Saturday, January 23, 2010

Marc Faber on Sovereign Debt Crisis and Bernankes Bubbles

marc faber
"In some areas of the US, housing prices have been rising at almost 30% per annum in recent years and overall prices have doubled since 1997. The question, therefore, arises when this housing boom, which was fueled by ultra low interest rates and allowed people to refinance their homes, will come to an end. This is an important question because US consumption since year 2000 was not driven by capital spending and employment gains, but purely by asset inflation in the housing market, which allowed people to take out larger and larger mortgages and spend the additional funds (well understood, "borrowed funds") on consumer durables such as cars and consumer non-durables. Now, however, there is a problem with the housing market. If the US economy continues to strengthen, interest rates, which are negative in real terms, will have to rise considerably and this could lead - if not to a housing crash - so at least to a less buoyant market. In addition, as we can see from the figure below (courtesy of Bridgewater), the inventories of unsold homes are at a record. Therefore, should higher interest rates, driven by a stronger economy, lead to less home purchases by individuals, home-builders who are holding these inventories could get hurt quite badly"The Bubbles Mr. Greenspan has Created by Marc Faber Gloom Boom Doom Report



Dr. Marc Faber also known as Dr Doom is an investment adviser, investment analyst and fund manager author and publisher of the Gloom Boom & Doom Report ,and the author of "Tomorrows Gold" . Dr Faber is known for his contrarian investment approach. Dr Marc Faber is associated with a variety of funds and is a member of the Board of Directors of numerous companies.
In 1987 he warned his clients to cash out before Black Monday on Wall Street. He made them handsome profits by forecasting the burst in the Japanese Bubble in 1990. He correctly predicted the collapse in US gaming stocks in 1993; and he foresaw the Asia-Pacific financial crisis of 1997/98 and the resulting global volatility. Dr Doom motto is "Follow the course opposite to custom and you will almost be right"
Mr. Faber is also the author of several books, including Tomorrow’s Gold – Asia’s Age of Discovery, and is a director of Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. , a mining firm focused on the Asia Pacific region. He is also an adviser to a number of private investment funds.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...