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On Shoes Dropping, and Other Things to Wait For
A Lot of Financial Footwear is Falling From the Sky
"Waiting for the other shoe to drop" basically means that you expect a final bad thing to happen that you can't control, in relation to previous other bad things that you couldn't control. It's an American phrase of mid-20th century origin, and recounts how an apartment dweller feels when sleeping beneath an inconsiderate neighbor who goes to bed late, but not before dropping the first shoe (or boot) onto the floor with a thud -- and then takes his sweet time as the now-awake person below waits for that other shoe to drop.
The things is, one piece of footwear after another has thudded to the floor since at least August of last year. A lot of people have been deprived of any financial piece and quiet, and in fact a growing number are now suffering deprivations of a more serious kind.
- According to a USA Today/Gallup poll, half the respondents say they fear that the current economic downturn "could become a depression."
- A BBC article headline, "Tent City Highlights U.S. Home Crisis," suggests that a vivid symbol of the depression era has in fact already appeared in a small but growing group outside of Los Angeles.
- A group of angry homeowners whose properties are in foreclosure forced their way into the lobby of Bear Stearns' mid-town Manhattan headquarters this week, to protest the investment bank's $29 billion bailout by the Federal Reserve, because they and millions of other families in foreclosure have received no such consideration.
- Jefferson County in Alabama could file for bankruptcy due to sewer and school system debt obligations that amount to $4.6 billion; it could prove to be the largest municipal default in U.S. history.
These "shoes" and others like them have either thudded quietly, or promise to make a thud that no one will miss. And it is true that for most of us, there is indeed little or nothing we can do about most of the bad news. Yet what you can do is look after your own financial future; people who expect politicians and policymakers to play that role are even more likely to be part of the bad news they hope to avoid.
The examples above come from the just-published April issue of the Elliott Wave Financial Forecast. Read more about the all-important context by clicking here.
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