Is Imminent Economic Collapse And Financial Crash Headed Our Way?

01/16/11

Is a complete and total economic collapse of not only the United States, but the entire world, imminent? I won't play the role of doomsday prophet. I won't make wild predictions. I won't reassure people "everything's gonna be all right" when I don't know for certain. What I can do is explain the steps and procedures required to create a complete and total economic collapse. From there, use your own judgment. Total economic collapses are caused by a large series of economic bubbles that burst. . .

The first bubble to collapse is financial. Large financial insolvency has arrived. Bank after bank is declaring bankruptcy. Insurance companies no longer have the funds to protect you. The stock market has crashed. People start to panic, grinding the entire economy to a stand still. Banks no longer hand out loans to aspiring people who wish to start a business. Mortgage loans are kept tight. Real estate values go down, defunct mortgage loans are discovered, and record foreclosures take place. The government rises or lowers interest rates to either extreme. There is a devaluation in currency.

The second bubble to collapse is in commercial real estate. Little new business is created due to banks not being able to issue out loans. Venture capitalists play conservative, refusing to take the risks involved in opening up unproven small businesses. Everyone has lost their money due to the financial collapse. Consumption is down. Demand is nonexistent for many industries who are forced into closing shop. Commercial real estate values plummet to prices even lower than that of housing. However, there exist very little capita amongst the people, so very few can take advantage of this situation. Eventually many buildings are left abandoned and become an environmental hazard due to improper maintenance.

The third bubble is the complete collapse of the educational system. Fees to get into college become vastly unaffordable. People who get college degrees cannot find jobs, and those jobs are never coming back. Young people are in enormous debt with rising interest rates. Even if they do manage to get a job, taxes and student loans take more than 50% of their incomes. Riots will hit the streets. People no longer see the value in going to college because of the current economy. High School kids drop out of school to assist their parents by working around the house or at a job. Younger couples with dwindling resources will have fewer children in order to cope. Demand for schools become non existent with declining student admissions across the board at every level. Schools shut down causing an enormous and sudden spike in unemployment.

The government announces that it no longer has the tax base necessary to support itself. As such, martial law is declared, all but the most vital members of government are removed from office. The government becomes a skeleton crew. All social services are cut. Unrest throughout the entire populace ensues as they’re demanding elections. The military is then used to police their own citizens.

Military forces become disgruntled due to low pay, little food, and the idea of attacking their own citizens. Gang groups soon emerge with technology and weapons just as advanced as the military. The military simply cannot keep up with the growing gangs and become exhausted. Millions upon millions will die. Eventually many generals defect out of the force and form their own independent battalions that rebel against the remnants of the remaining government.

People have less and less time and money to donate to charitable causes. The reason why charities and non profits will be able to survive most of the economic collapse, are because they have huge demand and essential services in such an environment, but even they will succumb to the weight of economic collapse. People will lose faith in the charities because scams under the charitable banner will raise ten folds. Religious fanatics will emerge across all spectrums. As people lose everything, they become delusional and blame "this god" for causing all the trouble and feel "their god" is right. Religious gang wars increase at astronomical levels. Places of worship often get burned or razed to the ground. Clinics shut down and essentially turn into morgues.

Farmers may be able to withstand the economic collapse longer than most because they offer the most essential service out of us all, but even they will succumb under the weight of economic collapse. As food prices continue to increase and add up to more than 60% of what people earn, people will resort to farming and livestock close to their own homes and communities. It will simply be unaffordable to have the food transported into the cities and/or towns. In many cases, due to decaying infrastructures, it will simply be impossible for farmers to even bring the food to their customers. The result being big agriculture business will collapse and be replaced by a mostly agrarian society with some advanced technologies such as electricity (that will most likely fall under curfew and schedules) and the Internet. Our large advanced technological farms that make up only 2% of the land, yet were able to feed most of the population, will now be out of business. There will be coming food shortage because we have insufficient land space/allocation to meet an agrarian society and in many cases’ people will fail to adapt to this new reality

The rebel military forces announce they have done a coup d'etat on the remaining government. Marshall law comes to a close and an adjunct government is appointed until the country has sufficient basic infrastructures to conduct honest and fair elections. The wealthy who brought the crisis about are discovered and hung in town square. The few ordinary folk who managed any savings and didn't go into debt before the crises begin buying up the commercial real estate and rebuilding the businesses. The community gets together and rebuilds the burned down places of worship. Community clinics are built. The one room school house and/or home schooling return back in style.

-Donovan D. Westhaver