I had a talk with my old economics professor from way back, (7 years back). He is one of those professors that stand out in a good way and students tend to remember him. He told me that there is going to be "game over". He explains that the behavior and fiscal policy of not just US government but others as well can only point to something happening either natural or man made that's about to happen. And so the complete ignorance of economic laws is accepted because it won't matter. No one in human history was able to print their way into prosperity and everyone knows it. So they are doing it because they know something is coming.
Maybe, governments are just trying to live till the next election. Then someone else takes over and it will be up to them to take unpopular measures and clean up the mess.
That doesn't add up, the scope of the operation suggests something way bigger than for the sake of election. He thinks we are in for a surprise.
A major collapse is clearly unavoidable. The only unknown is the timefrime which could be 5, 10 or 30 years and when it happens it doesnt has to mean Mad Max is the destiny for all of our children and their children. Sure, living standards will take a hit and pain will be felt widespread but it is the unwillingness of the gatekeepers to allow the system to be cleaned out which is responsible for the size of the crash ahead so the sooner the better would probably be best for most people. The US enjoyed a civil war and about a dozen of depressions 2 centuries ago but that didnt stop it from becoming one of the biggest global powerhouses in history. People always seem to think booms can last forever and when the bust and the doom comes they seem to think that will last forever. Neither of them do.
Sorry to disagree with you DB, but I think the time frame is MUCH closer. I will admit being wrong in that I thought the "collapse" was going to occur a year or two ago, but our politicians have proven to be bigger idiots than I thought (Dems and Reps included in that list)! I tend to think within the next 12 to 24 months we will see a collapse. I tend to believe within the first 12 month time frame. If the politicians had had intestinal fortitude, they would have let the mortage/banking system collapse a year or so ago, but instead they took the cowardly way out...the way out that leads to currency collapse. We are now on the road to currency collapse which will devastate the world. If they (the politicians) had had the balls, then we would only have seen a REALLY bad real estate market (both residential and commercial), but now we are TOTALLY hosed!. The next big trigger to economic collapse may be food. I won't elaborate here, but do the research if you are intrigued! -gastropod
I agree with a lot of the logical thinking on this thread. Nice to see less extremism on ET. Stop and think about this though. Will all of central bank problems Iceland, Ireland, Hungary, Greece, Argentina I believe it strengthens the position of the USD, don't you think? Yes I know they are not exactly the same problems but all of these countries are having severe fiscal crisis right now. So what you think hyperinflation in food? How the situation is mainly deflationary from everything I see and read with the exception of taxes. As mentioned not even the Great Depression lasted forever and neither do good or bad times. Everything is cyclical to an extent.
We will easily see collapse and we almost will probably see revolution. Hopefully not the kind that makes you buy a machine gun and hunker down in your house while you wait for the situation to resolve itself. What I'm worried about is when and also what happens after? We may see the creation of several new countries and powers for all we know. I just hope in the short term we don't have another World War that everyone gets dragged into and then we'll have bugger all in life and we end up living on a post apocalyptic style earth.
They are doing their jobs and obviously doing them well if you think that it's just stupidity and incompetence that brought the world to its current situation. This whole process is controlled with a few wild cards. Mad Max scenario is not a wanted outcome. A collapse and distrust in all major currencies is much more likely, with a global currency emerging as the "savior"