i was listening to Bloomberg TV speculating about a Fed cut in interest rates tomorrow and they appeared to welcome the news.

The amnesic tendencies of people is shocking. It was ultra low interest rates that inflated the housing bubble and consumer debt to unmanageable levels, then a ratcheting up of those rates to burst that bubble.

I'm left wondering what device the central banks will use for the next infusion of credit; it has to be something people will put themselves into unserviceable debt for...

I think we are seeing the end of one era of capitalist development, the current crisis in the financial sector is just the tip of the iceberg, underneath it's the massive problems in the 'real economy' that worry me most.

The likely outcome is a deep and prolonged recession in the West, which may spread to the rest of the world, with dire results.

There has to be a massive readjustment of the American economy which for decades has been 'growing' through the creation of debt, an enormous mountain of debt that disguised fundamental, structural problems. Now the party is over and it's hangover time.

Forcing the United States to live within its means is not going to be easy, it will require a cultural shift, and people seem reluctant to change the way they live and look at themselves honestly. This is harsh medicine for people used to living in a dreamlike state.

Though it is easy to laugh at the misfortune of the already extremely fortunate few, I do worry that the brunt of the coming heavy recession, will be felt by the poor. They might loose less in real terms, but they will feel the pain more acutely, than somebody that has seen there fortune dwindle from 1.2 billion to a mere 800 million.

"Capital must protect itself in every possible manner by combination and legislation. Debts must be collected, bonds and mortgages must be foreclosed as rapidly as possible. When, through a process of law, the common people lose their homes they will become more docile and more easily governed through the influence of the strong arm of government, applied by a central power of wealth under control of leading financiers. This truth is well known among our principal men now engaged in forming an imperialism of Capital to govern the world. By dividing the voters through the political party system, we can get them to expend their energies in fighting over questions of no importance. Thus by discreet action we can secure for ourselves what has been so well planned and so successfully accomplished."...

USA Banker's Magazine, August 25 1924

"The U.S. financial system faces a grave crisis as investment giants teeter on the edge of collapse. These institutions aren't merely made of paper and percentages, though. They're led by people - people who've made some rotten decisions in recent years. Whereas we'll hear much in the coming weeks about the federal regulators who are scrambling to avert a disaster, we should also hear about the CEOs who got very rich while their firms crumbled."...

http://tinyurl.com/49cvts

I believe the United States needs to start a long and painful process of reforming and rebuilding it's economy from he bottom up. This won't be easy and I'm not even sure it's possible at this late stage of development.

I'm not even sure if one can avoid another Great Depression, that may be inevitable, with all that implies. In many ways society is less able to cope with a depression than it was the last time. This time things may actually be worse for many people.

On the positive side, there's a way out, but it will require structual reform and change. It basically entails the redistribution of wealth and power downwards to rebuild a shattered society, one can't undermine the foundations and still expect a building not to sway in a high wind.

However, I doubt the US elite is ready to accept any redistribution that threatens them and their paramount position, they are far more likely to shift the entire burden onto the already bent and broken 'working or middle class', this will of course only make things worse. Demanding, because one has the power, that these long-suffering groups pay for the crisis which has been caused by the financial aristocracy, is really asking a lot!

This is a failure of regulation, and, without regulation, the unrestrained capitalist system is unstable.

This is what the social-market economy was all about. Why was it let slide.