Even though the U.S. financial system nearly experienced a total meltdown in late 2008, the truth is that most Americans simply have no idea what is happening to the U.S. economy. Most people seem to think that the nasty little recession that we have just been through is almost over and that we will be experiencing another time of economic growth and prosperity very shortly. But this time around that is not the case. The reality is that we are being sucked into an economic black hole from which the U.S. economy will never fully recover.
The problem is debt. Collectively, the U.S. government, the state governments, corporate America and American consumers have accumulated the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world. Our massive debt binge has financed our tremendous growth and prosperity over the last couple of decades, but now the day of reckoning is here.
And it is going to be painful.
The following are 20 reasons why the U.S. economy is dying and is simply not going to recover....
#1) Do you remember that massive wave of subprime mortgages that defaulted in 2007 and 2008 and caused the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression? Well, the "second wave" of mortgage defaults in on the way and there is simply no way that we are going to be able to avoid it. A huge mountain of mortgages is going to reset starting in 2010, and once those mortgage payments go up there are once again going to be millons of people who simply cannot pay their mortgages. The chart below reveals just how bad the second wave of adjustable rate mortgages is likely to be over the next several years....
#2) The Federal Housing Administration has announced plans to increase the amount of up-front cash paid by new borrowers and to require higher down payments from those with the poorest credit. The Federal Housing Administration currently backs about 30 percent of all new home loans and about 20 percent of all new home refinancing loans. Tighter standards are going to mean that less people will qualify for loans. Less qualifiers means that there will be less buyers for homes. Less buyers means that home prices are going to drop even more.
#3) It is getting really hard to find a job in the United States. A total of 6,130,000 U.S. workers had been unemployed for 27 weeks or more in December 2009. That was the most ever since the U.S. government started keeping track of this statistic in 1948. In fact, it is more than double the 2,612,000 U.S. workers who were unemployed for a similar length of time in December 2008. The reality is that once Americans lose their jobs they are increasingly finding it difficult to find new ones. Just check out the chart below....
#4) In December, there were also 929,000 "discouraged" workers who are not counted as part of the labor force because they have "given up" looking for work. That is the most since the U.S. government first started keeping track of discouraged workers in 1949. Many Americans have simply given up and are now chronically unemployed.
#5) Some areas of the U.S. are already virtually in a state of depression. The mayor of Detroit estimates that the real unemployment rate in his city is now somewhere around 50 percent.
#6) For decades, our leaders in Washington pushed us towards "a global economy" and told us it would be so good for us. But there is a flip side. Now workers in the U.S. must compete with workers all over the world, and our greedy corporations are free to pursue the cheapest labor available anywhere on the globe. Millions of jobs have already been shipped out of the United States, and Princeton University economist Alan S. Blinder estimates that 22% to 29% of all current U.S. jobs will be offshorable within two decades. The days when blue collar workers could live the American Dream are gone and they are not going to come back.
#7) During the 2001 recession, the U.S. economy lost 2% of its jobs and it took four years to get them back. This time around the U.S. economy has lost more than 5% of its jobs and there is no sign that the bleeding of jobs is going to stop any time soon.
#8) All of this unemployment is putting severe stress on state unemployment funds. At this point, 25 state unemployment insurance funds have gone broke and the Department of Labor estimates that 15 more state unemployment funds will likely go broke within two years and will need massive loans from the federal government just to keep going.
#9) 37 million Americans now receive food stamps, and the program is expanding at a pace of about 20,000 people a day. The United States of America is very quickly becoming a socialist welfare state.
#10) The number of Americans who are going broke is staggering. 1.41 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009 - a 32 percent increase over 2008.
#11) For decades, the fact that the U.S. dollar was the reserve currency of the world gave the U.S. financial system an unusual degree of stability. But all of that is changing. Foreign countries are increasingly turning away from the dollar to other currencies. For example, Russia’s central bank announced on Wednesday that it had started buying Canadian dollars in a bid to diversify its foreign exchange reserves.
