The Economy

[bobquasit]

With the collapse of Bear Stearns and their acquisition by J.P. Morgan for $2 a share - shares that were priced at $170 not long ago - I'm seeing some VERY strong signs that we really may be headed for another Great Depression - or worse.

So now what? I'm honestly wondering. I've heard that there are a lot more layoffs and labor cut-backs happening in the past week, and they're likely to increase. The odds are increasing that we are going to see economic pain on a scale that NONE of us have ever lived through. And yet I have to admit that somehow it's not real to me.

I believe that most Americans are experiencing the same weird sense of unreality about our economic meltdown. Well, let me be more accurate: most Americans probably have no fucking clue that the economy seems to be heading for a complete collapse. They don't know that the chances have gone WAY up that they will die hungry and homeless.

But when reality finally hits - and I'm not going to underestimate the stupidity of the population, it will hit when they actually run out of money and credit and really feel the first pangs of hunger - what's going to happen? What will they do?

What will you do?

Comments

[donnad.livejournal.com]

I agree, too many people today take it for granted that there will always be fuel oil to move food from the farms to the cities, and that they will always be able to get gas for their SUV's. it's really scary to think what would happen.

I posed a question like this a couple years ago, when gas prices started climbing. What will happen when people start to get hungry? I actually suggested it as a panel idea for Arisia. I don't think anyone picked up the ball and ran with it then.

Imagine this: Only the very rich can afford gasoline, heating fuel and electricity.

Trucking companies and rail companies can’t afford fuel for their trucks and trains to move food from the farms to the cities.

How does the food get to the cities? Your local grocery store can’t get basics like bread, eggs and milk from the farms. What’s going to happen when people start to get hungry? Will Chaos ensue? How long before chaos? When people get hungry they get irrational, How long before roving bands of hungry people will kill for food?
Sure you can grow a garden, Are you prepared to share that garden or defend it with lethal force so you and your family wont go hungry?

Your electric grid has been reduced to just a couple hours of power a day.
Are you capable of living off grid with no electricity? Can you live without the internet or your iTunes?

What would happen to society as we know it if the things we take for granted, like heating oil, electric power, and gasoline become scarce?



Well, having grown up in a household run by women who were alive and survived the Great Depression, I am capable of producing and preserving my own food. I have already started my seedlings for this year. I learned from them how to hoard... :) I have heard the stories of the Great Depression, with food and fuel rationing.

In the early 1970's I can remember the gasoline rationing. The lines of cars at the gas stations and that was when gasoline hit OMG fifty cents a gallon. You could only get fuel on a certain day based on the number on your license plate and then you could only get $5. at a time.

I'm not too worried for myself, We are currently doing reasonably well and no longer living paycheck to paycheck. We have eliminated the majority of our debt owing only my student loans. But I do worry for those people who are living week to week and amassing huge credit card debt.

I also have a job that allows me to work at home if necessary and can save on fuel if we have to ration. The job is sewing clothing, a necessity, but even if I don't have the job and my partner lost his job (he works for Dell) we would be okay for a couple years if we were frugal.