We Are Close to The End: “The Con Job Is Up”

[expat_panama]

We'll be fine...

We all know that, and what we don't know is when and after what. Sure, the world survived the '30's after tens --maybe hundreds met violent deaths with Europe in ashes and Asia radioactive. It's that there's more to life than just survival after enormous suffering.

This is preventable, we can do better.

 

[G.T.]

We'll be fine...

We all know that, and what we don't know is when and after what. Sure, the world survived the '30's after tens --maybe hundreds met violent deaths with Europe in ashes and Asia radioactive. It's that there's more to life than just survival after enormous suffering.

This is preventable, we can do better.

I don't really see the catastrophe even coming. Just some market corrections.

 

[editec]

When people ask, "why on earth would you need a high powered rifle"? I say talk to me after confronting someone who hasn't eaten in 4 days and can't feed their children.

I'm very worried about our economic situation, and I'd say 95% of Americans are ill prepared (including myself).

It won't be that catastrophic.
We have had it too good for the past 30 years - all based on a fantasy land economy built on debt. Both public and private. At least 80% of the population was outspending their paychecks for several-several years in a row. Insane.
America is in a transitional period, not revolutionary. Transitional.
Gone will be 4 bedroom houses with a 2 car garage for people only making $90k a year..and the garage is filled with two vehicles exchanged very 2-3 years.
Gone will be $3,000 vacations banged out on a credit card.
Gone will be 55 inch TV's, XBox, 2 laptops and the newest cell phones for your AVERAGE household.
IN will be multiple families living under one roof.
IN will be husband and wife sharing one vehicle.
IN will be backyard gardens again.
IN will be hand-me-down clothes between siblings again.
We will be fine, we just won't get everything we wanted TODAY anymore.
People will have less money, and less available credit to buy crap they don't need.

Here's the amazing thing that apparently many of you do not realize.

That affluent lifestyle that some of us seem to think is the American experience is NOT the life most Americans have lived.

A $90,000 a year family? They're in the top 20% of all households.

 

[expat_panama]

...I don't really see the catastrophe even coming. Just some market corrections.

OK, although there are others that can see twelve million additional jobless since '08, outlays for debt interest that will top a $trillion/year when rates go back up, entrenched federal control over the medical and automotive industries, an emboldened nuclear Iran chanting "Death to America", and a severe erosion of the rule of law.

Let's agree that those are valid concerns that we've really got to address.

 

[G.T.]

...I don't really see the catastrophe even coming. Just some market corrections.

OK, although there are others that can see twelve million additional jobless since '08, outlays for debt interest that will top a $trillion/year when rates go back up, entrenched federal control over the medical and automotive industries, an emboldened nuclear Iran chanting "Death to America", and a severe erosion of the rule of law.

Let's agree that those are valid concerns that we've really got to address.

How many of those jobless are retirees? How many have gotten their jobs back? How many big corporate companies have lifted their hiring and wage freezes that were caused by the recession (most, if not all - including mine).

Iran's been doing that since the 80's bro. Once 30 years go by, you kind of get the idea that the worst thing that's going to happen is that we have to bomb their tiny 'lil selves and have another useless war.

Our wars don't destroy our economy.

 

[G.T.]

And as far as the debt, the debt is owed to our own damn citizens mostly. It's not the highest as a percentage of gdp it's ever been, either.

I remember growing up - everyone thought that we borrow all of our money from China.

Nope - we borrow the most of it from US Citizens. China is roughly 10%, and their continued investing in us should tell you something.

China became a non threat as soon as McDonalds' started popping up on all of their street corners and their electro-billboards started looking like times square.

Today's world powers' economies are so0o00o0o intertwined with one another that it would be a ridiculous fear to think that we'll ever fight.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

And as far as the debt, the debt is owed to our own damn citizens mostly. It's not the highest as a percentage of gdp it's ever been, either.

I remember growing up - everyone thought that we borrow all of our money from China.

Nope - we borrow the most of it from US Citizens. China is roughly 10%, and their continued investing in us should tell you something.

China became a non threat as soon as McDonalds' started popping up on all of their street corners and their electro-billboards started looking like times square.

Today's world powers' economies are so0o00o0o intertwined with one another that it would be a ridiculous fear to think that we'll ever fight.

Thats one of the problems with a global economy. We all sink when the shit hits the fan.
That,and of course the ability of major corporations to influence events world wide.

 

[G.T.]

And as far as the debt, the debt is owed to our own damn citizens mostly. It's not the highest as a percentage of gdp it's ever been, either.

I remember growing up - everyone thought that we borrow all of our money from China.

Nope - we borrow the most of it from US Citizens. China is roughly 10%, and their continued investing in us should tell you something.

China became a non threat as soon as McDonalds' started popping up on all of their street corners and their electro-billboards started looking like times square.

Today's world powers' economies are so0o00o0o intertwined with one another that it would be a ridiculous fear to think that we'll ever fight.

Thats one of the problems with a global economy. We all sink when the shit hits the fan.
That,and of course the ability of major corporations to influence events world wide.