#12) The recent economic downturn has left some localities totally bankrupt. For instance, Jefferson County, Alabama is on the brink of what would be the largest government bankruptcy in the history of the United States - surpassing the 1994 filing by Southern California's Orange County.
#13) The U.S. is facing a pension crisis of unprecedented magnitude. Virtually all pension funds in the United States, both private and public, are massively underfunded. With millions of Baby Boomers getting ready to retire, there is simply no way on earth that all of these obligations can be met. Robert Novy-Marx of the University of Chicago and Joshua D. Rauh of Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management recently calculated the collective unfunded pension liability for all 50 U.S. states for Forbes magazine. So what was the total? 3.2 trillion dollars.
#14) Social Security and Medicare expenses are wildly out of control. Once again, with millions of Baby Boomers now at retirement age there is simply going to be no way to pay all of these retirees what they are owed.
#15) So will the U.S. government come to the rescue? The U.S. has allowed the total federal debt to balloon by 50% since 2006 to $12.3 trillion. The chart below is a bit outdated, but it does show the reckless expansion of U.S. government debt over the past several decades. To get an idea of where we are now, just add at least 3 trillion dollars on to the top of the chart....
#16) So has the U.S. government learned anything from these mistakes? No. In fact, Senate Democrats on Wednesday proposed allowing the federal government to borrow an additional $2 trillion to pay its bills, a record increase that would allow the U.S. national debt to reach approximately $14.3 trillion.
#17) It is going to become even harder for the U.S. government to pay the bills now that tax receipts are falling through the floor. U.S. corporate income tax receipts were down 55% in the year that ended on September 30th, 2009.
#18) So where will the U.S. government get the money? From the Federal Reserve of course. The Federal Reserve bought approximately 80 percent of all U.S. Treasury securities issued in 2009. In other words, the U.S. government is now being financed by a massive Ponzi scheme.
#19) The reckless expansion of the money supply by the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve is going to end up destroying the U.S. dollar and the value of the remaining collective net worth of all Americans. The more dollars there are, the less each individual dollar is worth. In essence, inflation is like a hidden tax on each dollar that you own. When they flood the economy with money, the value of the money you have in your bank accounts goes down. The chart below shows the growth of the U.S. money supply. Pay particular attention to the very end of the chart which shows what has been happening lately. What do you think this is going to do to the value of the U.S. dollar?....
#20) When a nation practices evil, there is no way that it is going to be blessed in the long run. The truth is that we have become a nation that is dripping with corruption and wickedness from the top to the bottom. Unless this fundamentally changes, not even the most perfect economic policies in the world are going to do us any good. In the end, you always reap what you sow. The day of reckoning for the U.S. economy is here and it is not going to be pleasant.
Are we going to wake up to the truth before it is too late? see http://www.truthin2010.org
The prescription drug bill added $8 trillion ($25,000 per citizen) to our unfunded liabilities. They didn’t calculate the long term cost of the legislation until after it passed.
How much will the health care reform bill add to our $60 trillion of unfunded liabilities? Won’t that be nice to know BEFORE they pass the bill.
The official debt is “only” $12 trillion. But this number doesn’t include the Social Security and Medicare liabilities, because the government doesn’t believe the commitments made to our retirees in the form of Social Security and Medicare benefits are liabilities. What do you think?
The true debt is more than $74 trillion. See http://www.truthin2010.org Some believe it is more than $100 trillion.
maybe i missed it but what about all the commercial properties? aren’t they even more highly leveraged than homes? and with businesses closing more empty commercial property harder to pay back loans and since many have multiple shopping centers/high rises the bigger a mess it will all be. any way to find out how “underwater” and behind commercial paper is?? and do they have the adjustable loans or balloons ??? i can’t imagine the climate is any more hospitable for them to get refinanced especially when they don’t have as many tenants…
Don’t bother with gold. You can’t eat it, you can’t plant it and you can’t power your freezer with it. Having a little may be prudent (in case things don’t get too bad), but don’t forget to have plenty of staples and room for a garden
Just don’t gripe. Do something about it. What has been done can be undone.
