Who wants to face the nightmare?

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An extract from the International Herald Tribune, Commentary by Roger Cohen.

"...Its now clear that our credit system the world over was rotten all the way through, a giant house of cards maintained by the ingenious connivance of banks, rating agencies and insurance companies in a monumental heist. The only buyers anyone trusts any more are governments.
No wonder Alan Greenspan says hes in a state of 'shocked disbelief'. Hes not the only one...


...its really no wonder, when you think about it that there are still tow guys in the race to become US president, pulling out all the stops in these last days to campaigning to be chosen as the one to face the nightmare.

Lets fast forward a year to October 2009. the US unemployment rate stands at 10 percent. Crime is up across the country. The economy is shrinking. No arm-twisting from the Treasury has mangaged to restore the broken confidence between borrowers and lenders. Banks, the few still standing, are holding fast to thier cash. Property prices are down more than 25 percent from current levels.
The Dow is still heading south as people get used to the idea that stocks long traded at no more that ten times earnings, rather than the much higher ratios our former leveraged world delivered.
New buildings stand empty all over New York because its at the end of a boom -thats to say right now- that most new contruction comes to market. Exports, long a bright spot in the economy, have plummeted because of the rising (US) dollar. The deficit and national debt stand at unprecedented levels...

..People still have way too much debt and the collateral for it keeps evaporating. They are angry. Civil unrest is stirring.

I ask you, Senator McCain, Senator Obama, do you still want the job?..."

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