The Next Crash

I started getting one of the early warning signs of an impending economic crash. Apparently, while I wasn't paying attention, local property prices have skyrocketed. When my new neighbor told me what he paid for his place, I thought he was robbed. Only later did I learn that it was in line with similar properties in the area.

The financial collapse warning sign, for me, is when my mailbox fills up with letters offering me money. My income is pretty static. I haven't gotten a raise in my retirement pension in many years. They aren't offering me money on the strength of my income. The offers are for home equity lines of credit. At first the offers come in from companies I've never heard of. Some of them are pretty sketchy. Later on in the process, offers start to come in from financial institutions that are household names.

We've reached that stage now. Offers from real brick and mortar banks are now appearing in the mail. That hasn't happened to me since sometime around 2008. Anybody remember what happened around then? The logical thing to do would be to take every dime I could get then disappear to a safer country far away. Things could get a bit weird here. Of course, I can't see how the collapse of an economy as big as the United States wouldn't affect the whole world. Maybe I'd better move to an island where the natives live on bananas and fish and make friends with the locals.

No doubt I'll just stick around and see how it plays out. At least I'll have a front row seat. Better stock up on popcorn.

-Sixbears