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#286782 06/29/08 02:48 PM
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The alarming news of a "Meltdown of U.S. Financial Markets in coming weeks" is coming from a bank in a country mostly known for Cheese and Wooden Shoes, so "what's to worry" one would say.

Originally Posted by Bad Cop News
Fortis Bank Predicts Meltdown Of U.S. Financial Markets In Coming Weeks
June 27th, 2008

BRUSSEL/AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS - Fortis expects a complete collapse of the US financial markets within a few days to weeks. That explains, according to Fortis, the series of interventions of last Thursday to retrieve � 8 billion. "We have been saved just in time. The situation in the US is much worse than we thought", says Fortis chairman Maurice Lippens. Fortis expects bankruptcies amongst 6000 American banks which have a small coverage currently. But also Citigroup, General Motors, there is starting a complete meltdown in the US"
http://www.badcopnews.com/2008/06/2...of-us-financial-markets-in-coming-weeks/


But even Steven Pearlstein from The Washington Post is pessimistic:

Originally Posted by The Washington Post
This Recession, It's Just Beginning
By Steven Pearlstein
Friday, June 27, 2008; Page D01


So much for that second-half rebound.

Truth be told, that was always more of a wish than a serious forecast, happy talk from the Fed and Wall Street desperate to get things back to normal.

It ain't gonna happen. Not this summer. Not this fall. Not even next winter.

This thing's going down, fast and hard. Corporate bankruptcies, bond defaults, bank failures, hedge fund meltdowns and 6 percent unemployment. We're caught in one of those vicious, downward spirals that, once it gets going, is very hard to pull out of.

Click here for the rest of the article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/26/AR2008062604030.html


Live and let live
Joined: Apr 2000
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Could be the end of the world as we know it ... or it could be the capitulation phase of a down market, the time when everybody throws up hands and gives up, crying doom and gloom, while the smart money starts to buy.

Keep in mind, though, that if things are as bad in the U.S. as the Fortis fools (who just got themselves in a big-time liquidity crisis) say, imagine how bad it's going to be in places that don't have the people resources, natural resources or free-market flexibility of the U.S.

--Lan Sluder


Lan Sluder/Belize First
http://www.belizefirst.com
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Totally agree on Fortis; they are trying to get the attention away from their own problems.

On the other hand, the US economic situation will probably not improve until after the elections, and then it will depend on the new president and his economic policy. I think that is a normal reoccurring phenomenon.

The question then is how much impact the rising oil prices will have had on the economy and how the national debt can be lowered, to attract investors. Of course the smart money will buy but it is crucial to select the right timing; Brazil, China and India have become fierce competitors.

In the mean time oil will continue to go up, and tourism will suffer.


Live and let live
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"The alarming news of a "Meltdown of U.S. Financial Markets in coming weeks" is coming from a bank in a country mostly known for Cheese and Wooden Shoes, so "what's to worry" one would say."

Guess they had it right after all.

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Yes, but Fortis barely made it through this weekend themselves:
[u]Fortis bank latest victim of credit crisis[/u] ; [u]Fortis gets �11bn lifeline from three governments[/u]

In the mean time the crisis reaches an all time low: Hugh Hefner has to fire his Playboy Bunnies! Keep in mind that Grandpa Hefner even survived the crash of 1987 without any damage. See this article in the Telegraph: [u]Playboy bunnies have become the latest victim of the credit crunch.[/u]


Live and let live
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White Sands Dive Shop
https://whitesandsdiveshop.com/
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Elbert - only after they have paid back all the money they have skimmed off!


Harriette
Take only pictures leave only bubbles
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A friend i worked with sent me some pics from 9/29/08: from an anti-bailout protest on Wall Street,
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2008421&l=797a3&id=1003315385

Last edited by wade the gringo; 09/30/08 03:07 PM.

"But WHY's the rum gone?

www.wadethegringo.com
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Pretty interesting, you have Rush Limbaugh and Jesse Jackson on the same side of the issue. Once again, politics makes strange bedfellows


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