A hypothetical future

[Skotte]

I hope you don't mind if I discuss one part that would impact my family...

 

<snip>

The better solution I've heard was to just have the american government pay people to junk cars which are over 8 years old, and have a gas milage worse than 20mpg, and force them to buy american cars. It would get several thousand low milage vehicles off the road, save the auto industry, and ensure the job of every auto mechanic and part manufacturing company in the country for the next 10 years (ok, joking on that one).

<snip>

 

the above may be alright for a lot of people but it would kill what little freedom I have of "going out". let me explain.

 

I'm a disabled American (Cerebral palsy-very limited control of right arm & both legs) & I require the use of a powerchair when I go anywhere & I live out in the country so my family needs to own a vehicle that can transport me & my chair so a large vehicle (full-size van large) is needed & by law we can't get one for more than $4000.

 

So I'd love to see fuel conversion become truly mainstream instead of essentially destroying 100 years of automotive history.

 

I for one appreciate the look of classic cars & would love to see them continue to roll especially if it's not using gas/petrol.

[Vagrant0]

Well, as it was explained, it would not be some sort of requirement, but rather something that people could take part in which the government would pay for. You wouldn't be forced to junk your current car, you would simply be paid for doing so. Again, it probably isn't really practical on any level, but has so far made the most sense as a temporary solution to getting things going, other than more corporate bail-outs.

[vagitoe]

Is it just me, or did we get distracted from the topic?

 

It was about what would happen if things didn't get better, not why it will get better and how you are ignorant for thinking it won't.

 

Common, I want to see some conspiracy theories here!

 

Ok, what I think will happen is

 

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1) Relations with China, a country that invests alot of their money into ours, deteriorate as the dollar weakens and they start pulling out their investments.

 

2) Without investments from China, the US dollar plummets and super-inflation causes prices of goods to skyrocket.

 

3) In response to our weakening dollar, the world market begins to weaken as well, causing many smaller countries to go bankrupt. These small countries split apart into civil war, and soon the violence from these countries spills into other countries.

 

4) The Euro's value depreciates as Greece splits appart into civil war. We can already see tension in Greece, with violent protests happening now. If they were to loose money from tourism (their prime income) the country would break out in violence.

 

5) The violence from Greece spreads into other countries in Eastern-Europe, straining relations in Europe and further weakening the Euro.

 

6) The weakened Euro drives the countries in Western-Europe to try to go back to their origional currency, but the conversion back devistated lower-class families in Germany and France -- soon rendering them homeless.

 

7) In the mean time, India's population explosion is causing mass starvation throught the country, and the UN sends in aid to their country.

 

8 ) Pakistan, already in terrible economic shape, is hit hard by the economic stress, and many start calling for a war with India. When the UN sends aid to India, but not Pakistan, the people become angry at the UN, but even more so at India.

 

9) As Pakistani-India relations fall apart, the fighting between Palistine and Israel worsens, and other middle-eastern countries are drawn in by the fighting. The fighting in these countries has left the oil business devistated, as stray missiles hit them and the governments in the area, to financially hurt to aid the companies, cannot repair them.

 

10) With a decreased amount of arab oil in the market, the price of oil shoots up over 100$ a barrel. The drastic increase in oil price causes all petrolium based commodeties to almost double in price.

 

11) Back in the US, the increased price of fuel further weakens the US dollar, and the UN tries to step in with aid. However, many conservative members of the senate are too proud to accept any outside help, and try to stop the UN.

 

12) Fillibuster after fillibuster delay the UN aid by over a month, and in this time, conservative media sources are praising the senators and congressmen for regecting any aid, while con demning the un-American liberals for trying to make America look weak by accepting the aid. Soon, conservative consumers of the media start to protest the UN's intervention.

 

13) While infighting among political parties in the US increases, countries in Africa completely fall apart. Without profits from the diamond mines or tourism, the already fragile economy collapses in Africa, and the UN pulls their aid from other countries to focus on the warzone in Africa.

 

14) India, after having it's aid pulled, begins mass-murder of it's own people to curve the population problem. The rest of the world is shocked at this new tern of events, and Pakistan uses the opprotunity to attack India. Soon, a nuclear arms standoff between the two countries is in full swing.

 

15) Other world powers take sides in the conflict. The middle-eastern countries send support to Pakistan, while western powers send support to India. While the whole world focuses on them, North Korea begins it's invasion of South Korea. Without any outside aid, the North Koreans easily take the south, and Korea is united under communist rule.

 

16) By now, Brazil has begun a military opperation to take Venezuela's oil supply for itself, but Venezuela has been strengthened by the high price of oil, and is able to fight back. Cuba, seeing an opprotunity to make an oil producing ally, helps Venezuela defend itself against Brazil's attack. Soon, the fighting spreads to other latin-american countries, and soon many countries are taking chuncks out of Brazil.

