What plans, aren't we just going to disappear from existence anyway?

>>9550

I'll be right here on this thread that day, so I can see your reaction when nothing happened.

>>9554
I heard the bankers and various financial guys on Wall Street are making their own plans to keep the system above water just in case Washington doesn't do anything.

>>9556

I foresee this having only positive consequences

Fine then.

I'll just have to invest in European and Japanese companies.

Oh wait. That's what my family HAS been doing for ten years.

>>9556
right, because it's not like they only care about themselves or anything like that... nah..

They're all withdrawing their money to buy gold bullion, it's the most logical thing to do in a scenario in which money might become worthless.

Oh Haruhi its only 5 and a half hours away. I'm gonna miss you guys

I'm not sure what is even gonna happen. If USD crashes hard, I guess I'll import truckloads of shit from American Amazon.

Buy lots of cheap anime figures from American sites with my euros.

>>9577
5 and a half hours?
they had a exact time prediction?

whats happening in five hours?

>>9581
money becomes worthless, and people start rioting and fighting over water and food.
bombs start going off, people start freaking out on each other and the world goes madmax/fallout
in exactly five hours.

Post edited on 31st Jul 2011, 5:54pm

Are you people buying anything besides figs? C'mon, I need ideas quick, all that money isn't going to spend itself. I can download most books and I don't really care about anything else, so I'm at a loss.

Well apparently Congress and the White House finally reached an agreement to raise the debt limit and cut federal spending, so I guess we're fine for now...?

>>9586
Yes, go back to bed America.

>>9586
sounds like they're just trying to stall for time and put off the inevitable.

all the same, I need to find a good place to buy gold and silver from.
People do sell bullion on ebay, but crap is probably just copper or lead coated to look like the real thing.

If the cash I've got turns worthless before I manage to liquidate it all, then I guess I'd have to try selling some of my stuff online to people in other countries.

>>9588
Buy land. (or silver, I guess)

Gold is a poor investment right now.

>>9554
Here I am. What's your reaction?

Now they are saying "it" happens in 11 and a half hours. I'm not sure what "it" is exactly...

>>9601
The time limit for the raising of the debt ceiling expires at midnight, August 2nd. The compromise plan is in Congress right now though, and it's expected to pass.

It it doesn't pass: Continue to live in denial about life.
If it passes: Continue to live in denial about life.

I was just watching the news. Everyone is getting their panties in a twist about it. Liberals are complaining that the new plan cuts too much public spending and conservatives are complaining it doesn't cut enough. No matter who's right, at best this is a short-term fix that doesn't answer the long-term problems inherent in our economic system, which, at this point, can be academically described as shitastic.

>>9610
The only time a compromise is made in Washington is when both sides agree to leave pissed off at what they agreed on.

>>9588
>buy gold and silver

Can someone explain this to me?
I don't get why people think if shit hits the fan and all hell breaks loose that a hunk of metal will mean anything. If we has some sort of Roman Empire level collapse the only things of value will be food,drugs(medicine),and guns.

>>9612
They also agree when something will give them loads of bribe money

>>9614
>I don't get why people think if shit hits the fan and all hell breaks loose that a hunk of metal will mean anything.

Because that's not a very realistic situation. AT THE MOMENT more than half of the people in the world are close to starvation with natural disasters going on everywhere, but does the richer people care? So what if a few hundred million more from the western world joined in, it wouldn't make much of a difference.

>>9614
Gold and silver have been used for bartering and currency for thousands of years.
and will continue as such long after the usd becomes worthless.
food water and wepons might be the the most importent thing for people, but you still need a way to get the stuff, and it's not like it's going to all just pop up on the streets for anyone to take as they wish.
sooner or latter people would have to get goods from other people, trad x item for x amount of food, problem is, not everyone has a use for xjunk, what good would a radio or a figure be to the person with the food you want?
that's when currency comes into play, because with that, they can get something they do want with it, without having to get stuck with some peace of junk no one might want.
good/silver and other metals that are hard to replicate make for good currency.
sure, there's a chance a new type of currency might emerge from other materials, but that's unlikely.
but as silly and unlikely as it might be, you're more then welcome to start collecting bottlecaps.

>>9622
>AT THE MOMENT more than half of the people in the world are close to starvation with natural disasters going on everywhere

This sounds like a bit of a stretch. Things are undoubtedly bad and the gap between rich and poor worldwide has been widened by the globalization of labor among other things. Yet I don't think we're at the point where most people are starving yet. That wouldn't be in the interest of the rich, either. They need a lower class to survive so they can be around to buy shitty, inferior goods produced by their companies and also to work the low-paying jobs that crank out said inferior goods. A slave is no good if he's dead.

  >>9624
They may be close to starving but life in a third world country can still be sort of pleasant.