I joint those who evaluated this article highly. One thing I would disagree with:
… the truth is that most Americans simply have no idea what is happening to the U.S. economy …
The problem is debt.
In this country only newborns are unaware of the national debt. The problem is that they hardly can do anything about it. The concentration of economic power has reached singularity if you wish to continue with physical analogy. Economy and politics is controlled by the few and all the others can only follow.
If the proof of that is required, one thing to check is the consequences of this publication. I bet my salary against the dead cat that there will be none.
In less than a year,I learned from talk radio,one tv program and alot of time on the internet researching things I had heard and read;and it was very scary stuff.But I am so thankful to all who have tried to enlighten us.It is time that ” We The People ” take a firm stand and take our Republic back.Even if it is on the brink of collapse,we can at least do our best to save it.And with the help of God our Father we can.Even people like me who are 65 and not in the best of health.God bless our united States!
All though i do agree fully with what has been said that greed and over sea exports and the fallout of the housing market have all helped us get into the world of chaos we find ourselves quickly approaching.. many people do not believe this to be the case… People has a whole do not change unless they need to… and they will continue not to until its ethier clear in their face or its too late to… What i do have to say is the bottom hasn’t fallen out yet… but it will… and it has to before we learn as a nation we have to fix these problems and not let them be overshadowed by other things… but i do believe that we will fix these problems… When its staring this nation down in the face and its not other chooses left but to change…
A way to save $Billions and get us back on track is to reform our criminal justice and incarceration systems.
Schools are accountable for student outcomes. Why are prisons not accountable for inmate outcomes? Instead, the prisons and related industries get more business and more expensive employees when ex-offenders re-offend creating more crime and more victims.
Laura Sullivan’s recent NPR series exposed the bail bond systems for preying on the poor and for the millions and millions of dollars they cost ordinary tax payers who have never been near a prison.
For-profit prisons are immoral and make their money by keeping as many inmates in prison as possible rather than by helping them reform. Government prisons have little transparency and for-profit prisons can hide even more abuses.
Continually building more prisons and sending people to for-profit prisons is not sustainable and is bankrupting states like California. We need real criminal justice reforms.
Isaiah 45:7
7 I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.
‘Is The U.S. Economy Being Tanked By Mistake or By Intent?’- by Bill Sardi/Lewrockell.com
http://www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi146.html
‘Who Is Left Holding the Bag on US Debt?’
Answer: Everybody-by Bill Sardi/Lewrockell.com
http://lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi145.html
‘U.S. government, on its way to bankruptcy’ By Michael Pollaro
http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/G+_Articles/Entries/2010/1/18_U.S._government%2C_on_its_way_to_bankruptcyBy_Michael_Pollaro.html
‘Identifying Sure Signs Of The Final Economic Plunge’ by Giordano Bruno
http://neithercorp.us/npress/?p=223#comments
‘The Illusion of Normalcy Fades to Black’ by Glen Allport
http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/01.10/normalcy.html
(audio-Economist-John Williams)
http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/Broadcast/Entries/2009/12/4_John_Williams_files/John%20Williams%2012%3A4%3A2009.mp3
While You Were Sleeping… The Economy Collapsed
http://neithercorp.us/npress/?p=209
By Giordano Bruno
just 1 big bang reason for the fall of US economy:
For decades, our leaders in Washington pushed us towards “a global economy” and told us it would be so good for us. But there is a flip side. Now workers in the U.S. must compete with workers all over the world, and our greedy corporations are free to pursue the cheapest labor available anywhere on the globe. Millions of jobs have already been shipped out of the United States, and Princeton University economist Alan S. Blinder estimates that 22% to 29% of all current U.S. jobs will be offshorable within two decades. The days when blue collar workers could live the American Dream are gone and they are not going to come back.
