A REAL Mortgage Crisis Coming?

epz_2

ManAtHome wrote: »

Depends ow long people can manage without overtime and bonuses (and possibly part salary) - wasn't the same level of debt to service then.

point was if banks and the financial system breakes down then you have whats in your posession and what you can make, no debt to banks, no taxes as such.

even in a less extreme situation if most people are only working 3 days and are content to live on the production of that work then everyone would be in the same boat.

frankly i think a lot of jobs exist to keep people occupied at the moment especcialy in the government so recon we could easily keep the lights on and people fed with substantially less but productive work.

wouldnt fancy being one of the 3+ million who cant be bothered working though, its ok to expect to get payed every 2 weeks with the police and HMRC doing the extorsion but having to go out and beg/steal cash off people working would be a lot less fun.

beingjdc

epz wrote: »

even i with my apocaliptic leanings refuse to belive a banking system going t!ts up could take out the food supply in the west which has roughly 0.5% of the population producing most of the food it needs anyway

In the UK we now import 40% of the food we eat. To be honest, though I think it's unlikely, with a growing world population and falling food stocks - if our money became worthless due to a collapse in the financial system, why would the countries we import from sell their food to us any more, when they are facing shortages themselves? Even if they were willing to, who would captain the ships for no wages, and pay for their fuel?

ManAtHome

epz wrote: »

point was if banks and the financial system breakes down then you have whats in your posession and what you can make, no debt to banks, no taxes as such.

Wasn't a "point 6" response, but even in the 70s you didn't need to work a minimum of 40 hours a week to keep the payments up. The public sector strikes were more about pay-rises substantially less than inflation - couldn't possibly happen again...

Total collapse is very unlikely - reduced consumption/paying back some of the debt much more likely which could take us into a "more state debts/less taxes coming in" spiral.

ManAtHome

subjecttocontract wrote: »

Should I stock up with tinned food just in case ?

Yes - baked beans and spam (don't fall for the beans and corned beef - starts off ok, but doesn't hold up well to a good spooning).

Generali

epz wrote: »

wouldnt fancy being one of the 3+ million who cant be bothered working though, its ok to expect to get payed every 2 weeks with the police and HMRC doing the extorsion but having to go out and beg/steal cash off people working would be a lot less fun.

Nor me old thing. It's unlikely to happen just yet but there's likely to be a big bun fight coming as to whether people that were promised that the Govt would keep them 'from the cradle to the grave' will get pensions or whether the indolent will get the cash from those that are working. IMO of course.

Generali

ManAtHome wrote: »

Wasn't a "point 6" response, but even in the 70s you didn't need to work a minimum of 40 hours a week to keep the payments up. The public sector strikes were more about pay-rises substantially less than inflation - couldn't possibly happen again...

Total collapse is very unlikely - reduced consumption/paying back some of the debt much more likely which could take us into a "more state debts/less taxes coming in" spiral.

Total collapse is extremely unlikely. As I say, I only put it in for the 'tin hat' guys. What is most likely, IMHO, is somewhere between 1 & 2: recession and a load of people feeling rather sheepish about how much debt they've taken on.

Gorgeous_George

What should house-owners do OP?

What would be the impact if they all did it?

GG

epz_2

beingjdc wrote: »

In the UK we now import 40% of the food we eat. To be honest, though I think it's unlikely, with a growing world population and falling food stocks - if our money became worthless due to a collapse in the financial system, why would the countries we import from sell their food to us any more, when they are facing shortages themselves? Even if they were willing to, who would captain the ships for no wages, and pay for their fuel?

i agree we do import a lot of food but most of that is stuff like bananas etc that our climate doesnt allow us to grow, it might be back to apples, potatoes and turnips but if the uk could feed itself without most of the working population and germans bombing the hell out the infrastructure it would have no probs now.

with the kind of increased capacity, freezing tech and a strong motivating factor productivity would go through the roof, there is just no need at the moment when you can pay 3rd world laborers buttons for food.

beingjdc

epz wrote: »

i agree we do import a lot of food but most of that is stuff like bananas etc that our climate doesnt allow us to grow, it might be back to apples, potatoes and turnips but if the uk could feed itself without most of the working population and germans bombing the hell out the infrastructure it would have no probs now.

We couldn't feed ourselves - hence the strategic importance of the North Atlantic Convoy, and the German attempts to sink it. We also had 10 million fewer people then.

with the kind of increased capacity, freezing tech and a strong motivating factor productivity would go through the roof, there is just no need at the moment when you can pay 3rd world laborers buttons for food.

Productivity falls when energy gets more expensive. Our main problem in the first instance would not be getting food, but getting oil. If we couldn't get enough oil, fertiliser, food production, food transport, and food storage, would all be damaged.

ManAtHome

Generali wrote: »

What is most likely, IMHO, is somewhere between 1 & 2:

I'm more 2/3 (pretty crap for The Voice Of Doom, but there you go) - was a great "possibles" post though, apart from missing out....

0.1 Badger and Butthead know that eveything's really great - just a bit of minor turbulence, entirely the fault of them americans who think prudence is an insurance company, but can't possibly affect the intensely strong and stable UK economy which is doing just great despite them americans who think prudence is an insurance company...