Even though we burn wood (which I cut off our property), we still consumed 850 gal. of LPG last year .... @~$2.75/gal. ------------------------> ~$2,400/year
Both my wife and I drive as little as possible, yet we burn ~25 gal./week total in our gas tanks.....@~$3.70/ga. ---> ~$4,800/year
and that's pushing ~14% of my NET income (after they lop out ~$1,000/mo. for health insurance)
Now here's the catch....
It's looking VERY LIKELY that gas is going to go up to $5.00/gal. by fall of '08.
That's going to tack on another ~$1,700/year just to pay for gas.
LPG will probably go up ~10%, so that's another $240
Then there's FOOD!!!
Milk and eggs and everything else is going through the roof!
From what I'm reading.....food prices are going to DOUBLE in the next year or two! And I'm feeding a family of 5 with 3 of them in the growing years!!
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So here's where I'm going with this....
I'm thinking that TEOTWAWKI is going to look differently than the typical internet scenarios....
I'm beginning to think it's going to look more like.......
1. U.S. loses it's status as an economic power house.
2. U.S. economic interests overseas are supplanted by foreign economic and political entities.
3. The dollar keeps falling.
4. Consumer spending will not be able to pull the country out of the economic slump (recession?), because every spare dime will be spent at the gas pump, heating/cooling houses and feeding the kids.
5. The ever growing chasm between the haves and have not's is going to turn into a HUGE GULf.
6. The federal government is going to go nuts with social spending.
7. The ugly bills from the Iraq and Afghan. wars, the IOU from the social security trust fund, which we've been avoiding for so long, are going to come due.
8. The U.S. will cease to be the preferred place for investment for foreign corporations and governments.
9. The Feds going to try to combat inflation the only way they know, with the only tool they have.....increasing interest rates.
10. The raising cost of capital will effectively kill the housing market on a long term basis.
11. Stagflation will rule the day.
12. Obama will do the only thing that Democrats know how to do, massive social give aways and massive tax increases for the "wealthy" (defined as anyone who makes >$40,000).
13. To pay for all this, the politicians will do what they always do, borrow more and print more money, which will result in HYPER INFLATION....especially affecting the necessities (food, fuel & health care). The cost of a bag of groceries and a tank of gas will exceed that of a hot rod computer.
14. Local governments will be crippled by the loss of income and sales tax revenue along with the increased cost of providing essential services and will raise property taxes like you've never seen.
14. People who's living expenses exceed 50% of their income, along with most all of the AARP types living on limited savings and pensions, will be bit the hardest, as they can't afford to pay their property taxes, heat their homes, pay medical bills and eat.
15. Foreclosures and tax default seizures will make the current "crisis" seem like the good ol' days.
16. As a new peasant class grows ever larger, state agencies providing services will be overwhelmed and eventually, as they tally up larger and larger percentages of strapped state budgets, will be shut down.
17. As the Feds look to tax the big corporations to bail out the social services crisis, the flight of industry from the U.S. will accelerate. Chrysler, G.M. and Ford will go bankrupt (in that order) as China gets fully developed in auto manufacturing. Unemployment will raise to >20% with it's predictable affect on government tax revenues and demand for government welfare.
18. As social unrest brews and bubbles over in the U.S., real power will shift to where the money is....international corporate conglomerates & organized crime.
19, Wealthy people will take flight from the U.S. with a new immigration trend, further stripping the country of dollars.
Then the fun begins....collapse of government authority...organization of the surfs into tribal systems....Latinos, blacks, Italians, Irish, Asians, whites (the same ol' ethnic and racial divides).
Then just to really muddy the waters...
Iran will finish their nuke, give it to Hezbollah and they'll lob it at Tel Aviv the next day. The western powers WILL NOT RESPOND in any meaningful way. The next (and final) Arab-Israeli war will go full tilt, with Israel supernaturally kicking everyone's tail, just like they've done in the past. A lot of sand will get turned to glass in the middle east. The production of oil from the middle east will slam to a halt.
North Korea will take note of how INEPT the west has become and as they have their bi-annual economic collapse, with up the anti in their extortion game. South Korea and Japan will be totally involved in dealing with this.
Global power will shift to where the money is....
Russia (banking $$$ as they pipe natural gas to Europe)
China (banking $$$ as they become the worlds manufacturer of everything)
Persia (will set up a puppet Shia government in Iraq, snap up Kuwait in the vacuum of U.S. global influence and breathe hard down the necks of the Arabs).
Global power will shift away from....
The U.S. (see reasons above)
Europe (economic melt down and Jihad will Balkanize France and Germany)
......
O.K. stop and breath....this is to much fun....
.......
Now...
discussion....
What course should the U.S. take to head this off?
and my real question....
What course should middle class families take to survive in this economic TEOTWAWKI scenario?
