[quote=partypup][quote=davelj]I would say the Great Depression qualifies as implosion (based on unemployment, social strife, etc.), to use just one example.[/quote]
Then according to Volcker and Soros, you need to brace yourself for an implosion. Don’t shoot the messenger.
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I would prefer not to have an implosion – it would certainly have more of a negative impact on me and my finances (not to mention those of others) than a positive impact – but I’m prepared for it if it comes. Several years worth of liquidity, if it comes to that. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, and all that business.
Actually, if memory serves, Volcker did not suggest that we were heading into a depression. He merely suggested that things were deteriorating at a rate as fast or faster than occurred in the Great Depression. That’s a distinction with an important difference. Soros, on the other hand, does think we’re headed into a depression. Of course, as usual, Soros is talking his own book – which is his right. Many other “smart folks,” such as Buffett, Grantham (and others), merely think we’re in for a deep, long recession, with plenty of economic and financial damage. But they’re probably talking THEIR books as well. My point is that pitting “expert against expert” is not particularly rigorous or persuasive since you can always find smart folks on either side of a contentious debate.
