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Revealed: The ghost fleet of the recession
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Here, on a sleepy stretch of shoreline at the far end of Asia, is surely the biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history. Their numbers are equivalent to the entire British and American navies combined; their tonnage is far greater. Container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers - all should be steaming fully laden between China, Britain, Europe and the US, stocking camera shops, PC Worlds and Argos depots ahead of the retail pandemonium of 2009. But their water has been stolen.
They are a powerful and tangible representation of the hurricanes that have been wrought by the global economic crisis; an iron curtain drawn along the coastline of the southern edge of Malaysia's rural Johor state, 50 miles east of Singapore harbour.
It is so far off the beaten track that nobody ever really comes close, which is why these ships are here. The world's ship owners and government economists would prefer you not to see this symbol of the depths of the plague still crippling the world's economies.
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But retailers are running on very low stock levels, not only because they expect consumer spending to be down, but also because they simply do not have the same levels of credit that they had in the past and so are unable to keep big stockpiles.
www.ble.org...
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Heading eastbound on Interstate 10 in Colton, drivers pass what seems to be a never-ending line of parked locomotives. Some are freshly painted, with "Union Pacific" in bold letters, while others have the graffiti-scarred signs of a long life on the rails.
But one thing is for sure: A lot of them are staying, at least until the economy and railroad industry rebound.
Originally posted by detachedindividual
reply to post by Pilot
I agree with you 100%.
One good thing to come from this collapse (when it finally hits in its entirety) will be the inevitable shift away from material wealth and ownership and toward a sustainable, self-sufficient, ecological mindset.
I had always thought that it would come about after another catastrophic world war (I suppose it still could), but I'd much rather see people choose this path voluntarily, through their own decisions rather than through massive destruction.
And I think it's now more likely than ever.
Celente suggests that the next big businesses opportunities come in the form of sustainability, green energy, ecological supply of goods and services... And I think he is absolutely right.
Over the next ten years governments will be trying to persuade people to spend, spend, spend, to support their model of a capitalist system (which is what they are doing now). And the people will hopefully see this as a sham and move further and further away from it.
The system is designed to split the population between the poor masses and the wealthy elites who control everything, and people are waking up to the game.
It's a glorious picture, signalling the end of an era of indulgence and greed. Lets hope we can turn those ships into a reef in the next five years!