Do you think there could be a second Great Depression?

[B. F. Socaspi]

I hiiiighly doubt there's going to be a mystical rise in frugality.

Recessions and depressions are key components of capitalist economies and occur every ten years or so. As the booms grow, so will the depression. The problem is we had large booms without the necessary recessions, thanks to the work of the new breed of "thrifty" economists.

But those same economists won't let us know that. We'll be eating rats for food...rats that you can buy 20 of with your Visa and get the next 1 free.

Why will we continue to do so? It's called Cultural Hegemony, a theory put forth by a Mr. Gramsci that explains much of the oddities of modern day life. In layman's terms, we'll continue on the same way until the ruling class changes ITS culture, because it is engraved into our very beings from a young age. It controls everything from complex social relations down to the way you behave and even think.

So unless the depression hits hard enough to really sock it to the rich (it won't -- the suffering economy is actually profitable), we will probably not see major shifts in the way people think. Of course, some people will inevitably be more frugal..but that has more to do with the trendy green movement! (Chuckle, chuckle. Bad joke.)

 

[Foofoogal]

However, I've had panic disorder since the 8th grade, and it manifests itself academically in an inability to complete menial tasks like homework. As such, my grades are horrid.

My counselors don't think I'll graduate high school, and they doubt even a community college would take me.

I thought you were still in high school and your counselor stated something about you not amounting to anything. I could of sworn.
If I was a zillionaire I would give you a scholarship. Sorry I am not but life will make a way for you I am sure.

 

[B. F. Socaspi]

I thought you were still in high school and your counselor stated something about you not amounting to anything. I could of sworn.
If I was a zillionaire I would give you a scholarship. Sorry I am not but life will make a way for you I am sure.

Oh she did and I am. We had a meeting with her, my Mom, an administrator and the gifted counselor. Her opening line was "...So, I've given up on you". Interesting way to start a two hour affair.

Danke for the kind words though.

 

[Miss 1929]

Oh she did and I am. We had a meeting with her, my Mom, an administrator and the gifted counselor. Her opening line was "...So, I've given up on you". Interesting way to start a two hour affair.

Danke for the kind words though.

Any school counselor that would say that to a student should be horsewhipped, and then their job should be given to someone who cares.

We haven't given up on you!

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Recessions and depressions are key components of capitalist economies and occur every ten years or so.

We do not have depressions every ten years.

 

[carter]

WE DO!

We do not have depressions every ten years.

Speak for yourself.

I blame globalization for the depression.

I blame my EX for the depression.

 

[B. F. Socaspi]

We do not have depressions every ten years.

You are correct. It's usually a recession. I said depressions and recessions with intent.

Not to sound cocky, but if you've taken an economics course or read a book on it, you'd have learned that. If not, suggesting otherwise without a marginal amount of research is silly. Look for yourself, it's pretty exact: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recessions

 

[PrettySquareGal]

You are correct. It's usually a recession. I said depressions and recessions with intent.

Not to sound cocky, but it's pretty common knowledge if you've taken an economics course or read a book on it. Look for yourself, it's pretty exact: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recessions

No danger of coming across as cocky when you link to wikipedia or mention Econ 101.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Speak for yourself.


I blame my EX for the depression.

hehehe

 

[B. F. Socaspi]

No danger of coming across as cocky when you link to wikipedia or mention Econ 101.

Fair enough, though in my defense I had figured a chart was easier to understand than archaic wordings.

And for the economics, I haven't even taken a 101 course, so you're a lot more than right there. I know it's covered only because one of my friends is a sociology nut, and he lends me texts and discusses his classes with me.

 

[Foofoogal]

and the gifted counselor.

fftopic:
Our son was in the gifted program. Truly not knowing your circumstances I cannot judge but I do know it is difficult to understand truly gifted people as they are a bit different. Though of course all human beings have some gift from the creator. Singing, baking, painting, writing. Everyone has something. Period. I refuse to believe they do not.
A teacher can make a world of difference. They have very difficult jobs and as far as I am concerned should be making top dollar in life.
Our son had a teacher and we had a meeting somewhat like yours. She basically said in one breath that she also did not know what to do with him but with him she said he could basically do anything he wanted to do in life. (huh?) What were we doing there then?
The next year he had a teacher that worked wonders that he loved and he shined.
Just like different personalities just flat do not get along it is not so different with teachers but they should be given respect just for the office or role they have. Please don't give up on all teachers or yourself. Please also do your best to get thru this. One day this will all be a memory like other stuff in life.
I like reading your stuff. Keep posting as you have a fan club it seems at FL. lol

 

[PrettySquareGal]

http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/11/news/economy/flow_of_funds/index.htm

"Consumers are going through a major change in their spending and savings habits," said Lyle Gramley, a former Fed Governor. "Throughout the housing bubble, consumers had a savings rate of zero, relying on the rising price of their homes. Now they're saving money for the future instead of spending it."

 

[PrettySquareGal]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/12/11/drought.problem/index.html

"I can remember my dad just watching the sky so closely," Heeney says. "A sprinkle would excite him so much."

