World Renowned Investor George Soros 2/20/09 - "I see no bottom for world financial collapse"

World Renowned Investor George Soros 2/20/09 - "I see no bottom for world financial collapse"

news.yahoo.com

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Renowned investor George Soros said on Friday the world financial system has effectively disintegrated, adding that there is yet no prospect of a near-term resolution to the crisis.

Soros said the turbulence is actually more severe than during the Great Depression, comparing the current situation to the demise of the Soviet Union.

He said the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September marked a turning point in the functioning of the market system.

"We witnessed the collapse of the financial system," Soros said at a Columbia University dinner. "It was placed on life support, and it's still on life support. There's no sign that we are anywhere near a bottom."

His comments echoed those made earlier at the same conference by Paul Volcker, a former Federal Reserve chairman who is now a top adviser to President Barack Obama.

Volcker said industrial production around the world was declining even more rapidly than in the United States, which is itself under severe strain.

"I don't remember any time, maybe even in the Great Depression, when things went down quite so fast, quite so uniformly around the world," Volcker said.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Sorry folks, looks like we are all going to come up a day late and a dollar short. People here on ATS have been harping on this Great Depression II that has been building across the world like a perfect storm for the past 5-10 years for as long as I can remember.

Well here it is. When the money men like Soros are stepping out publically and predicting a collapse worse than the first Great Depression, something more along the lines of the collapse of the Soviet Union, people should take heed and sit up and notice.

Evidently printing massive amounts of money and throwing it at the problems that plague our banking and financial systems just hasn't worked like so many had promised. This last stimulus swipe by Obama was nothing more than a desperate administration throwing fuel on to a fire that is already 20 stories high and rising.



news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

The Derivatives bubble

The possible collapse goes further than most know and beyond what most people accept as even possible.


Read the article.

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Just to add, much of this Derivatives bubble comes from the cost of realty properties, that is the inflated prices of land and housing. Buy house for $200k and for no reason other than an appraiser says so, that house can sell for $400k, years later. That is $200k of imaginary wealth. That is part of the derivatives bubble and our current credit crisis. It has been said that if the price of houses start to decline it could trigger the burst of the collective derivatives bubble. That would destroy every economy and government on the planet and send the world into chaos.

Greed is beautiful.


Edit (again)
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Apologies to the OP, I wasnt trying to hijack this thread. I just realised how my post might have distracted the purpose of the thread. But I do think it is interesting and to the point so I will leave it.

[edit on 20-2-2009 by A NeWorlDisorder]

It's over. This has been building since the late 70's.

I can only hope that the super rich thieves loss everything and people spit on them when they are begging for bread.

Here are a few videos pertaining to Mr. Soros, most that I have found do not seem to be very flattering. Makes one wonder what his role was and what hand he played in the whole financial disaster.

I will let the viewer decide what is truth and what is not. In any case he is a very powerful man and likely in the "know" about what is to come.

How does Soros fit into the puzzle?












Soros on Financial Crisis - Interview





George Soros - The Bubble of American Supremecy






Much of what he says in the last video makes sense somewhat, an interesting chacter in any case.

[edit on 2/20/09 by BlackOps719]

Wait until Hilary returns from china, then you'll see what happen.
I don't think it'll float, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Soros might be one of the person who's behind the 1997 asian financial crisis. But it actually makes asia in the stronger position financially right now.

Evidently printing massive amounts of money and throwing it at the problems that plague our banking and financial systems just hasn't worked like so many had promised. This last stimulus swipe by Obama was nothing more than a desperate administration throwing fuel on to a fire that is already 20 stories high and rising.

If there's a problem with the stimulus it will be because it is too little too late.
Scale matters. The objective of a stimulus is to pump enough money into the economy fast enough to create a bottom below which the markets cannot fall. At this time we cannot even see clearly what the bottom is. It took too long for the first half of the Bush stimulus to be spent and it's taken too long for Congress to get this one passed and spent with all the wrangling over comparative pennies.

