Monday, December 29, 2008

"Blind spots" in 2009 that should not be missed

Below are the developments that could take the US market into abyss next year, or the economy for that matter.

(1) More writedowns from banks.
(2) Commercial properties going downhill with the residential market.
(3) Unemployment reaches 10% or above.
(4) Non-stop Deflation, even with so much stimulus thrown in by Uncle Sam.
(5) No sign of economic upturn, even with the new,newest New Deal.
(6) Treasury bubble bursts, with no one wanted to finance the "trillion dollars" deficit of the US government, including China.
(7) Finally, emerging market debt default is a possibility.

Federal Reserve is obsolete?

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/JubaksJournal/5-reasons-the-fed-is-obsolete.aspx

Another of my favorite author from Moneycentral, Jim Jubak, is arguing that the US Fed Reserve has failed as a regulatory institution in the biggest economy in the world. With the powers that the Fed has, it has failed not once, but twice in preventing the bubble to burst in 2000(dot-com) and 2008(housing).

For instance, the Fed could have raised the margin and reserve requirements for both stock purchase and banks respectively, but it failed to do so. The worst thing is that other central banks are taking the lead role in preventing the bursting of bubble to take down their financial system with them.

Bottom line: the FED should not have let both the shadow and non-shadow banks to leverage up to the hilt.

The world is looking specifically to the US for leadership during this financial crisis, but it looks like it has to look elsewhere for it because the Fed has wasted the opportunity to create a more "sound" financial system for the world.