A rumpled economist named Greenspan speaks with the solemn authority and majesty of medieval popes. He hinted interest rates would be further cut in coming months. Shortly after, leading American analysts predicted the US would slip into recession in 1999. All stock markets are speculative bubbles. So, to lesser degree, are banks.
Healthy finances depend on confidence, and anticipation of future profits.
Optimism has run out from New York to Tokyo. What began last year as a tiny paper cut in Thailand has tuned into massive systemic gangrene. The world economy is in recession. Markets are dropping. Hedge funds and banks are registering almost inconceivably large losses.