Saturday, July 19, 2008

The Slowdown

The economy is really putting the breaks on. We were tapping for about a year, with the thought that the price of oil couldn't keep going up. Well it did. Now that Americans have tapped their 401ks and maxed their credit cards things are starting to slowdown. The airlines and the big 3 automakers don't have time to adjust strategy. They are laying-off thousands. There has finally been enough slowdown to cause the price of oil to subside. I would expect the economy to continue downward for at lease 24 months, possibly leveling off after that. Wide economic expansion may never come again, unless oil falls below $75 or another energy source starts to compete with oil.