We are going to have to disagree on this one. It is everyones responsibiliity to feed starving babies. The one world issue we should not turn our backs on is starving children.
Gay Marriage. I really and truly want bigtexxx and his life partner to find the matrimonial happiness they deserve.
OOOOOOHHHH!!! The GAY JOKE! I've just been PWNT!!!!!!1111 Let's be adults and not make fun of homosexuals. mmkay?
God, how I hope you're wrong. Not for myself. Fortunately, we don't depend upon SS for our retirement. It's in an income mix, and would hurt if we didn't get it, but it'd be more of an inconvenience. We have other retirement income, the bulk of it, that is not dependent on the stock market. Yes, we're in pretty good shape. What I worry about is the world being left for our two children. I think the climate is rapidly changing. We are going backwards, with our current government, in doing something about it, and the lead times to make a difference are so great that we can't afford the delay we're seeing. If what happens to the market and real estate comes to pass as you predict, that will affect our kids as well. Frankly, I think the future is bleak, regardless of if I'd seen your post. We need a large shift in the direction our country is taking, and that means a shift in who is governing. I just hope it's not too late. I'm afraid it may very well have come to that pass. My hope is in science and technology. I'll leave off there, since it really isn't in the realm of this thread, I guess, although rapid climate change may be the most important issue, and not as far off as people think. Google the Younger Dryas, an ice age that began abruptly, perhaps from the stalling of the Gulf Stream. It's not reading that will make anyone feel secure in the knowledge that abrupt climate change doesn't happen, or that climate change takes hundreds or thousands of years to occur. From what I've read, this one took 3 years. Keep D&D Civil.
Babyboomers leaving the workforce will also be the event that actually prevents what you predict. There will be a shortage of skilled American workers as older workers leave the workforce in droves through retirement and death. This will result in a booming job market and low unemployment in the United States, and nothing beats back a depression better than people working. The stock market might slump for a little while, but I think you'll find that since people live longer, they will have to keep a stock mix well into retirement to be able to produce income longer than they originally thought. Add to growing wages and low unemployment because of the labor shortages + higher corporate profit margins due to huge amounts of workforce slimming down over a 5-10 year period, I think the money lost from retirees will be made up again by the employed.
Not true. Demand for skilled American workers is diminishing as we continue to outsource jobs to India, China, Mexico, and other slave-labor countries. Automation and globalization won't destroy America's job market, but they will prevent it from booming when the babyboomers retire. And, in fact, globalization is already negatively affecting wages for U.S. workers and will continue to do so. What snapped us out of the Great Depression was the war. It generated a LOT of jobs and, as you say, "nothing beats back a depression better than people working." But a war isn't going to bail us out of the next depression.
