Preparing for the next Depression: Thoughts?

[Waianaegirl]

Originally Posted by chiaroscuro

Negative. Arable farmland is disappearing. The crisis would be worse than the 30's, because most people in the developed world are entirely dependent on the system for their necessities. They would have no clue where to get water if it stopped coming out of the tap and wasn't to be found on store shelves. Same with food, gasoline, medicine...

And no, food is NOT easy to grow, because food has been perverted through breeding and genetic modification to be super-food, requiring lots of pesticides and tons of water. Hardy food seeds and animals have been rejected in favor of artificially large and fast-growing vegetables and cattle. Remove the system that provides the input they need, and you remove our ability to "easily" grow food.

Backyard gardens just might save people, and food is easy to trade for almost anything once people become hungry enough.

Agreed. Too many people would die off, because they can't survive without technology.

[chiaroscuro]

Originally Posted by HappyTexan

I didn't hear many complaining about the "jobless recovery". The good times were rolling...flipping homes made millionaires overnight, the stock market was going to the moon and everyone had a HELOC so they could buy whatever they wanted whenever they wanted.

I really had no idea that people were going into debt into the six figures (not including mortgage).
I did keep wondering how we could have a jobless recovery and how people could get so much money. Once the subprime blew up though...that's when the true story of the jobless recovery came to light.

You see..they can't do it again..we're all tapped out.

You summed up the whole problem in four words. If there is a double-dip, or even a real hard depression, that's it. No more bailouts, stimulus, tax breaks, investment in innovation, investment for infrastructure, etc.