About

My Photo

What just ain't so:

  • "Social Security is in crisis; it is headed for bankruptcy."
  • "For young people, SS just won’t be there for them when they retire."
  • "The Social Security Trust Fund surplus is just a pile of worthless IOUs for money that the government has collected and already spent; it will renege on them rather than paying them back when due."
  • "Because everything the gov’t administers is inefficient, the gov’t paying for health care would be far less efficient than paying via private health insurance companies. "
  • "Clinton reversed the trend and moved the US budget from big deficits to big surpluses."
  • "It is well established that tax cuts increase government revenue."
  • "Free markets and free trade make everyone better off because they increase GNP and “a rising tide lifts all boats.”

« Lincoln, Obama and Patents | Main | Obama, Please Note: Here's How to Pay for the Stimulus »

February 22, 2009

It can't get this bad here, can it? CAN IT?

The collapsarians have long been with us, exemplified by the cartoon character bearing the sign saying "The end is near!"

A while back, grim survivalists were urging us to tuck in a year's supply of canned goods. We smiled at them then, but maybe it's time to take them more seriously.

Here is a link to a recent talk given by Dmitri Orlov, a Russian-American who thinks that a collapse something like that experienced in Russia in the early 90's  could well happen here, with some significant differences - like the fact that we are much less well prepared to scrape by on our kitchen gardens.

Enjoy!

(A comment from me was posted at 5:48 pm on 2/17.)

Posted at 09:02 AM in Economics |

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00e5500cb646883301127902dd3a28a4

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference It can't get this bad here, can it? CAN IT?:

Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

Posted by:  | 

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Working...
Your comment could not be posted. Error type:
Your comment has been saved. Comments are moderated and will not appear until approved by the author. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Working...

Post a comment

Comments are moderated, and will not appear until the author has approved them.