In the 19th century, financial meltdowns were called Panics, after the Greek god of fear Pan. When everyone is afraid, financial values plummet.
The word was changed to Depression for the Hoover-FDR version. Both men did everything wrong and made a temporary situation a 10-year disaster for ordinary people.
After WWII, they decided to use a nicer word than Depression, so we had Recessions.
Later, a government economist called the upcoming Recession a "Soft Landing."
Now we are back to Panics. This is truly a global Panic brought on by government felons, bankers, and the welfare mentality. The bad mortgage loans were bad enough, but they were turned into equities and sold all over the world and made worse with Credit Default Swaps.
Upcoming disasters suggest the bottom has not been reached:
- European debt, as mentioned below by Bruce Church.
- More American mortgages will reset and default in 2009.
- Commercial real estate is so bad that gambling high rises in Las Vegas are left half-finished, I am told. Trump is in major trouble in two developments. A $1 billion venture in NYC has been closed down.
- Student loan debt has also been turned into securities. Income will not support repayment.
- Credit card debt is also sold as high-yielding securities, which are great when people pay their cards on time.
The federal bailouts have been a disaster, so they will soon pass a new Pork Bill to provide welfare benefits by borrowing $1 trillion from future generations. The same party hedged and moaned over supporting our troops overseas. When I read the Constitution I see nothing about funding the welfare state and plenty about defense. But we have two parties who refuse to defend our borders, which is specifically listed as a duty in the US Constitution.
My teaching schedule has already changed. I was planning to move into Internet based insurance and annuities, as a retirement fund in 2010. I am going to start training tomorrow. It will be like online teaching, with no papers to handle, everything done on the computer, Internet, and phone. I bought my current term policy that way and got a 50% reduction in cost over Northwestern Mutual.
