Does anyone else get the feeling . . .

[Pistolenschutze]

. . . that the government is purposely not telling us just how precarious the economy really is right now? Yes, I know, that is a "duh" question in a way; the government never tells the stupid sheeple the truth, but here I mean something a bit deeper. I get the distinct feeling that this country, and many other countries abroad, are teetering on the brink of a complete economic collapse, one perhaps even worse than that of the 1930s. This nation just committed to trillions (that's a 1 with 12 zeros, a thousand billions) of dollars in new spending. Has anyone asked where that money is supposed to come from? The "money tree" in the White House Rose Garden, perhaps? Money is only a symbol of value, not value in and of itself. It has to to represent something tangible--goods and services--or ultimately it is just so much wastepaper. A wise man once said that if one has dug himself into a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging! Hold on to your hats, boys and girls, the ride is going to get very rough indeed.

[Gewehrwolf]

To be quite honest, I don't think they know how bad it is themselves. We seem to be in a state of flux with the goverment just making it up as they go along. How else could they explain the constant shifting of plans everyday with no focus on one direction or path. It's like a game to keep everyone guessing all the time.

The longer they can keep the "Sheeple" dumbed down with American Idol, Dacing with the stars, Super Bowl etc............the longer they can play out the rope till there's enough to hang everyone.

[ponycar17]

Pistol, I don't get that feeling at all. I think the constant drone of the word 'crisis' from the mouth of our President, even at the urging of others to tone it down, is not done to help us bring ourselves out of a collapse but to further aid in a collapse. Like I've said here, our GDP (<- primary economic recession indicator) will continue to spiral until consumer confidence returns, and like it or not, consumer confidence has very little to do with the actual state of things but much more on the perceived economic state. We've been talked into a recession over the course of about 2 years. If we're told to stop spending, then we cause a recession.

I believe the world's leaders have realized that its much easier to operate in a global economy when banks are centralized and they have the ultimate transparency. The inequity of income between countries presents a problem when trying to merge our global financial markets as some such as Gordon Brown would have us work toward. We've seen through NAFTA and Asian trade agreements that economies of other countries can be built up through injecting their markets with jobs but that hasn't worked fast enough to equalize countries' standards of living. I fear that what we're currently seeing is a concerted effort to bring us down to a level more on par with other countries such that a combined world financial system would be easier to implement. And if we have a one-world financial system, so goes that there will be a world government in the future...

[oldogy]

No argument and nothing to add.
oldogy

[Popgunner]

I remember while I was a missionary in South America in the erly 1980's. The rich people all knew the government was devalueing their money (the Uruguayan peso) & so they converted everything they could to US dollars. In one day their peso dropped to 1/3 it's value the day before. The rich got richer & the poor regular folks were so busy working trying to make ends meet they just plodded on without much complaining. They still made the same wages but goods became more expensive. This has happened often in that area of the world. Seems like the rich just trying to get richer.
The situation we're in now is different though. It does seem that those in power may be just trying to knock the legs out from under the USA & other world stabilizing countries. The perfect storm may have arrived.

[delta13soultaker]

Originally Posted by Pistolenschutze

. . . that the government is purposely not telling us just how precarious the economy really is right now?

Let's ask this....

...that the government is purposely telling us just how precarious the economy almost is right now so they can use fear to rapidly push their liberal agendas through the house/senate that otherwise would never get funding?

If the economy was truly precarious, the republicans would not have wasted so much time making a 100% stand until the end...if it was such catastrophe upon us, they would've just voted yes and went back to work.

[icm856]

Originally Posted by Pistolenschutze

. . . that the government is purposely not telling us just how precarious the economy really is right now? Yes, I know, that is a "duh" question in a way; the government never tells the stupid sheeple the truth, but here I mean something a bit deeper. I get the distinct feeling that this country, and many other countries abroad, are teetering on the brink of a complete economic collapse, one perhaps even worse than that of the 1930s. This nation just committed to trillions (that's a 1 with 12 zeros, a thousand billions) of dollars in new spending. Has anyone asked where that money is supposed to come from? The "money tree" in the White House Rose Garden, perhaps? Money is only a symbol of value, not value in and of itself. It has to to represent something tangible--goods and services--or ultimately it is just so much wastepaper. A wise man once said that if one has dug himself into a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging! Hold on to your hats, boys and girls, the ride is going to get very rough indeed.

