There is no quick fix. However, printing money that we don't have and borrowing until our AAA rating goes down the tubes is most certainly not the answer.LaMont Cranston wrote:Coito, I think that many of us recognize that the US economy is fucked. Many of the indicators, including high unemployment and the housing situation, point to the obvious conclusion that much more serious shit is likely to hit the fan. I wish I had more faith in either the Democrats or the Republicans to actually remedy the situation, but it appears to me that what they are mostly involved in is finger pointing at each other. Would you agree that there is no quick fix to this situation, and politicians who are in denial only make the problem worse?
If we go to 25% unemployment there will riots and fires. No, I don't think communities are prepared, or adequately preparing.LaMont Cranston wrote: What I'm more interested in, and I think it is absolutely relevant to this thread, is what you and others think it is going to look like when it really hits the fan. Without getting overly personal, do you have a strategy for you and your family? Do communities around the country have any kinds of plans in place to deal with something like a 25% unemployment rate and long lines of hungry people?
I hope we stop spending, tighten the government belt, and encourage American business and even more than business "industry." In order for the US, ultimately, to come around again, we need to build things here, and have manufacturing here. That's one of the reasons I wish we took the trillion dollars flushed down the toilet and split in 1/2 - half to the aerospace industry to get us off this rock, back to the moon and to mars in a 30 year project, and the other half to energy for a Manhatten Project to find and develop real alternatives to oil, particularly fusion technology. Instead, we spent it on converter boxes for HDTV, increased access to broadband internet, turtle crossings on highways, and congressional boondoggles.LaMont Cranston wrote:
History seems to indicate that severe economic problems can lead to reforms in the society (i.e. The New Deal), but they also often lead to repression, greater involvement of the military and, ultimately, to war. So, what do you think is going to happen?
If we do not have industry, this country will fail. Once it's gone, it's almost impossible to get it back.
