I found out who will make them shut down.

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/20...nowskiSigs.jpg

How? Really, I don't see how. Let's say the U.S. goes trillions into debt. That doesn't matter. Non of our actual goods disappear, we still have them. Nobody would be dumb enough to invade the U.S. The U.S. has so much nationalism that pretty much every man would take up arms to defend their homeland. (Not saying nationalism is a good thing always, just what would happen)

I really don't get how we could shut down? Debt is a number, if other countries stop trading with us, we would either produce our own stuff, or say "Too bad, trade with us"

I sincerely hope no country is dumb enough to invade the U.S., because I really don't want atomic bombs to fly everywhere.

It's not April 1st yet, people. You're a day early.

The most likely outcome of the US government's debasing of the US dollar through monetizing the debt is hyperinflation. It would have almost certainly already happened if the USD wasn't the world's reserve currency. Whenever a country tries to change that (say, accept Euros for oil) they get sat on in the worst way by the US.

It doesn't make the news much because too many people don't understand the numbers involved and find the topic boring. That will change when the economic collapse reaches critical mass. Hard to say when that will happen, but they can't keep up this shell game forever.

The world is losing faith in the U.S. dollar. We have some goods & food, but we are like the world's #1 consumer of goods (buyers). Alot of retail items come from China & they are gonna get fed up with our U.S. fiat currency that is declining in value whille the Gov just prints more of it like they think they can do anything they want & no-one can/will stop them.

The only reason we produce so much food is because of oil, & the world will reach (if it hasnt already) "peak oil". When the price of oil begins to accelerate, modern-day farmers may produce less &/or charge more for food & that will trickle down to the supply & transportation cost of this food which its final destination is us the consumer.

I just think just like the fall of Rome, we will see the fall of he U.S.'s or even global "standard (style) of living" + fall of Gov.

Huh? No, we produce so much food because people will buy it. People buy stuff because either A) they feel they have to, or B) they want to. Food falls in Category A. People aren't going to stop buying food when the prices go up (e.g., because of oil and other production costs going up), they're going to stop buying Category B items. And is that really such a bad thing?

Evolutionary forces are at work on our unsustainable way of life in this country. That's not necessarily something to be upset about!

The government does not print money to finance its debts. It issues bonds to private investors or foreign governments. These bonds carry interest on them. The less likely it seems that the bond will be paid back (risk), the more interest that is paid on the bond.

Take a look at these graphs:

2 Year Treasury Yields
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/images...bonds-23-1.png

5 Year Treasury Yields:
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/images...bonds-23-2.png

US – White
Germany – Red
UK – Blue
Portugal – Orange
Italy – Green
Greece – Yellow
Spain - Purple

If you followed the crisis in Greece recently, you can see why their economy went downhill. As far as the U.S. goes, there isn't an imminent collapse coming. We're considered to be one of the safest investments out there. If this number does shoot up, however, then be afraid!! be very afraid!

It should also be noted that printing more money does not necessarily decline the value of a currency. In fact it can even raise the value of currency in some instances. The value of our currency is simply based upon the ratio of how much demand there is for a currency over how much supply there is. In short, if more people want our currency, then its value tends to go up.

Let them make ethanol :P.

Well the US as a superpower/empire collapse? Absolutely, because that's what superpower DO and honestly, you can already see the cracks. Although I'm guessing it'll be more like the decline of the British Empire than Rome - no barbarian hordes, just decreasing in influence and troops posted overseas.

Will this has happen in the next MONTH? So exceedingly unlikely. It'll take more years.

That would be interesting if it did happen.

I wouldn't say that its so much a decline. More of it has to do with the rise of everyone else. There will be problems ahead but the U.S. economy will continue to grow; however, its share as a % of the world economy will plumet.

I actually would say that the US is on the way down. At least, it's giving that impression from the outside. I just don't think it's going to happen any time soon.

The recession is resulted in some lost years of growth. Those will probrably never be recovered. Big business is actually booming again and there is plenty of growth in job market; however, most of that is for highly specialized professions. This is reflected in increasing prosperity among the higher income brackets these days. Demand for unskilled labor remains lower than ever. Many people are unemployed because they don't have the necessary qualifications for the new job market. This often gets reflected in the general mood of the media.

http://static2.businessinsider.com/i...n-feb-2011.jpg

The days of just landing a well paying job with early retirement right out of high school without higher education is over and many people are really feeling the hurt because of that. Those jobs aren't coming back.

The military is stretched to breaking point by the wars in the middle east, and thanks to Truman, the US has been stuck with a wartime economy. That isn't sustainable - if nothing else, it's going to be harder and harder to justify more wars and invasions, of which the US has had a LOT. Not to mention that the cultural conditions that enabled the US to swagger about the world stage are slowly changing.

Demand for unskilled labor remains lower than ever. <-- yeah. That's not a good thing, particularly not with the cost of schooling. That trend continues, you are going to have more and more people unable to get the qualifications they need. Meaning more unemployment, which'll lead to more instability. Also, more homeless as they can't afford housing, and so on and so forth. To go back to Rome, look at the unemployment rates for citizens thanks to the slave-trade. That, too, contributed to its fall.

Like I said, I don't think the US is falling anytime soon. But it's getting there.

I disagree. Most of this declining influence will come from the rise of other regional superpowers. The military will remain very large as far as I can predict. The U.S. will continue to keep pumping huge amounts of money into defense spending (though it may dip a little). Unfortunately under George W. Bush, we went into two wars without raising taxes (lowering them a lot in fact) or by cutting spending in other areas to pay for them. The size of the military pales in comparison with what it once was during the cold war and the U.S. did not have problems funding it then.

While the U.S. will continue to have a major military presence globally, its not going to be the only major player on the block anymore. In South America, Brazil is rising in influence, in other parts of the world, we will be competing with China, etc.
------
As for unemployment, its going to cause some short term problems (see the state of our polarized politics right now) but its far from anything critical thats going to cause mass rioting. The labor market will eventually adjust itself over the long term.


Now don't get me wrong. We are going to take a hit but its not going to be THAT big or pronounced. I'd also be very supportive of a more multipolar world but at the rate things are going, I don't think thats going to happen. We will see several big players swaggering around the world stage again. In quite a few cases, the way I see that things will play out doesn't necessarily reflect what I would like to see occur.

Fair enough! We'll have to agree to disagree, but...well, it'll be interesting.