Economic Situation

Economic data from around the world is getting scarier and scarier.  Spain, Greece, and Italy are going down the tubes and rioting is happening all over the place.  Extremist groups such as Greece's Golden Dawn are slowly making political gains and are advocating the expulsion of "non-Aryan" Greeks.  Not surprising really.  I've been tracking the movement of extremist groups since this global crisis started, knowing that poor economic conditions often push desperate people towards desperate solutions.  In Hungary, the Jobbik party is gaining strength, and we're seeing the same thing in France with Le Pen's and the same in Germany.

Pro-nationalist parties are gaining strength everywhere in Europe and people are starting to look out for themselves.  The new French president and German voters are looking out for themselves as they as choose the position of anti-austerity and pro-growth at the expense of the rest of Europe.  The European Union might actually fracture as the possibility of a Greek exit or "Grexit" might actually happen.

Iceland, the poster child of the anti-bailout way of thought, is considering using the Canadian loony in place of its own currency.  Does that sound like they're doing okay?  What stable and prosperous nation would hand over its monetary policy to another government?  All those people parading Iceland around as the anti-bailout solution don't know that Iceland is practically self-sufficient in nearly every industry, with the exception being oil, which they have to import.  No other nation could have pulled off what Iceland did and continue.

The Far East isn't doing any better.  China's growth is slowly winding down to around 5%.  Still a lot relative to other countries but not fast enough to keep unemployment down.  South Korea is slowing down too and Japan jumped to 4% growth, but that is only due to tsunami damage repair.  Australia's continued growth is reliant on China's growth by exporting minerals.  If China slows, Australia slows.

Here, in the home front, things are getting even worse.  Possible $1 trillion student loan bubble about to pop.  Unemployment rate for new college grads are still bad, apparently people with econ degrees have an unemployment rate of 9.4%.  Fuck my life.  Housing is still in a slump and hiring is still down.  Right now the Canadians are rioting due to rising tuition costs.  Morons were going gaga over Facebook's public offering on the stock market...until it dropped by 10 to 15% on the second day.  There is glimmer of hope however. Several days ago SpaceX launched the Falcon 9, marking a new era in spaceflight.  It's good to know that in the middle of the darkness we're experiencing, somebody, somewhere is looking and creating a brighter future.