What A Collapse Could Bring
No matter what your beliefs, just for a few moments, let's say that Secretary Paulson's and Fed Chairman Bernanke's dire economic scenario is right, and the economy suffers a large number of bank failures, business closings, and millions more unemployed, on top of what we've already got. What might happen?
These aren't predictions, but rather some things to think about. First, the stock market would plunge. Folks, you may think that you don't have money in the stock market, but if you have a pension fund or 401K, or even insurance policies of various types, chances are you're in the stock market, like it or not. With stocks much lower, that means not as much money for you at retirement. If companies actually go belly up, it could mean that much of your retirement money will disappear.
Further, if you think foreclosures are bad now, and they are, if an economic collapse takes place, things will get far worse; that is, if the mortgage holders still around have the wherewithal to even try to take back your home.
With falling revenues, government at every level, federal, state or local, will have to cut back. Chances are that we'll have to pull out of both Afghanistan and Iraq, as the expense of keeping troops there will be prohibitive. With the U.S. gone, will these governments survive?
With the Federal Government already on the hook for about 10 trillion dollars (and closer to 11 trillion, if the bailout plan is adopted), what will the government do to try to stop the downturn? During the Great Depression, the government didn't owe all that much, and the country ran, what were for those times, big deficits. With the country in such debt now, people from other countries won't want to take a chance on getting their money back and will no doubt give up financing much of our deficit, as they have been doing. Of course, the government has one thing they could still use... a printing press.
The point is, no one's life will be unaffected. It may well be the end of the United States as we've known it. Keep in mind, these "might" happen. They are not givens, but if they do happen, just remember, this is what they (the wealthy/big business interests) have done to us.
With all of this in mind, there was a joke years ago from the days of the Depression. A man was standing on the corner selling apples.*** He had a sign posted, "Apples-$100,000 each."### A guy walked over and said, "Hey buddy, ya think you're gonna sell many at that price?" The man answered, "I only have to sell one."
*** For those unaware, during the Great Depression of the 1930s, people frequently sold apples to earn some money. The caricature of a man selling apples became a symbol of those times.
### If I remember the joke right, the amount was more like $10,000, but that was in the 1930s, so I upped the amount to make the point.
These aren't predictions, but rather some things to think about. First, the stock market would plunge. Folks, you may think that you don't have money in the stock market, but if you have a pension fund or 401K, or even insurance policies of various types, chances are you're in the stock market, like it or not. With stocks much lower, that means not as much money for you at retirement. If companies actually go belly up, it could mean that much of your retirement money will disappear.
Further, if you think foreclosures are bad now, and they are, if an economic collapse takes place, things will get far worse; that is, if the mortgage holders still around have the wherewithal to even try to take back your home.
With falling revenues, government at every level, federal, state or local, will have to cut back. Chances are that we'll have to pull out of both Afghanistan and Iraq, as the expense of keeping troops there will be prohibitive. With the U.S. gone, will these governments survive?
With the Federal Government already on the hook for about 10 trillion dollars (and closer to 11 trillion, if the bailout plan is adopted), what will the government do to try to stop the downturn? During the Great Depression, the government didn't owe all that much, and the country ran, what were for those times, big deficits. With the country in such debt now, people from other countries won't want to take a chance on getting their money back and will no doubt give up financing much of our deficit, as they have been doing. Of course, the government has one thing they could still use... a printing press.
The point is, no one's life will be unaffected. It may well be the end of the United States as we've known it. Keep in mind, these "might" happen. They are not givens, but if they do happen, just remember, this is what they (the wealthy/big business interests) have done to us.
With all of this in mind, there was a joke years ago from the days of the Depression. A man was standing on the corner selling apples.*** He had a sign posted, "Apples-$100,000 each."### A guy walked over and said, "Hey buddy, ya think you're gonna sell many at that price?" The man answered, "I only have to sell one."
*** For those unaware, during the Great Depression of the 1930s, people frequently sold apples to earn some money. The caricature of a man selling apples became a symbol of those times.
### If I remember the joke right, the amount was more like $10,000, but that was in the 1930s, so I upped the amount to make the point.
Labels: economy, financial crisis
posted by Randy at 7:13 AM
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