Economics Update

It appears that the the markets are expecting another 75 basis point rate cut by the Fed at their regular meeting next week. The futures market on the Fed rate cut puts the chance at 81%.

I have no clue what sh$# they are smoking, but I wants some. It's gotta be some seriously good stuff.

Could someone please explain to me how this is not making book over the telephone and internet, and hence illegal?

Then we have George Soros warning that he is seeing a possibility of "systemic failure" in the markets. He expects that at the end of the US Dollar as the sole world reserve currency, which has been obvious for years, and that the era of "superleverage" is over, and that, ""I question how far the Fed can go, given the reluctance of people to hold dollars", and, "We need a new sheriff, not Washington consensus."

Basically, he's saying that we are in 1930, and we need the restoration of FDR market regulations. I agree, but, of course, I didn't break the Bank of England because I understood world currency markets better than the English Ministry of the Exchequer, and he has, so his opinion carries more weight.

In real estate, we have Credit Suisse predicting losses of $16 billion for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and we have a year over year price drop of 6% in the US, and that median sale prices in 2007 was 1.3% lower than 2006, the first yearly drop ever.

And in employment and automotive, Ford is reported to be offering buyouts to all of its 54,000 hourly employees.

Every salesman, every buyer, every secretary, every engineer, etc.