#2 is my worry for sure.

 

[oldfart]

Hi Rsher, I asked you a direct question - what so far specifically (that has been said) do you refute and believe is "crazy", etc?

Why not try answering it?

Here is my answer. There is a universal adolescent male fantasy where the world is ending and the hero of the piece will be left to carry on with a large number of nubile female companions, hopefully repopulating the planet. It's so old, it's in the Bible (Story of Lot's daughters, but there it was the nubile females who decided to get their father drunk enough to schtoop them and repopulate the world!).

That's the scientific answer provided by sociologists and psychologists for the free-floating fear and anticipation of the "end of the world" or coming catastrophe. For over three thousand years it probably has been number one on the masturbatory fantasy hit list. There is a female counterpart as well (the menaced princess threatened with rapine by the hoards of barbarians rescued by the gallant knight who will ravish her slightly more gently, producing the progeny to repopulate the reconstituted world of good as the barbarian world of evil is vanquished).

So when I hear this story again with no analysis or definite course of action that makes any sense, I file the comment under well repressed sexual fantasies. Economic policy might be a whole lot easier if people had sex more often.

Some day the sky will indeed fall and most people will be totally unprepared. Many of them will suffer icky and gruesome deaths. The survivors will undoubtedly comfort each other and nine months later there will be an uptick in births, which the media will duly note. It happens every disaster. So if I take any action in anticipation of such an event, it will be to stockpile condoms. Can you make them out of foil hats?

 

[SteadyMercury]

Thats one of the problems with a global economy. We all sink when the shit hits the fan.

Yup, yet you still see the occasional poster claiming China is going to have a hissy fit and do (insert drastic action here) to destroy the US economy. It doesn't make sense.

 

[expat_panama]

...I don't really see the catastrophe even coming. Just some market corrections.

OK, although there are others that can see twelve million additional jobless since '08, outlays for debt interest that will top a $trillion/year when rates go back up, entrenched federal control over the medical and automotive industries, an emboldened nuclear Iran chanting "Death to America", and a severe erosion of the rule of law. Let's agree that those are valid concerns that we've really got to address.

How many of those jobless...

Ah, you don't know, and you're not letting your lack of knowledge hold you back from making and holding fast to your opinion.

That's fine, we all know that this is how millions view the world. We understand you're just seeing "some market corrections" although fwiw stock prices are currently hitting all time highs. At the same time, here's the trend in headcounts for total unemployed and working age 'not-in-workforce'--

--and anyone can simply decide that for years there were 84,000,000 who were ineligible to retire but suddenly over nine million turned 65 during the recession (!) with more since bringing it to the current 16 million.

That's a lot of birthday parties.

 

[expat_panama]

... world powers' economies are so0o00o0o intertwined with one another that it would be a ridiculous fear to think that we'll ever fight ...

That's true, and it was also true one hundred years ago as popular belief in 1913 was that the enjoyment of prosperity would make war unacceptably unprofitable. Being ridiculous did not keep it from happening.

This is why foretelling the future with absolute certainty is for idiots, and what we're really working with are probabilities. OK, so while it sure seems that disaster odds are super slim, two things should make us pause. One is that the risks we're taking are increasing the odds, and the other is the fact that unlikely things happen everyday.

 

[KevinWestern]

Here is my answer. There is a universal adolescent male fantasy where the world is ending and the hero of the piece will be left to carry on with a large number of nubile female companions, hopefully repopulating the planet. It's so old, it's in the Bible (Story of Lot's daughters, but there it was the nubile females who decided to get their father drunk enough to schtoop them and repopulate the world!).

That's the scientific answer provided by sociologists and psychologists for the free-floating fear and anticipation of the "end of the world" or coming catastrophe. For over three thousand years it probably has been number one on the masturbatory fantasy hit list. There is a female counterpart as well (the menaced princess threatened with rapine by the hoards of barbarians rescued by the gallant knight who will ravish her slightly more gently, producing the progeny to repopulate the reconstituted world of good as the barbarian world of evil is vanquished).

So when I hear this story again with no analysis or definite course of action that makes any sense, I file the comment under well repressed sexual fantasies. Economic policy might be a whole lot easier if people had sex more often.

Some day the sky will indeed fall and most people will be totally unprepared. Many of them will suffer icky and gruesome deaths. The survivors will undoubtedly comfort each other and nine months later there will be an uptick in births, which the media will duly note. It happens every disaster. So if I take any action in anticipation of such an event, it will be to stockpile condoms. Can you make them out of foil hats?

Thanks for response, and here's mine. Sure, a lot of folks over exaggerate things (and are ultra-cynical all the time), however I think we live in a completely unprecedented time with a lot of very scary things happening that have never before occurred in history as far as we know it:

Scary Stuff Specific to Our Time:
1.) Solar Flare. Before you call me crazy, hear me out. Giant flares are relatively common (ie happen every couple hundred years or so), and a big enough one today has the potential to take out ALL ELECTRONICS in North America, lol. This isn't a "theory" or "prophecy", this is simply a natural thing that happens all of the time (last one was in late 1800's (which of course was not as big of a deal for obvious reasons). If you're not concerned, I'd like to know why.

