The Steady-State Initiative - The Good, Bad and Ugly

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The Steady-State Initiative

moving toward sustainability through economic reform

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

2011 Mar 27

The Good

The economy comes out of recession. Consumer sales are up. Business is expanding. Employment improves. Credit expands. Housing market takes off. The stock market rocks.

The Bad

Consumer debt is at an all time high. Interest rates climb. Mortgages in default and homes are foreclosed. Businesses contract, jobs are lost. Social programs are chopped. Tax revenues decline. Bankruptcies increase. Downward spiral continues. We are mired in the vicious cycle. Consumer confidence plunges to an all time low. Government implements Quantitative Easing, injects money into the system, bails out the banks.

The Ugly

Government slashes social spending. Workers are laid off. Unemployment rises. The poor, homeless and unemployed have nowhere to go. Food banks can't keep up with the demand. Petty crime is on the rise. Workers on strike. The desperate take to the streets. Riots break out. Grocery stores looted. The military turns on the people.

Are we prepared for the coming financial collapse? The situation in Greece (and more recently, the PIGS - Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain) is the canary in the coal mine. How did Greece find itself in such a financial crisis? Decades of government corruption, bribery, tax evasion has made Greece a bankrupt nation, at the tune of $1.2 trillion in debt (about a quarter of a million dollars for each working adult).

Continuing cover up by the government, total lack of proper accounting and denial by the public, along with endemic tax evasion entrenched in the mindset will take generations to correct.

But it is not only the Greeks at fault for this. This financial catastrophe is about to be played out in every nation across the globe. Why? Because money is an illusion, an inflated bubble that is about to burst.

The problem lies with The Good. Monetary expansion is an illusion and non-sustainable. Eventually The Bad comes along. Economists and politicians call it a recession and hope and pray for a quick recovery. The reality is that perpetuating the myth of growth will eventually lead to The Ugly.

It is happening in the Middle East - Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen. The cracks are beginning to show in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Idaho, Ohio.

Are we prepared?