Professor Elam

Thursday May 13, 2010

Seven days ago I posted the graph showing the one day 1,000 point collapse in the Dow. I called it your job prospects. My point is that attempts to 'rescue or bail out' irresponsible world debtors are all failing. Please click on the links at left, the headlines on the Ambrose Pritchards page say it all, everywhere the bail outs are being rejected, Greece, Germany, Ireland, after twenty years of stagnation Japan is falling apart, again. Here California is now ranked the 8th worst debt bet in the world, edging out Lebanon and Latvia, see Jesse, Mish, Business Insider today. 

I have talked and written at length about the changes in social mood, all that is coming to fore now. Best I can ascertain, the stock market has peaked again, the rally from March 9 2010 is over.  The 1,000 point drop announced that the Bear is out of his cave. The Euro refuses to rally, gold and silver just made new highs, You Tube has home made video around the world of riots and protests. This will not end well. 

The embrace of gold and silver means that the investing community has lost faith in the ability of Central Banks to manage their affairs, it is the failure of fiat money from the Euro to the Yen. 

IN a way Goldman Sachs has become a symbol for the entire country, it is basically a gambling house that contributes nothing in the way of actual value to the economy. We have lost our manufacturing base so less and less is produced as more and more posts are made to Twitter and Facebook. Las Vegas is a testament to this Gomorrah business model. Even its latest ads say it all, Las Vegas is serious about business, well business meetings that is, meetings like Vegas, do not produce wealth. 

Understanding that the world has more debt than it can pay is vital to getting through all this with a grasp of why it is happening and that more debt is not the solution. Yet more debt is all that politicians have offered to Dubai or Greece. My sense is that as Governor Patterson in NY fires 100,000 state workers, that the emotions grow more parabolic, no this cannot be happening. Yet states cannot print money, it is happening. This played out in one city i the US in 1976-New York CIty.The NYC story of 1976 will play out in multiple states and cities, this is a larger Wave failure in the progress of mankind and so it affects more people.  Yet as I say last night on the TV news, mundane Harrisburg PA is bankrupt, the Mayor plans to sell some parking garages.   Chicago has sold its parking meter revenue to the Texas State Teacher Retirement System. These are desperate measures, rather like chopping up the railroad train or wooden boat for fuel, hoping to make port before we run out of train or ship to destroy. 

Life will go on but after some fairily violent adjustments around the world and in cities and states that have overspent. Even here School Districts have overspent and must cut back. 

You have made the right decision to finish or add to your HIgher Education accomplishments. My post yesterday emphasized the importance of embracing the new emphasis on IT security. I have talked endlessly about certifications, I hope I have found an audience for the message. We will be improving and adding to our programs here to align them with the best interests and outcomes for our students. I appreciate the opportunity to serve you in that capacity.