We are seeing it unfold before our eyes. Even with the gov't propping up Freddie, and Fanny, they are still crashing. We are on the very brink of hyperinflation because of the insane amount of money being printed out of thin air at this time.

As the US Dollar Index slumps below the point of no return (72) we are starting to see a total lack of confidence in our currency on a global scale.

Many Arab nations are considering going to a "currency basket" sometime this year. In my opinion this will cause a total collapse of the dollar.

As the dollar becomes toilet paper, we will plunge into an inflationary depression the likes of which has never been seen. The early 1920's in the Weimar republic will be similar, but not as bad.

Martial law will be declared because of widespread looting and rioting, and lack of civil servants, due to the lack of them being paid with anything of worth.

The U.N. will be dispactched, and we will see a full blown civil war.

There is another thread for this I think...besides, martial law cannot be declared since it has been in effect since 1863, so please stop saying "martial law will be declared", we are already living under it.

When bush leaves office, in the not so distant future, and we no longer even see his head on the tv, will people still be saying bush will declare marshal law.

So we are in a state of emergency, hence the gold fringe you see around the American flag.

We are not in a state of martial law per say. You do not have to travel through multiple military checkpoints on your daily commute, troops are not searching house by house for food hoarders or people with guns. They are not confiscating guns, and limiting broadcasts. There is no curfew in effect that I am aware of at this time, so no we are not in martial law at this time.

Bush may leave office on schedule, but it is not 100% in my mind. We may get Ocain or Mcbama, doesn't matter they will follow the same exact plan.

The Stuff is about to hit the fan, and the fan is on high, and there is a lot of stuff.

We have a couple of months left of normalcy, but economically speaking September is the end of normalcy, and the dollar is going to totally die.

At that point we are going to start seeing much lunacy, and shortly martial law will actually be enacted.

Wanna hear something funny? I've been saying this EXACT thing for over a year, and labelled as a nutcase by my family for it.
Well this "nutcase" has bought a box of .308 and .45 ACP every single week for about a year now, with a box of 12 guage every other week.
I think I have quite a bit of marketable "currency" now.

Crikey!

The U.S..... so long as they have the world trading oil in dollars will have a significant advantage over every other economy in the world.

Sure the stock market may crash, gas and food prices may soar i.e the standard of living on the whole for the nation will go down, but as long as we have the world giving us goods and services in return for pieces of paper........ our bloated , indebted hollowed out economy should muddle through a tuff time for a while, but should not see a total collapse so long as we have the PETRO dollar.

That's why we are pressing IRAN, just like we did iraq, that's why iran wants nukes, so they can get off petro dollar and defend themselves! and not watch a repeat of shock and awe in their back yards.

I wonder would many people support a war if the sole reason was to maintain our petro dollar and consumer economy (instead of going into a depression) while killing many? makes you wanna imagine it's about terrorism

Ok. let's assume for a moment that civil war has broken out.

You've now got brother killing brother (again), looters, murders, rape, pillage, security check points, battle fronts, emergency field hospitals and all the other trimmings of a friendly civil upset..

But what else could occur?

How many prisons are there in the USA and how many inmates? How many of these places will be kept under government control and how many will be broken open to let the prisoners out and how many others will all the guards leave to join the fight and let the prisoners root inside?

Exactly which government, military, corporate, secret bases ond/or installations will the government be able to effectively keep secure and defend?

Would they be more worried about area 51 being broken into or would they consider fort knox a bigger target?

How many people, I wonder, would be interested in breaking into the centre for disease control and smashing up every liquid filled container they couldfind? Imagine the cocktail of virusses released if that were to happen.

How many dirty secrets does the government actually have to defend and worry about before it actually considers the defence and control of the states and the civilians who are on the governmental side.

Todays civil war will not be anything like it was before. You'll see pockets of resistance everywhere. The military will be hard pushed to clean out any and all resistance. Getting together as a major army to fight the government is no longer an option. Thestates has way too many targets to think of to effectively organise its troops so the "enemies of the state" will be free to operate guerilla tactics and roam free as a militia.

Then you've got your 'loners'. Those who will take an active part by being that snake in the grass that occasionaly pops off a couple fo troops here and htere.

On top of all that you'll have millions of families all seeking safety, food, protection from both sides of the fence.

Most may very well be left out in the cold to fend for themselves as resources on both sides will, more than likely, be non existent for refugees.