The following article has been contributed by Neithercorp Press.
By Giordano Bruno
Neithercorp Press – 07/18/2010
In the financial life of every culture built upon faulty monetary policy, there are points at which the thin thread of economic faith; the thread that ties the entire failing system together, the thread made tangible by the hopes (and sometimes ignorance) of the general populace, finally snaps. From Ancient Rome, to Weimar Germany, to Argentina, to modern day America, no society fueled by unsustainable debt and fiat inflation can duck the ‘Fiscal Reaper’ for very long. The U.S. alone has survived since the early 1970’s (after Nixon removed the last vestiges of the gold standard) on nothing but questionable credit practices and baseless optimism, but there is a limit to the power of fantasy. This is a fact that most mainstream financial analysts and some in the American public refuse to grasp. Mere belief in the enduring nature of the marketplace is not enough; the fundamentals must also support that belief.
Today, we face an atmosphere in which the fundamentals are fiercely opposed to the publicly promoted perception of the economy, and it is moments in history like this that present a clear primer for total collapse. Financial disaster is bad enough when it is at least partially anticipated. When the masses are caught completely unaware and unprepared in the midst of misguided conviction, this leads to the worst kind of tragedy: the ironic and Shakespearian kind. To avoid this brand of tragedy is one of the primary reasons why we in the Liberty Movement do what we do. We may not be able to stop the current crisis from developing, but we can create awareness, and through this we can lessen the cultural shock, and thereby lessen the impact.
Mainstream economists crowed about the “invincible†rise of globalism and the unstoppable U.S. financial juggernaut for years while more level headed and intelligent men tried to warn the public of danger. The initial derivatives collapse in 2007 / 2008 should have put all of these pathetic establishment cheerleaders to shame, not to mention out of work. Yet three years later, amazingly, we are asked, even expected, to continue to look to such sad and useless people for predictions on market stability that always turn out absolutely inaccurate, and advice on savings and investment that they are not equipped to give.
I suppose we should not be surprised by the continued lifespan of MSM parrots and puppets. They may not be helpful to the average American, but they are very helpful to international banks and the globalist companies that pay their salaries. They distract and confuse us. They comfort when they should caution, and contradict when they should pay heed. Our financial house is burning from the bottom floor up, and they assure us that the warm orange glow is just the dawning of a new and beautiful day. We are told to “look to the futureâ€, a return to normalcy is “just around the cornerâ€. Never would they dare to weigh the cold hard factors of the present, or the ruse would be up. Whether they are aware of it or not the lies media pundits perpetuate set the stage for even greater upheaval, to the detriment of most, and the benefit of only a handful.
In this article, as we have in so many others, we will examine those lies, as well as the truths they are meant to hide. The most important truth of all being, that not only are we not in the middle of a recovery, but that the final phase of the economic meltdown is about to commence…
Distractions, Half-Truths, And Outright Lies
“We will not have any more crashes in our time.â€
– John Maynard Keynes in 1927
“I see nothing in the present situation that is either menacing or warrants pessimism… I have every confidence that there will be a revival of activity in the spring, and that during this coming year the country will make steady progress.â€
– Andrew W. Mellon, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury December 31, 1929
“[1930 will be] a splendid employment year.â€
– U.S. Dept. of Labor, New Year’s Forecast, December 1929
“While the crash only took place six months ago, I am convinced we have now passed through the worst — and with continued unity of effort we shall rapidly recover. There has been no significant bank or industrial failure. That danger, too, is safely behind us.â€
– Herbert Hoover, President of the United States, May 1, 1930
Most of us were not alive to witness the throws of the Great Depression, but for many, the quotes above sound strangely familiar. Pundits and government officials of our fateful era have taken to spewing the same kind of nonsense on a daily basis, and one begins to wonder if they are TRYING to top the ridiculous statements of their forebears in an attempt of ultimate mockery. Today, not only are we told that “green shoots†abound, but that if those green shoots fail, it will only be because we did not “believe†hard enough in their existence!
