Soros says deep recession inevitable, depression possible - Reuters

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

"As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again." - Scarlett O'Hara

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081113/bs_nm/us_soros_2

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – George Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management, testified at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on Thursday. Highlights:

* Said "a deep recession is now inevitable and the possibility of a depression cannot be ruled out."

* Said hedge funds were an integral part of the financial market bubble which now has burst.

* Said hedge funds will be "decimated" by the current financial crisis and forced to shrink their portfolios by 50-75 percent.

* Said Fed, Treasury Department and the SEC must accept responsibility to prevent market bubbles from growing too big in future.

Said impossible to prevent market bubbles from forming, but they can be kept within "tolerable bounds."

* Said financial engineering should be regulated and new products approved by regulators, and that such regulation should be a high priority of the new Obama administration.

* Said a recent IMF credit facility not large enough to stabilize markets.

[Crazy Dave]

1. They've denied that there's been a recession already for 2 years

According to the statistics they use, not the ones in our face that say otherwise. My guess is a real depression will start right after the holiday season.

[Zenlitened]

2. Oddly enough, they've been using the "R" word ("recession")...

... pretty freely since, oh, about Nov. 5.

Government flaks, media talking heads... they all went from denial to casual, almost breezy, acknowledgement overnight.

Hmmm. I wonder what changed their tune?

:shrug:

[Crazy Dave]

4. This recession and every one for the past 30 years will be blamed on Obama

By 2012 the Iraq war will be all his fault too.

[snappyturtle]

6. Funny you should say this. Earlier today I was cleaning out e-mail

and found one from months ago that said if Obama won the election we would suffer a severe recession and other economic maladies! Kinda' like going to war with Iraq; it was lng on the repuke agenda.

[Warpy]

3. Nah, it's already started

but might actually be acknowledged after the holiday season as a "deep recession."

We'll know differently by the lines of people waiting out in the cold for watered soup and stale bread.

[Crazy Dave]

5. Nah...they'll be left to starve or be put in jail for vagrancy

All the money that used to go to help the non-profits has been made into law that it will be used to pay for the AIG executive's Christmas party and bonuses.