As the United States enters into 2012, the number of daily fears and worries for Americans continues to grow. Food prices, unemployment, war with Iran, and degrading loss of liberty through legistation such as the Patriot Act, SOPA, and the NDAA all add to a comprehensively negative outlook for the future. However, of the multitude of real and perceived catasrophies that could inevitably fall upon the American people, one primary fear outweighs all the others... that of an economic collpase.
On December 30th, the Economic Collpase Blog issued an end of year study on the most important fears hanging over the heads of the American people, along with data showing how right that fear is, based on the growing collapse of many financial sectors that in the past, made up the foundations of our financial and economic system.
Here is the list of Feared Catastrophies as measured in a survey by the Ecohealth Alliance, and their percentage of importance.
Economic Collapse: 63%
Natural Disaster: 46%
Terrorist Attack: 44%
Global Disease Outbreak: 33%
Global War: 27%
Nuclear Accident: 25%
Global Warming: 22%
Fuel Shortage: 15%
Cyber War: 8%
Famine: 8%
Oil Spill: 6%
Industrial Accident: 5% - Ecohealthalliance.org
Overwhelmingly, the people's trust in a secure economy, and the leaders who administer economic policies, is failing. Nearly two-thirds of those polled fear a complete economic collapse based on the news and evidence provided to them in both the media, and financial experiences such as unemployment, higher retail prices, and lifestyle changes such as losing a home, or falling home values.
Besides polling, the raw economic data also suggests an economic collapse as being of high probability in the near or medium term future. Global banks. which make up the primary central bank shareholders for governments in the west, have all fallen in value, been downgraded by ratings agencies, and have experienced liquidity problems that have forced them to the brink of insolvency at one point or another in the past three years.
BofA: -60.38%
Citi: -44.76%
Goldman Sachs: -46.41%
JPMorgan: -23.03%
Morgan Stanley: -45.24%
RBS: -50%
Barclays: -34.32%
Lloyds: -63.02%
UBS: -29.33%
Deutsche Bank: -28,55%
Crédit Agricole: -56.04%
BNP Paribas: -37.67%
Société Générale: -59.57% - theeconomiccollpaseblog.com
Lastly, the American people have had the opportunity to see what an economic collapse in nations can do to the people, and the policies of governments in both Greece, and in several Middle Eastern countries in 2011. When the solvency of a government fails, and international monetary agencies such as the ECB and IMF attempt to impose austerity measures such as added taxation, or cuts in public safety nets, businesses begin to fail in large numbers, and people grow the internal fortitude to lash out at the system.
If you want to see what happens when a collapse happens and a depression begins, just look at what is happening in Greece....
*100,000 businesses have been closed since the beginning of the crisis.
*About a third of the nation is now living in poverty.
*The unemployment rate for those under the age of 24 is 39 percent.
*The number of suicides has increased by 40 percent in the past year.
*Thefts and burglaries nearly doubled between 2007 and 2009.
Things have gotten so bad that hundreds of families in Greece are abandoning their children. – theeconomiccollpaseblog.com
As we enter 2012, and little has changed in the economic outlook for the United States in the past year, the growing fears of an economic collapse remain very high in the minds and fears of many Americans. In the past 10 years, millions of jobs, and hundreds of thousands of businesses have failed, or move overseas, and governments on a local and Federal level have borrowed themselves into insolvency. With more people expected to fall outside of the safety nets of unemployment, and the ability of their legislators to solve the economic problems hanging over the country like a Damocles Sword, the remaining avenue for Americans will be the streets, not the ballot box if their primary fear of economic collapse does take place.
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