The following editorial has been generously contributed by Porter Stansberry of Stansberry and Associates.
It is normally available only to paid subscribers of Stansberry’s Investment Advisory, but has been made available to the general public. In it Mr. Stansberry highlights the growing deluge of economic and financial statistics which suggest that the end of America as we know it is taking place right before our eyes. Furthermore, politicians on all levels, business leaders and appointed quasi-government officials are only making the problems worse by allowing rampant corruption to continue unabated on Wall Street and within the halls of Congress.
If you had any skepticism about how serious of a situation we face, then the following should open your eyes.
The Corruption of America
by Porter Stansberry
The numbers tell us America is in decline… if not outright collapse.
I say “the numbers tell us” because I’ve become very sensitive to the impact this kind of statement has on people. When I warned about the impending bankruptcy of General Motors in 2006 and 2007, readers actually blamed me for the company’s problems – as if my warnings to the public were the real problem, rather than GM’s $400 billion in debt.
The claim was absurd. But the resentment my work engendered was real.
So please… before you read this issue, which makes several arresting claims about the future of our country… understand I am only writing about the facts as I find them today. I am only drawing conclusions based on the situation as it stands. I am not saying that these conditions can’t improve. Or that they won’t improve.
The truth is, I am optimistic. I believe our country is heading into a crisis. But I also believe that… sooner or later… Americans will make the right choices and put our country back on sound footing.
Please pay careful attention to the data I cite. And please send me corrections to the facts. I will happily publish any correction that can be substantiated. But please don’t send me threats, accusations against my character, or baseless claims about my lack of patriotism. If I didn’t love our country, none of these facts would bother me. I wouldn’t have bothered writing this letter.
I know this is a politically charged and emotional issue. My conclusions will not be easy for most readers to accept. Likewise, many of the things I am writing about this month will challenge my subscribers to re-examine what they believe about their country. The facts about America today tell a painful story about a country in a steep decline, beset by problems of its own making.
One last point, before we begin… I realize that this kind of macro-economic/political analysis is not, primarily, what you pay me for.
You rightly expect me to provide you with investment opportunities – whether bull market, bear market, or total societal collapse. And that’s what I’ve done every month for more than 15 years.
But that’s not what I’ve done this month. You won’t find any investment ideas at all in these pages. This issue is unlike any other I have ever written.
I’m sure it will spark a wave of cancellations – costing me hundreds of thousands of dollars. I fear it will spark a tremendous amount of controversy. Many people will surely accuse me of deliberately writing inflammatory things in order to stir the pot and gain attention. That’s not my intention. The truth is, I’ve gone to great lengths throughout my career to protect my privacy.
I am speaking out now because I believe someone must. And I have the resources to do it. I am sharing these ideas with my subscribers because I know we have arrived at the moment of a long-brewing crisis.
Our political leaders, our business leaders, and our cultural leaders have made a series of catastrophic choices. The result has been a long decline in America’s standard of living.
For decades, we have papered over these problems with massive amounts of borrowing. But now, our debts total close to 400% of GDP, and America is the world’s largest borrower (after being the world’s largest creditor only 40 years ago)… And the holes in our society can no longer be hidden…
We’ve reached the point where we will have to fix what lies at the heart of America’s decline… or be satisfied with a vastly lower standard of living in the future.
How do I know? How do I statistically define the decline of America?
The broadest measure of national wealth is per-capita gross domestic product (GDP). Economists use this figure to judge standards of living around the world. It shows the value of the country’s annual production divided by the number of its citizens. No, the production isn’t actually divided among all the citizens, but this measure provides us with a fair benchmark to compare different economies around the world. Likewise, this measure shows the growth (or the decline) in wealth in societies across time.
So… is America growing richer or poorer based on per-capita GDP? Seems like a simple enough question, doesn’t it? Is our economy growing faster than our population? Are we, as individuals, becoming more affluent? Or is the pie, measured on a per-person basis, growing smaller?
