Is civilisation collapsing

[SJRM]

TheUnfitOne
Can I ask a sincere but possibly very dumb question;

"Who is owed all this money ?"

Not a dumb question at all - and a question that more people should be asking. Predominantly, this money is owed to financial institutions. Private corporations.

One way of thinking about this - The UK government was borrowing money in the name of the tax payer, from banks in order to stabilise banks.

Something to consider... Money does not disappear, it merely changes hands. Put simply, theres a few people getting filthy rich from the worlds debt, and we pay for it in the form of job cuts, pension collapses, hyper-inflation, home repos, and eventually, as OP posts, the breakdown of our current civilisation.

What a cheery post - MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Don't ever believe that this was caused by consumers borrowing too much on credit cards / personal loans etc, which is widely banded around as the cause! horse shit. Thats the only thing that kept the house of cards from falling for so long.

IMO - This is only the starting point as well. Things will get worse.

[SJRM]

Things aren't actually any worse, in many ways things have never been better, you're all too young to realise that lol!

I'd be interested to hear your views on things being "never better"...

[Bateman]

ok, i'm on the case with this poll, what kind of options are you looking for?

as long as it invloves zombies , boobies and Nandos i think we are good

[Jimmy Boogaloo]

i will work on this and return with a poll

[HomerPlata]

i think civilisation peeked a good few years ago and is now in a downwood cycle..

I typed out a big reply earlier, but this pretty much sums it up. 100% agree.

[Femme-ma]

Not a dumb question at all - and a question that more people should be asking. Predominantly, this money is owed to financial institutions. Private corporations.


Something to consider... Money does not disappear, it merely changes hands. Put simply, theres a few people getting filthy rich from the worlds debt, and we pay for it in the form of job cuts, pension collapses, hyper-inflation, home repos, and eventually, as OP posts, the breakdown of our current civilisation.

You're missing the devauiation of currency in economically failing regions (like ours!)

Also, private corporations owning the world? Cool cyberpunk territory!!!!!

[The Tez]

I'd be interested to hear your views on things being "never better"...

Everyone thinks the current time they are in is the worst ever but despite what it looks like the UK has never been as safe as it is now, violence is down, the 1940s, 50s and 60s were very violent, what makes it look worse is that everything is now more publicised so it looks worse than it is. Unemployment used to be far worse, in the 1920s and the 1970s there were millions out of work. We all moan about the NHS but imagine life without it, it's not perfect but it's better than the old system of only the rich being able to pay for medical care. the NHS only came in after the last war. Imagine watching your children die from what we consider mild diseases and conditions because you can't afford a doctor. You can vote here as soon as you are 18, imgaine women not having the vote and only rich (again the rich) men could vote. Think of the Highland clearances, being chucked out of your home to make way for sheep.
People are now considered poor is they don't have a microwave and a television, not that long ago people were considered poor if they didn't have enough food or clothes. The slums with their outside toilets and no hot water have gone, rickets has gone, no schooling for children and child labour has gone ( that happened not as far back as you think it was still common in the 1950s) as has many things you will thankfully never experience. I could list much much more but won't bore you lol!

Peoples perceptions are different now, what constitutes poverty is different, people think they are badly done by if they don't have a mobile phone and expensive trainers! Trust me, things are better now than they were! It's all in your perspective.

[Mattchoo]

You are correct, the meaning of poverty has changed.

Here is a nice video to show the real difference between the rich and the poor, we are VERY fortunate in this country. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=480_1322463650

[HomerPlata]

Yeah but you can't quote the increasing quality of life as a barometer of whether or not civilisation is on the point of collapse. When a bubble bursts, it doesn't downsize first, or give any clues about when it's about to pop. It just keeps on growing, bigger and bigger, until it reaches the point where it can no longer sustain itself, and then... POP.

It doesn't take that much of an imagination to see how relevant that metaphor is to a society in which everything is in a constant state of expansion/inflation, where the only thing that keeps this way of life alive is constant, unyielding growth.

When a cancer gets too big, it kills its host. Same applies to our civilisation. We might have the most comfortable lives ever at the final point of collapse, but that won't mean a thing the day after.

[Evzy]

As long as the Coffee doesn't run out, I ain't panicking, but once that shit is gone, I am taking some mutha fuckers down.