USA 2008: The Great Depression

This may be an extreme speculative point. As far as I know we entered the Great Depression before we went to war and the war helped us get out of it. Well the Iraq war caused this recession maybe the White House will use the idea of going to war with Iran to bring us back out. Kinda like a how WWII got us out of the depression.

So maybe this was a scheme put on by the Fed and Bush administration to pull the strings of the American people. They caused us to go into a recession and they promise to bring us out with war of course. It's a viscous cycle.

There will be no great or otherwise depression. There will be no war with Iran.

For the last 2 years people on this board have been saying that a war with Iran will happen, maybe in 200 years but not now or in the near future.

Roper

You know, I hear all about the financial problems going on here in the USA and have to stop and laugh about it. I mean really, the only ones that are hurting from it are those that bought into the star spangled bull# anyway.

What if I told you you could travel from Coast to Coast on under $100.00? That includes food & lodging. In fact that IS for food & lodging. And what if I told you it was possibal to visit over 70 countries free of charge?

What does this have to do with the problems of a recession or even a depression? EVERYTHING... By using the skills required to do one you have overcome the other. And this is simply because you have overcome the leading factor of both which is the same thing. Money...

Are you willing to do what it takes or are you so stuck on stupid as to simply go with the flow and kill yourself to keep up with the Jones?

I have a pack a day smoking habit and it only cost me the price of rolling papers twice a month (tobacco is free if you don't mind stubby's), while others pay 3 - 5 dollars a pack. If I do not choose to spend for food I hunt small game. Even the city's pigons make a good meal.

If the country falls into depression so be it. I kinda hope it does, will teach millions a MUCH NEEDED lesson in humility... I will eat hardy and if I lose housing I will build my own out in the woods. I spent a few years penniless, homeless, and LOVED IT... I never asked ANYONE for food, water, or money. In fact I prefered staying away from people, less I had to worry about them.

But this is just one man's opinion...

reply to post by Roper

---

How did you get so all knowing that you know the fututre?

I don't know the future. What I know is this. Iran has 70 million people and the only way we could attach it is with nuclear weapons. We won't do that.

The economy works in waves, highs and lows, we are at a low that's all. The cure for high prices are high prices. The cure for low prices are low prices.

People that think that President GWB wants to crush the USA for some reason are full of "male bovine fecal material", it just would not make any sense to destroy the USA with all of its might, financial, military, agricultural and most of the people in this country are good and honest .

There are so many doom and gloomers on here , just because their life sucks don't wish that on the rest on us.

Roper

reply to post by Roper

---

Thing is nobody has ever mentioned anything about attacking Iran with nuclear weapons. The US is considering bombing Iran's nuclear facilities. I'll admit there are alot of doom and gloomers here, but you have to look at all of the facts. The facts show we are not doing good at all and it's getting worse everyday. There is absolutely no denying the gas hikes, the grocery hikes, the unemployment, the war currently in Iraq. You put things together and couple that with GW's history of starting crap with everyone and it adds up to disaster. We are having horrendous weather patterns like never before and everything is really starting to crumble. I really don't see a pizza party coming out of all of this. I see depression or worse if something major is not done soon, and the answer is certainly not trickle down economics. Mr. reagan proved that that doesn't work. The government knows fully what is going on in this country, they are not blind. Yet it's still happening. That's mostly our fault though I suppose. If this country would stand together and fight all of this I think it would get better fast. Problem this country is so divided in so many directions it will never happen.
I would love for the main stream media to give me 1 hour of prime time air time to voice all of this.
Explain this to me someone please,,,,,,,,
When people feel strongly about let's say, homosexuality, or abortion, or racism, and such, there are enormous rallies and demonstrations and their voices are heard around the globe. The gas price hikes have affected everyone globaly and yet noone has rallied or screamed anything. If they have then the media certainly has not covered it. Why is this so?

Well Christian voice, you and I will just be at a disagreement on some things.

