E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSNatural disasters, terrorist attacks, global disease – if you’re so inclined, there’s no shortage of major issues to fret about these days.
Still, a new poll finds that the catastrophic event Americans are most likely to be worried about is economic collapse.
The pollsters asked Americans to choose the top three catastrophic events that worry them the most. The top choice was “economic collapse,” with 63 percent choosing that option.
Natural disaster was second, at 46 percent, and terrorist attack ranked third at 44 percent.
Market research firm Leiflin Inc. asked the question on behalf of the EcoHealth Alliance, a conservation group that also works on global disease issues. One-third of the people surveyed said a global disease outbreak was one of their top three worries.
The poll of about 1,000 Americans, conducted this fall, had a margin of error of 3 percent.
The pollsters did not specify whether they were referring to global or national economic collapse. Still, after four years of very difficult economic times, it’s no surprise economic worries are top of mind for many Americans.
Related:
Your grocery bill is getting higher, and higher
It’s the economy, not the debt, stupid
Leave a Comment:
If that happens we can thank Washington and wall street
maint, at least with Washington we should always remember that we the people voted theses clowns into office.
Don't trust the established politicians.
We need to down-size the gov't big-time. Only R.Paul is singing that song, and some other very good ideas. He is a smart man..... give him some serious thought this year. And don't believe the "media" - (crooked polls)
When the inevitable economic collapse happens, you MUST refrain from blaming yourselves, others, or government spending. The economic system we currently toil under is set up to cause this. It is set up to funnel wealth to those who do not make wealth (bankers). Bankers loan principal, and the debtor is expected to pay back principal AND interest. Problem is - theres never enough money in circulation to pay back both - and that is also by design. The system is set up to ensure that some fail. Do any of you find it bothersome that the Government gave trillions to banks - presumably to loan out (at principal AND interest - of course) and the banks sat on that money? The best mechanism would have been to hand that money out directly to the people. It would have been put back into the economy, and the troublemaking banks would have failed.
This system we currently have is by design, and the politicians are owned by the bankers. Step out of line, and they risk getting the JFK treatment... yes, its just that serious.
The government, under the constitution, has the right to issue - DEBT FREE its own currency, through the Treasury. No longer. The fools in Congress signed that right away to the Federal Reserve on Christmas Eve back in 1913. It was treason. It remains treason. It has devastated us all.
And much uglier things are upon us. The economic collapse may be good in that we might be able to return to a more sane economic structure, but not without significant pain the likes of which no generation (alive or dead) has seen in this country. I hope we fight back - I sure do hope we do not let the banks have their fait accompli throughout the world.
What the He!! are you talking about? What kind of economic la la land are you living in?
At least we knew how Osma BinLaden was going to destroy us. President Obama is a lot more subtle and so is congress. If you think all of you sheep are prepared. I wish you luck
Life is good at the top. The top 1% have collected 80% of ALL income growth over the last 30 years -- and now accrued 40% of the nation's wealth. CEO compensation up 27% for 2010; the largest increase in history. Bank CEO pay up 36% to an average of $9.7 million per year. Trillions doled out to Wall Street and large corporations making record profits and paying bonuses. And the richest 400 Americans now have more wealth than half of all Americans -- while their taxes have been halved. Sales of private jets, luxury cars, multi-million dollar estates, jewelry, etc. are soaring.
Meanwhile forty-six million Americans do NOT have enough to eat. One out of four males over the age of fifty are unemployed. One of four children living with hunger. Sixty percent of Americans living paycheck to paycheck. Over a quarter of all Americans either unemployed or underemployed. Record numbers of veterans homeless and unemployed. One-third of home sales from foreclosure. Millions thrown into the streets by the nation's banks. Millions of our youth suffering with predatory student loans and 60% of graduates unable to work in their field. And the only choice is usury or no credit.
Income inequality in America now ranks between Uganda and the Ivory Coast -- worse than Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia. We have the highest concentration of wealth and income in American history while most of the country is struggling. It has now reached the level of 1929 -- the height of the great depression.
Make no mistake -- change IS coming. Americans will NOT sit idly on their hands while their families go hungry
The economy trumps all other issues, as it is the one thing that will make everything worse if not fixed, and the one thing that we actually have real control over today.
We need dramatic changes, and that is not in the best interest of democrats or republicans.
It is however in the best interest of citizens, taxpayers.
More government solves nothing, while stressing an already damaged economy. Lower taxes benefit everyone, as it puts more money on the street. Lower contribution to SSI is NOT the solution, as it is the one expense we have little control over. We can build less tanks, we cannot throw grandma out into the street.
Responsible, conservative, 30% cut in the size of government, spread out over 10 years. This solves the crisis, while forcing a more efficient government.
An old friend owned a bank and on his desk was a sign:
"Money isn't everything
but it's way ahead
of whatever is in second place."
He had a good sense of humor, if a bit dry.
Washington is just reacting to polls, letters, phonecalls from voters, that often say one thing and do another, or want politicians to painlessly take away the pain. So they might ask politicians to cut government spending, but the moment they suggest where they might cut they get hammered. Cutting means loss of jobs in the public sector that often spills over to the private sector. However, waste is waste. Redundancy is redundancy and thus cleaning up Washington means cutting out jobs. The same for defense cutting. Bringing on soldiers is great, but you are essentially ending their job. Then what?
If some resource-depletion experts are correct, economic recovery will be a fleeting thing over the next 15-25 years, after which time almost all of the world's oil resources will be depleted, and we will also be faced with critical shortages of raw materials such as phosphorus, without which we can not grow high-yield GMO crops. If we have to use our remaining natural gas supply for vehicle fuel it will also be depleted in short order too. Clearly capitalist economic growth that benefits all Americans is not sustainable in the longer-term. We need between 2 and 2.5% GDP growth just to employ all of the young people entering the workforce, and all of the world's easy-to-get-at raw materials (iron ore, bauxite, coal, etc) have long ago been used up. Right now drilling a mile or two underwater in search of our remaining oil reserves is all that we have left.
