The Coming Collapse

>> I'm asserting that the "silent majority" is somehow under the impression they will "rise up" My opponent asserts that a majority of people believe they will rise up, ostensibly with force, against the United States government. This would require me to amend 2) from Round 1, where a majority of Americans are in favour of such action. I find this very hard to believe, and requires extraordinary evidence to prove. >> One can only forecast economic events by careful inspection of economic trends. We can also use the broad study of economics to predict the outcomes of economic decisions on certain markets and economies, which is what I intend to do when debating particular economic issues. >> The United States free market capitalist system is the most prosperous, efficient system of gratifying economic means in history. I would have to disagree with this blanket statement, because it omits the many downfalls to the American economic system. It may very well be extremely prosperous for a small minority of people, and for shareholders of among the world's most profitable companies, but the current free market system has not been prosperous for at least decades. Real wages for most people have remained stagnant or have fallen, even while production, productivity, economic growth and inflation have all increased. This is not only a bad outcome for the people of the United States, it's a bad outcome for the future economic potential of the United States. >> Under normal circumstances and according to many models, the US economy could deal with catastrophic losses, many times the capital that has been gained over the last couple decades and even with destruction of infrastructure. I really do not think that the United States could simply "deal" with as catastrophic losses as losing the economy that has been gained over the last couple of decades. In 1980, the gross domestic product of the United States was approximately 2.9 trillion dollars worth. In 2014, the gross domestic product was approximately 17.4 trillion dollars worth. If the United States was to lose all of this economy grown since 1980, only 25 years ago, this would reduce the United States' current GDP per capita by more than 80%, and reduce it from $55,000 per person to $6,000 per person, a drop from 5th place to 82nd place. [1] [2] [3] >> The only reason I'm able to forecast such an abrupt change in the status quo is by keeping in mind the capitalist underpinnings of the system, and how the government is manipulating everything. >> as well as other factors such as market rigging, interest rate manipulation, and over the table securities Government intervention in the economy is absolutely nothing new. There has been central banking as well as stimulus economic policies, undertaken by the Federal Reserve for a century now, Keynesian economics dating back to the Second World War, and Chicago-school monetarist policies from the 70s and 80s. >> the effect of mass quantitative easing The nature of quantitative easing is that it is massive, and largely responsible for preventing an undesirable unbalancing of debt obligations and a deflationary cycle. Due to the fiscal policies of the last decade, deflation has been avoided, inflation has been kept low, the national deficit has been decreasing, and a high credit rating has been maintained. >> bankrupts our foreign allies Which foreign ally has been bankrupted? Not even Greece is bankrupt, officially. [1] http://www.tradingeconomics.com... [2] http://www.imf.org... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org...(nominal)_per_capita