It's the End of the (Economic) World As We Know It (Probably)

Of course, any kind of prediction needs a "probably" at the end of it (or at the front) just to save the face of the person doing the predicting. That said, I've kind of been right about a lot of stuff so far--not that predicting a disaster in Iraq or a dictator in the White House were hard to predict--but once again, others are confirming what I've been saying for a while now--our economy (and possibly the world's) is taking a serious dip. It seems like the Free-Market Globalism that so many people thought was the best and only way to go is eating itself from the inside.

Financial news reporter Will Hutton wrote a November 4, 2007 article at http://Guardian.co.uk describing what he felt was "The worst crisis I've seen in 30 years." Have a gander at a cutting from his piece:

I have been following the financial markets for more than 30 years. Crises have come and gone, but the one unfolding since August and which intensified last week is the most serious. It is not just that its impact is cascading around the world because of the new interconnectedness of global finance, it is that the authorities, particularly in Britain and America, have lost control and do not have the means to regain it as quickly as we might hope. With an oil price approaching $100 a barrel, we are in an uncharted and dangerous place.

After more than 15 years of extraordinarily benevolent economic conditions worldwide - cheap oil, cheap money, growing trade, the Asia boom, rising house prices - things are unravelling at bewildering speed. The system might be able to handle one shock; it is undoubtedly too fragile to handle so many simultaneously.

Lovely, so a guy who's been following this stuff for 30 years says the end is nigh. Hell, I've only been following this stuff (and not even that closely) for about 8 years and I'm saying the same thing. The last time I blogged about how weak the US dollar was versus the Canadian dollar, the ratio was 1USD=0.93CD. As of today, that's changed to 1USD=0.96CD. So, the USD is stronger than it was! But sadly, it's still weaker than Canadian cash. My specific prediction here is that this is only a temporary climb and the USD with drop again. Generally, with the price of oil rising (despite that discover of oil off the coast of Brazil) the price of everything else will rise, accordingly. To combat this, more people will take out loans, essentially creating money from nothing, thus driving the value of the USD down even further.

It's like a roller coaster with a never ending drop!

Weee?

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