Hard Numbers: The Economy Is Much Worse Than You Know!, page 8

reply to post by DimensionalDetective

---

Good post. Time for a reality check if you're dependant on material world Yay, I can post incognito

reply to post by LostNemesis

---

who do you agree with?

reply to post by mybigunit

---

That would be you. LOL

I guess I forgot to hit the REPLY TO.

According to these people, I was a "drug addict" who refused on several occassions to take a drug test, mentally unstable, "antisocial" and in need of a "Psych test" to prove it. They will call several times a day to tell you what a piece of $%&* you are.
Til threatened by family with slander charges, they will keep making stuff up.

I cannot believe it is legal for GOVERNMENT to act in this fashion.

EDIT To add: I sincerely think these people are screwed, without ANYONE wanting to stand up for them. Right now it seems like most of the population is cheering CPS on. Why are people so blind to how this agency works? Because they have a NOBLE, good-cause name? Like the "Patriot Act" ??

[edit on 14-5-2008 by LostNemesis]

reply to post by LostNemesis

---

I knew that I just wanted my moment of glory and actually there are some good lawyers working for free for them so there are people standing up...plus you have a lot of people with common sense who does see through this...I think there are more smarter people that we think.

[edit on 14-5-2008 by mybigunit]

reply to post by lightseeker

---

I commend you on serving our country. But if you were even marginally disabled the VA would be paying you disability. I know a few vets who are on VA disability and they get a $2200 a month check from the government. By marginally disabled I mean perfectly normal.

Originally posted by lightseeker
reply to post by Stumpy1

---

It must be so nice to sit in your ivory tower casting aspursions and insults on those who either do not agree with your views or are less fortunate than yourself, financially speaking. I don't suppose you have ever known what it's like to struggle to pay your bills or to be forced to decide whether you pay for gas to get to work or buy enough food to last the whole month.
Believe me when I say that I know very well what it's like and it has nothing to do with laziness or lack of incentive.

I am a disabled Viet Nam vet, who until four years ago was doing quite well, thank you, earning an above average income and living in an upscale apartment building. Then I got sick and had to take a leave of absence from my job; they promptly offered me my final paycheck and that was pretty much that. Thank God, I had saved a tidy sum in my 401k and profit sharing account but that only lasted about a year. I was unable to work and had no visable means of support and so for the next eighteen months I was homeless; I got some assistance from my family but since they were not much better of than myself, it was not much.

I did do some networking through the VA and found temporary housing and benefit counseling and was able to apply for and receive a modest disability pension which I subsidize with a part-time job; last year I made less than $10,000.00 and after rent, small quantities of groceries and my internet service, there is not a whole lot left each month. When I travel, to and from work or the store, I take public transportation; there is no discretionary income for things like movies, clothing or socializing.

But, I am content; in fact I thank God that He has seen fit to lead me to the VA and some of the other Social Service and non-profit groups that have so helped me. So, when I hear people like yourself getting all high and mighty about people "living within their means", etc, etc..blah, blah, blah, it just really pisses me off. Who the hell are you anyway? Walk a mile in another man's shoes before you make assumptions and value judgements about them.

What ever happened to just being a human being who is entitled to a little respect and dignity, no matter their economic or social standing. Have you no compassion for anyone other than yourself? What is the matter with you anyway?

I have been poor and living from paycheck to paycheck and behind on my bills before, for quite a few years actually. But then I realised that there is something I can do about it, and that was to only buy things I needed and to seek better employment and start all over at the bottom and work my way up. I have eaten ramen for months on end so I do know what it is like, I was there and I understand when people fall on hard times, but most of those people stay on the bottom because it is easier to do that and feel sorry about ones self instead of doing something to make a difference.

Originally posted by poet1b


Something that everyone forgets, is that the U.S. consumer is the consumer of the world. The Chinese do not pay their people enough money to buy the goods they make, and that is true for the rest of the third world, without U.S. consumers, the third world is left with two choices, start paying their people more money so that they can afford to buy the goods and services that they provided, or go broke. The market system depends on supply And Demand, without both, the system does not work. I think most of the U.S. would get along very well without the cheap junk third world nations are basically giving us these days. There are going to be a lot of gas hog SUV's and other huge vehicles sitting in the sun doing nothing but taking up space, but the end of cheap oil makes this inevitable.

I read someplace the other day that oil refineries are currently losing money because demand has dropped as the price of gasoline has increased, to the point where refineries are starting to lose money. I thought that was good news, maybe not for refineries, but for the free world at least. The end of world domination by big oil might finally be coming to an end.

Good point, but these foreign economies are obviously more fragile and less resiliant than ours. Wouldn't their economies be the first to collapse? It wouldn't necessarily be a good thing for us obviously since we depend on a productive global economy. This interdependence will eventually cause alot of problems further down the road regardless of whose economy collapses first I guess.

I did some research recently for a different thread and what I found was exactly what you said. You can see that here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...'

Demand is increasing from developing countries like China and India. Their energy consumption is increasing rapidly and currently supply already can't keep up with demand. In January oil hit a record $100 a barrel. At the end of April oil hit $120 a barrel. It is now getting ready to hit $130 a barrel. That is nearly a 30% increase in the price of fuel since January's $100 a barrel.