In 1968 the author of the book "The Population Bomb" forecast a maximum sustainable carrying capacity of 3 to 3.5 billion people, and today we have double that, with another 50% growth already forecast in the next 38 years. At least the US has abundant farmland, if the fish & wildlife restoration types don't steal all of the irrigation water away from farming. It is my belief that what we have been seeing in the equities markets is some sort of last-ditch feeding frenzy among the severely wealth-addicted crowd before the impending final collapse wipes just about all wealth out.
It won't matter how much paper money that you have when there isn't anything to eat left at the store to buy, and/or no fuel left at the gas station either. Right now the smart money is on buying an off-the-beaten-path place and stocking-up on seeds, fertilizer, pesticides, long-term storeable foods, and other precious life-sustaining necessities like guns and bullets. Perhaps a natural gas/propane-powered generator might help run an electric fence. There are several small windmills that would allow one to live off of the grid on windy days too. While there is still gas to power your chain saw cut and stockpile as much wood as possible, perhaps even stockpile coal while it is inexpensive too.
Why do all of this? Because the worst place to get caught will be any large urban area that runs out of food and fuel.
Think that I am loonie? Check out the book "The End of Growth" published by Canadian economist and resource-depletion expert Richard Heinberg just this past Summer. This link is to chapter summaries from the book:
http://www.postcarbon.org/end-of-growth-chapters/
Here are a few more links I think are important, such as the November, 2011 World Energy Outlook report just published by the International Energy Agency:
http://www.iea.org/weo/
A summary of environmental sustainability issues facing humanity from Stockholm University's Stockholm Resilience Center. Links to the full report (33 pages in pdf) and its supplement (22 pages in pdf) are on the right side of the summary page:
http://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/researchnews/tippingtowardstheunknown/thenineplanetaryboundaries.4.1fe8f33123572b59ab80007039.html
The Peak Oil Crisis 2012: Apocalypse Now? Report - December, 2011 http://www.postcarbon.org/article/638272-the-peak-oil-crisis-2012
Soaring Oil and Food Prices Threaten Affordable Food Supply: Dec., 2011 http://www.postcarbon.org/article/619300-soaring-oil-and-food-prices-threaten
Canadian Gas Exports Threaten Energy Security - Report - November, 2011: http://www.postcarbon.org/article/576149-canadian-gas-exports-threaten-energy-security
Will Natural Gas Fuel America in the 21st Century? Report - November, 2011 http://www.postcarbon.org/report/331901-will-natural-gas-fuel-america-in
Searching For a Miracle: Net Energy Limits and the Fate of Industrial Society - Report, November, 2009: http://www.postcarbon.org/report/44377-searching-for-a-miracle
Relevant videos from the Post-Carbon Institute: http://www.postcarbon.org/video/429107-who-killed-economic-growth
2007 Comparison Report by Australian academics at CSIRO in Canberra, comparing the 1972 forecasts made at M.I.T. in their report "The Limits to Growth" to actual reality. http://www.csiro.au/files/files/plje.pdf
The Limits to Growth - 1972, and The Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Limits_to_Growth
Either there are a lot of loonies out there, or.....we have been getting the wool pulled over our eyes in a really big way. The original prediction made in 1972 in the report The Limits to Growth calls for a collapse of much of society around the mid-21st Century, and the updated report makes few changes. Numerous other academics are all calling for the same problem. Frankly, we need to make some substantial changes in order to save as many people as is possible, and without substantial economic growth, we won't have the money necessary to fund those changes. Basically today if we devoted half the defense budget to enacting sustainable reforms, we would still be in a bad position by mid-century. I am afraid that economic recovery as we have previously known it is unsustainable, and any short term economic recovery will only eat through our remaining raw resources more-quickly. But, if we do nothing until the crisis is plainly upon us, it will be too late to save a simple majority of the population.
The choice is up to us: Either we make some very substantial changes, such as moving toward locally-producing consumables and taking steps to reduce then eliminate long-distance trade, plus the ending of capitalism as we have known it, and we take serious steps to reduce world population by reigning-in reproduction, or later on the mass starvation of several billion people is a real possibility.
Our future appears headed toward one of two extremes: Either we end up a socialist society where a minimum standard of living is guaranteed, or we will end up a lot like the Lagos, Nigeria of today, where half the population lives in dirt-floor shacks with no access to running water, sewage, or electricity, while almost the entire other half lives in fear for their jobs, and a very small percentage lives palatial lives behind multiple layers of security.
Given our already predicted population growth to between 425 and 450 million people in the US by 2050, if all that we can manage is 2% GDP growth, by 2050 there will be between 40 and 50 million adults of working age unemployed, and 2/3rds or more of the population will live below the poverty line if the growth in income disparity trend that has existed since 1981 continues at its present rate for another 38 years.
The question is whether we allow the top 2% in income to destroy the lives of the other 98% of us, of do we take steps to prevent that outcome?
Where are you MmmMmmMmmbeer? Do the 46 million have that access to health care?
jane is going to make me open my own acct after this.. but for now....
i dont understand why people keep letting things fly over their heads, mean time we bicker and blame each others party. some people must have read the latest, about how most of congress is part of the 1%?
we are being played, look at the facts. look at who gives who a raise, and who cries about it.. then its off on this guys fault. then its who is spending $$ on what... its that guys fault. look around you, this is exsactly what keeps US, not THEM in check. we have people pointing fingers in so many directions im shocked there havent been reports of man gaining the use of flight without external assistance.
ALL sides of the fence are rakin in the cash, investments galore... and you really think ANY of those guys are going to take a serious cut? they OWN WALL STREET!, lol. The responce to the OWS was was let them b!tch, they'll go home... ya, most of us got sick of them... they were barking at the wrong house. DC, its all right there. Pelosi made out like a freaking ape over the mortage crisis.. look at who made out with all the bailouts? everyone. There is no freaking $$ crisis other than these people cant make enough for themselves. it doesnt matter who you vote in. it doesnt even matter what country you live in. We are collateral damage in a population that will cost effectivly manage itself while they rake it in compliments of us, we the people.
it doesnt matter where you point the finger in congress... they are all crooks, playing hide the cash.. look into who has made what in investments, lobby deals, incentives, you name it, they ALL get it. Just as long as everyone keeps blameing everyone else, like they are now... they know they are secure, and will be living it up as long as we keep giving. So keep the fingers pointing in circles... one day the right article will catch your eye, and blinders will be off.
