Nobody Knows

Doomsday warnings of US economic collapse. This article worries about some minor incident causing a run on Treasury bonds then americans making a run on banks to buy commodities. Sound familiar. This scenario is gaining traction beyond pessimists like me. It's bad to put yourself in a difficult situation where you can be easily manipulated by your enemies. We are there.

David Rosenburg lists his 13 signs that we're in a depression.Check out the slide show. Nuff said.

The capitol of Pennsylvania almost defaults on general city funding bonds. Harrisburg already went balls up on an incinerator boondoggle that the city backed. Now they can't make interest payments on a routine bond unless they borrow from next year's budget. Have you ever tried this at home? How did it work out for you?
How many other cities are in this situation and how will it affect the municipal bond market if these guys start defaulting? It can't be good.

Calpers unfunded pension liabilities more than twice as large as it's assets.Yeah. Unfunded liabilities are over $240B and the fund lost over $70B last year investing in hedge funds that went tits up. California state retirees won't ever get what they were promised, the land of fruits and nuts is bankrupt. Will they deal with it? Probably not, they haven't ever tried before. California will go into the abyss with their foot on the gas pedal.

Economists decrease US GDP for third time in three months. GDP growth will be significantly less than forecast for the last quarter and my guess is, below 1%. But the cheerleaders keep chanting, what else can they do. Cry? The truth is nobody knows and even if they did, they'd lie to us for our own good.

And finally, a Fourth Turning Perspective by Jim Quinn. How america will face the coming crisis.