Barton Biggs Turns Bearish

I don't believe that an even more dramatic economic or stock-market apocalypse is nigh, but many, many wise people do, and I must admit I am more worried now than I was a few weeks ago. I have attended two large conferences of global investors in the last few weeks, and it was clear that at both more than half of the participants believed that the Obama administration has stumbled badly, that its programs are too little and too late and that the president's halo is disappearing.

Since late last week, confidence indexes in the U.S., Europe and Japan that had seemed to level out were once again showing growing consumer concern about the economy. The most highly regarded economists and strategists now expect a long, deep, global recession, with stock markets falling another 20 to 30 percent. A vocal hard core warns of years of hard times comparable to the Great Depression at worst or the Japanese lost decade at best. (more)