Economic Alert #6
November 3, 2008
The Storm Rages On

Stop Foreclosures
The Bailout
The Election - Obama or McCain?
The Euro Again?
What's Ahead?

Stop foreclosure – Stay in your home – Act Now!

A new coalition of homeowner advocates, counselors, and servicers has formed. Called New Hope, it has already helped millions of people to stay in their homes and avoid foreclosure. You can reach them at their website at http://www.hopenow.com or call them at 1.888.995.HOPE.

The Bailout

The US government's historic response to the credit crunch and subprime mortgage failure has been a $700 billion giveaway bailout to the banks who invested in bonds based on these mortgages, rather than to stop foreclosures and demand renegotiation of the mortgages. While this may relieve the credit markets for a short time, this just puts off the inevitable for a few months.

The Election - Obama or McCain?

Most people don't know how close John McCain is to the economic disaster now facing us. Phil Gramm, one of his campaign managers, is called "Foreclosure Phil" because he was the architect of the de-regulation that enabled banks to create the financial mess that we are in now. McCain's current campaign manager, Rick Davis, used to work (until August of this year) for Freddie Mac, which was heavily involved in the sub-prime mortgage fiasco that is the center of the financial crisis. McCain has no idea what to do about the economy, nor do any of his so-called "advisors." Need I say more?

The Euro Again?

The Global Europe Anticipation Bulletin (GEAB), published by some savvy economists from France, has predicted that the current "strong" dollar is temporary. When businesses and governments lose confidence, they will begin to trade in their dollars, and the value of the dollar will plummet. The Euro may be a stable alternative currency (for a while) that is easy to obtain for dollars.

If you have money in savings accounts, the Euro is probably safer than the dollar, but may eventually begin to lose value after the dollar nosedives. Watch the currency markets carefully. Consider investing at Everbank (http://www.everbank.com/001Currency.aspx), where you can choose the currency for your deposit. For long-term investing, consider gold. See my tips on buying gold: http://www.cqs.com/economicalert/gold.htm.

What's Ahead?

The GEAB (see note above) predicts that the U.S. Treasury will likely default on its bonds and certificates, possibly as early as next spring or summer, making any early economic recovery impossible.

References: 

Les Christie, 2 million troubled borrowers avoid foreclosure, CNNMoney.com, August 27, 2008, http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/26/real_estate/Hope_now_hits_two_million/index.htm

UK Telegragh Staff, BIS slams central banks, warns of worse crunch to come, UK Telegraph online, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/06/30/ccbis130.xml

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