Banking bailouts may lead to another depression

Martin Weiss, PhD, predicts that America may be headed for a Second great depression.

Dr. Weiss has proposals for change, beginning with a recognition and acceptance of the dire realities of our time. In awhite paper presented at the National Press Club, he covered the following points:

· America’s Second Great Depression: Why today’s crisis could be more severe than past economic crises, including America’s first Great Depression.

· The role of bank triage: Proactively shutting down insolvent institutions, rehabilitating weak institutions and giving better opportunities for strong banks to support a future economic recovery.

· Protection for the ship of state: Steps to safeguard the credit and credibility of the U.S. government even in the worst-case scenario.

· Emergency preparedness: Critical changes that can be made now to protect the American public from the worst impacts of a depression.

· Next casualties: Among the 15 institutions cited as partners of AIG, two are among the five largest players in the U.S. derivatives market, with great vulnerabilities to derivatives losses overall, and one other is likely to also be heavily involved: Bank of America, NA, HSBC Bank USA and JPMorgan Chase.

BACKGROUND:

Martin D. Weiss, Ph.D., along with Weiss analyst Mike Larson, are the only analysts in the U.S. who have specifically named nearly all of the major institutions that have suffered a financial failure in this crisis, whether in the form of a forced buyout, a government bailout or outright bankruptcy. Moreover, Weiss’ failure warnings were issued without ambiguity and with months of advance lead time, giving the public ample time to escape the dangers.

Weiss predicted the demise of Bear Stearns 102 days prior to its failure, Lehman Brothers (182 days prior), Fannie Mae (eight years prior), and Citigroup (110 days prior). Similarly, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that, in the 1990s, Weiss greatly outperformed Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s, A.M. Best and D&P (now Fitch) in warning of future insurance company failures. (See http://archive.gao.gov/t2pbat2/152669.pdf.)