Is Recovery Just Around the Corner? | The Big Picture

Jack McHugh goes on to look for answer to famous question - Is recovery just around the corner?

Sometimes I am ashamed of how pessimistic I have become. But nothing tells me that we are closer to situations when fundamentals are sorted out. I think the bottom here is fixed - its way below from here for US markets. A slower descent implies longer time to see the bottom. Implies more pain - and slower recovery.

With current healthcare situation and age demographics as they are - I see US consumers going towards 15% saving rate as sustainable rate going forward. Under strong dollar regime it means income de-growth and therefore sustainable consumption will be a long long way below current levels. In a weak dollar regime, it would mean, higher inflation sharper fall and concentrated impact of consumption dip - with a possible under-shooting below sustainable consumption level. On a discounted basis these both will be equal impact in all likelyhood.

What this implies is that sustainable world consumption should see a 1.5 the dip seen at US (roughly). So the only way to recovery is when jobs seem safe and incomes stop falling. Note this is just the average - so we will see a dip below this to about 2X US consumption loss. So stock markets should reach corresponding levels.