Economics – Nov 17

November 17, 2006

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Bush’s Chernobyl Economy

Mike Whitney, Counterpunch
In the next few months, a financial crisis will arise somewhere in the world which will jolt the American economy and trigger a swift and precipitous decline in the value of the dollar.

This is not speculation; it will happen and there is nothing that the Bush administration can do to stop it.

All of the traditional supports for the dollar have been removed by the shrinking economy, a massive $800 billion account deficit, dramatic increases in the money supply, and the reckless manipulation of interest rates.

Now, the noose is tightening. Our foreign trade partners can see that we are drowning in red ink and are refusing to buy back our debt in the form of US Treasuries. This is a death sentence for the dollar. It means that in a matter of months the once-mighty greenback will crash through the floor and free-fall through open space.
(9 Nov 2006)
Mentions peak oil. Troubling article which concludes “Hard times are on the way; only this time it’ll be detention centers instead of soup kitchens.” (!) -AF


Ex-energy secretary sees further rise in oil prices

RABIN GUPTA, The Peninsula
The long-term trend as far as oil prices are concerned is that they will rule at the present levels or may possibly go higher.

Former US energy secretary Spencer Abraham told The Peninsula yesterday that he doubted prices would fall given the current levels of demand which was also growing at a rapid pace.

Abraham served as Energy Secretary in the George W Bush administration from 2001 to 2005.

He said: “It is clear to me that real spare production is significantly less that it has ever been. It is now near peak season, and there is not much (spare production) left.”
(13 Nov 2006)


U.S. Energy Chief Says High Oil Prices Could Wreak Economies of Many Countries

Voice of America
U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman is warning that high oil prices can wreck economies, especially in the developing world. Secretary Bodman says they can also stifle business growth and hurt efforts to improve health care for the poor. Bodman made his remarks during a speech in Washington.
(14 Nov 2006)
Transcript of the speech.. Bodman seems to be more realistic than many in the administration about energy. -BA


1927-1933 Chart of Pompous Prognosticators

The Big Picture blog
“We will not have any more crashes in our time.”
– John Maynard Keynes in 1927

“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

“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
(8 Nov 2006)
… and so on with each numbered quote linked to a point on a graph of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.


Tags: Energy Policy, Fossil Fuels, Oil, Politics