It is this kind of idiocy that led us to the state of affairs we are in now, and it is the same idiocy that will leave millions of Americans in extended financial ruin in the near future. The absurd idea that prosperity is driven merely by blind optimism must be put to rest if we are ever to rebuild. Transparency, the pure and unadulterated truth, must be present in every aspect of government and finance without question for a culture to succeed. No longer can we operate in a system built upon the premise that the American people must be kept in the dark “for their own goodâ€.
The essence of the recovery argument lay in unsubstantiated rhetoric, skewed statistics, and the over-promotion of news items that in reality are very minor economic indicators. Wall street reform has been heralded as a fix-all, yet the language of the legislation does little to nothing in reigning in the toxic derivatives trading practices that fomented the housing bubble, nor does it take any measures against the root cause of the mortgage crisis; the private Federal Reserve Bank, which artificially lowered interest rates and lending standards during the 1990’s knowing full well that this would amass pockets of poisonous debt securities throughout the economy. International banks have not been truly punished for their practices of market rigging and faulty accounting, nor will they be. The recent and laughable lawsuit settlements of AIG and Goldman Sachs prove that no bankers will be held accountable, only penalized with fines that amount to little more than pocket change to these monstrous global corporations:
http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2010/2010-123.htm
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/16/ap/business/main6685538.shtml
This means that the conditions which triggered the initial collapse have not been mended in any way. Absolutely nothing has changed since 2007. Americans have only been temporarily shielded from the effects and the particulars of continuing financial corruption. For instance, it has been revealed that the SEC itself has known since at least April that Citigroup has been hiding assets and debts on its books by counting Repurchase Agreements as actual sales. For those of you not familiar with such slight-of-hand, this is the same kind of accounting trick that led to the fall of Lehman Brothers:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66F0NV20100716
Citigroup claims, of course, that these Repurchase Agreements are only a small part of their operation and will not affect their ability to function. The problem is that like Lehman Brothers and Citigroup, it is probable that most global banks have used false accounting procedures to hide the true measure of their leveraged capital. It certainly is not in their best interest to reveal the whole truth, so why would they? Due to the continuing dilemma of hidden and unreported bank debts, it is only a matter of time before we witness yet another credit implosion, followed by even more taxpayer funded bailouts, and even greater stress on the stability of the U.S. Dollar.
While empty promises of reform and the hidden accounting practices of banks have kept markets malleable for the moment, it is really the exaggeration of consumer spending and retail gains, along with rigged unemployment reports from the Labor Department, that have kept the false recovery wheel spinning for over a year. Any profit or production increase by almost any company has been held up as a rallying cry for a bull market, even though in most cases these companies increased profits by cutting their labor force, and increased production by forcing their remaining employees to work harder for the same amount of money. They did not expand profits because the U.S. consumer is spending once again with wild abandon as has been suggested every time new quarterly profit reports are released. After a year of this misrepresentation of the facts, finally, the truth is starting to come out.
Retail stocks are beginning to shed value as they take hits from decreasing sales and profits, meaning, the cost cutting strategy has run its course and retailers are still losing money:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-14/sales-at-u-s-retailers-fell-for-a-second-month-in-june.html
Service sector employment has remained stagnant. The excitable talk that started at the beginning of this year of a hiring resurgence has now faded:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65M2WK20100706
The bottom line; the TRUE unemployment rate of around 20% has become perpetual, and some economists are even suggesting that we accept it as a standard. The American public is now coming to realize that healthy job creation is a very distant goal, one that the government alone has no ability to achieve, bailout or no bailout:
On the international scene, news from Europe has gone abruptly quiet. After months of blaring reports on the Greek sovereign debt crisis, and the imploding Euro, suddenly, we are told that the situation is stabilized? But how? What measures were taken and how did they affect a balancing of the EU economy? The fact is, no measures have been taken. No effective adjustments have been made. The MSM has only muted the reports, and for many Americans, out-of-sight truly is out-of-mind.
Greece is still right where it was six months ago, and the debt to GDP ratios of EU member countries continue to rise.
