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7 Bizarre Trends That Predict an Economic Collapse

Started by Lord Cataplanga, December 11, 2011, 04:28:10 PM

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Lord Cataplanga

7 Bizarre Trends That Predict an Economic Collapse

    #7. Mosquito Populations Surge
    #6. Waitresses Get Prettier
    #5. Tie Colors Turn Bland
    #4. Crime Takes a Turn for the Weird
    #3. Advertisements Get Nastier
    #2. Romance Novel Sales Spike and Playboy Models Get Heavier
    #1. Men Have More Affairs

The autor actually offers somewhat reasonable explanations for all these trends, so it isn't just the usual Law of Fives.

Cain

#6, #3, #2 and #1 all seem perfectly reasonable propositions.  The others are also not too bad, but those seem to have the most amount of logic and evidence behind them.

Cramulus

it's weird, right? We're in this very complex interrelated system. Every part of the machine is connected to other cogs which are turning in sync. And this produces some really weird correlations.

Like I've read somewhere that the economy is directly correlated to the average length of women's skirts. As the economy gets worse, skirts get shorter.


A city's just a big brain, with its own obsessions, neurosis, and conditioning.

AFK

"Is this a double-dip recession or are you just happy to see me?"

"C'mon babe, you saw that the Dow Jones just tanked.  You don't want to be an outlier do you?" 
Cynicism is a blank check for failure.

Nephew Twiddleton

Number 6 should have an age qualifier- you might have a lot of college students in particular areas.
Strange and Terrible Organ Laminator of Yesterday's Heavy Scene
Sentence or sentence fragment pending

Soy El Vaquero Peludo de Oro

TIM AM I, PRIMARY OF THE EXTRA-ATMOSPHERIC SIMIANS

Rococo Modem Basilisk

#6 is hardly strange at all. You'd expect that when economic trouble starts, the first thing to happen would be that everyone moves slightly down the job social-status hierarchy. Pretty girls who during a boom would be working for more than minimum wage are now working minimum wage and hoping for tips. Since tipping is irrational and has a lot to do with attractiveness, more pretty girls are attracted to waitressing, and so, with the bottom rung otherwise flooded, those who continue as waitresses tend to be more attractive, whereas during boom years it's more accurately predicted by economic status. Common sense.


I am not "full of hate" as if I were some passive container. I am a generator of hate, and my rage is a renewable resource, like sunshine.

LMNO

Please note the trend of the "miniskirt with tights" having been replaced with "forget the miniskirt; tights as pants" look.

That much said, I must stress that such things are NOT MANDATORY.  Please, use a full-length mirror before attempting.





That goes for guys, too.

Mesozoic Mister Nigel

I'll add one, which is the popularity of bland car colors, especially silver.
"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."


The Good Reverend Roger

More homeless people trying to sell newspapers on the median.

Tucson doesn't fuck around with fuzzy indicators.  It goes right for the throat.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Freeky

Quote from: Nigel on December 12, 2011, 08:31:57 PM
I'll add one, which is the popularity of bland car colors, especially silver.

!!!!


I saw a red car the other day, and was shocked because it was the first red one I'd seen being driven around for a month!

Nephew Twiddleton

Quote from: Science me, babby on December 12, 2011, 08:45:06 PM
Quote from: Nigel on December 12, 2011, 08:31:57 PM
I'll add one, which is the popularity of bland car colors, especially silver.

!!!!


I saw a red car the other day, and was shocked because it was the first red one I'd seen being driven around for a month!


Huh. Now that you mention it....
Strange and Terrible Organ Laminator of Yesterday's Heavy Scene
Sentence or sentence fragment pending

Soy El Vaquero Peludo de Oro

TIM AM I, PRIMARY OF THE EXTRA-ATMOSPHERIC SIMIANS

Mesozoic Mister Nigel

Yep. Silver, white, beige, light blue, and variations on the above (metallic or non). Harbingers of economic doooooom.

Red, yellow, jewel blue, and bright green are signs of an upturn. Bright green especially is only popular when things are good.

People are weird.
"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."


AFK

Whether that is statistically true or not, the psychology makes sense.

If you have to buy a car...because yours just kicked the bucket, you're going for the bare minimum.  Something that gets you from point A to point B.  You don't have the luxury of being concerned with flash and style.

When you want to buy a car, you have the dough to drop, you're going to get something that people will notice. 

But personal technology seems to be immune to this.  Given the explosion of smart phones and tablets in a shitty economy.  And, for my money, that is all status-symbol stuff. 
Cynicism is a blank check for failure.

Mesozoic Mister Nigel

Car color has little to nothing to do with the price.
"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."


Freeky

Quote from: Nigel on December 12, 2011, 10:10:05 PM
Car color has little to nothing to do with the price.

Which makes the observation, which seems to be true, even weirder.