How Terrified Are You?

Meh. Whatever. Worst case, I'll just pack up and go to Asia.

Well, terrified is a strong term - probably around 4.

The basic elements for a global economy are still in existence: labour, skills, natural resources etc; it's a matter of confidence and getting systems working.

Might have left it a bit late to buy smallholding in country with geese, chickens, etc, and hidden cellar full of tinned beans. 'Meh whatever' seconded though.

More worried about global climate disaster - but que sera sera is the mantra there too.

Ooh... I want chickens. I'd never be terrified if I had chickens. Eggs + meat + a certain degree of constant, low-level amusement. The chickens might be terrified, though.

http://videodetective.com/photos/348/001461_29.jpg

http://videodetective.com/photos/348/001461_29.jpg

I was a lot more scared this time last year, when it was all kicking off, and it was my actual job that was toast in the meltdown. Now, it's a bit more "meh" because I've had some time to get used to it, I guess.

i'm a bit concerned because I need to get rid of my apartment and that business not looking good right now. otherwise not so much

More worried about global climate disaster - but que sera sera is the mantra there too.

This and the global economy will inter-relate more and more over time, probably quicker than predicted...Raising questions about how much Governments should intervene e.g. forcing companies to become more low carbon friendly, possibly rationing flights etc...

I worry about climate change for my kids' sake. Personally I'm always looking forward to a good old-fashioned apocalypse. It'll make a nice change from work.

Mind you, Lidl seemed very weirdly stocked yesterday. Hope this isn't a collapse of the Pound thing.

I'm worried that some of my pals will lose their jobs and be reduced to destitution, and then a mob of starving former bankers will storm my office and lynch my fellow public sector workers.

I'm planning to watch it on cable.

sometimes a 24 and then sometimes my usual state of mind which is 10.

2. Mild concern but, y'know, fuck it: party had to end some time and after the shit I've spent the past 20 years spouting I can hardly go "WAU WAU WAU WESTERN CAPITALISM", can I?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got my shoes to eat.

I recommend the fried sole...

I voted 1. Not to be all challopsy or anything, but it's like... I can't imagine myself or any of my friends or relatives starving to death, so everything else just seems kind of tangential. The Great Depression sucked, but people learned to deal with it; it's just what you do. If things do get really rough, hopefully it will just encourage people to be more generous, more helpful, more of a good old-fashioned community.

I guess I'm a little worried about my mom's medical bills, but she's got good insurance, so it's not like she's going to be plunged into penury or anything.

yeah i voted 3. more worried about other people

yeah the current "economic donturn" is microscopic beans compared to climate change

well im probably about a 0 on that issue tbh

i wish i was you.

6, as in, that's my best guess for the number of years before we view rats and roaches as food sources rather than pests.

If you don't own anything or have any money in the first place, you have nothing to lose!

I'm fine with the coming apocalypse as long as it still has the internet.

Once you start losing stuff, you can find yourself amazed at what can be lost.

Okay:
• internet
• husband

dog

those are the things I don't wan to lose.

I think it also helps that most of my hobbies are pretty cheap: reading (I like buyin' books, but libraries are cool too), surfing the internet (requires electricity and internet access, which will hopefully remain freely available in libraries and other places, and a computer, which I have and will try not to lose to hordes of marauding bandits), writing (again, computer + electricity; could also use pen and paper of course, though that would end up being a bit more expensive)

You can do a whole lot with nothing but a computer + electricity. Like, earn a living, even.

As far as what can be lost, I really wasn't kidding (much) about rats and roaches earlier. My guess is that hunger in America will make a big comeback before we're done here.

How long can you live off of beer?

the prospect of millions of people slipping from middle class to being poor is a bit terrifying. It's not like we do a great job supporting the lower class in the present state of things.

Also, it's kind of sad to think about friends and family facing the prospect of a "lost decade" where their aspirations and goals in life are unobtainable for a lengthy period of time.

Plus the government has no real answer to this present mess. The bailout didn't work, and 700 billion dollars could have done a lot of good in our society.

So maybe not terrifying, but pretty darn worrisome.