Hey Mikey,
Don’t bother with dollars. You can’t eat them, you can’t plant them and you can’t power your freezer with them. Might be able to use dollars as fuel for cooking or heat as the Germans did with the Mark during the Wiemar days. Having a little may be prudent (in case things don’t get too bad), but don’t forget to have plenty of staples and room for a garden. Gold is money, plain and simple.
ban1944 exhorts us to stop simply griping and DO SOMETHING!
Ok, what would you have us do? The readers of blogs like this are a tiny minority. We represent no corporate structure, no large voter base, no influential interest group. We are politically powerless. We have no means of attaining power in the existing political structure.
Most Americans want to go back to the status quo and fundamentally trust in our government to get us there. (To wit, 58% of us want to torture the Underwear Bomber despite our president and Congress being “socialists”) People simply want their Big Macs, big screens, and big armies so they can grow fat and stupid watching innocent civilians being blown up in faraway lands. You can’t overturn that kind of inertia with a call to arms.
Our political system and nation needs to worsen to a point where it either collapses internally or it creates a violent revolution. The outcome is unlikely to be better at first. I would guess there is a seventy-five percent chance of a right-wing, corporate dictatorship in America within the next twenty years (we are pretty close to that political system, called fascism, right now). There is no risk of any kind of left-wing government; Americans are not socialists at heart; they are far too ignorant and naive to socialists.
But, hey, DO SOMETHING! At least you got me to write this dark, despairing comment. That’s a start.
A couple of solutions come to mind, first, bring back tarrifs on goods from china and india, that was done in past centurys when free trade in those days destroyed local economies.
Second, cut back really big on military spending or else end up like the soviet union’s collapse.
Third, really push the development of advanced nantoech and biotech to speed along what is allready developing ( a complete control of all medical problems including aging and cancer etc, see web sites like http://www.mprize.org and http://www.maxlife.org and http://www.longevitymeme.org and http://www.kurzweilai.net). After all, the countries that develop advanced nano/biotech will be licensing this tech to everybody else and if you thought that the personal computer revolution changed everything, you have not seen what exponential growth rates of tech can do….besides, the way the economy is heading, it’s best if you can get made young again as it will take a long time to get out of this mess and if you are 50 or more, it gets really hard competing against all those younger people, trust me, I read about these types of horor stories about older electrical engineers trying to get/keep a job way back in 1974 (before apple and microsoft) when they hit the magic age of 45….I used to dream of how future tech could reverse the aging process, now, in part thanks to the development of computers and a world used to computers and complicated tech, we can now use that tech to reverse engineer biology and by using developing nanotech, we can soon be able to reverse aging too!
Plenty of this on my site in the last few years.
Good article with ample statistical backing. One point…shipping jobs overseas does not make a company “greedy” it saves them money and allows them to be competitive. Unions, corporate taxes,government mandates and over-regulation have all played major roles in forcing companies to export jobs. “Greedy” companies would gladly hire workers here and manufacture in the U.S if it were more affordable. With the rising Federal debt and an INCREASE in Federal taxes and fees on the horizon the chances of that happening in the near future are zero to none.
One problem missed in this article; the American people. As we are no longer a melting pot, lets break it down into groups.
Amnesty for those who entered this country illegally. The tsunami of the impoverished across our borders and social costs incurred with the passage of amnesty.
People still going through life like nothing is happening. Ignoranance is bliss.
Reparations for past injustices.
When money for entitlements dry up. What then? Increase taxes and fees, forcing more businesses into bankruptcy and higher unemployment. On and on it goes, round and round.
There is no escape from what is coming. It will get real bad when desperation, hunger and fear becomes a reality. Martial Law, confiscation and a suspension of the Constitution will be soon to follow.
There is no changing the power structure in DC. It’s beyond corrupt.
We can layout a whole hosts of ways to turn it around. But the train of pain will still be rolling down the tracks.
It’s no coincidence that this all falls on the heels of the “conservative revolution” that started around 30 years ago.
I knew this would happen back then and am vindicated. Now, hopefully, I’ll get to watch as the country implodes and the children and grandchildren of all those people who voted republican over the years get to SUFFER through a diminished, ugly future.