You are defiantly not alone. I agree with everything you said.

[Lori Mick]

I think they kept us in the dark back in the fall about the 500 billion theft of the World banks....if they hadn't caught it and stopped it would have crippled us by 2pm.

So going back in time, that first tarp was most likely to subsidize the near monetary explosion.

The recept pork bill is just a pork bill. It might stimulate the economy about 25%...but it's short term. The jobs they boast they are going to create is bogus.
They need to let the capitalists take over again....and insight some positive injections with tax breaks for capital gains and payroll taxes.

This government control feels like a master plan to pull out the rug from us so they can take over....seems to me the Mighty O wants to be just like Lincoln and have that civil/racial war! Remember that horrible website the other day? His followers want to kill us! They might be kids but they're dangerous.

Unless it can be stopped! It HAS to be stopped!

People are becoming more aware....and that is a GOOD thing!

tea party time!

[GunHugger]

Originally Posted by delta13soultaker

Let's ask this....

...that the government is purposely telling us just how precarious the economy almost is right now so they can use fear to rapidly push their liberal agendas through the house/senate that otherwise would never get funding?

If the economy was truly precarious, the republicans would not have wasted so much time making a 100% stand until the end...if it was such catastrophe upon us, they would've just voted yes and went back to work.

I agree, and will add that is all about socialism. Our new name is the USSA.

[SaddleSarge]

Originally Posted by ponycar17

Since Government jobs are funded solely by Private Sector tax revenue, believing that the Government can produce jobs and grow the economy while punishing the Private Sector is like believing a leech can grow a host...

-Me

Pony, me thinks your sig line says it all. We'll be burning what money we have pretty soon just to stay warm because it isn't going to worth anything to be used otherwise.

[momo]

Well, look at it this way, how many of our Congressmen and Senators ever operated a business. I'll bet not many. They never had to make a payroll, never had to make expenses, never had to do anything except make laws that handcuff the rest of us and spend other peoples' money. And our new chief executive's resume reads community activist, lawyer, state legislator, senator. God help us.

[pickenup]

Are you saying that some of us can take off our tin-foil hats now?
That there REALLY IS someone trying to destroy America?

[Pistolenschutze]

Originally Posted by delta13soultaker

Let's ask this....

...that the government is purposely telling us just how precarious the economy almost is right now so they can use fear to rapidly push their liberal agendas through the house/senate that otherwise would never get funding?

That is precisely what is happening, Delta, and the American Sheeple fell for it, lock, stock, and barrel. I do think, however, that the reality of how bad it is--or has the potential to be very, very quickly--is much worse than anyone realizes, including the idiots we sent to Washington in 2008. In the final analysis, the true basis of money is faith, the deep-seated belief of those who accept it and use it that it may be exchanged for tangible goods and services. Once that faith is lost, we are in deep, deep kimchi. I think that is happening as we speak, and as inflation increases over the next year or so, as it must, that lack of faith will increase exponentially. Read about what happened to the German economy in the 1920s if you want a case in point. We all know what that ultimately led to.

[fmacsin1]

I don't think there is just one person/reason that has brought our country to the edge. This economic crisis has been caused by greed, greed in high places mostly. The money America has spent this last decade has come from the U.S. borrowing it from other nations, including some in the Middle East. I mean, how else could the U.S. afford two wars and fight terrorism at 1 billion dollars a day for the last few years? There is so much "stuff" we still don't know about because, I believe, it does go on behind closed doors. Obama is nothing but a puppet, just as GWB was. No one man can run/ruin this nation no matter what we may think! Politics is just a game for the "behind the scenes" wealthy. Which brings me to full circle: greed. Yes, "government is the problem"; it will probably not be the solution! bin Laden was correct, you ruin this country through its financial base. He got it wrong; he tried to blow up the buildings! He had the right idea but the wrong method.

[jacksonco]

I would like to contibute to what has been posted here but I feel that my thoughts have been thoroughly covered by the previous postings. I think we have a long ways to fall before we can pick ourseves up again.

[TranterUK]

I dont understand these things.

It has been suggested things may be, and become, much worse than they are now.

There are a lot of us and we are supported by a complex, balanced system. Perhaps a more fragile system that we realise.

I am sure of this, there would be no winners, only losers. We must make every effort to ensure this is not allowed to happen.

[momo]

Change the names and places and it reads like the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Gibbon.

[bcj1755]

Originally Posted by momo

Change the names and places and it reads like the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Gibbon.

