money-wide >>> marcel deveraux

I just read an article from Reuters that headlines:
Greenspan Sees Major Economic Slowdown

Well, Duh! I mean these guys orchestrated the economic slowdown… how is this a scoop?!! Here I go again… Allow me to explain what I see happening now and in the coming months.

The dot com boom heralded in a Brave New Economy. An economy where rules and status quo were shaken to the core. How do you think the "Old Economy" felt? I bet they were shaking in their boots!

They felt threatened, impotent, and they were dropping the ball. Wake up call!

Everything they held was in jeopardy. Blue chips, the standards of our marketplace, were devalued. College kids were starting Yahoos and would soon be worth billions. This was no game and the old schoolers went to war.

Using the fed.'s powers, perceived and real, they decided they had to bring the dot com revolution down. They cranked up interest rates, allowed inflation to run rampant and let OPEC crank up the cost of gas. Unseat them, no freaking way!

Greenspan became a household name. First the media legitimized him as a modern day economic prophet , much in the same way they portrayed Hussein as the Hitler of our time to rally Gulf War support. I have to ask you, did the American public really need to know how he likes to brainstorm? Could you have survived without a mental image of Alan Greenspan in a bathtub?

Next, he railed doom and gloom, initiating a campaign that would become self-realized prophecy. "The sky is falling! The bubble will burst!" Like Chicken Little he rallied on and on. And why shouldn't we believe him? He's the expert.

So much of our economy relies on belief in the system. Pull that rug out from under us and viola! House of cards. Factor in the continual interest rate hikes and you get one stalled economy.

So now what happens? The old school bought itself some time; to prepare, to regulate. And a bearish economy that they know how to capitalize on. Call in Gordon Gecko, (Michael Douglas as 80s corporate raider) buy that failed dot com and sell off the pieces! Blue chips up, tech stocks down.

In the process, they educate themselves and the rest of us, driving home the fact: The ruling class ain't going nowhere. Well, at least I can buy that new Dell on the cheap side.

Send your comments to Marcel!