economic forecast

The Obligatory Economic Predictions for 2012

labrea tar pitA new year, a new day and a flurry of economic and financial predictions. Who are we to buck the trend? Yet, buck the trend we shall. While many news articles claim jobs will appear in 2012 and the economy is on the mend, uh, we don't think so. What we have is America stuck in a Labrea tar pit of bad policy and a never ending middle class head shrink.

 

Paradigm Shift: "Think the unthinkable"

Individual economic predictions are usually pretty useless, and predictions of catastrophe are as ubiquitous as rednecks at a NASCAR race. Therefore when I see general doom-and-gloom predictions for the economy I tend to ignore them.

On the other hand, there is a tipping point. When both official and private sources all over the world that aren't known for being alarmist start screaming "fire!" then it is time to pay attention.

Before I make a few personal comments let me quote my sources.

IMF:

The International Monetary Fund today warned authorities worldwide to "think the unthinkable" in planning to cope with a mounting crisis in the global financial system.