Ok, it’s pretty much common knowledge that the economy is on the edge. People are going to be losing their jobs and things are going to get tight. The fixes they needed to do a year ago just didn’t happen and the only thing left to do is shock therapy. It’s a done deal, they are going to be doing shock therapy on the economy.

Now is where opportunity comes in. Whenever there is anything like this, while there are huge downsides, there are huge opportunities to benefit now in this market. You just have to find the opportunities, and there are many. Now, I am not here to tell you what opportunities exist in this economy right now, but you can do a bit of looking and see the great opportunities that await. Now is the time to lay the foundation to take advantage of them.

Citibank is predicting that the Great Unwind has begun and the massive leveraging in the economy is being wound down. This means that a lot of the positions held in commodities and other leveraged instruments are going to be settled. It’s a general pullout of positions in an effort to increase cash reserves.

This will lead to a reduction in amount of credit available as well as a reduction in commodity prices. This is caused by leveraged investors, such as hedge funds, selling off their stronger investments to meet margin calls and to settle other leveraged debt they have taken on.

The great unwind is about clearing out the ledger. Who knows how this will really play out, but in the end, the economy will be stronger.

My father always said that when the economy began a really deep downturn, Las Vegas would begin to see its economy booming. Well, it certainly is now. Las Vegas is seeing year on year growth in gaming revenue in the double digits. In October, the year on year growth in gambling revenue was 19.8%. That is a huge growth.

Meanwhile casinos in other locations saw a drop in revenues. Foxwoods in Connecticut saw revenue down 7% and Atlantic City saw a 5% drop. It is interesting to see how things will shake out in the near future as the economy sinks lower. Will the casinos elsewhere see a change in their income level?

Las Vegas proves immune to jittery U.S. economy, but not casinos elsewhere; Gary Rivlin (12/26/2007); International Herald Tribune; 12/26/2007.

There is an index of home prices called the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index. It measures the prices of home in 20 large metropolitan areas around the country. It is considered a pretty accurate index of home price trends and it is definitely one that economists pay attention to when seeing what the housing market is doing.

Lately, it doesn’t look to good. After posting a year on year drop of 4.7% in September, the index saw a year on year drop of 6.1% in October. That’s decrease of 1.4% is the largest since the index began. This means that without a doubt, home prices are falling across the country. What happens next is what has the economists guessing.