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United States32132 Posts
Rising inflation, ballooning gas rates, soaring cost of flour and other basic necessities, the collapse of the housing market, mortgage loaning companies on the verge of collapse... sounds like we're pretty screwed, huh?
So did anyone hear about today's news??
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080715/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush
Some particularly scary paragraphs from the yahoo article:
"The administration and the Federal Reserve announced an emergency rescue plan Sunday to bolster Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which hold or guarantee more than $5 trillion in mortgages — almost half of the nation's total.
The plan would temporarily increase a long-standing Treasury line of credit that could be provided to either company. Treasury also said it would, if necessary, buy stock in the companies to make sure they have enough money to operate.
The Fed also announced that it would allow Fannie and Freddie to get loans directly from the Fed — a privilege previously granted only to commercial banks until this March, when the Fed extended the borrowing to investment banks to deal with the collapse of Bear Stearns."
The impact of this was seen across the board, including silver, gold, oil, stocks and the US dollar. (see link below)
http://kitco.com
So on a scale of 1-10, how scared are you about the future of our economy? Have you already started to feel the pinch? Is the threat of recession overstated, or are we really screwed?
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i have no outstanding debt, i'm a grad student so my job isn't in jeopardy for the next 4.5 years, and i can just pull money from my investments if i need cash
not too worried we'll weather the storm
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I'm not worried about it at all - infact I am basically happy about it.
I do think the economy as we know it is screwed. We've built everything on oil and the oil is running out. That and we live insanely out of balance with the rest of the world (the environment, I mean). And the US is an empire, and like all empires, it must fall sooner or later. I think it will be sooner.
Like the old Tool song says, "learn to swim."
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Even though I don't live in the US I'm worried. What happens in the US has a big effect on the rest of the world. I agree with Inky though.
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iNcontroL
USA29055 Posts
On July 16 2008 00:59 nA.Inky wrote:
I'm not worried about it at all - infact I am basically happy about it.
I do think the economy as we know it is screwed. We've built everything on oil and the oil is running out. That and we live insanely out of balance with the rest of the world (the environment, I mean). And the US is an empire, and like all empires, it must fall sooner or later. I think it will be sooner.
Like the old Tool song says, "learn to swim."
Wow you are so fucking bad ass.
ROME IS BURNING (and other epic quotations signifying an awesome stance on crumbling economies or "empires")
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i'm worried, that's why im voting for obama
and for all of you that are worried also, dont just complain without contributing, if you're over 18 register to vote because we can make a difference
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i asked my economics professors about this stuff and they seem pretty chill. There might be a recession, but that doesn't mean the end of the world.
6.54
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Thanks InControl, you are so fucking badass too!
I'm just an realistic optimist, that's all. We can all mourn the fact that we will all die one day, or be glad to be alive today. I'm excited to be alive at such a crazy point in the history of the world. Happy to be a witness to it.
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On July 16 2008 01:02 iLjh wrote:
i'm worried, that's why im voting for obama
and for all of you that are worried also, dont just complain without contributing, if you're over 18 register to vote because we can make a difference
actually, i think obama's head economics adviser isn't even an economist. i might be wrong though.
anyways, i don't think any of the candidates knows how to fix the problem even though they say they do. =\
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Dominican Republic98 Posts
I'm a hippy, therefore I am more worried about global warming.
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there was an 18-page article in the Economist about the future of banking a few months back(when bear stearns collapsed) and it said that there will be always such downfalls simply because of the universal model of fair-value economy that has been used for quite some time now. im no expert on the matter but according to the Economist everything will be ok as soon as the regulators and the government put some effort in it, which by the look of it is happening right now.
so since the feds have stepped up and are willing to bail Fannie and Freddie out of the crisis , the risks of an all-out economy collapse are quite low.
For the whole article visit http://www.economist.com/specialreports/
It is called "Paradise lost" from may 17th
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GeometryB - I agree with you about the candidates. I disagree with your economics professors though. Economics in general is a highly conservative field, and there is a strong belief in not only the status quo, but also that science can master the world. Time and time again we see that change is constant and that science does not master the world - science consistently produces unintended consequences or miscalculates.
Economics is too far out of touch with ecology. Also, the numbers economists are using may themselves reflect profound bias, as, for example, when GW decided to reclassify fast food jobs as manufacturing jobs. In my own economics education, I learned unemployment numbers are very far off the mark (unemployment is much higher than represented).
I'll concede that I don't expect a violent crash of civilization as you might see in some awesome movie. I expect it will be more recession like, just gradually getting a little worse at a time, then a little better, then a bit worse, then a little better.... Course, there is enough crazy stuff going on, that I really have no idea. But I do think that the way people have been doing things, particularly those of us in the US, is going to be coming to an end over the coming decades.
Good.
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United States32132 Posts
On July 16 2008 00:59 nA.Inky wrote:
I'm not worried about it at all - infact I am basically happy about it.
I do think the economy as we know it is screwed. We've built everything on oil and the oil is running out. That and we live insanely out of balance with the rest of the world (the environment, I mean). And the US is an empire, and like all empires, it must fall sooner or later. I think it will be sooner.
Like the old Tool song says, "learn to swim."
I agree for the most part, but I'm not too happy about the uncertainty in the future, haha. I don't think we're gonna collapse into a third world country by any means, but we certainly aren't going to be the untouchable superpower in any sense--military, economy, etc--and will have to actually give a shit about our surroundings and our fellow man. We're gonna have to think things out instead of being the stereotypical American cowboys and charging into everything.
Good song too =]
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United States32132 Posts
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This will effect the global economy. I hope for a gentle shrinking of the US economy. For two reasons depletable resources and environment. This is no problem if the wealth is better distributed.
Over 50 Celcius in densely populated areas by the end of the century. (source Dutch reputable newspaper) but I digress.
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On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being in panic mode stocking my shelves with water and canned food and pulling all money from banks, and 1 being throwing my money into high risk stock investments.. I am about a 3.
In other words. Not worried at all, but also not so comfortable I am going to do anything stupid. My job is safe, the area I live in (Austin) has been on every sites 'top 10 recession proof cities', and I didn't have any risky investments to lose.
The biggest worry I have is the decline of the dollar making consumer goods more expensive. But really; that isn't something that keeps me awake at night.
Actually scratch that. Biggest worry is McCain going into office and giving another round of tax cuts to the top 1% and screwing everyone else.
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United States22883 Posts
On July 16 2008 01:07 geometryb wrote:Show nested quote +On July 16 2008 01:02 iLjh wrote:
i'm worried, that's why im voting for obama
and for all of you that are worried also, dont just complain without contributing, if you're over 18 register to vote because we can make a difference anyways, i don't think any of the candidates knows how to fix the problem even though they say they do. =\
No one does, it's a social science.
Inky, many economists are actually fairly liberal about that. What the government does and what economists think are totally separate issues. Many have taken issue with GDP because it does not account for pollution and other negative costs that can hurt a country.
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There's always ups and downs. I make enough money to not worry about supporting myself with rising costs. It just means you may have to budget a little bit better or bringing your lunch into the office twice a week to negate the gas increases.
My day to day has changed very little from 4 years ago to now.
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Russian Federation4447 Posts
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EPT
