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Future 'nomics: How The Boom Ended

Here is one economist's musings on how the very near future looks to him:

Marshall Loeb

How the boom of 2006 ended
Commentary: We should have seen it coming
By Marshall Loeb, MarketWatch
Last Update: 12:00 PM ET Oct. 9, 2005

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Anybody with a bit of imagination, with a feel for the future, can construct a plausible scenario. Like this:

We should have seen it coming.

We were living beyond our means, saving absolutely nothing, spending more than we were earning -- like there was no tomorrow.

Most Americans were doing that. Worse, the government was doing it -- piling deficit upon deficit. And at the end of 2005, the total federal debt per U.S. household was more than $450,000.

But, as it always does, profligacy caught up with us. And the economy, which had been growing at a comfortable 3 to 4% rate for many years, came crashing down last year, in 2006.

How did it happen? What was the trigger? What lessons were to be learned?
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Personally, I don't think he answers his own questions there; however, he does ask some interesting questions, and covers a few things that are definitely troubling. Unfortunately, as with most worst-case scenarios, the questions often are not asked until after the crash....

Ended Boom The nomics Future

Well, the problem is that people have been living like this for years. Remember we just came out of recession a couple years ago. Its not like this has been a booming decade, life has been hard. I don't see the "boom" ending because I don't believe that a boom has taken place. Companies are still down sizing and people are still being laid off, even if at a slower rate than two years ago. People will always predict the end because we will always live like there is no ttomorrow I personally feel the best way to handle this is to save and live frugally. I save for retirement with automatic withdrawals no matter what. That way I will have plenty when its time to retire, and I don't count social security at all.