stuffthatmatter

You're not being a pompous prick at all; in fact, your arguments are thorough and to the point. And I do admit I am using dramatic statistics, but it is because I am trying to present evidence to an audience unfamiliar to the area of topic.

And the statistics are dramatic ....well...because they are. That's how bad things are.

I was talking more about the economy with my list.

As far as deflation is concerned, there's deflation in things we want (houses, cars, luxury items), and inflation in things we need (food, oil, gas, utilities).

Until hyperinflation hits, of course.

You believe the same Fed that gave bankers billions of dollars and is actively working against congress to be audited, is going to 'decrease the money supply', ignore our huge debt and save us all?

You are drinking alot of government kool-aid. Keep watching CNBC.

I said "100T+ debt owed to foreign countries and to ourselves"

For a brief summary, check this link http://www.usdebtclock.org/

The link doesn't include US company debts (10T), or derivatives owed to other countries (200T)

there's one incorrect logic in your statement:

You assume US can just slam on the brakes and the brakes would stop the car completely. When in fact, with the massive amount of baby boomers retiring/draining SS and medicare, the disappearance of our manufacturing sectors, the increasing commodity (food, oil) prices, and the need to pay back 100T+ debt owed to foreign countries and to ourselves, I suggest that it is impossible.

30%-40% first night

Regarding the currency crash, actually you just need one country (i.e Russia) or a hedge fund dumping a large amount of dollars, forcing others to dump theirs as well in a speedy fashion (kinda like everybody rushing toward the fire exit when someone triggered an alarm)

Yup...Germany has savings, while we have a negative savings rate (think it was -5% in 2008....might be better now)

True....to a degree. Our agriculture exports would soar. But alot of other things we produce are complex/advanced products, which depends on cheap parts/oil from....other countries.

As for the military, well, China will pick a good time to crash the dollar (when they've liquidated most of their dollar reserves). Then they'll be able to bring US to its knees without firing a single bullet. Why shouldn't they? it's their turn to be the empire.

hyperinflation has to do with a loss of faith in the currency. Foreign debt holders know that this America empire is sailing into sunset, and has no way to pay its trillions of dollars back. They'll all dump it one night, causing the dollar to drop 30-40%

The fed's just gonna have to print...and print...and print. hyperinflation here we come.

I wonder which day will be the day the fat man eats a mint and blows up

we'll be in a great depression soon

Agreed; I already pay very little taxes in income and spending. I am going to Asia for a year soon also.

It's really not that complicated.

People are walking away from debt obligations. - mortgages (12% of all mortgage, 50% subprime, 50% options) - credit cards (13% default) - personal bankruptcies (up 28% in second quarter)

federal/states/local governments are walking away from debt obligation - pension reduction - massive printing of dollar, $250B treasury selling this week

Companies are walking away from debt obligation - commercial mortgages delinquency up 586% this half - pension discharged by bankruptcy

Guess who's paying for this. That's right; the taxpayers.

So. Are you the sucker that's gonna keep on paying taxes?

All these you can google yourself (too many links to list here) I didn't come here to list all the bad things, since I doubt you even comprehend 1% of the atrocities. Therefore, I kept it simple for you.

I didn't feel like working so that my neighbor can walk away from their mortgage and my relatives can walk away from their credit card debt. So I don't anymore.

I am so glad I barely pay any taxes anymore (income and spending)

Those investors (no idea what they were doing to begin with) already got spooked by the 60% drop and pulled out of 401k/into bonds. I mean the average investors who have some knowledge of the market, and have decent capital (20k-200k) but is just trading normally using online trading services.

True, but stories like this makes them pull out of equity funds and into bond funds.

When the average investors leave the market because of this, front running (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_running), , and the fact that small number of firms (~400) is involved in 70% of the US trading volume (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a5f03366-6d69-11de-8b19-00144feabd...), will they ever come back?

I don't think it's common knowledge. New York Times just did a piece on how companies like goldman sachs profit from high frequency trading

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/business/24trading.html?_r...

Trading equities has turned into a casino. With bots.

3T debt held by foreigners 57T unfunded liabilities (social security, medicare)

Retirees will suffer the most.

well, if we have hyperinflation, it would crash the internal economy, since everything we do depends on oil in this country, and oil price would skyrocket

you got a point; I think a good mix of industrial/agriculture/service industry is a stable base for any economy.

What? no. You see more realtors after housing prices dropped? You see more car salespeople after car prices dropped?

Becuase we're proved that a economy based on financial engineering and construction and selling each other houses has worked so well?

Ah yes, the American optimism. Obama's hopism.

(1) Large opportunities are available for businesses to invest and make money.

- where? VCs obviously don't think so. VC down 50% http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/17/venture-capital-down-50...

(2) People start spending money again because consumer confidence improves.

- How? They have no savings, and their credit's being pulled.

Incorrect. With global demand dropping sharply, there's actually not enough work to do. We cranked up the credit machine the past few years to make sure there were enough work to do.

Again, too much supply, not enough demand.

I pay very little tax (both in income and spending) and my wealth is not in dollar