OldTimer-88224, do look at the film Revenge of the Electric Car. And maybe the 'uninvited guests' are using the 2-2.5% up?
I was in Africa a few years ago, standing in an internationally mixed group of people who were musing about world politics. A French woman said casually, "Well, that's the Americans. Everyone knows they only care about money." Everyone nodded in agreement with no particular rancor or indignation -- just resignation.
So, what were you doing in Africa?
Jerri....and if you had just a little gumption and appreciation for our country, you could have mentioned numerous good things that our country does for the world... But that isnt your purpose, is it??? You are just a hanger-on to all the negative crap without appreciation for all the good....and, of course applaud the french person as we all know that they cannot ever be wrong...How many countries in Africa have been occupied by France?? How many by the US? ......Grow up...
Jerri....by the way, regardless of which African country you were in....I would bet that they are getting our foreign aid...every year....Sorry if that screws up your embarrassment of being an American....
We will have over $20 Trillion in debt within 5 years and with just 3% interest rates we will end up paying over $600 Billion in interest payments per year and getting worse by the minute after that, these are real numbers and NOT made up fantasy numbers. We will NEVER be able to pay back our debt and yet our politicians are having a hard time cutting $100 Billion per year from a budget that is going to be borrowing $1.2 TRILLION this year alone. The people have lost all confidence in this government (Democrats and Republicans). We WILL collapse and it is just matter of time, this is a numbers game and the game is OVER.
If we went back to Eisenhower-era income tax rates until the debt is paid off -- and if we removed the cap from Social Security deductions -- it would go a long way toward solving our economic woes.
And -- tax every stock transaction. Maybe 1/4 of a cent per share traded. The average stockholder wouldn't notice the difference. (If you traded 400 shares it would cost you a dollar.) Those trading thousands of shares a day might notice it, but it probably wouldn't be a major cost even for them.
Oh -- and Prof. Hammer, if Ron Paul gets in, things will happen that I think he is not prepared for.
Smaller government would mean that corporations will fill in the gaps. And if we think the government does it badly, just wait until the corporations take over.
Unless corporate law gets reformed, the sole purpose of a corporation is to make money. Right and wrong don't enter into it. Compassion is a human trait, not a corporate trait. Corporations are about competition, not fairness.
Is that what we really want? Is that how our government ought to run?
Actually we will have about 22 trillion of debt by 2020 which will cost just shy of 1 trillion to service each budget. Right now the avg rate of debt is 2.859 percent. Over the past decade the rate was 4.539 percent. So a trillion of debt at 4.5 is 45 billion of debt for each trillion. No amount of taxing the 1 percent will plug that hole.
Does anybody really think that Obama and the democrats honestly expect or even want to paid down the gross public debt? They aren't even paying lip service to that because they believe rising public debt is acceptable as long as it has a good ratio to GDP. So if the economy goes into a better gear and that ratio falls below 100 percent as it is now, the gross debt would be off their radar. The problem is the servicing will continue. Obama has in his budget forecast by 2014 that servicing to be around 525 billion. If we sunset the Bush tax cuts on the rich that will only generate 80 billion which doesn't come close to servicing the debt that now is 250 billion.
Theboys,
"they believe rising public debt is acceptable as long as it has a good ratio to GDP."
Fu.k the good ratio, that is just bull sh.t. They are brainwashing the people with their "good ratio" cr.p. The GDP includes government spending and once you take out the amount of money government borrows and spends, well, the "good ratio" does NOT look good anymore.
A moderate level of debt is very necessary. Actually, it is essential for the overall health of any economy. When we owe money to someone, they are motivated to do business with us. The problem is that our debt is getting out of control. We can easily cut the spending, but that would not solve our problems. Why? Because we've killed our manufacturing base. We are now a service based economy and those services depend on the consumer spending. If you simply cut the spending by reducing SS payments, safety net programs or people's pensions, you are pushing the economy further into the red. The only way out is JOBS, JOBS and more JOBS. And I don't mean corporate jobs because big corporations have already left the US labor market. We need small to medium sized businesses to get going again. Globalization is a total BS because no one is playing by the rules. Our current relationship with China has to change or we are going down. And when we go down, China is going down with us because we are their main trading partner and they own a lot of our national debt (AKA IOU's).
I'm worried that a republican could actually get in the White House again...
Cathy You should worry about the progressives and Oboz. You have your priorities skewed.
I am worried that Obama thinks the cure of everything is to throw more money at it, money which we increasingly are borrowing from China. Obama needs to be the current definition of one term then out.
Right Cathy: Last time, the surplus Clinton left was squandered away and we were left with a record deficit, two wars and near economic collapse. Hard for them to beat that Bush record but they will give it a go if they get a chance.
AP...thats BS. We had a "surplus" because they didn't include in S.S. and Medicare/Medicad in the budget numbers. How clueless.
Yeah the insanity is limited to one party. Keep drinking the koolaid . We have huge, unprecedented government, private and corporate debt and we are not the only nation as such. Somebody has to get serious and quick. A $166, 2 month tax cut for a $50,000 household isn't going to solve one thing. Plus it is not being contributed to social security. What is being done ? Did you know before Kyle Bass, financier, took 4 months to compose the data, no one had the figures on sovereign debt ? Not even the experts. Who is minding the store ?
If you're going to give Clinton credit, you loons must include Newt in your balanced budget / surplus.
You see, we know that CONGRESS is responsible for the good and the bad. CONGRESS. Got it? CONGRESS.
Um cathy, where have you been for the last three years? A republican president will be awful but not half as bad as a democrat.
Vote for Ron Paul.
