Bill Sykes' Newsletter from America.
(October 2001)
News from the home front.
World Economic Financial Situation.
The United States and World economies have suffered severely
as a direct, or indirect, result of the terrorist action
against the United States on the 11th of September 2001.
Fear, terror, or reluctance to expose the individual, or
his/her family to possible harm, has affected Airline, Cruise
Line, Travel, Hotel and Restaurant Industries and placed
them in a state of reduced operation with lay off of employees
and subsequent financial loss of revenue to a point of near
bankruptcy.
 Prior
to this terrible terrorist attack, the United States Economy
was faltering and we were on the verge of recession.
The President's insistence on a tax cut did nothing to alleviate
the situation.
I would suggest that to the contrary it exacerbated our
slide into recession.
The major beneficiaries of the tax cut were big business
entities and the wealthy.
The banking system benefited from the Federal Reserve interest
cuts much to the detriment of the Senior Citizens who in
many cases are very much dependent upon interest dividends
to supplement their Social Security retirement income.
The United States, in common with many of the nations of
the world, has many new problems involving heavy financing
of a war against unknown terrorist factions, which in many
areas of the world is considered a war that will last for
years with doubtful results.
Unemployment has risen rapidly and the financial markets
are on edge.
Even the "cheerleading" from the White House and
the economic gurus has not revived the sagging economy.
The fallout has hit world financial centers and no relief
is insight.
I know that the reader of this newsletter may not be too
focused upon the monetary system and the financial aspects
of possible World recession, except of course those who
are still alive and remember the 1929 depression, but I
would like to place before you just a word of warning.
Generally, as the United States Economy goes so does the
rest of the world.
It doesn't take a financial wizard to project that the United
States economy could suffer negative growth in the first
two quarters of 2002, and in addition the costs associated
with the war against terrorism, and the unemployment problems
we are currently experiencing, will put us back into a deficit
spending mode leading once again to the incongruous position
of being the Worlds largest debtor nation.
I sincerely hope that these predictions are totally inaccurate
and that I will be proven to be completely wrong.
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