End of the World? Soon?

[WarpV2]

Most of this is built on speculation bullshit

So I recently had this conversation today about the economy and what might happen as an effect. I'll try and sum most of it up and show positions.

Remember that these are just ideas thrown out there, they got me thinking and I just came here to share them and see others opinions and thoughts on the topics as well.

First off before I go directly into the whole topic I would like to put this out there. If you remember or learned back when they banned alcohol in the US.

Why?
Well my dads statement was (idk if this is true or not: seems legit though) that the gas and oil companies influenced or made the government do this or the government did this themselves for their own behalf because of money! All the government cares about is money! Look where this got us now, 15 trillion dollars almost 16 now in debt. ( http://www.usdebtclock.org/ ) With each senator and office in the government setting their own wages and avoiding taxation. He also thinks that the government is hold back cures to cancer, and maybe even other things; tumors, aids, hiv, and such. They're doing it yet again for the money.

Back to why they banned it... (again idk if these facts are true) the alcohol, pure alcohol, is a better fuel for cars. It burns better, cleaner, easier on the engine, idk if cheaper. Nascar was created during this time thanks to moonshiners. The way they transported the bear was in vehicles, probably ran on the alcohol as well.

(TL: DR? skip to here for general topic)

What's going to happen to the world?
Wtf are people doing in the government? Not just our government but the others suck too, Greece is supposedly worse than ours and it's helping to bring down england.
Soo... In our century if our country collapses.. how is the world going to react when our country goes down? Most likely the rest of the world will go down with us. Will it be like the great depression? Doubt it, most people will raid Walmart and the next week nothing is left. There wont be enough food for everyone. Crimes and murder around the world. The whole planet will have to go through another great struggle to rebuild it's empire. I think this is human nature of course even though it is horrible. A lot of great empires have all gone down, rome, egypt, aztecs, etc.

[sajin0084]

most people will raid Walmart and the next week nothing is left. There wont be enough food for everyone.

Wasn't aware Walmart had all the worlds food supplies...

[sophos1]

Yep, you've figured it all out. The world will end soon, just like people has been saying for hundreds of years.

[Beavis]

Try not to take this the wrong way, but you might be better off getting your information from books instead of your dad.

[TheEaterofSouls]

Have some faith in humanity. We'll survive.

[Sartharias]

Sure, it will happen SOON™. Not to be mean, as the last poster said, please get information like this from a more reliable source than your father.

[Deleted]

He also thinks that the government is hold back cures to cancer, and maybe even other things; tumors, aids, hiv, and such. They're doing it yet again for the money.

NO. Just NO! Don't care how much you would like that to be true or whatever you're thinking about it, it's WRONG. Medical companies do create a slight profit with pills that kinda fight the effects of some of those, but it would be way better to just use a cure if it were available.
There is no cure to those diseases/whatever, especially for tumors and cancer. There are so goddamn many different versions of those two that have to be treated differently that it's nearly impossible to have a cure for them. That cure would have to be some kind of super-medicine, boosting your immune system to waaaaaaaaaay beyond human level, so much that your body would be able to fight anything it encounters, which just isn't possible atm. Btw, Aids and HIV? (Nearly) the same thing, one is the disease and one is the thing that's spreading it. (HI-Virus)

Back to why they banned it... (again idk if these facts are true) the alcohol, pure alcohol, is a better fuel for cars. It burns better, cleaner, easier on the engine, idk if cheaper. Nascar was created during this time thanks to moonshiners. The way they transported the bear was in vehicles, probably ran on the alcohol as well.

If it were, then it would be used. Not neccessarily in all cars, but in some of them. It isn't though. And seeing as alcohol can easily be produced without the use of fossil resources, compared to normal fuel... yeah... everyone even remotely able to think logically should see that alcohol can't be a suitable alternativ to normal fuel. Wouldn't make sense otherwise... of course except for the "goverment be evil mon, they be stealing our joooaaoobs!" *cue more redneck bullshit*

What's going to happen to the world?
Wtf are people doing in the government? Not just our government but the others suck too, Greece is supposedly worse than ours and it's helping to bring down england.
Soo... In our century if our country collapses.. how is the world going to react when our country goes down? Most likely the rest of the world will go down with us. Will it be like the great depression? Doubt it, most people will raid Walmart and the next week nothing is left. There wont be enough food for everyone. Crimes and murder around the world. The whole planet will have to go through another great struggle to rebuild it's empire. I think this is human nature of course even though it is horrible. A lot of great empires have all gone down, rome, egypt, aztecs, etc.

First there will be a big depression, maybe some riots here and there. As soon as there is barely any oil left the big countries will form treaties to attack the little countries that still have oil and try to get it. Maybe some more wars will follow, ended by a nuclear war that determines the "winner".
OR scientists will find alternatives to oil - maybe a way to produce it without fossil resources... who knows, too much could happen. Will see.

[Shadowmelded]

Yep, you've figured it all out. The world will end soon, just like people has been saying for hundreds of years.

They've known about it for hundreds of years??!?! WHY DIDN'T ANYONE WARN US?!?!

No but srsly, most of the stuff said in the OP is conspiracy theory or wrong (England is not going down)

[Teru]

Try not to take this the wrong way, but you might be better off getting your information from books instead of your dad.

This.

OP;
You've either grossly misunderstood what your father was trying to tell you about these subjects, or he is just unbelievably uninformed. In either case you should do your own research into the subjects if you're interested in them. I think you'll find there really is no need for the tin-foil hat after all.

[jahasafrat]

What is this nonsense? I came to this thread hoping for actual talk of the apocalypse, not some tinfoil hat conspiracy theory bullshit.