The mere mention that Spain’s Aaa credit rating was coming under review for a possible downgrade jolted stocks at the beginning of July. The review is not set to conclude for three months, but the market reaction shows that some of the larger investment firms are keenly aware of the weakness in Spain, and the chance that it will become the next in a long line of Greek style implosions:
Portugal’s credit rating was downgraded by Fitch in March, and now it has been downgraded by Moody’s as well:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/13/portugals-credit-rating-d_n_644093.html
And, the IMF and the EU have suspended a review of Hungary’s funding program while the country is in the midst of meltdown. This means Hungary will no longer have access to the $25.1 billion loan package made available by the IMF to see them through the crisis. Frankly, I think all countries are much better off not taking money from the demon spawn over at the IMF, but many of the citizens of Hungary may not see it that way. The suspension of the loan package almost ensures a national default:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66G0RT20100717
Most European countries are in the same predicament as Greece to varying degrees, Greece just happened to be the first to fall. The combined weight of sovereign debts in all EU countries is now threatening the very framework of the European Central Bank itself. The ECB is now facing higher interest rates, which means increased funding costs that they cannot afford without inflating the Euro:
What is this leading to? A situation we have been warning about for years; either the default of numerous EU member nations, or the inflationary collapse of the Euro. In each case, the EU will eventually be forced to turn towards the only avenue left available to them; the IMF and full austerity measures. This, of course, was the plan all along….
We have just covered the broader problems in the world economy that have been obscured by the establishment media in order to perpetuate a false sense of security in the masses. However, these are simply ongoing problems that some may dismiss as “par for the courseâ€, troubles that could go on for years without causing immediate damage to America itself. Other recent events, though, now show that the likelihood of a final phase meltdown of the U.S. economy may begin before the end of this year.
The Signs Of Final Phase Collapse
It is difficult to write about economic indicators of collapse for many reasons, but the primary issue is one of relativity. Most Americans alive today have never suffered through an extended depression and few if any have ever witnessed a full fledged meltdown of a country’s finance and infrastructure. Therefore, many people in this country have no point of reference with which to compare and contrast the events of the new millennium. The unfortunate reality is, when a society enjoys an extended period of affluence, they often become conditioned to take prosperity for granted. They become unable or unwilling to interpret warning signs of a collapse until the event is already near its end, and they have lost everything.
The signals listed below I believe are truly the last straw, the final alarm before the global financial system spirals completely out of control. It is impossible to say exactly when this larger secondary breakdown will occur, however, when one studies the economic disasters of the past, these same primers tend to appear preceding very fast moving financial decay.
Secondary Real Estate Bubble: If you think you’ve seen a catastrophe in the real estate market so far, just wait another six months. Now that the government home buyer tax credit has ended, we are starting to see how much the real estate market really was being propped up by taxpayer dollars. Mortgage bond yields have plummeted to their lowest level on record while bond sales have slumped, all in anticipation of another massive round of mortgage defaults:
Sales of new U.S. homes have plunged to the lowest level on record:
And, nearly 1 in 3 homes sales in the first quarter of 2010 were foreclosures at rock bottom prices:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100630/us_nm/us_usa_housing_foreclosures
Home foreclosures are on track to reach 1 Million or more by the end of 2010, and home seizures have risen 38% as banks process a backlog of mortgage defaults. This is despite efforts by banks to reduce foreclosure numbers by modifying loans and attempting short sales of properties:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100715/ap_on_bi_ge/us_foreclosure_rates
This is nothing compared to the nightmare that is brewing in the commercial real estate market. Commercial real estate transactions have collapsed by 90% as many people are aware:
However, most analysts tend to overlook retail land occupancy rates. Commercial property vacancies have hit a ten year high:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0610302020100707
In the past, owners of commercial real estate have enjoyed extra credit and loan extensions from banks because financiers hope that by supporting the commercial market through the downturn they might retrieve profits once the economic uncertainty has ended and businesses start making money again. But what happens when the downturn does not end? Banks are only going to extend loans for so long before they pull the plug, even on commercial borrowers. It would seem that the time has come for the commercial real estate bubble to finally burst.
