re: Photos of hundreds of thousands of autos awaiting buyers

TigerinAtl...You have hit upon one of the great terrifying consequences of deflation. People stop buying NOW because they EXPECT prices to be LESS in the future. Of course this is not a terrifying consequence to the average person but it sure frightens governments and businesses. Of course, putting off buying now and being rewarded by lower prices leads to a downward spiral of expectations of lower prices in the future which leads to lower prices, rinse and repeat.

We often hear the term 'inflation expectations' from the Fed minutes or beige book notes...as in 'polls of consumer sentiment showed no or little increase in consumer inflation expectations'.

When did you hear the Fed say something like 'polls of consumer sentiment showed little or no increase in consumer deflation expectations'? The Fed is loathe to mention the words deflation, recession and, god forbid, depression. The Fed is in the greatest battle it has fought since the great depression and few people even know a battle is going on.

It is probably best that most people do not know what might lie ahead. I imagine most people to be like revelers dancing in the ball room of the Titanic prior to striking the iceburg. What possible good could come from telling the revelers what is in store for them? It is ok for those with hard shells to know what could happen but I would not try to explain to my mom that she might have to go through another great depression. My mom lived on roastin' ears, squirrls, biscuits, garden veggies and maybe a fried chicken on Sunday for years...They were share croppers. Mom had little schooling and went barefoot till she was almost a teen. To her credit she got her HS GED and a degree from a community college when she was in her 30s. Her generation, what is left of them, are terrified of another great depression. Mom worked hard and doesn't deserve two depressions in her life but life is not fair. We all should take care of our old folks cause someday it might be our turn to need a helping hand. A visit, some friendly words, a basket of food, a few dollars...none of that means much to most of us but it might mean the world to someone barely getting by or someone that is lonely and just needing a little company to talk with, a word of reassurance. It might also mean a lot to you when you face your maker.

Sorry for the rant but sometimes we all get a little too caught up in our own problems, and we forget that there are those with worse problems.