The problem lies with the free-market system as it exists right now. The Chicago-school economics goons have not yet learned that their system does not work. Milton Friedman is not cloaked in ermine; the emperor has no clothes.
When you look at the harm those people have caused around the world imposing their ecomomic world view on country after country, you come to one conclusion. It is a disaster. Their version of democracy fits the Republican rhetoric.
"NoChild Left Behind" equals all children who go to public schools losing out. "Pro-Life" means you can threaten abortion clinics, kill doctors, and you have no responsibility to assure any quality of life for the child after he or she is born. "Family values" means you hate gay people, non-Christians, and people who believe in equality of opportunity. It goes on and on.
These free-market extremists shrilly exclaim that they are promoting democracy all the while replacing democratic governments with tyrannical free-market capitalism. They have been instrumental in destroying emerging democracies around the world; and they have left behind conditions like the ones we are beginning to see here -- ever widening gaps between the rich and poor, tearing holes in the social safety net, and a decline of democratic practices and values.
This debt crisis issue is something they will try to take advantage of. Yes, they have friends in high places. Their proponents own enough stocks to cause a stock market downturn -- probably even a collapse. It is real. It could hurt -- badly. But we must do what we can to prevent them from taking over.
With our government, we can always change the people who are making the laws. In a corporatist society, we have no say about the laws or who makes them. I prefer our government!
Obama does believe that throwing money at problems makes then go away. That is essentially what democrats did when they passed the stimulus. They admitted that for them spending was spending and thus stimulus. So how the money was spent, didn't concern them at all as long as the money got spent quickly. I have done a lot of research on the stimulus that had tremendous push from the WH to spend quickly and that is why is was so poorly spent in most cases.
You must be a liberal , you know the ones who arent smart enough to be stupid . Anyone would be better than Obama , the problem is there are still to many stupid , blind people in this country to see what he has done to this country in just 3 years, can you imagine another 4 years of this prez. If hs gets elected again I am moving to Canada.
Morr, we are not currently in a phase of tyrannical free market capitalism, call it what it is, it is Corporatism, there is nothing free market about it. Capitalism is the best known economy driver in the world, always was, always will be, but the evolution of this Capitalism has hurt everyone. If we would go back to free market Capitalism, it would help alot, yet, you want to blame this evolution on Republicans, wrong again. Power and money do not bend to political wills, ask any politician, no matter their ideology, that is what they strive for. Be they left, or be they right, neither can fight the temptation of , first, Power, second, Money................your divisiveness actually shows your lack of knowledge on the political plain. Pick and choose your arguments against the right......................you and the left are no better. There is no time left for the people of this country to pick the lesser of two evils....................it's time to change the priority, compassion, and work ethic of every single American, it's time to dump DC as a whole!
Andy, I think "free market" is another one of those Republican-style catchwords -- sounds good, but covers a multitude of sins. What I understand is that the Friedman claque calls it that.
But you're right. It is corporatism that is hurting everyone. You are also right, to an extent, about power and money.
However, it has become a really tricky business. Any lawmaker who speaks up against the corporatist agenda is taking the very real risk that there will be great resources thrown against his reelection. Nonetheless, there are some people in Congress who are actually standing up to the power brokers.
It is easy to look at Washington and say, "Throw the *******s out!" It is much more demanding to take a good look at our lawmakers, and see which ones are acting in the interest of the American people and which ones are not.
But that is what we need to do. The good ones are REALLY good. (Think Bernie Sanders.) We need them to be examples and mentor the newbies (if we can find people who are in it for the right reasons), who will find themselves in need of leadership and guidance.
better that we have a conservative than the spendaholics that now occupy DC
The economy collapsing IS A TERRORIST ATTACK from within. Get it?
so is the continued crushing for the lower 99% by the republican/teabaggers
Really Jax? The Tea Party has had candidates in Congress for less than 12 months. Your party has had control of congress (ok, had) since 2007. Is the Tea Party that good, or are you lying, and are the Democrats actually the bums we think that they have proven themselves to be, and now need a scapegoat for their failed policies? Yeah, that Nancy Pelosi with her $10,000 a night Christmas vacation suite in Hawaii is such a person of the "people". The "rich liberal people" that is.
Tell us, exactly WHO is crushing the 99% - and by the way, it's not 99%. it's about 20% that completely live off the government, another 25% that are employed by some level of government, and another 40% that are doing fine, working hard and making progress.
You name-calling liberals have nothing left since your candidate has proven to be an utter failure at leading the nation.
JaxGuy!! What world do you live in. You 99% are scum of the earth who want to live off the 1%. Give me everything because I am worthy due to us being born. Most of you are worthless sheep and don't have enough brains to understand how anything works.
Chill, you two, there are as many hypocrites on the right as there are on the left. Ideology will not fix the problem. All though, an extremely conservative, sacrificial approach needs to be taken by ALL Americans to fix our current fiscal woes.
Our citizens will not yet support the actions necessary to address our current financial problems and that is why our politicians won't act. Until most folks actually understand that deep federal spending cuts will be necessary, including restructing Medicare and Medicaid so they are affordable, plus higher taxes on EVERYONE, we will continue to see our economic future deteriorate and the eventual "fix" be more draconian.
True, and well put.
Wal Mart is still open, everyone has cell phones and LCD tv's, and we can still vote ourselves the treasury.
I agree with Peter. Just read an article yesterday that has Congress raising the debt ceiling again next month. We're doomed.
Peter17,
I think we may be past the point of a "fix"; even a draconian one because our "leaders" (and I use the term very loosely) will never quit spending. They have the belief of "How can I be out of money, I still have checks in the check book?"
Like an eating a rich meal, using drugs or alcohol, or having sex, spending money is fun. Under the Keynesian economic model there is no reason to stop spending or repay what you borrowed. Its like getting drunk without the threat of a hangover or having sex without the chance of having to raise a baby for 18+ years; No consequences for your actions so why stop? The career politicians continue to spend because it gets them re-elected, but raising taxes to pay for it on anyone will get them fired, so they just keep on spending. One day, the check will bounce; then what?