Why are these recent problems in the real estate market an indicator of a final phase collapse in the near term? The issue is one of prolonged instability. The recession / depression that we face today should have transpired sometime in the early 1990’s, but the engineered low interest rates supplied by the private Federal Reserve during that decade created the property value boom. Any American could buy a home regardless of whether or not they could actually afford it, and anyone with a home could then use it as collateral for enormous credit lines. This new artificial debt bubble prolonged the collapse for around fifteen years. As of the second quarter of 2010, though, this credit source has been exhausted completely. There is officially nothing left to support the general economy (except, of course, fiat inflation). The effects of this lack of national capital should become very visible by the end of this year.
Unemployment Visibility: It did not come as a surprise to this researcher that the jobs market began to crumble once again in June and July, but it did come as a surprise to some. We’ve talked on numerous occasions about how the Labor Department hides the true level of unemployment from the public, and I won’t beat that poor dead horse any further. Suffice to say, real unemployment counting the U6 measurement is around 20%. The length of the average American’s unemployment has reached incredible levels. Many millions have remained jobless for 6 to 12 months. In response, the Federal Government has extended unemployment benefits several times over the past year. While this has been painted as a necessary action to save the livelihood of jobless citizens, it is less about “compassion†from the government and more about obscuring the effects of unemployment until they are ready to let the cradle fall. That time has come.
Congress has not renewed extensions of benefits as of this month, and it looks as though they do not plan to do so again. Barack Obama (or his handlers) have tried to turn this issue into another false left / right paradigm argument, claiming that it is the Republicans that are to blame for the loss of unemployment benefits. This is a distraction from the real matter at hand. The truth is, the ENTIRE government is responsible for the disruption of benefits due to the unchecked and insane deficit spending BOTH parties have enacted over the years. Extending benefits again would add billions if not trillions to the already unsustainable U.S. debt and cannot be continued indefinitely.
Unemployment benefits hide the visible scars of national job loss. Now that millions of Americans have run out, expect to see those scars in all their terrible glory. Expect homeless numbers to skyrocket. Expect crime to skyrocket. Expect suicides to skyrocket. Expect all the problems that were once muted and hidden to now parade across the street where you live. Expect things to deteriorate from the comparably nice, polite, and civil situation we have currently. Expect things to get ugly.
Municipal Debt Implosion: As we have been warning about for the past couple years, municipal bonds are in dire straights. Cities and some states are ready to implode and they are ready to implode now. Look for city defaults to rise to record levels in the next year.
California and Illinois are broke, make no mistake. When Arnold calls for state employee pay to be reduced to minimum wage and Illinois lets $5 Billion in bills go unpaid, there is no turning back:
Municipal Bond Defaults now continue at triple the typical rate:
This not only sets the stage for statewide bankruptcies, it also threatens to bring down large holders of municipal securities, such as Citigroup and U.S. Bancorp:
Usually, muni-bonds are used by investors as a tax haven and hedge to weather credit storms like that which we are seeing now, yet, investors in the past few months have begun dumping their municipals like a bad date. I believe we will begin hearing about state defaults before the end of the year.
The Dollar? Stick A Fork In It, It’s Done: As we recently predicted, the dollar has broken its traditional relationship with the stock market. Usually, when investors pull their money out of stocks, they then place it in dollar based securities as a safe haven. This causes the dollar to increase in value. In the past few weeks, though, the dollar has plummeted at the same time as stocks! This means investors no longer trust the dollar as a safe haven investment during a market crisis. As we have said for years, when this signal happens, the dollar is ripe for meltdown.
Central banks across the world are beginning to abandon the U.S. dollar:
http://wallstreet.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2010/07/09/central-banks-start-to-abandon-the-u-s-dollar/
Despite the uncertainty in Europe, the dollar has still sunk against the Euro faster than it has in the past year:
In 2008, I predicted that China would radically re-engineer its economy, changing it from an export based hub to a self sustaining consumer hub. I predicted that they would depeg the Yuan from the Dollar after this move was done, and following that, they would dump their vast holdings of U.S. treasuries, causing the dollar to lose its world reserve status, destroying its value, and creating hyperinflation in prices here in the U.S. So far, the first two events have already occurred. China has depegged its currency from the dollar and is allowing it to begin appreciating. They have also almost finished converting their economy into a consumer system while continuing exports through the ASEAN trading bloc:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/world/asia/25china.html?_r=1&ref=global-home
The Yuan is now being globalized by the Chinese in an effort to strengthen its base and make it viable as a reserve currency:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66427920100705
Some analysts have suggested that the globalization of the Yuan could take years, however, this is not necessarily so. If the U.S. dollar were to collapse, or the Euro, or both, the Yuan suddenly would look extremely viable as a reserve currency. I believe this is exactly what will happen, and, I believe China will begin depleting its U.S. Treasury holdings in the next 6 months.
