me: > > so where will the next bubble be? Louis quotes: > The next bubble must be large enough to recover the losses from the > housing bubble collapse. How bad will it be? Some rough calculations: > the gross market value of all enterprises needed to develop > hydroelectric power, geothermal energy, nuclear energy, wind farms, > solar power, and hydrogen-powered fuel-cell technology-and the > infrastructure to support it-is somewhere between $2 trillion and $4 > trillion; assuming the bubble can get started, the hyperinflated > fictitious value could add another $12 trillion. In a hyperinflation, > infrastructure upgrades will accelerate, with plenty of opportunity for > big government contractors fleeing the declining market in Iraq. > Thus, we can expect to see the creation of another $8 trillion in > fictitious value, which gives us an estimate of $20 trillion in > speculative wealth, money that inevitably will be employed to increase > share prices rather than to deliver "energy security." When the bubble > finally bursts, we will be left to mop up after yet another devastated > industry. FIRE, meanwhile, will already be engineering its next > opportunity. Given the current state of our economy, the only thing > worse than a new bubble would be its absence.
I have that magazine in the back seat of my car. I'll have to actually read it. But the author should be careful with the word "hyperinflation." It evokes thoughts of Germany in 1923. I don't think that the US is going to have hyperinflation any time soon. -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