[Hunterpower]

What is this nonsense? I came to this thread hoping for actual talk of the apocalypse, not some tinfoil hat conspiracy theory bullshit.

Both subjects are conspiracy theory bullshit, at least this year. (talking about mayan calendar BS)

[Kegler]

Some perspective is in order.

"Our earth is degenerate in these latter days. There are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end. Bribery and corruption are common." --Assyrian tablet from 2800 BC

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers." -- Socrates

"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly disrespectful and impatient of restraint" --Hesiod, 8th century BC

"The world is passing through troublous times. The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they knew everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is foolishness with them. As for the girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress." --Peter the Hermit, 1274 AD

And, my favorite to wrap my diatribe up.
"I believe what really happens in history is this: the old man is always wrong; and the young people are always wrong about what is wrong with him. The practical form it takes is this: that, while the old man may stand by some stupid custom, the young man always attacks it with some theory that turns out to be equally stupid." --G. K. Chesterton

great post!

[Flaks]

You're ridiculously naive if you think fall of even ALL of the Western nations would plummet the entire globe into chaos and anarchy. Civilizations rise from the fall of others. In this day and age, these civilizations do not rise and fall in the same region but instead in regions varying from era to era.

[proteen]

Couple of things to fix here:

1) There is no state of England - it's called the United Kingdom (UK).

2) Greece isn't only bringing down the UK but rather the whole entire EU. This is because once they joined the EU and were paired up with powerhouse countries like Germany, the UK, etc. they were able to borrow a whole lot more money and thought they had an unlimited budget. That was just silly and poor judgement by Greece's government. However, they aren't the only ones to blame! France and Italy are not too far behind Greece in how bad their economies are doing. So, these states are performing austerity measures which ultimately cut spending within the country to the bone (which means no new roads, schools, jobs, etc.). People all over Europe have begun protesting these austerity measures, which was blatantly clear on May Day a couple days ago.

3) If our country collapses? We have the highest total GDP on the entire planet. In fact, China is the only one relatively close to us (although they are climbing fast and will likely become the economic power of the world in the next 10 years). The US has an equal GDP of Japan, India, Germany, Russia, and the UK combined. We aren't going away anytime soon. Does the economic downfall that's occurring in Europe effect us? Heck yes it does! If they are buying less product, then we are losing out on business opportunities and start to lose money. In the long run though, we have such a high economy compared to everyone else on the planet that we can afford to make some cuts here and there. Where could we make a cut you might ask? Our military, if we needed to. We spend more money on our military than what the rest of the planet does combined. Sure, we use our military as a projection of power. But we can still make some cuts there alone to save money. Regardless, don't be suprised if some austerity measures start to arise in the US down the road.

4) You say that, "a lot of great empires have all gone down, rome, egypt, aztecs, etc." That's how the world worked prior to World Wars. If an empire wanted to take over another, and felt they had the power to do so, they would. However, after WWI and WWII, European countries started to realize that all of this fighting between neighboring states was getting out of hand. They were literally destroying each other and themselves. So, this idea of sovereignty came about which meant that a state was independent and could rule themselves however they wanted. The UN was implemented to keep sovereignty from being messed with (aka - If Russia decided it was going to try and take over Ukraine, the UN would get involved and try to solve the conflict peacefully with Ukraine being overtaken by Russia). China is a huge promoter of sovereignty. They have been around for around 5,000 years! It is the longest continuous standing empire ever! So, if you think that certain states like Greece, Mongolia, or wherever are simply going to fall off the face of the planet and be overtaken by other countries in a snap - you sir are wrong. They may be phased in over many years, but again its not going to be like "HOLY CRAP THE WORLD FELL APART AND NOW THEM NORTH KOREANS ARE RUNNING EVERYTHING" because that's silly - North Korea is silly.

Hopefully your dad isn't feeding this to everyone. It's sad that a majority of people in the world (especially people in the US) have no freaking clue about anything going on in the world politically, economically, or socially. I challenge anyone that read my comment to take some time and catch up on some world news. You really will feel more educated if you do this simply 2-3 times a week. I recommend the following databases for current and past world news:
tenbyten.org
newsmap.jp

[Sayier]

He also thinks that the government is hold back cures to cancer, and maybe even other things; tumors, aids, hiv, and such. They're doing it yet again for the money.

I can almost guarantee this is not true for your (your father's) same reasoning. A cancer cure (HIV, AIDs , etc.) would sell for OBSCENE amounts. Furthermore the amount of money it costs the government to pay for on going health care for those with cancer (repeated chemo and radiation treatments) costs the governments large sums. Overall, I don't see how it could be profitable for them to sit on a cure. Also, to say that the rest of the world would fail because the US collapsed is kind of big headed. The whole world would be effected but not nearly to the end of the world proportions that you put it. There are crimes, murder, and starvation rampant all around the world and we get along in our day to day life fine.

[Abysal]

A global economic collapse wouldn't end the world but it would seriously reduce the population and standard of living. Lots of people would starve, but there would be some who survived off the land that remained the way that humanity did for thousands of years prior to any real economic development.

[javadown2]

"The way they transported the bear was in vehicles, probably ran on the alcohol as well. "

I blame it on the bears, they can drink a lot!

[Skizzit]

Couple of things to fix here:

1) There is no state of England - it's called the United Kingdom (UK).

Might want to check your facts again there, chief. England is a part of the UK. The United Kingdom is a sovereign state that is made up of four countries, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

[noralya]

I think someone should instead be worried about getting a proper education.

[Zebraz]

OH MY GOSH!!! brb collecting bottle caps...
Seriously though if i had a dollar for every time some random dude claimed the end of the world in nigh on the Internet, i would be a very very rich man.