So.....where did it all go?

[kaziard]

I know this may seem incredibly stupid.... but in the current economic crisis/mess debt w/e where is all the money and power going? All the wealth of the world cant just be dissapearing into some black void and leaving forever. So in summary who is actually gaining from all this?

Feel free to facepalm and call me an idiot but i like to stick to my sciences, buisness studies and general economy is like one big bubbly pot of lava to me. So please ladies and gentlemen, enlighten me of current events and lead me from my warm and fluffy shell of ignorance

 

[Pigeon_Grenade]

The Yeti, and Bigfoot Stole it, And of course Spider Monkeys

 

[Lord Krunk]

Believe it or not, Australia is the only western country not to be in a recession right now.

We're still taking it hard though, mainly because our retailers are a bunch of morons.

If the economy's going belly-up, DO NOT raise prices!

 

[LockHeart]

It's still there, but here in the UK the government seem to want to put all of it into failing banks and layabouts and politicians' pockets while ripping off the honest and hardworking people who had the good sense not to get up to their eyeballs in debt and live within their means.

All the while, New Labour seem to want to concentrate more power in the hands of the state.

 

[Skeleon]

Well, as far as I understood it, this is mostly based on those real estate scams, so basically a lot of money was based on a lie. The bubble popped and the money is gone because its counter value doesn't exist.
And now all the banks are scared of loaning money to each other and especially the various companies relying on credits, normal people hold on to their cash and the economy breaks under the strain.

 

[Inverse Skies]

The value goes off sharemarkets as people begin to panic and sell their shares in order to stop from losing money, the less stock is being bought, the less it is worth and the more its price drops. That's where the money goes.

The only people who gain from this are people with strong non-liquid assets like property or gold, because as the economy slows downt the interest rate drops to encourage spending, so people with a lot of money not tied up in shares (like bank funds) can afford to buy property cheap and pay it off for relatively little. Thats who gains out of this.

 

[Internet Kraken]

We turned all the money into emeralds and lowered them into the black sea.

 

[Fingerprint]

Well in the UK its the government getting it all; the irony is that they are the ones saying that something needs to be done. If they really gave a damn about it then they would stop spending taxpayers money on un-necessaries i.e. the (unlawful) war in the middle-East and their own holidays etc. That way some of the money that they've lost could be returned.

 

[Bibliomancer]

Well I'm not sure if the money disappears in some cases, or if the value disappears. If you bought a house for $300000, and it is now only worth $100000, the value of the house goes away and you now have less physical wealth. The housing market is a big part of the problem.

 

[Labyrinth]

The "money" didn't exist in the first place, quite simply. It was just inflation put into numbers. You can still have $100, but it won't buy as much as it otherwise would have. The idea of money is falling over. The shared dream.

 

[Sevre]

The last two posts explain it well,but I'll take a shot. Say you had enough money for one pie. Then you went to the shop and realised you were 2 dollars short of that pie. So you went home to get two dollars and when you go back to the shop and realised the price went up again and you are still 2 dollars short. This is called "inflation" otherwise known as "a real ***** in economic terms".

 

[LockHeart]

Well in the UK its the government getting it all; the irony is that they are the ones saying that something needs to be done. If they really gave a damn about it then they would stop spending taxpayers money on un-necessaries i.e. the (unlawful) war in the middle-East and their own holidays etc. That way some of the money that they've lost could be returned.

So true, they're just not fit for purpose. Which economic genius decides to tax more during a recession?

Clue: he's a one-eyed, Scottish twat.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

I'll tell you where all the money and power is...

Under my bed.

 

[NeedAUserName]

I bet there one rich tramp in the world right now...

 

[Archaon6044]

it's all been creamed off by a few individuals who now have all this money, but it's devalued so much it's useless to them now. the greed of a few has give us all a good bum-raping. with a sharp stick

 

[AceDefective]

Yo my wallet because we all know kids are the future
*Evil laugh cue*

 

[Oopsie]

The problem with the economic crisis is that the money that is "disappearing" was never there in the first place.

This video sums it up more efficiently than I could possibly hope to do.
http://vodpod.com/watch/1373851-the-crisis-of-credit-visualized-on-vimeo

and some alternate links just in case;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlvVumYdMGs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0zEXdDO5JU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhDkZjKBEw

 

[solidstatemind]

Wow. That video was excellent! Thanks!

 

[Fingerprint]

Well in the UK its the government getting it all; the irony is that they are the ones saying that something needs to be done. If they really gave a damn about it then they would stop spending taxpayers money on un-necessaries i.e. the (unlawful) war in the middle-East and their own holidays etc. That way some of the money that they've lost could be returned.

So true, they're just not fit for purpose. Which economic genius decides to tax more during a recession?

Clue: he's a one-eyed, Scottish twat.

Erm... I'm not sure, but is it that waste-of-space who is only the P.M. because he (illegally) decided the public shouldn't have to vote when the old P.M. resigned/was kicked out?

 

[LockHeart]

Well in the UK its the government getting it all; the irony is that they are the ones saying that something needs to be done. If they really gave a damn about it then they would stop spending taxpayers money on un-necessaries i.e. the (unlawful) war in the middle-East and their own holidays etc. That way some of the money that they've lost could be returned.

So true, they're just not fit for purpose. Which economic genius decides to tax more during a recession?

Clue: he's a one-eyed, Scottish twat.

Erm... I'm not sure, but is it that waste-of-space who is only the P.M. because he (illegally) decided the public shouldn't have to vote when the old P.M. resigned/was kicked out?

This is correct. Have a (tax-free) cookie, sir.