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Saturday, October 18, 2014

Brace yourselves for another financial crash


Ebola, combined with dropping oil prices, have caused stock markets to drop around the world. With questions about the European economy and an uncertain American growth many are wondering if another economic crisis is just around the corner.
Opinion: Brace yourselves for another financial crash
(CNN) -- The stock market's recent jitters have made many investors wonder whether there's a new financial crisis just around the corner. Well, of course there isn't -- because we've never really left the last one.
Financial crises of the scale of the 2007 crash only really end when their causes are unwound by debt repayment, bankruptcies, debt write-offs, and inflation.
In the 1930s, there was plenty of all four. The end result was that US private debt fell by almost 100% of GDP from its deflation-spiked peak of 130% in 1933, to a low of 35% at the end of WWII.
By comparison, the debt cutting we've been through so far in this crisis is trivial -- a fall of under 20% from a far higher peak of 175% in 2010.
We're attempting an economic revival from a debt level that exceeds the worst level reached during the 1930s....
Ebola: Could virus's spread cause financial market turmoil?
The spread of Ebola beyond West Africa could lead to turmoil on international financial markets on a greater scale than the SARS outbreak a decade ago, economists have warned.
Analysts at Barclays warned that the continued spread of the deadly virus would hit global growth and "have a significant impact on global financial markets"....
Fears of global slowdown spark fall on European and US stockmarkets
Fears of a worldwide economic slowdown and anxiety about the spread of Ebola reverberated around stock markets Wednesday, driving shares around the world sharply down and pushing the price of oil to a four-year low.
After falls in London and New York on Wednesday, Asia extended the selloff in global equities on Thursday as heightened concerns about world economic growth sent Japanese stocks tumbling and U.S. Treasury yields down...

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