This scares the hell out of me because we have raised several generations that believe corn grows in a green giant can. Don't believe it? just how many people do you know that can grow a fruit or vegetable, fix their own car, repair their own roof or even fix a leaky faucet? They have been trained to live off of the government's stipend. What will happen if that stipend isn't there any more? do you think they will just sit on the curb and cry or will they take up arms and torches and become a screaming Athens style mob with a .45 for everyone? My money is on the mob. That won't be pretty. I served with the 3rd Marines in Quang Tri and Thua Thien Provinces of Vietnam; I've looked the 2nd horseman in the eyes before and hoped I wouldn't live long enough to do it again. if we don't get our collective acts together, things could get really ugly in one hell of a hurry.
I would also concur.
Simplson/Bowles would have actually stopped the madness but since Obama didn't like the results it was ignored.
Ryan's plan would have also brought us back to sanity but because it was a republican plan it needed to be demonized and destroyed by the progressive movement.
After what happened to Ryan who in their right mind would bring up something that actually worked! Recovery means pain, politicians don't do pain in an election year.
Just be ready the debt wall is real and we could hit it tomorrow if the bonds don't sell. Think I read somewhere that the treasury is picking up the tab for most of it already. If that is the case you don't need a new round of QE you are doing it to the tune of up to 40 cents on the dollar now. That means that every day up to 40 cents of every dollar we spend is already being fabricated out of thin air. This is how you turn a dollar into toilet paper. If you love your family you need to make sure they know how to survive by growing and raising their own food and how to defend it from those who don't. Those shelves at Wal-Mart and Piggly Wiggly don't fill themselves and no amount of money will fill them if everything collapses.
Um p111, the tea party will face the pain. Get real, get behind the tea party and Ron Paul. Their heads are not in the clouds and their feet are on the ground.
Yes, Peter I agree. The longer Washington takes to address these issues, the more severe the medicine will be which is too bad.
I agree that just cutting won't turn around the economy. However, the government assumes an 8 percent increase in spending each budget. Who does that? So when they say they are cutting, they just mean not assuming 8 percent increase, but instead 5 or 6 percent increase.
One thing is for certain. The OWS crowd will be paying a lot more in taxes throughout their entire lifetime to deal with what politicians won't do now .
Your assessment is so far off and tied to the conservative propaganda that I really don't know where to start.
If we cut our Military budget by 75% we would still have the second largest army in the world. Problem Solved
If we took the cap off of the collections for Social Security it would be solvent for the next fifty years. Problem solved
If we let the tax breaks for the top 10% expire we could fund all of our social programs, all of our wars, and Social Security. Problem Solved
When morality collapses, the greedy rich earns more. When education collapses, the economy collapses. When we add the morality and education together and both are collapsed, then we expect what happens to our nation now.
Hope we all wake up to perceive the reality that the condition is grey.
It will not be the greedy rich that will sink us but the greedy rest of the country, voting in anyone that will promise something for nothing.
You are right p111, the wealthy are leaving and taking it with them. Sink or swim, don't count on them to save our heinies.
The wealthy are mobile and for the most part they will survive. Many if they lost every penny would figure out how to start over and create wealth again. It is too bad the 99 percent hate the rich so much and instead might want to learn their strategies. So I am saying take a page from their book instead of assuming they created wealth in some illegal or immoral route. Equally several states, like CA, have been warned for decades to stop depending so much on the rich to fund services. The rich get their income in various ways unlike most of us. So therefore their incomes have great volatility which greatly hurts state budget forecasting. So if you think the rich will be paying 20 billion and the number that comes in is 10 billion, then what? Who do you tax then to make up for the shortfall?
billie u r right the trouble is that the few last generations have been feed political correctness in public schools and dumbed down so they dont know how to think for themselves. The goverment wants dumb blind people to just say dah and believe everything they are feed. If this last election wasnt a sign of just how dumb people have become in this country we will see how much dumber they have become in the upcoming election , my favorite saying is You cant fix stupid and I believe with the majority of how the younger people voted for Obama in 08 is all the proof we needed that they are the dumbed down generation.
Why is everyone worried?...with the muslim in charge theres no doubt the economy is going to collapse...thats what he was hired to do...then we'll be like Haiti...super rich and super poor...nothing else...revolution now!
Hey ATFMAN this started with Reagan, and was frosted with eight years of Bushy boy.
Will admit though, the two party system is a failure. JMJ
200% import tariffs on all imports from slave labor countries. Our dept will be payed off in no time....
Just five years ago when republicans ran government the unemployment rate was 4.6% and the economy was humming with the exact same trade agreements and taxes, you can't blame this disaster on Reagan.
Import tariffs would collapse our economy. Not only could no one afford to buy anything due to stiff price increases, China would stop buying our debt and we would have to contract government spending by 40%. Printing more money to make up for it would also be a disaster because it would cause hyper inflation.
But Bush isnt president...when someone isnt doing their job, you hire someone who WILL do it, not make it worse.
End the Fed
Down with corporate control. We put the same people who caused this economic disaster in charge of fixing it?! WTF?!?!
Satanick...who would you suggest we put in charge. Last time I looked it was politicians who were making the rules, not coporate america.
Are you sure about that? Most of the politicians in charge of fixing our financial system are former bank execs
Yeah I'm sure, you just answered it with your response. Its the politicians running things.
What is more worrisome is the civil war we are all inciting within the electorate, and then IF we allow ourselves to be so scared that we stop our economy cold in its tracks, the unrest and the fomented hatred of various segments of citizenry would become a debacle.
The inflexible certitude of certain segments; from the super rich and isolated 1% who now control the government and economic agenda, to the fundamentalist religious kooks, the far left and its unsustainable social goals and the beleaguered racial minorities, we are looking at potentially a very explosive pressure cooker. The sad part is the very rich can jet off to safety, and the rest of us would be left to fend for ourselves with our citizenry and economy in shambles, and a likely marshall law that would devolve very quickly into civil unrest. Too scary to even contemplate, but given the hatred some of those on this board have to various groups and people, it's not out of the question.
