Discuss, what is going to happen?

What are your thoughts on: the economic collapse?

[edit on 8-2-2009 by TheFearless]

That's rather vague.

Are we discussing things in general, in which you'll have all the NWO, 9/11, alien invasion theorists on here. Or is it about the economic collapse?

I'll go with economic collapse.

And what I think will happen is this...
Unemployment will continue, because there is little impetus on the banks to lend and companies large and small are desperately trying to survive.
Credit card companies will falter, they'll be bailed and they'll start to enforce reclaiming funds from customers. Already their charges have been hiked without people noticing, and people are continuing to use them as a free source of money. People haven't really learned to cut back and economize to the degree they have to, so the credit card issuers are seeing little change in the use of them. In fact I'd suggest that they've probably seen a rise in expenditure on cards as people cannot get used to living without their little luxuries.

The credit card industry will face the next bubble collapse. And once people loose that false lifeline things will become worse literally over night.

I previously thought civil unrest would begin in March/April (if something didn't happen sooner to cause it) and now protests are being planned for March.
I don't think this will go well. The planning is bad, the message is wrong, and it'll give a lot of irresponsible people the idea that it's a free-for-all to cause trouble that won't do any good to society.
The protests will be met with force by local authorities in several areas, this will lead to massive arrests and possibly violence.

I don't believe that all of the three car companies will survive. There isn't a market to justify their operation. I think one will manage to survive while cutting staff and production further, and the government will step in to assist in the consolidation of the three into a manageable corporation. They might also stipulate controls on external production and international contracts.

California and NY will be the states to watch over the coming months. I would expect to see protests get out of hand in both.

Ultimately, I think the government bailouts are a scam.
It is all designed to control the inevitable collapse of the economy. We all know that there isn't a market for vehicles, there simply isn't a justification for giving these companies such massive figures to run for another few months other than delaying the unemployment rise.
Peter Schiff (sp?) knows all of this as an independent guy in the financial sector, and we are expected to believe that the wealthiest and most powerful government in the world doesn't have such knowledge and foresight?
If anything, I'd suggest they know more than Mr. Schiff, they know that there wasn't a chance of saving the economy to begin with, and are preparing while delaying the impact and spreading the damage out over as long a period as possible. They can pump as many billions as they like into the economy because they know that those billions will be null and void eventually anyway.

They have to make a show of trying to repair the economy to prevent other nations from realizing the magnitude of the problem. If they were to state that all is lost and the economy is certainly going to collapse, they would immediately face unpredictable and immeasurable damage inflicted by other nations.

Ultimately, Peter Schiff sees them giving out these billions and thinks this will make things worse.
But, while he is right in one respect, I think he doesn't realize the magnitude of the problem.
I think the government knew when this began that there was no way to save the economy. All they could do was try to control the collapse by delaying unemployment and propping up businesses for as long as possible. Perhaps they thought that they might find an answer in that time?
They know that the $ is beyond repair, and while Mr. Schiff is saying that the course without the bail outs would be safer, they know that the course with them - delaying the complete collapse of the $ and gaining international eyes on the collapse - is actually the safer method of maintaining national security. Giving the perception that there is a solution, and denying that the collapse is inevitable will keep America safer in the short term.

The good news?
I think nations will inevitably become more protectionist. Globalization will scale back over the next few years and nations will be forced to ensure their economic independence. Manufacturing, finance, energy etc, will all become priorities for each nation within their borders.

People in general will learn that they have to work for what they want. They can't just go and get another loan.
Perhaps this will focus minds on what is actually important in life, instead of this constant consumerism and social competition?

We might also see the collapse of some seriously dubious government branches. Government might be limited in size and power. All of this can only be good for society.

So, that's what I think. Possibly wrong, possibly right. It's just my opinion based on what I see and hear.

Probably more desperate people and more suicides.

The father of one of my daughter's friends, committed suicide yesterday and leaves a grieving family behind to deal with his financial problems.

Unemployment in Spain is around 14% and expected to rise to 20% by the end of this year. We live in a rural area that boomed due to tourists and foreigners (like us) moving to a warmer/sunny climate. Now the foreigners are leaving in droves and the locals are reverting to farming their land. That doesn't help those of them that sold their land/farm houses, took big mortgages on nice new properties, took car finance for shiny new cars, etc, etc. Now the boom is over and they have no way to pay for any of their debt/credit (same thing).

Personally, we're changing our repayment mortgage to interest only, for 2 years, just to lower monthly outgoings. Our only other debt is van finance which was needed for work only now it's a case of "what work?"

My biggest fear is protectionism and that the locals will turn on us foreigners that actually brought all the wealth here in the first place. Unfortunately, as foreigners leave, they take their wealth with them. Will we stay? At the moment we have no choice as a move back to England will take just as much time/effort/money as it took to leave in the first place.