Are We Seeing A Repeat Of 1929?
Aided by major advances in Information Technology,the GDP’s of the United States and other countries has risen dramatically during the 1990′s and into the current century. Economic and financial advances and declines are of course cyclical yet few experts or analysts in the global market place anticipated the rapid financial meltdowns we have witnessed in recent weeks and months, the steepest decline since 1929.
The somewhat grim financial situation we now find ourselves in indicates a strong need to redefine existing economic and financial models. It is too early to tell when or whether financial rescue packages recently put in place will turn the economies of the USA, Europe and Asia around. Initially these bailout packages have done little to stop the slide in stock indexes.
It seems strange that the collapse of several major financial institutions such as Lehman Brothers came as such a surprise. Hindsite shows that there were plenty of danger signals which if heeded may have prevented this major problem. The business model of Lehman Brothers, their lending practices, and their operating practices, if attended to and revised at an earlier time may have saved the company and kept employees and shareholders holding a bag containing precious little.
The question arises here is how long and how many times a country or banks would be able to prevent these debacle? Is our strategy of investment or portfolio being adopted is healthy enough to promise a sustainable growth rate. Surprisingly the recent G7 meeting couldn’t find out feasible solutions.
Major economic powers such as the USA and China have cooperated in trying to bolster their respective economies. It is apparent however that even if some successes are achieved,the real solution lies in cooperation with Europe and the other Asian economies if a true global recovery is to be achieved.
The practice of instituting financial rescue or bailout packages begs the question as to how long and at what cost will financial institutions and economies be able to withstand the pressure leading to future debacles. While the financial situation is under repair the investor has to review is or her own patterns of investment to determine how, from this time forward, to gain a sustainable growth rate.
So it is really up to the political leaders of the affected countries to step up and cooperate in finding the means not only to reverse the current situation but to prevent a reoccurrence as well. Until that happens the small investor, and perhaps the large investor as well, needs to be very cautions as to where they are putting their money.
A common man when reads an article on crisis in share indexes doesn’t understand or even bothers to think how this effects his life. However the same person when unfortunately gets laid off from his organization accounting slow down as reason blames his luck. Awareness among common people about ups and downs of stock graph would help them to improve their life style.
