New ATS Survey: The US and Euro-Zone Economies

The question where we assign blame could be better... to say Conservative politicians is wrong because there are only 3 or 4 true conservatives in D.C. The rest are Neo-Cons, RINO's and progressive Republicans and they are no better than Liberals.

Took the survey, I appreciate the opportunity to vote and see how ATS peers feel about these questions.

I'm of the opinion that the US is screwed but Europe is screwed worse. Monetary union without political union will not work, someone (ie Greece and others) will cheat to get the benefits.

I'm torn on whether this is a planned destruction of the middle class or simply the natural conclusion to a system built on the corrupt foundations of greed, lust for power, political expedience, corruption, and usury. I think we will know for certain when TSHTF. If we get a world .gov and single world currency out of it we can be assured that it was planned all along. If we get a return of national currencies that are traded based on their perceived value relative to other currencies then it's probably just the natural conclusion of the apathy exhibited by the inhabitants of the western world that allowed the vices mentioned in the first sentence of this paragraph to lead to their natural conclusions.

I absolutely LOVE these here surveys. (Grammar Nazis beware!)

These here survey thingies are what we all need to blow off some steam, because Jim-Bob done run out of shotgun shells, and his disbility check ain't coming dis month cuz da gubberment defaulted.

Ok, in all seriousness.....

It has been hypothesized on AboveTopSecret.com that the drastic decline of the economy over the past few years is the result of a collusion (conspiracy) between the global financial "elite" and politicians to weaken or even subjugate the "middle-class."

Naw, it's about greed. The people that have money want more money. That is the REAL problem. The middle class has always been the middle class. I'm middle class. I go to work everyday, I pay taxes, I vote in every election. I voted for (gasp) Obama, because even though I was raised conservative, I was sick and fed up with the warmongering Bushes. Yes, the wars needed to stop. Then, as I eat crow, I realize how I forgot how the liberals love to spend, spend spend, and spend. What's there to feed their desire to spend? More taxes. Raise the debt ceiling. Spend more. Keep spending.

I'm very embittered by the fact that the politicians (both liberal and conservative) have no real connection to the middle class. They have their seat, they get a paycheck and they pay someone to pick-up their dry cleaning. A very cozy lifestyle, all funded by the middle class. That irks me.

Politicians are the upper class. I am of the middle class. The people living off government assistance are the lower class, and they know it. They are greedy and feed the flow. The system is way beyond broken.

It's not a local phenomena either. It's world wide. The "leaders" of the world have hijacked the whole concept of "equality", and have subverted their citizens into slavery. Any country you visit has an upper, middle and lower class. That's a shame. The system needs to fail. Rights need to be given back to the individual, and the ultra-rich that are prescribed to a political agenda need to lose everything. That would only happen in a collapse, and that is coming soon.

We, as citizens living in a global economy, need to realize this. The scale has been stacked with a few ultra-rich on one side, and the rest of the tired, poor, yearning masses on the other. It's not balanced.

Without any balance, the system can't sustain itself. Greed sucks in the wealth of the population and gives it to the few elite. It needs to be distributed back into the population. The current model is unsustainable.

I took the survey, and await the results. Good job in providing these polls, and thank you ATS.

I put worse on the Euro stuff because I have no idea whats going on over there all I get is from what I hear so I guessed

And i suspect the world is going to hell in a handbasket so...yeah

Took the survey.

Feels good to have some input.

Sort of like voting in elections, only in this case my input actually counts and I don't feel like I need a shower and a shot of Jagermeister afterwards!

This results of this survey are more important than people might think. I truly believe the overall results will be of more significance than any think tank can collectively come up with. We are used to thinking outside of 'their' box on a daily basis which gives us the chance to out manoeuvre any ceiling society might place on our understanding of how the world works.

Took the poll.

We're living Euro-Quakes here, purportedly due to US Congress latter days hesitations... Im not sure if that's the cause or not, but all this is clearly leading us all nations in the Euro-zone to a loss of sovereignty.

I predict (more than a prediction, a reasonable future projection):

1) First stage: national Economic Departments / Offices / Ministries will be merged in one European Ministry.
2) Second stage: European Parliament will be re-inforced because: "we need united policy to rule united economy"
3) Third stage: nations and flags will be folklore souvenirs of the past under one higher supreme rule. We will probably be allowed to keep National Teams for a while, to keep the fiction.


It's funny how this was taken as a totally insane conspiracy not less than 15 years ago and now it's here, slowly shaping above our heads.

