It was the perfect storm.
U.S. manufactured durable goods orders for January weakened, down 7.8%, fueled in part by the continued slump in the housing market.... with January housing starts down 14.3% while real estate delinquencies swelled.
Former Federal Reserve guru Alan Greenspan predicted a possible recession in 2007.
China's stock markets fell to a 10-year low, partly due to measures taken in Beijing to slow their rampaging economy.
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez announced they were taking at least 60% control of foreign-run oil projects in their Orinoco river region by May 1, affecting the operations, and slowing production, at BP, Exxon, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and France's Total SA and Norway's Statoil ASA. Development of the tar-soaked river belt promises heavy oil deposits that may outstrip Saudi Arabia's current proven reserves.
So.... Tuesday, as the bad-news waves pounded the market, it floundered and then plunged 416 points by day's end, partly weighed down by a barrage of computer-driven sell orders. The worst market sell-off since the terrorist attack of 9/11 in 2001.
Worldwide it was estimated that a trillion dollars in equities vanished.
This was a warning shot across our bow.
There are forces out there greater than the United States financial might that can strike and inflict a devastating, even mortal, blow to our debt-ridden, trade-deficit-saturated economy.
Yet, a heedless Captain Bush has left a "do not disturb" sign on his cabin door, after setting his relentless course toward the deadly Iraq-war reefs.
1 comment:
The inescapable reality is that we can be brought to our knees financially and decapitated with the destruction of the Internet...all without a single shot.
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