the
foreign field there is peace, the goodwill which comes from mutual understanding."
- Calvin Coolidge December 4, 1928
4. "There may be a recession in stock prices, but not anything in the nature of a crash."
- Irving Fisher, leading U.S. economist , New York Times, Sept. 5, 1929
5. "Stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau. I do not feel there will be soon if ever a 50 or 60 point break from
present levels, such as (bears) have predicted. I expect to see the stock market a good deal higher within a few months."
- Irving Fisher, Ph.D. in economics, Oct. 17, 1929
"This crash is not going to have much effect on business."
- Arthur Reynolds, Chairman of Continental Illinois Bank of Chicago, October 24, 1929
"There will be no repetition of the break of yesterday... I have no fear of another comparable decline."
- Arthur W. Loasby (President of the Equitable Trust Company), quoted in NYT, Friday, October 25, 1929
"We feel that fundamentally Wall Street is sound, and that for people who can afford to pay for them outright, good stocks are cheap at these
prices."
- Goodbody and Company market-letter quoted in The New York Times, Friday, October 25, 1929
6. "This is the time to buy stocks. This is the time to recall the words of the late J. P. Morgan... that any man who is bearish on America will go
broke. Within a few days there is likely to be a bear panic rather than a bull panic. Many of the low prices as a result of this hysterical selling
are not likely to be reached again in many years."
- R. W. McNeel, market analyst, as quoted in the New York Herald Tribune, October 30, 1929
"Buying of sound, seasoned issues now will not be regretted"
- E. A. Pearce market letter quoted in the New York Herald Tribune, October 30, 1929
"Some pretty intelligent people are now buying stocks... Unless we are to have a panic -- which no one seriously believes, stocks have hit
bottom."
- R. W. McNeal, financial analyst in October 1929
7. "The decline is in paper values, not in tangible goods and services...America is now in the eighth year of prosperity as commercially defined. The
former great periods of prosperity in America averaged eleven years. On this basis we now have three more years to go before the tailspin."
- Stuart Chase (American economist and author), NY Herald Tribune, November 1, 1929
"Hysteria has now disappeared from Wall Street."
- The Times of London, November 2, 1929
"The Wall Street crash doesn't mean that there will be any general or serious business depression... For six years American business has been
diverting a substantial part of its attention, its energies and its resources on the speculative game... Now that irrelevant, alien and hazardous
adventure is over. Business has come home again, back to its job, providentially unscathed, sound in wind and limb, financially stronger than ever
before."
- Business Week, November 2, 1929
"...despite its severity, we believe that the slump in stock prices will prove an intermediate movement and not the precursor of a business
depression such as would entail prolonged further liquidation..."
- Harvard Economic Society (HES), November 2, 1929
8. "... a serious depression seems improbable; [we expect] recovery of business next spring, with further improvement in the fall."
- HES, November 10, 1929
"The end of the decline of the Stock Market will probably not be long, only a few more days at most."
- Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics at Yale University, November 14, 1929
"In most of the cities and towns of this country, this Wall Street panic will have no effect."
- Paul Block (President of the Block newspaper chain), editorial, November 15, 1929
"Financial storm definitely passed."
- Bernard Baruch, cablegram to Winston Churchill, November 15, 1929
9. "I see nothing in the present situation that is either menacing or warrants pessimism... I have every confidence that there will be a revival of
activity in the spring, and that during this coming year the country will make steady progress."
- Andrew W. Mellon, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury December 31, 1929
"I am convinced that through these measures we have reestablished confidence."
- Herbert Hoover, December 1929
"[1930 will be] a splendid employment year."
- U.S. Dept. of Labor, New Year's Forecast, December 1929
10. "For the immediate future, at least, the outlook (stocks) is bright."
- Irving Fisher, Ph.D. in Economics, in early 1930
11. "...there are indications that the severest phase of the recession is over..."
- Harvard Economic Society (HES) Jan 18, 1930
12. "There is nothing in the situation to be disturbed about."
- Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon, Feb 1930
13. "The spring of 1930 marks the end of a period of grave concern...American business is steadily coming back to a normal level of prosperity."
- Julius Barnes, head of Hoover's National Business Survey Conference, Mar 16, 1930
"... the outlook continues favorable..."
- HES Mar 29, 1930
14 "... the outlook is favorable..."
- HES Apr 19, 1930
15. "While the crash only took place six months ago, I am convinced we have now passed through the worst -- and with continued unity of effort we
shall rapidly recover. There has been no significant bank or industrial failure. That danger, too, is safely behind us."
- Herbert Hoover, President of the United States, May 1, 1930
"...by May or June the spring recovery forecast in our letters of last December and November should clearly be apparent..."
- HES May 17, 1930
"Gentleman, you have come sixty days too late. The depression is over."
- Herbert Hoover, responding to a delegation requesting a public works program to help speed the recovery, June 1930
16. "... irregular and conflicting movements of business should soon give way to a sustained recovery..."
- HES June 28, 1930
17. "... the present depression has about spent its force..."
- HES, Aug 30, 1930
18. "We are now near the end of the declining phase of the depression."
- HES Nov 15, 1930
19. "Stabilization at [present] levels is clearly possible."
- HES Oct 31, 1931
20. "All safe deposit boxes in banks or financial institutions have been sealed... and may only be opened in the presence of an agent of the
I.R.S."
- President F.D. Roosevelt, 1933
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Originally posted by SugarCube
Of course, this kind of talk is aimed at the low level consumers to kick start the process - but it still works.
If we had more confidence in our governments and banks this would have a greater effect though. The man on the street knows that he his being lied to
but it still has a positive effect. The more that people "believe" that things are getting better, the more likely they are to relax to tend toward
the activity of spending.
While that sounds true in theory, it’s not the case right now. People cannot spend what they don’t have, and the people are broke. Most everyone
has spent themselves into so much debt over the last 10 years that no one has anything left to stimulate the economy with. Personally, I believe that
the final nail in the coffin was Busch allowing the Oil Companies to rape the public since 911. That increased the price of everything else, causing
the average American to be drained of their financial resources, and live off credit. Now they have no credit left, the bills are coming due, and
stuff is still getting more expensive.
If these companies want to stimulate the economy then they need to realize that for a few years they may have to scrape along at breaking even, or
even taking mild losses. They should be able to absorb the hit as many have been making record profits for years now. They need to drop the prices of
their goods and services, they need to stop outsourcing to other countries, and they need to increase salaries. After all, whom do they think that it
is that buys their services anyway? If we cannot afford their stuff, then are they really helping themselves by cutting back positions and salaries?
Ultimately in their greed to make major profits, they have cut their own throats by killing off their customers.
Americans are picked on by foreigners for our consumption of goods, but in reality, our consumption is what drove the world economy for years. Now we
cannot afford to consume, because greedy corporations have taken all the money out of our side of the bucket, and if the bucket does not level back
out some, it’s going to tip over and take the rest world down with us.
I am reminded of a Verse from Revelations: “A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil
and the wine.” Meaning a day’s wage for necessities (enough to make a loaf of bread), but the convenience items will remain cheap. This is exactly
the current situation. Junk like computers, cell phones, & TV’s are getting cheaper, but people are spending their whole salaries to just stay
afloat while paying for necessities. If the Big Corps don’t stop their greed and realize this is what is happening, then nothing is going to get
better, and I would wager its going to get every bit as bad as Glenn Beck stated on his “War Room” episode. People are just not going to stand for
it too much longer, and when it gets to the point where masses of them have nothing left to lose, expect to see the SHTF big time.
I am not a financial expert of any type, but that is my take on the situation.
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