If you are really a Christian voice, what does the Bible say about times like these? What do you do about it? What do you keep your mind on? Who really is in charge? How will it turn out?

Roper

reply to post by Roper

---

What does my faith have to do with this thread? Nothing. My faith is irrelevant and should not even be brought into this discussion. This is not a religious thread or even a moral issue thread. Stick to the topic.

Well I was just asking what we as Christians were to do according to the Bible and now I see how you are.

Roper

economy goes up economy goes down nothing to see here

sounds like you got a pretty good case of cognotive dissonance Roper

and i ENJOY my life alot, i take time out of my day as do others to try to

post in a informative way, because wether you understand this or not,

financially this world is not OK

Tell you what lets do cd on Jan.1, 2009. No depression an I'll rub your nose in it.

Depression in 2008 and you do the same to me.

Deal or no deal?

Roper

i'll pass

technically a depression characterizes a recession that lasts a very long time, so we could not call a depression by that time.

Roper i do agree the media is blowing the financial problems out of the water , however the problems for "main street" are in danger of hanging around for many years, i think the economy is especially fragile since so many jobs depend on consumer spending and also alot of the growth in the last five years has been from huge amount of debt (specifically nearly 5 dollars in debt for every dollar in GDP) and new debt creation is going to be difficult when consumers can barely pay credit card minimums.

it seems to me a large drop in the standard of living for alot of people is the inevitable conclusion.

[edit on 6-4-2008 by cpdaman]

Thing about that wager is that cpdaman wins either way. He already has his ducks in a row in the current climate and has Plan B for potential downside. You on the other hand seem to have all your eggs in one basket. Never a Wise decision IMO.

Does anyone find it, funny (weird funny, not ha ha funny) that some here speak of the the ongoing financial developments they was others speak of professional sports? A sort of 'detached' spectator view, willing to get into technical details about the magnitude or or length of a particular bad turn, or the technical missteps it took to get here. The discussion migrates to forecast generalizations and prognosis of the impact of one or another casualty.

I don't can't say about the bet - I think neither would be able to easily claim 'I won' because of the overall fuzzy nature of evaluating status-quo. Meanwhile there are a few out there (quite a few) who are very literally frightened about how this will end up affecting their lives. I suppose things are always that way - some can retain a clinical studios perspective while others are more prone to fret about the details closest to their day-to-day lives. I can't say either is the better way to look at the issue, but I suggest that both perspectives are necessary for a complete consideration of what this depression/non-depression actually is.

'Fear' is, I think, a very nasty element in the equation. Fear seems to be, in fact, constantly held up as the reason the FED takes certain actions, and often takes the form of 'nobody wants to start a panic.' What would qualify as a good reason to panic? Replace 'panic' with 'immediate and comprehensive action' - isn't the answer 'always? Wouldn't 'panic and fear' be the result of some surprise? Why should there be surprises in this whole business - what secret state of affairs exist would cause us to 'panic' if revealed?

My personal take is this. The federal government, makes large scale financial transaction for the express purpose of generating income for someone. The make billions of dollars in commitments for corporate research, foreign 'aid' - taking the form of corporately designed activities in far off lands (nearly exclusively), Massive expenditures in a very select few industries, all near and dear to the 'market', a sizable 'black project' budget. This abbreviated list generally holds true as exemplary of the federal government's financial activities. They regulatory and legislative profile created by the federal government over the last century or so has pretty much been consistent with the axiom "good for business.' To control federal spending you have to control business. A hard sell, since business controls very nearly everything you do, or could possibly want to do. And we migrate closer each day to the blatant control of the government by business. The FED is the very apex business in the US. We can't even get transparency out of them, which shows how subservient our government is to them. We treat dealing with the FED as if it were a royal audience - steeped in respect for whatever the hell it is they are.