Also, it's kind of sad to think about friends and family facing the prospect of a "lost decade" where their aspirations and goals in life are unobtainable for a lengthy period of time.

If they are unwilling to change their aspirations and goals in the face of a changed situation, fuck 'em.

I'm more worried about the impendingness of it all than I am about any actual scenario - people will adapt and get used to stuff and scale back. Worse case scenario I've got friends with 20 acres and a well and a woodstove (and chickens!) near Lake Superior and it would give everyone an excuse to finally say fuck it and form a commune.

If they are unwilling to change their aspirations and goals in the face of a changed situation, fuck 'em.

I wonder if you would pass that test as easily as you think.

Perhaps we will all find out together.

Everyone will. What's the alternative? You *have* to.

Maybe we'll all learn to live with less, something our parents, grandparents and ancestors were able to do.

ILX commune.

Hmm.

Personally I don't have problems with change. I have a problem with the unknown.

xpost I wonder who are leader is and what drug he's gonna make us take. Ironic pills most probably

1. basically, what abbott said, as long as we have internet I don't fear the econapocolypse

will be dead before global climate disaster is meaningful. also a 1 on tht

ILX commune.

Hmm.

Everyone gets a tiny cubicle and a laptop, we have beers together at night, and no one ever does the dishes.

Bagsy being the dude who goes nuts and kills somebody in a fight over who ate the last slice of tofu.

I voted 5 - but I'm less worried than I was three months or so ago. We've hopefully got enough work on to keep our (very small and low-overhead) business going for the rest of the year, even if we get nothing else in at all. And I have a safety net of family nearby and enough savings to get by for a few months if I do lose my job. I'm more worried about other people.

ILX commune sounds just like my houe (except we have desktops).

will be dead before global climate disaster is meaningful

Global climate/biodiversity disaster is in progress and already meaningful for many many people!

in this commune we will produce bails upon bails of sardonic text. we will sell this bounty at liberal arts colleges and music festivals. we will have 3-5 sex partners and a complete ban on racially charged bottle openers.

1

I hope to profit from the misfortune of others.

yeh I know z s but still, meh

Meanwhile, it's Police State time except it's not really...

OMG is that M?

Changed a lot since the days of "Pop Muzik"...

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Well shit, now I'm all anxious about knowing how terrified everyone else is. FUCK! I'll never sleep tonight.

Also, I like California. Lose Texas. They'll be thrilled! It'll take most of them years to stop beaming with outsized pride before they realize they're broke and ass-fucked 20 times over.

YES, I am for getting rid of Texas. for what evvvvvvvver reason

I am for getting rid of Texas on ly for the reason I mentioned. Abbott, your Texas hate does not take into account the fact that it's huge and diverse and there are some really nice people to be found there, even outside of (ugh) Austin.

:(

I've only been to the Fort Worth area and El Paso. I am pretty sure my hate is genetic. I should maybe stop being such a hater.

btw I AM TERRIFIED AS FUCK THANKS TO ELMO SCARING ME ON THE THREAD WHERE I ASKED PEOPLE TO SCARE ME.

wait I didn't mean that to be in all caps! Sorry, y'all.

You assholes can get your own awesome meteor panic footage then.

explain yrself, abbot

You have one hour to scare me!

motherfuckers be breakin my heart in this bitch

there there, Hoos
there there

if i promise not to break yr heart will u send cookies

no doubt

I'm sorry, Hoos. I really got so sick of Austin. It's like the Seattle "grunge" scene, except there aren't any bands around writing songs about how overblown it is. Or anyone stopping suburbia creeping in, even a little. Or anyone, say, building light rail. (Man, they killed that idea when I still lived there... how many times have they killed it since then?) It's a southern city, and it's only going to become a big southern city, and I left.

The writer lives in Chipley.

where the fuck is chipley

Can anyone let me know where that David Icke rant actually came from? I've been unsuccessfully trying to find it.

They actually have some pretty halfassed light rail about to begin service. Naturally it's placed to benefit only the exurb whiteys.

