The financial crisis more severe then thought
George Soros has published a book about the current financial crisis and explains in a lengthy interview what we all face in the coming year. Its a must read but everyone who has money or property at stake - because soon enough you won´t have any. He says how deep the general population is affected depends on how the government - especially the US government - acknowledges the grave danger.
Woodruff: So how long will this last?
Soros: Well, it depends on when the authorities wake up, because you need to reduce the number of foreclosures. You need to keep as many people as possible in their houses so that they don't come onto the market. You need to arrest the decline in house prices, but you also need to prevent human suffering and social disruption because it's going to be very, very severe. Certain communities are already hurting and it's going to get a lot worse. So action will have to be taken, but I don't think it's going to happen during this administration.
Woodruff: You write, "We are at the end of an era." When this current credit crisis ends, will the US still be, no doubt about it, the world superpower when it comes to the economy?
Soros: Not at all. This is now in question. And you now have entered a period of really considerable uncertainty and turmoil because of the general flight from currencies, which manifests itself in the commodities bubble that has developed. The price of gold hasn't yet gone as high as it might. So what comes out of this turmoil is very open to question. I think that you will have to somehow reconstruct the global financial architecture because you have recognized that, in effect, the economic weight has changed considerably among the different countries. China has become much more important and also India, and so on. What kind of system will evolve from this is, I think, a very open question.
Well for more indepth info read the interview at NYBooks.com
People tend to accuse me of only seeing the negative news - well I can not see any positive ones about financial markets or oil or our nature - so if you find any send them along and I post them - I am not a doom advocate I just say what I see and I only say it when I am sure that I have checked all logical options and I see a society in turmoil - a society that is rapidly changing without much of its population noticing it and I fear that the enduring culture shock afterwards might lead to more destruction which I do not advocate - I think humans a certainly capable of living peacefully in synch with their planet and I think we are smarter then the sum would seem - its just an information deficit - confronting people with real facts - not opinions - is going a long way towards a more beautiful living all around. So I actually welcome change if it can be used to make things better for ALL humans and nature - I just don´t see it happening when everyone is closing their eyes and heading straight to the jump only realizing too late that there is a parachute that could have enabled us a safe landing...