Outsourcing America 3010

Phil Scott

Phil,

I'm a fairly regular contributor to ACC, so pardon my reply going to the other groups.

You've articulated some of the thoughts *I* have been having over the last 15 or 20 years. I agree that, despite all the propaganda and hype, our society and economy IS in decline and probably has been since the 1970's.

Typically, though, *I* like to contemplate and discuss and then take action on what can be done about it, both societally and at an individual level.

So, some discussion topics I'd like to throw out are:

- When do you see this bust coming? I figure the poo will really hit the fan when the baby boomers start to retire en-mbutte, within the next 3-5 years. One big variable here is the housing "bubble" which is already starting to deflate: Do you think a big enough housing bust would take down the rest of the economy? Is "Helicopter" Bernanke going to print enough money to bail it out? Remember, his JOB is to provide a stable currency NOT to bail out a lot of yuppies with McMansions.

- Is this decline and ultimate bust truly manifest? What could be done to halt these trends or even reverse them? It's obviously going to take a huge shift in our collective political thinking.

- If the societal trends can't be halted or reversed, what can I as an individual do? I've already done some things. I sold my house and one of my cars a couple of years ago and have been living below my means since then. I put 25% of every check into savings, thing is I'm worried about "Helicopter" making my savings worthless. I have a bit invested in precious metals, but that's uncertain as well (broke people don't buy a lot of gold and silver). I'd buy property, but that's still ridiculously over-priced.

Again, this merely touches on the issues at stake here. We could probably write a couple of books about the topic.

Have a great day.

-GB