When the people finally figure out that this is the fault of conservatives and liberal populism emerges, we’ll get to see them burning reagan in effigy and putting conservatives in work camps.
A happy ending for all!
@cyndee The commercial loans are the Alt-A and Option Arm loans, they are in the recast chart and those are about to start going kaboom.
@Mikey No you can’t eat gold or silver but Bernanke will keep printing like like a fool, there may be a day that dollar buys next to nothing and those metals may be the best way to buy food. 10 to 15% in physical metals is not unwise for the long term.
The article is fairly depressing stuff, but the MSM barely talk about this stuff, few politicians talk about this stuff, if we don’t acknowledge the real issues then how can we fix them? I’m glad to see hard news like this, it gives me hope someone might take notice and actually do something.
What everyone needs to realize is that this is a fight for the survival of America. It’s not a fight between rich and poor, black and white, left and right, conservative or liberal. The fight is between the people and those in power. It’s the same fight that has been waged for personal freedom since the beginning of time.
The political class is at the center of all of it. Funded by special interest, promoted by the media, they have brought us to where we are today. Not to say we each haven’t played our part.
It’s time to take back our freedoms. Eliminate the political class.
@dino…
you, you have nailed it on the head. goes to show voting republican is dangerous. the republican mentality goes to show that they think things will always be the same and why should things change. that is a conservative republican for ya. well things change and we as a people have to change with them or suffer. well i am democratic and very liberal. you have to change or die basically.
It is never too late, but, our situation is grim. The only way to reverse the situation now, without violence, is to, 1] Eliminate the income tax, 2) Abolish the Federal reserve board, 3)abolish most of the Federal government, 4)reafirm the original constitution, eliminating everything after the tenth amendment,and adding an eleventh, term limits.
Come to think of it, it may be too late! Viva la Revolucion!
Don’t bother with PAPER MONEY. You can’t eat it, you can’t plant it and you can’t power your freezer with it. Having a little may be prudent (in case things don’t get too bad), but don’t forget to have plenty of staples and room for a garden
GOLD AND SILVER HAVE BEEN REAL MONEY FOR FIVE THOUSAND YEARS. THEY ARE NOW. THEY ALWAYS WILL BE. GOT GOLD ???
Stop deluding yourselves, the financial meltdown isn’t a result government corruption or power struggle, it’s due to the American people getting greedy and borrowing way too much money. Wake-up.
You all make out like it’s the “government” or the “greedy corporations” to blame for all this but we’ve only got ourselves to blame. WE were the ones that bought the houses at ever increasing prices, hoping to make a quick buck, WE were the ones that orgied on debt, WE were the ones that demanded ever cheaper products (when did you last buy American made?) and not so long ago, WE were the ones that idolised the corporate CEO’s of these now “greedy corporations” when they were making us good money in the share market. Rather than blaming everyone and everything else, look in the mirror!!!!!!
20 problems is only about 3 problem.
Debt, Job, and Home Market.
Here’s how you solve our problem. Take my message to our incompetent political leaders.
1. Look at our government budget. Cut defense and social welfare spending. Use it to pay off the debt and create job.
2. All the lazy American needs to get their butt go to college or do something to retrain themselves to match the current demand.
3. The big bank will need to re-adjust the all the mortgage contract to where American can pay. They have to do it or fall along side all Americans.
4. The most important of all… For all the stupid American to stop buying everything they want, and only buy what they really need. Those American who can do this will not suffer as much as those who can’t.
