Thursday, January 24, 2008

Day of reckoning - Joe Stiglitz

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/wef/article3220961.ece

The good professor thinks that it might be curtains. He also had this op-ed in the NYT today suggesting temporary curatives. I don't think that this is the end - but only the beginning of the end of the great American financial empire. You have to agree with him on American consumption though - it is not sustainable and cannot be financed forever.

The problem is that the Yanks are too vested in the oil economy. Everything - transport, city planning, infrastructure (read highways), political campaign finance- everything is geared for the consumption of oil. Add to the fact that though the American family has shrunk - the average size of the American home has grown. All this being sold to people who cannot even afford it in the first place. What is the difference in this vs. China spending billions on Shanghai skyscrapers that nobody occupies? Both are unproductive assets.

For India - the worst of it is that the Chi-rabians are wining in this blood bath

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