Experts Say Economic Storm Has Barely Begun


February 11, 2009 | From theTrumpet.com
What America has experienced so far are picnic winds. The worst is yet ahead. By Robert Morley

Yesterday, several tornadoes wreaked destruction and death through the greater Oklahoma City area. It took only minutes. Sheets of twisted metal have been left hanging in trees, power lines are ripped apart, homes are obliterated and left looking like piles of bombed-out rubble.

I saw one awe-inspiring twister as it blasted lightning, rained hail, and demolished buildings just a mile away.

One frightful lesson became evident: how fast a storm can arrive. Another: how brutal it can be. When the tornado sirens went off, there was not much you could do but head for whatever shelter was nearby. And pray.

For at least eight people yesterday, that wasn’t enough.

[b]America is facing an economic storm far greater than the deadly tornadoes that swept Oklahoma. Time is short. The warning sirens, audible for years, are today blaring for all to hear. There is no need to be caught out in the open with nowhere to go.

The leading edge has arrived.

America’s economic core—its biggest financial institutions—are in tatters. And there have been casualties: Record numbers are losing their homes, companies are going out of business, and almost 600,000 jobs are being lost per month.

But according to the best economists—the courageous voices not bought and paid for by self-interest groups—what America has experienced so far is but the first few gusts of an unprecedented storm.

Here is a short survey of what some of the experts have warned over the past week.

Gerard Cassidy, Royal Bank of Canada analyst, on why the banking crisis is just beginning:

“We are nowhere near the end of this down leg in the current credit cycle. Bank stocks will likely remain under pressure as the industry confronts its … problems ….â€