New Money?

[Simon of the Playa]

with the coming collapse, the future of our currency is in doubt, so it is inevitable that we will begin a new phase in our history by re-structuring our Economic system by co-ordinating financial efforts in our sphere of influence.

what should the new money be?

[Sail Man]

I'm going with #4. Cuz when the economy tanks the next time we can at least eat our money. That and irritate the dentists. What could be better then that.


Hmmmm, Marathon Man just came to mind. Note to self, do not piss off my dentist.

[Box Burner]

The new currency should be called Barter. This currency never collapses. Although as societies advance, for convienience, barter has always been replaced with a currency that can/will collapse. Usually because that society forgets that the currency has no value in and of itself. Honesty and a handshake works much better. Unfortunately that too is a difficult concept for some.

[Simon of the Playa]

you are right, the barter system was, is, and will be....


but i still like saying the word "mexicoco"


sounds like a tropical drink or something.

[Ugly Dougly]

Smart people will have small holdings of arable land where they can grow most of what they need to eat and barter any surplus.

Dumb people will still be staring at the empty ATM machines.

[VelcroChicken]

Not all currency is valueless. Like when you used to be able to trade a dollar for a dollar's worth of gold.

But, I'm not sure if you've seen this recently, but Zimbabwe, a country in super-inflation, printed a 100 billion dollar note: (these are on sale on ebay if you want one )



Apparently enough to buy about 3 eggs.

As of July their inflation rate was 231,000,000%

[Ugly Dougly]

...
But, I'm not sure if you've seen this recently, but Zimbabwe, a country in super-inflation, printed a 100 billion dollar note: (these are on sale on ebay if you want one )

The sad fact is that Ebay is probably the only place where its value is going up.

[wedeliver]

with the coming collapse, the future of our currency is in doubt, so it is inevitable that we will begin a new phase in our history by re-structuring our Economic system by co-ordinating financial efforts in our sphere of influence.

what should the new money be?

The new money should be chocolate! In See's we trust! All the rest have to pay with chocolate!

[VelcroChicken]

...
But, I'm not sure if you've seen this recently, but Zimbabwe, a country in super-inflation, printed a 100 billion dollar note: (these are on sale on ebay if you want one )

The sad fact is that Ebay is probably the only place where its value is going up.

I'd have to look it up, and it changes quickly, but they're going for 5 - 6$USD which I'm pretty sure is worth way more than a $100,000,000,000 there.

[Captain Goddammit]

The new money should be chocolate! In See's we trust! All the rest have to pay with chocolate!

Hershey's is the Holy One, and infidels such as yourself shall melt in hell!

Unless we're talking ice cream... then it's Baskin-Robbins chocolate, period. There is no other ice cream.

[ygmir]

The new money should be chocolate! In See's we trust! All the rest have to pay with chocolate!

Hershey's is the Holy One, and infidels such as yourself shall melt in hell!

Unless we're talking ice cream... then it's Baskin-Robbins chocolate, period. There is no other ice cream.

*hearing the sound of a can opener, in the background, working on a tin of worms*.........

[Toolmaker]

Amero.. courtesy of the Denver Mint. The coins are in production now and should be replacing the dollar soon. If memory serves the collapse is due in Feb or March and the Amero is supposed to fix things. I think the exchange rate is supposed to be 4 dollars for 1 Amero or something like that. Obama should be making the announcement as scheduled in the first quarter of 09 shortly after the total meltdown.

PS The coins being minted now are going to China and other debtors. We will be able to get them after the deficit is sorted.

[gyre]

The euro.

Stabilizing the economy might keep the icebacks from pouring over our northern border.

[Simon of the Playa]

you know, if we just kill all the old people a la Logan's Run, we wouldnt have THIS problem...


and i STILL like the Mexicoco. say it 3 times real fast. go ahead, it just rolls off your tongue...Mexicoco, mexicoco, mexicoco.


WASHINGTON – With pension funds facing billions of dollars in shortfalls as markets plunge, a range of companies from Ford to Verizon are pushing Congress to suspend portions of a two-year old law they say could force them to make job cuts as they shift scarce money into ailing retirement pools.

The lobbying effort aims to change a 2006 pension reform law as part of any economic stimulus plan in a lame-duck session of Congress that begins next week. Companies warn the current law could force them to tie up large sums of cash they desperately need in the face of a global recession.

Roughly 300 companies and business groups plan to make the request in a letter Wednesday to congressional committees. The authors include some of the nation's biggest corporate names from a wide range of sectors, including Ford Motor Co., IBM Corp., Pfizer Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc.

