Global Meltdowns and Hugs and Kisses

I see a lot of doom and gloom on this website. For a change, I would love to hear what people think could be the best case scenario for this potential meltdown. Can we possibly divert it entirely? Please be as realistic as possible.

Also, what are some positives that can come of this situation if it turns out bad, something our society could potentially benefit from?

reply to post by Avarus


One thing I know about the meltdown - the rich people have a lot more to lose than I do.
At the end, those who are better adapted and brighter will pick up the pieces and we'll start down a different path, hopefully learning from our mistakes.
Everything collapses upon itself if it gets too big. The economy has gotten too big, too complicated with too many angles for those only concerned with money to work.
The economy has been manipulated by those with enough knowledge to tamper with it for profit but not enough sense to understand.
If we are ever going to have a stable economy for the long haul, it must be understood that there has to be a finite amout of currency. Just as there is a finite amount of goods and resources. We can't just create more currency when we need it. Currency is only a placeholder for an unexercised barter or used good.

Realistically speaking, there are two possible paths which could be called "best case scenario" depending on your point of view.

Path 1: The bailouts and stimulus work, credit is freed up, and commercial activity resumes. The banks would be able to pay back the bailout loans the government handed over and our country would return to the prosperous era seen immediately following the Great Depression when people weren't ruled by consumerism, yet were able to make comfortable livings and the middle class was the backbone of our society. Somehow the government manages to prevent staggering hyperinflation from happening.

Path 2: The good times do not return and things get worse, causing the citizens of this nation to wake up and demand that our government be given back to "We the People." A decade of very tough times ensues, followed by the reformation of the nation our Founding Fathers envisioned. We eventually return to some levels of prosperity, but we do so while learning how to depend on ourselves rather than on our government and megacorporations. The United States returns to being a producer nation mostly because of necessity.

I'd give either option a 25% chance. The remaining 50% centers on various gloom & doom situations or even plain old stagnation where we just sit in this never ending cycle of malaise and blah for years. I'm including global war in the doom and gloom category even though I personally have never been opposed to war for purposes of financial growth where the United States is concerned (Hey, at least I'm not a hypocrite... I openly admit that sometimes war is good for business.) The reason I feel this way now is because I'm not sure the US could come out on top in a global war without flat our destroying the rest of the world and, in turn, our own nation to boot. Too many countries out there with too many nukes for us to stage a repeat of WWII.

reply to post by burdman30ott6


Option C We start to come out of this slowly and so does the rest of the world and we make the changes needed to move forward in any scenario the US needs to play nice.