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alstry (35.76)

All Hell About to Break Lose????

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January 30, 2009 – Comments (12)

USA 

California's chief accountant on Monday will begin delaying nearly $4 billion of scheduled state payments, postponing income-tax refunds, grants to college students and welfare checks in an effort to prevent the state from running out of cash.

The delays will hurt an already wilting state economy, economists said, calling them the opposite of stimulus checks because people won't get money they expect to receive. Controller John Chiang has said the delays will last 30 days.

In an interview Friday, Mr. Chiang said further deferments are possible. "I am very concerned about the potentially devastating impact to individuals, to families, to businesses," he said. But "my principal responsibility at this time is to make sure that California does not go into default."

CHINA

China fears riots will spread as boom goes sourToday millions will leave the cities to return to their rural family homes for the new year celebrations. But this year Beijing hopes the newly jobless revellers will stay there - to prevent a fresh wave of unrest in the cities

FRANCE

About a million French workers staged a one-day strike yesterday and hundreds of thousands took to the streets in a show of force against President Sarkozy and his handling of the economic slump.

JAPAN

Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Japan headed for its worst postwar recession as factory output slumped an unprecedented 9.6 percent in December, unemployment surged and households cut spending.

ENGLAND 

RUSSIA

ICELAND

GREECE

ITALY

PORTUGAL

LITHUANIA

LATVIA

UKRAINE

BULGARIA

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12 Comments – Post Your Own

#1) On January 31, 2009 at 12:33 AM, alstry (35.76) wrote:

Governments across Europe tremble as angry people take to the streets

France paralysed by a wave of strike action, the boulevards of Paris resembling a debris-strewn battlefield. The Hungarian currency sinks to its lowest level ever against the euro, as the unemployment figure rises. Greek farmers block the road into Bulgaria in protest at low prices for their produce. New figures from the biggest bank in the Baltic show that the three post-Soviet states there face the biggest recessions in Europe.

It's a snapshot of a single day – yesterday – in a Europe sinking into the bleakest of times. But while the outlook may be dark in the big wealthy democracies of western Europe, it is in the young, poor, vulnerable states of central and eastern Europe that the trauma of crash, slump and meltdown looks graver.

Exactly 20 years ago, in serial revolutionary rejoicing, they ditched communism to put their faith in a capitalism now in crisis and by which they feel betrayed. The result has been the biggest protests across the former communist bloc since the days of people power.

Europe's time of troubles is gathering depth and scale. Governments are trembling. Revolt is in the air.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/31/global-recession-europe-protests

Just in case yoiu thought Alstrynomics was not objective.

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#2) On January 31, 2009 at 12:51 AM, alstry (35.76) wrote:

Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched through French cities, with violence erupting in some places, as part of a day of national strikes demanding pay rises and better protection for jobs.

Strikes spread across Britain as oil refinery protest escalates

There is a high chance a majority of the States within the United States of America could file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy. There are currently 46 states with high budget deficits, Arizona being one of them.  http://freedomarizona.wordpress.com/2009/01/30/46-of-50-states-could-file-bankruptcy-in-2009-2010/

California pension funds close to bankruptcy  http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jan2009/calp-j30.shtml

 

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#3) On January 31, 2009 at 1:12 AM, gman444 (31.43) wrote:

I think we will be reading a lot more about social unrest around the world this year.  When we do, people will have to say that you were right about that.

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#4) On January 31, 2009 at 1:49 AM, chilln868 (94.93) wrote:

Load the guns and stock the supplies....

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#5) On January 31, 2009 at 2:22 AM, angusthermopylae (41.98) wrote:

"Cats and dogs, living together.."

While I agree that there is a possibility of social unrest or rioting (maybe even a strong possibility) due to the economy, I would like to point out some mitigating factors.

In the US, it wouldn't be the first time for riots or a mass uprising.  Matewan, the Battle of Athens, the LA riots...all are a part of US history.  Some were "political differences" (such as the Battle of Athens, where there was a corrupt election and the WWII vets decided they would put their training to good use.)

Some were arguably economic--look up the history of the WV coal fields around the turn of the century.

Hell, the venerable George Washington even had to put down what he called an armed revolt:  The Whiskey Rebellion.  One of his biggest acts as president was to sent out troops to shoot Americans.

My point is this:  While I am definitely a "pass the ammo" kind of guy, I don't believe that there is any real, basic threat to the fabric of society due to finances alone...probably not any society.  While romantic, the idea that there will be a complete breakdown of all the ties that bind is actually pretty far fetched.

