- Joined
- Sep 28, 2002
- Messages
- 39,799
Originally Posted By: Lyondellic
I think the issue goes well beyond oil. Our government (both parties) have been acting like a college kid with his first credit card. At least the college kid's parents will most likely intervene before things get really out of hand.
In a similar manner, our nation has reached a point where we now look to nations like China to bail us out. The problem is that our government continues to spend money faster than it can borrow or print even more. Much like a credit card, eventually we are going to "max out" our debt and hit our nation's proverbial credit limit. I feel that the only reason that nations are lending us money now is to prop up our economy. If our economy collapses, the rest of the world will be significantly impacted as well. Somehow this seems way too similar to Enron's failure. Watch what happens when our nation is no longer the largest consumer of imported goods, which is bound to happen eventually. It will no longer be necessary for other nations to prop up our economy, because the failure of our economy will have a smaller impact in the global sense. That is when I feel that our creditor nations will "foreclose" when we default on debt payments. Perhaps we will become the Colonial States of China?
In the short term, I see proposals like raising the benefit age for Social Security to 72-75 being looked at very closely. The government uses the Social Security system like a piggy bank. Every dollar that is paid into the Social Security system is nothing more than an interest free loan to our government. The government borrows money from the Social Security system, but when it becomes too costly to repay these monies they raise the age at which benefits are paid out. More people will die before they become eligible to collect Social Security benefits, hence the problem is solved....for everyone except those of us who have paid into the Social Security system for years and stand to gain nothing when we retire.
Where am I going with all of this; I have a strong feeling that our nation is headed for even harder times than folks saw during the Great Depression. The stock market is in decline, banks are failing, unemployment figures are at record levels and energy costs are causing a ripple effect of massive inflation. Maybe it's time to read Revelations again???
Tell me something I don't know
I don't think it will unfold as it appears from the surface view (although these views are hardly on the surface - yet). We're not just the USA. We've been a global industrial cartel of aligned nations. All of these fall under, or our strategic partners in, our global defense umbrella. We basically swap and share burdens as they are brought to bear upon the various elements within the club. Those outside of the club are assessed as being assets of, or threats to, the collective.
When we're broke and our currency worth nothing, the holders of our debt will have no choice but to invest in America to get their money's worth out of us. Instead of loaning us money or buying up our debt (same thing), they'll be buying and building companies to employ our people so that we can make our payments. Now in the case of Japan, that was easy. Just a blip on our falling from grace. Now China? That will cut deep before we make the socio-economic transitions to reach that differential point in "like worth". We gave Japan a boost up to mature economic stature. They now have big bills, unemployment, and all the other ailments of a successful para-western society. Billions would gladly trade places with them. Now advancing China to this status ..where they too are bloated and "worth too much to employ" .......
..that will be a miracle for the rest of the world to bear.
I think the issue goes well beyond oil. Our government (both parties) have been acting like a college kid with his first credit card. At least the college kid's parents will most likely intervene before things get really out of hand.
In a similar manner, our nation has reached a point where we now look to nations like China to bail us out. The problem is that our government continues to spend money faster than it can borrow or print even more. Much like a credit card, eventually we are going to "max out" our debt and hit our nation's proverbial credit limit. I feel that the only reason that nations are lending us money now is to prop up our economy. If our economy collapses, the rest of the world will be significantly impacted as well. Somehow this seems way too similar to Enron's failure. Watch what happens when our nation is no longer the largest consumer of imported goods, which is bound to happen eventually. It will no longer be necessary for other nations to prop up our economy, because the failure of our economy will have a smaller impact in the global sense. That is when I feel that our creditor nations will "foreclose" when we default on debt payments. Perhaps we will become the Colonial States of China?
In the short term, I see proposals like raising the benefit age for Social Security to 72-75 being looked at very closely. The government uses the Social Security system like a piggy bank. Every dollar that is paid into the Social Security system is nothing more than an interest free loan to our government. The government borrows money from the Social Security system, but when it becomes too costly to repay these monies they raise the age at which benefits are paid out. More people will die before they become eligible to collect Social Security benefits, hence the problem is solved....for everyone except those of us who have paid into the Social Security system for years and stand to gain nothing when we retire.
Where am I going with all of this; I have a strong feeling that our nation is headed for even harder times than folks saw during the Great Depression. The stock market is in decline, banks are failing, unemployment figures are at record levels and energy costs are causing a ripple effect of massive inflation. Maybe it's time to read Revelations again???
Tell me something I don't know
I don't think it will unfold as it appears from the surface view (although these views are hardly on the surface - yet). We're not just the USA. We've been a global industrial cartel of aligned nations. All of these fall under, or our strategic partners in, our global defense umbrella. We basically swap and share burdens as they are brought to bear upon the various elements within the club. Those outside of the club are assessed as being assets of, or threats to, the collective.
When we're broke and our currency worth nothing, the holders of our debt will have no choice but to invest in America to get their money's worth out of us. Instead of loaning us money or buying up our debt (same thing), they'll be buying and building companies to employ our people so that we can make our payments. Now in the case of Japan, that was easy. Just a blip on our falling from grace. Now China? That will cut deep before we make the socio-economic transitions to reach that differential point in "like worth". We gave Japan a boost up to mature economic stature. They now have big bills, unemployment, and all the other ailments of a successful para-western society. Billions would gladly trade places with them. Now advancing China to this status ..where they too are bloated and "worth too much to employ" .......
