Friday, September 19, 2008
Great Depression II
In the 20s and 30s W.W.I was simple the World War. Maybe we'll start referring to 1929-1932 as G.D.I because it was simply the first of it's kind.
I don't want to be a doomsday nutcase, but I am deeply scared about the world we live in. I'm not scared of life ending - I'm scared about catastrophic economic collapse. Something that can shake the world more than a 10.0 earthquake, a worldwide wipe out of retirement savings, financial institutions, and debt/credit.
Grandpa Bouchard, my mom's dad, was nearly vibrating a few months back because he was so excited about the massive collapses he predicted would be coming in the near future. He was never specific, but he felt like many banks would fail and we might just see times not-so-different than those during the Great Depression. He was envious that I was young enough to experience it, learn from it, and make it out on the other side someday. I guess it is possible that much of what is remaining of his retirement savings could get wiped out. I certainly hope not because if that turns out to be the case then the Average Joe will be in a much worse predicament.
I was reading a few articles and they didn't scare me - but that's because I already scared myself by wildly speculating what could happen.
So many of the banks out there are interconnected such that the rapid failing of a few could bring down the whole lot of them. The Fed pretty much had to bailout AIG a few days ago. If they didn't I think things could have quickly become exponentially worse.
It's no wonder my favorite commodity (silver) has spiked (along with gold, oil, etc) - these things are considered "safe" thus many are buying them up because they don't know exactly what stock will lose them their life savings next. At least gold and silver have a REAL value to fall back on...
I don't want to be a doomsday nutcase, but I am deeply scared about the world we live in. I'm not scared of life ending - I'm scared about catastrophic economic collapse. Something that can shake the world more than a 10.0 earthquake, a worldwide wipe out of retirement savings, financial institutions, and debt/credit.
Grandpa Bouchard, my mom's dad, was nearly vibrating a few months back because he was so excited about the massive collapses he predicted would be coming in the near future. He was never specific, but he felt like many banks would fail and we might just see times not-so-different than those during the Great Depression. He was envious that I was young enough to experience it, learn from it, and make it out on the other side someday. I guess it is possible that much of what is remaining of his retirement savings could get wiped out. I certainly hope not because if that turns out to be the case then the Average Joe will be in a much worse predicament.
I was reading a few articles and they didn't scare me - but that's because I already scared myself by wildly speculating what could happen.
So many of the banks out there are interconnected such that the rapid failing of a few could bring down the whole lot of them. The Fed pretty much had to bailout AIG a few days ago. If they didn't I think things could have quickly become exponentially worse.
It's no wonder my favorite commodity (silver) has spiked (along with gold, oil, etc) - these things are considered "safe" thus many are buying them up because they don't know exactly what stock will lose them their life savings next. At least gold and silver have a REAL value to fall back on...
Labels: doomsday, economy, money, recession, retirement, silver, stock market
¶ 11:30 AM
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My dad grew up having had rationed goods, and playing with tin foil balls and rubber band balls because that's all they had.
So, I've said for a while that sometime during my lifetime or my kid's lifetimes, we can say goodbye to our Audi TTs, our Starbucks Frappadappacinos, our favorite CD (or now iTunes) collection, and all those sorts of things.
We could very well see a time where people survive, rather than prosper.
I'm wondering when my whitewashed zoning board realizes, hey, it's ok to have an apartment above your garage, because grandma has to live there... or sister in law has to live there, because they just can't cut it somewhere else. (Most zoning boards don't allow two 'residences' on one property).
I've also posited that, during my or my kids lifetime, that already-taxed Roth IRA will be taxed again, on withdrawal. Just as the bailout of AIG was the lesser of two evils (hello, Socialism anyone?), taxing trillions of dollars of already-taxed retirement accounts will be accepted by the American public. The next Nobama or Senator Bribem will arrive on the scene and and ask us to 'change' and 'be patriotic; pay taxes'.
So, I've said for a while that sometime during my lifetime or my kid's lifetimes, we can say goodbye to our Audi TTs, our Starbucks Frappadappacinos, our favorite CD (or now iTunes) collection, and all those sorts of things.
We could very well see a time where people survive, rather than prosper.
I'm wondering when my whitewashed zoning board realizes, hey, it's ok to have an apartment above your garage, because grandma has to live there... or sister in law has to live there, because they just can't cut it somewhere else. (Most zoning boards don't allow two 'residences' on one property).
I've also posited that, during my or my kids lifetime, that already-taxed Roth IRA will be taxed again, on withdrawal. Just as the bailout of AIG was the lesser of two evils (hello, Socialism anyone?), taxing trillions of dollars of already-taxed retirement accounts will be accepted by the American public. The next Nobama or Senator Bribem will arrive on the scene and and ask us to 'change' and 'be patriotic; pay taxes'.
# posted by 
: September 19, 2008 8:33 PM
: September 19, 2008 8:33 PM
See, nobody cares. They're all still watching their HDTVs and drinking their mocha java double lattes. (Ok, so are you). Maybe, just maybe, they've switched over to driving a Prius, because that's the "in" thing to do. It makes for good water-cooler talk.
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# posted by : September 23, 2008 6:54 AM
: September 23, 2008 6:54 AM
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