"Unless the funding rules are modified, they will increase U.S. unemployment and slow our economic recovery," the letter warns.

The Pension Protection Act of 2006 included provisions meant to ensure that company pensions, also known as defined benefits, have money to meet the promises made to workers and retirees. While many companies have phased out such pools of money in favor of 401(k) plans, which cost less, about three-quarters of S&P 500 companies still have traditional plans, analysts say.

Under the law, companies facing shortfalls must bring their plans up to full funding over the next seven years. Those that fall short will be forced to take steps such as freezing the accrual of new benefits for current plan members.

The letter asks Congress for changes to the pension reform law, such as giving companies more time to reach full funding. It also seeks accounting changes that would allow companies to spread losses to their plans over longer periods of time, a process that would temper the effect of sudden drops in plan values.

With many plans heavily invested in equities, the recent drop in the market, which saw the S&P 500 index fall about 35 percent in a year, has caused steep pension losses. A report earlier this month by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College estimated that equities held by private defined benefit plans lost nearly $1 trillion in value in the year that ended Oct. 9. The same study estimates companies will have to raise contributions to their plans by at least $90 billion next year because of the drop.

Defense contractors like Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. have reported big losses to their funds, and some Wall street analysts warn defense firms face up to 25 percent underfunding because of the market woes.

[Sail Man]

you are right, the barter system was, is, and will be....


but i still like saying the word "mexicoco"


sounds like a tropical drink or something.

Mexicoco eh....

Bet it comes in a powder form, possibly white in color. Not that I'd know anything about that

[Toolmaker]

Executives with 7 figure salaries yet the company is having financial woes.

Even I know that if you fire the schmuck that makes 1 million to sit at a desk and look busy you will have an extra 1 million. The people under the exec that did his/her work can still do their jobs.

When this staged economic collapse is finished I say we get a mob together and BBQ all these bankers and stock people that have did this to us so they could have more money. Than there will be food for us to eat.

Whats REALLY sad is that we have burners on here that are PROUD of the fact that they are profiting off of the collapse of our country. I even saw mention of making thousands in a day. I guess they think this Depression will be like the last. It will not. This Depression will be very bloody, the poor will eat the rich for lack of food. I guess all those punks were right.

[Simon of the Playa]

[EvilDustBooger]

Way back in September Treasury Secretary Paulson was SCREAMING that he needed his 3 PAGE plan asking for 700 BILLION approved by congress NOW or the world economy would implode. It took congress 2 weeks to approve a now whopping 400+ page plan it was approved with the understanding that a portion would be used to buy up TOXIC mortgages. Not do so would surely result in economic catastrophe.

Now we are in November and Paulson now says Treasury will not be buying any TOXIC mortgages.

1st - WHAT THE FUCK! Is Kenneth Lay still on the dole?

2nd - Am I the only one here who feels as though he is being sodomized by the feds?

3rd - Are there any adults left in the federal govt who are not under the influence of something hallucinagenic?

4th - We are in a world of economic trouble and the treasury secretary is using the "MAGIC 8 BALL" for a sounding board.

5th - Are we really going to bail out the fucking auto makers? Cant we let them go in to bankruptcy and reorganize like the airlines did?


Fuck new money.
I want skin!

[Elderberry]

5th - Are we really going to bail out the fucking auto makers? Cant we let them go in to bankruptcy and reorganize like the airlines did?

I'm definately with you on #5. This would be the second bail-out the government will have given them. If they didn't learn from their mistakes the first time around, I don't think we should step in at all.

As a business, it is up to them to recognize the coming trends and retool production and design to meet them. They didn't, the Japanese did; it's only the Detroit big three that are suffering. I don't see Toyota with their hand out. (At least I haven't heard of them being in trouble.)

I have no sympathy for the Dinosaurs in Detroit.

JK

[littleflower]

do you have any sympathy for the people who will lose jobs and/or pensions?

[can't sit still]

Mexicoco sounds good. Keep in mind that a coco [coconut] is hollow. We can expect the same of a new currency.
Any currency is based/backed by the production capacity of that country. Where does that leave the US? The treasury dept reports that much of the gold is no longer classified as "currency backing" It's now classified as being in "Long term storage"
Brazil went from the cruzero to the cruzera. Israel was circulating the shekelum with the "new" shekulem,,, three zeros difference. I was in Mexico when they lopped off 3 zeros and called it the new peso. I expect the US to call a new currency a "dollar" They try to keep something familiar. Zimbabwe has already lopped off 10 zeros.
If you've got the stomach for it, you can look for "Celente" on U-tube. He's been fearfully accurate for the last 6 years. He says riot, revolution and starvation. The default is supposed to come in june or july.
The bond market seems to show deflation for the next 81 months. The US is also expected to lose 10 million jobs next year. It won't matter what the currency is,,,,, nobody will have any.
China is spending about a half trillion dollars on a stimulus package. BUT, their banks already have $1.4 trillion in bad loans. They're screwed.
The new currency could be called the "Magic Note" Now, you see it,,,, now you don't.

