This article was written by Brandon Smith and originally published at his Alt-Market.com website.
Editor’s Comment: The stock market crash today has been preceded by many other fits in the market. How far it goes after this is anyone’s guess, but it seems to all be coming to a head. The warnings that have been issued by countless experts and insiders are not a promise of financial crisis, but they are hinged around some major flaws and vulnerabilities. Mechanically, it has been engineered and orchestrated by a gang that knows it is beyond reproach. After that, it just spirals outward and grinds things to a halt according to its natural course.
On the ground level, it won’t make much difference, except to see that we are in for a long, hard freeze as wages, currency, employment, productivity and profits all skew out of proportion and leave people desperate. Fortunes will be lost, and reacquired, as savings, pensions, and investments all take a haircut or wither on the vine. Dig in, and try to avoid the path of destruction.
The U.S. Is At The Center Of The Global Economic Meltdown
by Brandon Smith
While the economic implosion progresses this year, there will be considerable misdirection and disinformation as to the true nature of what is taking place. As I have outlined in the past, the masses were so ill informed by the mainstream media during the Great Depression that most people had no idea they were actually in the midst of an “official” depression until years after it began. The chorus of economic journalists of the day made sure to argue consistently that recovery was “right around the corner.” Our current depression has been no different, but something is about to change.
Unlike the Great Depression, social crisis will eventually eclipse economic crisis in the U.S. That is to say, our society today is so unequipped to deal with a financial collapse that the event will inevitably trigger cultural upheaval and violent internal conflict. In the 1930s, nearly 50% of the American population was rural. Farmers made up 21% of the labor force. Today, only 20% of the population is rural. Less than 2% work in farming and agriculture. That’s a rather dramatic shift from a more independent and knowledgeable land-utilizing society to a far more helpless and hapless consumer-based system.
What’s the bottom line? About 80% of the current population in the U.S. is more than likely inexperienced in any meaningful form of food production and self-reliance.
The rationale for lying to the public is certainly there. Economic and political officials could argue that to reveal the truth of our fiscal situation would result in utter panic and immediate social breakdown. When 80% of the citizenry is completely unprepared for a decline in the mainstream grid, a loss of savings through falling equities and a loss of buying power through currency destruction, their first response to such dangers would be predictably uncivilized.
Of course, the powers-that-be are not really interested in protecting the American people from themselves. They are interested only in positioning their own finances and resources in the most advantageous investments while using our loss and fear to extract more centralization, more control and more consent. Thus, the hiding of economic decline is enacted because the decline itself is useful to the elites.
And just to be clear for those who buy into the propaganda, the U.S. is indeed in a speedy decline.
In ‘Lies You Will Hear As The Economic Collapse Progresses’, published in summer of last year, I predicted that “Chinese contagion” would be used as the scapegoat for the downturn in order to hide the true source: American wealth destruction. Today, as the Dow and other markets plummet and oil markets tank due to falling demand and glut inventories, all we seem to hear from the mainstream talking heads and the people who parrot them in various forums is that the U.S. is the “only stable economy by comparison” and the rest of the world (mainly China) is a poison to our otherwise exemplary financial health. This is delusional fiction.
The U.S. is the No. 1 consumer market in the world with a 29% overall share and a 21% share in energy usage, despite having only 5 percent of the world’s total population. If there is a global slowdown in consumption, manufacturing, exports and imports, then the first place to look should be America.
Trucking freight in the U.S. is in steep decline, with freight companies pointing to a “glut in inventories” and a fall in demand as the culprit.
Morgan Stanley’s freight transportation update indicates a collapse in freight demand worse than that seen during 2009.
The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of global freight rates and thus a measure of global demand for shipping of raw materials, has collapsed to even more dismal historic lows. Hucksters in the mainstream continue to push the lie that the fall in the BDI is due to an “overabundance of new ships.” However, the CEO of A.P. Moeller-Maersk, the world’s largest shipping line, put that nonsense to rest when he admitted in November that “global growth is slowing down” and “[t]rade is currently significantly weaker than it normally would be under the growth forecasts we see.”
Maersk ties the decline in global shipping to a FALL IN DEMAND, not an increase in shipping fleets.
This point is driven home when one examines the real-time MarineTraffic map, which tracks all cargo ships around the world. For the past few weeks, the map has remained almost completely inactive with the vast majority of the world’s cargo ships sitting idle in port, not traveling across oceans to deliver goods. The reality is, global demand has fallen down a black hole, and the U.S. is at the top of the list in terms of crashing consumer markets.
To drive the point home even further, the U.S. is by far the world’s largest petroleum consumer. Therefore, any sizable collapse in global oil demand would have to be predicated in large part on a fall in American consumption. Oil inventories are now overflowing, indicating an unheard-of crash in energy use and purchasing.
U.S. petroleum consumption was actually lower in 2014 than it was in 1997 and 25% lower than earlier projections predicted. A large part of this reduction in gas use has been attributed to fewer vehicle miles traveled. Though oil markets have seen massive price cuts, the lack of demand continued through 2015.
This collapse in consumption is reflected partially in newly adjusted 4th quarter GDP forecasts by the Federal Reserve, which are now slashed down to 0.7%. And remember, Fed and government calculate GDP stats by counting government spending of taxpayer money as “production” or “commerce”. They also count parasitic programs like Obamacare towards GDP as well. If one were to remove government spending of taxpayer funds from the equation, real GDP would be far in the negative. That is to say, if the fake numbers are this bad, then the real numbers must be horrendous.
And finally, let’s talk about Wal-Mart. There is a good reason why mainstream pundits are attempting to marginalize Wal-Mart’s sudden announcement of 269 store closures, 154 of them within the U.S. with at least 10,000 employees being laid off. Admitting weakness in Wal-Mart means admitting weakness in the U.S. economy, and they don’t want to do that.