We don't know yet what the full effect of the stimulus will be but it's certain it has to be fast. If the U.S. economy fails the world economy will almost certainly fail, with mass starvation and deprivation everywhere.

I take it you are of "tight money" school of thought (correct me if I'm wrong) and possibly believe a return to the gold standard is what is needed. Even if the government were to cut out all of its entitlement programs and reduce its budget by half, the U.S. then would not make enough money to pay our debts to China and other creditors.

I don't think this is what Soros is recommending.

reply to post by Sestias


Classic Keynesian economics. It didn't work during the depression and ask Japan how it worked out for them. They suffered what is referred to as the lost decade.

Jimmy Carter tried it too, didn't work then.

Throwing money at the problem when you have no money and already in debt is only making the problem worse, by adding more debt.

Also just look at the whole world right now, they have loaned out trillions. Japan has already tried two stimulus packages and now they are working on a third and now they are in a depression. They declared that at the beginning of the week.

Government doesn't create wealth government only takes it.

__________

Just get ready for hard times everyone because when the world economy collapses people like George Soros and the like will all be on the same playing field as everybody else.

The people that were once powerful will never be trusted it again. What we are about to go through is a complete shift in power.

hehe, who could actually thrust this guy ????(Soros) .

Economic issues pass over time, my concern is that which economic hardships quite often trigger... warfare.

It's a common pattern in any country, a heavy war is often viewed as an escape by governments as a way to both distract the public, and use the arms industry to employ those who aren't deployed.

Let's keep our fingers crossed that we've advanced beyond this form of distraction from our problems...
... but I wouldn't count on it.

Nice of him to come up and tell us their plans, you have to love the powers that be sense of fair play!

Everything I have ever read about history and economics causes me to believe that the bailouts are nothing but an organized looting of the treasury in a deliberate and calculated attempt to collapse the economy and possibly do away entirely with the last illusions of U.S. sovereignty.

I like a good challenge!

I still think these narcissistic nut cases are over reaching and miscalculating on the true power of the unwashed masses.

Bring it on boys, let’s rock n roll and see how you do when all the big dogs come out to play.

reply to post by johnsky




Man you are right. I get the feeling that the only thing that will pull us out of this financial disaster is another world war. And even worse, I think the PTB know that as well.

North Korea attacks South Korea, Israel attacks Iran and suddenly we are in the middle of Armagedon. A world war fought with nuclear and biological capability is terrifying to consider.

I have to say that it's beginning to look like the U.S. is going to come out of this better than almost anyone, aside from China, the rest of the world has been eating our crumbs. I fear for Japan and the U.K., the E.U. may actually split before it's over. The U.S. can crawl out of this out of pure economic might...we still are the largest manufacturing country in the world, but the same can't be said of these other countries that depend on our consumption. When we no longer have excess demand for goods, and our savings rate climbs (to some say 10%+)...that spells bad times for the economies of the world. I don't see this as a collapse of the U.S. but rather a rebalance of dependence on us.

Soros has been increasing his stakes in many companies though, so he does believe in a turn around.

[edit on 21-2-2009 by yellowcard]

reply to post by BlackOps719


It seems that we're on the eve of destruction. It is a tinder box world issues that we are dealing with at this point. The economy in the world is shot and more and more companies are going belly up and/or ask for a hand out from congress. It is also happening the world over with banks losing everything that people have invested in them. You're also right with the Korea's and Israel and Iran looking like they are going to go at it and the America step up in Afghanistan is also helping to push the world to the brink. But WAR is the one machine that jump start any economy. It worked for the great depression. War is always a money maker and the powers that be know this all to well.

But WAR is the one machine that jump start any economy. It worked for the great depression. War is always a money maker and the powers that be know this all to well.

Is it good for the economy? Yes the factories and the profiteers make money, but where does that money come from? Taxes, from us, the citizen. We pay for the privelage to make the powers that be a lot of money and weed our numbers in the process but clearly it pushes the nation further in debt. Our tax base no longer even covers the cost of the outlandishly expensive weaponry that we churn out in ever more and more sophisticated ways.

