Addicted to apocalypse

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Interesting bit by Paul Krugman, but it's about economic doomsayers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/25/opini ... .html?_r=0
To bad it's not really limited to economics though. I've been hearing about gloom and doom since I was a kid and it still hasn't happened.
Now in sale in your grocers freezer..gloom and doom! Hurry! Supplies are unlimited!

[Solitary]

My nephew agrees with you.      Solitary

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Been sorta watching national geographic channel.. Talk about apocalyptic fuckers.. First, what IF the earth stops rotating..what IF ALL oil 'just' dries up..next, what IF there's a giant blackout..  Yes indeed, fear does sell.. :roll:
That doesn't even mention Doomsday Planners..

It's AS IF they want a global collapse.

[lumpymunk]

I've been hearing about gloom and doom since I was a kid and it still hasn't happened.

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

Nobody can predict the future, but can we at least learn from the past?  We've had currency problems in the past, and it's possible that it can happen again.  Believing that the United States is invincible is the epitome of foolishness... and really... arrogance.  Knowing where the tipping point is would require predicting the future...  All we can do is look at the world around us relative to our condition and ask... "How long can this continue?"

Even so far back as the revolution... what do you think, "not worth a continental" was referring to?  A debauched currency brought about by the printing press (figuratively).  This inspired the founders to put strict limitations on what the government could do with money (2 powers).  Over the course of time since legislators and judges have simply "reinterpreted" the wisdom in the constitution to mean whatever they want it to mean... you've ended up with worthless "greenbacks" (post civil war) and a dollar now that's lost 98% of its value since 1913.  

We've been here before.  You've been warned about the direction in which these last 100 years of progressivism was headed.  Now... instead of having only one or two other industrialized nations to worry about we have a global environment where the U.S. Dollar is held to a standard it doesn't deserve.  ... and some people believe the party is going to be over pretty soon.

The world was watching recently when our central bankers denied Germany the ability to withdraw their gold from our empty vaults. ...confidence is waning, and suspicion is rising now that the NSA has been caught spying on foreign leaders.  (Not a team building exercise, spying...)

China is rushing to internationalize the Renminbi to supplant the debased U.S. Dollar as one of the worlds reserve currencies when decoupling happens.  You can imagine how much other countries like having their purchasing power stolen from them through federal reserve inflation.  Imagine how many U.S. dollars it will take to buy a barrel of oil after it must be converted to Euros or Renminbi before Saudi Arabia or Russia will accept payment?  

How will we print our way out of that when they are no longer forced to use the U.S. Dollar as a store of value?

As the United States approaches its upcoming currency crisis who will bail the U.S. out?  Janet Yellen is about to increase the amount of monthly QE pumping into the economy... fluffing the bubble... and making the inevitable correction worse.

North Korea is still test firing nukes as a show of global presence.

Russia's Putin has more international credibility than our apology-tour President.

One thing is for certain... the "everything will be okay" position is untenable.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Tea party scare tactic...not working..
They went to printed currency long ago and it was a rube who took us off the gold standard, hardly a progressive, but I suppose you'd prefer to trade in chickens and bags of grain..

[lumpymunk]

I'm not trying to scare you, but it's intereting that you perceive what I typed as a scare tactic.  Did it sound scary?  Not quite ready for the government to shake you off of its bankrupt teet?  Was anything I said false?

Progressivism isn't a Democrat/Republican difference, hasn't been for a long time.  Both parties are progressives.  Republicans are socially conservative... sure... but I'm talking about economics.  Republicans love spending just as much as Democrats do... and Bush began the cycle of bailouts that Obama and Bernanke continued.

Also telling that you didn't really attempt to deal with any of the many facts I pointed out...

[lumpymunk]

I suppose you'd prefer to trade in chickens and bags of grain..

The beauty is we can negotiate using whatever means we agree on.  We don't need dollars.

Also:

The painful experience of the runaway inflation and collapse of the Continental dollar prompted the delegates to the Constitutional Convention to include the gold and silver clause into the United States Constitution so that the individual states could not issue bills of credit, or "make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts." This restriction of bills of credit was extended to the Federal Government, as the power to "emit bills" from the Articles of Confederation was abolished, leaving Congress with the power "to borrow money on credit."

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

The wisdom was built into the constitution.  Governments don't really care about citizens.  Our government has debased the currency after every major conflict to fund its warmongering... and now as a matter of monetary policy.

[lumpymunk]

Funny closing remarks from Krugman.

So the next time you see some serious-looking man in a suit declaring that we're teetering on the precipice of fiscal doom, don't be afraid. He and his friends have been wrong about everything so far, and they literally have no idea what they're talking about.

Wrong about everything?  Krugman as clueless as usual.

[youtube:2i9ortrg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0QN-FYkpw[/youtube:2i9ortrg]

...and even more recently about the Fed's inability to stop QE because the economy is 100% dependent on this fake flow of cash...

[youtube:2i9ortrg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tak9ODlBJgM[/youtube:2i9ortrg]

 :rollin:

I'd say that your level of worry should correlate to how loudly idiots like Krugman are telling you that everything is fine.  (Ex. Pundits in denial - 2007)