Wal-Mart is America’s largest retailer and largest employer. In 2014, Wal-Mart announced a sweeping plan to essentially crush neighborhood grocery markets with its Wal-Mart Express stores, building hundreds within months. Today, those Wal-Mart Express stores are being shut down in droves, along with some supercenters. Their top business model lasted around a year before it was abandoned.
Some in the mainstream argue that this is not necessarily a sign of economic decline because Wal-Mart claims it will be building 200 to 240 new stores worldwide by 2017. This is interesting to me because Wal-Mart just suffered its steepest stock drop in 27 years on reports that projected sales will fall by 6% to 12% for the next two years.
It would seem to me highly unlikely that Wal-Mart would close 154 stores in the U.S. (269 stores worldwide) and then open 240 other stores during a projected steep crash in sales that caused the worst stock trend in the company’s history. I think it far more likely that Wal-Mart executives are attempting to appease shareholders with expansion promises they do not plan to keep.
I am going to call it here and now and predict that most of these store sites will never see construction and that Wal-Mart will continue to make cuts, either with store closings, employee layoffs or both.
As the above data indicates, global demand is disintegrating; and the U.S. is a core driver.
The best way to sweep all these negative indicators under the rug is to fabricate some grand idea of outside threats and fiscal dominoes. It is much easier for Americans to believe our country is being battered from without rather than destroyed from within.
Does China have considerable fiscal issues including debt bubble issues? Absolutely. Is this a catalyst for global collapse? No. China’s problems are many but if there is a first “domino” in the chain, then the U.S. economy claims that distinction.
China is the largest exporter in the world, not the largest consumer. If anything, a crash in China’s economy is only a REFLECTION of an underlying collapse in U.S. demand for Chinese goods (among others). That is to say, the mainstream dullards have it backward; a crash in China is a herald of a larger collapse in U.S. markets. A crash in China is a symptom of the greater fiscal disease in America. The U.S. is the primary cause; it is not the victim of Chinese contagion. And the crisis in the U.S. will ultimately be far worse by comparison.
I wrote in ‘What Fresh Horror Awaits The Economy After Fed Rate Hike?’, published before Christmas:
“Market turmoil is a guarantee given the fact that banks and corporations have been utterly reliant on near-zero interest rates and free overnight lending from the Fed. They have been using these no-cost and low-cost loans primarily for stock buybacks, purchasing back their own stocks and reducing the number of shares on the market, thereby artificially elevating the value of the remaining shares and driving up the market as a whole. Now that near-zero lending is over, these banks and corporations will not be able to afford constant overnight borrowing, and the buybacks will cease. Thus, stock markets will crash in the near term.
This process has already begun with increased volatility leading up to and after the Fed rate hike. Watch for far more erratic stock movements (300 to 500 points or more) up and down taking place more frequently, with the overall trend leading down into the 15,000-point range for the Dow in the first two quarters of 2016. Extraordinary but short lived positive increases in the markets will occur at times (Christmas and New Year’s tend to result in positive rallies), but shock rallies are just as much a sign of volatility and instability as shock crashes.”
Markets moved immediately into crash territory after the new year began. This was an easy prediction to make and one that I have been reiterating for months — just as the timing of the Fed rate hike was an easy prediction to make, based on the Fed’s history of deliberately increasing instability through bad policy as the economy moves into deflationary spirals. The Fed did it during the Great Depression and is doing it again today.
It is no coincidence that global markets began to tank after the first Fed rate hike; no-cost overnight lending to banks and corporations was the key to maintaining equities in a relatively static position. As the U.S. loses momentum, the world loses momentum. As the Fed ends outright stimulation and manipulation, the house of cards falls.
I have said it many times and I’ll say it yet again: If you think the Fed’s motivation is to prolong or protect the U.S. economy and currency, then you will never understand why it takes the policy actions it does. If you understand and accept the fact that the Fed is a saboteur working carefully and incrementally toward the destruction of the U.S. to make way for a new globally centralized system, everything falls into place.
To summarize, the U.S. economy as we know it is not slated to survive the next few years. Read my article ‘The Economic Endgame Explained’ for more in-depth information on why a collapse is being engineered and what the openly admitted goal is, including the referenced 1988 article from The Economist titled “Get Ready A World Currency In 2018,” which outlines the plan for a reduction of the dollar and the U.S. system in order to make way for a global basket reserve currency (Special Drawing Rights).
It is astonishingly foolish to assume that even though the U.S. has held the title of king of global consumption share for decades, that our economy is somehow not a primary faulty part in the sputtering global economic engine. Economies are falling because demand is falling. Demand is falling because Americans are not buying. Americans are not buying because Americans are broke. Americans are broke because central bank policy has created an environment of wealth destruction. This wealth destruction in the U.S. has been ongoing, but only now is it becoming truly visible. The volatility we see in developing nations is paltry compared to the financial chaos we now face. Anyone who attempts to dismiss the dangers of a U.S. breakdown or the threat to the unprepared public is either an idiot, or they are trying to divert and distract you from reality. The coming months will undoubtedly verify this.
You can contact Brandon Smith at [email protected] or visit his website Alt-Market.com
I’ve a strange feeling that the coming months will be verifying a great many ‘wonders’ extant now, yet soon to be answered. Always assume the worst, and brace for it. Should it be ‘lesser’ …sobeit.
World faces wave of epic debt defaults, fears central bank veteran
“The global financial system has become dangerously unstable and faces an avalanche of bankruptcies that will test social and political stability, a leading monetary theorist has warned.”
“The situation is worse than it was in 2007. Our macroeconomic ammunition to fight downturns is essentially all used up…”
www dot telegraph dot co dot uk
Direct link…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/davos/12108569/World-faces-wave-of-epic-debt-defaults-fears-central-bank-veteran.html
I am still waiting for Obama to blame George Bush for this.
