do you think we are going to have an economic collapse?

Oh it is going to get MUCH worse.

We have only seen the first wave of the Mortgage crisis, it will get much worse as additional loans adjust in 2009.

Additionally if the big 3 are not bailed out, millions will be out of work, even if they get a bailout.. I am not sure this will save them, I tend to think it will not because a bailout does not mean they will start selling cars.

On top of that States are going in the red all over the place and instead of cutting spending, they are planning to raise taxes which will put further burden on the public and move us further towards the brink of disaster.

Couple this with the fact that nobody can get credit so the economy is slowing to a snails pace. Businesses are afraid to hire making it harder for those who are unemployed to find a job (Just go ahead and look if you haven't tried recently).

The outlook is ugly... REAL ugly and I fear that we have not even begun to feel the real pain of this thing. It is a scary time, so save your money, prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

We already have had an economic collapse, we're just now seeing the ripple effect. It all started w/the mortgage market which spread throughout thebanking industry, which is reflecting in the auto industry and even in small companies.

While president bush and the other "experts" out there were saying we're not in a recession and that things will get better quickly, those of us in the industry saw the magnitude of whats happening a loooooong time ago. If I were to tell you a year and a half ago the stock market would plummet and unemployment would skyrocket you'd have thought I was crazy, but there were some pretty clear signs this would happen.

Unemployment will likely get much, much worse if the auto companies fail, and there are still some pretty big banks at risk as well. Layoffs are now commonplace, and it'll get worse.

We're on the brink of an all out depression, those in charge are just trying to hide that fact. Think about it, when else has the government ever stepped into the economy like they have now? Only other time was the great depression, and they're trying oh so hard to avoid another one right now, but unless they figure out a plan that will actually work, we're in trouble for the short and long term.

Also, we dont even really have an economy....economy is a system of business which creates profit....our government is bankrupt, our deficit larger than ever and growing amongst other problems. In addition, we're pumping billions each month into a pointless war that we cannot win, so theres no hope things will get better in the near future.

If companies in their pursuit of profits outsource jobs to the third world, if you pay for these services in dollars, if you rely on the Arabs for oil and pay in dollars, you will run out of dollars. Hence, we are asking China and the Arab countries for loans, as is the rest of the Western World and they are loaning them against our assets. One day, they will foreclose. They will want a say in how we are governed, they will take over our power generation, our water supplies, transportation etc. We are about to trade places with China, and the various Governments, in the pockets of big business are to blaim. But they individually will be ok as they will get their kick backs for their help in making the big profits. So the answer is, we will never get back to where we were, and you had better learn Arabic. Here in Europe we have noticed a huge increase in US pensionsers moving to France, Spain, Greece, Portugal etc. Free healthcare, affordable housing, affordable heating and fuel. People are voting with their feet. Doesnt say much for the USA.. I understand that South America and Mexico are also getting huge numbers. Pity really, USA used to be a great place but it is heading downhill. Spain, France the UK have all been there before, so just a cycle.

Yes. All indicators point to a severe depression. www.worldnetdaily.com - collapse of the dollar. Also there are rumors that China and Russia will drop the dollar as their currency of trade, which will put the final nail in the American coffin. Not good news on the horizon, and people should think about preparing for the worst instead of arguing about Obama's guilt or innocence in the Blago fiasco, or whether Bush should be tried for war crimes. This is serious business, and as long as people keep their heads in the sand, they will not be able to survive.

The worse is yet to come. Bailing out the mortgage companies with no oversight is already leading to further problems. With the value of homes falling, people who owe more on their home than what it is now worth do not fear foreclosure...some are just mailing their keys to the bank and walking away. Others who can afford their homes are withholding payment until the debt is large enough to qualify for refinancing. The banks who were bailed out have already shown us that they cannot continue to function with their overhead as you probably heard in yesterday's announcement of Bank of America planning such a large number of layoffs over the next two years. You can bail out the auto industry however, that 15 billion is not going to be enough to help them through one quarter and it is going to take a lot more than one quarter and a lot of restructuring in salaries/benefits and number of plants/employees and retooling for vehicles that are more fuel efficient in order for them to start seeing a profit. And the economic crisis is global, not just here in the states. There is no where to go but down until we really work to gather ourselves up for the trip up. We must work together and we must work with reality.

Merry Christmas!

It's pretty freaking scary right now. I have a problem relating this to history when the differences in electronic, communication and technological advances can't even compare. What we do now creates an immediate global response. Our dependency on media is going to be our demise. We look to them rather than the stock market. Like I said, scary.

We already have had an economic collapse. Did you miss the trillions in write-downs and bank closings, investment bank failures, shrinking GDP and increasing unemployment numbers?

People seem to not notice the bright spots in the economy, they are still there. House prices and demand are correcting themselves after such an unsustainable increase. Unemployment is not bad compared to much of history. It is not as bad as it seems.

In a collapse there is a debris field. This is more like a free fall. You can you feel the air rush by but can't see the ground yet.

Yeah so long as we have a state, it'll always be that way.