Gold price is ridiculously high! When people come to sell scrap gold and fucking complain, I just wanna SLAP their face. Srsly. A couple of years ago they would have gotten less than half ffs.

Can anyone let me know where that David Icke rant actually came from? I've been unsuccessfully trying to find it.

I don't know but I did find out that (according to The Sun) he is hanging out with Robbie Williams.

And also that Sun readers are discussing whether it is wrong to release Peter Sutcliffe. Turns out it would be wrong.

This thread makes me somewhat terrified, but round here we're hardly even seeing the supposed house price crash - prices bobbed down maybe 10% last year and haven't gone down any further since. Not saying it's not gonna hurt, just that I would really hate to have to predict either way (which is a shame when for the first time I'm in a position where I could just about afford a mortgage on a flat and various people are telling me I should get in now before that 10% dip disappears, and then on the other hand folks here are all "jesus fuck, we're all gonna die").

Then again, I was in Dublin at the weekend where we paid £30 for two burgers + one portion of chips + a can of coke + a half of lager, so, um, ouch.

(Friend of a friend went a little nuts last year and changed his myspace to have giant OBAMA = ANTICHRIST jpegs all over it and replaced all the content with a paste of Icke's rant about Obama, find out the TRUTH about global warming, etc. Great fun. Now all mention of Icke has been purged. I have no idea...)

PS regarding Irish jaunt I got up at five fucking a.m. this morning after Easyjet titted me about last night and I had to swap flights, so yeah, don't expect anything I'm posting to make sense

http://blogs.kpbs.org/images/uploads/Happy23.jpg

space cadet, how well Ireland fares will depend on a few factors that are easy to specify: 1) how much easy credit was extended to extremely poor credit risks by Irish lenders, and 2) how much money Irish banks and investors plunked into bonds that were backed by insanely bad loans made in other countries.

If neither of these problems exist to any great extent, then Ireland's problems will be smaller than, say, the USA's or Britain's. You'll just suffer a fairly stiff recession as world trade goes in the shitbin. Otherwise, you're just experiencing a delayed reaction that will catch up to you in a few more months.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

damn, 155 votes may be a record turnout.

Don't worry guys, I got it covered

http://i40.tinypic.com/8xk6xj.jpg

http://i43.tinypic.com/2yp0j20.jpg

should be steel needles plunging toward eyeballs amirite

z_s i will be honest i did not really get why dudes were trippin balls to say they <3'd u before but ok with those graphs i <3 u dogg

An effective graph can give you a new perspective on things you thought you already understood.

<3

so which option was "doo doo brown" again?

xpost to self

That was the cheesiest thing I have ever EVER said, new record.

Renowned investor George Soros said on Friday the world financial system has effectively disintegrated, adding that there is yet no prospect of a near-term resolution to the crisis.

Soros said the turbulence is actually more severe than during the Great Depression, comparing the current situation to the demise of the Soviet Union.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/02/21-0

Renowned investor George Soros could smell an economy burning, and he knew it was our own.

space cadet, how well Ireland fares will depend on a few factors that are easy to specify: 1) how much easy credit was extended to extremely poor credit risks by Irish lenders, and 2) how much money Irish banks and investors plunked into bonds that were backed by insanely bad loans made in other countries.

If neither of these problems exist to any great extent, then Ireland's problems will be smaller than, say, the USA's or Britain's.

oh, lol n stuff.

1) all of it.
2) all of it.

a lotta sang-froid motherfuckers round here ...

How Terrified Are You?

http://i41.tinypic.com/2hg8epy.jpg

1 out of 10 because my apartment is pretty strong and Godzilla is in a different neighborhood.

jokes jokes

any yall see that cnn poll where 2/3rds of americans say they are "very scared" about the direction the nation is headed in

http://a.abcnews.com/images/Politics/ap_fiscal_obama_mccain_090223_mn.jpg

Um, oh shit...
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/02/will-eastern-europe-trigger-financial.html

I am terrified.

^^^^ more coherent than rush limbaugh, sean hannity, etc. etc.

I am completely terrified.

repoll

good idea