perfect storm

*<http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-op-fraser9dec09,1,1306484.story?coll=la-news-comment&ctrack=2&cset=true>

In this article, Steve Fraser argues that a “perfect storm” of
economic disasters is steadily advancing on the U.S. economy, and it will be
hitting us right around the 2008 presidential election. This storm is
comprised of three main factors: bad business practices due to deregulation,
the collapse of the housing market, and the devaluation of the U.S. dollar
due to drastic increases in oil prices.

The collapse of the housing market is likened to the bursting of the
dot-com bubble, brought about by poor lending decisions by banks and rampant
borrowing from under qualified borrowers. Will the effects of this will be
bad for construction industry and the lending industry, the worse of it will
be felt by the general collapse of the credit structure which has “shored up
consumer capitalism for decades.” The vanishing equity in houses will put a
crunch on a lot of people, as well as lifelines of credit that have allowed