Britain is bust-apparently banned video explains why

[Trinity]

http://pro.moneyweek.com/myk-eob/LMYKP529/

Time to start turning the lawn into a veg patch, I guess.

Link fixed - KR

[Rum]

I think everyone's pretty well bust. The economies of the world for the most part depend on credit to work properly. That credit is based on the belief that the future will involve the continual expansion and growth of economies. In effect they borrow from the future. There isn't much confidence that economies will grow at the moment so there nothing much to borrow and paying back what we have already borrowed is getting harder and harder.

This is not in my view bad this necessarily. It is hopefully setting the scene for more sustainable economies and industries that don't depend on every more expansion and rapaciousness.

[cronus]

Setting the scene for the coming Malthusian die-off. Abandon hope of a sustainable future Rum, it ain't gonna happen. The survivors of the crash will be sufficient in number to rip up the remaining trees and coal will be by far the most popular option. The second stage of human virus infection will kill mother nature and all that sails in her. The greenies? the future is Martian red.

[Rum]

I can't even be bothered.

[mistermack]

It's not that the world is bust. It's just that we've got used to living beyond our means. ( AGAIN !! )

The mega-rich are so much richer now, that when the bubble is looking thin, they stop lending to shaky borrowers, and put the money elsewhere. That hits world financial activity in a big way, and they can do it in a super-short timespan.

So everybody else sees the writing on the wall, stops the frivolous part of their spending, and down goes the economy still further. What really needs to happen, is for everybody to take a pay cut. They call it quantitative easing these days. It used to be called devaluation.

I call it facing the truth. We've been inflating our living standards by borrowing from the mega-rich. And lying to ourselves, by hiding the borrowing in an inflated housing market.
Some day, you have to pay it back.

[cronus]

Yes, some variation on that anyway. Don't see the mega rich lending anything to me.

[Thinking Aloud]

A counter argument to their video: http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/20 ... 98044.html

[PsychoSerenity]

OP video is just scaremongering propaganda, blaming the problems on welfare.

From the video - "the hardest hit will be savers and investors" - well bloody good! It's precisely the sort of speculative profiteering that likes of moneyweek promote that cause this sort of problem in the first place.

And get to the end of the video: Subscribe to moneyweek and we'll tell you what to do to stay rich when the government wants to give your money to the poor!

[Trinity]

I was interested in the information but not intimidated by the prognostications. I was disappointed that the film didn't show all the other drains on our economy (such as tax evasion) but I did value learning (as a layman) more about the economic situation and some of the complicated strategies and decision making that governments and investors have employed.

[Warren Dew]

From the video - "the hardest hit will be savers and investors" - well bloody good! It's precisely the sort of speculative profiteering that likes of moneyweek promote that cause this sort of problem in the first place.

Indeed. Everyone should spend their paycheck the day they get it, with nary a thought for the future.

[Azathoth]

I lasted about a minute into it before it was painfully obvious it was just an advert for their magazine

[Warren Dew]

I lasted about a minute into it before it was painfully obvious it was just an advert for their magazine

Unlike most such advertisements, it actually does provide information later on.

[MrJonno]

For decades people were promoting the only way to make money was via 'capital' ie their houses instead of actually doing some work. This worked out so well

[Trinity]

Whilst watching the vid, regardless of any ulterior motives/propaganda touting intended by the makers, I did feel anger towards those who ultimately make life changing decisions "for the people" but quite clearly make them to win votes (stating the obvious I know) so my frustration is that this system exists and is perpetuated. That and the whole concept of money which frankly bakes my noodle; I mean most of it is virtual- moving around computer systems as numbers on a screen. Maybe one day there will be a realisation that the world would work better without money but I believe that will never be considered- where there's money there's power.

[orpheus]

Whilst watching the vid, regardless of any ulterior motives/propaganda touting intended by the makers, I did feel anger towards those who ultimately make life changing decisions "for the people" but quite clearly make them to win votes (stating the obvious I know) so my frustration is that this system exists and is perpetuated. That and the whole concept of money which frankly bakes my noodle; I mean most of it is virtual- moving around computer systems as numbers on a screen. Maybe one day there will be a realisation that the world would work better without money but I believe that will never be considered- where there's money there's power.

The fiction of Neal Stephenson is apropos here. (Not to mention great fun to read.) Especially Cryptonomicon and parts of Quicksilver and The System of the World.