MIT researchers predict ‘global economic collapse’ by 2030. Thoughts on this?

[PolicyReader]

http://rt.com/usa/news/global-collapse-mit-predict-376/

Thoughts on the article? Would you put it at 20 years? Flaws with the conclusion/confirmations of the conclusion?
Article is short and I'm trying to learn so I'd love as much detail about it as anyone would care to give so I can try to expand my knowledge.

Thanks

[eduardo]

MIT researchers predict ‘global economic collapse’ by 2030

A new study from researchers at MIT and produced for an international think tank, says that the world could suffer from "global economic collapse" and "precipitous population decline" if people continue to consume the world's resources at the current pace.

Smithsonian Magazine writes that Australian physicist Graham Turner says "the world is on track for disaster" and that current evidence coincides with a famous, and in some quarters, infamous, academic report from 1972 entitled, "The Limits to Growth."

Produced for a group called The Club of Rome, the study's researchers created a computing model to forecast different scenarios based on the current models of population growth and global resource consumption. The study also took into account different levels of agricultural productivity, birth control and environmental protection efforts. Twelve million copies of the report were produced and distributed in 37 different languages.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow...190352944.html

I highly doubtful we'll make it till 2030 without a major collapse. I see it more likely happening in the next 5-7 years.

[jmdrake]

MIT researchers predict ‘global economic collapse’ by 2030



I highly doubtful we'll make it till 2030 without a major collapse. I see it more likely happening in the next 5-7 years.

I agree. My first thought at the thread title was "We have that long?" I'd plus rep ya if I could.

[Black Flag]

The Club of Rome and the Malthusians have been utterly consistent.

They are never right - never have been for 250 years.

They have no ability to measure human ingenuity and human problem solving.

They only focus on human problems - which are never ending, therefore, they argue humans will be ended by them... pretty soon now, like almost tomorrow.

Further, define what is, for you (or him) what a "global economic collapse" means. No trade? No money? ...or merely no ability of government to fund its obligations....

There will always be problems, and humans will solve them, thereby creating brand new problems that other humans will solve .... until the day the Sun explodes....and who knows...maybe we'll have solved that problem too by then.

[Travlyr]

If the Mayans prove to be nothing more than a bunch of liars, don’t be too upset. Researchers at MIT predict that Earth will experience a whole other Armageddon-like scenario by 2030, when they expect a global economic collapse to occur.

A global economic collapse is a "Welcome to Liberty" event. The amount of wealth doesn't change. The only thing that changes is who is wealthy. Welcome it... embrace it... love it. The Golden Rule: "He who owns the gold makes the rules." Own some gold, some land, some heirloom seeds, and some ammo. Become wealthy.. bring the house down. End The Fed.

[Pericles]

A global economic collapse is a "Welcome to Liberty" event. The amount of wealth doesn't change. The only thing that changes is who is wealthy. Welcome it... embrace it... love it. The Golden Rule: "He who owns the gold makes the rules." Own some gold, some land, some heirloom seeds, and some ammo. Become wealthy.. bring the house down. End The Fed.

I'm on board with that.

[Sola_Fide]

The Malthusian Trap
http://mises.org/daily/1675

[enoch150]

Researchers at the world-renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) say that, at this rate, the planet is likely to be plagued by a “global economic collapse” in fewer than two decades if humans continue to gobble up natural resources at the same rate they are today.

Without reading the actual study, I'm going to call it garbage assuming this sentence reflects it accurately.

As available resources decline and the price of those resources begins to rise, alternatives will become economically viable and R&D investment will grow until new, more efficient technologies are developed.

[LibForestPaul]

Without reading the actual study, I'm going to call it garbage assuming this sentence reflects it accurately.

As available resources decline and the price of those resources begins to rise, alternatives will become economically viable and R&D investment will grow until new, more efficient technologies are developed.

No, you are wrong. Where is my whale blubber, my lamps are running dark!

[azxd]

Without reading the actual study, I'm going to call it garbage assuming this sentence reflects it accurately.

As available resources decline and the price of those resources begins to rise, alternatives will become economically viable and R&D investment will grow until new, more efficient technologies are developed.

I'll suggest that you watch this series - http://www.youtube.com/show?p=dF9tP5...racker=show_av

But at the least entertain this one...................



Before you toss out this study.

[enoch150]

I'll suggest that you watch this series - http://www.youtube.com/show?p=dF9tP5...racker=show_av

But at the least entertain this one...................


Before you toss out this study.

I watched the video.

If you take all of the world's accumulated knowledge from the beginning of time until 1 AD and expressed it as 1 unit, it took 1500 years to double that accumulated knowledge. Total world accumulated knowledge is now doubling every 15 months. And the rate is accelerating.

Long term assumptions of resource usage are meaningless because they cannot account for this. No one can factor unknown technology into long range projections when things are changing so rapidly.

What we can count on is two things:
1. When supply declines and/or demand increases, prices will rise
2. People will always try to reduce cost and increase efficiency.

Alternatives will be developed. I reject the study.

[Bern]

This guy is a new world order $#@!...
Definitely watch, these people are scum.

Not sure how you came to that conclusion from watching the presentation. He's quite the opposite of a NWO acolyte. He's trying to warn people that the exponential economic growth is unsustainable and we are near the breakdown point. He advocates methods for individuals to protect themselves against what's coming. He's not advocating any sort of global political "solution". In short, you totally missed the point.

...
A couple of things about the way he looks at things troubles me.

One is he talks about growth. How much of what he is seeing as growth is an illusion brought about by the counterfeiting of the currency?

He was talking about the rising price of oil. How much of that is an illusion brought about by the counterfeiting of the currency?
...

