Judiciary Report - Foreboding Signs The Economy Is Going To Hit The Wall

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Foreboding Signs The Economy Is Going To Hit The Wall

…Like Lindsay Lohan Behind The Wheel

June 21. 2007

1. The pound is worth two times as much as the dollar, when just two years ago it wasn't so (.60). This big leap is bad news for the local economy. Though I imagine Britain must be happy. Brings to mind the phrase “sound as a pound.”

2. This week, Moscow, Russia was ranked the most expensive place to live in the world, due to a strengthening Ruble and rising property values, overtaking New York again this year. Here's an article excerpt:

"Moscow ranks as world's priciest city"

By JACKIE FARWELL, AP Business Writer Mon Jun 18, 5:11 PM ET

NEW YORK - Moscow is the world's most expensive city for the second year in a row, thanks to an appreciating ruble and rising housing costs, a new survey reports.

The cost of living for expatriates in the Russian capital is nearly 35 percent higher than in New York, which served as the base city for the survey released Monday.

London, estimated at 26 percent more expensive than New York, climbed three spots to second place on a strengthening British pound and steep rental prices.

South Korea's Seoul ranked third, followed closely by Tokyo at No. 4. - Associated Press

3. Foreclosures in America are up 90% since last May. Very bad sign.

4. The cost of housing in rental markets has gone up, while incomes have not.

5. Gas prices have skyrocketed to all time highs. This is where the American public’s money is disappearing in more ways than one.

Extra money for gas for vehicles and heating fuel, is taking away from money for people’s mortgages, utility bills and extracurricular activity.

Merchants are also adding their additional gas costs to the goods they sell, such as food, clothing and electricity, as it is costing them more to have items trucked and shipped in.

Farmers have to pay the added costs for fuel to run their machines that tend to soil and harvest crops. Thus, some food prices have gone up.

Public transport fares have been raised in some areas to compensate for higher gas prices.

All these added costs due to gas prices being raised, hence utility fees being raised, has made it much more expensive to do business in America.

Foreign companies are looking at that as well, opting to not invest in certain US companies and bonds that they did before, deciding to plunk their money in European markets thanks to the strong value of the Pound in Britain and strengthening Rubel in Russia. Here's another article excerpt:

Banks fear rout on risky US bonds

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Last Updated: 1:09am BST 21/06/2007

"Credit markets across the world were braced for trouble last night after Merrill Lynch abandoned efforts to save two Bear Stearns hedge funds, forcing the sale of $850m (£426m) of sub-prime mortgage bonds and other assets for debt repayment.

JP Morgan and other key creditors have yet to decide whether to enforce margin calls as a panic sell-off in the market for 2006-vintage mortgage securities pushes the two asset management funds towards the brink.

Sources close to the deal said Bear Stearns was trying to organise "an orderly unwind", conceding that the funds could not be saved.

The mushrooming crisis is the worst hedge fund upset since last year's collapse of Amaranth Advisers, which lost $6.7bn betting on gas futures. This time, the ramifications may be broader as the worsening property slump engulfs a large chunk of America's $2,000bn sub-prime sector...

The property slump is likely to worsen as mortgage lenders tighten up dramatically, triggering a credit crunch at the lower end of the market. A sharp rise in 10-year yields over the past two months has compounded the crisis, raising the base cost of mortgage borrowing by roughly half a point." - The Telegraph UK

6. The administration has raised the price of many things such as applying for government services, applying for passports, filing lawsuits and registering copyrights and patents.

It their race to raise funds for the war anywhere they can find it, they have raised the price of so many things, that Americans just can’t afford quite a few things anymore. It was cruel, unconscionable and unethical.

Just because members of government are rich and can buy whatever they want, some dishonestly, doesn’t mean the 300,000,000 people who live in America can as well.

The working class is the backbone of this country and if you keep escalating the prices of many things in attempts to pay for an ill-fated war that the people overwhelmingly voted they want ended, unemployment is going to skyrocket.

7. 130,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq who would be apart of the US work force, earning money, paying taxes, buying U.S. goods, are over in Iraq, loyally fighting a war that was deliberately misrepresented to them, where the American people have to pay for their upkeep and equipment.

This has nothing to do with the soldiers, who I pray will return soon, but basic economics, in that the country is bleeding money, with no end in sight, because Congress refuses to end the war.

The soldiers don’t want to be over there and the American people don’t want them over there, yet roughly a couple hundred people in government are prolonging it. Unbelievable!

This war was an idea born in the pit of hell…and mind sharp, that’s where it is going to end up if that region becomes anymore incendiary and volatile than it already is.