When will we hit bottom?

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Well, the stock market's done remarkably well for days, consumer spending's been up since the beginning of the year, the Baltic Dry's been up since the beginning of February, housing starts are up, finance stocks are up, inflation's up... well, you get the hint. Where 2 weeks ago, people were bemoaning the end of the world, and the mainstream news outlets *probably* still are, the picture has shifted in a way which none of them really addressed. Since I'm not above blind optimism, let's use our voodoo to see where the world's going next...

My magic 8 ball says...Outlook Good...
I figure it is just as good as what anyone else has to say.

I think the US in on think ice. One catastrophe can break the economy now.

I dont think there's much hope for the recession ending until next year or at the very end of this year(holiday season)...
Things like this often get worse before they get better.

Or better before they get worse, apparently.

Anyway, an 8-ball is good, so I figure the only way to do better would be a Ouija Board. Anyone got one?

This is going to get a lot worse. Already the IMF has changed its tune and is calling it a global recession plus other previously optimistic pundits are starting to change their predictions. The UK is printing money, Iceland is bankrupt, and China has openly stated that they are concerned about America's ability to service its debt.

From what I am hearing we are headed for a global depression that could last for years.

When the next war starts going global.

Although killing people for money has proved profitable in the past and the supply of people seems almost endless these days when thuggery and disease and persecution provide all sorts of human entertainment the funds for this type of thing are derived, lately, from China and India who have become the industrial centers of the world and the funds are going right back there to pay for the armaments and not into the workers of the west who need the money to keep the economy going.

Uhh, what's our definition of bottom, and who is measuring it? The way I see it, it's up to all 536 (house/senate/POTUS) of those idiots in Washington to listen to reason and stop spending money they don't have. I think that if they stop spending money, we'll be ok.

I've got a job that will pay the bills, so I'm not sliding into debt, it'll just take a while for things to turn around nationwide. It seems to be slowing down, but then the stock market drops every time Washington passes a bill that's measured in the hundreds of billions.

I do think we're in for another major war, mostly because as the number of unemployed people around the world jumps, they're gonna get belligerent. As soon as the USA stops paying it's debts, the crap is gonna hit the fan so hard the moon will need cleaned. I mean, we are a major nexus in the world trade market, when we stop trading, the world's in trouble. And certain countries have us by the danglies if they decide to call in all their debts.

I don't think we'll bottom out until February of 2013.

I'm leaving that open to interpretation.

Speaking of which, has anyone seen the recent estimates for the debt over the next decade? Holy. s**t. Fearless Leader makes Dubya look quite thrifty in retrospect.

Who knows? Some ppl have gotten away with some real big fortunes, mainly the boss, laughing all the way to some foreign bank.

Bottom? What bottom?

The thing is that the way things are going, the action being taken, only short-term kicks are being advocated instead of long-term solutions. That's the way it has been since the 90's. Anyway, I expect that the world's way of economy will collapse entirely, bringing about a new way for it all to be conducted.

Is that a Mayan prediction?

ruveyn

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8-J4hL7iDM[/youtube]

The unemployment rate hasn't reached the levels that it was at during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, and the Dow Jones, if you consider that to be a bellwhether, has been enjoying a rally of late. We have a number of healthy nanotech start-ups, and the development of the technology is coming along very well so far; within a few years, we should enjoy a boom as a result of growth in that sector of our economy.

Furthermore, the US was, until recently, the only country in the world that produced a true electric sport car, and the competition is heating up. Once there are enough such automobiles on the road, the consumer will do most of the dirty work: we will begin to phase out the old petrol sippers once and for all. More presently, the USA should lead in the market for many years to come, which should create millions of jobs for Americans.

I think that I can reasonably conclude, at the very least, that the worst is over as far as this recession. I also predict that we will remain at about where we are presently until the market has begun to heat up again.