so... how many years do we have left?

[the_state]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/weather/06/27/north.pole.melting/index.html

historic oil prices, sharply rising food costs, majorly slumping US economy (which i believe will never fix itself), middle eastern clashes, china and india being two of the most powerful countries, an entire morally corrupted generation growing up on myspace and facebook, and the yeah the global warming thing.

i ask you, how many years does civilization as we know it have left? 10? 20?

please, try keep this an intelligent discussion.

[broneck]

just don't think about it.

[homme.homme]

pretty much what Clopek said. it's not even that bad yet.

[dismalfuture]

historic oil prices, sharply rising food costs, majorly slumping US economy (which i believe will never fix itself), middle eastern clashes, china and india being two of the most powerful countries, an entire morally corrupted generation growing up on myspace and facebook, and the yeah the global warming thing..

oh no! and you just got that pair of free flatheads too!

I'm not too worried at this point either. Humankind made it through the 1970's AND 1980's. We will stay alive a bit longer.

[pavlova cakesworth]

none of that stuff even comes close to describing "the end of civilisation as we know it" except in the sense that civilisation will change, which is not really that big a deal. relax, willya?

[sybaritical]

I'm certain that something is going to give around that time, but what?

This guy seems to think we're spoilt for choice.

[knucks]

just stop thinking. just stop.

[homi29]

its only a matter of time the SUPERfuture becomes a MEDIOCREpresent or a DISMALfuture

[ExileOnMainSt]

The beauty of the open market economy is that these things usually fix themselves.

Also, expectations play a big role in output growth.

So stop being so fucking pessimistic (Americans).

[the_state]

oh no! and you just got that pair of free flatheads too!

I'm not too worried at this point either. Humankind made it through the 1970's AND 1980's. We will stay alive a bit longer.

post-apocalyptic fades FTW.

[Tyro1]

you've only described the end of US civilisation... india and china are sitting pretty... you guys will shoot each other dead before the oil or water becomes a problem

[cjbreed]

^^what? india and china are booming economically, but far from sitting pretty in many other ways. they are absolutely decimating their environments and corruption is rampant. not to mention china's record on human rights.

there is going to be a 4 part series on china on discovery channel starting july 9th. should be good.

[cjbreed]

i actually thought of starting a thread like this, but i've generally stopped reading the news so much because i felt like it was starting to wear me down. it may not be the end of civilization, but it may very well be the end as we know it.

I believe the USA is on the brink of the end of an empire. The US dollar is at a record low against the Euro and is now a 1 to 1 with the Canadian Loonie!!

The fundamental problem is the growing US trade deficit - now more than $700billion!! As the US economy has imported far more goods than it has exported. And we have exported all of our jobs which decimated the blue collar workers in our country. We have given China a ridiculous trade surplus and encouraged them to absolutely destroy their environment.

We spend $12 million dollars an hour in Iraq and have gotten none of the oil. We are seen as an ultraviolent Imperialist nation, which we in fact are. This shit has contributed to us borrowing between $600 billion and a trillion dollars from China. Primarily because this is the first time we have ever gone to war without raising taxes.

The richest 10% of households in the world have as much yearly income as the bottom 90%. With the richest 1% alone owning 40% of the world's wealth. We are all at the mercy of the military industrial complex.

Not to mention:There are now 41,415 species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and 16,306 of them are threatened with extinction, up from 16,118 last year. The total number of extinct species has reached 785 and a further 65 are only found in captivity or in cultivation.

One in four mammals, one in eight birds, one third of all amphibians and 70% of the world’s assessed plants on the 2007 IUCN Red List are in jeopardy. Life on Earth is disappearing fast and will continue to do so unless urgent action is taken.

When was the last time you saw anyone in power take "urgent action" when it didn't involve a war???

[ExileOnMainSt]

^^what? india and china are booming economically, but far from sitting pretty in many other ways. they are absolutely decimating their environments and corruption is rampant. not to mention china's record on human rights.

there is going to be a 4 part series on china on discovery channel starting july 9th. should be good.

Very true - Im so sick of hearing about China.

Any country would have exceptional GDP growth if they allowed prision labor, child labor and paid workers barely anything to work in god-forsaken environments.

It's still not a developed country by any means, there are still strict restrictions on FDI.

That export-orientated, raw material abundant disaster is tearing the ozone layer a new asshole

[kunk75]

i know we're not the best of friends but i agree.

while the us is in a bit of a mess, we're still far better off comparatively to many of the countries on the supposed upswing.

[the_state]

i actually thought of starting a thread like this, but i've generally stopped reading the news so much because i felt like it was starting to wear me down. it may not be the end of civilization, but it may very well be the end as we know it.

I believe the USA is on the brink of the end of an empire. The US dollar is at a record low against the Euro and is now a 1 to 1 with the Canadian Loonie!!