I keep hearing conservatives say we need to get rid of “Social Security” and go back to when families took care of family members. These people have to be “out of touch with reality” because the family unit has been broken for years in this country and continues to break down. Disabled, elderly people, in general, have no family members willing to help them. Children and grandchildren often have no time for their older parents and grandparents and often feel that older and disabled folk are in the way and only contact them when they themselves need money or wish to check on their possible inheritance from older members of their family. Many young people think nothing of “stealing” from thier parents and elderly grandparents if they think they can get away with it. Many families with children have only one adult or parent to support and nurture the children and many women, right here in Missoula, Montana, are supporting thier “boy friends” and fewer and fewer “couples” are getting “married”. A large number of family units are in deep financial trouble as the good paying jobs keep disappearing and the materialistic young people feel they must buy the latest new toy or electronic gadget on the market. Even these college graduates often leave college with huge debts they incurred in the form of student loans and are often in serious financial trouble. Where is the “family” support and help for the elderly and disabled coming from??? Many young adults often try to make older folks feel they have outlived thier welcome no matter how hard they worked when they were young to help build the nation these young people feel belongs only to them.
Hmm, thirty years of supply side economics. “Take care of the supply side and the demand side will take care of itself”. Strange, how is it we ended up with far too much supply and not enough demand? Wait, doesn’t this question answer itself? I thought so…
The conservative revolution produced 25 years of unprecedented prosperity in America. Protectionism was instituted by Reagan in 1982. 2 decades of a booming economy until….. globalization started around 1997-1998. A decade of that is the real cause of this mess. $700 billion in annual trade deficits, $300 bl of it with China each and every year. Raising guest worker visa caps in late 1998 from 65,000 per year to 115,000 per year and to 195,000 per year again in April 2000 – both of which BILL CLINTON signed into law. USA continues to import 1 million foregn SKILLED workers to the USA every year to take jobs Americans need. 3-7 million skilled workers in the USA sending money home every month in the form of remittances in the billions. $45 billion a year in remittances to India, $75 billion to Mexico – every single year. Think that might have something to do with it. Not protecting U.S. workers under Title 8, Section 1182 AS REQUIRED BY LAW. Not deporting all foreign guest workers in time of recession, as Japan is now doing. It’s impossible to have a foreign workforce that sends their money home and at the same time have a functioning economy. Undo Clinton’s globalization mess that he started in 1997 and you’ll see the U.S. economy recover REAL quick.
The reason this country will go down in flames is as much that the right-wing and its armies of brainwashed teabaggers are only willing to spend money on military adventures, which do ZERO to develop our country for the future and basically are throwing billions out a helicopter door. The reason this country is toast is that Congress will not fund alt-energy or infrastructure projects, or health care, or restoring education, all of which would greatly benefit our country. The USA could publicly commit to reduce our consumption of oil and the price would collapse in a week, but the vested right-wing interests – the oil, drug, and arms manufacturers, are going to drive this country straight into the dirt. Also, in states like CA, wealthy people are paying very little in property taxes, as are corporations. Until we reign in the corporations, the whole world is run by thieves. It’s gonna take a mob with torches visiting whatever CEO offices they can find that aren’t offshore to change anything, and then they’ll just leave. The USA could save itself, but considering the complexity and success of the brainwashing, it isn’t going to happen easily if at all. Eventually, though, the anger of the public will reach a high enough fever pitch that the elites will have to start battling each other behind closed doors to avoid riots in the streets. Truthfully, the worse things get, the closer we get to a dictatorship, which, while bad for global business, could surprise the power structure, although they will try to take out any strong leader.
I’d have to disagree with Fred Gorsline @ 1:53pm to some extent. The majority of corporations that offshore their production are large and usually publicly traded ie: they have stockholders. Stockholders have expectations of ever increasing profits, therefore offshoring to reduce labor costs is a necessity.
Yes taxes,unions and regulations have played a part but it’s not the entire story.
And furthermore regulations are good to a large extent. Remember the contaminated Pet Foods, contaminated drywall for housing construction, and god only knows what else they do. They do not have identical regulations to North America.
I personally am a believer of Hubbard’s peak oil theory, in which case globalization will not succeed in the end. Oil prices will escalate back to previous highs and then some.
Shipping costs will no longer be as attractive. And jobs will need to come back.
We need stop buying crap Made In China and that includes food. I do this but it is becoming increasingly difficult.