I did not read anything from the op on, but I have something I would like to add. Since the raise of minimum wage to $7.25, which is the federal minimum there is actually more money going into the economy then it ever has. Yet we are going into an economic depression????? I wonder how much more money the American govenment has gotten out of that in taxes?????????? I know it is a pretty little profit. It would seem that since barack obama has got into office that things should actually be getting better... but hmmmmmm. Not to mention the stimulus package which put a truckload of of money to just circle around the economy endlessly. And we didn't even have to work for it. They just said here is $300 dollars, do what you want with it. Damn that is even more money into the economy. It should seem, coming from a person with common sense that, we should be on an economic rise of the likes which we have never seen. Oh... I forgot The Bankers, The Wall Street Elite, Politicians, those smart enough to see what is going on and how to profit from it, and god knows who else.For AIG to ever collapse it would mean that all insurance institutions should in return do the same. Same basic foundations unless someone was truckin mud up. Cookin books. What ever. All I know is that this country should be in an economic uprise instead we have a depression.

i didn't see Greed or Ownership Society... or even Extreme Credit Expansion as buzz-words in the Survey offering.


i held my nose and made the most accurate choices of my viewpoint available

Surely there is enough information from both sides of the pond on the current state of our economies, there is no excuse for not knowing what is going on in Europe in this day and age, I'm pretty sure most Europeans on ATS are well aware of Americas financial situation.

You know, for a decade ATS got along fine without polls.
What reason or purpose do we need these opinionated, community dividing puff pieces?
We certainly don't need such things to spur debate or conversation amongst us, we do that fine on our own.
Is there a need for this data? What is it for and how will it be used?
,Sure the resulting graphs are nifty, but the answers are spread out over such a gradient spectrum what are we, the users supposed to derive from and use from these?

Many changes over this last year really have me questioning the direction of Ats, lately. From Google + to the quality of what was once, and was much better as the podcast.
I didn't come to ATS a decade ago looking for a facebook-type "social network" site. I came for a decent forum for alternative topics populated by a decent and intelligent community.
Not for the bloat that ATS has become.

If it wasn't broken, you should at some point stop trying to "fix" it.
But, of course, that is, and may be, only me and my viewpoint.
Take it for what you will.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


Thanks for the "survey." Why the quotes? Seems more like a series of statements, more than a series of questions. The last question....a very good "answer." ( you don't need to be supernatural to see the future)

In all the video games about war, why aren't there any games about Americans vs. Middle Eastern countries, the bad guys? lol

The theme for all is U.S. vs. Russia/China.

Anyone seen the news today, stock markets across the world are falling fast.

These are TODAY figures only...

FTSE has lost over 3% (about 50billion)
Dow Jones similar % amount
Italy & Spain over 3%
etc etc...

Double dip recession here we come!!!
money.cnn.com...

www.bbc.co.uk...
www.ft.com...
news.sky.com...
www.foxbusiness.com...

reply to post by woodwardjnr


Unforunately the U.S economy has dominated all of the MS News channels and major internet service providers web pages. Therefore, unless you do not owna T.V or radio, then sure you have been informed of the situation.

However, I don't think the same could be said of our cousins in the U.S. Why is the U.K so focused on the U.S? Are we heading towards becoming the 51st state?

Originally posted by welshreduk

Double dip recession here we come!!!

increasing the debt ceiling is like Inserting a needle in a inflated balloon...the risk is enormous and we have only one chance to succeed it. Our country is inching closer to the abyss. If the balloon burst, we will fall even deeper into the black hole...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f86f4095a7aa.jpg[/atsimg]

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


While I can not speak for the Euro Zone as a whole, I can assure you that Germany is experiencing a strong economic growth right now. Companies are desperate to hire qualified personnel but can't get any, that's a given in the IT sector, the heavy and chemical industry and the export sector.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


I took the poll. I cannot wait for the results. I don't understand why people don't get the question about China. I think it's very much relevant to the subject of the poll.

nice poll

new here, how often are these polls run (sorry for going off topic)

Originally posted by woodwardjnr
Surely there is enough information from both sides of the pond on the current state of our economies, there is no excuse for not knowing what is going on in Europe in this day and age, I'm pretty sure most Europeans on ATS are well aware of Americas financial situation.

I've never had any reason to dig into Europe's business, such as their economy and politics and so forth. Don't they have Europeans to look after that?

I'm not spending their money, living there, or making their decisions, so I can't imagine why it would be any of my business.