Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
8,297 posts, read 14,163,488 times
Reputation: 8105
Advertisements
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Last Updated: 9:36AM GMT 18 Jan 2009
Events are moving fast in Europe. The worst riots since the fall of Communism have swept the Baltics and the south Balkans. An incipient crisis is taking shape in the Club Med bond markets. S&P has cut Greek debt to near junk. Spanish, Portuguese, and Irish bonds are on negative watch.
Dublin has nationalised Anglo Irish Bank with its half-built folly on North Wall Quay and €73bn (£65bn) of liabilities, moving a step nearer the line where markets probe the solvency of the Irish state.
A great ring of EU states stretching from Eastern Europe down across Mare Nostrum to the Celtic fringe are either in a 1930s depression already or soon will be. Greece's social fabric is unravelling before the pain begins, which bodes ill.
Each is a victim of ill-judged economic policies foisted upon them by elites in thrall to Europe's monetary project – either in EMU or preparing to join – and each is trapped ......... (article continued at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/c...epression.html )
UK sources have an agenda, probably a very narrow one, when it comes to discussing the EU and the eurozone, they serve another purpose, to keep out the UK, which is also mired in a downward spiral, as are many other countries that have nothing do to with the euro.
The reasons for the downward spiral are the classic credit/debt-driven boom and bust cycle, imbalances between production and consumption, manufacturing and trade patterns, and possibly also constraints on energy, plus we can add the age-old human factors like greed and stupidity. All these factors pre-date the euro by at least several hundred years, if not millennia, probably myriads.
The relatively isolated peoples of North America and Europe have been spoiled by the decades-long success of industrialization, and we are currently experiencing the strains of having to share that success with the bulk of humanity.
In times gone by, how many nomads raided agricultural villages? How many pirates raided trade ships? How many kings made war on one another?
Do you know how old is the expression "nothing new under the sun"?
Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
8,297 posts, read 14,163,488 times
Reputation: 8105
Every day there are new things under the sun, and there always have been - new things under the sun is the only thing that is constant.
This is a classic boom/bust cycle, but it's the severity of it that's debatable. I believe a worldwide depression similar to the Great Depression is unfolding, but of course different because of greater technology and the specific credit problems that aren't even close to ending (another wave of alt-a, etc).
That requires a different, more intense sort of personal preparation - which is why I post these sort of articles, so that wise individuals can realize the situation is serious enough to take action.
Every day there are new things under the sun, and there always have been - new things under the sun is the only thing that is constant.
This is a classic boom/bust cycle, but it's the severity of it that's debatable. I believe a worldwide depression similar to the Great Depression is unfolding, but of course different because of greater technology and the specific credit problems that aren't even close to ending (another wave of alt-a, etc).
That requires a different, more intense sort of personal preparation - which is why I post these sort of articles, so that wise individuals can realize the situation is serious enough to take action.
All fair enough, but I reject the notion that the euro is the cause of it, it's just not logical: there are other regions and countries that do not use the euro, and they are in crisis.
...which is why I post these sort of articles, so that wise individuals can realize the situation is serious enough to take action.
Halleluia, and pass the Bug-Out Bag!
This situation is, I agree, getting more critical by the day. We are in crisis mode. Yep, some of the guys will laugh at this. Both employed and saving every dime, food stocked to the rafters, no debt, woolens stock-piled (we live in the very-cold-this-winter Northeast), vehicles all rehabbed (but none new), dental work and tetanus shots up to date, and a retreat about to be bought for a fast get-away.
Stay in the cities and soon you'll be taking your life in your hands.
All fair enough, but I reject the notion that the euro is the cause of it, it's just not logical: there are other regions and countries that do not use the euro, and they are in crisis.
Indeed, one staunchly anti-Euro country that might have beens spared of the worse had they adopted the Euro is Iceland, post-boy for this meltdown. Brits can laugh, can sneer, can dismiss and can remain oblivious to their own far worse meltdown, but the fact of matter is when real crisis hit, an monetary entity of Eurozone's size would be much more likely to survive than an island nation like Britain. Lost their empire half century ago, boastful of their so called "special relation" with the US when everybody knows the only special part of the relation is the requirement that Britain has to be on board whenever US decides to engage in some oversea adventure. It's not mutual, it's not reciprocal and certainly not a two way street. At the same time, Britain continues to stick to her age old suspicion
toward her geographically natural allies: continental Europe. I do not claim to be an expert. But I would be very much surprised if Britain could remain relevant without some fundamental attitude changes.
This situation is, I agree, getting more critical by the day. We are in crisis mode. Yep, some of the guys will laugh at this. Both employed and saving every dime, food stocked to the rafters, no debt, woolens stock-piled (we live in the very-cold-this-winter Northeast), vehicles all rehabbed (but none new), dental work and tetanus shots up to date, and a retreat about to be bought for a fast get-away.
Stay in the cities and soon you'll be taking your life in your hands.
Pretty gloomy eh? I can see the scenario for spinning out of control also.
Pretty gloomy eh? I can see the scenario for spinning out of control also.
As for food production and distribution, European cities are a lot closer to farmland than US cities, while perhaps the US has more of its own energy supplies. But US transportation is more reliant on vehicle fuel, while Europe has a better rail infrastructure that runs on electricity.
So if there is a complete breakdown in international trade, it is plausible that half the US population would starve to death or die in violent turmoil triggered by food, fuel and basic utility shortages, while probably half the European population would die too basically for the same reason but with somewhat different geographical relationships, unless they could keep energy flowing from Russia and North Africa.
Maybe this whole crisis is Earth's way of communicating that the population is too big to support an industrial life-style for everyone on the planet, and the ruling classes of globalization are acting in their own best interests to ensure their own survival, while half the population is killed off and the other half is reduced to serfdom ... with the odd independent survivalists in the various woods and mountains here and there scattered among the continents.
Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
8,297 posts, read 14,163,488 times
Reputation: 8105
The population as it stands right now isn't too big for the Earth to support, Bale, we don't take up all that much room. The entire population of the world would fit into an area the size of New York City, if every person were given one square meter to sit in.
But to live sustainably, without waste, without polluting our planet, with enough food to eat and water to drink ...... that would take a degree of cooperation humans are just not capable of.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
