Falklands : WHAT THE “EXPERTS” WERE SAYING A YEAR AGO AIN’T NECESSARILY SO TODAY
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 12.02.2009 (Article Archived on 26.02.2009)
One of the best aspects of looking through old news magazines is seeing how experts and analysts measure up to the financial situation we now find ourselves in.
WHAT THE “EXPERTS” WERE SAYING A YEAR AGO AIN’T NECESSARILY SO TODAY
By J. Brock (FINN)
One of the best aspects of looking through old news magazines is seeing how experts and analysts measure up to the financial situation we now find ourselves in. It wasn’t that long ago that they said talk of a recession was scare mongering and there were predictions of a quick recovery from the affects of the Bear Stearns affair. A year on and they have changed their tune.
A year ago Light Sweet Crude was trading at $93.59 and FINN was warning about the affect for the man in the street if the price should reach $100.00. It did and people were unable to pump gasoline – it simply was too expensive. With falling demand prices still went up and it wasn’t long before businesses began to fold due to lack of clientele.
Businesses used telecommunications to great effect and used the technology rather than fly someone to a board meeting. More people took holidays at home and economised on hydrocarbons products. However, savings were eaten up by ever increasing prices. It was like a ripe boil that needed to be lanced but who would be saddled with such an unpleasant responsibility?
We now know who is exercising leadership and doing the dirty work that wasn’t of his doing. Hats off to US President Obama, who has “done the dirty” in order to help the US and ultimately all of us to recover from the financial nightmare we find ourselves in today.
People who say there will be a speedy recovery in the second quarter are living on another planet. No one recovers quickly from a major operation and economies will take time to recover from the mess caused by factors that helped to raise the price of food and fuel as well as offering up loans to people who couldn’t pay them back.
No recovery plan is perfect – neither are they popular. Bail-outs have cushioned the landing for some in high places but those who lost jobs and homes see little benefit.
A little preventative medicine and a lot less greed would have prevented this mess. Personally I would rather take the preventative medicine approach than endure a major operation. The same preventative approach can be applied to world economies after they recover.
Hopefully the thinking behind financial policy will change. Solutions that may have worked previously cannot be trusted to work in their present form and besides, it is some kind of crazy to do the same things and expect different results.
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