You have to see this MSNBC clip in the context of this remark from a reader of TPM:
Here’s what JC wrote: “In this clip, Nouriel Roubini and Nassim Taleb are still being treated as a circus sideshow by CNBC… They’re predicting the end of finance, and offering the only clear path out of this mess that I’ve seen offered (with the knowledge to back it up), and CNBC keeps asking them for stock tips. It’s ludicrous. Wall Street media — CNBC at least — doesn’t realize how bad this is yet. They’re stuck in a bubble where they think everything will go back to normal in a few months….”
He hits it spot on. These two guys are talking about a deep structural crisis in the world economy. And these CNBC yahoos can’t stop asking for stock tips. Really surreal.
Yeah, this post was a wholesale ripoff of TPM, but they were too on-point to do it any other way.
tx2vadem
I’ve just finished sowing a pocket into my mattress to store my money. Time to start making those ATM withdrawals. =) You know if this gets really, really bad, I just want to get on a plane to some place warm where the drinks flow like water.
What politicians of both parties want to do right now is restore the status quo. Increasing borrowing will in turn return us to the conspicuous consumption levels that have powered our economy (and many, many others) for many years. So, if the problem is leverage, then all politicians want to do is make that problem bigger. If we need to deleverage, then we are in for a prolonged recession.
I hope that it isn’t catastrophic. But I did notice when I was in Houston that there are a bunch of foreclosure auctions even there now. I’m afraid we are going to wrack up a lot of public debt on actions that won’t help. And then we’ll end up like Japan with an astronomically high public debt that will hinder government’s ability to do things in the future. For now Treasuries are cheap, but it is only a matter of time before bond investors get fed up with the Fed and Treasury printing money and Treasury yield soar. Though maybe not, where would they go?
I guess, not to give politicians too much of hard time, we do need to get back to consumption model: So, I can work more, so I can earn more, so I can do more dope.
MB
Agreed on all points. One thing I’d really like to see change is the quality of our consumption. And if that meant we took a bit longer to get back on track, I think it would be a net good in the long run.