Originally posted by CookieMonster09
If you want to know what things will be like in the next 6-12 months, take a trip to Detroit some weekend. What you see in Detroit - massive unemployment (30% of the population lives below the poverty level), burned out houses, burned out buildings, gangs and drug pushers everywhere, decaying infrastructure, etc. - is exactly what will be knocking at your doorstep in due time.

Even the metro-Detroit suburbs are feeling the effects - food pantries and soup kitchens can't keep up with the demand.

Where will people work? We have shipped a good chunk of our manufacturing jobs overseas. GM still has to go through more layoffs. Unemployment is skyrocketing everywhere. Having a college degree from a major university is no longer enough to find yourself a decent wage in this country.

Let's see... Real estate in the tank, mortgage industry in the tank, home construction in the tank, automotive manufacturing in the tank, auto dealers closing everywhere, newspapers going bust, etc. Everywhere you turn you hear of companies preparing to file for bankruptcy if they haven't filed already.

The pundits say we'll become a "service economy" - What the heck does that mean? We'll all be waiters and waitresses, or work at a fast food joint?

Remember Ross Perot? And his comment about the "giant sucking sound" that will wipe out American jobs and send them overseas? Well, here it is, folks.

I wish Obama's administration would get off this darn healthcare fix and get on a JOBS kick. If people have good paying jobs, and high income, then paying for healthcare is less of a burden. The real root of the cause is a loss of good-paying jobs.

I agree with you and it's scary!! What can be done to solve this situation?
How can we keep jobs from going offshore? We are going to have to say one of these days,we want our country back!We want jobs here for our
people.I would like to see a stop to those visas, foreigners use,to take
away american jobs.

Aside from becoming an entrepreneur, I don't think there is much that the average American can do to stop the bleeding. First, because I think that the government is deliberately doing everything it can to tax the average American to death, and has purposely designed these free trade agreements to the disadvantage of Americans. Why? I have no idea. Other then greed, and a desire for a slave labor force on behalf of multinational companies.

Just look around you. How many of your friends have lost their job? How many have stopped trying to look for a job? How many of your friends that are still working are scared they will be laid off soon? How many have had their wages reduced, hours cut? Even in healthcare, my nursing friends tell me that hours are getting reduced - And nursing is one of the most recession-proof jobs a person can have.

These are market forces that the average Joe can't combat. It takes the collective will of our government and business leaders to change this trend - and I don't see that happening at all. In fact - quite the opposite - you see the government running up huge, massive deficits, and the Fed printing more money devaluing our dollar. Now, I hear they want to change the minimum wage, which will send even more low-paying jobs out the window as businesses cut even more people out of work.

I think these issues are systemic, rooted in powerful corporate interests that are seeking to destroy the middle class, and indicative of the soon to be breakdown of our society. People are losing everything from a material perspective - their jobs, their houses, their cars, etc. And when unemployment runs out for a lot of these folks, you are going to see some serious social unrest. You are also going to see some pretty angry people in the streets protesting in my opinion. I hope it doesn't come to that, but it wouldn't surprise me. Hungry, homeless, angry people with nothing to lose can cause quite a lot of havoc. I hope people have enough sense to act like rational human beings, otherwise we are apt to see a national version of the L.A. or Detroit riots coming to a neighborhood near you. If you wanted "change", here it comes.

I really like your posts.Do you realize we are living in the end times? That is one of the main reasons for all this chaos. I tried having my own business.I am a floral designer and event planner. Who wants to spend money on a wedding when they can't pay their rent or mortgage.

I don't know your definition of "end times", but I would concur that we will have systemic collapse if things don't change soon. I never thought I would see the day when GM would file bankruptcy, Lehman Brothers would be out of business, and unemployment would approach this high - among other nefarious signs of the times.

The problem with entrepreneurship is that the government does just about everything within its power to make owning your own business near impossible, either through barriers to entry, restrictions on capital, excessive taxation, an overall economy in malaise, etc. I have worked with many entrepreneurs over the years, and I can tell you that very few are enjoying a profitable enterprise. Some have had to go out of business and close shop. Others are scraping by day by day trying to make ends meet. Most have had to lay off large chunks of their employees, and cut hours.

The momentum of this downward cycle is picking up pace in my opinion. You hear the pundits say that unemployment is slowing down, but try telling that to anyone that has lost their job. To me, and this is just my opinion, this is a well orchestrated financial tsunami wrecking ball that is tearing through American society. It's not too bad yet - People are still managing by and large, but I don't see things changing anytime soon. At least not for several more years.

In the wake of another terrorist attack, a nasty round of swine flu, another war, the devaluing of our currency, things will only continue to get progressively worse. There is no leadership - Our leaders are spineless weasels sucking the American taxpayer dry. We are a huge debtor nation. We have lost our manufacturing base - and our moral compass.

I feel like we are living in a society on the edge of major breakdown. I am forever an optimist, but these recent months seem to me to be a further downward cycle that will not end until there is even more devastation to our economy.

The upside to this, however, is that hopefully there will be a resurgence in family values, a return to faith, and closer communities that work to help those in need.

LOL, I am one of those people who have nothing to loose...no money, health insurance, retirement plan nor a pot to piss in and a window to toss it out of. So I could not care and actually hope that the crash will come in spite of those who insist that such a thing will never happen. They have lied since the end of 2nd world world that we are in a resession and the whole time it was the beginning of a 2nd great depression. The death blow to the world ecomony will be the middle of the summer in 2012 and the world will have to accept the fact that another great depression is upon us. Lastly, considering the fact that all of life has been built on lies hidden with truths, they will most likly continue to lie to world due to the fact that lies is all that we know and have been feed since man's appearence on this planet. Damn it, I hate it when I sound so negative but the truth really, really hurts, don't you think?