 

17) Mexican citizens, disillusioned by the American economy, move back to their home country. The massive loss of consumers and workers cripples the American job market, and the Government is forced to send the national guard to quell the fighting. A collage campass gets shot up, and soon the liberal media is slamming Obama for sending in troops to kill US citizens. The political scene starts to worsen for Democrats, and the Republicans gain power once again.

 

18) After a year of invasion from all sides, Brazil is gone and Venezuela is now the largest country in South America. With their new found resources and taste for conquest, they begin to conquere the rest of the continent, and without any interferance from the rest of the world, is able to take 2/3 of South America and 2/5 of Central America.

 

19) The Pakistani-Indian war has left India weak and the mass starvation has driven them to desperation. In one final attempt to stop the fighting, they launch several nuclear arms at Pakistan. Pakistan responds with nuclear weapons of their own, and soon the Indian-platue is a nuclear wasteland.

 

20) The fallout carries on the winds, and soon deadly levels of radiation spread throught Sri-Lanka and the Indonesian islands. The WHO declares a state of global emergancy as the ash and dust from the bombs spread around the world, dropping the tempurature by nearly 5 degrees. The harsh winter that year kills many of the crops around the world, and soon mass starvation is rampant.

 

21) With India and Pakistan gone, the world turnes it's eyes onto Korea, who has, during the chaos, been re-conquered by China. The UN demands the release of Korean POW's, but China inturn demands a return on all of the money the US owes them. Soon, the world begins demanding for the US money to be sent to China, and a weakened United States has no choice but to oblige. With their new money, China is able to kickstart a program to aid it's poor rural citizens.

 

22) With an increase in the value of the Chinese currency, the world economy begins to focus on China. With a large consumer base and a large amount of money, China becomes the leading world power. In the mean time, the conservatives in the US have overthrown the government, and have pulled all of their money from the global market and shut the ports to close of the coutry.

 

23) During this time, Venezuela has been developing it's secret nuclear program and has planted nuclear arms in key points throught Honkong. Then, when the arms go off, all the fingers point at the US.

 

24) On October 23, 2017, after millennia of armed conflict, the destructive nature of man could sustain itself no longer. The world was plunged into an abyss of nuclear fire and radiation. But it was not, as some had predicted, the end of the world. Instead, the apocalypse was simply the prologue to another bloody chapter of human history. For man had succeeded in destroying the world - but war, war never changes.

 

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Thanks for listening children! :thumbsup:

[exanimis]

Kudos vagitoe for being the first person to understand what this thread is about.

Well thought out response but you left out Israel and I believe they will be a major player. Being such a touchy subject, I can understand why you would refrain from mentioning Israel..

[Marxist ßastard]

1. A third of the population of South Korea is infected with Swine Flu. (See? This is relevant social commentary. And plausible, to boot!)
   
2. Japan predicts that the Korean government will be unable to contain the outbreak. Relations between Japan and Korea quickly break down.
   
3. Japan invades Korea and enslaves its population. If you look at anime very closely, you can see the potential for this to happen.
   
4. Since slavery is now OK, America invades Africa. Anyone will tell you that Americans are all racist pigs that would jump at the opportunity.
   
5. Greece, uh... Greece goes to war with Turkey. In case you didn't know, Greece is a very unstable country.
   
6. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Albania launches an attack against Greece, and eventually takes control of the entire Balkan Peninsula. Because small and evil countries always have plans for world domination.
   
7. Germany invades France. Bound to happen.
   
8. With their primary enemy preoccupied in Africa, Russia focuses its entire military toward the Western border, protecting itself from Albania and Germany (but abandoning Siberia in the process).
   
9. Mongolia liberates Siberia. Russia prepares to counter-attack, but is only effective in angering the newly-awakened Mongol beast.
   
10. The Golden Horde rides again! Mongolia defeats Russia. With their new found resources and taste for conquest, Mongolia reclaims all of its old territory, including China and much of the Middle East.
    
11. With Mongolia in control of most of the world's oil supply, the price of oil shoots up to $100 a barrel. With oil now costing 30% less than it did in June '08, the world economy collapses. All of the smaller countries just disappear or something. I don't know, who even cares about them?
    
12. China was behind everything! Oh no!
    

[Michlo]

The hypothetical is just that, the hypothetical. The only thing all this gloom and doom will accomplish is bringing about exactly what people are saying. The reality is that although things are bad in many places, it could be worse. Do some reading on how bad the real great depression was, talk to some of the people who experienced it. We don't have a dustbowl which is killing the agricultural sector, we don't have a ban on alcohol which is depriving the state of tax dollars, killing another sector of the industry, and only ends up putting money in the hands of criminals and corrupt officials, we don't have people pulling all their money out of the banks in a panic. What we have is really a reality check of sorts. People who were living above their means are finding out that sometimes you can't have everything you want. CEOs and other higher corporate jobs are being looked at with even more scrutiny, having to be forced into accountability for a job which really isn't too well defined. Laws are being passed to limit the effect of corporate corruption. Manufacturing and energy industries are being restructured for more modern applications and methods. The infastructure, roads, bridges, are getting some much needed TLC. The american auto industry, which has been broken for the last 14 years, is finally getting the hint that maybe a 5 ton vehicle with a 5mpg fuel efficiency isn't the most practical thing to be selling, to anyone. We will pull through, and provided that all of this leaves enough of an impact, the now maturing generation will probably be better as a result of not being nearly as spoiled as the 2 or 3 prior.