In the four months between january and April (actually less than that) oil increased by $20 a barrel as I said before. If you project that trend out, the price of oil will double in 24 months / 2 years. I'm not saying that will happen but if it does we are screwed.

The geopolitical situation is getting pretty riduculous right now. That does not help the price of oil. With all of these pressing global issues like Iran and nukes, the global food crisis, The war in Iraq (and with Iran in the near future?), etc.., the geopolitical situation will not be stabilizing in the near-term.

Supply and demand is also a critical factor in oil prices. I found alot of confusing numbers and calculations when i did my research but the short answer is that production is projected to increase in the near-term. The problem is that since we have all the increasing demand from these developing countries, supply will continue to lag behind and oil prices will not get any better.

Congressmen and Senators are starting to address the issue of fuel prices but nothing the politicians have done so far is going to change things for the better permanently. They were originally talking about tapping into the national oil reserve (the oil stockpiled for our country after the oil embargo of the sixties). This oil reserve was meant to be used as a lifeline in case another embargo were to take place. They tried to pass legislation which would allow us to use that oil now. The resulting savings for us at the pump would have been a measly 5 cents a gallon or something like that. It wouldn't have been a permanent solution either.

But in a recent news story I found, this legislation was "shot down". Congress did vote to stop putting oil into the reserve, at least while the high prices continue. See story here:
www.nytimes.com...

The oil reserve was already at like 98% capacity so it really doesn't matter, but it will help a little.

Congressmen and Senators are really trying to search for anything they can which will lower fuel prices but their efforts are really in vane. We are so dependant on a healthy oil market that the fuel prices will continue to rise due to supply/demand issues and geopolitics (which they can only attempt to fix in the near-term).

Meanwhile we have a president that has been in office for 8 years and has done nothing about our dependance on oil. No alternative energy movement has really begun in the U.S. that will affect our dependance at all. Also, nothing is being done to ensure our economy is screwed when worse comes to worse. Whether or not the food shortage eventually affects us is unknown obviously. But even if it didn't wouldn't the high oil prices destroy what is left by then?

-ChriS

www.cia.gov...

reply to post by poet1b

---

I think the oil shortage is a myth. A profiteering scheme, but a very dangerous one.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Hi Jack

I watched a few minutes of the video, and right off the bat the guy makes claims that are simply not true. Alaska does not have nearly as much oil as the Middle East and the deep well oil supply story is a myth.

Here is an accurate picture of Alaska oil reserves.

money.cnn.com...

U.S. crude production is at its lowest since 1949, and nowhere has that decline been steeper than in Alaska, where oil output is less than half what it was a decade ago. The fields that since the late 1970s have provided more than 20% of America's oil are slowly running dry. It's a phenomenon that is hardly limited to Alaska. The world's five largest oil companies are replacing only 82% of the oil they pump each year, as once-prodigious fields fade and state entities in such countries as Venezuela and Russia consolidate ever more control over their oil and gas.

---

This statement at the end of the article states the reality of the situation very accurately.

Some experts estimate that a quarter of the planet's undiscovered energy resources are buried at the top of the planet. But that figure is highly speculative - much of the Arctic is unexplored - and even if you find something, how do you transport it through a sea of ice?

---

The thing about the deep well oil claim is easy to discredit. If oil comes from the Earth, and not long decayed fossils as is the most commonly accepted belief, the crude produced by the Earth clearly is not keeping up with demand, because all of the great oil finds have ran dry. The super deep holes that have been drilled are for scientific research only. It is extremely costly to drill these wells, and it takes decades to drill one hole.

Also, it is well known that GW and big oil have been wanting to expand oil well drilling in Alaska for some time now, only to be thwarted by environmentalists. Everything credible I have read on Alaska oil potential estimates the amounts as being tiny compared to U.S. demand, enough to supply us with only a few months or weeks of oil.

Gas prices have reached a level where people are cutting back on gas purchases, and the oil companies are feeling the pinch. Refineries are starting to lose money. Oil companies want to keep the public believing that we will never run out of oil, but the predictions about what wells would be running dry and when have been very accurate. It is twilight in the Arabian desert for big oil, as was predicted long ago, and as all the indicators currently show.

Russian scientists reach buried Antarctic Lake Vostok
  Posted 5 days ago with 83 member flags

Google announces privacy settings change across products; users can\'t opt out
  Posted 17 days ago with 78 member flags

BREAKING: Israel teams with terror group to kill Iran\'s nuclear scientists, U.S. officials tell NBC
  Posted 2 days ago with 73 member flags

Monsanto quits as GM results announced (EUROPE)
  Posted 6 days ago with 72 member flags

Strange noises reported around North Battleford
  Posted 17 days ago with 67 member flags

FDA\'s New Claim: "Your Body Is a Drug—and We Have the Authority to Regulate It"
  Posted 9 days ago with 53 member flags

Ayatollah: Kill all Jews, annihilate Israel
  Posted 5 days ago with 49 member flags

Bill Gates Backs Climate Scientists Lobbying For Large-Scale Geoengineering
  Posted 5 days ago with 41 member flags

Newest topics, updated in real-time:

Newest topics getting flags, in real-time:

Newest topics getting replies, in real-time: