Honestly, we have to be on our knees begging the Chinese to keep their currency cheap, because all they have to do is allow the market to value their yuan, then the rest of the world has their new reserve currency, and that will be end of America as an economic power, maybe as a nation.

It's still ........... Bush's fault.................................... I'm sure

Thread Bomber;614532 wrote:Just to fuel the fire, How would you feel if BHO released half a billion barrels from the US oil reserves to get the price back down?

One could argue that GWB added to the last crisis by continuing to fill the reserves even though the price of a barrel exceeded 140.00 per barrel.

What good would that do? The price, if it went down at all, would only stay down for maybe a week if that. If the government is so fucking concerned with the rising fuel prices, which they obviously aren't, they should immediately stop spending money they don't have and slash the budget. I guarantee prices would go down after that, but that's a pipe dream.

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/greenliving/112561744.html?cmpid=15585797

Will this really happen?

Red Saul;615995 wrote:http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/greenliving/112561744.html?cmpid=15585797

Will this really happen?

Don't worry about it. That's nothing compared to what will happen when the dollar collapses.

You really think it will?

Red Saul;616015 wrote:You really think it will?

When it becomes so worthless and no one wants it, then yes.

Go back to September 17, 2008. Hank Paulson was running around like Chicken Little proclaiming if he didn't have $700,000,000,000 to spend at his whims, then the financial world would collapse in days. Doors were shut. Windows were boarded over. McCain stopped campaigning so as to run back to DC. Congress huddled deep into the night. And then Hank got his wish, Bush got destroyed, McCain got run over, and now we have economic idiots in charge.

I wrote that to write this: if and when the dollar collapses, it will be just as quick and the options to stop it will have been used up already. There could very well be panic and chaos as no one will know what their dollars are really worth. Will it happen? It will if we don't get back to fiscal sanity and NO MORE QUANTITATIVE EASING...which is like morphine to an addict. We have been de-sensitizing our nation to the pains we should be feeling for so long (spending money we don't have, borrowing trillions from people either living in other countries or not yet born, "saving" GM, "saving" Wall Street, "saving" the unemployed, etc.) we don't know what real pain is...and we are getting ready to find out if we don't stop the insanity of spending spending spending spending spending borrowing spending stealing spending....

Sooner or later the rooster will come home to roost...and I have a hunch the rooster won't be a happy camper.

BGFalcons82;616032 wrote:When it becomes so worthless and no one wants it, then yes.

Go back to September 17, 2008. Hank Paulson was running around like Chicken Little proclaiming if he didn't have $700,000,000,000 to spend at his whims, then the financial world would collapse in days. Doors were shut. Windows were boarded over. McCain stopped campaigning so as to run back to DC. Congress huddled deep into the night. And then Hank got his wish, Bush got destroyed, McCain got run over, and now we have economic idiots in charge.

I wrote that to write this: if and when the dollar collapses, it will be just as quick and the options to stop it will have been used up already. There could very well be panic and chaos as no one will know what their dollars are really worth. Will it happen? It will if we don't get back to fiscal sanity and NO MORE QUANTITATIVE EASING...which is like morphine to an addict. We have been de-sensitizing our nation to the pains we should be feeling for so long (spending money we don't have, borrowing trillions from people either living in other countries or not yet born, "saving" GM, "saving" Wall Street, "saving" the unemployed, etc.) we don't know what real pain is...and we are getting ready to find out if we don't stop the insanity of spending spending spending spending spending borrowing spending stealing spending....

Are you going to eat crow when this doomsday scenario you predict doesn't happen? If I'm wrong I will eat crow with my fistful of worthless dollars but I suppose I'll have larger concerns.

I'll be pissed on our drive back to Mississippi Sunday. Paid 2.67 on my first fill up when we left last week.

BoatShoes;616265 wrote:Are you going to eat crow when this doomsday scenario you predict doesn't happen? If I'm wrong I will eat crow with my fistful of worthless dollars but I suppose I'll have larger concerns.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope the dollar doesn't collapse. But as I heard earlier today driving around, the dollar isn't being devalued any longer...it's being trashed. This is a word associated with intent, rather than economic happenstance. Between Bernacke, Geithner, and Barry, they would like nothing better than to keep interest rates artificially low, exports costing less than imports, and our foreign investors happy as clams so they don't have to make any tough decisions as to what spending to curtail. As long as Americans don't mind paying $5 for gas, $3 for a gallon of milk, and unable to get a lick of credit, then yep, we will be fine. My hunch is that this can't go on forever and the idiots in charge will have no other levers to pull and we'll slide into the abyss with great force.

To people like believer and myself, we can only hope the new House will stalemate enough of the pork and wasteful spending to get a grip on this entire mess before the dollar becomes the yen. That's where we are now....hoping. Sounds like a great plan, huh?

BoatShoes;616265 wrote:Are you going to eat crow when this doomsday scenario you predict doesn't happen? If I'm wrong I will eat crow with my fistful of worthless dollars but I suppose I'll have larger concerns.

Rather than challenge him to eat crow if things work out -- wouldn't it be better to start telling our leaders to PLAY IT SAFE and start using common sense (not spend more than we have, or keep borrowing at a rate we know is not sustainable)?

How can anyone with two brain cells to rub together not see that disaster is looming and the folks in DC don't give a damn. In fact, the party mostly in power wants to keep spending like a drunken sailor on all kinds of stuff we simply cannot afford...and few within their own party are calling them to account.

I'm far from one who sees doomsday scenarios around every corner, but I have to say I've never been as nervous about our financial integrity as I am now. What Washington is doing scares the living hell out of me, as it should every American.

