When the riots begin

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N8gJSMoOJc

If it happens, wait a little while and then go long on equities and not commodities.

Even if the world comes to an end, holding equity will be smarter than holding cash just in case the apocalypse does not happen. There will be disruptions but eventually economic activity will head towards a new normal and companies will start to profit again. Remember, stock prices will adjust to inflation but cash will stay a fixed sum with dwindling buying power.

More and more people are saying that there will be riots in America. The preconditions for social unrest have been fulfilled. All it would take is a spark…

Come to Asia and see how people live. Even in wealthy cities like Singapore and Hong Kong, people just do not spend as much as Europeans or Americans. And Singapore and Hong Kong are among the most expensive places to live in the world. So can you imagine how much less Asians consume?

I think lack of access to healthcare is most likely to cause rioting in America.
People don't like watching their relatives die or be bankrupted by illness, especially when the hospital down the street is among the best in the world.

Elsewhere in the world it is the lack of food that leads ordinary people to riot. The American government makes hundreds of billions of dollars in transfer payments to Americans they describe as economically disadvantaged through benefit programs like disability support and food stamps. So unless people are even too lazy to file for benefits, Americans are unlikely to face a situation where there is simply no food. This also means that riots in America would be particularly disgraceful as people would just be acting out because an American living on food stamps actually lives a better life than the average Chinese or Indian. But I forget Chinese and Indians are not really considered human beings by some people here. At least the comparison with an American or European does not seem valid to them.

Spend less.
Stop being so wasteful.
Live within your means.

This topic - which was actually started in mid-2009 but the original thread was deleted by the arrogant and ignorant administrators of the board - is not about doom and gloom but an attempt to discuss reality. Just the other day I was reading the Washington Post and there was an editorial about how positivism has contributed to the deep and serious mistakes that have been made in response to the American Financial Crisis. The banking crisis is really just a symptom of the underlying malaise – chronic overconsumption. By staying positive and stimulating the economy with unbelievable sums of money, the Obama administration actually set the stage for a massive meltdown. They were so blind sighted by their own positive thinking that they refused to acknowledge the structural shifts that had occurred in the economy. They tried to stimulate consumption when overconsumption is the problem.

I couldn't keep watching past the part where silver was at 100.

Right on the site announced by the video...

http://www.inflation.us/mgp.html

It's a publicity for selling you gold. Everyone are buying gold now, I smell a bubble.

Also, I don't think riots would suddenly happen because of a economic collapse, when peoples would be hungry they would riot though.

The video was kind of bad but it does put a coherent voice to mutterings that are becoming more widespread. Even members of the political establishment today are talking about possible social dislocation. Now that the Greeks have shown the world just how difficult it really is to restructure an economy based on long cherished entitlements, it is only natural to draw parallels with the United States where entitlement programs are also proving impossible to reform. The problem is that, like it is for the Greeks, America’s creditors are no longer willing to continue financing a trade and fiscal deficit that will never close. You cannot lend money to people who will not only never pay you back but also never stop asking for more.

Compared to the wealthy, the poor appears to be under consuming. But rich people form such a small proportion of any society that their direct activities like how much they consume have little bearing on aggregate. In every economic crisis, it has always been the consumption habits of the masses that pushed the system over the edge. It is what rich people do with their money that matters. To take Greece as an example, wealthy Greeks have shifted tens of billions of Euros out of Greece. Needless to say, the loss of all that money has made a desperate situation impossible.