This is the most fundamental measure of the success or the failure of any political system or culture. Are the legal and social rules we live under aiding our economic development or holding us back? What do the numbers say?
Unfortunately, it’s a harder question to answer than it should be. The problem is, we don’t have a sound currency with which to measure GDP through time. Until 1971, the U.S. dollar was defined as a certain amount of gold. And the price of gold was fixed by international agreement. It didn’t actually begin to trade freely until 1975. Therefore, the value of the U.S. dollar (and thus the value of U.S. production, which is measured in dollars) was manipulated higher for many years.
Even today, our government’s nominal GDP figures are greatly influenced by inflation. The influence of inflation is particularly pernicious in GDP studies. You see, inflation, which actually reduces our standard of living, drives up the amount of nominal GDP. So it creates the appearance of a wealthier country… while the nation is actually getting poorer.
The only real way to accurately measure per-capita GDP is to build our own model. The need to build our own tools tells you something important – the government doesn’t want anyone to know the answer to this question. It could easily publish data far more accurate than the indexes it puts out. But government doesn’t want anyone to know. And it wants to be able to say “those aren’t the real data” when studies like ours produce bad news.
So pay attention to how we built our charts. You can see for yourself that our data are far more accurate than the government’s figures. Our data are based on the real purchasing power of the currency, not the nominal numbers, which are completely meaningless in the real world.
The question we are trying to answer is: What would per-capita GDP numbers look like, if we used a real-world currency, like gold, or a basket of commodity prices, instead of the paper-based U.S. dollar? What would the figures be if we measured GDP in sound money instead of the government’s funny money?
Here’s how we figured it out. We took the government numbers for nominal GDP and measured them first against commodity prices, and later (after it began to trade freely) gold. We used a standard commodity index (the CRB) up to 1975 and gold post-1975. The result of this analysis shows you the real trend in U.S. per-capita GDP, as measured on a real-world purchasing power basis.
Our analysis shows you what’s actually happened to our real standard of living. The results, we suspect, will surprise even the most bearish among you.
America is in a steep decline.
Americans Are Getting Poorer – Fast
Let me anticipate the “official” criticism of our study. Many people will claim that our numbers aren’t “real.” They will say that we “mined” the data to produce a chart that showed a steep decline.
That’s simply not so. All we’ve done is convert the government’s nominal GDP stats into a fixed currency value that’s based on real-world purchasing power. The fact is, our data are far more accurate than the government’s because they represent the real-world experience.
That’s why our data are far more closely correlated to other real-world studies of wealth in America.
Consider, for example, annual sales of automobiles. Auto sales peaked in 1985 (11 million) and have been declining at a fairly steady rate since 1999. In 2009, Americans bought just 5.4 million passenger cars. As a result, the median age of a registered vehicle in the U.S. is almost 10 years.
Our data shows that real per-capita wealth peaked in the late 1960s. Guess when we find the absolutely lowest median age of the U.S. fleet? In 1969. At the end of the 1960s, the median age of all the cars on the road in the U.S. was only 5.1 years. Even as recently as 1990, the median age was only 6.5 years.
Rich people buy new cars. Poor people do not.
Most important, our data “proves” something I know many of you have felt or perceived for many years. You’ve seen the decline of your neighborhoods. You’ve gone years without being able to earn more money in your job. Or you’ve seen your purchasing power decrease to the point where you’re now substituting lower-quality products on your grocery list for the brand-name products you used to buy.
You can see how much harder it is on your children to find good jobs, to buy good housing or a new car. As a result, few people under the age of 40 have the same kind of “life story” as their parents.
And because they can’t “make it,” many have decided to “fake it.” The average college student now graduates with $24,000 in debt… and by his late 20s has racked up more than $6,000 in credit card debt. Meanwhile, median earnings for Americans aged 25-34 equals $34,000-$38,000. (Source: Demos.org, “The Economic State of Young America,” November 2011.)
