World Bank Says Global Economy Will Shrink In 2009

[hamelekim]

What a bunch of crackpots! :rolleyes:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/business/09bank.html?_r=1&hp

WASHINGTON — The economic crisis that started with junk mortgages in the United States is causing havoc for poorer countries around the world, not only stifling their growth but choking off their access to credit as well, the World Bank said on Sunday.

In a bleaker assessment than those of most private forecasters, the World Bank also predicted that the global economy would shrink in 2009 for the first time since World War II. The bank did not provide a specific estimate, but bank officials said its economists would be publishing one in the next several weeks.

Until now, even extremely pessimistic forecasters have predicted that the global economy would eke out a tiny expansion but had warned that even a growth rate of 5 percent in China would be a disastrous slowdown, given the enormous pressure there to create jobs for its rural population.

The World Bank also warned that global trade would shrink for the first time since 1982, and that the decline would be the biggest since the 1930s.

Anyone want to bet that the US will recover by end of 2009?

[macdoc]

It's unclear who you think are "crackpots" and which way are you prepared to bet.....

I would say now we are getting a little more than half way there to squeezing this bubble dry.....maybe even 70%.

Global losses reach $50 trillion, report finds
Updated Mon. Mar. 9 2009 7:48 AM ET

The Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines -- The global crisis wiped a staggering US$50 trillion off the value of financial assets last year including $9.6 trillion of losses in developing Asia alone, the Asian Development Bank said Monday.

"This is by far the most serious crisis to hit the world economy since the Great Depression," said ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda. But he predicted Asia would be "one of the first regions to emerge from it."

In a study commissioned by the Manila-based lender on the impact of the financial crisis on emerging economies, it estimated the value of financial assets worldwide -- currency, equity and bond markets -- to have dropped by $50 trillion in 2008.

It said developing Asia was hit harder -- losing the equivalent of just over one year's worth of gross domestic product -- than other emerging economies because the region has expanded much more rapidly.

In Latin America, losses were estimated at $2.1 trillion.

more

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090309/stock_markets_090309/20090309?hub=TopStories

[hamelekim]

It's unclear who you think are "crackpots" and which way are you prepared to bet.....

I would say now we are getting a little more than half way there to squeezing this bubble dry.....maybe even 70%.



more

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090309/stock_markets_090309/20090309?hub=TopStories

I was being facetious. It was a dig at all of those who buy the mainstream CNBC view that things are alright, just a recession, nothing to be worried about, etc...

When you heard comments by Buffet, Rogers, etc... about the economic situation, you realize that there is nothing normal about the economic downturn and it could be one of the worst if not the worst, due to globalization, we have ever had.

The news article I posted just validates that things really are that bad.

[Klimax]

I was being facetious. It was a dig at all of those who buy the mainstream CNBC view that things are alright, just a recession, nothing to be worried about, etc...

When you heard comments by Buffet, Rogers, etc... about the economic situation, you realize that there is nothing normal about the economic downturn and it could be one of the worst if not the worst, due to globalization, we have ever had.

The news article I posted just validates that things really are that bad.

So far we are in recession and not depression.To be in latter one it would have to be for long term(I think around two years) of decreasing GNP.

[lionking]

I was being facetious. It was a dig at all of those who buy the mainstream CNBC view that things are alright, just a recession, nothing to be worried about, etc...

When you heard comments by Buffet, Rogers, etc... about the economic situation, you realize that there is nothing normal about the economic downturn and it could be one of the worst if not the worst, due to globalization, we have ever had.

The news article I posted just validates that things really are that bad.

You believe in the literal truth of the bible, right? Why should I take your beliefs about the economy seriously?

[dudalb]

Funny how the downturn has caused all the economic wackjobs and "Neo Coms" to come out of the woodwork