If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.
Read the community guidelines before posting ✨
Options
Things getting worse in America...
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I don't know how many of you know what's going on over there and there's probably not much news coverage so I thought I'd give you the latest....basically all sorts of financial securities and derivatives are failing now because noone knows who has exposure to the bad debt, everyday someone else is announcing big write downs or having their credit rating slashed by the agencies making it harder to borrow and more importantly to borrow at an affordable rate.
it's spread way beyond subprime mortgages and the housing market and is affecting everyday life for americans now because schools are closing down, student loan companies can't raise funds to lend so higher education is suffering, state boards are suing the investment banks for selling them bad debt and the knock on affect of defaults is state funds being frozen and huge slashes in public spending, teachers not getting paid or being asked to retire, pensions funds obliterated, courts closing down for x days a week in cali so child abuse and custody cases are being postponed etc, hospitals and emergency services running on bare minimum.....it's scary how fast the world's largest economy is falling apart, and noone seems to be able to stop it.
i will post some more links as i find them...sobering stuff.
http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/news.html?news_id=47247
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/02/18/daily32.html
http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/state&id=5971131
http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080219/NEWS/80219019
http://www.financialweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080218/REG/698824530
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aRfNl8S3sR0c&refer=home
it's spread way beyond subprime mortgages and the housing market and is affecting everyday life for americans now because schools are closing down, student loan companies can't raise funds to lend so higher education is suffering, state boards are suing the investment banks for selling them bad debt and the knock on affect of defaults is state funds being frozen and huge slashes in public spending, teachers not getting paid or being asked to retire, pensions funds obliterated, courts closing down for x days a week in cali so child abuse and custody cases are being postponed etc, hospitals and emergency services running on bare minimum.....it's scary how fast the world's largest economy is falling apart, and noone seems to be able to stop it.
i will post some more links as i find them...sobering stuff.
http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/news.html?news_id=47247
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/02/18/daily32.html
http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/state&id=5971131
http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080219/NEWS/80219019
http://www.financialweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080218/REG/698824530
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aRfNl8S3sR0c&refer=home
0
Comments
It's over.
The wests dominance is coming to an end and we are all going to suffer.
The scary bit is they won't go without a fight.
This reminds me all so much of the early Christians who believed Jesus was ging to return to Earth within the next few months. 2000 years later and we're still waiting.
But it AINT America that is heading it.
America is not going into recession ...it is collapsing and will drag down many with it ....but don't worry ...capitalism is alive and well and about to eat you.
i'm not talking about the end of capitalism i'm talking about diminishing quality of life in supposedly the world's richest country. i agree they have their military and enough resources to pull through, not sure i can say the same for us.
their military is the most advanced, they have their finger in every pie and they can strike anywhere, which is handy when you need to grab oil and defend yourself......their resource is well, canada lol.
Their miltary is stretched to it's limits from what i can see and lets be honest here ...they only fight people who can't fight back and still manage to loose!
My prediction for the future is ...they will pull out of the world, manufacure problems in south america and invade.
For the short term probably yes - that's what a recession is. But the US has been through them before and will do again... It's not the end of the world
We almost certainly do. We remain one of the richest countries in the world, and with the best military (even if not the largest or best equipped).
Now we'll probably have some repossession, taxes will go up and services down. But in a few years we'll bounce back, like the US we've had recessions before and will do again.
Don't know how you work that out. Iraq is being slowly stabilised and the US and UK are putting only a fraction of there potential military strength into it.
To put it into perspective the US has suffered just under 4000 dead from March 03 to date. That's compared to abut 19,000 in the few weeks of the Bulge.
The UK has suffered 178 dead compared to 255 dead in the few months of the Falklands and or 6,500 dead (airborne and XXX Corps) during Operation Market Garden.
Globalisation makes it all very different.
Having no real industrial base any longer doesn't help ...not being able to compete in any way with the new kids on the block doesn't help at all.
