[Falconoffury]

What is the most significant single event that will cause a major economic recession first? Which event will come first and cause a long term recession? Not short term!

[Falconoffury]

More votes please!

[Sencha]

I went the terrorist attack route, maybe its just my personality. Somehow I think there will be a sequel to 9/11, and that the first one was just for practice.

If there was a catastrophic enough attack the government could claim the right to do anything they wanted. Declare martial law, launch a pre-emptive invasion, remove rights, etc. A decaying economy and erroding quality of life won't be enough. *Blood is going to have to be shed for the Administration to do what they really want to do.

* Kill everyone until the only people that the environment can sustain are themselves, I suspect. They hate our guts and it shows.

[Jake_old]

I had to choose other, as I think a combination of the choices will be/are the trigger event.

A terrorist attack will be blamed though I think. If there isn't a new, more horrendous one than 911, then 911 will do as the excuse.

I don't know why I think this, perhaps because all I hear from MSM is 'terrorism, terrorism, terrorism' rather than, global warming, peak oil, habitat destruction.

[kelee877]

Can I click all of the above...
Snowball effect(or as they say rippled effect)...the domino,s have been set into place and once one is knocked down they will all go...they warned of the levee,s breaking a year ago and no one listened..they have been screaming pandemic for over a year now...terrorists are just itching to do more damage to the western intrastrusture( or the western ways). Peak Oil began in the 70,s...
Religions are waiting to see which Holy word is right...( I for one do believe we are in the End of Times) I have been spending alot of time compairing Prophecy to todays events..and if you ever do,. remember that John was looking into a future he knew nothing about..I cannot imagine what it would be like to be able to see 2000 years into the future...how would you describe what it is you see,

[Falconoffury]

Nice spread of votes. I'm surprised that many think we are headed for major recession within months because of the hurricane. Please vote.

[Falconoffury]

I would really like to see more votes if at all possible. Discussion would also be nice.

[MD]

I can't give a meanignful answer. The first part fo your question asks which single event would be most significant. I would give equal impact to a major terrorist attack or worldwide pandemic.

You then close the poll question witht he word "first", which is asking to bet on which event is most likely to occur. In that case I would answer that a natural gas crisis is most immediate, but without the immediate economic disruption.

I do think we are headed for serious recession, and very soon, for a combination of reasons. No "triggers" though, just a decline with many factors.

[clv101]

I wanted to click Hurricane Katrina and A natural gas cliff. Went for the gas cliff since Katrina is only magnifying the underlying problem.

[Tyler_JC]

US government spending too much on the next war and US economy pops do to non-energy factors...is essentially the same thing.

You could have probably mixed the two together.

[Bedevere]

If it was available I would have voted "all of the above except another terror attack". I'm not a firm believer that that will happen, at least in the near future. Unless someone can convince me otherwise...

[OurDoom]

I consider a new terror attack the most likely out of these possible trigger events. Not necessarily a terror attack that causes many times the destruction of 9/11, but a terror attack that causes a significant enough level of destruction to cause a major economic recession. From everything I've seen, there are more indicators of a massive terror attack or series of terror attacks than there have been since any time after 9/11 (and possibly even since prior to 9/11).

For one, al-Qaeda almost always releases tapes several weeks prior to attacks or attempted attacks. It's obvious to even the casual outsider that these tapes are signals for attacks to occur, no matter how much terrorism experts may downplay the threat. al-Qaeda released tapes several weeks before the African embassy bombings in 1998, the Madrid bombings, the London bombings, and several failed attacks such as a planned chemical attack in Amman, Jordan planned for the spring of 2004 that would have likely killed many thousands had it succeeded. Knowing all of this, Ayman al-Zawahiri released a new videotape on August 4th, wearing a black turban for the first time (significant because Muhammad wore a black turban while undertaking major offensives in the initial expansion of Islam) and issuing a 'final warning' to America. Then on September 11th, an American al-Qaeda also released a videotape in which he was wearing a black turban, threatening a possible attack on Los Angeles.

Second, there was a massive increase of terrorist chatter that started around the middle of the summer and recently appears to be tapering off greatly, which is very similar to the pattern of terrorist chatter in the months prior to 9/11. Terrorist chatter was very high during June and July 2001, and then dropped to very little in August and early September. If terrorist chatter drops off and stays low for the rest of this month and into early October, it's a likely indicator of an imminent attack.

Third, there have been some reports that al-Qaeda has been planning a major offensive worldwide around this Ramadan (Oct. 4 - Nov. 2) and around when the Iraqi elections are scheduled to occur. The USS Cole bombing and the Bali bombing both occurred on October 12, and that'd be a specific day a new terror attack may be most likely considering the emphasis al-Qaeda places on anniversaries.

[engulfthemanatee]

Between Katrina, Rita, a terrorist attack and a nat gas crisis, I'd say we're good and screwed. Full on crisis mood.

[Falconoffury]

I'm surprised by all the natural gas cliff votes. A natural gas cliff will hit us in electricity and food production which are honestly very important aspects of my life.

Maybe this site should have a sister site, peak gas.

[MD]

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Maybe this site should have a sister site, peak gas.