That's how Heeney, now 83, describes growing up on an Oklahoma farm during the Dust Bowl storms in the 1930s. For much of that decade, "black blizzards" -- formed by a prolonged drought and poor farming techniques -- ravaged much of the nation.

Now a new generation of Americans is again anxiously looking to the sky. Drought has returned to the United States, and some warn that more tough days are ahead.

 

[Mrs. Merl]

I am beginning to think it might be at least a little bad. A house in our town actually dropped to below $200,000! Though that is good news for me as long as my husband and I can keep working and saving!

 

[Mrs. Merl]

Droughts may happen and things could be pretty bad (I know I lived through the Haymen fires here.) But due to circumstances I highly doubt without complete disaster we would see anything as astronomical as the Dust Bowl. Thankfully, I believe we learned an awful lot about soil management and erosion control from that episode in history.

I do agree though that wide spread drought could exacerbate a poor economic situation.

 

[bigshoe]

I don't understand the idiots who say the U.S. has a savings rate of zero. They must not have an IRA or a 401k or a keough plan. Of course the wonder boy graduates of Harvard business school have managed to erase much of those savings by falling for a scheme that would shame a player of three card monte (three shells and a pea etc).
In 1913 the "default swap" scheme was outlawed by the feds as being a gambling operation and not investment. In a midnight vote in 2000 congress at the urging of Greenspan and others passed it as a means to rebuild the banks and investment houses after the dot com bubble. We will survive and someday perhaps prosper as long as some one can pound common sense into the heads of our "leaders". I think before any one gets an MBA they should spend six months selling on the streets or a flea market and learn some real capitalism.
Tom

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Google and YouTube -Peter Schiff- for the answer. He has called this thing correctly at every turn. We had our opportunity to head this thing off in the last election but truth and facts are a bitter pill the "Dr." prescribed and the "patient" is too sick to think clearly and act rationally.

So, depression it is, along with inflation, devalued currency and increasing intervention, including the spectre of martial law. This one ain't gonna be a "Golden Era" for anybody folks!

-dixon cannon

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Google and YouTube -Peter Schiff- for the answer. He has called this thing correctly at every turn. We had our opportunity to head this thing off in the last election but truth and facts are a bitter pill the "Dr." prescribed and the "patient" is too sick to think clearly and act rationally.

So, depression it is, along with inflation, devalued currency and increasing intervention, including the spectre of martial law. This one ain't gonna be a "Golden Era" for anybody folks!

-dixon cannon

Dixon I am a HUGE fan of Peter Schiff!

 

[Foofoogal]

In 1913 the "default swap" scheme was outlawed by the feds as being a gambling operation and not investment.

:eusa_doh: :eusa_doh: we need a whistling icon on that one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Schiff

 

[HungaryTom]

Yes I do - it is already beginning

And I also think that a chains of wars also might happen like it happened a decade after 1929 in order to curb on the economy afterwards. There are far too many people who lust for first world living standards or just simply want to improve their living standards and much less resources available to saisfy it. The ecological footprint of the human race (7+ billion people) goes far beyond the capacity of renewable biosphere so we are even diminishing the resources of our own life.

I have not seen any major plan for a post-industrial revolution targeting 80-90% energy savings on all gimmicks we use -yes one can read all the time that water engines and all kind of miracles exist but evil-evil oil concerns keep their plans locked up until...hey, to get a technical sketch into serial production and to global application like cell phones, DVD etc. takes at least a half decade - time which might not be left. Engineers still fibble with 2 types of fossil engines being invented 100+ yrs ago - see Formula-1, fusion energy can not be created in a controlled way, photovoltaics aren't used extensively enough to provide at least secure lighting for cities in California, Australia which energy producing fields could be easily protected by a few National Guards - instead the best males of the generation are wasted in endless and mindless foreign wars to get some energy safety -form among people and regions who hate the West the most -lets face the truth.

The 'West' is standing weak there - the USA loosing its status of unrivalled superpower gained in 1989 -thus NATO loosing the capacity of taking control everywhere on the planet (IRQ and Afghanistan are already exhausting far too much reserves). The EU is also weak and seemingly can not act united despite it has also the letter 'U' in the name - depending already heavily on natural gas and targets to get even more gas (more dependance) from natural rivals or far-off places where chaos and wars are the norm...

The issue of getting pure and clean drinking water not only from the more or less polluted surface waters but from saltwater where the most of H2O resides is also not solved. This is needed to avert wars because of water or simply just to have the raw material for the new engines if those will run on water.

There are no ideas/strategies accepted and applied on a global scale how to resolve the vanishing of soil and arable land. How to avert deforestation and how protect species loss - issues that happen and nobody really cares about globally apart from a few NGOs.

You hear only just the talk about what is going on with the money and the car industry and real estate market and the real economy -none of those are tailored in a sustainable way- the curves and calculations predicting ill future if nothing changes are known to all since the issuance of the Report of the Club of Rome in the early 1970s.

There is an option that somewhere in the world local great powers with/without nukes-don't write countries intentionally- begin to wage wars on neighbors knowing that there is not much real chance of retaliation.