Can you imagine starting your life out as an adult with a personal debt-to-income level at close to 100%? What does this say about the state of our economy? What does this say about the state of our culture?
Who Suffers Most
It’s not only the young that are having trouble in America. It is also the old.
Debt levels among households headed by people older than 62 have been rising for two decades. The average mortgage size for this population is now $71,000 – five times larger than it was in 1987 (adjusted for inflation), according to William Apgar of Harvard’s Joint
Center for Housing Studies.
Older Americans are also more reliant on credit card debt than ever before… credit card debt. From 1992 through 2007 (which is the latest data available) older Americans took on credit card debt at a faster pace than the population as a whole. According to USA Today, lower- and middle-income Americans aged 65 and older now carry an average of more than $10,000 in credit card debt, up 26% since only 2005.
Given average interest rates of 20% for these debts, it’s a fair bet that these obligations will never be repaid. But they will have a terrible impact on the standard of living of these older Americans.
What in the heck is going on? Don’t Americans pay off their mortgages before they retire? Don’t they work hard during their careers, save, and invest, so they can move to Florida and spend their retirement in comfort?
Older Americans living with credit card debt! This doesn’t sound like America, does it? Or maybe it does.
My bet is that most of my subscribers know that something has gone terribly wrong with America. It’s not easy to figure out how all of this happened… but you know from your own experiences that these numbers aren’t wrong. It might not be pleasant to think about… but these figures paint a sad but accurate picture: America is not the country it was 40 years ago. These changes are warping our economy, politics, and culture.
In this month’s issue, I’d like to try to define a few of the core reasons we’re in this situation. I can’t possibly analyze all the factors that have led to this decline. But I want to document the growth of graft in politics. I want to demonstrate – with real facts and examples – how public company leadership has deteriorated. And I want to document some of the things that are occurring in the broader society, all of which I believe are linked to this fundamental decline in our standard of living.
You see, I believe the decline of our country is primarily a decline of our culture.
We have lost our sense of honor, humility, and the dedication to personal responsibility that, for more than 200 years, made our country the greatest hope for mankind. I want to detail some of the factors that gave rise to the current entitlement society. We have become a country of people who believe their well-being is someone else’s responsibility.
I’ve labeled these problems: The Corruption of America.
These problems manifest themselves in different ways across institutions in all parts of our society. But at their root, they are simply facets of the same stone. They are all part of the same essential problem.
The corruption of America isn’t happening in one part of our country… or in one type of institution. It is happening across the landscape of our society, in almost every institution. It’s a kind of moral decay… a kind of greed… a kind of desperate grasp for power… And it’s destroying our nation.
The Ethos of ‘Getting Yours’
Americans know, in their bones, that something terrible is happening. Maybe you can’t articulate it. Maybe you don’t have the statistics to understand exactly what’s going on. But my bet is, you think about it a lot.
For me, a poignant moment of recognition came this month.
Bloomberg news published an article based on confidential sources about how Henry Paulson, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs and the Republican U.S. Treasury secretary during the financial crisis, held a secret meeting with the top 20 hedge-fund managers in New York City in late July 2008. This was about two weeks after he testified to Congress that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were “well-capitalized.”
I knew for a fact that what Paulson told Congress wasn’t true. I wrote my entire June 2008 newsletter detailing exactly why Fannie and Freddie certainly had billions in losses that they had not yet revealed to investors – $500 billion in losses, at least. There was no question in my mind, both companies were insolvent – “zeros,” as I explained.
And yet, in front of Congress, the U.S. Treasury secretary was saying exactly the opposite. Either I was a liar… or he was.
Then… only a few days later… what did Paulson tell those hedge-fund managers?