It's been a few months since I watched the video, but I recall the main point being growth in the demand for energy. That has nothing to do with currency debauchment.

...
The guy is saying the problem we face is going from cheaper sources to more expensive sources. The cost are going to be staggering.

The problem I see us facing is that through the counterfeiting of the money supply. ...

He is talking about EROI - energy return on investment. It costs more energy (not money/currency) to access/develop resources (mine coal, drill less accessible oil caches, etc.) as the sources that were easy to access with little cost are used up. He is talking about diminishing returns.

...
Energy for what? ...

Our whole economy is dependent upon energy to manufacture and transport goods.

...
Hear we go. He is saying use our resources wisely. ...

As I recall, he was trying to show that even *if* resources were used wisely, the event horizon where demand will overwhelm supply is imminent. Unless some Nikola Tesla genius discovers a cheaper energy source very, very soon, the math is not favorable for the status quo - unless, I suppose a world war wipes out a significant portion of the population. That would be one way to dampen demand.

...
No one can factor unknown technology into long range projections when things are changing so rapidly.
...
Alternatives will be developed. I reject the study.

You are betting your children's future on an assumption for which there is no supporting evidence. Martenson did talk specifically about this issue.

[Bern]

I think they are much too optimistic and Mr. Martenson below is closer to the mark:

[Tod]

I think they are much too optimistic and Mr. Martenson below is closer to the mark:

I'm about a half hour into this video right now and a light bulb just came on (sorry, I'm slow): This explains completely Agenda 21.

[Travlyr]

I think they are much too optimistic and Mr. Martenson below is closer to the mark:

Nice one! An hour well spent.

[hazek]

I think they are much too optimistic and Mr. Martenson below is closer to the mark:

Definitely +1.

[LibForestPaul]

I think they are much too optimistic and Mr. Martenson below is closer to the mark:

This guy is a new world order $#@!...
Definitely watch, these people are scum.

[John F Kennedy III]

I predict a global economic collapse by 2013. Let's see who is closer.

[anaconda]

I predict a global economic collapse by 2013. Let's see who is closer.

I didn't read the whole article, but I think the MIT thing is talking about simple resource depletion. But I wonder if the financial bubble will result in economic break down much sooner than 2013. Perhaps whenever the U.S. dollar collapses? I think Ron Paul said he thinks this could happen at any time. And I believe the consensus is that once the dollar crisis starts it will unwind very rapidly. Like a couple of weeks or thereabouts.

[Tod]

Assuming you have prepared for economic collapse by obtaining land, food/water supplies, means of food production, etc.....

What percentage of your savings would you place in precious metals? How about other commodities that will be valuable?

[Bern]

^ I highly recommend watching the whole video. Way better use of your time than anything that might be on TV right now.

[thoughtomator]

There will be a global financial Ponzi collapse for sure and it's not going to take 18 years to get to the main show, from the US' perspective.

[Lishy]

Al-qaeda predicted by 2020.

[dronestriker]

WARNING! The Club of Rome is affiliated with The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Richard Haas, and other eugenicists. They plan to implement global governance by fear-mongering, whereby people gradually give up their liberties in exchange for security from perceived threats. In “The First Global Revolution” (1991) published by the Club of Rome, it states that ,“In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill…. All these dangers are caused by human intervention… The real enemy, then, is humanity itself.” These monsters plan to reduce the world's population by 80%, then enslave the remaining sheeple.

[Liberty74]

WARNING! The Club of Rome is affiliated with The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Richard Haas, and other eugenicists. They plan to implement global governance by fear-mongering, whereby people gradually give up their liberties in exchange for security from perceived threats. In “The First Global Revolution” (1991) published by the Club of Rome, it states that ,“In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill…. All these dangers are caused by human intervention… The real enemy, then, is humanity itself.” These monsters plan to reduce the world's population by 80%, then enslave the remaining sheeple.

THIS

[seraphson]

WARNING! The Club of Rome is affiliated with The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Richard Haas, and other eugenicists. They plan to implement global governance by fear-mongering, whereby people gradually give up their liberties in exchange for security from perceived threats. In “The First Global Revolution” (1991) published by the Club of Rome, it states that ,“In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill…. All these dangers are caused by human intervention… The real enemy, then, is humanity itself.” These monsters plan to reduce the world's population by 80%, then enslave the remaining sheeple.

"The future is not set, there is no fate but what we make for ourselves."

Bottom line? At the end of the day when humanity hits the precipice it's all gonna come down to who has the bigger balls and more guns.

[Gumba of Liberty]

WARNING! The Club of Rome is affiliated with The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Richard Haas, and other eugenicists. They plan to implement global governance by fear-mongering, whereby people gradually give up their liberties in exchange for security from perceived threats. In “The First Global Revolution” (1991) published by the Club of Rome, it states that ,“In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill…. All these dangers are caused by human intervention… The real enemy, then, is humanity itself.” These monsters plan to reduce the world's population by 80%, then enslave the remaining sheeple.

If they hate the American people having kids why do they give us a tax break for having larger families?

[Liberty74]

Try more like within 3 years. The banking system here and in Europe is doing everything possible to prop up their failing big government systems that leech off the free markets.

Add on top of this Barack and our govt is lying about real unemployment, real inflation and everything else.

[KingRobbStark]

I would give us ten years max. I read that study at the school newspaper, and they are being very generous with the numbers.

[Trigonx]

I'm thinking we will be quite lucky if we can holdout until 2016-2017. I know we can still kick the can for several more years, but I can't imagine for 5 more years. Something is gonna give and send this economy spiraling down.