Interestingly, some in China have gone out of their way to deny that such plans are in the wings, and the MSM has helped to facilitate this fallacy:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6660VC20100707
Set aside the fact that others in China are calling for the government to dump U.S. Treasuries:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66I05U20100719
Now would be the perfect time considering the dollar’s recent rise due to the problems in the EU. A bond dump at this time would mean China could reap maximum profits before a final monetary breakdown. China is reverting to a consumer hub and is no longer relying on exports to the U.S., so the idea that they have any reason whatsoever to continue holding onto U.S. Treasuries is absurd.
The final key to the coming Chinese treasury dump, I feel, is in the relationship between China and Germany. Germany is really the primary pillar of the EU, without it, the EU could not exist. A barely publicized visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel on July 15th may be the final piece of a long escalating financial relationship between China and the stronger countries of the EU:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-07/14/c_111953600.htm
A Chinese / German financial alliance could create a core economic “shell†which might withstand an anticipated disintegration in the U.S. and some of the more indebted European nations. I do not expect the dollar as we know it to survive past 2011.
The Line Has Been Crossed
I have never seen so many indicators of total meltdown, when compared to past economic collapses throughout history, as I see today. Not to sound melodramatic, but I’m really not certain if I will be writing these financial analysis articles for much longer. I suspect that before the year is out there will be no more need, being that every facet I have laid out over the years will become glaringly obvious to everyone.
As I have stated so many times, we may not be able to stop these events from unfolding, but we can determine their final outcome. Prepare for the worst, because I have no doubt you are liable to see it before the next few years are done. Stand by your principles. Never compromise your conscience. And above all else, survive. No ending culminates without the graces of a new life, one full of possibility. It is up to you, the staunch and independent American individual, to see that that possibility is realized regardless of any obstacle or enemy. A fiscal catastrophe will not stop us, it will not break our spirits, it will not enslave us. It will only strengthen our resolve to remain forever defiant, and forever free.
I’ll bet that the crash will be much slower and better regulated than some “overnight crash with Mad Max in the morning” scenario.
It will probably play out over a few years ending with many of us unemployed and living in a trailer wondering what happened to the good days.
Our minds spook us into thinking of rapid,uncontrollable changes as a survival tactic,but there are many bankers,politicians and wealthy types that don’t want a severe collapse as they tend to end with them being lynched.
I’m hoping that it’s catastrophic and then we can set up guillotines outside all the banking centers in the country.  And on wall street, a faster method of production would be required, so we’ll have to use a bunch of wood chippers!!!!  …:)
I agree with some of the points of the article. However it looks like in the short term we will have deflation. The stock market looks ready to crash very very soon. Also China’s economy is not in good shape itself. When the China bubble blows it will plunge our economy into a depression. 2011 is going to be a very ugly year. Over here in NY there has been many budget cuts and crime is starting to rise over here. On Mondayor was it sunday we had six shootings in a space of 24 hours in Brooklyn. Last week there was four shootings in Queens,Bronx and Brooklyn. Things are starting to get bad. I would not be surprised if we have a major meltdown at the end of the year. But I do not see an end to the dollar in 2011. I think there is 5-10 yrs before we a debt induced collapse. It will be like in stages we will go to a depression,then a great depression,then the greatest depression. It will take a long time. 2011 will be the year of draconian budget cuts by states and cities. And do not forget the alt-a,option arm resets coming along with the commercial real estate reset. i wonder how much money will they throw at the next meltdown. 1.3 trillion? All we know is it will be in stages and it will take time. But a dollar collapse is very far away. Nation will have to prepare first. Mac did you hear a rumor that Germany and Russia are working together to establish a new currency? I heard from comments in zerohedge do not know if its true. Excellent Article anyway.