For example, even if the Alstrynomics prediction of 30% unemployment comes true, that still leaves 70% of the people who have a stake in a stable, functioning world. That majority is going to be protecting their ass(et)s by any means possible...if for no other reason than to feed and clothe their family...

Even if you argue that most people are sheep, that applies to the unemployed, also.  It means that you have a small number of the employed who are willing to do whatever it takes to keep their jobs/food/homes, but also a smaller number who are willing to take on the powers-that-be because it's "unfair."

And before you say that this is a rose-colored view of humanity, it's not.  My basis for this conclusion is how the US has reacted to the government's actions (wiretapping, extraordinary rendition, "free speech zones", two wars) since 2001:  Muted and sheep-like acceptance, combined with a rabid clinging to "keep US safe..."  From a historical point of view, it makes me rather ashamed about humanity...1984 may have been a caricature or extreme view, but it's not far from the truth.

True revolutionaries are rare (thank God!  I think that such people are both necessary as part of humanity and walking nukes--they are willing to take down anyone to correct what they perceive as an "injustice.")  Except for a few of these types, the majority of any unrest will be because someone has a starving family at home...all they want is a reliable job (or equivalent.)

So, yes:  I've got my beans, bullets, and bandaids stored up in case it all goes to hell.  But to be honest, I really tend to believe that instead of ravaging hordes of starving New Yorkers heading out to pillage the country side, we'll actually have a lot of quiet, miserable suffering and starvation while things shake out.

Sad, isn't it....

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#6) On January 31, 2009 at 7:36 AM, abitare (99.44) wrote:

Kiss saw this coming and wrote this song back in 1984

All Hell's Breaking Loose

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeomHxPcYbM

Fool's Tom Gardner was on Fast  Money last night:

Gardner points out that there is danger of instability, as many parts of the country are feeling large amounts of animosity for the events on Wall Street. He suggests that the solution to this problem could be with the shareholders, having the top 3-5 executives faced with the prospect of claw backs in a multi-year payout on bonuses to ensure their compensation is not a determent to the company.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/28940164

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#7) On January 31, 2009 at 11:00 AM, kdakota630 (33.31) wrote:

Actually abitare, The Misfits predicted it two years earlier and wrote this song in 1982.

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#8) On January 31, 2009 at 6:00 PM, eldemonio (98.82) wrote:

America will not see a revolution because Americans are too lazy to revolt.  The majority of US citizens could be pacified if you gave them a big screen TV and free cable. 

 

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#9) On January 31, 2009 at 6:18 PM, Seano67 (69.87) wrote:

I'm expecting that China could really get messy this year so far as civil unrest goes. Because it's an authoritarian state, civil unrest (or the possibility of it) is something that China has to live with always. But that's primarily come from students, younger people, and academics. But this situation over there currently has the potential to be far, far more widespread and much more serious than that.

 I mean you're talking millions upon millions of hopelessly impoverished, rural Chinese who have moved to the cities in the last several years in search of an opportunity and in the hope of finding a better life- and in most cases they found that, due to China's economic boom. Millions of new jobs were created in Chinese factories, but now those factories are closing up shop left and right...and so now you've got this extremely large population of people who'd been starved and discontented their entire lives, then they got to taste that brief little glimpse of what it feels like to finally have a half-decent life economically, and now that's all being taken away from them again, and they're being asked to return right back to where they tried to escape from.

The possibilities for big trouble are obvious there, with this huge population of people who are becoming disaffected all over again. It's not just the students and literati this time, it's the chronically poor- and that makes it a much, much bigger threat.

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#10) On January 31, 2009 at 10:05 PM, jesusfreakinco (29.61) wrote:

It will likely start in CA, probably on the streets of LA.  I wouldn't want to be living in or around a large city in the US in the next year.  The Sheeple of the US will revolt that their savior Obama doesn't have a magic wand.  We've all become WAY to depedent on big gov't to solve our issues and people are just starting to wake up to the fact that we are bankrupt as a country. 

God help us all.

JFC

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#11) On February 01, 2009 at 5:38 PM, foolsMeThrice (99.59) wrote:

i love mayhem.

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#12) On February 01, 2009 at 5:43 PM, EnigmaDude (96.57) wrote:

lemme just finish this last beer before i go out and revolt!

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