[Elderberry]

do you have any sympathy for the people who will lose jobs and/or pensions?

Oh yes, plenty of sympathy; just no money.

JK

[theCryptofishist]

3rd - Are there any adults left in the federal govt who are not under the influence of something hallucinagenic?

I think quite well of the people in my office.

[Captain Goddammit]

5th - Are we really going to bail out the fucking auto makers? Cant we let them go in to bankruptcy and reorganize like the airlines did?

I'm definately with you on #5. This would be the second bail-out the government will have given them. If they didn't learn from their mistakes the first time around, I don't think we should step in at all.

As a business, it is up to them to recognize the coming trends and retool production and design to meet them. They didn't, the Japanese did; it's only the Detroit big three that are suffering. I don't see Toyota with their hand out. (At least I haven't heard of them being in trouble.)

I have no sympathy for the Dinosaurs in Detroit.

JK

If you're referring to the Chrysler bailout, you probably don't know what you're talking about. The government didn't give Chrysler a nickel, they made them acquire private loans and simply acted as their cosigner. Chrysler paid those loans back in full within a few years, and the government actually made a lot of money in the deal.
I'm not thrilled to see American industry fail, and can't imagine why another American would.
It's NOT only the Detroit Big Three that are suffering! The European automakers are having a very hard time too.
People have been criticizing Detroit for years for building the type of vehicles they do, yet they've been buying millions of them. No one forced the public to buy all those F250s and Suburbans and Excursions that you see all over the place, Americans WANTED them.
The more American industries that fail and the more we send our money away overseas, the more it's gonna affect YOU and your ability to afford going to Burning Man, or paying your mortgage, etc.

I just don't get why people are HAPPY about major U.S. industries collapsing.

Oh and don't forget, it's largely the U.S. automakers that manufacture the equipment that our military needs to keep your ass safe and speaking English.

OK, anti anti-American rant over for now.

[BAS]

Whatever the new currency is called, I am hedging my bet: I recently ordered a copy of the Great Depression era book "5 Acres and Independence"!

Only one problem-- where can I get the money to buy 5 acres...?!?

How about having the new currency be coins made out of uranium, and whenever you need electricity you just turn them in at the power company? (Okay, so I stole this idea from a science fiction author!)

[Simon of the Playa]

i've begun to hoard snack foods...

me and little debbie will be JUST FINE!

i've calculated the nutritional requirements and daily needs of my body against the ingredients in Nutty Buddy Bars and have concluded i can live for 1.5 years without too many issues provided i supplement them with sweet-tarts to avoid scurvy.

by then, most of you will be dead, and i can then begin the process of repopulating the earth with little simons and simones.

(once i find out where they are hiding brittany spears, of course)

george forman, eat your heart out.

[Sail Man]

do you have any sympathy for the people who will lose jobs and/or pensions?

Not if it's their greed for mo money that caused their company to go belly-up. I swear if i transport one more big 3 line worker tee-heeing over making 30$ an hr to slap a part on a car, when I make half that much, I'm gonna poke em in the arm with a 18g needle

just kidding, just kidding.

Well, maybe.

[Ugly Dougly]

The car industry would still be in trouble if they were leading the world with a brand new fleet of reliable plug-in hybrids. The problem is the availability of credit, and cars require credit to buy.

Though I wouldn't mind a requirement to increase fuel efficiency as a carrot-and-stick approach.

[Ugly Dougly]

[mojo]

Whats REALLY sad is that we have burners on here that are PROUD of the fact that they are profiting off of the collapse of our country. I even saw mention of making thousands in a day. I guess they think this Depression will be like the last. It will not. This Depression will be very bloody, the poor will eat the rich for lack of food. I guess all those punks were right.

It may have been me you are discussing here. Can you please explain to me how buying stock in a bear market (which puts money INTO the system, shoring up battered companies needing the cash) is profiting off the collapse of our country? Much of the gain I made has been reabsorbed in the falling market, but I am still slightly on the plus side due to some good picks.

In fact, instead of hoarding available cash, if Americans who can would move money from cash funds and assets into the market, the crisis would be eased immensely.

If you need to find blame, don't lay it at the feet of the average investor trying to keep their retirement from being sucked down the drain.