2.) The Economy. The Fed has been printing trillions of dollars over the past 5 years and continues to buy toxic assets from the Big Banks. Our country is at an estimated $17 Trillion in debt, but more in-depth estimates put that closer to $100+ Trillion. The banks still hold (too) over $700 trillion of derivatives on their books (ie what crashed the economy rd 1) and have not been reprimanded or forced to make any significant changes since the crash. All of these factors added up scare the hell out of me, if they don't you then why?

3.) The Gov't. I hate being cynical but you have to admit it's alarming that we have an NSA spying on every aspect of our lives (phone calls, social networks, emails, gps location, etc) & gathering data into a permanent record book (when has that level of privacy invasion ever occurred in history?), we have a gov't that's cracking down on the free press (ie AP scandal), lying to us repeatedly (ie "it was a movie that provoked a mob in Benghazi", "you can keep your plan", "this will be the most transparent admin in history" - lol, "lets go after these fat cats", etc). I don't think America has ever looked this bad, and quite frankly it's concerning.

In summary, in the past when there were collapses, declines, etc the world wasn't half as interconnected as it is today and therefore the damage was limited.

Today, with ultra powerful weapons, Governments that know the precise time and location each citizen jerks off, and our total dependence on technology to survive just (to me) are good reasons to be nervous about a major disaster.

It's not a fantasy, and if you think it is you're going to be blindsided.

 

[G.T.]

solar flare is not a concern.

From NASA (the experts) Could a solar flare or CME be large enough to cause a nation-wide or planet-wide cataclysm? It is, of course, impossible to give a definitive answer to this question, but no such event is known to have occurred in the past and there is no evidence that the Sun could initiate such an event. .

 

[KevinWestern]

solar flare is not a concern.

From NASA (the experts) Could a solar flare or CME be large enough to cause a nation-wide or planet-wide cataclysm? It is, of course, impossible to give a definitive answer to this question, but no such event is known to have occurred in the past and there is no evidence that the Sun could initiate such an event. .

Two things..

1.) What about this NASA/NAS warning? lol, a bit of a contradiction from what you posted.

"The National Academy of Sciences warned two years ago that power grids, GPS navigation, air travel, financial services and emergency radio communications could “all be knocked out by intense solar activity”

2.) How about the Economy/Gov't?

 

[G.T.]

solar flare is not a concern.

From NASA (the experts) Could a solar flare or CME be large enough to cause a nation-wide or planet-wide cataclysm? It is, of course, impossible to give a definitive answer to this question, but no such event is known to have occurred in the past and there is no evidence that the Sun could initiate such an event. .

Two things..

What about this NASA warning?

How about the Economy/Gov't?

that storm already happened - and it also only happens every 22 years or so.

old story / non catastrophic event

 

[G.T.]

in regard to the economy and the government?

I'm not worried at all about it. I'm confident in our fucked up Government.

 

[KevinWestern]

solar flare is not a concern.

From NASA (the experts) Could a solar flare or CME be large enough to cause a nation-wide or planet-wide cataclysm? It is, of course, impossible to give a definitive answer to this question, but no such event is known to have occurred in the past and there is no evidence that the Sun could initiate such an event. .

Two things..

What about this NASA warning?

How about the Economy/Gov't?

that storm already happened - and it also only happens every 22 years or so.

old story / non catastrophic event

But the storm wasn't as big as they thought it would be. Not saying this will happen in the next 10, 20, or even 50 years. Just saying that (my source) quotes NASA and NAS as saying that these things have the potential to take out electronics on a wide scale.

Just a concern.

 

[G.T.]

Two things..

What about this NASA warning?

How about the Economy/Gov't?

that storm already happened - and it also only happens every 22 years or so.

old story / non catastrophic event

But the storm wasn't as big as they thought it would be. Not saying this will happen in the next 10, 20, or even 50 years. Just saying that (my source) quotes NASA and NAS as saying that these things have the potential to take out electronics on a wide scale.

Just a concern.

If you're concerned about a solar flare - you need mental help man.

And I say that as a friend.

Your quality of life can be enhanced tremendously if you let go of things you cannot control. & I do know you're a 9/11 truther. Mebbe I'm a bit skewed in my views of you.

 

[william the wie]

... world powers' economies are so0o00o0o intertwined with one another that it would be a ridiculous fear to think that we'll ever fight ...

That's true, and it was also true one hundred years ago as popular belief in 1913 was that the enjoyment of prosperity would make war unacceptably unprofitable. Being ridiculous did not keep it from happening.

This is why foretelling the future with absolute certainty is for idiots, and what we're really working with are probabilities. OK, so while it sure seems that disaster odds are super slim, two things should make us pause. One is that the risks we're taking are increasing the odds, and the other is the fact that unlikely things happen everyday.

That belief in the zero probability of war correlates highly with war.