Worldwide financial crisis on the horizon? Mark Ames hopes so:

Could we be on the verge of another financial catastrophe? I'll admit it: I'm hopeful. First, because I'm poor and spiteful, and secondly, because one of the nice things about financial collapses (like military disasters) is that all the ugly, corrupt realities underpinning a so-called economic boom are revealed, and the worst in humanity is laid bare, and everyone everywhere gets pissed off, cynical, and hopeless. That's the kind of thing that boosts my mood, not to mention my sexual drive. Financial panics are to me what endangered mammal horns are to Chinese men: pure Viagra placebo.

. . .

The bottom line is this: the global economy is experiencing one of those insane, untenable imbalances, all emanating from New York and Washington, just like the last time around, most of the effects of which will be felt in Mumbai, Istanbul and Moscow.

As the easy credit dries up in the US, assets that inflated most wildly -- like American houses and Russian stocks -- are the first to fall. And both already are.

What's happening with emerging market stocks is just a snapshot of what's to come. In just the last month, the stock market selloffs have wiped out $2 trillion in wealth around the globe. That's scary, and that means that more money's going to be leaving places like Russia. And just like last time, first it's the stocks and bonds that get hit, and eventually, property prices get creamed as more and more money leaves.

How far everything will fall, and for how long, is anyone's guess. All one can do is hope. And my hope is that the whole fucking house of cards comes crashing down, to the point where in a couple of years from now, humanoids will be roaming barren cities in packs, competing with crows and stray dogs for carcass bones. Because when that happens, everything, even a nifty three-room apartment in Kitai Gorod, or a humble condo at Zuma Beach in Malibu, will be affordable to a lifelong fuckup like me.

So keep the easy credit rolling, ye greedy finance goons...the higher it rises, the harder it will fall. And the more for me.

Stay mean, Ames. Stay mean.