He told them the same thing I had written in my newsletter. He told them the opposite of what he’d said publicly to Congress. He told these billionaire investors that Fannie and Freddie were a disaster… They would require an enormous, multibillion-dollar bailout… The U.S. government would have to take them over… And their shareholders would be completely wiped out.
Here you had a high-government official, explicitly lying to Congress (and by extension, the general public), while giving the real facts to a group of people who represented the financial interests of the world’s wealthiest folks. The story didn’t come to the public’s attention for two years.
This was the most outrageous example of graft and corruption I have ever seen. Certainly it involves more billions of dollars in misappropriated value than any other similar story I can recall. These managers had the risk-free ability to make tens of billions of dollars, if not hundreds of billions, by using derivatives to capitalize on what they knew was the imminent collapse of the world’s largest mortgage bank. Who picked up the tab? You know perfectly well. It was you and me, the taxpayers.
(One of the investment managers present at this meeting was Steve Rattner, who by that point was already deeply involved in another bit of graft, his efforts to bribe New York state pension-fund managers for large investments into his hedge fund, from which he earned perhaps as much as $100 million. He later settled the charges for a mere $10 million shortly after Andrew Cuomo was elected governor of New York.)
The Bloomberg story… about a crooked Treasury secretary handing a room full of crooked billionaires inside information worth billions of dollars… hardly caused a ripple. As far as I know, no actions are being planned against Henry Paulson or any of the hedge-fund managers involved. No other major media outlet picked up the story. I saw nothing about it from the Department of Justice or the Securities and Exchange Commission.
What does that say about our country when even the most egregious kind of corruption – involving hundreds of billions of dollars – is simply ignored?
It seems like everyone in our country has lost his moral bearing, from the highest government officials and senior corporate leaders all the way down to schoolteachers and local community leaders. The ethos of my fellow Americans seems to have changed from one of personal integrity and responsibility to “getting yours” – the all-out attempt, by any means possible, to get the most amount of benefits with the least amount of work.
You can see this in everything from the lowering of school standards (revising the SAT) to the widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs in professional, college, and high school sports. Cheating has become a way of life in America.
I have an idea about how this happened… about the root cause of this kind of corruption and why it was inevitable, given some of the basic facts regarding how we’ve organized our government and our corporations.
Let me show you the numbers – the hard facts – behind what’s happened to our country…
They let us eat cake..and we have…we are not sheeple…we are “asleeple” oooh was i first
The shuffeling of numbers in washington continues…How are we going to pay for the raping of the SS fund? WE’RE NOT…its all a scam at this point…anyone who believes this BS deserves exactly what they get….PREPARE people to save YOURSELVES and your families…the game is almost OVER…
I’m first!
So . . . .?
It’s the SECOND mouse who gets the cheese.
til the 3rd one shoots him and takes it!
did you hear the one about the cannibal that passed his brother in the woods?
You’re #1!
Ron Paul will soon be first in Iowa, then New Hampshire, and the rest of the country.
As Porter’s above essay proves, the country needs a fundamental transformation to rid itself of corruption.
Ron Paul supported the nomination of Ronald Reagan in 1976, the year of our bicentennial, when no so called “Republican” had the guts or instinct to do so.
Ronald Reagan called Ron Paul’s libertarianism the very heart and core of what the Republican party is all about. He knew Ron Paul understood better than anyone what he said in his inaugural in 1981, “Government is not the solution; government is the problem.”
If this good, decent, intelligent, and fierce proponent and protector of freedom and liberty does not win the nomination and then the presidency, this country is dead in the water.
The rest of the field are a bunch of sore losers, statists, rejects, ideologues, and wannabe Fascist Bolshevik Nazis the way Mussolini, Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler could never imagine! They’re a bunch of scumbags who don’t know their ass from their face, including that nut job fanatic who wants to be the Ellsworth Toohey of our generation. Porter would know who I am talking about . . . . .
I hate politicians. They’re all corrupt bastards and bitches, charlatans and digraces. A bunch of lunatics. Dishonesty and control are their game. War is murder. Taxation is theft.