“Wal-Mart is America’s largest retailer and largest employer.”
Let’s put that in perspective so that we recognize the real behemoth.
Walmart claims to employ about 1.4 million.
Federal, state, and local government (ptui!) employed almost 22 million in 2015.
I work at several European ports as an on call marine engineer. No shortage of work for me because of a global downturn in trade.
I’ve just returned from Rotterdam (Europe’s largest port) and I certainly do not see a decrease in trade. Far from it, things are pretty normal. Ships come in, get loaded/unloaded, trucks come in/go out, the English channel is still as busy today as it was months ago.
A previous article, in the same vein, on this site, forecast mass food riots just about now. Another whacko with egg on his face. How do they live with themselves being made to look stupid (and wrong) on a regular basis?
Anon-
Time to get you head out of the sand limey. Within a decade or so you will be speaking arabic.
USMC – At least I don’t speak fluent garbage like you do.
Oh, and why does everyone assume that I’m English. Is it because the English I read here, by so called English speakers, is so excruciatingly bad? Just a comment on your education system.
USMC 1982 – Being able to speak several languages is a positive plus in my profession. I’ve worked in the Gulf states so Arabic was not too hard to learn.
I can, when pushed, even speak fluent American gibberish, though,it has to be said, very few people outside prepper sites understand it.
The only reason you see activity in Europe is because we pay for it’s defense, plain and simple. If Europe had to ramp up it’s military industrial complex, it couldn’t even afford rice.
Our country does not want to be the world’s junk yard dog. We just don’t want to pay for it. Thus, non military trade should slow down for Europe as well. It’s just a matter of time.
Economic crashes are slow motion events. These events happen differently in different parts of the world. A huge stock market crash will drive a deepening recession. But that recession will take months to form and perhaps years to bottom.
Remember, the US and US dollar will continue to do better than the rest of the world as long as the dollar is reserve currency for international banking and trade. The big threat recently to the dollar was China. In fact since these market crashes started, China has been at the center. The world is not going to switch from dollars to yuan as long as the Chinese yuan looks so fragile and unreliable.
Don’t underestimate the FED’s abuility to come up with another hair brained plan, like QE infinity, to kick the can down the road.
Without intervention the crash is on! You can bet deals are being made now to try to control the contagion.
Plan twice, prep once
Extinct Tree Grows New From Ancient Jar of Seeds Unearthed by Archaeologists
“Amazingly, the multi-millennial seed did indeed sprout — producing a sapling no one had seen in centuries, becoming the oldest known tree seed to germinate.”
“The tree “continues to grow and thrive; In 2011, it even produced its first flower — a heartening sign that the ancient survivor was eager to reproduce.”
http://worldtruth.tv/extinct-tree-grows-new-from-ancient-jar-of-seeds-unearthed-by-archaeologists/
That is so cool, I remember reading an article that dipped into the science of this seeds sprouting.
A seed this old has likely used most of its stored food to survive just sitting, leaving little food to kick the heart of it to life. They soaked the seed in a nutrient rich broth in a chilled environment and once it absorbed enough they warmed it, and off it took.
The last anon post was me. I always use private browsing, downside is the browser never remembers who I am and I must enter my name each post. Oops.
You know, at one time the American people did help Europe. No denying that. The Marshall plan was a great humanitarian gesture.
However, American insistence on creating wars to justify its massive military expansion is bizarre. Not only are you creating flash points throughout the world, your military is keeping the average American financially poorer. Why?
An A plus for economic illiteracy. A D minus for lucidity of expressed ideas.
They profit from every click. Especially if you are clicking on a You Tube video.
They don’t care how stupid they look, as long as you are stupid enough to click on their videos, or buy their solution to the problem they say you have. 🙁
DK: Does this incl videos by Ronnie Milsap, Johnny Rivers, Tom Jones, etc? Same videos they used to play on the TV music channels that are now defunct, but now on you tube.
laura m: Sure. Their estates/heirs are profiting from the clicks and ad revenue. 🙂
Preppers read “downturn” and believe it means complete stoppage.
Preppers may read, but do they comprehend? No one here seems capable of logical, rational thought. Not one living American has suffered true hardship. I don’t think that they fully comprehend what it means. For example, so many people put toilet paper on their list of essentials. That is a complete joke!
They are, in many ways another breed of “sheeples”, simply following the flock of brainwashed idiots in front of them.
Anon-
Really? You are saying Americans are sheeple?
1. We still have our guns.
2. We have our bill of rights.
These are only two of the many reasons that Americans have not known true hardship for a very long time. And when we do we will respond the same way we always have. as a FREEDOM loving, independent people.
Europe on the other hand, is very close to economic collapse, social collapse, have given up their guns and rights long ago.
Funny how liberals who cant win a discussion always try to suggest that anyone who disagrees with them are less intelligent…
And don’t think that I’m impressed that you are an Engineer, as an Operations Manager I tell Engineers what to do every day.
USMA and all readers of SHTF: Yep the EU is down into an Islamic hell pit, becoming a third world crap hole not fit for vermin. Europeans believe in nothing; Muslims believe in the moon god allah satanic murder/rape cult. Europe will soon be defeated because they did nothing to stop the invasion. The EU males are worthless scum, gelded cowardly idiots who stand by while the women/girls are raped- sorry decadent lazy bastards for sure. Now, my experiences talking to inconsistent patriots who say they are “tuned in” for decades (bull C.) For ex: they refuse to leave 501c3 gov. churches, civic org., vets org. and other useless gov. controlled groups to incl infiltrated patriot meet ups which accomplish zero and did nil for over fifty years when they started out opposing the UN in the US. circa late ’50’s. Some send their kids to gov. schools. I have pruned out these losers to incl relatives in last few months, refusing to return emails or phone calls/blocking calls. We must choose sincere friends at this point, as this country is barreling down a hell pit. No time for fence walkers at this point. Yes, the 3% will stand, but our chances of victory are slim. Patriots are older, sicker and dying. See: leaderlessresistance by louis beam and act on it now. Have bartering networks, keep groups small. My elders warned me I would live to see coutnry fall twenty yrs ago, they are passed on. OMG it’s happening.
