Money man says half of world's wealth gone
But 'highly optimistic' Obama now says national crisis 'not as bad as we think'
Posted: March 12, 2009
11:30 pm Eastern
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
Editor's Note: The following report is excerpted from Jerome Corsi's Red Alert, the premium online newsletter published by the current No. 1 best-selling author, WND staff writer and columnist. Subscriptions are $99 a year or $9.95 per month for credit card users. Annual subscribers will receive a free autographed copy of Corsi's New York Times best seller, "The Late Great USA."
A "highly optimistic" President Barack Obama sought to encourage Americans worried over the economy and his proposals to overhaul the nation's finances today by declaring the national crisis is "not as bad as we think" and advising them to avoid being driven by either bad or good news.
But some bad news may be too big to ignore.
Half of the world's wealth has disappeared, Jerome Corsi's Red Alert reports.
Stephen Schwarzman, the chief executive officer of private equity company Blackstone Group LP, told Reuters that between 40 and 45 percent of the world's wealth had been destroyed in the past year and a half.
"This is absolutely unprecedented in our lifetimes," he said.
Consider the following, also reported by Reuters:
* The Asian Development bank estimated that financial assets lost around the world may have amounted to over $50 trillion in value, a collapse of wealth equivalent to a year's worth of world economic output.
* The World Bank concluded that the volume of world trade in 2009 will fall for the first time since 1982, suffering the biggest decline in 80 years.
* The World Bank also predicted that world gross domestic product, or GDP, will decline for the first time since World War II, with the likelihood world GDP will experience a decline of 5 percent over 2008 figures.
* China, the largest exporter among emerging economies, has seen 20 million jobs disappear, while India reports three million jobs were lost because of shrinking exports.
* The Institute of International Finance, a Washington think-tank, reported net private flows to emerging markets declined 50 percent in 2008, to less than $500 billion; net private capital flows to emerging markets in 2009 are expected to decline even further, to $165 billion.
* The World Bank anticipates that 98 developing countries will face a cumulative financing gap between $270 billion and $700 billion this year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached its peak above 14,400 in July 2007. Currently, the DJIA is trading in the range of 7,000, leaving the stock market with only half its peak value.