>>9610
Short term solutions are more politically profitable than long term solutions. If they actually went for the root cause of the problems, politicians would be out of a job.

>>9624
they don't sell to the lower class, they sell to the middle class. They don't pay the lower class enough, so they can't buy the product they create.

>>9662
indeed, the reason why they (the high class) keep the low class around is so they can make the shit (in sweatshops) that gets sold to the middle class (you and everyone you know)

>>9662
Decades ago, this was the case. But now they sell inferior goods to the lower class. You know, the really cheap ones imported from China and south-southeast Asia that flood the United States now. In turn this means that there are fewer manufacturing jobs here, and the ones that exist pay less than they used to. This also opens the way for even more Wal-marts and other huge discount stores that replace middle-income with low-income jobs. When the president and our congressmen talk about creating jobs, notice they don't talk about the quality of the jobs they're creating: they're relying on large corporations like this to bridge the gap, and it's going to mean a severe and permanent decrease in our standard of living.

When economists talk about the American middle class disappearing, this is what they mean. We still like to think we're a mostly middle class nation, and nobody wants to think of themselves as working class. But the truth is different.

Post edited on 6th Aug 2011, 1:30am

>>9691
Yes, but the lower class here is the middle class globally. You can't really define lower/middle/upper class if you exclude the lowest link in the trade, which is china and 3rd world nations.

>>9693
If you're just looking at incomes then yeah, the American working class should be considered middle class by comparison. But I meant the working class by American standards. No family in America can survive on the wages a poor family in rural China scrapes by on.

http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/03/illegal-aliens-leaving-u-s-returning-to-mexico-for-better-life/

At least the mexicans have plans.

>>9714
Oh wow. I wonder how long until people in Mexico complain about all the illegal American border-hoppers who take their jerbs.

>>9715
what's funny is they will be the same people who said america should just leave illegal immigrants alone

cool market numbers

>>9714

The article mentions that over 300,000 have left California since 2008. That was three years ago, where they weren't making anywhere near as big a deal (of all this) as they are now.

Looking at it from this perspective, is this really "that" big of a deal? Is the government blowing things out of proportion again or do illegal immigrants truly have that much foresight?

>>9727
I really don't know. Hopefully it's like others have said and it won't be a "big deal" for several decades, since I don't plan on living that long.

Funny thing about the value of a nation's currency.
As more people lose faith in it, it becomes more worthless.
it's like a snowball rolling down a hill, it'll only get bigger and faster as it goes until it smashes into something.

As people lose faith in the usd, they'll start withdrawing their money to buy tangible goods that would better hold their value (such as gold), people will also look to invest in other currencies and convert their money to other currencies (I've got a few hundred usd in jpy atm just to be safe) As more people do this, the more the value of the currency drops, and the more it drops, the more people will do stuff listed before.
At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised it the usd was worth half what it is now in one years time.

enjoy your $50 fast food value meals, 99cent stores being converted to $9.99 stores and anything else you can think of with a added digit to the price tag.

Post edited on 8th Aug 2011, 4:14pm

>>9728

Though it's not really my place to say... I believe all life should be cherished. That includes yours.

That said, even if the economy were to crash, it's not the end of the world. We'll just have to change our plans around a bit.

>>9729

Perhaps the media is blowing this up in order to make Obama look like a hero further down the road, when things start to "miraculously" improve. Suppose he could use it since he catches a lot of heat because of his skin color.

>>9731
The numbers don't lie, and the value of the USD has been steadily dropping for some time now.

>>9731
>Suppose he could use it since he catches a lot of heat because of his skin color.

He also catches a lot of heat for, you know, being awful. Talk down to china about internet censorship while pushing for an internet kill switch for the US, what a guy

>>9734

To be fair, the last president wasn't the best either. Plus, I'm sure people don't just ignore that his skin color is different compared to every other president thus far. Yes... people are that simple.

>>9735
I'm not saying his skin color isn't a reason some people don't like him, but to say that's the only reason someone wouldn't like him is just plain wrong

>>9733
It's not that bad for the economy. A cheap USD is good for exporting but obviously anything you will import will cost you that much more (eg. oil).

This is why the EU was trying to devaluate the Euro, because it would benefit the German exports, and why China artificially maintains a low Yuan (their whole economy is based on exports and national consumption).

As for Obama, I really think he lost his ability to charm and lead people. He's not someone who will seem determinate to accomplish something, he doesn't have vision but he will go to great extents to conciliate people from the left and the right, putting his partisans and non-partisans in a place they don't want to be. People need a leader that tell them stories but Obama fails to do that, he's not credible. He may seem like a good guy, which he probably is, but people are quick to forget that he had accomplished nothing before being Senator. And the Nobel Peace Prize? He's such a nice guy, obviously!