I don’t know, but they’re really good at it. I believe it’s coming, but all this fear-porn is beginning to get ridiculous. I’ll just keep on keeping on and when it DOES hit, (Lord willing) I’ll be ready.
Blessings,
Son of Liberty
Hang on folks, it’s gonna be a BUMPY ride!!!!!
Oh boy…same shit, new day.
GMAFB
And the point of this article is …. ? Nothing to see here that we don’t already know, except for one thing:
Yes, this downturn by the FED is by design. It is intended to CONSOLIDATE their position, not to pave the way for a “new system”. The “old system” is working quite well for the PTB. No need to change it. No need for a NEW WRC.
America’s economy is the best horse in the global glue factory, and its consumer, though wrung dry, is still protected by a “social net” to mitigate revolution, as long as a Rogue administration does not try to confiscate American Guns. Assets of the leveraged Middle Class will be foreclosed, confiscated, and then liquidated to the Uber Rich for pennies on the dollar, just as it has always occurred.
The same process will occur, is occurring, in the industrial sector with oil & gas assets. This IS the process. This IS the business cycle. The only difference is that it will take more time, this time, to reset and work out the imbalances. Poverty has a way of making people fall in line as long as their basic needs are met.
That is, except for China with 25 years of uninterrupted prosperity. For China it means social unrest as tens of millions of workers lose their jobs as factories close from lack of western demand; and the workers who migrated to the cities 25 years ago move back to their old villages: as designed by the FED.
The Chinese are FLUSH with yuan based upon a printing program there that generated 15 times the number of yuan than the FED printed dollars, in the same period of time. The yuan is going lower. Much lower. It must go lower if China is to compete with Mexico where the peso is now 18 to the dollar and rising. Hyperinflation, if it is to occur at all, will occur in China.
These factories will be rebuilt in Mexico. The Chinese miracle is over and the yuan will fall in value. The CCP may fall too. At least, that is the intent of the FED and the dollar is the weapon of choice for the NWO who run the world. 🙁
@DK.
I can’t believe it, but I agree with you up until the point that China will suffer hyper-inflation. China can no longer suffer hyper inflation. Their currency is apart of the World’s reserve currency, the SDR. If their currency inflates now, so too does the rest of the world’s. They are no longer on their own axis.
China may not suffer hyperinflation, but if any country does, it will be China. The CCP has not yet mastered managing a capitalistic economy and it shows.
China is most likely to keep printing to try to stem the tide of deflation as the business cycle comes to an end in China because the American Consumer is broke; representing a fundamental change to its economic model (ie exports). That tide of deflation is a tsunami that cannot be stopped by printing more money.
“If their currency inflates now, so too does the rest of the world’s. They are no longer on their own axis.”
FALSE. FALSE. FALSE. A THOUSAND TIMES FALSE.
Free Currencies rise and fall by MARKET FORCES and by obtaining inclusion into the SDR basket, China must subject its currency to MARKET FORCES, where it only has a 10% weight.
Market Forces = USD = FED. 🙂
The US dollar is a powerful weapon and they will keep it strong to push through their larger power plans. They don’t care what this does to the average guy’s life. Notice how it is always used as a tool to create debt and dependence. They have successfully sucked the developing countries back into US dollar indebtedness. If they want China to hurt, they will do that.
I just check’d my brokerage acct online, blue chip “granny” stocks didn’t take the hits I thought they would–yet. Ex: are MO, T, BBL,DUK,JNJ,DD, etc. Muni’s are up. Some I know bailed out of index funds, got into bond funds. I just hope the markets soon stabilize so folks can sell and stash the cash.
I have a friend who has been a trusted person who just happens to be our financial advisor. He tells me not to worry about the markets, that they will rebound because history has showed us this. I am to the point that I want to put our 401K in a safe account so that it does not lose any more of its value. Any advise ? Confused , but not naïve.
That is what I did in the 08 market meltdown. I missed a little bit of the rise before I jumper back in. That being said after I made all of my money back and then some I put mine over into a more secure investment.
The risk is missing the rise when / if it happens. Sooner of later the market will go down and not come back up again. The real question is this that time? That my friend is the million dollar question isnt it?
Mt advice, get your spouse on board, pray about it, then flip a coin…
Cash out. Get liquid. Retirement accounts are NEXT and this will happen soon as they will lose a major portion of their value with this major decline.
See if you cannot roll it over to a Gold IRA without taking a penalty … ASAP. ASAP means NOW !!! 🙂
Roll it into a self-directed IRA.
Just because it is “self directed” it doesn’t mean that it will be safe from a decline in value. More than a year ago I told this community that when the SHTF both gold and the dollar would rise at the same time.
This is happening now.
Protect your purchasing power by rolling the IRA into a gold IRA before its value drops. I told this community almost a year ago that Hedge Funds, Money Managers, Pension Funds and IRA’s would lose a lot of value when the markets tank.
That is happening now. Check the archives. 🙂
Retirement acct is in G bonds 100%, we began drawing down four years ago. Those close to retirement need to do likewise, quit stock funds. We moved S&P fund into Bonds the weekend of the 9/11 fiasco, three years later retired.
If I had a 401k, I would take it out now before it is all lost. Seriously
History is way different now. And i don’t see it getting any better anytime soon.
