Monday, April 27, 2009

What a depression really looks like





How about sacks for clothes, instead of shopping at Saks?

How about a broken down truck instead of a Lexus?

How about a shanty instead of subprime?

How about a soup kitchen instead of Whole Foods?

And we are in a depression?

How about it?

Are you buying what Wall Street is selling?

Because you've traded down?

Are you?

7 comments:

  1. Good reality check - I'm so sick of having my intelligence insulted by the "great depression" comparisons pushed by the chicken little crowd. I find it ironic that your bear descriptors have a glove like fit for our far left progressive intellectual friends.

    Peeler

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  2. This isn't your grandfather's depression. Remember, losses are socialized. This will happen in a big way, but you won't see it. Government will paper it over until the bond market reacts.

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  3. It usually takes me about 40 minutes to get to work. Today it took me less than 20 minutes. There is no traffic, no parents taking their kids to work, no tourists. Buses are half-empty, with most passengers wearing face masks. The absence of tourists is striking. There are no tourists riding the bus or walking the streets. No tourists. The virus has not travelled to Puerto Vallarta, but tourists have stopped coming. The almost palpable absence of the latter could turn out to be as bad as, or even worse than, the presence of swine flu. As locals half-jokingly, half-seriously, comment, "If it spreads to Vallarta, the virus might kill us; hunger will surely kill us." I am afraid to admit that Vallarta residents seem to have it right: no tourists, no money, no food. I wonder if our fear of a possible pandemic, along with all the preventive measures that are causing a serious economic slow-down (cancelled flights, closed restaurants, etc.), will not trigger an economic crisis much more deadly than the flu itself.
    Chavdarova, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

    Worldwide DEFLATION anyone?

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