Big_White, and other folks... explaining the economic crisis?

[Joel_BC]

I was impressed by our 19-year-old SS-forum newbie who has posted on the thread Trim started about commitment to "the Change" (as he calls it), on the Preparedness section. Hope you read this, Big_White, and hope you and others will respond.

I have a question for you. You've mentioned that most of your age-group peers were not aware, during highschool, of the economic crisis and what it means for people's orientation to life in the U.S. and what the crisis implies for values and attitudes. I't's made me wonder what people in the age bracket of, say, 19-30 know about how the crisis occurred and developed, and how it continues to proceed?

More specifically, I'm thinking about this from the angle of how people have become apparently less book oriented, and more accustomed to getting information from the internet. People seem to be after a quick, fact-filled read. And so, actually the question is: what sites might you direct people in that age bracket to to explain the financial/economic crisis? People do desire to know what is happening in their world.

I've found this one, but I'd be interested in others:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_2000s_recession

I'm not so much interested in sites about the long slide into increasing reliance on external big systems (governments, large corporations, etc) - although I do share those concerns - but more about what has touched off the immediate extreme economic downturn.

I'd like to be able to recommend sites along this line to people. So... suggestions?

 

[Big_White]

Hey Joel_BC, right now i can answer your first question, as far as my opinion/views/experience go atleast. I remember debates we would have in our history class (12th grade) , about the economy and how it affects our lives and the lives of others. The biggest complaint i remember hearing from my peers was, they no longer had play money. Thats it, that was all they knew of their finances and others finances was how we had to cut vacations, and things like concerts. By the end of my 12th grade year it had gone so far as they had to go get jobs! Such a tragedy! Now keep in mind that i actually knew the meaning of hard work and had not had all the frilly vacations and concerts, but life was easty before all this. And the debates had started to shift, it became less of the problems and more of how to fix it. Now most of my topics never went very far because my peers could not see the way i could, and most of them did not have the same ethics/raising i did. And in no way am i condemming them or their parents, in this post so please no one take it that way. anyways, the biggest subject that came up was always the government, now i am not writing about polotics so just bear with me while i get to the point. All of my peers blamed the government for the way the economy was. We also wanted them to produce a miracle and fix it. Now of course we had other facets for our anger but then someone would point out the government coulda/muolda/shoulda, put a stop to it. So all in the way we saw it was the government failed us. Now look to today my peers have graduated gone to college, or graduated college and went to workforce. they see that the economy isn't any better. So they organize the "Occupy" movement. Now i am glad to see that they have opened their eyes to reality but the problem is theis. They want the government to fix everything for them. An example would sad to say be my brother. He, 11 years my elder, is right at the end of the spectrum for the age group you specified. And you know what his view on life has become? I deserve.... Dont get me wrong he worked after he graduated high school he went right out and got a job, he took the technical route in school. So he had a lot of knowledge for the workforce. But as the economy worsened and he couldn't find work, he started drawing unemployment. At first he would be looking really diligently for work as soon as he was layed off or the comp went under. But then it got to he didn't start looking till after his unemployment ran out, and he was looking for extensions on it that he would look. And now he refuses to work a job and says the government should fix all his problems, because he thinks they caused them. So he deserves everything he can get. Now i know this was a long detailed answer but i wanted to make sure i was not misunderstood when i give my final words on this. But in what i have seen and understand, my age group sees the government as the provider for them, and i n that i finally understand my teacher when he said we have turned into our old enemies. We are not communist no, but the whole point is for the people to rely on the state for security. And my age group lulled themselves into thinking the government will do everything for them. And what they know about how the crisis occured and how it continues to occur is only one word. Government. I do not know why or how this has occured, and i am not playing politics or pointing fingers in any particular direction. But i just hope they can open their eyes and say hey! I let my government do this, so am i not also responsible?

I hope i answered your question well enough without being overbearing, i know i get very long winded at times. And please comment back if i left part of it un answered or if i opened a new question. And to your question of what sites and where to find information i will have to answer later, i need to think on it. But i will answer it though. And please like i said any other questions you have do ask, and if i dont answer it fullly enough or get off topic, tell me and i will try agian i get sidetracked a lot. Btw thank you for noticing my input it means a lot that i actually perked someones interest being as young as i am, most people just wouldn listen. But i will get back to the info part later tonight

 

[Joel_BC]

Well, your posting here is valued, Big_White.

Of course, like most people who get pretty deeply involved with self-reliance, I'm not one to explain all crises on faults of government. Personal commitments, cultural realities, common attitudes, habits... all these things and more are ingredients in the big picture.

I look forward to more posts from you, Big_White.

And I look forward to other people commenting here. Again, the crux of my question is: how can current on-llne info sources help the younger generation understand the immediate origin of the economic crisis affecting much or all of the world?

As to what to do in the face of it, well that's a huge, different question... but sites like this one (SS) can play a role.

 

[lighthawk]

I'm not so much interested in sites about the long slide into increasing reliance on external big systems (governments, large corporations, etc) - although I do share those concerns - but more about what has touched off the immediate extreme economic downturn.

I'd like to be able to recommend sites along this line to people. So... suggestions?

This is an excellent free site for economic/survival/historical info that is rarely seen in the "mainstream" media updated daily.
http://www.survivalblog.com/
Their archives go all the way back to 2005.
Rich

 

[lighthawk]

And I look forward to other people commenting here. Again, the crux of my question is: how can current on-llne info sources help the younger generation understand the immediate origin of the economic crisis affecting much or all of the world?

I don't think there IS an immediate origin. I believe it originated with the formation of the Federal reserve bank in 1913. Compounded by the fact that tricky Dick Nixon sealed our fate when he removed us from the gold standard in 1971. What is happening today is the same thing that has happened to every society that embraced a "fiat" currency. Collapse.

