I believe (you don't have to) that we are close to an economic collapse never experienced by modern man.

1) We are being manipulated to believe that everything is O.K.

2) Greenspan publicly said 16 months ago our world financial system was close to collapsing. ( how and who fixed it ?)

3) The stock market recovers today and it's back to business as usual. ( That too was fixed in 1 day)

4) Greenspan also publicly stated two weeks ago " We won't know we are in a bubble until it pops".

Of course I could throw alot more fuel on this fire, however it would take all day.

I FIND SOMETHING EXTREMELY WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE

Any thoughts ?

-- Dr. Friedman (df@aol.com), April 17, 2000

Answers

Manny you're drunk again.

-- (Go @ to .A.A.), April 17, 2000.

I agree. There's nothing you or I can do to change the situation except prepare as best we can for what's to come and ride it out. What else...?

-- brock gannon (brockgannon@gnc.net), April 17, 2000.

Got Preps?

-- prepster (prepster@got.preps), April 17, 2000.

Doc, you are new here, from hence did you spring? I have half an eye on the Stock Market, only as a possible indicator. I don't have much risk there, being a side liner only to view those who have much more earthly material substance than I am enjoying, this "Life Go Round". You are watching the Market, I am watching the local Strip Malls, the gas prices, the grocery prices. I am watching the strip mall stores go out of business. I have an eye on my neighborhood Big Rig Trucker (we don't know each other). Their rig sits idle, more than I think it would. I am an ignorant on-looker on the sidelines, while witnessing a scenerio I have never, paused to witness. Hope I am just paranoid. Maybe I wake up tomorrow, and all pray those today closing stores, will suddenly be filled with prospering merchants. The real economy is about Business, the Mom and Pop, the Big Guys, not the Day Tripper's (traders). May you also, pray, the same. Pray the business, be bountiful.

-- All Eyes (w@tchingparanoia.com), April 17, 2000.

Hey Doc you are right on track, looks like between now and sometime in May. Futures charts of the indexes,currencies,and commodities tell the story ahead of time. S&P500 down to 9700,nasdaq around 2200,u.s. dollar index around 95-96,Australian dollar up strong,Swiss Franc up strong, metals up, oil complex up too. his is the beginning of the big shift from paper equities to tangibles.

-- rowd (morgan77@home.com), April 17, 2000.

Hmmm.....Maybe we should start a thread with every prediction of economic collapse and rocketing gold prices just since this forum started. Nah, we'd probably implode the server :^)

-- Jim Cooke (JJCooke@yahoo.com), April 18, 2000.

You are misusing the name of a rather gifted economist. The real Milton Friedman would weep openly at your post.

Link

If you believe there is some meta-conspiracy, please provide substantiating data.

As for Greenspan's comments, I think you are talking about the LTCM bail-out. The bail-out was actually done without direct involvement of the Federal Reserve, although it is clear the Fed influenced the process.

I agree with those who suggest LTCM should have failed. This would have caused some turbulence in the short term, but the bail-out creates larger problems down the road.

Link

If you'd like to read what Greenspan really said to Congress, try this:

Link

Your third statement is just silly. Nothing about the market is "fixed" just as nothing about the market is "broken." Equity prices are well above value that can be justified using nearly all traditional valuation models. This suggest high equity prices are due to speculative investing. Most economists would argue that in the long run, equity prices will return to reasonable valuations... although a few suggest we have entered a "new" economy where the old models do not apply. Personally, I do not think the market will stay "inflated." This said, I don't think anyone knows how the market will move. As long as the market reflects the unfettered participation of economic actors... it is functioning whether you agree with valuations or not.

Finally, Greenspan is simply saying "bubbles" are judged in hindsight. If the market just settles at this level and stays flat for a decade... no one will call it a bubble. What defines a bubble is "popping" and we haven't seen that happen yet.

-- Ken Decker (kcdecker@worldnet.att.net), April 18, 2000.

Ken Decker,

You are either misinformed or maybe programmed. When are you people going to control your own live's? Does money control it? That is sad, Does love control , that is sad too if money is the back up. When you going to be free?

Freedom is more important than money, if no one loved money we would do well, goodnite greedy people.

-- whatever (odddog3@hotmail.com), April 18, 2000.