The Man from UNCLE. Uncle Bruno hits another homer here. While many Americans don’t know what is happening, millions are feeling the pain of it happening to them.
As the article states the painful reality of the MSM lies is starting to be felt by millions. Just think about the new lies. If the economy is really getting better why do we need to extend unemployment benefits to 126 weeks? Why won’t they use the TARP or ARRA money’s? My guess is they have been using the money to prop up the stock markets and buy our own bonds off shore.
In my opinion the markets are only reacting to headlines. I see no other reason for the markets to have increased 4700 points in a 13 months period from March 2009 thru April 2010.
At the local WalMart in 3 of the 4 main display isles, they are empty, clear 30 foot wide isles, no more displays. Last week they also had a lot of out of stocks in every department. When WalMart reduces inventories and hoards cash that scares me.Â
“Meltdown” is well written and researched, The author has hit the nail right on the head . It is my firm belief that when the meltdown really kicks in it will go down a slippery slope gaining speed at a rapid pace and with in weeks the whole financual world as we know it will collapse . Many will try to slow it down but as the author has pointed out nothing is going to stop it. Hold onto your hats folks its going to be one heck of a ride !
Today I am simply amazed, when discussing the current economic crisis with people, how many people view this as a buyers market. Even my son-in-law thinks buying stocks now is an opportunity not to be missed. And I use to consider him very intelligent up to making that comment.
A lot of people were caught off guard in 2007/2008.I believe the author is correct in saying that more people will be caught off guard the next time this market turns down.This debacle is far from over. Gear up folks.
We can’t afford to keep our felon criminals alive. It is time, if you steal you die. If you rape, you die. If you sell drugs, you die.
If you DWI the 4th time, you die.
We don’t have enough jobs or entitlement money to keep the illegals and or their anchor babies in America.
We need immediate drastic action to get rid of these problems NOW.
We need to militarize the entire Mexican boarder with shoot on sight orders.
I’ve been noticing a lot of millionaires dumping their big city condos and McMansions. It is never disclosed where these elite are moving too, my guess rural Montana on the Canadian boarder.
Obama’s parties have now exceeded his salary as President.
Obama is worse than Caligula
Heil Obama
In the past few days China has purchased 500 BILLION DOLLARS worth of Spanish Bonds, with no doubt, its dollar reserves.
The Chinese will probably use these assets (?) to purchase minerals and oil & gas from Latin America, thus eliminating half of their dollar reserves, as predicted by the author of the post.
Another nail in the dollars coffin I think.
Hey Korn: Â We all admire your enthusiasm, but you’re way behind the power curve here. Â Singling out one president is like going into your bank and singling out one banker. Â The fact is that they’re all bankers, all equally guilty, and all should be run through the wood chipper.
These days, intelligent conversation seems to be revolving around what to do in order to have a chance at surviving the collapse of USA. Â No one here (I think) seriously figures on the USA making it out of this mess. Â We’re probably looking at at least four different countries (warring factions) after the SHTF.
Hey Johnny V. I hope I am in the same country(warring faction)Â as you. Your style and sense of humor would would at least provide some humorous diversion.
Â
A lot seen this coming. Unfortunately, the greed of those elected criminals went into an all-out feeding orgy after they invited their buddies to the party. Those that profited from that orgy need to be metered out the harshest punishment allowed by any law. Swiftly, Justly and Severely. Not by using resources such as gas powered chippers, gunpowder & lead or edged devices. Treasonous bastards were Hanged by the neck, I haven’t seen an improvement over that.
 Sadly, the rage that most Americans have right now will be taken out unjustly on some who don’t deserve it. Called “collateral damage” I guess. It’s going to happen. This Depression we’re in is also providing good cover for those who have old grudges to finally settle their feuds that are decades old.
