a second Great Depression.”---Paul Krugman

Let’s not mince words: This looks an awful lot like the beginning of a second Great Depression.”---Paul Krugman


Is there some good news for 2009? There are things that should bring some cheer.

the plummeting price of crude oil to $40 a barrel has put some $200 billion back into the pockets of Americans. That may help economic activity somewhat or at the very least, help repair household balance sheets.


by James Turk

*****


Basically, banks make too many loans creating a ‘boom’ that is built upon an unsustainable and shaky foundation of credit. Eventually, the bankers and their borrowers realize that these extensions of credit and the mountain of borrowing that resulted from it was imprudent, and they then seek to improve the dire state of their overleveraged balance sheets. The ‘bust’ occurs because the loans made during good times inevitably lead to bad investment decisions that appear sound only within the illusory prosperity of the boom.

In short, prosperity comes from hard work and savings, not borrowed money and consumption. Unfortunately, hard work and savings have been in short supply, and economies around the world are now feeling the consequences.

For example, the following quote is from an OpEd piece by Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman that was published in The New York Times on January 5th: “The fact is that recent economic numbers have been terrifying, not just in the United States but around the world. Manufacturing, in particular, is plunging everywhere. Banks aren’t lending; businesses and consumers aren’t spending. Let’s not mince words: This looks an awful lot like the beginning of a second Great Depression.”

James Turk is the Founder & Chairman of GoldMoney.com . He is the co-author of The Coming Collapse of the Dollar, which has been updated for a newly released paperback version, now entitled The Collapse of the Dollar