Covert Group in Treasury preparing for financial crisis since at least last year!

President Bush at least was expecting the worst since last year.

And I suspect the drumbeats of doom were being hammered even earlier than that, especially if you recall when the Treasury department quit reporting on the M3 money supply as it had done for years. For those who want a good lesson on the Fed's ramifications of M3 read this article.

Now we get this brief NY Post article from a columnist who says, yes, there is a President's Working Group on Financial Markets, and it probably was responsible for saving the collective economic butt of America in 1998, probably was responsible for a 150-point jump in the DOW last week, and is probably trying to work overtime now.

Except no one knows anything about it. It's supersecret.

In short, what we may learn is that the President and his select cadre were probably more aware of the coming financial downfall than anyone led on, and instead of panic the markets, they tried to find a proactive fix or cushion behind the scenes.

Seems like things may be spiriling out beyond their control now. I truly never believed I'd actually see a new Great Depression, that perhaps we'd find a way to steer around the doom and gloom scenarios and into safer territory. Apparently, I was wrong. We are about to see the advent of soup and bread lines again, millions homeless, thousands of jobs lost a month. This is truly scary stuff.

i'd like to think that the type of postion i keep would still be needed as i don't service the public directly, and my employer is something that will still be needed by the public in any event.

glad i planned that vacation now. might be the last one i get if this were true. =)

Here's is a little more illumination.

Last year, SEC Chairman Chris Cox -- a member of the PWG -- stated the reason for the group's creation: The 1998 $4 billion hedge fund collapse of Long Term Capital Management, and Greenspan's warning that had the Fed not bailed it out then, this "could have potentially impaired the economies of many nations, including our own."

That was ONE hedge fund. We're now seeing a domino effect in the collapse of numerous hedge funds worldwide. If one caused that much pandemoneum, what the hell will Bear Sterns, Merrill Lynch, ECB and probably others in crisis mean for our economy?

The thought of us heading into a "roll back" in the economy is not that plesant. I suppose it will take a while for all the manure floating around to hit the fan and be plastered all over the wall.

They may be able to stave things off for a while, but I do believe what they can do will be too little, too late.

I guess all of the rolling back Wallyworld and others have been doing to maintain and increase cash flow has come around full circle.

The people with the most to loose should be nervous right now.

What does this mean for the average middle class US worker who is depending on social assistance because his job went to Asia?