If the banks go down, everyone will lose, it’s called a bail in.. The banksters and the powers that be, made sure the next time it happens, we the people will pay for it.. As far as I know their is no safe account in a bank..
As soon as those addicted zombie-sheep can’t get their chems there’ll be an explosion.
https://www.yahoo.com/health/opioid-abuse-costs-employers-billions-1347346896355382.html
2400fps lead injection will be the only cure. Keep the shovels sharpened.
It’s called “Peak Oil” and the creation of credit by the banks cannot mask the fact that the EROEI of a barrel of oil is falling and will continue to fall until you are living in a box under a bridge.
It has little to do with the IMF or money creation(proxy for energy) or the NWO…it is all worldwide energy per capita…it is tanking.
The oil glut is nothing more than malinvestment. The shale miracle will disappear into the smoke and mirrors it came from.
Yes, the world is on the brink of a deflationary collapse, but it is an energy collapse. The Fed is simply trying to keep the energy Titanic afloat any way it can.
There is no “planned collapse”. The bankers would be foolish to kill the golden goose they live on. They are trying to prolong the system as long as possible.
I am rooting for them to succeed. I don’t look forward to the death and destruction that comes when they eventually fail.
Billions will be liquidated.
“Billions will be liquidated.”
And that is the whole point of the “business cycle” isn’t it? It is at this point in the cycle where the Uber Rich make uber more money by buying up foreclosed and liquidated assets for pennies on the dollar.
Its PLANNED that way. 🙂
Of course. Uber rich cannot take control of assets without massive rises and collapses.
JRS
“The shale miracle will disappear into the smoke and mirrors it came from.”
Why do you say that? it appears that fracking has just scratched the surface (no pun intended).
” That is to say, our society today is so unequipped to deal with a financial collapse that the event will inevitably trigger cultural upheaval and violent internal conflict.”
‘Bout time. Bring on the culling of the sheep herd.
Culling of the dead weight at the top too, theres a certain elite group that needs eradication
(Gov employees)
Another bait comment about violence toward government employees.
Sorry about that folks.
We apologize for the infestation at SHTFplan.
Sooner rather than later, get it over with
Brandon, thanks for all of your hard work warning the masses. Not easy with all of the naysayers out there.
Markets are sitting on a hair trigger right now…..pray hard & take care!
Keep preppin & keep stackin!
Are we there, yet?
The ninety day warning is about 30 days in. The markets are showing red. How much money can they throw at the Dow to keep it from sliding into the abyss. When will they begin to use your retirement and savings to stem the blood letting. The question is will the stock market fall below 10.000 points. Staying above that level gives some bases to a recovery. Below it, the flood gates to sell could be kicked wide open.
Six thousand point drop in sixty days? You never know.
I think no matter what the dow does things will start to deteriorate, look at oil, layoffs, people pissed at the government crap, and i mean that for sll you gov employees, buncha crap,
Things are just starting to flow, soon it willbe a torrent, just a feeling
At the end of November, I said this business cycle was over and it could take investors 90 days to recognize that fact. Another major correction has already occurred and we are only half way into that time frame.
I called the October 15 through 22 correction 30 days in advance in the Fall 2014. I called the August 2015 correction in late Spring of 2015. I called this decline at the end of November.
Its in the archives. Just saying. 🙂
Good job durangoKidd ur so right! Lol here’s a fuckin cookie for u…ur on it buddy!
Sling,
The market erased 2yrs of gains since beginning of year. I say yes it could erase 6000 in 60 days!
“When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide
Where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride.
Till I get to the bottom and I see you again.”
Yeah, Yeah, yeah.
Helter Skelter, Beatles.
Baltic Dry Index 358
A lot of key technical levels have broken…..Bailouts, QE4 & stimilus on the horizon!
No QE4. The cycle is over. The cycle was over before the FED raised rates. 25bp would not have had a significant economic or financial impact, in and of itself.
It was a signal to the Uber Rich, and financial institutions that it was time to exit the markets. That’s all. 🙁
Listen to these clowns on the business channels.
Buying opportunities, ride the storm out, historically over time stocks make money blah blah blah.
Somebody is selling these stocks and locking in huge profits, fools are left with 10-20 less in their accounts.
But it goes up over time,, right? well you have 20% less in value.. and of course when you buy they make commissions.
What a racket….
The sheep are getting sheared.
Two very different entities reach the same prediction.
It makes me wonder what they know, that we don’t.
an unusual Christmas message…
Pope Says This May Be Our Last Christmas
“In a grim speech, the Pope said that the current chaotic state of the world marks the beginning of the “end times”, and that this time next year the world is likely to be unrecognizable.
Francis, who previously announced the beginning of World War 3, had labelled this year’s Christmas as a “charade” during a Mass at the Casa Santa Maria earlier in the month.
“We are close to Christmas. There will be lights, there will be parties, bright trees, even Nativity scenes – all decked out – while the world continues to wage war,” he said earlier in December.
“While the world starves, burns, and descends further into chaos, we should realize that this year’s Christmas celebrations for those who choose to celebrate it may be their last“.”
-yournewswire dot com
now this, released January 4, 2016
“With terrifying mathematical certainty, an internal project at the world’s leading probabilities firm concludes economic collapse and world war within 90 days; 100% certain.”
“To make it simple, actualities (past to present) are used to calculate future probabilities, probabilities are used to calculate future actualities.
All probabilities now lead to one actuality in 90 days.
It has never been this definitive. This accurate, this likely. Never.”
-superstation95 dot com
Direct links…
http://yournewswire.com/pope-says-this-may-be-our-last-christmas/
https://www.superstation95.com/index.php/world/727
Why is the BDI so low?
Are suppliers hanging on to items/material because of the possibility of war.
