Staff Reports
The Biden White House is in full spin-mode trying to deny the inevitable – we are headed straight for another recession! Despite signals and trends indicating a downturn on the horizon, only the White House is still trying to claim that everything is under control. Everywhere else you look, both the institutions and individual investors are battening down the hatches and preparing for the inevitable recession. Notably, even the Federal Reserve has predicted a mild recession this year with some possible economic recovery in the subsequent two years.
The commercial real estate sector is already feeling the pressure. The $2.9 trillion in commercial mortgages exposed are expected to face serious renegotiations and dubious value drops up to 40%, worse than that of the Great Financial Crisis. The largest banks are creating a buffer against these losses from commercial real estate, preparing their tighter lending standards. Hedge funds and other shadow banking institutions like BlackRock are already setting aside capital to jump on the possible collapse of the commercial real estate market.
Despite these predictions, the only group left denying the impending recession are partisan hacks. While the Biden White House clings to the belief that a recession is not around the corner, Bank of America and J.P. Morgan, the two largest banks, predict it. They are already preparing to profit and survive a recession, while the wealthiest are deploying investment strategies to do the same.
Mainstream finance outlets are also reporting the incoming economic downturn. Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal foresee sluggish growth in the coming years, with stagnant 0.5% inflation-adjusted GDP growth by the end of 2023 and 1.6% by 2024.
The truth is out there, and it is clear that the economy is not as strong as the White House is leading us to believe. How prepared are we to navigate through another recession? Only time will tell, but it is becoming apparent that a hard recession is on the way.
