Ominous Economic sign in article on Greenspan...

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/20/business/20CND-TRAD.html

The general focus is not surprising - Greenspan thinks free trade shouldn't be impinged no matter how many people lose their jobs, because the only people he's ever given a rat's ass about is the investor class.

But the alarming thing is the last few paragraphs:

<snip>
"In the end, it will likely be the reluctance of foreign country residents to accumulate additional debt and equity claims against the United States," Greenspan said.

Some of that may already be happening. On Tuesday the Treasury reported that net foreign purchases of American securities fell to just $4.19 billion in September, from $49.9 billion in August.

The decline in the value of the dollar so far this year and signs of a revival in growth elsewhere in the world may be encouraging foreigners to either repatriate capital or invest it elsewhere.

If that trend continues, it poses grave risks for the United States, Mr. Hormats of Goldman Sachs said, because of the government's yawning budget deficit.

"We still have a huge savings deficit, so we will continue to need that foreign capital," he said. "If we don't get that capital, then we will be forced to raise interest rates to attract it."
</snip>

What's really kept the economy growing all these years while we built up a huge trade deficit is the influx of foreign capital - it offset the money that was flowing out of the country to buy foreign goods. Look at that drop in one month - 44 billion dollars. Whoa! And now that we have this huge deficit, we have to finance it (partly) with foreign money - which means we have to raise interest rates to attract it, which bitch-slaps the rest of the economy.

And this all comes back to that little fucking chimp-boy moron and his tax cut, and his budget deficit!

... press briefings. That dumbass couldn't do anything but lose other people's money in the private sector (unless he was stealing it from the people of Texas), and now he's going to lose all of ours.

for bodyguards after he leaves the White House?

And WHERE is he going to go?

OJ is FAR more welcome GLOBALLY than *.
And Saddam is practically a hero.

n/t

Loot the treaury on the back of the taxpayers. It is exactly what Poppy did, his administration held the worst budget deficit prior to Juniors.

Someone on this forum summed up quite well the policies of the Bush vermin...Privatize the profits...socialize the debt.

These men who have done such a remarkable job of fooling most Americans into believing they are moral, patriotic,brilliant leaders in reality don't give a good goddamn about this country or the principles upon which it was founded. Its all about the money.

on exports-yes exports- showing signs of a growing economy . raise bond rates-bye ,bye, housing , autos, and remortage. thanks georgie...

n/t

Is that "normal?" I mean, has there ever been a drop like that before?

that resulted in painfully little attention...

http://democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=745912

and there was another thread on LBN

...the Islamic countries began to pull their investments out of the Stock Market. I think they've accelerated those efforts since our attack on Iraq.

For Greenspan to speak this plainly, things must be far worse than anyone wants to say.

Check LBN for the- Barrick stuns bullion market- thread. Apparently
Barrick mining (a Canadian Co that bUsh sr. gave 100 billion to and is a partner in) announced Friday that they were not going to maintain a hedge (a hedge is kinda like a reserve to smmooth out the rough spots in a cash and carry business). Bottom line is that Barrick is now free to sell that otherwise committed bullion for whatever the rising price allows.BTW: Barrick said Thursday that a hedge book is a resonsible way to do business. FRIDAY ,TODAY, they stun everyone with this 180...

Or is that WWIV. Oh nuts, I keep losing count. Any way, the fall of the dollar is a big problem. But once that could ultamatly starve the US military of its capital.