IM conversation

Him: interesting take on the economic collapse
i've been thinking along a lot of these lines recently

Me: and what have you come up with?


Him: for starters, the housing market is going to continue its eventual implosion
the numbers so far are some of the biggest ever seen in terms of foreclosures
which creates a glut of homes the banks own and can't get off the books because no one can afford them
due, mainly in part, to people just being plain stupid and borrowing and spending beyond their means

Me: which is exactly what the culture in general has been telling them to do


Him: yes, and something i generally tend to insulate myself from these days

Me: helps to be largely oblivious to cultural influences too


Him: television being one those big "influences"
this will also lead to further isolation of communities such as the one i live in now, where travel to and from becomes more and more prohibitively expensive
digital goods might see an upsurge, such as e-books, if there is a need for them and adequate access/infrastructure in place already

Me: right, but with shipping costs spiking, that infrastructure will begin to deteriorate


Him: i was thinking more along the lines of ordering a book online and having it delivered by e-mail or stored on a server somewhere else
not that everyone reads books on computer or PDA or tablet, etc.

Me: I'm talking about the decline of computers in general


Him: yeah, physical goods that have to be shipped will be out of the reach of the majority of the populace
this place [Tennessee] right now is a good microcosm of early indicators since it was already economically tipped into the negative
houses have been on the market here for literally years
but i do see this as a good thing in that it does push for more of the mom 'n pop places to produce goods locally since they will be cheaper by comparison
smaller businesses are the backbone of a healthy/healthier economyand here, that is all too apparent now, more smaller businesses have opened up
and more people are turning to them because of the cost differential
not like it's a bad thing, it's all in how you look at it

Me: no, it's definitely a step in the right direction


Him: we had an economy shift a few years ago, most people didn't notice (service-based economy), but now we're shifting back into something that was here further back, and i don't think it's so bad because it makes us more self-reliant

Me: and will help reduce the impact felt as more things collpase


Him: yep
there will be pockets and areas around the country that won't feel it as much if at all
because they adapted to weather it out
the service-based economy was not a well thought-out one in my opinion
basically we stop manufacturing things and just go to servicing things/people
and most employees of a service industry are paid lower wages
it only benefits those on the top of the large corporations
i kept thinking to myself, while that term was being floated around, "So....if all we're doing is servicing, then who makes the shit?"

Me: there will always be a need for "services rendered", but yeah, production is much more necessary


Him: i thought it was insane to think that we could shift our entire economy over to just being service-oriented
instead of trying to compete with other nations that were reaching at least a moderate level of manufacturing capability next to ours
instead we tucked tail and said, "We give up."
at any rate, we collectively have only ourselves to blame for this
if there is any blame to be had
does it really matter who's fault it is at this point when the problem is here, and it can conceivably be fixed
as long as we know where the true root of the problem lies
people would have to shift their way of thinking to something more long term, instead of the instant gratification mode