I'm going to start buying chinese currency now, so once it becomes the world currency, I'll be rich!

Chicken Little is alive and well and he spends an awful lot of time on this website. You doomsday fanatics have been predicting the end of the world since Election Day 2008.

Everything is ok. We can borrow forever.

BGFalcons82;616306 wrote:To people like believer and myself, we can only hope the new House will stalemate enough of the pork and wasteful spending to get a grip on this entire mess before the dollar becomes the yen. That's where we are now....hoping. Sounds like a great plan, huh?

Stalemate is the goal...crazy I know. Here's the problem though; 1. The Repubs will not follow through on doing what is necessary (in other words they'll start to act like Dems in much the same manner as they did in the 90's) and 2. Obama is already playing executive orders games to bypass Congressional approval to get his agenda accomplished.

While Big Government is Good Government guys like stlouiedipalma love turning a blind eye to reality, anyone with a modicum of common sense can clearly see what lies ahead.

We're screwed no matter who's in power.

For some of you I would suggest buying some gold ...... Buy smart and buy low
I have been buying gold in small volume few years ago plus with all the gold my wife has I should be good when the dollar falls ...
Today gold is at $1400.00 oz ..... much of the gold I have purchase was between 770-820 ... I see gold going to $1900.00 before 2012 ....

Belly35;616773 wrote:For some of you I would suggest buying some gold ...... Buy smart and buy low
I have been buying gold in small volume few years ago plus with all the gold my wife has I should be good when the dollar falls ...
Today gold is at $1400.00 oz ..... much of the gold I have purchase was between 770-820 ... I see gold going to $1900.00 before 2012 ....

I'll just take an excavator to Alaska and dig some holes.

believer;616755 wrote:Stalemate is the goal...crazy I know. Here's the problem though; 1. The Repubs will not follow through on doing what is necessary (in other words they'll start to act like Dems in much the same manner as they did in the 90's) and 2. Obama is already playing executive orders games to bypass Congressional approval to get his agenda accomplished.

While Big Government is Good Government guys like stlouiedipalma love turning a blind eye to reality, anyone with a modicum of common sense can clearly see what lies ahead.

We're screwed no matter who's in power.

Sorry, believer, "guys like me" are LOOKING at reality. So many on this site are so embedded in full failure mode they will listen to and repeat anything they hear. Is it that you subscribe to the "throw enough shit against the wall and someday something will stick" mentality, or do you really believe (no pun intended) all of the gloom and doom?

believer;616755 wrote:Stalemate is the goal...crazy I know. Here's the problem though; 1. The Repubs will not follow through on doing what is necessary (in other words they'll start to act like Dems in much the same manner as they did in the 90's) and 2. Obama is already playing executive orders games to bypass Congressional approval to get his agenda accomplished.

While Big Government is Good Government guys like stlouiedipalma love turning a blind eye to reality, anyone with a modicum of common sense can clearly see what lies ahead.

We're screwed no matter who's in power.

Stalemate doesn't reduce the debt, only makes it grow.

ptown_trojans_1;616872 wrote:Stalemate doesn't reduce the debt, only makes it grow.

If you are suggesting that a stalemate only allows existing spending levels to continue, I would agree. The Repubs will not have the balls to not only STOP THE INSANE SPENDING but roll it back as they should.

The only things that will stop the insanity is internal revolution and/or world economic collapse. My bet is on the latter.

Yes stlouiedipalma, I honestly believe we are doomed to failure without the courage to right the ship. The idiots currently running the show are either oblivious to what they're doing or know full well that this freight train is about to derail and do not give a damn.

People have been crying about the dollar as the reserve currency for years. The Yuan? Please, while China is an EMERGING economic powerhouse the economy is nowhere near stable enough for the Yuan to act as a reserve currency. There's a reason it's still pegged to the dollar. People though the Euro would emerge as a real contender to replace the dollar and after a few false starts there's really no momentum. And the EU is arguably in as bad if not worse shape than here.

The dollar is not going to collapse. Eventually a second and perhaps third reserve currency will emerge, and that will affect our ability to borrow and result in higher interest rates, but it won't be obscene. Will probably actually be a good thing to impose a bit more fiscal responsibility. Inflation is a very real (and likely) threat. I don't think it will run away, but I suspect a target in the 5-6% range per year is more likely to materialize vs. the 2-3% it's averaged the last 20 years or so. The interesting thing is, despite 0% interest rates and quantitative easing, we aren't seeing strong inflationary forces - that really speaks to how powerful a deflationary force the global economy is becoming.

As a saver, there are 3 basic things you can do to help insulate yourself against inflation: invest in commodities, invest in real estate, and invest in international equities/bonds (*that last one you really want non-dollar denominated funds). Don't go overboard, though - the demise of the US economy/dollar has been predicted off and on for a good 20 years yet has proven surprisingly resilient. I also think many people don't realize that for as bad as things are here, they are nearly as bad (in some cases worse) in other developed economies. The financial/banking crisis was a global one and by no means confined to the US. Housing markets in GB, Australia and other countries have also taken huge hits.

stlouiedipalma;616824 wrote:Sorry, believer, "guys like me" are LOOKING at reality. So many on this site are so embedded in full failure mode they will listen to and repeat anything they hear. Is it that you subscribe to the "throw enough shit against the wall and someday something will stick" mentality, or do you really believe (no pun intended) all of the gloom and doom?

But isn't that exactly what you do when you drop in a thread and the only thing you've got to add is calling people chicken little?

I mean, come on, Louie! LOL

http://townhall.com/columnists/LarryElder/2010/12/30/$5_gas_predicted_under_obama_--_what,_no_pitchforks

Change we can believe in .........

$3.18 in south Florida total BS