How Do You Recover From An Economic Collapse?

Posted by UncommonSense 8 years ago to Economics
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The author of this article sounds like he's yearning for The Gulch, but for some reason he's not saying directly, but goes on describing the very essentials of what would make The Gulch THE place to be. No looters!
SOURCE URL: http://alt-market.com/articles/2820-how-do-you-recover-from-an-economic-collapse


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  • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 8 years ago
    Hello UncommonSense,
    According to this article, it would seem that I am in good position. I own a versatile tool and die business. The question of power is of concern though. Gone are the days of water-wheel driven overhead shafts and leather drive belts...
    Respectfully,
    O.A.
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  • Posted by $ Abaco 8 years ago
    This article reminded me of the movie, "The Road". Anybody else see that? Powerful movie.

    America won't experience a collapse like many say it will - a sudden onset of strife. It will be what you're seeing now - a slow, controlled, gradual decline. A technological spark may reverse it. We'll see. A step toward a cashless society, though, plays into the system controlling the decline further.
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    • Posted by mccannon01 8 years ago
      I expect gradual, too, for a while. Then, I expect there will be a "breakover" percentage of decay that, once reached, will result in rapid collapse. Picture a garden decoration like a bronze sundial on a wooden tripod. The legs begin to suffer a parasitic rot and all looks and seems to work well. Then in a moment one of the legs loses its ability to support and the whole thing collapses. The rot reaches a certain percentage and suddenly bye bye! What is the breakover point of the great welfare state when it just collapses? The breakover point of fiat currency? The breakover point of loss of individual liberty? The breakover point of when a people are just too stupid to realize why things are going bad or to even realize things are going bad at all?

      Edit: The only cure as I see it is to identify the rot and repair it before the collapse. I always hope this is possible.
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    • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 8 years ago
      Theyi can't keep the plastic system working how can they switch to cashless or at least use of checks or other paper. Talk about ultimate control....
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      • Posted by $ Abaco 8 years ago
        You can run a hell of a shell game on a cashless society.
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        • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 8 years ago
          That's exactly what they left is doing and as long as they could keep the wolf from taking a seat and pay interest it worked. Now it's in your frace Grandpa and Grandma and retirees. Their aren't enouogh shalls. So they did run a helluva shell game until people like Pelosi and Obama got really personally greedy in a non AR sense. and traded starter dough for pot farms.
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    • Posted by $ jdg 8 years ago
      We are in a gradual decline, like boiling a frog. But I don't see a cashless society coming. Mandate one, and large parts of the economy will move underground. The feds haven't even been able to shut down the marijuana sellers in the four states that have legalized; they certainly won't be able to shut down millions of small businesses for accepting cash (or once cash is totally banned, silver or foreign cash).

      The government may have reached the peak of its abilities. I hope so, anyway.
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    • Posted by $ jlc 8 years ago
      I just looked up The Road. It sounds terribly depressing. Not my thing.

      I agree that we are likely to see a gradual decay rather than a sudden crash, which will make it more difficult to deal with.

      Jan
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      • Posted by $ Abaco 8 years ago
        It is depressing. I think it really hit me hard because I am a father. That's really the story in the story. I actually own the movie on disc and have maybe re-watched it once. The story of a father taking note of his surroundings and deciding to stop at nothing to help his son...Well, I could really relate.
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      • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 8 years ago
        You saw a gradual decay...that phase is over. You saw the first sudden crash and called it something else. You suffer from Mother Gumpitis
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        • Posted by $ jlc 8 years ago
          OH NO - Say it is not SO! NOT Mother Grumpitis!

          OK, I do not actually know what "Mother Grumpitis" is, but it is such an excellent term that I existentially feel that I must suffer from it.

          It will actually be easier to recover from a sudden catastrophic crash than from a slow dwindling of the spirit, but I fear that the latter is what is and will continue to happen. There is a known personality characteristic in humans that expresses different elements under stress than under normal conditions. A person who is normally a risk-taker may suddenly become risk-adverse in a crisis. I think that if we experienced a catastrophic crash, then people might be shaken out of their ennui. Right now we are seeing a slow erosion of both liberty and the desire for liberty and I regard that as very dangerous.