Hi Slingshot, not seen a good analysis anywhere. The “DOW transports” as lifeblood of the economy certainly seems valid. Especially since nobody produces locally.
BDI thought: bulk materials. No need to import oil to USA when massive production up-ramp occurred?
No need to move coal when oil can be used cheaper (replacement).
Etc.
Boating versus Rail versus Trucking. 10x efficiency drop each versus; but, oil so cheap and trucking so convenient.
Here in NC I don’t see the slowdown clearly; but, I do see large price increases at the grocer; so, we go to farmer’s market and change our eating patterns. “don’t do to any restaurant requiring a tip” etc. But, I have been shopping for a new truck and all the dealers have 2015 sitting. They are dropping price but still not convincing me. Not sure if this is normal from past years but seems odd to have lots of 2015 inventory on the lot. Welp, I’m buying used. No need to pay the tax man, the insurance man, and the dealership owner premiums. Besides, I need to conserve cash.
So, market did break down today. Its really bad. PPT and hidden elites must come up with Trillions to pump it more. If they continue to supply Trillions, then inflation. So, sacrifice the market? Or sacrifice the dollar? Probably the latter hits the working folks the most; so, will continue to be the choice.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car has really good deals on fleet cars that they are retiring. You know they take good care of their cars, so they are better than the average used car. I think I may buy my next car from Enterprise.
popery
The Market or the Dollar.
How about both.
I am settled in and what happens, happens. It is a matter of how many extra projects I can get done before the reset. There was a BOSE speaker commercial where the guy is sitting in a Lazy Boy and shit starts flying by him as the loud music plays. Gonna play some Loud Rock and Roll for sure.
I can get lost in this one especially around the halfway point. Love the guitar and no one can play as good as he does..I gotta give him that. Chills me out. I think I will go chill to this one…
https://youtu.be/45qX1VYONds
But you might like this one first. It’s short, but good.
https://youtu.be/TnAgc1kgvLc
Driftin back is long but chillin too. 😉
For newer preppers…
How to Survive Hard Times – website with lots of useful information
http://grandpappy.org/indexhar.htm
KY Mom, thanks for the link. I already went over there and got a few great tips. I bookmarked it and will go back.
“About 80% of the current population in the U.S. is more than likely inexperienced in any meaningful form of food production and self-reliance.”
That is the real problem.
The 80% are screwed.
The upside is mostly city dwelling
Statists will be consumed, figuratively
and literally.
I agree 100%. My Grandfather who fought in WWI. Lived through the great depression, saw this coming. He said and I quote as good as I can;
“The next great depression will be worse because many people had moved closer to the cites and were not self sufficient, it will be a dangerous time for people who live in the rural areas. As the masses will be looking for food.”
Boy was he right or what?
USMC1982, he was right. Even in older neighborhoods with fruit trees, I have seen people act like a bountiful harvest as a nuisance instead of a gift.
Also, for any people that are on prescription medications, 80% of the generic drugs come from China and India…
I cannot supply ‘the source’ (as proof positive), yet I will repeat it as best I can recall; …”the point being that due to the ignorance which has pummeled into millions of minds, even the ability to grow food from simply planted seeds is beyond the scope of knowledge of (most) city-dwellers. (If they have houseplants, most likely they bought them). There are few rooftops with gardens …but at least there are some (won’t be as soon as folks remember it and are hungry).
This has to be a factor in why it is repeatedly stated that “they” expect a 10% survival rate …that’s just within the USA. Ironically, one of the (almost) worst places to be is in the country, in plain view (and hell you have to realize (or at least assume?) that city-folks with their aircraft will scope out (grid-style) every hidden garden then lay siege to it (with their ‘gangs-on-the-ground’ getting directions via radio, or simply ‘circling’ over the area for them to find …skip that if you dislike the idea of it and make it “drones” being taken to rural locations for “scope-outs” …that’s become a new “intrusion” into what we country folks have ‘sitting around’ that they’ll take …when it goes down hard). Few people EVER “look up” and thus ppl MISS literally everything going on above their ‘lines of sight’ (they are not being aware as they should be doing). Maybe there IS no sniper up there but there could be a monkey with a handful of his poop getting ready to sling it at you. (What’s the diff? The ape or the government slinging shit?
*Right now there are ppl using Google Earth to “take a pic” of every detail of what is within reach of them …so what I just said is already ‘in motion’ (and I find that rather alarming and worthy of ‘countering’ prior to allowing it to become a reality. (I’m a bit shy on surplus land mines …so once again ‘necessity becomes the mother of invention’ ..and is productive)!
Warning sign warning sign
I see it but I pay it no mind
The snowball has been getting bigger and bigger each year. And we’re the little village sitting at the bottom of the mountain. Plus, the perfect storm is just on the horizon about to befall on us. Man! I’m pissed!!!! I want justice!!! Need to shoot at sumthin!!!!……Lord have mercy on us all.
Ok we all knew it was coming. Have You prepped for it is the only question? I’m ready and I pray you are.
Sgt.
Durango Kidd….not interested in getting into a tit for tat with you, you are entitled to your opinion. This is NOT a “typical” business cycle.
Please stop referring to it as such. A global depression is on our doorstep and the USA will come unraveled with it. I hate the thought of this happening to our once great country but due to lots of apethetic people for several generations this has been allowed to happen. The cartel just got bigger & bigger & bigger!
This is not business as usual, this is not cyclical & it is going to go really bad for many great people.
So when you say “what is the point of this article” which is a slap in the face of many here, the point is Brandon continues to warn the masses & has helped educate alot of people.
Its atypical only in the sense that Main Street America has not participated in the “recovery”. There are two Americas. This lack of participation by the consumer was by design. It was a business cycle as usual for the Uber Rich and investment class.
