Economics/Futurist Question

[CosmicBills]

Normally I'd post this on OTW, but I think I might get better stuff from you folks. This is a NJSue homework kind of question, so if this isn't the spot for this, I'll remove it.

 

I'm working on something set in the future and am trying to figure out what the world looks like in this fictional future. Problem is, I'm not an economist or a futurist by any stretch of the imagination. I can make stuff up that sounds cool (and am) but there are still large gaps of stuff that I have no idea how to fill. I thought making a thread about this on PPP would at the very least spark some interesting conversations about the world 100 years from now.

 

The parameters of what I have to work with so far. These are kind of set in stone:

*It's roughly 75 to 100 years in the future.

*Overpopulation and scarcity of resources have spiked global poverty.

 

Here are two broad (and possibly insane) questions to get the ball rolling: Is it possible for a corporation to buy up the national debt? What would that do to our economy/country?

 

Any and all thoughts or opinions on what the world will look like 100 years from now welcome!

[Nanker]

That would be after the war between Australia and Poland - which Poland won, which was before the war between the Greeks and Spanish - which neither won - Portugal did. That of course was preceded by the economic collapse of the West - which at that time was led by Germany - who had emerged as Europe's conqueror when the EU collapsed and China foreclosed on the US debt. The US sued for peace and China was given California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Rhode Island in lieu of payment in full.

 

Abortions are mandatory before a couple can marry, and only same-sex marriages are allowed. This keeps down the population growth. People buy babies on the black market. (was that racist?) Everyone "earns" $50,000 a year. If you have a job that's what it pays. If you don't have a job - that's what the government gives you.

 

Alcohol is free, as is marijuana and heroin. Meth, coke and crack are not and the price is kept arbitrarily high by the governments of the word. They're regulated and highly taxed - most of the resulting funds going to pay for the retirement benefits for aging film screenwriters.

 

You take it from there.

Edited September 3, 2012 by Nanker

[CosmicBills]

That would be after the war between Australia and Poland - which Poland won, which was before the war between the Greeks and Spanish - which neither won - Portugal did. That of course was preceded by the economic collapse of the West - which at that time was led by Germany - who had emerged as Europe's conqueror when the EU collapsed and China foreclosed on the US debt. The US sued for peace and China was given California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Rhode Island in lieu of payment in full.

 

Abortions are mandatory before a couple can marry, and only same-sex marriages are allowed. This keeps down the population growth. People buy babies on the black market. (was that racist?) Everyone "earns" $50,000 a year. If you have a job that's what it pays. If you don't have a job - that's what the government gives you.

 

Alcohol is free, as is marijuana and heroin. Meth, coke and crack are not and the price is kept arbitrarily high by the governments of the word. They're regulated and highly taxed - most of the resulting funds going to pay for the retirement benefits for aging film screenwriters.

 

You take it from there.

:lol:

[VABills]

That would be after the war between Australia and Poland - which Poland won, which was before the war between the Greeks and Spanish - which neither won - Portugal did. That of course was preceded by the economic collapse of the West - which at that time was led by Germany - who had emerged as Europe's conqueror when the EU collapsed and China foreclosed on the US debt. The US sued for peace and China was given California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Rhode Island in lieu of payment in full.

 

Abortions are mandatory before a couple can marry, and only same-sex marriages are allowed. This keeps down the population growth. People buy babies on the black market. (was that racist?) Everyone "earns" $50,000 a year. If you have a job that's what it pays. If you don't have a job - that's what the government gives you.

 

Alcohol is free, as is marijuana and heroin. Meth, coke and crack are not and the price is kept arbitrarily high by the governments of the word. They're regulated and highly taxed - most of the resulting funds going to pay for the retirement benefits for aging film screenwriters.

 

You take it from there.

 

Did Obama declare himself dictator and still run the US in this fantasy world?

[CosmicBills]

Further Disclaimer:

 

I realize I've asked a vague question -- if there's even a coherent question in my OP -- but I'm not attempting to twist this into a political argument. I'm curious to hear your versions of a fictionalized Earth 100 years from now. It might sound like I'm asking you to do my work for me (and I am) but really I'm just brainstorming ideas and am simply looking for more logs in the fire.

 

Of course, being on PPP I'm expecting you guys to have fun with this as Nanker has. But maybe I need to ask more specific questions. Here's a few more just to get the ball rolling... again, if you want to branch off from these -- totally cool. There's no wrong answers here (except for Liberal ones), and if you'd rather I go f*&k myself -- well, unlike Eastwood I'm flexible enough to do so.

 

Q:

How would the world look with a global population of 15b?

What problems would the population face and how would we solve it?

What would a corporate run world look like? How would that transition happen?

If our economic model is currently based on the scarcity of resources, what happens to the economic model when one corporation controls all the natural reserves?

 

 

My PM box is open too if you'd rather not post in the thread. Additionally, I'm in no way an economist or futurist. So I'm bound to say a lot of stupid sh*t in this thread (even more than usual for me).

[/dev/null]

How would the world look with a global population of 15b?

What problems would the population face and how would we solve it?

What would a corporate run world look like? How would that transition happen?

If our economic model is currently based on the scarcity of resources, what happens to the economic model when one corporation controls all the natural reserves?

 

Mike Judge already made this movie

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/

[Fan in San Diego]

The polar caps have melted and coastal areas flooded. There was a new beach front gold rush. No more gas. Only electric powered cars. There is a 3rd political party in the US. It's in the middle of Pubs and Dems called the New Democratic Party.

[/dev/null]

Democracy, Capitalism, Socialism, and all current forms of government and economics have been proven obsolete as humanity has discovered the most effective form of governance the world will ever know:

 

http://r33b.net/

[CosmicBills]

Democracy, Capitalism, Socialism, and all current forms of government and economics have been proven obsolete as humanity has discovered the most effective form of governance the world will ever know:

 

http://r33b.net/

:lol:

That's our sweeps week reveal.