The fundamental problem is the growing US trade deficit - now more than $700billion!! As the US economy has imported far more goods than it has exported. And we have exported all of our jobs which decimated the blue collar workers in our country. We have given China a ridiculous trade surplus and encouraged them to absolutely destroy their environment.

We spend $12 million dollars an hour in Iraq and have gotten none of the oil. We are seen as an ultraviolent Imperialist nation, which we in fact are. This shit has contributed to us borrowing between $600 billion and a trillion dollars from China. Primarily because this is the first time we have ever gone to war without raising taxes.

The richest 10% of households in the world have as much yearly income as the bottom 90%. With the richest 1% alone owning 40% of the world's wealth. We are all at the mercy of the military industrial complex.

Not to mention:There are now 41,415 species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and 16,306 of them are threatened with extinction, up from 16,118 last year. The total number of extinct species has reached 785 and a further 65 are only found in captivity or in cultivation.

One in four mammals, one in eight birds, one third of all amphibians and 70% of the world’s assessed plants on the 2007 IUCN Red List are in jeopardy. Life on Earth is disappearing fast and will continue to do so unless urgent action is taken.

When was the last time you saw anyone in power take "urgent action" when it didn't involve a war???

truth. its enough to make me not want kids.

[kunk75]

i'm still buying an Audi Q7 with 14 mpg and all of the raf 09 shit.

ftw

[gimmegimme]

We're fucked.

I went to the glaciers in southern argentina a few months back, and they're all melting at a crazy pace. Some say it's merely evolution, but if all the ice melts, the water levels will rise drastically and next thing you know...no more manhattan. Evolution or not, that will suck.

[Bona Drag]

oh no! and you just got that pair of free flatheads too!

I'm not too worried at this point either. Humankind made it through the 1970's AND 1980's. We will stay alive a bit longer.

lol

societies change, the world changes, life as we know it changes, and yet somehow it still goes on

if you're the kind of person who has enough disposable income for diorz, supreme, hype sneakz, etc., chances are you will weather whatever storms are coming (and i agree that there probably will be some)

[cjbreed]

^^i still think the US is the greatest country in the world. it is one place where the little guy can actually win in a court of law. if you work hard and do your best, you actually can succeed.

and the free market and a capitalist economy are beautiful concepts, and can solve a lot of our current problems. but our completely unregulated free market economy has become an economy (and government) dominated by huge corporations, whose only responsibilities are:

1. profits

2. raise the stock price

a perfect example is healthcare. insurance companies post profits in the hundreds of billions. we are the richest country in the world, but the WHO ranks our health care system as #37 in the world, right below costa rica and just above slovenia...

[Bona Drag]

truth. its enough to make me not want kids.

although i agree with this, for reasons discussed here and others

would rather kop cluthinz than put some ungrateful little shit through college [ll]

[ProfMonnitoff]

21.12.2012

[the_state]

^ is this when rick owens LA opens or soemthign?

[Eccles]

Theres a bit of this in the air in the UK right now fuel and food prices going up floods and stabbings, disasters around the world, post 9/11 paranoia etc.... I went to see a friend a few weeks ago and he started ranting about major disasters and how he was buying bottled water and canned food 'just in case'. Another friend of mine just bought a crossbow. I haven't asked him why but I assume it's to deter looters.

I think they're both crazy.

[gimmegimme]

Theres a bit of this in the air in the UK right now fuel and food prices going up floods and stabbings, disasters around the world, post 9/11 paranoia etc.... I went to see a friend a few weeks ago and he started ranting about major disasters and how he was buying bottled water and canned food 'just in case'. Another friend of mine just bought a crossbow. I haven't asked him why but I assume it's to deter looters.

I think they're both crazy.

I want a crossbow!!

[the_state]

I think they're both crazy.

wait 'til he shoots you with his cross bow b/c you try attack him w/ a broken tree limb for a can of spam.

[Eccles]

wait 'til he shoots you with his cross bow b/c you try attack him w/ a broken tree limb for a can of spam.

I can picture this scenario all too clearly

I'm gonna check out some crossbow prices to level the playing field

[16steps]

a perfect example is healthcare. insurance companies post profits in the hundreds of billions. we are the richest country in the world, but the WHO ranks our health care system as #37 in the world, right below costa rica and just above slovenia...

there will never be nationalized healthcare in the US. Do you think the fucking insurance companies would ever let that happen? Im really surprised they ddnt kill hillary clinton in 96 after her big push for healthcare

[kunk75]

it's a bad idea anyway. my wife's uncle in ireland is waiting 5 weeks for a ct scan.

here, aside from pallative care or a better room, ted kennedy will get the same treatment as a regular joe.

and if you're leeching off medicaid, you can stay in the hospital for weeks while tax payers pick up the tab.

[rome1]

We're fucked.

I went to the glaciers in southern argentina a few months back, and they're all melting at a crazy pace. Some say it's merely evolution, but if all the ice melts, the water levels will rise drastically and next thing you know...no more manhattan. Evolution or not, that will suck.

this just means that Jersey will become beach front property, = property value going up!