Global economic meltdown..

Well, there's a cheery thought.

Visitor13 wrote: chopper wrote: Well, there's a cheery thought. Nah, the cheery thought is that gas prices seem to be back to sane levels - at least in the US.

I don't know what "sane levels" are, and the prices have dropped, but are still far above where they were last year - right now about $3.60/gallon* average across the nation (there are significant variations locally).

*UK residents can proceed with their obligatory sneer about how low that price really is

Blacksword wrote: BaldJean wrote: chopper wrote: BaldJean wrote: I don't believe in a recession at all. some banks collapsed, yes. so what? banks only deal with money, which has no value in itself. the factories are all still there. the manpower also is all still there. so this is nothing that can't be overcome. it would be different if there had been some big natural catastrophe. but the crash of a bank only is a pseudo-catastrophe.mark that I am not saying it won't affect us at all. but please put it into perspective Speaking as employee of a bank with 50,000 odd employees around the world, the crash of a bank is a bit more than a pseudo-catastrophe. it is a personal catastrophe for you, and I feel really sad for you and certainly don't want to make light of it. however, something like that was to be expected, and we (Friede and I) have been waiting for it for years. we knew this bubble would burst sooner or later. it is actually amazing it did not burst earlier.nevertheless, one should not confuse this with a real catastrophe. the real values still exist. but when dealing with symbols of symbols of symbols of symbols, as it happens in the stock market, people lose touch of reality. a share is a piece of paper, nothing more. this would not have happened had the responsible people kept that in mind. but it is a fact that human beings can't deal with too many layers of abstraction, as is the case when dealing with the stock market (there are at least 5 layers of abstraction involved when dealing with it).I sincerely hope you will get out of your personal trouble very soon and keep my fingers crossed for you Well, I sympathise with the philosophy of what you're saying, but the fact is money is the only viable currency that holds our culture together. People will not provide services for nothing - aprt from charities of course, and most charities only achieve a fraction of what they would like because they dont have enough money! Western culture is based around the acquisition of wealth, and not much else. While this ideal is cleary flawed, replacing this ideal with a new and non materialistic philosophy for all, is simply not going to happen. Only ahuge global environmental tragedy or a nuclear war will see food, water, medicine and expertise for free, replace money as currency, and I hardly think the aftermath of that is the hippy utopia we are dreaming of. That said, yes, it's only a recession, but I think the concerns this time round are based on the idea that we may have created conditions that may be irreversable.

I don't plan to replace it at all. money is a necessary evil. but how long do you think it will take until the assets of those firms that went bankrupt will be taken over by others? and these overtaking firms will need employees again. so while of course many people will be in a tight spot right now, in the long run they won't. that's what I mean with "the real values still exist". a natural catastrophe would have destroyed many of the resources that are now still available. and a human life can't be replaced at all. that's what real catastrophes are about


Edited by BaldJean - October 08 2008 at 11:51

NaturalScience wrote: Visitor13 wrote: chopper wrote: Well, there's a cheery thought. Nah, the cheery thought is that gas prices seem to be back to sane levels - at least in the US. I don't know what "sane levels" are, and the prices have dropped, but are still far above where they were last year - right now about $3.60/gallon* average across the nation (there are significant variations locally). *UK residents can proceed with their obligatory sneer about how low that price really is

Not only UK, but us Germans too. That price means roughly $0.95 per liter, and we currently pay €1,37 ... wait, actually it's "they", because I currently don't have a car. Instead of paying for a car, driving it every day (commute) and then spend additional money on work outs / gym, I simply use a bicycle.

Me = almost 20, college, philosophy major, modern life disdainer

In a way, I want a global economic meltdown, though it would be nice to know exactly what that would entail. I have no idea what the future holds for me, I'm not content with my path in life as I see it now, I hate how people today have no real values except for the odd person here or there, I hate how boring and routine life has become, I hate the drudgery of the day, and I think human beings are largely keeping themselves in cages because of modern life.

Mixing this life up a bit would be good. I'd rather have a shorter life where I can live more freely and fully than have a longer, typical, and "soma"-ified life. And I haven't even read Brave New World.

If, however, I was middle-aged, married, with kids, I'd probably have pissed my pants multiple times by now in worry. But I'm not, so nyah nyah

Oh, my choice was 'other' - it's simply too early to tell, something has definitely ended, but it's too early to tell just how big that something is.

In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter.  In 100 trillion years, the universe will be nothing but a dead, cold, black place anyway.  Now there's a cheery thought. 

tszirmay wrote:   By the way, the most precise calendar ever (Mayan) ends on Dec 21 2012 , with no explanation at all, not  ahint. We have any thoughts on that?

Yeah, Don't Panic and you'd better know where your towel is.

Now where did I put that sub-etha radio?




Edited by Slartibartfast - October 08 2008 at 19:35

NaturalScience wrote: Visitor13 wrote: chopper wrote: Well, there's a cheery thought. Nah, the cheery thought is that gas prices seem to be back to sane levels - at least in the US. I don't know what "sane levels" are, and the prices have dropped, but are still far above where they were last year - right now about $3.60/gallon* average across the nation (there are significant variations locally). *UK residents can proceed with their obligatory sneer about how low that price really is