At this point, if you read the above excellent article, and do not support Ron Paul with your time and money, then you should attempt to become literate for your own good. Not mine. Thanks for nothing.
President Paul, thank you for your sacrifices and contributions for the sake of this country’s ultimate liberty in the profoundest sense. Few can hold a light to your scholarship, knowledge, and dedication!
LIVE FREE OR DIE!
http://WWW.RONPAUL2012.COM
DON’T BE A STUPID IMBECILE.
VOTE FOR RON PAUL.
JOIN THE BAND WAGON BEFORE YOU’RE SQUARE.
🙂
Some anonymous STATISTS come and down thumb you because they know they could not argue a viewpoint that makes any sense, especially if they have the literacy quotient to read the above article. I am not so sure how legitimate that is, or rather, pretty poltroonish if you ask me. You can stick that thumb in your face where it belongs. Looks like we have some kind of left-wing right-wing lunatics still around indulging in the same rank old party politics . . . . Thank goodness politician types like you get a 91% disapproval rating! That’s only a 9% approval rating, so don’t flatter yourself, thinking 91% disapproval is good, because it translates to ABJECT FAILURE.
Newton,
You mentioned “Bolsheviks” and that made me think of an article I read today on American Thinker. It was by the NeoCon Fascist and idiot Adam Yoshida. He mentioned “Libertarian Bolsheviks” in his article about Ron Paul (which is actually a condtradiction in terms)…..I cannot say I have seen a more blatent smear job of Ron Paul on AT or any other website. I don’t watch tv so I don’t know what goes on there. I am sure it is breathtaking.
The reason I brought it is up is because I can’t remember the last time I saw the term Bolsheviks referenced twice in one day!
I also thought I would bring it to the Attention of SHTF readers so they will go and let Adam know about the history of the Federal Reserve…and if there are other Paul supportors and Libertarians here…that they will school this guy.
I can dream can’t I?
Newton, you’re right on. Most people do loath politicians, they use to be called wafflers. We no longer have elected officials we instead get politicians, which most of them are lawyers.
What is sad is the amount of thumbs down you’ve received.
Appreciate your input. Stay in His Grace.
Mac, My God what an article. The truth is a hard pill to swollow. He just took your readers from fractions and decimals to calc.
Essentially saying ‘that people know something is wrong’ can be summed up this way: we are being raped and plundered.
Stay in prep mode.
This whole thing now is nothing more than a high stakes, high powered publicity campaign. This is “Agenda 21.” Lie to the people, no matter what. The end justifies the means. We have a target and they don’t know it. We just have to lead them there. By the time they figure it out, it’s going to be too late and then it doesn’t make any difference anymore. We will have what we want. Them, under our control.
By this time anybody that shows up with a plan will look like a GOD and they will willingly follow.
Just like sheep!
Ya, like the supposed tax cut the MS media keeps touting as a Repub failure. It’s not a “tax cut” it’s robbing the SS Trust and having homeowners who refi of purchase in the future have a 30 year tax blend in with their payments to pay for it. This is absurd! A true tax cut would be from the Fed Tax not the FICA/SS Tax that is supposed to go to one’s retirement. What a joke this country is becoming, playing with words to convince those that have not against those that used to have against those that will never have against those that used to have. What a bunch of B#*$(*#$(#$! We are in deep trouble my friends and have been for a long time.
anonymous… does this remind you of somebody? Maybe You! 😉 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o30wacwdoc
I wonder how the idiots that voted for Obunghole like their change now? “How do you like your cornholing Mr. and Mrs. America? Hot sauce or sandpaper?”
Truth is that it wouldn’t have been much better under McVain – a man who nicely fits the definition of “the best politician money can buy”. Nor will it be any better under Romney, who knows the lay of the land perfectly, having been both a buyer and a seller. He is second only to little o in the amount of money he’s taken from the Vampire Squid, and that’s just what’s known publicly. Privately, who knows what he’s taking?