By killing the American consumer the FED destroyed its real target: China. They will sacrifice US on the Altar of Globalism and FED Hegemony and call it a recession every time.
Yes a global depression is on our doorstep thanks to the FED. They are killing their competition with it. The BRIC’s are toast. Make a fortune. Short the BRIC’s.
When the smoke clears, the yuan will be more like the ruble than a WRC, and about as valuable. Short the yuan. The NWO will build new factories in Mexico and make even bigger profits than they made in China using cheap labor and a manipulated currency.
Brandon needs the education himself. Love him as a Patriot, but when it comes to economics and finance, he is the blind, leading the blind. He really believes that there is a NWC on the horizon and that this global depression is designed to create that environment. Eventually that may come but not until after WWIII.
This global depression has been implemented, and is designed to CONSOLIDATE FED power. 🙂
“Just around the corner, there’s a rainbow in the sky. So let’s have another cup of coffee, and let’s have another piece of pie.” — Irving Berlin (1932)
ht tps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFniGuoCBXA
It’s here!
ALERT AND WARNING!
This is from a highly reputable source.
Less than 1 in 10,000 Americans know the following information.
At this time NO MORE SHIPS are transporting ANY goods between Europe and the United States and vice versa. The reason is that it would now cost them more to ship the goods than they could make a profit.
This is explained by the fact the Baltic Dry Index, a universal economic indicator, is below 400, an all-time low.
I asked my source if this explains the recently announced closings of many Walmart stores and he said it’s one of the major reasons.
In short, regardless of where you do or do not shop, if you are not already stocked and prepped up on medications, and all the other items we have discussed here, begin to do so and finish up now.
The Economic Collapse continues to unfold.
Don’t forget to pray and get right with God, every day/
Above all, whatever your situation or status is or is not, do not ever waiver from trusting in God NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS because He is much bigger than all of the evil planned and executed by Satan’s human minions among us who fell for his deceptions and lies and empty false promises.
God bless you all!
– the Lone Ranger
Guess we will soon find out what is and what is not made in the USA.
I quit reading right here…
This is from a highly reputable source.
Wal Mart does not source inexpensive goods from Europe. It is likely that trade between Europe and the USA is at near normal levels.
Higher than that if you include the Jihadists they ship to US !!! 🙂
It would not surprise me. I am a logistics manager for a very large trucking company and freight is down 80 to 90%. There are NO loads practically because goods are not moving.
I’ve been wondering about this and looking for an opportunity to ask the community here.. personally, I’ve noticed that I am much less likely to spend money.. for a few months now.. and I have money to spend. I am not currently in any financial difficulties at all.. 100% Debt free, all prepped up, lots of liquid assets.. yet I am loath to spend money on just about anything.. and frankly, it surprises me. SO the question is, are there other people out there who have been experiencing this type of thing ? I am a Christian and I believe that God guides our feet and puts on our hearts to do what is good in His eyes, if we are listening.. is anyone else out there in a similar financial situation; but finding yourselves almost inexplicably not wanting to buy anything ?
Maybe you have everything you need?
That’s not the point Rellik.. dang near everyone in the US actually has most “everything they need”. This is different and I’m trying to figure out if this is “just me” or if something broader is going on..
We also are completely out of debt, with money to spare
AND
we are not spending it on anything other than extra preps.
We stay at home (Except for an occasional camping trip to see family)
We are well prepped. Ready as we can be.
So, we wait. But enjoy life as we wait.
May be God easing you any feelings of urgency or dread are you relaxed and comfortable could be pre rapture peace let me guess you have no fear of death as if its something you have no worries or cares about and you are feeling totaly different about money and possessions than you used to
This all makes no sense if oil is down this should make ship operators happy and profitable. The real problem is people’s credit is over extended. If consumers buy less then they need less trips. Before it was high fuel prices killing everyone. Now they are down and it’s not cost effective to run a ship. People are gonna die because they are so fat they can’t tie their shoe. This is from all the drive up window years when times were good. It’s gonna be amusing watching fat people labor. Inexperience is one problem but inability to work is what will kill. People won’t be living off the fruits of my labor. Most of these overweight people are on disability now. I just can’t see them all the sudden having a homestead. Most people see someone’s farm and have no idea how much work is involved. Sure it can be done but do folks have the guts to get dirty and deal with the aches and pains of hard work. I don’t think so. they could do it now but they don’t they just keep looking to the gov to bail their ass out through programs. People are full of excuses but always talk about the stuff that can be done. Compassion is how most survive now but it won’t work after shtf when resources are produced by few laborers. So many people live as if this is always gonna be how things are. Good luck with that gov won’t let that happen attitude.
oUCH.
Spending Money. If you are old enough to remember penny candy and Hersey Almond Bars for a nickel. You might have a good case of the ass to spend your hard earn money on anything. A $1.25 for a mostly air puffed candy bar is what you get. I don’t go to the movies because of the price. Do you think I pay six dollars for a cup of Coffee? Pay for high priced clothes because of a Popular LOGO. There are plenty of nice things that are priced APPRORIATELY. Then it is worth it for the Quality. Other than that they can keep it.
The problem is that the ways things are headed you have to have a point where you need to buy extra good items because the price is will inflate, the banks will steal your money or the cash will become completely worthless. Might not be a place to spend it either.
Sticker shock over a candy bar. Imagine that.
I don’t recall candy bars for a nickel; but I clearly remember all candy bars selling for a dime in vending machines in 1972. Cigarettes in vending machines were 40c at this time. I think pay phones had jumped from a dime to either 15c or 20c.
Two days ago, I was in a hospital waiting for hours and hunger eventually forced me to the vending machine. A granola bar was two dollars. A tiny bag of Lay’s potato chips was $1.25.
After you’ve witnessed a dramatic decline in purchasing power over a few decades, you become resistant to paying what seems like an exorbitant price compared to the ‘benchmark’ prices of your youth.
