Why Does Alstry Blog So Much?
August 26, 2009
– Comments (19)
I know for many of you, Alstry's blogging seemed repetitive. Trust me I know. Although the theme was obnoxiously consistent...the facts in almost every blog was very different.
It was Alstry's theme that America is shutting through job losses and and deterioration in business conditions and failures. In almost every blog, not only did Alstry provide a new fact, most of the time the appropriate link was also inserted.
It is one thing if layoffs occur in one state or one geographical area. but when they occur in practically every state...something very different. Same with government revenue contractions and consequent layoffs. If it is one city, or county or state or region it is not as severe as if it is practically every municipality and state.
We see the same with revenue evaporation in business. If it was just housing or autos or transporation or manufacturing or chemicals or hotels or commercial real estate or technology it would be one thing, something very different if all of the above.
It order to provide an accurate perspective of such wide economic destruction, it takes a lot of facts. And a lot of facts have been provided with almost 2000 blogs and thousands of more in comments with links.
If you go back an look, you will note that very few links were ever repeated...very few. Sometimes one was taken from a comment and elevated to a blog because I thought it was important.
As we approach 9.09, most of you will recognize that America is shutting down and our economic outlook is getting worse, not better.
With millions upon millions of layoffs and wage cuts ahead of us, a Fed who refuses to alleviate the burden of debt on our society(and actually increasing the burden by tightening credit and raising interest rates) while bailing out its bankers by giving them free money and allowing them to loan that same money back to tax payers at much higher rates, and rewarding failure by letting those that issue debt profit from the demise of that debt through credit default swaps(could you imagine if your surgeon could take out a massive life insurance policy on you just before surgery? most would be able to plan their funeral going into the ER).
For three years, I have watched business after business in America destroy their balance sheet by making insane moves...moves not too different than Detroit, a bankrupt city wanting to borrow $500 million for new schools. Banks wrote the debt because they made a ton of money profiting from the demise of the business and loan through swaps. In effect, banks were incentivized to write bad loans, destroy the target of the debt, and in the process millions of legitimate companies were put out of business as well trying to compete with a swap induced money losing business.
The more important question is why was this allowed...why were swaps permitted. They are not very complicated to understand when you really think about it...they are simply insurance policies on debt without the normal safeguards in place in other areas of insurance. Why would the FED allow the underwriter of the debt profit from the destruction of the debt...seems like a conflict of interest doesn't it?
After a lot of blogging and a lot of linking the crash is upon us. The only thing that hasn't crashed is the stock market....yet. With many Americans leveraged on their homes, millions have lost ALL of their equity and and more in the last few years. Same with commerical real estate. Our cities and states are cutting at unprecdented levels. The post office is slowing so much that its survival is in jeopordy. Almost every industry that is not the recipient of government spending is suffering right now. The only thing left is the stock market even though the underlying debt coverage is deteriorating.
An interesting time as we head into 9.09....and you have the facts to support it.
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