If the rich really ran this economy do you honestly think this is what they would come up with? Get real.
p111 - this is the best they can do after they skim everything left to skim
With an inept President and his cronies, a crooked, corrupt and self caring congress along with a greedy Wall Street and Banking system no worries!
I fear that the politicians will never fairly tax the millionaires because they are. And I fear that the thieves on Wall Street will never be punished by the theives in the capital, wthey are too closely related. Thus, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The Conservatives say that you should work for the a decent living, yet they won't use their money to hire anyone, unless your an illigal alien and willing to cut their lawn for 10 cents an acre.
Edmund, you were doing well until you got to the Conservative part.
I am one and I pay a fair wage for hired work. I would even pay a liberal to cut my grass if I could find one that was willing to work.
According to the IRS, those with at least $1 million of income in 2009 while submitting just 0.17% of all federal income tax forms paid 20% of all the tax revenue at an average tax rate of 25%. That is 3 times the average tax rate paid by those in the middle class. Those with incomes over $100,000 paid 75% of all federal income tax. It seems that it might be those in the middle class who are not paying their "fair share" of taxes.
Bill from Oregon, this is my second round of unemployment. I have a bachelor's and an associate's degree, and I am a liberal. That said, I would very happily cut your grass, shovel your snow, clean your bathrooms, etc. until I find a job. I have mowed my neighbors' yards many times, shoveled driveways, and watched my neighbor's cats while they were on vacation, all for cash to be used for groceries, utility bills, etc. Why do you think liberals don't want to work?
Quinn, I didn't say liberals weren't willing to work, I just said I couldn't find one. Make your own conclusion from this, although you already did.
Edmund...what is the % you think the rich should be taxed? Bet you won't answer
Bill from Oregon, you didn't leave a whole lot of room for interpretation. Maybe you should be more specific in the future when you talk about any particular group of people.
I'm worried about Europe ladies and gentlemen because everything in as far as American growth is concerned Europe is now standing in the way. Also I have more confidence in our government to do something to stop the debt problem within the next six months because guess what??!!! "They Have To!!" Again nobody want the triggers of losing 500 billion in defense spending cuts and 750 billion in deficit cuts (including medicare and medicaid and social programs including in education) to start being chopped up. Watch either the Republicans are going to make a huge deal with this President or risk the anger of there supporters. Sometimes its good to be optimistic and not pessimistic.
The problem is they DON'T have to allow the cuts, they can just write a new bill negating the old one.
The Tea Party is the ONLY group that is actually talking about meaningful solutions so of course they must be demonized and destroyed at all costs in order for business to continue as usual.
Are you for real?
The Tea party is a visionless group of low-information voters enraged that their 30 year experiment supporting 'trickle-down' economics actually robbed them and all of the rest of us blind. They drank the 'tea' and The only thing that has 'trickled-down' is the dregs of an economy bargained away by both parties, but especially the so-called conservatives who have found convenient and incorrect scapegoats for the economic collapse of 08 by blaming everyone they traditionally don't like, but now have added in everyone who was a victim of the collapse and have suffered.
You are wholly delusional if you think the tea party is our answer. We need competent governance that knows a huge part of the deficit is erased from an economic revival, and not slashing and burning the infrastructure nor ignoring the plight of those among us most vulnerable...and this IS NOT the 1% or the so-called 'job creators'. More like the job offshorers.
The upcoming election has stoked a lot of people in the middle who find the tea party kook fest far more damaging than anything we've experienced in decades, and the rigid arrogance of their ideological beliefs disturbing. Mixed with the moral certitude of the far right religious groups who also populate their ranks and their horniness to control the lives of others under an American theocracy, they've blown out their welcome and none too soon.
Jeffrey..ya know what even more scarey??? People like you that think Europe is the problem. Guess what, we're in worst shape than Europe but we won't admit it. If ANY one makes a deal with this President, America will fall.
JP..are you for real. We need "competent" government..hahahaha. When do you think we'll get that??? As for your views on the TP...you're just puking out the same ole crap that all liberals spew because you want the government to take care of you.
Real Life Man-
Anyone left of Attila the Hun is liberal to you and your kind.
We once had competent governance when the uber-rich and corporate interests weren't needed to fund ever-more-expensive campaigns, and when many people actually lived with a decent balance of business, worker and community interests.
Decent and hardworking people could run for office and didn't need to court the warped interests of sociopaths or those who only want gains at the expense of everyone else. There wasn't this class warfare stoked by those demonize hard working people for having the sole deficit of working in fields that don't pay decent wages or have some unfortunate circumstance like physical or mental deficiencies.
And we also did have an almost universal common respect for hard work and competence no matter what field or vocation. No more. Ive seen this coming for a long time; the mocking of hard working people who are not 'masters of the universe' types and the cheering-on of people and monied interests who have developed business models that are built on the very concept of taking advantage of others.
Sorry, but the tea party types blind allegiance to so-called success and capitalism-at-all-costs reeks of ideological rigidity funded by those who are far from 'grass roots', along with a lack of accountability for bankrupting our society by their distaste for proper regulation has almost destroyed this country.
A guy I work with , yes I finally got a job after 2 and a half years , no thanks to the present dudes in office , but back at my old job, said America needs to bend over and kiss their a... goodbye , is he right America ?
JP...thanks for making my argument. You talk the talk but in reality...you just talk crap.
There is no reason to be worried about economic collapse. Such gossip is only meant to scare America into believing what political candidates want them to believe in so they will vote for them.
If the economy collapses so what....I know that I can go outside in the spring and plant tomatoes, corn, squash. etc. and still remain alive. I know that I can pick up a book and read from as well as many other activities to keep me occupied after such a collapse.
There will never be an economic collapse again like was seen during the Great Depression and those who say otherwise are using brainwashing tactics to get people to vote for them.
Even if Big Oil went under tomorrow the economy of America would not collapse because not everything runs off of oil based products. Such products would be replaced by the Volt and other non-gasoline consuming engines.
Tell that to the Greeks. The EU has us to bail them out, there is no one to bail us out.
