127 replies to this topic

[Haflinger]

Are you sure about that now?

 

Sometimes I think I'm talking to an Englishman in 1914.

[Redezra]

Infinitely sure. Without us, China is nothing. Without us, the middle east is nothing. Without us, Russia is nothing. Our consumerist culture is the lynchpin of the global economy and our sanctions can severely injure nations.

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

The problem is that it's all imaginary.  We are buying Chinese goods with money borrowed from China itself.  It's like the bank giving you a credit card so you can buy more stuff from the bank itself.  In the end, all the bank is going to get is a massive IOU that can never be paid.  It's all okay as long as everyone agrees that credit is just as good as actual money, but it's like an enormous house of cards — sooner or later it's going to come crashing down.

[Redezra]

Well yeah, but for the time being we're all good.

 

Look, as I said earlier, I don't like this state of affairs. But I can't change it, so I'll operate within it.

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

Those of us in developed countries will certainly weather any crisis better than most, given the resources available to us.  But consider Australia's situation: nearly everything has to be imported.  Does Australia produce enough food to feed itself if the global trade infrastructure broke down?  That sounds ludicrous, I know, but in 1899 the idea that Germany would bring the world to her knees not once but twice in the first half of the coming century would have seemed ludicrous.  In the Spring of 1968 the idea of a world without the Soviet Union seemed ludicrous.  A lot of things seems ludicrous until they happen, and then they're just what happened.  I believe there is a storm coming, the only question is how big?

[KiWi]

Those of us in developed countries will certainly weather any crisis better than most, given the resources available to us.  But consider Australia's situation: nearly everything has to be imported.  Does Australia produce enough food to feed itself if the global trade infrastructure broke down?  That sounds ludicrous, I know, but in 1899 the idea that Germany would bring the world to her knees not once but twice in the first half of the coming century would have seemed ludicrous.  In the Spring of 1968 the idea of a world without the Soviet Union seemed ludicrous.  A lot of things seems ludicrous until they happen, and then they're just what happened.  I believe there is a storm coming, the only question is how big?

Why are you not working on a novel on politics?

[Redezra]

.... Yeah, why aren't you writing this all down and starting a political movement?

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

Hmm.  You mean like some kind of manifesto?  I like the sound of that...