If everything possible is offshored and we are left with,a large service based economy and bloated public sector, how long would the country continue to function?
A nation of McDonald’s and Wal-Mart workers to support it all? I can’t visualize that as being sustainable. And that goes for both sides of the border as we have similar problems here although on a much smaller scale.
Your neighbour from Canada.
fred gorsline….you could not be more wrong. So when companies go to countries where the pay is pennies per hour how exactly would you suggest the US worker competes with that??
This has nothing to do with one party or the other. They are two wings of the same bird. There are differneces on the surface, but in the end when you peel away the layers, they are both headed in the same direction and have the same goals, and have layed the ground work for the next adminastration to achieve there goals of a New World Order. The only way to get there is to bring America to its knees and to the same level playing field as everyone else. This whole economic collapse is intentional and not by accident. All they want to do is distract you, and cause division amongst the peolple. WAKE UP!!! Time is short before things turn real ugly. I give it a max of two years, but personally think the inplosion will happen even sooner than that. The writing is on the wall, & they are all corrupt, and in bed internationally with other corrupt individuals and governments. Rep/Dem it does not matter. Now is the time to think clearly and prepare your self and possibly family for what is to come.
I work in the credit/finance world- front line…no, people in general, and those I work with do not get it. They are as blind as anyone. I sound like I am prosyletizing when I implore folks to prepare. Guess the next night out or new pair of shoes or handbag, or the next round of Idol are more important.
Those who get it, shake the dust from your sandals and move on. Do what you know in your heart you need to do. Prepare to survive. All of us will be hit differently, get ready for the worst and pray to God it isn’t harsh for you and yours.
I think what’s developing is much more complex than is presented here. By that I mean there will be many countervailing forces at work. I think, for example, that both deflation and inflation will occur but in different markets (e.g., material costs will go up and labor cost will go down; tax rates will increase but official incomes will drop (more grey market activity and barter)). One wild card will be how long most people continue to think that the government can help. Government interference in the economy – regardless of whether you call it regulation or subzidation or stimulation – IS the source of all the imbalances listed here. Government is however the reflection of mass beliefs and far too many people feel entitled and have cynically and selfishly demanded or allowed a “Nanny” state to do whatever it wants in exchange for their little piece of largess. But not every one thinks that way and that is your salvation. You form your own reality and you will not experience personally what you have not sowed.
Conservative values = balanced budgets. I’m too young to remember any “conservative revolution” 30 years ago, but I do know that ~40 years ago Nixon took the US off the gold standard, leaving the dollar to begin its decent–NOT a conservative move. Before that and since then, Democratic policies instituted the biggest drains on our economy–welfare & social security, making debt no big deal as people no longer had to be responsible for their own financial problems. It’s Democratic policies that gave FM and FM too much power and no responsibility for tax payer dollars. The blame for the current state of the economy lies in the hands of Republicans AND Democrats–and every American citizen who has been irresponsible with their money. It is true conservatism that got Alaska out of debt, that makes Texas one of the most fiscally sound states in the US, etc. Just as being conservative with our personal finances will save our necks, being conservative with taxpayer dollars–cutting budgets, eliminating waste, COULD save our economy. Unfortunately, senators are too busy looking forward to their cushy life-long incomes to care what happens to the rest of us and do anything about it. Those life-time salaries should be the 1st thing to go, imo.
For those in the big cities, be ready to get out in a moments notice the day the dollar becomes toilet paper
The cities will burst into flames once the rotten scum stop getting their government checks
And there isn’t a police force or army that will stop them,
They will run away to protect the rich and powerful and leave the middle class to die
I’m hoping the scum will consume each other,
However they have the guns and the corrupt politicians and activists on their side
Kalifornia has 5 absolute useless Stooges for Congress and Senate leadership and they will let this state go up in flames
The coming riots and unrest will make the riots of 92 look like a church picnic
DINO, you’re a simpleton.
Well,get all the lawyering out of the system will help a lot.