As mentioned earlier, any real fix would require pain and this is an election year.
It's nice you can grow your tomatoes, etc., I have property also. The problem is the millions who live in the cities. As in the EU, that is where the collapse will happen and that's where society will fall apart. There is existance proof in both the NY blackout and Katrina.
dwight you better wake-up and see the light...
Yeah that light at the end of the tunnel is a big locomotive.
Folks, the current system that is in place is designed to cause our economy to collapse with the idea being that the money changers can buy up intrinsic assets at pennies on the dollar just like what’s happening in Europe. They are being told to sell off their country to the people that have caused this mess to begin with. We are a debtor economy get it? Everything is derived from debt. All the other financial games played like the stock market cutting social security, etc.., are superfluous. We have been financially in the hole from start to finish. With the end result already choreographed.
“Money” is derived from debt. The U.S requests Federal Reserve notes (debt) from the Federal Reserve (which is neither federal nor a reserve) by giving paper Treasury Bonds (debt) to the Federal Reserve in exchange. As a result, a concept is agreed upon, debt for debt, not anything tangible is agreed upon. Monopoly money is then authorized (created but not minted, that is done by Federal mints) by a consortium of mostly European banksters with the Rothschild’s at its head is also created out of thin air. Tack on Interest to that debt now owed to a foreign entity and you have a perfect storm for taking over and controlling economies and nations. The pool of debt money (exchange of Treasury Bonds for Federal Reserve notes) put in the system is now always there and can be replenished by borrowing more (exchanging more bonds for more notes) but the interest added to the debt is never put into the system and therefore can never be paid back. If there were no debts owed in our money system (money put in to the system and then paid back) there wouldn’t be any “money”, but because there is interest attached we will always have a negative balance by always having to borrow to pay the interest that is attached to every dollar borrowed. The interest is exponential and we can never break even again with the Federal Reserve and will always be in debt to them. “Money” isn’t designed to represent the value of the goods and services in any economy, it is merely used as an exchange for the goods and services, and it is designed to put you into debt. The concept of interest owed and attached to loans will always exceed the money in circulation. So the big pool of money owed is bigger than the pool we as laborers actually have to draw on to pay our bills. It’s like musical chairs we are always competing for the small pool of money and there have to be winners and losers in this system. That’s why inflation is a constant and new money is always needed to cover the interest. Interest (usury) is the bullet in the Federal Reserve’s weapon of mass destruction. Without a country controlling and managing their own currency they are then relegated to economic slavery.
I think most people have figured out that Wall Street is one of the most corrupt and ethically deprived institutions on our planet. I think most people also know the media is bought and sold just like most politicians. We also know that Wall Street is one of many tools of the elite but not the main tool. What is very clear is that our financial system has an architect and carefully designed plan that is playing itself out in Europe.
The dominoes are beginning to fall in what is an orchestrated attempt by the banksters (Federal Reserve and its subsidiaries) to consolidate Europe and eventually the rest of the world’s economies under one umbrella that is to be controlled by those that have always controlled currency and money. The most egregious aspect of this contrived extortion is that they are blaming the people who are the backbone of any economy instead of their greedy corrupt political and business leaders.
Folks, you are witnessing the death throes of a corrupt financial system where the stock markets and the fractional reserve banking system are at its core. In the United States, It doesn’t matter who’s in office. Our political system has turned into a two headed one party system with both parties serving their masters, Wall Street and the banksters/Federal Reserve. The stock market is just another ponzi scheme whose intent is to fleece the gullible at the bottom of the pyramid. The stock market is a rogue element of a financial system that is meant to funnel the wealth to the elite/banksters who soicopathically control our financial lives. The stock market isn’t the main problem; it’s the fractional reserve banking system that has set the foundation for outright theft. We are experiencing the biggest bank and investment robbery in history and the banks and financial institutions are doing the robbing. When you blame one political party or another they have you right where they want you, in fear, divided and distracted to the theft that is going on right in front of your eyes each and every second of the day.
When you have people on Wall Street day trading and speculating making half a million dollars a year in their twenties betting on people being foreclosed on, you need to ask yourself what is the true purpose of our banking system?. MF Global CEO, ex Goldman Sachs CEO Jim Corzine knows this and knows that nobody with his connections have served any time for stealing the investor’s money (1.2 billion at last count). The financial system’s main mission should be to allocate capital to areas of greatest growth in the real world economy. Yet they allow all kinds of broker speculation and financial gimmicks such as the derivative markets which are based on non-realistic side bets which are now in the quadrillions. The derivatives market was illegal for most of the 20th century.
The European banking crisis is a prime example of what is going to happen to all economies associated with stock market fraud and the Federal Reserve banking system. The financial strife in Greece is the model that will befall most countries. Greece is but a symptom of a cancer that has attached itself to the world’s economies. The Federal Reserve (which is neither federal nor a reserve) has been creating money (monopoly money) out of thin air and charging interest on it insuring a debtor economy for anyone who chooses or is forced to get involved with the Federal Reserve and their fractional reserve banking system. That is why this whole European or any countries current debt crisis will never be resolved and will be preyed upon by the stock market vultures. The Federal Reserve System is designed to cause economies to fail.
If someone loans you two dollars to run your economy and expects three back for the loan and interest how are you going to pay the third back? You can’t unless you borrow more dollars which puts you in perpetual debt and in a constant borrowing cycle to pay off the debt. This is designed not accidental.
Here’s the kicker, once the Federal Reserve/banksters have you struggling to pay off your interest, they send in their loan sharks the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF will loan you money to cover your ever burdening interest payments but they attach a provision that if you default, you will have to give them your assets in what they call privatization (foreclosure).
Since the interest is exponential, you will default and the banksters will come in and try to foreclose on your country, like Greece. They are being told to sell off their own country to pay back the people who caused the mess to begin with. This allows the elite to steal your intrinsic valuable assets because they gave you paper (loans/debt) and the interest on the debt that is systematically impossible to pay back. This also allows the parasitic stock speculators to profit from this designed theft. They not only know the outcome of an economy, they can gamble on the economic bubbl
Get help.
