How long before our economy goes belly-up?

[Deja Q]

[marmar]

1. It's intractable at this point...

It's about to get mid-90s Argentina ugly around here. :scared: :yoiks:

[enid602]

4. Don't cry for them

Let's hope not. Argentina, for all it's problems had salable exports (beef, foodstuffs, high-end textiles), a small population (@ 39 million) and was energy-independent. If we end up like Argentina, it will be MUCH tougher for us.

[SteppingRazor]

2. I got a better one:

How long will people keep insisting that we're near an economic collapse?

I've been hearing this since Bush's first recession, not long after he took office, and the sky-is-falling rhetoric has continued more or less unabated since then, regardless of the actual state of the economy.

[lumberjack_jeff]

3. Full economic collapse won't happen

The economy will always work for the rich. A middle class is an anomaly of history that the rich would like to see rectified.

[SteppingRazor]

5. That, certainly, is a more interessting topic for debate:

the middle class is relatively young in human history -- only a few centuries old, really -- so it remains to be seen whether it will pan out as the new natural order of things, or whether this is simply a strange abnormality that will eventually rectify itself as the middle class is squeezed in either direction (mostly the downward one of course) and we are left with a sort of corporate serfdom.

[Zynx]

7. You bring up a good point.

Economies tend not to "collapse", but they can undergo long steady structural decline similar to what happened to Great Britain between about 1900 and 1980. That is possible for the United States as our situation is remarkably similar to Great Britain's at the beginning of the 20th century.

If people are expecting another Great Depression, it ain't gonna happen folks. Not any time soon in any event.

[Journeyman]

9. And those making these dire assertions screamed loudest in 2001. . .

that BushCo caused the "economic collapse" that year when they "talked down" the economy.

Not saying things aren't bad and could get worse, but the constant harping on pending doom, doom, doom gives the flavor, at times, that it's what some of these posters would like to see.

[Poll_Blind]

6. It's teetering now. I don't think it'll go another 6 months before...

...The Change comes. I'm not sure if there is going to be one big change or a few medium-sized ones. Our economy is now past the point of having "minor corrections". It'll start in the biggest cities, probably runs on gas, big complaints about the prohibitive cost of transported produce & meat. I can't envision the details- I have little training on economic eschatology. But you'll know that day because everyone will be talking about it at work but it won't yet be proclaimed on the news. A drop in the stock market, high gasoline prices, expensive food, general inflation. Though they may avoid talking about it on TV for a while, you'll start to notice a reduction in the variety of commercials as various companies pull the spots to conserve money.

It'll be lots of little things, like a tickle in the back of your throat. But nomatter how hard you cough you won't be able to make it go away.

And then the president will come on TV and, again, he'll let us know what the New Normal is.

PB

[Jack The Tab]

8. Corporate serfdom is a very apt term...

This is a worldwide shift happening now. The peak oil crisis and the wars it will bring, coupled with our government's (both parties) systematic dismanteling of separation of corporate money and legislation will bring this world back to a medieval mindset. A high-tech version, but medieval all the same.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

10. Report from small town Arkansas

My boss came in yesterday and said that his friends who sell used cars aren't selling any. And his friends that have the rental centers have seen a real drop off in business. Folks, around here those are warning signs. We've also seen a dip in new construction, though the selling of houses still appears strong (though I've seen more repos lately). People are just hanging on right now.

[LSK]

11. how do you know it isnt already?

Wall Street is not our economy.

[dysfunctional press]

12. quite a long time, actually.

people have been warning of imminent economic upheavel for about as long as i can remember...and judging by the number of semi-trailer trucks on the roadways- i'd say that things aren't actually all that bad all the way around.
we just paid off the bulk of our mortgage, and have decided to stop renting out the upstairs...things have been a lot worse.

[rman]

13. It's belly up already for a sizable part of the population;

the poor, working poor, low-end middle class who get sick and find out their health insurance doesn't cover...

[lpbk2713]

14. November 16, 2006 ..... 1:30pm.

(But that's just my guess)

[WorseBeforeBetter]

15. Is that the guy from Dead or Alive?

(I'm easily distracted.)