 Yes, we’re all going to be Judges, Jurors, and Executioners at some point when this calamity finally overtakes us. More like a battlefield trial for those guilty of crimes against his fellow man. Don’t shirk that Responsibility or deny one’s Accountability when it’s called upon. That’s part of what got us in this mess in the first place.Â
excellent well written analysis worthy of very serious consideration.                                                                                               Â
my own prejudice is that the first cause for the current fiduciary mess is fiat money caused by bankers and their government whores to increase the money supply to exponentially increase their own paper profits which they preserve beyond the inevitable “crash” by using these enormous profits to buy hard assets.
The current economy is much like a snowball sitting on top of a hill. One push and it starts rolling down the hill picking up more speed and snow as it goes and growing ever larger and larger. Soon it is way to big to stop and the only thing that you can do is get out of its way. The coming collapse of our economy will happen the very same way.
Soon the only thing that will divert the sheep’s
(american public’s) attention from the economy will have to be 1) another war (Iran or North Korea?), 2) another major terrorist attack, or 3) a ‘real’ global pandemic (perhaps released from a US weapons lab?).
American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Wipe-Out, Big Brother, Survivor, and other ‘trash’ programing on TV  just won;t do it for the dumbed-down American Public any longer. Soon it will take something like naked women in high heels fighting to the death with chainsaws on prime-time TV to divert the people’s attention from their crappy economic circumstances and the lies of the elites.
Ya gotta love it peeps! The sad fact of the mater is that the citizens of the United States have allowed the elites to do this to our once great country. We, as a society in general, deserve everything that is headed our way because we did nothing to prevent it. All the elites and the government had to do was to promise to tuck us into bead at night, keep us warm, safe and snuggely …….. and we bought right in to their BS.
God Bless and the very best of luck to you and your families …….. we’re all going to need it ……. SOON!!!
At times during this ordeal I find myself harkening back to the days of communal-living 1960’s  hippiedom.    I can forsee those days returning once again.Â
This isn’t some kind of pot party sex fest Rick Halsen. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â ( I need to make more bullets.)
What’s wrong with having a pot party sex fest? Â Are you one of those prudes? Â 🙂
When everything looks hopeless do this. Plant a garden.
Grow some potatoes, corn and cucumbers. Grow some peppers and squash and string beans. Get yourself some chickens and a rooster and have some fresh eggs for breakfast. Get a few rabbits, pretty soon you have alot of rabbits. Rabbits taste as good as chicken. The point is this. Be self sufficient, you might find you won’t even need any money. Tell the federal government that you don’t need them anymore. Boy, will they be pissed.
Comments…..Joe, Joe, JOE IN JT!!!!
What a silly plan!
No, I agree with you.
It doesn’t take much to make yourself semi-self sufficient.
The problem as I see it is PURE LAZINESS!
Even if you have some backyard left after the garage, pool, patio etc. most people couldn’t be bothered to do what you suggest!
They either don’t have the skills or simply are too busy with “real” things to even consider self sufficiency.
I have considered getting some chooks in the backyard, mainly for the pleasure of the grandkids, but as a bonus, some bum nuts for free.
The Local Government has planing restrictions applicable to chooks, pen with a concrete floor, limited population, no roosters etc.
It really got too hard, BUT, I am now reconsidering.
The eggs we have in the fridge today, a pigeon would be disappointed in!
They are TINY!!
If I could ONLY get my wife away from the F’ing P.C. we might have a reasonable vege. patch too!
I don’t think the PTB will notice the difference but it may keep us in some fresh produce.
This was a very well written article. I also do not think the collapse be fast in the beginning, but it will gain speed. In the end it will be triple-ugly! People will have to be come more self-sufficient or they will die. I can tell you that when I talk to the average person about our economy and was is going happen in the near future they think I am f***ing crazy. They simply do not have a clue, but they can tell me what some idiot posted on Facebook. I am a compassionate person by enlarge, but many people deserve what is coming. Like most of us, I just wish I know where I could put my money to keep it safe. I expect it to be a very wild ride!Â
Here is what happened. They milked the cow dry and the cow kicked over the pail! Shame on us!
http://www.americandreampreservation.com/node/5
You cannot fool Mother Nature for long.
USA makes very little now. No one really needs us.
The real criminals are the liberal politicians both Rep And Dems alike.Â
Trouble ahead.