Face it we have been set up. This is not the home of the land of the brave, this is the home for the world's malcontents to wait their turn to become cannon fodder!

Oh and pay through the nose for it.

This was supposed to be yet another simple consolidation that we have about every 50 years or so. Someone got angry and threw a hissy fit and here we are.Apparently they didn't like the way things were going and threw a wrench in the works causing a huge crisis.(a payment missed somewhere?)
Most of this can be attributed to the housing bubble, but the crisis as of late is completely manufactured. It is being done so to leave as few as possible at the top and as many as possible on the bottom looking up and not being able to see whats going on. It has happened all through the history of the world and it is done to gain control over the masses of people no matter where they are. It doesn't matter anymore who has the most money what matters is who can keep their masses under control.
So far so good...but they didn't plan on so many people getting into the foil this time raising a ruckus causing them to have to bring up the guard to quell the populations. I can see and understand completely that we are in for ruff times ahead but what they have yet to realize is that the times ahead DON'T include "them" anymore. This alone is the reason for all the fear mongering and threats spewing out of every country there is. People are finally seeing what has been being done to them all this time and are well passed being a little angry over it.
The small amount of civil unrest and mild rioting is nothing compared to what is going to happen if they don't stop this and soon. A world war maybe the way they have gotten out of these things in the past. But so many people have come full circle on the war issue and are so fed up with it that the gov's may have a hard time even getting people to fight.
They made the mistake of letting everyone all over the world see what war really is and what levels of destruction it leaves behind. Hungry or not they are going to be hard pressed to get people to fight, unless they can get them to believe more lies and convince them it is the right thing to do...it's over. We are going to have to let it fall and rebuild, hopefully never again allowing this to happen.

I bet Sorros would love a complete and total collapse.
The guy makes me sick

I wonder how to contact Soros.

Think he'd be willing to give me a few hundred thousand, to tide me over???

I mean....worth multiple billions, what's a few hundred thousand???

It's like, if you had one hundred dollars, it would equate to a few pennies, in comparison!!!

Come on, George!!!! SHOW ME the Money!!!!

(pretty please???)

I have nice artwork to sell you.......hello? 'Bueller?'

This is what happens when you allow your economy to be used to build and keep other economies afloat around the world. China built itself into an economic superpower and owning of our debt by selling us junk household nonsense by the billions of dollars worth, sucking the wealth of the US dry. Now we barrow from them.


Remember during the hay days getting up to 20 unsolicited credit card applications in the mail weekly?


World wide parasitical economics have bleed off the strength and wealth. Dumping their goods here and not allowing ours to enter. Luring our production out of country. Opening up large outlet stores to service the takeover. All the wile telling americans they were examples of the american can do free enterprise spirit. Now we are a pathetic debt ridden consumer nation that has consumed its way into servitude and dependence.

Our children get a steady diet of foreign made cartoons filled with the rotting mysticism of the old world. Our youth tattoo their body's with the scrip of their oppressors and unwittingly have become walking billboards and symbols of the oppression.

Our once grate auto industry now begs the government and the people for money after years off selling the americans junk that they cant even work on anymore.

We are like the people that had iron tools but had to go to the enemy to get them sharpened.

reply to post by Logarock


logarock....funny, we borrowing from China! Guess what, if we don't pay it back, what are they going to do????

The very notion....China, a Communist Country, loaning money!!!

What Rubes!!!!

No, this is a serious matter. It's startlingly different from, say....post WW I, when terrible inflation afflicted most of Europe....especially Germany, leading to the rise of the Reich.....

A century later, about....money flows in different ways, today, than in early 1920's.....but, fear, that is a Human factor then, and now.....in the economy.

FEAR when your money is devalued to the point that you need a wheelbarrow to carry it to the grocery store!!!! THIS led to the rise of the Third Reich, in Germany.....FEAR!!!!!

Gee....who else has tried to elicit FEAR lately???? Hmmmmmmm........

Just sayin'!!!!