[dayman]

Having boomed for almost a full century China has collapsed as the per capita income forced a democratic push the realigned the power structure. Having been historically adverse to this type of public participation, disaster struck. China is off and on at civil war for the foreseeable future w/ no end in sight. India, having had a slower economic growth taking 4 steps forward and 2 steps back due to widespread democracy, now rules the world. Having invested heavily in education and service industry jobs they were well equipped to take a leading role in the world and with the collapse of China found a new purpose for the hundreds of millions previously poor people as they now fill the production gap left by China. Unlike anything seen on earth before, India dominates all areas of the global economy except banking and food production.

 

Somehow the US benefited economically from China's collapse after falling in debt to them and their inflation going through the roof due to currency manipulation to artificially depress the per capita wealth of their citizens in order to stave of the inevitable democratic revolt. The US is still heavily militarized and functions just as it does now, world police. In addition to banking the US produces the world's food having pioneered synthetic meat production. The main export of the US is banking, military, food services. There is a corporation in the US called FountainYouth inc. that has recently pioneered organ production like nothing seen before, there is a shadow war between the US and India for this technology and as a result this all powerful corporation is in bed with the still powerful US military to preserve it's technology...the two are slowly merging.

 

Europe went through chaos and it is over. Europe is now the forever-middle class of the world.

 

Africa creeping out the dark ages is now only slightly behind Europe in world status, both being far beyond the chaos ripping through China and as a result all of Asia. Africa like the US benefited from the collapse of China who invested heavily in building it up but then fell apart before it was time to reap the benefits. Africa is pissed about it's history though, and as a result rapes the rest of the world for natural resources it produces. It's become the new Middle-East. They are constantly bombing space corporations in India that are getting increasingly good at extracting minerals from space.

 

The middle-east itself...is the exact same. Everyone holds grudges, and they are now the only part of the world that believes in traditional religions.

 

Global warming hit hard but only very recently. Someone company from Brazil invented some huge machine to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and when they turned it on the atmosphere went even more nuts and now people can't go outside too much during the day. Many animals are dead as a result. And much land mass was lost.

 

Mexico is a failed state run by lawless drug lords. A massive wall has been built between the US and Mexico and Mexico's southern neighbors did the same. Boats patrol the ocean on either side to stop things/people from coming in and out. It's like the hunger games or something in there now.

 

...I'm stupid hehe...but there ya go.

[Rob's House]

The government has absorbed all the corporations through bailouts/buyouts and is now the majority shareholder of all corporations, esentially becoming one massive corporation. The cities look kind of like London - Unkept and shwag. Poor scavengers overrun the cities and big buildings remain from the long long ago but are falling into decay. America is now a 3rd world country. The military is omnipresent, facilitates most government action, like bringing in trucks of supplies on pallets to distribute to the deprived masses in the streets when they're lucky enough to get it, and military units have replaced local police divisions. Most are scavengers, many others are exploited and pressed into labor by street gangs who operate on the black market. The countryside is littered with survivalists who live off the land. Many have banded together and built compounds. Some have formed gangs of marauding bandits that pillage the rural towns. Some pay a protection "tax". Those who are lucky enough to have government jobs are at the mercy of their employers and if they fall out of favor with those who have power their fate will be that of the scavengers and survivalists. Keeping one's family safe, fed, and in tact is an ongoing struggle for most. Except for those in the entitled class who live well and have others at their disposal.

Edited September 4, 2012 by Rob's House

[Cinga]

No one knows what is going to happen in the next 7 1/2 to 10 years let alone the next 75-100....

[CosmicBills]

Having boomed for almost a full century China has collapsed as the per capita income forced a democratic push the realigned the power structure ...

 

The government has absorbed all the corporations through bailouts/buyouts and is now the majority shareholder of all corporations, esentially becoming one massive corporation. ...

 

I snipped these just to save space -- but good work! Thanks for your thoughts on these, interesting stuff. Appreciated greatly.

[DC Tom]

Money is obsolete. If you want to buy something, you can only pay with labor. And all you can buy is a hammer.

[TakeYouToTasker]

Money is obsolete. If you want to buy something, you can only pay with labor. And all you can buy is a hammer.

...or a sickle.

[GG]

Money is obsolete. If you want to buy something, you can only pay with labor. And all you can buy is a hammer.

 

You can't buy a hammer. You can only borrow it.

[VABills]

Some people live above ground (cattle) and some below ground (consumers). The consumers herd the cattle nightly for their food. The cattle graze on whatever they can find to east daily.

[GG]

There are basically two schools of thought of Hollywood plotlines for the future. It's either a post apocalyptic wasteland, where gangs rule rule the world, a la Mad Max, Escape from NY, etc or it's a dumbed down, lazy ass fat people living in a nanny state, a la Idiocracy or Wall-E. My hunch is that it will be closer to the latter and not the former. Mankind has adapted pretty well to scarce resources, and technology is making better use of the resources we need. Also, overpopulation is a bogeyman myth because as societies gets wealthier, birth rates go down. Most of Western Europe, plus Japan & China are reproducing at below replacement levels. As the rest of the world's economies advance, birth rates will also slow. So the bigger issue will be replenishing the human race, not overpopulation. And that race will be fatter and lazier.

[DC Tom]

You can't buy a hammer. You can only borrow it.

 

But if you borrow it, the person who made it owns your house.

 

So in the future, the hammer makers own everything.

[/dev/null]

But if you borrow it, the person who made it owns your house.

 

So in the future, the hammer makers own everything.

 

But what will the hammer makers use to make hammers?