.jpg)
2009.03.31
How will we know its over?
How will we know that the worst is over? Are
we nearer the end of the bubble bursting or nearer the beginning? In my
mind we are nearer the beginning. Why? Because our fiat currencies
are completely dependent on confidence. Not only consumer confidence but
the confidence of all aspects of the economy. Confidence that you will
have a job next year, confidence in the management of the companies you are
investing in, confidence in your elected representatives, confidence in your
bank and your pension plan, confidence in the justice system.
Unfortunately confidence is in short supply right now and it is getting worse
not better. And unlike what the cheerleaders in the press would have you
believe, we do not simply have to think positive thoughts in order to make
things better. The only thing that will restore confidence is when people
think that they are being treated fairly again. They have to believe that
the perpetrators of this economic disaster will be indicted for fraud.
People need to go to jail for their fraudulent acts. Not just one or two
scapegoats but everyone who lied or allowed those fraudsters to commit their
crimes. I am talking about more than just Bernie Madoff or Robert
Stanford. Sure these guys need to go to jail but what about the thousands
of other accomplices that are required in order to pull off such enormous
frauds? One person simply cannot embezzle $50 billion on his own.
This goes beyond his accountants and top level employees. I am referring
to the regulators who looked the other way. Politicians who received
massive "political" donations from these people and others like them. What
about the CEO's of major banks and other major corporations who lied to the
media about the health of their firms just days before going bankrupt or being
bailed out?
I believe that this thing is far from over.
Until investors, consumers, citizens believe in the word of their politicians,
securities regulators and bank regulators this crisis has a lot of legs
left.
20:49 Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this
Comments
Hi. I watched the videos for the crash course and what I learned is that Chris M can't do math. Or perhaps I can't. If a stack of 1000 $1000.00 American dollar bills is 4 inches high, then a trillion dollars would be just over 63 miles high not 97.9 as stated in his video. He does make some very valid points even if his math is off. I believe that what the goverments are doing right now is comparable to giving chemo to a cancer patient. You may save a life, but the side effects will be a bitch.
Moe
Posted by: Maurice LaBrie | 2009.04.02
Your math is bang on Moe. Good call and kudos to you for checking his math. If 1000 one thousand dollar bills is 4" high then 1 million $1,000 bills would reach 63.13 miles. I reviewed Chapter 11 of the Crash Course and Chris M. actually states that it would reach 67.9 miles and not 97.9 as you state in your post. I attribute the discrepancy to the 4 inches stack of $1,000 bills being an approximation and not an exact measurement. However if this is so Chris should have stated so in his video. I tried to find out the exact width of a $1,000 bill but was unable to find this information. According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_denominations_of_United_States_currency) the $1,000 bill was last printed in 1861 and is now out of circulation. I like the simile of the solutions being attempted as being like giving chemotherapy to a cancer patient however I would go one step further. Since the methods being used by the Fed have never before been tried it is more akin to giving a new experimental drug to a cancer patient that has not even undergone animal trials.
Posted by: Gerry LaBrie | 2009.04.03
Post a comment