Competeing for scarcer resources with a currency people have less and less faith in will cuase serious problems anytime soon.
you might not think these things important but when the shops are empty it's the people on the streets you have to measure things by.
this is not going to be a normal recession like 2002 or the early 90s, the problem is global and no offence but if you think britain is one of the richest countries in the world you need to have your head examined, we have the one of the worst debt to GDP ratios in the OECD to use just one measurement, how are you defining wealth?
this is a whole new ball game.
We have never been here before.
In twleve months time ...i'll be living in South Africa HAVING SEEN IT COMING.
It aint just China ... the whole process of manufacture and consumption is moving ...has moved.
On top of it all we have energy crisis and food shortages growing everyday.
We realy are in unchartered waters.
We have never been in recession at the same time a whole host of other places are booming and consuming. We have never had any real competition before have we.
With diminishing supplies available of everything.
they are out bidding us for oil grain you name it.
All the other recessions that ever happened didn't happen in a situation like this one.
You have a recession you pick the pieces up and start again but this time the peices have been moved ...a long way away.
It is difficult to pick the pieces up and start manufacturing cars again ...when the car bizz already moved away before your recession and the same applies to producing anything and everything else.
If you have ten thousand tons of grain for sale you will sell it to the highest bidder ...we can no longer be that bidder.
When your economy is failng at a time when the economies of others are booming ...it's almost impossible ...and hasn't happened before.
My prediction is that western europe will do better thaqn america ...by aligning itself ...becoming more dependant on ...Russia.
The UK will fail to do so becuase of its historic ties to America.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/business/22homes.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin
a bailout may well be attempted by the gov by tabling a bill at the senate etc, but if they even try to monetize the bad debt this will crush the dollar and ramp the cost of borrowing for the government as noone will buy their bonds and yields will shoot to the roof to compensate, this would in turn crush the private sector's ability to borrow and the end result is inevitable.
imo they won't do it because with the huge deficit the priority is to keep borrowing costs down or the whole thing falls apart.
Capital owned and GVA. Our debt seems bad because we own our own homes, but by owning our own homes it means we have capital.
our debt seems bad because it is bad, government and private debt is at obscene levels and it's not sustainable.
they will also be able to restructure easier cos the yanks have sod all left to restructure.
The miltary bit is truly scary ...again we are in unchartered waters realy.
With criminals in the white house ...
As for being export driven thats only true to a degree ...but would you want to sell your goods for dollars?
europe's actually fucked as well, too many imbalances in the single currency zone and when the german banks start blowing up the euro will fall apart and it's every man for himself....there just isn't enough domestic or foreign demand from russia, africa etc to replace this. their phenomenal growth is all based on the phenomenal credit growth over here allowing people to go out and spend spend spend, and those days are over.
interesting point about the $ because i believe it may well remain the reserve currency of choice when the euro fails, backed by military strength if nothing else. but there are too many ways this could play out, let's wait and see.
You need to read my posts - I think there is a recession coming. I just don't think it is the end of the world as we know it, same as the it wasn't when we had one in the 90s, 80s, 70s, 60s and 30s. Nothing has fundamentally changed to say this one will lead to anything like the fullscale economic collapse that you are predicting.
(As an aside you do own your house, even with a mortgage. If you default the bank can try and repossess it to pay for your arrears - though even then they have to go to court. The bank does not own your house and you can do what you like with it (subject to planning law of course).
This is the first time America is going into recession with serious industrial competion ...massive industrial competition ...this was not the case in any other time.
This is the first time since American economic dominance that they have been in this position.
First time they can be outbidded for food oil metals etc etc etc.
When your struggling ...the last thing you need is this kind of scenario ...wait till the summer and then take a look at who's calling the shots.
By the end of this year ...i predict serious domestic unrest/chaos in the U.S.A.
To say nothing has fundamentally changed is a huge mistake ...even the peoples attitudes and expectations are entirely different.