We're just about to the point where we can start a list similar to the layoff list. I suggest we call it the "Perfect Financial Storm" list.

1. Growing U.S. bear market pains. 2. Expanding Japanese banking and stock crisis. 3. Indonesia in jeopardy of financial collapse. 4. Record low Australia dollar. 5. Turkey having currency convulsions. 6. Argentina in depths of severe recession. 7. Spreading foot & mouth disease epidemic.

Question - How many more countries can the IMF bail out and who is footing the bill?

If the U.S. was unilaterally having a stock crisis it wouldn't be anywhere near as scary as the simultaneous collapse of the Japanese stock market because the fear is exacerbated by each others trauma.

Can you feel it? Its palpable. The tension is growing and its spreading

Only this is the real thing. Y2K was just a possibility but was handled due to feverish preparation and capital investment. The current crisis is growing and the winds of dread are swirling. Confidence in Greenspan is evaporating. Our stock market and the economy are integrally intertwined.

Don't adjust your picture, stay tuned - You have entered the Grassroots Twilight Zone.

-- Guy Daley (guydaley@altavista.com), March 14, 2001

Answers

Coming to all US localities soon: a fantastic loss of equity in suburban real estate of all kinds as the US bad debt overhang unwinds. This will be a logical expression of the dis-utility of suburbia as a plausible human ecology. We are going to have to fashion the next economy on something besides compulsive motoring, TV, and cheeze snacks.

-- James Howard Kunstler (kunstler@aol.com), March 14, 2001.

Just my two cents worth: The IMF doesn't bail anyone out. They make loans simply by entering an amount in their ledger, then authorizing any foreign country to print the agreed amount of currency and use it for spending (supposed bailout). It is no accident that every country in the world (practically) is in debt to this parasitic organization. They're the cause of this upside down debt load that will soon take us all under. Take comfort in knowing that those with little saved, have little to lose. Those counting on retirement with oodles of dough, good luck.

-- Ken (n4wind@aol.com), March 14, 2001.

It was a blood bath today... I have a friend that has been getting pummeled courtesy of the nasdaq.. Spoke with him yesterday.. Said that he should have pulled out a few years ago and now is wishing he had listened to those who did. (friends of his)...

-- Tess (webwoman@iamit.com), March 14, 2001.

A kind of divergence, if I may:

http://www.mind-trek.com/treatise/ecr-pem/index.htm

This is an interesting treatise on the nature of money and a proposed alternative to the current system. I am working my way slowly through it; I would be very grateful if anyone more savvy in the ways of finance would have a look and drop me a comment, mellyrn@nist.gov.

Prior to the rollover, my little town's Y2K Prep team studied Ithaca dollars, and had begun preparing to rewrite (remake) local financing, if it had come to that. The above book has something of a similar sort of idea, I think.

-- L. Hunter Cassells (mellyrn@nist.gov), March 14, 2001.

Reason # 8 to Guy's original post.

The ongoing energy crisis is taking tremendous amounts of money out of consumers pockets this year and will continue to get worse.

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), March 14, 2001.

Martin, Very perceptive! I've seen this coming for some time. The cost of energy, along with inevitable shortages of same, are going to be the factors that tip the market and economy into the abyss. You might find this URL of interest: Running On Empty

Regards,

-- Bear (bear@mkt.watch), March 14, 2001.

The media is keeping the "horror" stories of stock market losses out of the news. However, I have several friends, neighbors and acquaintances that have lost almost all of their wealth in the market. Four trillion dollars has been lost in the Nasdaq so far. Over 65% of the NASDAQ is gone, yet have you heard any of the media call it a crash? We knew this bubble was going to burst--some thought January 1, 2000, and some at a later date. Regardless, it's here and those who were greedy and carefree hadn't a clue--90% of the population.

I'm sure we all have stories of friends, neighbors, etc., who have lost. Here's one story of a close friend:

My friend sold his house in San Jose and moved to the country. He had $600,000 cash to build his luxury dream home. Land and labor is cheap here, and his home would actually be worth 1.5 million in San Jose. Construction began on his palace--money was no object to him. He invested $400,000 cash into the market and LOST IT ALL! My friend has already spent $200,000 on his 5,000 sq. ft. unfinished house. He has no money to finish it, and it's not even 1/4 done. President Bush said today that he was sorry that people lost their money in the stock market. The horror stories are many, why aren't we hearing about them?

-- CAkidd (CAkidd@yahoo.com), March 14, 2001.

Looking at this from a spiritual direction it is only going to get worse. These are all a setup for the events that the book of Revelation say must still occur. The Bible refers to them as birth pains. I remember when my wife went through labor and it was not a pretty picture, but the son she produced was beautiful.

-- Phil Maley (maley@ccnw.com), March 14, 2001.

This financial wipe-out would probably never have happened had the gold standard been maintained, with any luck we are headed back to it.

-- Will (righthere@home.now), March 14, 2001.

``Rising energy costs are hitting every family's checkbook, primarily affecting those who can afford it least,'' Energy Secretary Abraham.

Hey, finally found someone that agrees with me.

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), March 19, 2001.