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I don't think it happens until the next major recession. Even if you aren't personally benefiting from the equity bull market there's too much easy credit and r

by tempsy 7y ago

I don't think it happens until the next major recession. Even if you aren't personally benefiting from the equity bull market there's too much easy credit and rates are too low. As soon as that goes and the people at the bottom are really screwed then we see something akin to Occupy Wall Street at 100x the scale. In general I do think easy access to consumer credit is the difference between the US and everywhere else. It numbs over systemic issues and provides the illusion that things are better than they really are. AFAIK credit is much harder to come by in other countries, which is why seemingly small things like an increase in gas prices, transit fares, or a small tax blow up in other countries when it wouldn't have the same effect here.

Infinitesimus 7y ago
My bet was on the next recession being a trigger of significant societal change (or vice versa like a big political upset ) ... but I don't know anymore. I look around and sure, a few people are talking about recession concerns but most people don't seem to care. Credit is cheap of course you'll finance that house at 3.5% or buy the new 40k car at 2%. Spend spend spend is how we keep things afloat in hopes that when the music stops, _we_ aren't the ones left holding the bag. I agree that easy credit has this awesome ability to mask over deep societal problems. We spend enough to not worry that we've built a lot of things on sand that may not hold up in a bad storm and it's so strange sometimes to watch. I'm hoping we can avoid another 2008 or something worse but the current system seems unsustainable longterm. Something has to give for as long as we expect more money in the future