As this article states, corruption is not restricted to state and federal governments. When I worked for the city fire department, the major and his direct reports often sent on duty maintenance personnel to work on their own homes. One of my friends working for street and ally spent an entire day hanging drywall at someone’s home.
The police officers completely ignored the law. One of them even apologized for pulling me over for a traffic violation because he did not know who I was.
If you are in currently in debt. It is too late, IMHO to attempt to pay off debt and save for the crash. Pay the minimum on debts to keep collateral for now while moving assets into investments that are exempt from creditors and/or bankruptcy. A self-directed IRA, for example, can own everything from real estate to precious metals (held in a trust controlled by a friend). Pack your golden parachute like the rich do.
The Reformation was a revolt against the rampant corruption of the Roman Church and all it encompassed. The American and French Revolutions were against the rampant corruption of the respective monarchies.
Are we due ?
Check out the 1848 revolutions in Europe, they are even more telling and more akin to where we are headed today.
Headed or be-headed?
1. From bondage to spiritual faith;
2. From spiritual faith to great courage;
3. From courage to liberty;
4. From liberty to abundance;
5. From abundance to complacency;
6. From complacency to apathy;
7. From apathy to dependence;
8. From dependence back into bondage
can you guess what stage we are in?
#7
Stage 7
We are up to our eyebrows in #8, and it will be a very very long time until we are free of it, if ever. Usually it takes an event on the order of a civil war to cure this type of systemic moral and cultural bankruptcy. I really hated to say that.
joshua10 I agree. Were past the Rubicon of fixing this mess politically. The two parties function as one. Carrying out the orders from their Corporate and Banking masters.
I only see three outcomes.
#1 Revolution, but sense it seems far more Americans will fight to protect their dependency on government than the numbers willing to fight for liberty and a return to constitutional government. #1 ain’t looking good As it would be more like a civil war, Americans fighting Americans rather than fighting the tyranny.
#2 We do nothing, allow our full bondage into slavery and except defeat. Boy #2 sure sucks, and I for one ain’t going out like that.
#3 We resist as much as possible and continue to prepare for the inevitable fall of the American empire as our leaders plunge us into more wars and spend us into bankruptcy. #3 sucks as well, it will be an ugly fall, and picking up the broken pieces will take a lot of work, so I don’t like this outcome either.
Can’t think of a #4 with a nice easy outcome.
On a side note before the passage of the new NDAA if an alphabet agency showed up at my door to arrest me and also confiscate my guns, I might have allowed them and then dealt with the messy court system to get them back.
Now since I have no do process, the only recourse I would have is to let lead fly and sing my death song.
RSW III, great reply, thank you.
I am in 100% agreement. Most Americans have been successfully conditioned by the police state, IRS, TSA, Homeland Security and any other federal agency we can think of to just follow orders…or else.
I’ve never had a “gift” for following others very well, and it’s the “or else” part that has me particularly amped up and switched on in light of the president (very small ‘p’) assuming the power, not delegated to him in the U.S. Constitution, to indefinitely detain The People and rendition us, excuse me, kidnap us and send anywhere in the world to be tortured for information. All of this at the whim of the White House? Sorry, I don’t think so mr. president.
As for The People, I cannot fathom the series of events which would need to occur to get Americans switched on to challenge what is happening to them. We are being openly robbed by the government and their bankster cohorts and they aren’t even trying to hide it anymore.
I see people going through the radiation scanners at the airports, arms above their heads, legs spread apart, with a smiles on their faces. It makes me want to scream at them to wipe that smile off their faces, they’re being electronically patted down and they’ve committed no crime.
I’ve rambled on quite a bit, sorry, but Americans will begin to resist individually, and that almost always ends very poorly as individuals are easily divided and conquered. One thing is for sure, discussion about whether or not the government is out to get us is no longer academic, it is now an unimpeachable fact.
