21–30 of 60 posts
I've seen maybe half a dozen articles that say "everyone agrees that this might be the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression" (so presumably there are far, far more than that, because I don't spend a lot of time reading that sort of article). I haven't yet seen one that acknowledges the possibility that it might be worse than the Great Depression. That seems to me to be obviously wrong. If what we're in…
No comment on whether the future is bleak or not. But extending beyond economics, also consider the US political commentary of the past year and a half. It was, not to put too fine a point on it, shit . Take the conventional wisdom for any day of your choice four weeks before the election to a year before the election, then come back to it two months later. Uniformly, the boldly-made predictions and much-blabbered co…
Great post. One thing I found interesting about this piece was the blatant revisionism on display in the second paragraph of the article: "less than two years ago, conventional wisdom dictated that the housing bubble would be painful but that global economic growth would remain stable." Forgive me, Mr. Writer, but my recollection is that less than two years ago, few people in the mainstream were acknowledging that a…
The next bubble will likely be the green one. It's large, necessary, and completely possible to go overboard regardless of what you'll hear every pundit saying for the next 10 years.
I've seen maybe half a dozen articles that say "everyone agrees that this might be the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression" (so presumably there are far, far more than that, because I don't spend a lot of time reading that sort of article). I haven't yet seen one that acknowledges the possibility that it might be worse than the Great Depression. That seems to me to be obviously wrong. If what we're in…
there is a very strong historical parallel - the french revolution. no matter what interpretation of this event you find in literature, they will all point to excess debt as one of the key, if not the key motivation for the revolution. weimar germany is another scenario where excess currency abuse literally did in the nation, and incidentally ushered in nazism.
there is no way the US can now get out of debt or even hope to slow down deficits. the rate of growth of the debt is astounding. one must wonder where the death bond lies...that dollar of debt that we issue that is rejected by all buyers and signals the end of the US. once the US dollar is rejected by all buyers, the US govt immediately ceases to exist by definition. police, army, firefighters...none of their paychecks have value anymore, so none of them will report for work.
how much is too much? our debt is around twelve trillion now, my guess is that at around twenty five trillion, its game over. we will reach that point by 2018 at the latest. the US is gone by 2020 at the latest. if any political structure survives, it will be helmed by an american stalin who will gorge on the nation and utterly obliterate it.
it will take the world one hundred years to reconstruct after the obliteration of the USD-backed fiat-debt financial system. pax romana was nothing more than a promise and a hope...once it went away the west lost centuries. the USD is no more than the pax romana of our era...a idea backed only by faith, not values
I've seen maybe half a dozen articles that say "everyone agrees that this might be the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression" (so presumably there are far, far more than that, because I don't spend a lot of time reading that sort of article). I haven't yet seen one that acknowledges the possibility that it might be worse than the Great Depression. That seems to me to be obviously wrong. If what we're in…
i believe not only will this be worse than the depression for the US, it will indeed do in the US entirely. a nation's most important piece of paper is not its constitution (you can burn and rewrite one of those anytime you want one), it is its currency . you can only burn your currency once. there is a very strong historical parallel - the french revolution. no matter what interpretation of this event you find in li…
(Of course, if anything like the same thing happens to the US as happened to Germany then that would be very, very, very bad. I just think you're exaggerating.)
No comment on whether the future is bleak or not. But extending beyond economics, also consider the US political commentary of the past year and a half. It was, not to put too fine a point on it, shit . Take the conventional wisdom for any day of your choice four weeks before the election to a year before the election, then come back to it two months later. Uniformly, the boldly-made predictions and much-blabbered co…
Do you realize that by suggesting to "keep your savings up" you are predicting stable purchasing power of US dollar? It's entirely possible for someone to play it safe, stick to cash savings and then get burned if/when dollar is devalued by 75% simialr to Argentina 2001, Russia 1998 or Iceland 2008.
(Which is not to say some reasonable preparation for emergencies is a bad idea. I'm just saying that once you're proposing massive inflation, it's not like having a huge stash of gold in your basement is going to save you, or there's anything else you can hoard that can't be taken from you by force by a rampaging mob.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you realize that by suggesting to "keep your savings up" you are predicting stable purchasing power of US dollar? It's entirely possible for someone to play it safe, stick to cash savings and then get burned if/when dollar is devalued by 75% simialr to Argentina 2001, Russia 1998 or Iceland 2008.
If massive inflation occurs, you're pretty much screwed no matter what. It is not currently possible to live fully, truly off the grid in the manner in which anybody posting to Hacker News is accustomed. Planning for events that you can do nothing about is a waste of time; the fact that that is unfortunate changes nothing. (Which is not to say some reasonable preparation for emergencies is a bad idea. I'm just saying…
Citation needed. According to FerFAL, who actually lived through the 2001 Argentinian peso devaluation, a large stash of gold will save you because there won't be a rampaging mob robbing everyone, especially not if you own a gun.
Ten kilos of gold should be enough to get you anywhere on the planet; after all, it should be worth 300,000 current dollars or so. The only scenario where that would be useless is a nuclear holocaust.
No comment on whether the future is bleak or not. But extending beyond economics, also consider the US political commentary of the past year and a half. It was, not to put too fine a point on it, shit . Take the conventional wisdom for any day of your choice four weeks before the election to a year before the election, then come back to it two months later. Uniformly, the boldly-made predictions and much-blabbered co…
Great post. One thing I found interesting about this piece was the blatant revisionism on display in the second paragraph of the article: "less than two years ago, conventional wisdom dictated that the housing bubble would be painful but that global economic growth would remain stable." Forgive me, Mr. Writer, but my recollection is that less than two years ago, few people in the mainstream were acknowledging that a…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you realize that by suggesting to "keep your savings up" you are predicting stable purchasing power of US dollar? It's entirely possible for someone to play it safe, stick to cash savings and then get burned if/when dollar is devalued by 75% simialr to Argentina 2001, Russia 1998 or Iceland 2008.
If massive inflation occurs, you're pretty much screwed no matter what. It is not currently possible to live fully, truly off the grid in the manner in which anybody posting to Hacker News is accustomed. Planning for events that you can do nothing about is a waste of time; the fact that that is unfortunate changes nothing. (Which is not to say some reasonable preparation for emergencies is a bad idea. I'm just saying…
This is the second thread I have seen where gold was mentioned, and the second time I have seen a vitriolic response about gold.
Gold will always be valuable and it will always be part of a sane person's plan for dealing with a "things are going to crap" scenario. Along with some form of food storage to deal with logistic interrruptions and some form of personal defense (mace, pepper spray, knives, guns, etc.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you realize that by suggesting to "keep your savings up" you are predicting stable purchasing power of US dollar? It's entirely possible for someone to play it safe, stick to cash savings and then get burned if/when dollar is devalued by 75% simialr to Argentina 2001, Russia 1998 or Iceland 2008.
If massive inflation occurs, you're pretty much screwed no matter what. It is not currently possible to live fully, truly off the grid in the manner in which anybody posting to Hacker News is accustomed. Planning for events that you can do nothing about is a waste of time; the fact that that is unfortunate changes nothing. (Which is not to say some reasonable preparation for emergencies is a bad idea. I'm just saying…
No comment on whether the future is bleak or not. But extending beyond economics, also consider the US political commentary of the past year and a half. It was, not to put too fine a point on it, shit . Take the conventional wisdom for any day of your choice four weeks before the election to a year before the election, then come back to it two months later. Uniformly, the boldly-made predictions and much-blabbered co…
The gloom and doom shouldn't depress you unless you derive all your happiness from wealth. Believe it or not, there were happy people living through the Great Deppression, both rich and poor prior.