          Jan, suffering now...
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  • Posted by wiggys 8 years ago
    The first paragraph is all you need to read. The cause of the economic collapse is the government of the usa or any other country on the planet. The other problem WE face happens to be the people who put the civil servants in their jobs who are basically to dumb to know they are therefore the supporters of the civil servants causing the collapse. They are their own destroyers. Therefore, there will not be any recover from economic collapse!
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  • Posted by $ blarman 8 years ago
    First there is the ability to address immediate needs: food, shelter, heat, medicine. Those can be procured now and stored for future use, but will eventually give out.

    The bigger question is the one posed by the author: recovering from a more long-term and debilitating crisis. If the power grids are offline for an extended period (months+), our dependence on such for virtually everything will make recovery a slow process. Many people will attempt to move to places that have power, such as those supplied by hydroelectric dams like in the West. The biggest problems will come in areas dependent on shipped power (like high-population areas dominated by eco-nuts: see California, New England).

    After that comes food production, which is highly dependent on fuel. The areas of the nation which have not only oil production but refineries will be able to continue to serve their populations.

    The other major consideration will be monetary and trade value. You can bet that the US dollar is going to be worthless, not only because there will be little if any functional national government, but because most of it is virtual anyway. Precious metals and coinage are going to be the tool of trade.

    One major result will be that there will be no time or ability to allow for moochers. Everyone will be reduced to subsistence living and what little they may have left over will go to trade with others. Those who are accustomed to others paying their way are going to be in for a rather major shock - one that will lead to rioting, looting, and destruction.
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  • Posted by $ MikeMarotta 8 years ago
    Blah... blah... blah... Economic collapse is the pipe dream of haters. The global capitalist future is an open door to many new horizons. "Space is the place; Come to the high frontier."
    "No one in the 17th century who knew only the British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company could have foreseen the Cunard Line, the Northern Pacific Railroad, or TransWorld Airlines and the immense profits made by carrying very ordinary people on very personal missions. The goal then was to haul raw materials (especially gold and silver) back to Europe. No one in 1620 or 1720 could have seen the world of 1820 or 1920. "
    http://necessaryfacts.blogspot.com/20...
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    • Posted by Temlakos 8 years ago
      With this difference. The world has rebuilt a society on empty credit. And they've overextended that credit. Pretty soon everything stops.

      The only way to recover from that, is to rebuild your own economy, bottom-up.
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      • Posted by $ MikeMarotta 8 years ago
        You may have a muscle-mystic view of wealth. Many people here do; and they are not alone: conservatives are goldbugs. Gold is fine, for what it is, but America was not built on gold.

        Credit moved the world out of the paleolithic era.
        See here: "Debt - the seed of civilization"
        http://necessaryfacts.blogspot.com/20...

        If you read Atlas Shrugged the same theory is in there, also, actually. While gold stands symbolically important as wealth in private hands, the motor of the world was not gold. Midas Mulligan extended credit to the engines of creation.
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        • Posted by Temlakos 8 years ago
          Midas Mulligan always--always--had something at the back of that credit. His was a full-reserve bank--not the fractional-reserve bank with which you are familiar.
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          • Posted by $ MikeMarotta 8 years ago
            You will find the answer in Part 3 Chapter I, "Atlantis" on page 690 in the standard paperback edition. Midas Milligan quit when the courts ruled in favor of the Hunsacker gang. It was the same case that prompted Judge Narragansett to resign the bench.

            Mulligan was a banker in the context of the American society described in the book. We can only assume that the banks were fractional reserve and the traffic lights were red on top and green on the bottom.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 8 years ago
    First, pay off everything you can and keep a good hunk of savings in cash. Pay off the house, the car, and as many big ticket items as possible. Unless you're a financial Wiz, don't try any get rich quick stuff.
    BUT: (There's that big but again) in doing that you might survive, but the guys with courage will be doing the opposite and gambling with the lower prices. They may lose all, but then, they may become jillionaires.
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  • Posted by mia767ca 8 years ago
    in the last 3 economic collapses in America caused by the Fed, we were an agrarian economy and we recovered fairly quickly...
    in today's complex economic society, we will be thrown back to the 1800's...it will not be pretty...we are already economically beyond the point of avoiding a collapse..the only unknown is the timing of the collapse...prepare now and be ready to survive...
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    • Posted by term2 8 years ago
      we would all need to be able to survive on our own for a year or so while some infrastructure was restored. This means feeding ourselves, getting water, getting around at least somewhat, and restoring power (solar and wind ??). It is possible to live off vegetarian foods, although it would take a bit of restructuring of our diets
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