Keeping this to a separate post – Stansberry tries to use age of cars as a measure of affluence. AS is all too common with him, taking things out of context. Here he fails to take into account the fact that cars in the 1960s did not last anywhere near as well as they do now. Median life of a factory VW engine was about 40,000 miles – that I know from professional experience. A typical Ford or Chevy was an oil-burner by 80,000 miles. Nowadays a US-made V-8 will easily go over 300,000, unless it’s badly abused. I know why, ’cause I was in the thick of it in the 1990s, upgrading the plants to make better engines. And cars don’t rust like they used to, either. No wonder the fleet age as increased so much, Porter ! I agree about corruotion, but let’s not use phoney arguments, OK?
Don’t forget the lube oils today are multiple times better then in 1980 let alone 1960. The best of the petroleum base stocks in 1980 would now qualify as the worst and the synthetic oils are off the chart.
Yep – but psst, don’t tell that to all the people who still get talked into a car lube job every 3000 miles!
There is a really good book by James P Owen called “Cowboy Values”. Talks about this very subject of how we changed over the years. Short coffee table book. I think he used to be in investments before authoring his book.
Oh and if you think this is some kind of political diatribe singling out only DemocRATS – please finish reading it OR read it again. He illustrates wonderfully that there’s plenty of blame to go around, no matter which way one leans politically. Personally, I think it’s brilliant and so is the author. And I especially like the final segment there where he talks about what gives him hope for the future. Hint: it goes bang, bang and Americans own more of them now than ever before. This is a GREAT piece worthy of your time….
I stopped reading where it said by Porter Stansbury
If i would have known back then what i know now ..
I would have studied to become a wallstreet banker.. I would have no $$ issues right now.
They are the new capitalistic fashion statement of the century !!!
Unfortunatley i chose to open a small busness and employee local people and live the american wet dream.. Yes.. We all have been sold the same empty box of promises.. Own a house, open a business.. Its all good.. Heck .. Borrow the $$.. Its cheap interest.. Boom- now they own you!
What Wrong choice i made ..
Any-who i have a morals and values .. I guess i would not ever fit the jobs criteria!!
“Auto industry” : There is a company here in our town that supplies for a major car company, was told to keep their parts machinery for a period of 30 years.
The first thing I thought of was that the car owners are going to keep a hold of their old cars and need parts in the future.
My source was a friend…………..:)
We’re utterly utterly doomed!!!
Thank you for posting this. The writing is on the wall, which is itself crumbling.
I know a gentlemen who is in 60’s and is in very bad health who runs up his credit cards.., his attitude is .., how will they get it from when I am dead. Good point. So I just grin and bear it when he speaks of it and knowing in a indirect way that I will be paying for his debt.
The moral decay in this country is really getting bad.
Give some of the American public an inch,and they will take a mile, then the bankers are living in fat city. 🙂
LOL. none of this infomation cited credible sources. This is such right wing bull crap to scare people into believing that the government doesnt know best. I do believe that Obama is heading us in the right direction and there has been ZERO instances of foul play when it comes to the government. Obama is doing whats right for us. He brought our troops home and is working on the debt problem. I hope Obama gets 4 more years to finish what he started! He lowered taxes for everyone!
Im voting for Obama in 2012 and I proudly state that!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o30wacwdoc
I sure hope you are right for all our sakes !!
> But please Do understand that i will not be riding in the seat next to you on the fema bus once your prized govt and charished osamabama sends our own troops “now back home” to scoop your ass up from your apt or condo.. And detain you and take away your freedom..
In my opinion – this may be the best thing to happen to “sheeple” like yourself.
In god we trust.. All others are just elected
…@finx an to think IT WAS your lil’ SPERMY that beat out Millions of others to impregnate your mum… you must be a fed splc aipac goyim tax debt slave paid TROLL! no socially aware honest man or woman can be so ignorant as you portray.
