Retire? You can fuggetaboutit if the new Global Debt Time Bomb is detonated by any one of 20 made-in-America trigger mechanisms.
Yes, 20. And yes, any one can destroy your retirement because all 20 are inexorably linked, a house-of-cards, a circular firing squad destined to self-destruct, triggering the third great Wall Street meltdown of the 21st century, igniting the Great Depression II that George W. Bush, Ben Bernanke, Henry Paulson and now President Obama have simply delayed with their endless knee-jerk, debt-laden wars, stimulus bonanzas and bailouts.
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20 economic weapons of mass destruction triggering ticking Global Debt Time Bomb:1. Federal Budget Deficit Bomb
2. U.S. Foreign Trade Bomb
3. Weakening U.S. Dollar as Foreign Reserve Currency Bomb
4. Cheap Money Bomb: Credit Ratings Down, Rates Up
5. Global Real Estate Bomb
Read the article for details on each and the rest of the list.
OTC Derivatives. No doubt.
If it doesn’t work as a business, get rid of it. I assume everybody is in place. If they aren’t they are dead. This digital world keeps getting faster. Time for me to get my boots out on the street.
And the most obvious…
#21: If Americans are dumb enough to vote Obama in for a 2nd term.
Eight years of the Cheney presidency disaster will not be fixed in 1 year.
* two wars
* tax cuts that added a trillion to the deficit
* unregulated banking industry that created a house of cards that finally fell.
It will take at least 2-3 non-Republican administrations to dig out of this shit hole.
Between 2000 and 2008, President Bush managed to double the entire U.S. national debt.
President Obama plans to double it – in just 4 years.
The U.S. has spent more money that it doesn’t have in the last 10 years than in all it’s previous history.
Whoever is president in 2012 will preside over the biggest bankruptcy of all time.
“The optimist’s brain filters out bad news. They know their dreams of prosperity will come true. Then, when they finally do see that the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train, it’s always too late.”
That’s really the root cause right there. We’re all told that everything is just a momentary speed bump on the road to prosperity. “If we can just get through this tough time we’ll see a shining beacon on the hill,” and other such nonsense. No one in power can see the very real possibility of things not getting better, except maybe for Ron Paul, and he’s usually dismissed as a crackpot.
I often wonder why the pessimist is so disliked. I think it has a lot to do with our transition from a manufacturing economy to a “service” economy. Since customer service is perceived to be the driver of revenue, and engineering (I work in telecom) is capital intensive, guess who gets promoted? That’s right, the sales and marketing department people, who are all pleasant and fun to be around, and of course, very optimistic that they can grow the company to unheard of levels. So when we tell upper management that we need to have redundant links, they balk at the price and kick the can down the road. When the backhoe cuts the fiber and they have to deal with the fallout, suddenly redundancy isn’t all that expensive at all.
I really think one of the big driving factors of the unprecedented growth in the US (and world) GDP from the late 1940s to the mid 1970s was because the people who were in charge lived through the depression and knew to be realistic. There were exceptions, of course (Johnson, the most obvious optimist, could have paid off our WW2 debt but instead chose to roll it over and make even more with great society programs), but for most of my parents and grandparents, the depression was a very real thing, and that kept them from making stupid decisions. I grew up in a steel town in the 1980s, so every time someone told me that houses NEVER loose value, I told them to look at Pittsburgh and Detroit. Of course I was told that Pitt was just the exception that proves the rule, whatever that means.
Everything would work out fine if our wages were equal to the wages in India, China, ‘nam, Haiti, etc.
Equal pay for equal work!
#4 Dallas is still suffering from an extreme case of BDS. We are in the 2nd year of Obama’s presidency. 3 years ago, companies were wisely cutting back on their employment hiring practices when they got wind that Obama might be elected.
And they were right. The deficit under Obama has hit record levels and shows no sign of improvement. Unemployment is in double digits due to the fears most employers have about Obama’s lack of experience, stupid policy decisions (civilian courts in NYC for terrorists) and his Socialistic bent.
Unfortunately, Obama has already done irreparable damage to the economy, employment, and the national debt.
If you think the Dumbocrats are going to stay in control of Congress, dream on Dallas.
I will be horribly disappointed when the future doesn’t turn into a Mad Max movie. For me there is no downside to financial Armageddon except the loss of my 401(k). I have no wife, kids or other obligations and I have only a small amount of consumer debt which will be paid off soon. All I have to do is stock up on seeds and ammo.
#8 “.. 3 years ago, companies were wisely cutting back on their employment hiring practices when they got wind that Obama might be elected. ..”
Calling you a buffoon is an understatement. Wow. Is that load of shit being baked in the GOP kitchen or did you come up with that?
#8 And they were right. The deficit under Obama has hit record levels and shows no sign of improvement. Unemployment is in double digits due to the fears most employers have about Obama’s lack of experience, stupid policy decisions (civilian courts in NYC for terrorists) and his Socialistic bent.
Lack of experience? Stupid policy decisions? Lordy, lordy, lordy… Obama has a lot of work to do before he could ever catch up to the Dubya administration.
Yes, there’s BDS here all right… the wingnuts got a real bad case.
(And wingnuts calling Obama socialist after he gives the store away to the big banks, kisses up to the big insurance companies… wow. Just wow.)
“The Republicans did it! We are pure!” “NO! The Democrats did it! We are pure!” …and other tragic professional wrestling tales.
That all the “top economic advisers” in the WH happen to be the co-creators and supporters of the derivatives bomb and the destruction of glass-steagall means nothing i suppose? (let alone G&S shills)
-Like #1 inferred: OTC Derivatives (ie toxic assets) is the only bomb. -what, like a $quadrillion are still out there??
-expect a false flag event soon to be used as a scapegoat to “ruin” this “wonderful [papered over] recovery”
bush/clinton/cheneybush/obama have NOTHING to do with this. This was all scripted and designed by the wonderful bankster cabal a century+ ago..
move along..
-s
Sorry all you partisans, this has been building for 30 years. Republicans and Democrats alike are responsible.
The author figures the worst that can happen is you lose your retirement? (Aren’t you glad I didn’t spell it “loose” like some of the “loosers” on here would?)
It’ll be much worse than loss of retirement. How ’bout when the power goes out for good in the winter & there’s no more natural gas being pumped. There won’t be anything left to hang around for then except misery & I’ll be outta here. They’ll find me kneeling, leaning forward with a noose around my neck. Take anything you want. I won’t be needing it any more.
How did Cheney’s bonehead war work out for us? For anybody? Blame where blame is due & all that.
#15 Oddly, that’s how the bible describes Armageddon (amazement that what they built crashes and wanting the rocks to fall on them); just saying…
#14 I keep hearing from Repugs that this shit hole of a mess was brewing for 30 years,
Wrong. The Cheney administration of nearly a decade royally screwed this country with …let me tell you again slowly…
(1) Two, god damn wars costing trillions
(2) Tax cuts without corresponding spending cuts
(3) Let chaos reign in the financial sector leading to a house of cards that collapsed.
You need to stop sweeping this Republican shit under the rug. The rug has no more room.
#18 So… You’re against people… who are against… what you’re against… er…
#14 Actually, progressives in both parties are to blame…