People are definitely alert to a problem, which is a start, but as long as we accept letting the FED define the form and degree of their obligation to us, we'll never see our wealth again. That actually was at one point blithely accepted by our leadership, despite they themselves warning us of what they were signing on to. It's kind of indicative of what it's gonna take to make things right - because someone - at some level of 'control' is going to have to admit that we took a wrong turn, and it wasn't done 'innocently'.

reply to post by Roper

---

I'm just asking what the Bible and Christianity has to do with this thread.

I don't know if Roper was just baiting you, he might be genuinely interested in this aspect of how to apply Christian doctrine and morality to the financial catastrophe that may (or may not) be poised to fall on us.

Christians often strongly proselytize based on the applicability of the Christian bible to all aspects of life. I believe it's been called 'A guide for living.' and, accepting that as an axiom, how does it relate to living in a world such as may be coming into existence as we watch?

But returning to the 'bait' aspect of it, consider that philosophical, religious and spiritual tomes are replete with vague and 'intellectual' advice on the world - most of which was more relevant before it was translated into modern tongue than it is today. As an example I offer you the nearly universal 'lesson' offered by the spiritually enlightened - rebuke and reject materialism, the love of money and all that, you can't take it with you, love of material things makes you spiritually weak, road to perdition, etc. These are nice thoughts in principle, but how does it feed the crying child? How does it keep a roof over your head?

This is all conjecture, because it's up to Roper to respond, but since you're obviously not getting an answer I thought I'd throw my thoughts into the mix.

reply to post by Maxmars

---

Well I certainly appreciate your attention to it. I'm just a little flustered that every topic on this site somehow gets turned to a Christian bashing thread. I just didn't want to get into another one of those again. I have been posting only what I've personally experienced and what others I've known are experiencing and what the news says, and not quoting the Bible or spreading my faith around. I think perhaps the thread should stay on topic.

This weekend, looking through the paper for where I live as well as many other locations and on Monster, I was disheartened even more than previously. The jobs are disappearing. Some on here continuously mention going into a different job field. That's not easy at all. The vast majority of jobs require experience. I have experience in numerous fields, but no jobs in any of the fields I am experienced in.

I'd say you're probably talking about hitchhiking across the states which is illegal, and sleeping in a tent or other makeshift shelter on someone else's property. This strategy just won't work for families or law-abiding citizens.

As for seeing 70 other countries free of charge, I'd guess you're delusional or talking about joing the military, which isn't free by any stretch of the imagination.

Most people are struggling just to keep up with the cost of living, much less the Jones's.

Hunting is a great idea, but you can't legally do it all year long. Even if you could, it still requires a hunting permit which isn't free. You must also factor in ammunition, and appropriate safety clothing so you don't get shot by accident. Do you plan on eating just meat, or do you also have a free source of vegetables and bread to go with it? I believe hunting or trapping pigeons is illegal in most cities as well.


I don't think anyone deserves to be taught that kind of lesson regardless of their circumstances. It's a rather cruel and cynical attitude to have don't you think?
You think you'll eat hardy, but if the worse comes to happen, you'll have a lot more people competing for the few resources available. I hope you own some land as well if you plan on camping out. I don't think many people will be appreciative of you squatting illegally on their property during a depression. I was homeless too, but I never found it enjoyable. I never met many who did..

I do too, but unfortunately it's a part of living in a society.

400 tons of gold should push the price down considerably....
appearantly, the IMF is even having budget problems.

These statement were made by Charles Mitchell, Chairman of National City Bank of New York, 2 days before the stock market crash on October 22, 1929.

I just look into the eyes of persons trying to convince themselves that America does not stand at the brink of an economic and social collapse.

I do not want to turn this thought into a religious debate…..I simply cannot get chapter 18 of Revelations out of my mind wherein it predicts a graphic scene of a prosperous society falling under judgment in a single hour.

Our leaders are liars, adulterers, immoral and two-faced. We put them there………..just give us a good economy, ‘cause I wana eat. I wanna drink and I wanna play.