Crystal Ball

I would really like to know where Sen. Max Baucus got his crystal ball at.<br />n<br />n<a href="http://billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/03/19/news/state/28-baucus.txt">Baucus sees economic hope coming</a><br />n<br />n<blockquote>The nation's economic skid is close to bottoming out, Democratic Sen. Max Baucus said after a speech Tuesday, but expect some "hiccups" before the recession hits bottom<br />n<br />nBaucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, spoke to a group of civic leaders and business people in a luncheon sponsored by the Helena Area Chamber of Commerce.<br />n<br />nHe said Congress has a role to play in reforming banking laws that may have led to some of the excesses behind the slump.</blockquote><br />n<br />nDon't get me wrong here, I hope he is right but I'm not too sure. This whole thing has the same feel that the Japanese economic meltdown some 15 year ago had. Both had there basis in inflated land prices and when that finally broke open the government had to scramble to attempt to bail out financial institutions to try to keep them solvent. Japan took over 10 years to work its way out of the mess. Sen. Max Baucus thinks we will be able to work out of it in months? <br />n<br />nMaybe his crystal ball is that good. If it was me though I would keep the receipt on the damned thing. I think it might be broke.<br />n<br />n<strong>It's not an exaggeration to say that we're on the verge of a meltdown. John Hart</strong>