So I will tell you what people here on Wall Street really thinks, including my personal view. First of all, it is a complicated issue. It is certainly not as simple as our presendential candidates and TV anchors are portraying it to be: Greedy executives, no regulation, SEC doing nothing until too late etc. You name it. It is always somebody elses fault.

Why we ended up where we are has many guilty parties, including all of the above. But actually at the very bottom of the pyramid is really me and everyone else living in the states and elsewhere borrowing more money than we could afford to. The banks are guilty because they let us do it to grow business. The goverment is guilty because they did not have a regulatory body competent to audit and prevent the banks from doing this in the first place which is their job. And also it allowed the consumer to get cash through refinancing, and the consumer is the driver of the US economy, so why stop that, especially with elections coming up? That is all facts. I can write pages & pages about this but this is a soccer blog first and foremost.

Now with respect to the proposed “package” there are a few scary things first to keep in mind. If the fed had not stepped in when they did, it would have caused a global financial meltdown on the scale of 1929 within days, not weeks! But this time, it would not be just the US but the world. Scary, but true. In terms of the proposed solution there are bascially two main views on the Street:

1) Setting up this emergency fund is a good thing, and although it is expensive, over time the government will recoup the spend as happened during the 80′ies and 90′ies in the Scandinavian countries when they faced a complete collapse of their financial markets. In fact, the package (which has yet to be presented and passed by congress…) is from what I hear based on the solution those countries implemented, which ultimately turned very succesful. So in other words, there will be some jumpy markets going forward, but finally as time moves on, things will go back to normal because the government will be there as a guarantor, and because the economy will grow the will recoup the spend in future taxes.

2) The other view is that it is too expensive, the US economy is not capable to handle it given its dependency of selling their bonds (debt) abroad. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are not cheap. On top of that, all it takes is China, Russia or Japan to stop buying bonds, or even worse selling the ones they already have, and then the only way the US can handle its mess is to print money, which theoretically opens the door to hyperinflation (case in point Zimbabwe currently with 11000% inflation). Not a pretty picture, and if that happened I would move to Amsterdam and become a bicycle mechanic.

My view is somewhere between. I believe there are still some scary systematic issues in the markets, but the fed is dealing with at least some of them (e.g temporarily stopping short selling and disallowing “naked” shorts permanently) but this whole mess started because the financial engineers at the Goldmans and JP Morgan invented CDO and CDS which are very complex financial instruments that is very hard to price correctly, even for them. Forget about the fed, they have a bunch of old men who were retired before these things got invented, and kids straight out of college. Financial innovation is always going to be one step ahead of the regulators, just like doping in sports. Everytime one loophole gets shut, another one opens up.

Expect jumpy markets short term, especially until whatever the final “package” gets passed in congress. I think next week will have a few bad days as Dems and Reps play games to pass this bill. Longer term I actually think it will work itself out. The economy always has, even in 1929, but the only problem is that it takes time. Also remember what happens in the US`markets typically takes a full year before it blossoms in Europe and 2 years in Asia/Pac, so if you wander if I could give you any advice it is basically to not panic, dont sell your stocks now, ride out the bad times. At the same time I would not recommend anyone at the moment to be “clever” and try to buy on the cheap, because this may not be the bottom yet.

I think the economy will be in trouble until 2010 before things will be picking up. So friends, best thing to do is to “batten down the hatches” until the storm is over, because eventually it will.

People, and how about AZ, huh? :O If there was a chance for Alkmaarder Zaanstreek to prove they’re not dead men, it was today on DSB Stadion. And they did it. Just against the trophy-holders. Thanks from FC Den Haag:) (will the dream continue, Goose? It depends on tomorrow against De Graafschap… )

Tiju, keep those posts coming!!!

@Jason: I have followed Oojier quite closely at Blackburn, and he struggles. Between injuries and competition for the starting spot, the Blackburn fans has turned a bit against him. Now with the new manager, Paul Ince, I doubt his future (if he has any) lies with B’Burn. I think you are right, a player that should have stayed at PSV but if someone offer you EPL money, are you going to turn it down? Especially if you are Dutch

Why would Ooijer make a move to Blackburn from PSV for any reason other than money? He was good at PSV but his Blackburn appearances have been “luke warm” at best. Do you think he made a mistake???

Luckily as usual, the rest of the posters are on the ball and have provided me with all the valuable feedback I need. Thank you all!!!

@Felipe, your knowledge is incredible. I bet there is not a single person in Brazil that know as much about Oranje as you do. Speaking of Heerenveen by the way, Tarik Elyounoussi was the guy that came in as a late sub to score the equaliser in the UEFA cup. He is perhaps the biggest soccer talent today in Norway and since the head coach of Heerenveen, Trond Sollied, is also Norwegian he decided to come to Heerenveen this summer over a lot of bigger European clubs. His father is Moroccan and he had a chance to play for their NT as well, but decided to play for Norway instead. He is real young and I bet Heerenveen will be making a mint on him when they/him decide to move on. They seem to have got their youth program in order as opposed to my dear Ajax…which pisses me off