Or "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" by William L. Shirer.

[doug66]

This didn't happen over night. The rich and powerful knew a storm was brewing. When McCain suspended his campaign, to rush back to D.C. to sign the first bailout, I had a feeling then that something was up. On T.V. you got Bush, McCain and Obama peeing all over them selves. Saying, we gotta save Wall Street. They couldn't wait to sell America down the river.

We'd had been better off to let the chips fall where they may. Greed and corruption will get ya every time.

[obxned]

I no longer beleive anything the government or left-media says. It is just plain old propaganda to manipulate the sheeple.

[Mr. Nameless]

the goverment is trying to keep us in the dark so when it happens they can either 1) pull it off as a terrorism thing or 2) use it to do as delta13soultaker said and use fear to push their liberal agendas through the house/senate that otherwise would never get funding

[pickenup]

Originally Posted by TranterUK

It has been suggested things may be, and become, much worse than they are now.

Consider, I have read that 5.6 MILLION jobs were lost in 2007, due to the worsening U.S. trade deficit. 2.6 MILLION MORE jobs disappeared in 2008, not necessarily due to the trade deficit, although there were more because of it. 1.2 MILLION in the last three months alone.

It seems to be escalating. Stores, restaurants, businesses that have been strong and healthy for YEARS, are closing their doors. Yes, places going out of business is a natural cycle. But not in the numbers I am seeing. Malls, with half (or more) of their units not rented. It is the trickle down effect.

Used to be, I would hear of someone I know getting laid off, every once in a while. Maybe every couple of months or so. Now days, it has become (at least) a weekly announcement. Friends and/or people I know fairly closely, loosing their homes, cars, possessions.

It takes time for this to work through the financial system. Some live paycheck to paycheck, and will be kicked out of their home shortly, following the loss of their job. Some have a savings to fall back on, or credit cards to plunder, while they look for NON EXISTENT work. Taking a bit longer for them to loose everything. Some actually find work, but does it pay enough to continue to live the life style they have become accustomed to?

I know MANY people that it has NOT affected, but....
Do "YOU" hear of more and more people getting laid off, or loosing their homes? Do "YOU" see more stores/businesses closing their doors than usual?
Can it/will it, get worse?
You tell me.

[ponycar17]

pickenup, as long as the President and media continue to tell us not to buy things, we'll continue to see businesses fail and jobs lost. This is self-fulfilling and possibly a treasonous scheme.

[glocknut]

Things may indeed be bad...but one thing is for sure "to me anyway.." is that they are trying to make it worse. Intentionally, Accidentally, or out of Utter Ignorance... Pick one... it doesn't matter "why"... it just is.

mike
gn

[Pistolenschutze]

Originally Posted by pickenup

Consider, I have read that 5.6 MILLION jobs were lost in 2007, due to the worsening U.S. trade deficit. 2.6 MILLION MORE jobs disappeared in 2008, not necessarily due to the trade deficit, although there were more because of it. 1.2 MILLION in the last three months alone.

It seems to be escalating. Stores, restaurants, businesses that have been strong and healthy for YEARS, are closing their doors. Yes, places going out of business is a natural cycle. But not in the numbers I am seeing. Malls, with half (or more) of their units not rented. It is the trickle down effect.

Used to be, I would hear of someone I know getting laid off, every once in a while. Maybe every couple of months or so. Now days, it has become (at least) a weekly announcement. Friends and/or people I know fairly closely, loosing their homes, cars, possessions.

It takes time for this to work through the financial system. Some live paycheck to paycheck, and will be kicked out of their home shortly, following the loss of their job. Some have a savings to fall back on, or credit cards to plunder, while they look for NON EXISTENT work. Taking a bit longer for them to loose everything. Some actually find work, but does it pay enough to continue to live the life style they have become accustomed to?

I know MANY people that it has NOT affected, but....
Do "YOU" hear of more and more people getting laid off, or loosing their homes? Do "YOU" see more stores/businesses closing their doors than usual?
Can it/will it, get worse?
You tell me.

Very clearly and articulately stated, Pick. You hit right on the point I was trying to make. We hear all this BS from our "dear leader" the president and the idiots in Congress about how spending several trillion dollars of borrowed money will make the economy somehow better, but to see the lies in their words, one only has to look at what is happening in his or her own community. A wise man once said that no one is so blind as he who refuses to see.