 

While the bottom up stimulus plan looks good on paper, the reality is that it really didn't work to solve the problem, just help ease the effect slightly. This is afterall why the first stimulus bill was done last year, and again this year. It didn't work because most of what people bought were gas and televisions. Money from gas goes to the oil companies, which in turn get used to pay for some nice beachfront property in Dubai. Money from televisions goes to China, and in some way, helps fund the next round of stimulus/bailout. Technically, those big parties that the banks were throwing with government money ended up having a greater boon to the local economy since they were paying for catering, service staff, accommodations, and so on, with each of those parties then being able to pay wages, buy equipment, pay off business loans.

 

The better solution I've heard was to just have the american government pay people to junk cars which are over 8 years old, and have a gas milage worse than 20mpg, and force them to buy american cars. It would get several thousand low milage vehicles off the road, save the auto industry, and ensure the job of every auto mechanic and part manufacturing company in the country for the next 10 years (ok, joking on that one).

 

But really, while the worst may not be over yet, we're on the road to recovery, and are still at the point where simple confidence in the system is much more important than any actual data on the matter. The more people panic, the less people spend, the more likely they'll look for any sign of things getting worse. It's a never ending cycle. So, just make due with what you have, try to maintain some sort of life, be thankful for the job you can get, and have faith that things will turn out for the better. And this is coming from someone who is usually rather pessimistic.

 

I concur. Very well put.

[billypnats]

Man kind do it too much and population skyrockets, government makes a artificial strain of a very contagious disease and tries to control the human population and get rich from the vaccines. A guy by the name of JC Denton comes along, destroys the conspiring government, destroys area 51 (which is actually a central information hub monitering all aspects of communication around the world), merges his brain with an AI and plunges the world in a new dark age.

 

 

OR AT LEAST THAT WHAT THE GAME DEUS EX PREDICTS.

 

What really will happen is this, mankind do it too much, population skyrockets, resources become scarce, nations fight each other over commodities, all aspects of internationalism disintegrates, and some nation launches a nuke and starts a nuclear war and plunges the world into an atomic wasteland with few survivors.

 

Boy video games these days sure provide a lot of insight into the future....

[vagitoe]

1. A third of the population of South Korea is infected with Swine Flu. (See? This is relevant social commentary. And plausible, to boot!)
   
2. Japan predicts that the Korean government will be unable to contain the outbreak. Relations between Japan and Korea quickly break down.
   
3. Japan invades Korea and enslaves its population. If you look at anime very closely, you can see the potential for this to happen.
   
4. Since slavery is now OK, America invades Africa. Anyone will tell you that Americans are all racist pigs that would jump at the opportunity.
   
5. Greece, uh... Greece goes to war with Turkey. In case you didn't know, Greece is a very unstable country.
   
6. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Albania launches an attack against Greece, and eventually takes control of the entire Balkan Peninsula. Because small and evil countries always have plans for world domination.
   
7. Germany invades France. Bound to happen.
   
8. With their primary enemy preoccupied in Africa, Russia focuses its entire military toward the Western border, protecting itself from Albania and Germany (but abandoning Siberia in the process).
   
9. Mongolia liberates Siberia. Russia prepares to counter-attack, but is only effective in angering the newly-awakened Mongol beast.
   
10. The Golden Horde rides again! Mongolia defeats Russia. With their new found resources and taste for conquest, Mongolia reclaims all of its old territory, including China and much of the Middle East.
    
11. With Mongolia in control of most of the world's oil supply, the price of oil shoots up to $100 a barrel. With oil now costing 30% less than it did in June '08, the world economy collapses. All of the smaller countries just disappear or something. I don't know, who even cares about them?
    
12. China was behind everything! Oh no!
    

 

...

 

Do I sense... SARCASM!? :verymad:

 

lawl, jk.

[TheCalliton]

play fallout 3... someday our destructive nature will bring us to that, only we wont have the vaults...

unless we buck up and swallow our pride, we are damned for eternity

[SionDS]

Everything is wrong. Today's society is driven by greed. A need for Mamon, material things. Everything is geared up for a wastefull society. Capitalism as we have experienced it over the years has failed us, the unwashed majority.

You sure? Were a capitalist society and have the largest economy ever. Our homeless people are even able to become fat. Greed is good. If you think we should live for the greater good of society then you should move to a comunist country like China, because that's exactly what they preach.