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The Crash of '08 is coming • Dean Borok Industrial capacity, driven by China’s need for natural resources, is not keeping up with demand.  There are not enough freighters to transport essential commodities like iron ore and liquefied natural gas.  As a result freight prices are rocketing through the roof, adding to inflationary pressures.

Meantime, the dollar is collapsing.  One euro now costs $1.38 American, which translates to a $5.00 Coke for American travelers in Europe.  The American Federal Reserve chief, Bernenke, another one of Bush’s loser appointees, refuses to even address the collapsing dollar, stating before congress, “I don’t comment on the dollar.”
 
Let me put it in terms that even a college freshman can understand.  Ten years ago the biggest problem this country faced was what we were going to do about all the surpluses we were raking in.  The Republicans, who were the main beneficiaries of all this largess, instead of kissing Bill Clinton’s butt, tried to impeach him and throw him in jail. All they could think about was looting the treasury, which they did with Bush’s tax cuts.
 
But that didn’t go far enough.  They then took us to war against Iraq, borrowing the money by selling government bonds to foreign dollar holders.  As though that weren’t enough, they then tried to loot Social Security by pushing through private retirement accounts, which would have thrown trillions more into the pockets of mutual fund salesmen and investment banks, and we all know how ethical these guys are.  Fortunately, when people saw even their Social Security being ripped off they forced congress to put it off limits.
 
Nevertheless, all the stealing has bled us dry as a nation.  The Republicans came up with a scheme to sell houses to people who were already broke, bundled the worthless mortgages together and used them as collateral to sell bonds.  Now the sub-prime mortgages have collapsed, with delinquency rates (people unable to make their mortgage payments) at a staggering 12%.  If you hold bonds backed up by these mortgage payments, like the two funds managed by Bear Stearns, those bonds are worth exactly – zip!  And it’s only a matter of time when real bonds backed by real assets also collapse, when people get scared and pull their money out of the markets.
 
Oooh, we are sinking fast into a world of shit!  Oil is at $76 (21.07.07) a barrel, when under Clinton it sold for $20.  A very smart analyst predicts it will go to $120 a barrel, and I believe him.  Remember, Bush is beholden to the oil interests.
 
When the dollar collapses we will be paying $20 for a quart of milk and people will be driving out into the countryside and butchering cows in the pastures to bring home meat for their children, like they did in Argentina.
 
I would rather be writing comedy, but this shit ain’t funny.  We have the Republican leadership to blame for this disaster, and all the blame should be laid at their feet.  The only thing that might restore world markets’ confidence in the American economy would be to impeach Bush now and replace him with somebody credible, and not for the Iraq war, which is just the outward manifestation for a deeper sickness.
 
The Iraq war is just a joke.  It’s a stupid herpes sore.  The real sickness is the willful destruction of the American economy by a bunch of insane bozos who think they were anointed by God and believe that they are above accountability for all the asshole blunders they have committed through sheer arrogance.
 
Next year will be too late.  The stock market historically collapses in September or October, when the smart money starts back to work and seriously begins to size things up.  If there isn’t some meaningful effort to replace Bush now, during the summer, it will be too late and the whole world will suffer a crash that will last for years.

© Dean Borok July 21. 2007
deanyorkave@yahoo.com

But for a balanced look at the historical trend of oil prices see here

Triangulation
Dean Borok
Russia has a huge nuclear arsenal to prevent Chinese penetration, but with China now a nuclear power too, can a Sino-Soviet standoff over the Russian far east be far in the future?

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