Hey Dino, In the words of Dr. Evil: “Right!!!!”
you idiot
To Mikey, Yes you can’t eat gold. No you probably won’t trade it for some bread, why would you do that when you can buy a wheat field?
FYI: There are a lot of things you can’t eat, stocks and bonds also come to mind, same with rocks. I don’t ever understand why people keep pointing out the obvious.
Yes, get your garden on. That’s a good idea. So is owning some freaking gold and silver.
Maybe I am paranoid, but I am gathering a library of books on subjects like growing food and how to weld to prepare for the time that we will all may need to be more self sufficient. while I am not convinced that the economy is in a unrecoverable death spiral, I do think that the current way of life in the US is not sustainable, and people who are prepared to live more self sufficiently will have an easier time of it.
Mary,
I agree with you! I am a “child of the 60’s” (so my parents are your age) – my first memory is being in a stroller during a civil rights march. I would love to have the freedom to protest – the truth is that civil disobedience is getting very expensive, and dangerous. It is not politically correct to take to the streets anymore (at least in my gen) I get the feeling that the police (force) is looking to fine and prosecute for anything – even if it is “just to get money” for cities and counties (tough on bogus crime is the new economy). I just got pulled over and ticketed for having a balloon in my car! I offered to pop it, and my daughter sobbed. They gave me a ticket anyways. Crazy. I live in Cali – metro area. I’ve been to protests in SF and they felt tired and pointless. We need a new kind of movement. I think things need to get just a little bit worst to wake people up.
Hey Dino … And I thought it was we conservatives that were the hate-mongers…
Mikey…that is how I feel about gold…I have been saying for years if things get as bad as I think they will, gold will be of no value!
1st- Guns
2nd – Ammo
3rd – Water
4th – Food
5th – Seeds
6th – Miscellaneous items…
Dino:
You are confused. The Republicans have been supporting the democrats for generations (ever since roosevelt started social security). 99% of all violent criminals in jail are (YOU GUESSED IT) democrats. California and Michigan are welfare STATES. Obama has spent more money than all the other administrations combined. These are facts, but you can only argue with feelings and beliefs. We are sick and tired of supporting your lazy butts. We shall see who sinks, you moron. We will take our money and leave the country.
The one thing that will stop all of those statistics in the original article is to bring in tariffs on some articles and start making them in the States again.
Less imports
More Jobs
More Taxes paid
The downside is that some prices will go up.
And tell China to start letting their currency float freely or we will put tarrifs on more goods.
Call their bluff – sure they have lots of dollars invested, but they also have millions relying on exports to the USA !
The government, unions, big business and banks have unwillingly conspired to let the cost of goods, food and clothes drop so that people can spend more of their income on housing.
So, this means I can buy the State of Minnesota with a couple of thousand Euro’s in a couple of years? All because of stupid and greedy Congressmen, and Senators, who have been bribed by the multi-nationals?
Somehow, I don’t think the fatcats are going to pay for their crimes… People are stupid.
Our wonderful country is heading for bankrupsty when the tax revenues exceed the interest payments on our debts, the US will have no other choice but to file for chapter 11 or 7…
There is a way to save our Republic, get rid of the Gestapo IRS and put in its place a consumption tax called FAIRTAX. This one move will save our Republic!!
See http://www.fairtax.com
I love this country and it pains me to see what is happening…too much debt!
Most of these 20 reasons do not imply the economy won’t recover. Most of them just state that things really suck right now. Also, you have to compare to the rest of the world as well for relative value of the dollar and economy. Where are you going to put your money, the renminbi? Please.
Great comments.
The biggest problem is the new world order. We all have great ideas of getting the economy going and so forth, such as electic cars, and different ways we can cut costs, but BOTTOM LINE, it always comes down to the people in control making the decisions which is NOT OUR GVT.
The point being, is The People IN control WANT to tank the economy. Get them exposed, and we can solve the problem. Alex Jones does a great job of showing the average person who they are.
For good news, more people are waking up. The average citizen is using their voices, and SCREAMING now, instead of just taking the rape.
Great Article!