Quote from piezoe:
You are somewhat more optimistic than I, nevertheless i agree in general with your views. My concern is that the productivity increases that will be ultimately needed to support the level of debt that the US must assume can not be achieved rapidly enough to satisfy our creditors. Most likely the market will eventually be lifted by inflation as inflated sideline dollars return. Whether for many years to come any progress at all in constant dollars can be achieved is another matter. Sad to see so many losing jobs at Christmas time.
Once the tax selling is complete by the third week in December, perhaps we can have a little end of year rally fueled by an improved outlook, as the incoming administration is so obviously much more competent than the last.
Yes, everyone is simply guessing at this point, as to what will happen, other than everyone knows that the government is going to flood the economy with dollars, by borrowing (from China, Japan, etc.), printing (electronic printing is very efficient nowadays), and leveraging its balance sheet.
I think it may take almost a decade to dig ourselves out of this mess. Just long enough for the next generation to come along and believe that it is possible to lead a good life by just continuously borrowing. C'est la vie.
In the meantime, creditors will have no choice, but to allow us to rebuild slowly - the alternative is bankrupting the U.S., which is unlikely to happen. If Citi Group is too big to fail, surely the U.S. is way to big to fail.
Everyone will have to learn to consume and live on less. This is actually not a bad outcome, as long as people have jobs and some savings to fall back on. I am not look for a Cinderella ending to this story. I think that most investors will end up losing money, since they bought high and are now reluctant or impatient to buy low. But the market will recover next year - maybe a 50% retracement from its high, and there it will get stuck for a period of time.
I lived through the 70s which was equally awful. That is why I am relatively conservative and thoughtful of how I spend my money. Buying up the U.S. at this price is, for me, a no brainer. If I don't, then China will.
Cya,
Rich