The King of Doom and Gloom

[Danny]

al - my dreams are only financial in nature..i'll leave jennifer to you..

Who really and truly wants to know, with precision, what the future holds for them?

well, i do i want to be able to plan my trips around future events and when airfares are going to drop...i want to know when to buy stocks and when to sell...

I want to avoid accidents

i want to know when to start spending the rest of my money before dying...

i want to start going to the race track

i want to impress people and earn some extra retirement income writing books telling people the future

i want to make sure i spend as much time as possible with people i care about before either of our time comes to meet our maker...

avoid paying taxes on my way out...well you get the idea...the list is pretty long...

 

[RonBoyd]

...i want to know when ...

... the doctor gives you six months to a year.

 

[Gardnr]

I enjoy reading old articles or threads. Often correct predictions or warnings are in there. It's just hard to know which ones are the correct ones.

Interesting that some of the responses in that thread, and some of the comments in the article turned out to be correct. For example, Modhatter's

I think it has a direct effect on the economy however. With so many young people faced with such huge mortgage payments each month, it will leave very little income for purchasing, which will in turn not be good for the economy and of course the stock market. Unless incomes rise to a level to support these high mortgages that is. Thieir current answer to this problem is taking on debt, running up their charge cards. This is not sustainable either. Eventually, you must pay the piper.

and (from the article):

If mortgage rates rise sharply or home prices fall, many homeowners could be in financial turmoil. They may be unable to service their loans, or could even find that their homes are worth less than their mortgages.

Oh I and many others were quite well aware of all that going on. What I didn't know was the degree to which much of the rest of the world was doing the same thing, the ridiculous leveraging going on on Wall St., the whole CDS boondoggle, etc. The debt driven consumerism in the US worried me but I didn't realize the fragile state of the rest of the global economy. I've certainly learned a lot over the past year, that's for sure.