Your Views On What A US Economic Collapse Might Look Like

[libertygrl]

Secondly, everyone would do very well to read, or re-read, Osan's post, above. That's the thread winner.

I actually copied and saved it for future reference it was THAT good!

 

[DamianTV]

Retail Apocalypse: Why Are Major Retail Chains All Over America Collapsing?
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/...jor-retail-chains-all-over-america-collapsing

Might a Collapse look something like that?

 

[jbauer]

Same here, although in retrospect, I'm guessing that they are just worth a certain amount of money and the money can only be spent on certain things (my local grocery store has little tags that say "WIC approved" on some items) so if things get out of kilter the "customer" will quickly be able to buy less and less with them.

It wasn't that long ago that I saw people in line with paper food stamps which would surely cause problems for the grocer should prices be changing rapidly. The electronic cards probably mean instantaneous transfers....

BIG difference between WIC and SNAP. Wic is for pregnate ladys and their early childhood kids. SNAP is for bloodsuckers. You can buy pretty much ANYTHING that isn't heated up with SNAP. WIC is limited. You want steak and lobster no problem with SNAP. What we need to do is get SNAP to operate like WIC and throw in a cookbook.

 

[tod evans]

BIG difference between WIC and SNAP.

Food the consumer didn't grow or earn money to purchase that is given to the person from tax-revenue is all lumped together in my opinion.

The only acceptable "free-food" programs to me are those run by private charities.

 

[Warrior_of_Freedom]

5 dollars for a roll of toilet paper

 

[raystone]

We have a lot of NG, and that can be converted to liquid fuel too. Also, a lot of coal and oil shale, same with Canada plus tar sands and some oil.

The easy oil and gas in the U.S. are long gone. These "reserves" in the U.S. are difficult to extract. Current and future wells are drilled with questionable return on investment, or "return on energy used". Each year that goes by leads to a lower return on energy used. Much of the U.S energy reserves could never be extracted at a profit.

 

[A Son of Liberty]

The easy oil and gas in the U.S. are long gone. These "reserves" in the U.S. are difficult to extract. Current and future wells are drilled with questionable return on investment, or "return on energy used". Each year that goes by leads to a lower return on energy used. Much of the U.S energy reserves could never be extracted at a profit.

Are you familiar with the Marcellus and Utica shale plays, and their prospects?

 

[jbauer]

My view:

We've got enough energy and farm land in America that we will never have some sort of catyclismic event that some of people say we will. What we will have is a decreasing dollar dominance coupled with a decreasing lifestyle. What we won’t have is someday the supermarket shelves just POOF and they’re bare for the rest of time. We grow to much of the world’s food, we consume to much of the world’s materialistic junk. We use to much of the world’s fuel to just go away overnight. What I honestly see is us being threatened with that type of event and being forced into becoming some sort of “World Government” type thing where we get socialism for everyone for the greater good.

We are not going to wake up one day and find ourselves completely different then we were yesterday although that doesn’t mean if you took a picture of the world today that it wouldn’t look different 10 years from now. You DO NOT need 10 years of beans in buckets in your basement. You MIGHT want to know how to grow them. You DO NOT need a small countries arsenal of weapons. If the boy’s in black or blue come for you you’re screwed anyway. You MIGHT need enough to keep your neighbors out of your $hit.

What will happen to the dollar? My guess is that we’ll be switched to a world currency at whatever rate they say it is and that will be that. We’ll get to stay in our houses. We’ll get to keep or cable TV. McDonalds won’t close. 95% of the population will be just fine with it.

 

[jbauer]

It wont resemble the great depresion because people "knew" how to live back then plus we have global interests now days where back then we we're much more issolated in terms of global trade.

Thanks for all the responses. There's alot to think about but I think I'm starting to see possible scenarios emerging.

The reason why I started this thread is because as a kid, I used to hear older relatives talk about how tough the Great Depression was and I remember seeing old movies with people in major cities living in tenement houses , waiting on breadlines, going from city to city trying to find work, etc. (while the very wealthy would be partying at the hottest night spot)

I was just wondering if our collapse would resemble something like that or something like the Soviet Union's, or worse! This country has had tough times before but the thought of the dollar collapsing has me most concerned because how will people survive if they can't use it anymore? (unless you have gold/silver of course)

 

[Danke]

The easy oil and gas in the U.S. are long gone. These "reserves" in the U.S. are difficult to extract. Current and future wells are drilled with questionable return on investment, or "return on energy used". Each year that goes by leads to a lower return on energy used. Much of the U.S energy reserves could never be extracted at a profit.

Depends on who you talk to.

http://www.energyforamerica.org/inventory/

 

[DamianTV]

Here's another article worth considering...

Show This To Anyone That Believes That “Things Are Getting Better” In America
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/...ves-that-things-are-getting-better-in-america

If that is what "Economic Recovery" looks like, then I fear for our future.

 

[Smudge Dog]

Very good. This is a longer version of my thinking. We lack alternative infrastructure such as socialized food production, it's corporatizes. And we don't really have hereditary land, it's taxed and regulated. I think we're in much worse shape to face collapse than many nations.

 

[A Son of Liberty]

Depends on who you talk to.

http://www.energyforamerica.org/inventory/

Yeah, my understanding is that horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have revolutionized the energy market. In my area, the Utica and Marcellus have revitalized Western Pennsylvania, parts of West Virginia and Eastern Ohio. There are numerous other shale plays across the country as well, including the Eagle Ford, the Bakken, etc. These aren't discredited plays, either. If anything, we're merely on the very cusp of exploiting them. The potential is San Francisco, 1849.

ETA: This is not to say that shale gas and oil will "save" us; only that there is a market there.

 

[raystone]

Depends on who you talk to.

http://www.energyforamerica.org/inventory/

Right Captain Obvious, if you hear from the American Energy Alliance, you are likely to hear "Drill, baby, drill"

 

[raystone]

Yeah, my understanding is that horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have revolutionized the energy market. In my area, the Utica and Marcellus have revitalized Western Pennsylvania, parts of West Virginia and Eastern Ohio. There are numerous other shale plays across the country as well, including the Eagle Ford, the Bakken, etc. These aren't discredited plays, either. If anything, we're merely on the very cusp of exploiting them. The potential is San Francisco, 1849.

ETA: This is not to say that shale gas and oil will "save" us; only that there is a market there.

I agree there is a market there. However, U.S. energy was brought up in this thread implying it would save us.

Without exception, estimated reserves of recoverable energy drop dramatically between the time of discovery and the years after extraction begins.

With Marcellus, the estimated volumes of recoverable natural gas started at 500 trillion cubic feet, tcf. The most recent estimates are 27 tcf, about 1 year of energy for the U.S. (Proved reserves are 6 tcf)


Utica proved reserves are now estimated at 15 tcf.

 

[Seraphim]

Truth.

If our very first reaction to it is to tell Washington, D.C. to get bent, our financial collapse will look like an economic recovery...

 

[oyarde]

It wont resemble the great depresion because people "knew" how to live back then plus we have global interests now days where back then we we're much more issolated in terms of global trade.

That is correct , the rural population out numbered the other and city factory workers came from rural homes.So , avg person knew how to feed themself or go "home" where that could take place , those days were probably over by the 1970's.

 

[paulbot24]

I can't tell what an economic collapse might look like right now since it's dark outside but I'll let you know in the morning when I draw the shades and look out the window.

 

[DamianTV]

Someone who I think you all know...

 

[S.Shorland]