Why the markets are crashing
It’s the debt, stupid
Usually I find the Wall Street Journal to be about as useful and reliable as a comic book. Then Rupert Murdoch bought it and now I’m too afraid to insult my parakeets by lining the bottom of their cages with it.
But I read it anyway because there are occasionally some gems.
Last weekend (September 17, 2010) contained one. It was predictably buried deep in the back pages where all the news media hides their occasional bits of truth and rationality.
There is but one outcome for the crazy levels of debt the economy is trying to service today. With crashing incomes and asset prices, debt, which does not diminish apace, becomes a huge drag on the financial markets.
It looks like today is one of those days when people wake up and start to get it.
Defaults, bankruptcies, and foreclosures ahead. Cash will be king and the market won’t truly recover until prices reach rational levels, way, way, way lower than where we are now.
Harold
ACGR's "News with Attitude" 