This Crisis is Nothing Like The Great Depression in the 30's - Wanna Bet?

I've noticed more and more writers trying to placate themselves and their subscribers by saying - 'this is bad, but we've seen worse'. They support their argument by citing all the Central Bank mechanisms and the diffuse nature of global commerce. So?

It is the seamless connectivity that allows a flaw in the system to infect the whole system. And let's face it, credit and its phantom accessories are a major flaw. In the same way that you can argue that the world is better off using electronics, that life is 'easier or better', if the power goes out you are unable to function. You can't get anything off your computer. All your work and data is lost. In a non-digital universe, it's still there.

The other point to make is that the fundamental factor plaguing the markets - and virtually no one sees this, not even the bankers - is the lifeblood of our economy (energy) is draining away. It's depleting. This means, fundamentally, markets and populations have to shrink. Less energy means two things: less money (for fewer projects) and less money because more money is produced to get less (because energy costs more). Either way, the world is impoverished and that grand system we call(ed) globalisation makes a huge grinding mechanical gear shift - into reverse.

clipped from blog.wired.com "Nobody will buy any [stocks] right now because there's a huge uncertainty. People are liquidating their positions. It's just brutal, and it will continue to be brutal until some kind of bailout package gets agreed upon," says Jeffrey Lindsay, an internet investment analyst with Bernstein Research. "But we aren't going to have a shantytown in Central Park again. It won't be like the 30s." "People are putting the breaks on spending on everything," says Chowdhry. "Until oil prices are fixed, there is no way I could say Apple is a good buy. When oil returns to 2003 levels -- or $25 per barrel -- then I think Apple will be a good investment. Until that happens, I think the stock could hit $50 or $60 per share."