Although I do agree with the article and what should likely occur given our current circumstances, I do not see it coming to past. Because as the author stated himself, the system should have collapse 15 years ago and has not!
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The Bankers are the masters of manipulation with a government given license to steal will continue to do so right in front of our eyes as they are doing now. In other words, there is still so much “booty” in the world yet for them to legally steal and feed off before these pirates have had their fill. Protect yourselves!
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Comments…..getting down to the heart of the matter. the only way most people will ever know that things have gone bad, is if some part of their daily routine gets messed up. if the go to a local bank, and a sign says ‘closed” on a weekday, they might wake up. if they go to a local grocery store, and half the shelves are empty, they might take notice. if their employer says “we have no customers anymore”, the person’s job is no more, they might take notice. One of the biggest things I see everyday, is that people who have jobs don’t realize how bad things are, cause they have a job. But talk to someone who has reaaaaaally been looking for real, for 6-9months, and they know how bad things are.
  To me, there are a couple scenerios that might play out on the final push to total collapse. Either the move to collapse will be painfully slow, as it seems to be now, or some major economic or terrorist event will happen, and make the fall happen overnight. Panic can make things happen fast.
    I beleive when people actually figure out that our dollar is basically worthless, will flock to precious metals in a way we have never seen. I think we are very close to this happening.
   I hear and read everyday,  about informed preppers warning that things are going to get bad real soon. I think we all share a gut feeling that it’s SHTF time. But I think when things finally start happening for real, that even the informed prepper will be shocked at how fast things go bad. Good luck.
We might be getting a little overexcited here, I just was told by a stock consultant that Q2 2010 corporate profits are HIGHEST IN HISTORY. Ever.
Your kids are at Harvard, your house in the Hamptons, the chef, the mais, why would these people want ANYTHING to change?
He described the people that own everything as about the top 1/100 of 1% in the US, about 30,000 people, basically the people where EVERY kid gets into Harvard, Yale or any other place they want to go.
America is between the devil and the deep blue sea. They are damned if they do they are damned if they don’t. We cannot expect the the role of USA in the world to be the same. We are now in the thicket of Good vs Evil. The average citizen can only powerlessly observe the changing world system. 2030 – How will it be like ?
Through several decades of disastrous decision-making our western politicians have made the future for the West an unthinkable economic and social nightmare. With vast unsustainable debt accumulation and allowing the capitalist system of globalization to run amok unchecked, they have brought western economies to their very knees. So-much-so that the East is now assured of global domination in trade and also tactical warfare in the future. Who would have thought that 66 years after winning WW2 and thereafter the completion of the Marshall Plan that our politicians could have made such a mess of things and where the USA and Europe would be on the brink of an economic meltdown. What has gone so sadly wrong and why? The answers surely lay in the facts that western politicians are remote from reality, are reactive and not proactive, have not a broad enough spectrum of knowledge (predominately are all lawyers), place too much power of influence in the hands of their richest and the most powerful corporations, do not think of tomorrow and only of today, have too many fingers in the corporate pie and are totally complacent towards long-term socio-economic sustainability. Indeed, short-termism that they have fostered in the interests of western corporate greed (including allowing them to invest trillions of dollars in the East) and quick shareholder profits have ultimately been the reason for our road to economic decline. In contrast looking at China with a ‘command’ economy where stability and long-term economic strategy has never wavered for 30 years, it is no wonder that we are in the terrible mess that we find ourselves today and unfortunately it has to be said, the terrible declining state that our future generation will find themselves in the years to come. Politicians should look in the mirror and see who is really at fault with the design and development of this emerging economic abyss that we now all find ourselves in the West. Overall, the people have been well and truly mislead, deceived and taken to the cleaners by a politico-economic system that principally supports the rich to the predominate demise of 95% of the West’s law abiding citizens. Politicians have to take great note now that they may not be law abiding citizens for much longer, as there becomes a limit with what they can accept. Unfortunately a ‘perfect storm’ which is gathering apace by the year and one where our politicians are totally responsible for due to over 65 years of political ineptitude and the diabolical mismanagement of our western nations.
Dr David Hill
Executive Director
World Innovation Foundation