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We have collapsed. It's called denial.

by gills 17y ago

gaius 17y ago
I must have missed the bread queue at the bakery this morning... Seriously. There are still people alive who remember the Great Depression. Go find one and ask what it was like. We're not even close to that.
- kls 17y ago
  fortunately, the tech sector was shaken out with the dot com bust and did not fully recover. I have friends in construction who are not that far from the bread line. Now that is slipper slope hyperbole, but the fact remains that they are not doing well at all. Currently, if you are not in tech or medical it is not a great outlook for your prosperity. The problem is that we have traded debt (future labor and products) for currently assets as if it where a current asset (and we convinced the rest of the world to do so too). The problem is that you can continue to sell the future (debt) until someone looses faith in that return then the whole thing comes crashing down. I really think we should go back to a hard asset economy as it is less susceptible to crashes in valuation and is far harder to manipulate. The problem is when only current assets are valued. Prosperity tends to shrink and amass in the hands of a few. It really is a catch 22.
- euroclydon 17y ago
  The only reason there weren't bread lines is because the government dictated that there not be (by printing money). Soviet governments tried to dictate things too. The only difference between them and us, is that we can get away with it now because we are still coasting off our past credibility, but that won't last forever.
- e40 17y ago
  There's always a queue at Acme bread.
- kingkongrevenge 17y ago
  > I must have missed the bread queue at the bakery this morning It's a digital queue now: One in nine americans on food stamps: http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE55270Y20090603 http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE55270Y200... The depression created certain visuals that have no parallel today, but the experiences of ordinary people might not be so different. The depression was not bad at all if you still had your job, which over 3/4ths of people did. (Government favored wage supports over full employment.) Only a minority of people really suffered. The depression was an era of luxury supercars and massive new estates. Large numbers of business elite made fortunes or still had great wealth from the 20s. Today may look much more like 1930 than you realize.
- pbhjpbhj 17y ago
  Give it a few years until China starts sending round the bailiffs ...

We have collapsed. It's called denial.

by gills 17y ago

We have collapsed. It's called denial.

gaius 17y ago

I must have missed the bread queue at the bakery this morning... Seriously. There are still people alive who remember the Great Depression. Go find one and ask what it was like. We're not even close to that.

kls 17y ago
fortunately, the tech sector was shaken out with the dot com bust and did not fully recover. I have friends in construction who are not that far from the bread line. Now that is slipper slope hyperbole, but the fact remains that they are not doing well at all. Currently, if you are not in tech or medical it is not a great outlook for your prosperity. The problem is that we have traded debt (future labor and products) for currently assets as if it where a current asset (and we convinced the rest of the world to do so too). The problem is that you can continue to sell the future (debt) until someone looses faith in that return then the whole thing comes crashing down. I really think we should go back to a hard asset economy as it is less susceptible to crashes in valuation and is far harder to manipulate. The problem is when only current assets are valued. Prosperity tends to shrink and amass in the hands of a few. It really is a catch 22.
euroclydon 17y ago
The only reason there weren't bread lines is because the government dictated that there not be (by printing money). Soviet governments tried to dictate things too. The only difference between them and us, is that we can get away with it now because we are still coasting off our past credibility, but that won't last forever.
e40 17y ago
There's always a queue at Acme bread.
kingkongrevenge 17y ago
> I must have missed the bread queue at the bakery this morning It's a digital queue now: One in nine americans on food stamps: http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE55270Y20090603 http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE55270Y200... The depression created certain visuals that have no parallel today, but the experiences of ordinary people might not be so different. The depression was not bad at all if you still had your job, which over 3/4ths of people did. (Government favored wage supports over full employment.) Only a minority of people really suffered. The depression was an era of luxury supercars and massive new estates. Large numbers of business elite made fortunes or still had great wealth from the 20s. Today may look much more like 1930 than you realize.
pbhjpbhj 17y ago
Give it a few years until China starts sending round the bailiffs ...