I was reading articles on the Drudge report about the economy. Things are looking worse as the recovery we are hoping for seems to be stalled. It is not terribly surprising that the recovery is stalled. Construction and real estate pulled us out of the last recession. With falling house prices don't expect construction to save us from the slide this time. We have off shored so much manufacturing that we have limited goods to export. The export of goods is the only real way we can lower the trade deficits that routinely plague our nation. One of our biggest exports is weapons of war that can destabilise the world even farther. That doesn't do us much good in the long run. We are heading toward another wave of record foreclosure rates in the coming months as adjustable rate mortgages move upward again. All in all , very little has been done to prevent a repeat of the events of two years ago when the "Troubled asset relief program Or T.A.R.P." was enacted. As one of the commentators noted back then... "Isn't a tarp you use to cover something up?" Things didn't go away, they were just shoved out of site for a little while.

The economic troubles are not confined to the USA. Europe is having their own issues as the Euro faces it's first real challenge. Greece is the immediate cause of the issues in Europe but it is more of a symptom then the heart of the issue. The next few months in Europe should be interesting as they realign the power bases in the old world. Something I found interesting in the stories from Europe is the names Goldman-Sachs and George Soros came up. These are major players in the economic landscape and the fact that they are being linked to the issues going on in Europe doesn't bode well for the world. Personally, I think it should be illegal to bet on an economic downturn when you stand to profit from it and are in a position to make it happen.

We are seeing renewed calls for a new world currency to take the place of the dollar. The latest are coming from the IMF(International Monetary Fund). This doesnt bode well for the US economy if the world does unhinge from the greenback. On top of that we have major players in the PLA (Peoples liberation army)over in China saying that they need to use their economic might to deal with the USA. It is increasingly obvious that our debt that China holds is going to be used against us in the near future. The world is difinatly still in troubled waters economically right now.

I have faith in the American people and thier ability to innovate and create. We are definatly going to need to dig deep this next year. We collectively need to sacrafice and stop digging ourselves into a deeper hole. The people at the top of the economic food chain also need to stop being so damn greedy. The American people do not need to be bailing out millionairs when people are losing thier houses in record numbers. If the people who control the real wealth keep having the "Let them eat cake" attitude they will not be happy with the out come. People can only take so much and after a while you have nothing left to lose. In the mean time we push on and try to stay ahead, surviving the best we can.

I hope everyone is keeping thier heads above the water line.
Until Next time
Lasco X