 

[hqueen13]

But i just hope they can open their eyes and say hey! I let my government do this, so am i not also responsible?

Also being from the age bracket (mostly) I can really relate to BigWhite here. Except the above statement, for me, isn't so much as 'I let my government do this' as I feel helpless to make a change. So my attitude is that I'd rather go out and make my own way. I think I can speak for a lot of my generation in saying that we feel like we are at the mercy of our government. Everyone usually responds "go vote!" but to me, that doesn't feel like there is any power behind that either. It feels from my perspective as if the government has run away with things, like its too big and out of control. When you start looking at all the big things, big pharma, big Ag, etc, you begin to see that most of it boils back to the government and somebody being paid off. Big pharma pays off the FDA saying drugs are "safe" and healthy, Big Ag pays off the USDA and the FDA saying pesticides and GMO are "safe". It all goes back to the money, and is frankly and disgusting. And it just feels like there isn't much that I can do personally to affect change for that.

I personally feel that the "occupy" movement was rather silly, and probably didn't serve to make progress in any direction. But then, I also didn't pay much mind to it, which is admittedly how I approach most politics. The issues are too big and too overwhelming to me to feel like I have any power to combat them, so I just ignore it and plug away doing my own thing.

I think I like Joel's suggestion, though, having a greater understanding would be helpful. I feel like most of the resources that are available to us have failed, and most of the learning institutions have failed us in the long run. So now the mess is almost "ours" (i.e. we are on the verge of becoming the next generation involved in government and politics), and we have no idea how to deal with it or where it started or how to solve the mess. Its just too big.

 

[Big_White]

Hey Joel i lost internet last night which is why i am just getting back to you. I looked on the websites both you and lighthawk put up. And they are very informative. I did a little research and for me personally, i could not find anything that didn't repeat what wikipedia already stated only in smaller tid bits. Maybe somone else will read this and supply you with a better answer. But other than wikipedia the second best were from sources such as bloomberg, and cnn. Sorry i couldn help more

 

[Joel_BC]

I did a little research and for me personally, i could not find anything that didn't repeat what wikipedia already stated only in smaller tid bits. Maybe somone else will read this and supply you with a better answer. But other than wikipedia the second best were from sources such as bloomberg, and cnn. Sorry i couldn help more

No need for an apology. Thanks.

 

[Icu4dzs]

Hey Joel_BC, right now i can answer your first question, as far as my opinion/views/experience go atleast. I remember debates we would have in our history class (12th grade) , about the economy and how it affects our lives and the lives of others. The biggest complaint i remember hearing from my peers was, they no longer had play money. Thats it, that was all they knew of their finances and others finances was how we had to cut vacations, and things like concerts. By the end of my 12th grade year it had gone so far as they had to go get jobs! Such a tragedy! Now keep in mind that i actually knew the meaning of hard work and had not had all the frilly vacations and concerts, but life was easty before all this. And the debates had started to shift, it became less of the problems and more of how to fix it. Now most of my topics never went very far because my peers could not see the way i could, and most of them did not have the same ethics/raising i did. And in no way am i condemming them or their parents, in this post so please no one take it that way. anyways, the biggest subject that came up was always the government, now i am not writing about polotics so just bear with me while i get to the point. All of my peers blamed the government for the way the economy was. We also wanted them to produce a miracle and fix it. Now of course we had other facets for our anger but then someone would point out the government coulda/muolda/shoulda, put a stop to it. So all in the way we saw it was the government failed us. Now look to today my peers have graduated gone to college, or graduated college and went to workforce. they see that the economy isn't any better. So they organize the "Occupy" movement. Now i am glad to see that they have opened their eyes to reality but the problem is theis. They want the government to fix everything for them. An example would sad to say be my brother. He, 11 years my elder, is right at the end of the spectrum for the age group you specified. And you know what his view on life has become? I deserve.... Dont get me wrong he worked after he graduated high school he went right out and got a job, he took the technical route in school. So he had a lot of knowledge for the workforce. But as the economy worsened and he couldn't find work, he started drawing unemployment. At first he would be looking really diligently for work as soon as he was layed off or the comp went under. But then it got to he didn't start looking till after his unemployment ran out, and he was looking for extensions on it that he would look. And now he refuses to work a job and says the government should fix all his problems, because he thinks they caused them. So he deserves everything he can get. Now i know this was a long detailed answer but i wanted to make sure i was not misunderstood when i give my final words on this. But in what i have seen and understand, my age group sees the government as the provider for them, and i n that i finally understand my teacher when he said we have turned into our old enemies. We are not communist no, but the whole point is for the people to rely on the state for security. And my age group lulled themselves into thinking the government will do everything for them. And what they know about how the crisis occured and how it continues to occur is only one word. Government. I do not know why or how this has occured, and i am not playing politics or pointing fingers in any particular direction. But i just hope they can open their eyes and say hey! I let my government do this, so am i not also responsible?


I hope i answered your question well enough without being overbearing, i know i get very long winded at times. And please comment back if i left part of it un answered or if i opened a new question. And to your question of what sites and where to find information i will have to answer later, i need to think on it. But i will answer it though. And please like i said any other questions you have do ask, and if i dont answer it fullly enough or get off topic, tell me and i will try agian i get sidetracked a lot. Btw thank you for noticing my input it means a lot that i actually perked someones interest being as young as i am, most people just wouldn listen. But i will get back to the info part later tonight

Well, I for one, LIKE YOUR STYLE KID!!! You are definitely one of the very few who GET IT!!!
Keep writing here pal...you are one who WILL change things in this world. I believe that!
Best
Trim sends

//BT//