Gerald Celente on Coast to Coast AM January 2, 2010 discusses the economy, commercial real estate, residential real estate, sustainability, and terrorism (audio interview follows excerpts and commentary):

“We’re predicting that in 2010 we’re going to see the Crash of 2010. It collapsed in ’09, it didn’t hit all the way to the ground because they propped it up. But, we believe that in 2010 there’s going to be a crisis of some nature financially, and most likely in the area of a currency crisis.

Let’s just look at the facts – Greece, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Hungary, Ukraine, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Iceland. One country after another. On and on, they’re either bankrupt or going under. Bye Bye Dubai. We just saw that happen.

And, what was the reaction? Oh, don’t worry, it’s covered, everything’s OK.

It’s not OK. That’s the canary in the commercial real estate mine shaft. We’re going to see the commercial real estate collapse. It’s a trillion dollars worth just in the US, so that’s going to also happen.”

Dubai was just a prelude, and it was quickly covered  up with a $10 billion bailout from sister-state Abu Dhabi, even though Dubai’s exposure is estimated to be $80 billion. If you watch mainstream news exclusively, you’d have no idea that they simply kicked the can down the road a little further.

While $80 billion is nothing to laugh about, that sum alone isn’t enough to collapse the global real estate market, but when you consider the $1 trillion in exposure in the USA mentioned by Celente, the untold billions in empty shopping malls and office buildings in China, and further exposure in Western & Eastern Europe, you’ve got a serious problem on your hands. It’s not a question of if, but when. Wave Two Is Coming.

Celente discusses the effects of a terror attack on our economy

“We anticipate a 9/11 magnitude terror strike. When that happens, should it happen, that’s going to change the whole financial game.

Remember, all things are connected.

Go back to 9/11. Immediately after, they began to lower interest rates to 46 year lows, now of course they can’t do that. We’re concerned that they’ll call a bank holiday, and they’ll devalue the currency.”

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“They keep printing this money. They keep devaluaing it. If there’s a catastrophe, they will use it as the primary excuse to change the financial game, and anyone who’s caught with their money not in their possession or having it liquid is going to be burned severely. That’s the way we think the government is going to manipulate through it.”

While it is difficult to see a connection between a terror attack and a currency devaluation, it’s not out of the question. After 9/11, did anyone expect our government to enact sweeping overhauls to the American way of life by passing the Patriot Act legislation? Before the banks collapsed and markets crashed, would anyone have been able to guess that the government would have committed $11 trillion to bail outs and stimulus? The inspector general for the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program  recently reported the actual cost of all the bailing out of failed institutions at north of $23 Trillion. Did you see that coming in the summer of 2008?

So how does this tie into a terror attack and currency devaluation? Expect the unexpected, is how. The justification wouldn’t be too difficult, especially if we experience a massive stock market crash as a result of an attack. The administration, in an effort to keep the charade going, would either print trillions more (they’ve already committed $4 trillion for 2010 bank bailouts, just in case), or, simply devalue the currency one Friday evening. Think it can’t happen? FDR did it in 1934, back when we were still on a gold standard, by increasing the price of gold vs. the dollar by nearly 70%. By enacting a bank holiday, no money would be moving (panicking) out of banks and probably stock markets, so anything not converted into hard assets prior to the holiday would be worth significantly less in terms of buying power when the banks reopen.

Imagine you have $1000 on Friday. The banks are closed by government order. When they reopen, you still have $1000, but because a currency devaluation was announced, you may now have 50% less buying power. So, that new set of tires that would have cost you $500 on Friday, now cleans out your whole bank account. Do you have a retirement account with Treasuries or money market holdings? It may be decimated if a currency devaluation occurs.

Some positive trends from Gerald Celente:

“Whats going on with the break-up of so many different things is that something is dieing that deserves to die. Not a lot of people are going to miss the greed and corruption. People complaining about capitalism. There’s nothing wrong with capitalism. This isn’t capitalism. As we make it very clear, the merger of state and corporate powers is what’s going on now. People are being in socialism. It’s called fascism.

So this is dieing, and something new will be born. And in the new, Plato said it best, necessity is the mother of invention, and the US is the most innovative country in the world….”

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“We believe we’re going to see major technologival breakthroughs coming about, particularly in the areas of alternative energy…”

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“We’re going to start seeing also technologies for the poor….”

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“Practical products that people can use, high tech, getting them off the grid, becoming more and more self-sustaining. And again, we also believe we’re on the cusp of a major energy breakthrough in forms not of bio-fuel, or geo-thermal, or wind, or solar, but much bigger in the terms of zero-point energy, charge clusters, permanent magnets, hydrino power or cold fusion. Something as big as the discovery of fire or the invention of the wheel. That’s what changes the whole mix.”

Celente believes that the only way a true recovery, expansion and boom could happen now is if a significant technological development changes society as we know it, taking the world in a completely new direction. Other than this, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where we continue this so-called recovery.

Listen to the full Gerald Celente interview: