House Price Crash Discussion Thread

brit1234

Another day and another series of worldwide disastrous economic data.:rotfl:

Lotus-eater

merlinthehappypig wrote: »

Time to invest in hard hats in the UK, I think.

That would be the last thing to invest in can't see many hard hats being sold to building workers.....;)

Vincenzo

merlinthehappypig wrote: »

I haven't quite got to the stage where I am prepared to take the word of Wikipedia over that of the FT, sorry. That may well be where Gordon Brown and Alastair Darling go for advice, mind.

What did the FT say again???

This article refers to 'recession fears'....

Retail sales data heighten US recession fears

By James Politi in Washington
Published: March 13 2008 13:53 | Last updated: March 13 2008 13:53

Recession fears continued to grip the US on Thursday as retail sales data for February showed an unexpected decline, providing evidence that consumers have pulled back significantly.


And in this one, later that day, it appears to have been confirmed!!!

Dollar plunges to record low

By Krishna Guha in Washington
Published: March 13 2008 20:19 | Last updated: March 14 2008 00:45

The dollar plummeted to record lows and the price of gold touched $1,000 on Thursday as retail sales figures confirmed that the US is in recession and concern intensified about spreading distress in the hedge fund sector.


Before various posters attack me for not understanding how bad things really are.......I am simply commenting on the sensationalist press. Whether it be the FT, News at Ten, The Economist etc etc....they are all just someone's interpretation of a situation at a given time with the ultimate goal of selling papers/magazines etc.

Although as exil points out, the US is not technically in recession (yet).

m00m00

does anyone really believe government stats any more anyway ?

on either side of the pond

exil

merlinthehappypig wrote: »

I haven't quite got to the stage where I am prepared to take the word of Wikipedia over that of the FT, sorry. That may well be where Gordon Brown and Alastair Darling go for advice, mind.

The FT is a newspaper. I haven't quite got to the stage of believing everything I read in a newspaper. And if the FT says that a recession is defined by retail sales it is 100% wrong. The wikipedia arcticle is cross-referenced to opinions of professional economists. Some of whom think the US is heading for recession and some who do not.

exil

m00m00 wrote: »

does anyone really believe government stats any more anyway ?

on either side of the pond

Considering this whole discussion is based on government stats - probably, yes. I'm afraid this whole discussion is getting into tinfoil hat territory.

Vincenzo

Can the sticky note be removed and diarised for revival in 6 months time? Then we can all argue about who was right and who was wrong......

What worries me more than where this thread is going, is my apparant inability to stop reading it and posting on it!

John_Pierpoint

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_recessions_in_the_United_States&offset=20080301150632&limit=500&action=history

Back in the halcyon days days of 2005, nobody was very interested in this wikipedia topic and now it is getting almost as many updates as this ghetto thread - even if it is mainly the work of Gary King.

All a sign of the times?

John

WTF?_2

Bear Sterns about to go bang, having to be bailed out by the Federal Reserve and JP.Morgan.....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7296678.stm

neverdespairgirl

I'm putting my money where my mouth is, and predicting a 12 - 15% drop minimum between Jan and Dec 2008, for hte average house in England and Wales.