You're right Mark. We need help from our corrupt banking system and Federal Reserve.
excellent post except that most haven't figured it out yet and will not until it is at their front door. What you have said here is true and on point and I thank you for trying to educate your fellow citizens.
Nah. I worry about four more years of Obama. Nothing could be as frightening.
I can think of at least 5 things more frightening....
Why, Hit_Girl?
@Hit_Gurl -- Unfortunately for Obama, no manner of spin will help. His performance is there in plain sight, for everybody to see, which is why I said four more years of Obama is frightening.
You thought I was slamming the Democrats evidently, since you attacked Republicans...
NO. I am attacking the performance, not the party. If Obama had been a Republican, it would not have mattered. His performance would still have to be judged as dismal.
Hit_Gurl
Or at least 10 - listed below:
Hit Gurl + 9 and all the others that think like her and also spell like "hur."
Unfortunately it isn't limited to 10.
hit gurl must have voted for this poser of a preisdent , all I got to say is the jokes over bring out the real president and never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
I really don't see how people who own the banks, the politicians, and the corporations can relish the collapse of the middle class. If the middle class goes under, who will have money to put in their banks, or buy their products or politicians?
How will the rich stay rich? I mean, how many times can powerful rich people knock on Bill Gates' or Warren Buffet's door for a cup of money before they get the dogs (us) set on them?
"I really don't see how people who own the banks, the politicians, and the corporations can relish the collapse of the middle class. If the middle class goes under, who will have money to put in their banks, or buy their products or politicians?"
Guess what, you answered your own question! It is totally nonsensical to believe either banks, politicians, or corporations want this.
I've known many CEO's on a first name basis, they all want to be the next Steve Jobs. They love it when products fly off the shelves, they can build new buildings, and hire new people. They don't like it one bit when they have to lay off people and close buildings due to lack of sales.
If your beliefs don't make sense, the universe has't gone insane, you belief system is wrong! Change your belief system!
Abosolutely, P111.
It's amazing how people can make these insane leaps from ideas that are nonsense to even more insane thinking. And in the next breath say no one else understands the truth or read your history or study the constitution as if they have any idea what they are talking about.
The future of the US middle-class is of little consequence to the banksters and industrialist crowd when the greatest consumer nation on Earth is soon to be China. Remember back when the strong nations of Europe and even the US colonized less-advanced civilizations all over the world and cannibalized their raw resources while walking all over their populations? Does it surprise you to find out that we are exporting millions of tons of our own coal reserves annually to China today, or that our #1 export is agricultural products, just like an African colony of 100 years ago? Frankly the banksters, Chicago School economists, and our wealthy industrialists are out to get filthy rich turning China into the newest and greatest last bastion of unrestricted capitalism, and they could care less about what happens to America and its 98% majority because of it.
The question is whether we let them continue with their plan to destroy America in search of the greatest possible profit that man has ever known, or do we at least try to take back that which belongs to all of us?
Old Timer - Let us take it back. I'll see you on the streets at the Republican Convention and at the Democrat Convention.
It worked in 1968, it could work again/
What worries me most is the possibility of zombies.
No, not the flesh-eating undead, the mindless GOP-supporters, now sheep-hearding behind that load-his-momma-should-have-swallowed Newt.
And I would say the same about leftist lemmings.
Gingrich is the only speaker to have balanced the budget and actually shrunk government. All those "Clinton successes" with the economy were with Gingrich as speaker of the house.
Wrong moron. The budget was balanced because of the tax increases passed by Bush and Clinton before Gingrich ever became speaker. And the decrease of the federal government as a percentage of GDP was underway for several years before that little turd took power.
Indigo...you sound like a left wing zombie of a loser with that post.
Rage, if you believe in ANY political party or politician you already ARE a zombie. They ARE crooks .......... thieves ........ and liars (the extra space between the words are a courtesy as zombies are notoriously slow on the uptake) to the very last man and woman BOTH sides of the aisle. If you think any one party or politician has our best interests at heart then you need to go out for a steaming cup of fresh brains as yours has obviously stopped functioning.
Oh I'm neither particularly left, nor disillusioned enough to think anyone goes into politics for anything except the payroll and the entitlements.
Personally I think political jobs should pay minimum wage. After all, what does the president really need with $400,000/yr and a $50,000 expense budget. He's got pretty much everything he needs while in office.
Likewise, $174,000/yr for rank-and-file congress members, $193,400 for party leaders, and $223,500 for the Speaker are likewise out of proportion.
And this is only the printed-on-paper, can-be-tracked-back-to-me pay. The countless dollars in essentially bribes payed by lobbiests and the kick-backs from corporate cronies, and these bandits are making out like bandits.
Indigo you must be the mindless brain dead zombie if you voted for Obama , just how stupid can a person be , your are probably not smart enough even to be considered stupid. GOP aka Get Obama Packing.
For what it's worth, I threw my support behind Barr. But I can't expect GOP'ers to even acknowledge there are more than just the illusion of two parties in the elections.
For all the talk, at the end of the day, the GOP and the DNC are offering up the same thing: another self-interested, self-serving politician.
I'm sure it's difficult to understand if you are from the north or the west but if you are from the south, it's crystal clear. This character that has brainwashed you who occupies the White House is a con, liar, cheat, and a thief. Us true southerners will never support him. We have watched and learned and already know the result. Better keep your doors locked, your money in your safe, and expect a knife in your back.
Get psychiatric help now.
Ah yes, the ever level-headed South. Can't think of anything for which the south has been responsible that would give me pause to lend you credibility now. Yes, whenever I think of the cradle of social and economical prosperity, I think of the South....
@Hit_Gurl -- Well, I agree with the first two words of your second sentence.
That being the case, here is some evidently much needed help:
If it wasn't for a Southerner, much of today's technology that we take for granted would not exist. The LASER was invented by Townes, who is from South Carolina, and is ubiquitous in computers, DVD players, medical devices, ...actually pretty much everywhere in technology...