I'm still betting on another boom...

All that money, a couple of trillion has to come home eventually. Then we get it in the ass.

happy birthday, Burt.


AlterNet: That Big Sucking Sound in the Economy Is the Threat of Serious Deflation

Deflation essentially tells everyone to hunker down and wait. Instead of buying big-ticket items, consumers wait for prices to fall further. Instead of investing in new production, companies wait for cheaper opportunities, cheaper labor. The paralysis feeds on itself, once it gets started.

Actually, our situation is more dangerous than Japan's was. The Japanese culture and its economic system are shaped by a functioning commitment to social solidarity that does not exist in the United States. In its worst years, Japan's unemployment rate never rose much above 5 percent. Protective cultural values, embedded in the economic system, would not tolerate it.