These videos show Roubini's thoughts on the economy going forward....

Oh brother.....is this a reply of the Crash in 1929?

Ok...so this isn't exactly the same.....but perhaps in scope. I hope not because if it is, then four years from now we will be seeing 25% unemployment.

Gold had it's largest single day increase EVER yesterday...and the dollar is again beginning to devalue.

Hang on tight.....it is going to be a rough ride.

Looks as though Warren Brussee was right!

Buffet thinks the downturn will be longer than people expect.....

I liked the graphic above because I think the problems we have a nation have to do with each and every one of us....OK, perhaps thats too broad a net....but it has to do with our collective mindset.

The mindset I am refering to is our "get it now, pay later" instant gratification actions that we have clung to as a country for the past 20 years or so. I'd say that savings has been a passe concept since about the '80s, and that the way to make money has been to go out on a limb and "risk" things on margin.

Ok, the margin might not be exactly defined as it might be with a brokerage account....it might mean mortgaing your house to the hilt and using that money to say buy another house or even worst, the creature comforts you want.

Well, as the above poster indicates.....none of us thinks we had anything to do with our slide...."my effect is but a pisshole in the snow".....but together, we can cover a lot of area!

I'm not exactly sure that this is WHY Warren Buffet believes the downturn is going to be worst and of a longer than everyone thinks.....but when I heard that, I felt he was right.

What do we need to do to protect ourselves thought.....at least those of us with some savings.

I just don't know.....it is a scary thought though.

Here are the words of Buffet himself:

"This is not a field of specialty for me, but my general feeling is that the recession will be longer and deeper than most people think," Buffett said. "This will not be short and shallow.

"I think consumers are feeling gas and food prices," he added, "and not feeling they've got a lot of money for other things."

Credit Card Debt problem "pile on" top of Housing Refinance Debt problem.....what next?

Why is it that my person BLOG (Journal) is fairly upbeat, and my personal finance BLOG can be so worried and negative.

Well, there are plenty of troubling signs in the economy....and this is yet another. Credit card debt is mounting as noted in this article.

Apparently as the home refinance crisis clamped down on home mortage refi's, and as house prices fall (making pulling money out impossible) people seem to go to the NEXT well (albeit a high interest source) their credit card! (do you suppose the next stop will be the corner loan-shark?)

This was sort of outlined in Warren Brussee's book about the Depression of 2007.....and then in his BLOG. But while the economy seems to be slowing and sputtering at times, the stock markets seem to stay high.....which makes me think a little about March 2001.....remember the High Tech NASDAQ bubble?

Oh well, there I am being negative again.

What to do, what to do......the ride up over the last year has actually been pretty good......I did go from 70% Stocks/ 30% bonds down to a 50/50 split.....so I did pull-back a little.....but should I pull even further into safer investments? I just don't know.....

So perhaps being a Millionare is a matter of being Frugal.....gee, what a shock!

This is pretty funny......an article that describes the path to wealth as one where you "save" and basically spend less than you make.

Hmmm....this is what my parents said to me every single day of their life! What a shock.

All you had to do was talk to anyone who was the product of the great depression, and I suspect you heard the same tome. My parents didn't know anything about leveraged investments......or buying on margin......or any other fancy financing. (debt) In fact, what they knew about that sort of this is that THIS is the thing thta created the depression......investors buying stock on margin and not having the ability to cover what they owed!

So this Motley Fool article seems so funny to me....because they seem to think they have discovered some new truth.

Don't get me wrong.....I'm far from the perfect saver.....sure, I try to be frugal, but I'm not sure I match my mom and dad in so far as their saving and still being generous....but I can see that this "live within your means" stuff isn't some sort of new personal economics....it is back to the future stuff for sure! (lets hope we don't go all the way back by having a depression though)

Live and learn.......

Slow and Steady wins the race? (didn't I post about this before?? :-)

I was reading through by list of finance BLOGS when I came across this one....and I have to day I was very pleased to read it.

First of all. most people are doom and gloomers....and I guess I'm also not at the top of the heap of positive people when you start talking about our economy...the exporting of jobs....and the value of our currency......but there are bright spots all around that we should be able to point to.

I was shocked to see this article suggest that 1 out of 3 people in the USA are Millionaires....that is, they have a net worth above $1,000,000. That's outstanding....and it is even more interesting to see that these people did it "the old fashioned way"....they "SAVED" it.

No venture capital start-ups.....no gambling in Vegas......no leveraged stock buys......just spend less than you make and invest the surplus "for a rainy day".

This actually makes perfect sense when you consider another statistic......did you know that the great depression of 1929 only had unemployment rates of about 25%. Now that's high for sure, but given what you read about times back then and all the rationing and shortages that were in existance.....a full 75% of the families were working. (Though I am not sure that tracked "underemployment" as they might today.)

But then if you read other BLOGS like this one and then this one that describe the workings of the 1929 depression, you will note that they talk about the great disparity of income and net worth that further caused problems. Apparently wages increased 9% in the 10 years after 1929, but that incease was not across the board, but heavily skewed toward those making more. (the top 1% wage earner made a 75% increase while the average factory worker only 8% while their productivity increased 32% for the same period)

So what to do you ask? I guess the first thing......stay out of the debt snare. What to do with savings....this is the $64,000 question, isn't it.