Also, there is a natural inclination to spend less as you get older; this is why popular culture, which is tightly interwoven with marketing, is aimed at that crucial demographic of 18 to 45. These are the people who are anxiously seeking approval from their peers over whether their clothes are fashionable and their car is new enough; and of course possessing the most recent version of a tablet or smartphone or game system.
It’s not just a matter of “slowing down” and not being in the market for surfboards and concert tickets and carbonated soft drinks — although that’s part of it, too. There is also a disconnect from the consumer mentality. As you age, you simply don’t care as much about all the silly crap. This makes you toxic to corporations, and is one of the major reasons that older people are belittled and marginalized in American society. If the corporate world can’t make money from it, they have no use for it. This crowd only views seniors as being useful as consumers of medical products and services. Just watch the evening news: the national news shows are regarded as “old people” fare, and are crammed with adverts for prescription medicines and life insurance.
As I age, I find myself understanding why older people often withdraw from society. Society does not offer much to older people. There is no place at the table for them. When people do not feel valued or appreciated, they are inclined to pull away.
oUCH, your post describes me and my family to a tee!
Migrants are now attacking tourists on winter holidays in Europe. There is footage on the web of a couple doing a selfie at an ice rink who are set upon by black migrants. they, however, fight back, and it does not end the way the migrants wanted. Lesson: white people need to get fit and to learn how to defend themselves. Stop watching football and eating junk food: hit the gym and get some self-defense lessons: you need to be able to defend yourself and your loved ones.
No different than here with the knockout game. Groids will be Groids wherever you find them.
With you ouch not buying anything I have similar situation to you debt free. Hard times are coming IMO. Something in me tells me to step back and not make any purchases. Just live off what I have available to me now. ive made living on less a way of life. I work all the time so I’m doing ok. If you work a lot and get used to it you don’t have time to spend $ I feel this the way to get ahead. Was gonna buy a new truck but thought about it some and I live 10 mins from work so just can’t see having $500 mo payments just for an hour and forty mins of driving a week. Be honest with yourself if your just gonna buy something and never use it your wasting $. My wife has gone to thrift stores and gotten things with the tags still on them. Someone wasted $ then didn’t want it in their house anymore and donated it. I don’t go out to stores or malls anymore. I would rather get my ass out of the work force as soon as possible. So saving is most important.
I work as an after-hours manager for one of the “Big Five” Trucking companies. The company I work for has offices in five states alone, and because I manage after hours logistics, I see a lot of what goes through each office.
The fact that the BDI has collapsed is just the “tip of the iceberg.” Freight is NOT moving at all. Many times, what I am seeing are TONUs (Truck Order Not Used)- loads are being booked and in some cases even drivers being sent over to pick up a load, but then the load is cancelled. Some times, I have seen up to 25% of loads on TONU. I do not know, but I get the sense this is being done intentionally to boost numbers because like with the stock market, the fact that an order was cancelled after it was created does not subtract from the total “volume” of freight, so it looks like more is shipping when nothing is shipping at all. It’s basically “freight inflation” as opposed to “price inflation”- it looks like more is shipping when it isn’t- and those numbers are not accounted for in “official” statistics.
As far as freight itself, it has collapsed. On a normal night, I usually oversee 400 to 600 trucks. Lately, that number has been 50 to 70. It is still January, but even for this time of year (the slowest for the industry) it very, very low.
Because I am in the logistics management side as opposed to freight brokerage (the people who negotiate loads, rates, etc. with carriers/shippers/receivers), there is a better change that I will not be laid off (even then, my wife and I have been making preparations for some time). However, brokerage is very concerned because if freight volume does not pick up by next month, it is likely there will be layoffs because there is no work for them since there are so few loads to book.
Was in Italy in September partying with some Euro babes at the beach club. I looked out across the sea and saw nothing but container ship after container ship parked. So, it had already started in Europe. I saw something like that in Turkey back in 2008/2009.
By the way, I highly recommend Euro babes for a night out: lovely little kittens: elegant, well-dressed and beautiful.
I work as an after-hours manager for one of the “Big Five” Trucking companies. The company I work for has offices in five states alone, and because I manage after hours logistics, I see a lot of what goes through each office.
The fact that the BDI has collapsed is just the “tip of the iceberg.” Freight is NOT moving at all. Many times, what I am seeing are TONUs (Truck Order Not Used)- loads are being booked and in some cases even drivers being sent over to pick up a load, but then the load is cancelled. Some times, I have seen up to 25% of loads on TONU. I do not know, but I get the sense this is being done intentionally to boost numbers because like with the stock market, the fact that an order was cancelled after it was created does not subtract from the total “volume” of freight, so it looks like more is shipping when nothing is shipping at all. It’s basically “freight inflation” as opposed to “price inflation”- it looks like more is shipping when it isn’t- and those numbers are not accounted for in “official” statistics.
As far as freight itself, it has collapsed. On a normal night, I usually oversee 400 to 600 trucks. Lately, that number has been 50 to 70. It is still January, but even for this time of year (the slowest for the industry) it very, very low.
Because I am in the logistics management side as opposed to freight brokerage (the people who negotiate loads, rates, etc. with carriers/shippers/receivers), there is a better change that I will not be laid off (even then, my wife and I have been making preparations for some time). However, brokerage is very concerned because if freight volume does not pick up by next month, it is likely there will be layoffs because there is no work for them since there are so few loads to book.
Stanislaw
Thank you for the INFO.
Its over. The game of musical chairs has begun. There’s one less chair than players, and your seeing the early stages of (10) players and only (9) chairs. As the game progresses, it’s going to get uglier and uglier. Eventually there will be only one chair left, but lots of players….Then your going to witness see the SHTF.