Yes, the Pres. has done a fine job with our country. Unemployment is really 22% but they don’t want to count the ones that have just stopped looking for work.
Finx,
The supreme leader has managed to triple the deficit during his short time as dictator.
The anointed one has revived the hatred and division that overtook our country during the 60s.
The asshole in office and his puppet masters are getting ready to implement their plan, to take over the world and creat a NEW WORLD ORDER, (for one million dollars) I couldn’t resist.
However, it is for our own good and we should be thankful that the second coming, wants the crack heads, deadbeats, and foreign invaders to take our hard earned money because he wants to spread it around.
IMHO, this looooser is going down because he ain’t all that and it will take a lot more than these greedy little slime balls to destroy this Country. He has no idea what he will unleash when he wakes the sleeping giant. Even the sheople will wake up eventually.
Did you ever see a movie where the evil villian won in the end? I haven’t and this joker will never win in the end.
So FInx, don’t say that this phony is doing a fine job, I have never felt so uneasy and uncertain about tomorrow as I do now. Never in my life have I and many others felt this way. Something is not right and I’ll bet even you can feel it.
Finx,
I see by your post again you are making friends fast and once you facts are way confussed. So I just have 1 thought. (Your small pathetic opinion has been dually noted and Ignored)
DPS
Mac… This is why you posted your previous article. This why we by guns, ammo, food, PM and other survival items.
This article, a long winded babble, has a glaring flaw. The author believes that the Democrat party is the sole conveyer of American socialism. He also believes the Republican party can turn this current trend around. This position is clearly from a party hack or an ostrich with its head in the sand. Take your pick.
As I wrote Porter about a similar topic in aother one of their newsletters, involving the decay of ethics, where they wrote “It comes back to a question we’re posing more and more: Whom can you trust?”
To paraphrase Fyodor Dostoyevski, “If there is no God, **everything** is permissible.” Or, as CS Lewis wrote about ethics (no, not biology) in The Abolition of Man, “We castrate (say everything is relative, that there are no absolutes), then bid the geldings be fruitful (or, as Captain Renault told Rick in Casablanca, ““I’m shocked, SHOCKED! to find that gambling is going on in here!”).
But, let me leave you with John Adams: “Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People in a greater Measure than they have it now, they may change their rulers and the forms of government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty.”
Where did I just read, in the context of the present administration: “We have a right to do anything you can’t prevent us from doing” ? ? ?
This is like the old days of piracy in the Med. Take anything you can overwhelm, flee from anything that can overwhelm you, and negotiate with the rest.
What a world.
Term limits for the House and Senate… they will only do it if they are forced to do it. Only we can force them to do it.
“Freedom is Slavery, Spending is Saving, and Ignorance is Strength” George Orwell – 1984
Pretty much sums up the brainwashing that socialism has been relentlessly pumping into our society for decades. It’s no mystery at all to me why our education system had been deliberately allowed to fall into ruin. The worst enemy a corrupt politician can face is an educated citizen.
You tell an uninitiated and uneducated person something often enough, long enough, and loud enough, they begin to believe it no matter how absurd. Too bad the weaker minded members of our society actually believe the propaganda.
i think that in the last 2-3 weeks the velocity of the shit is speeding up and the fan is on overdrive.
you are not wrong. many people are having the same thoughts. It’s your gut talking to you. We all have a sense something bad is getting ready to happen, and the time to this event is getting shorter and shorter.
I fear soon enough, the luxury of being able to go on web sites like this and compare notes, will be gone forever. We will spend most of our time trying to avoid being hauled off to a FEMA camp. Enjoy this tiny bit of freedom while you can. it’s days are numbered.
While Stansberry has issues I don’t know whether he’s a scam artist or if people in high places are trying to make him a scam artist. I mean hey I have family members who think I’m a purveyor of Tin Foil Hats.
I don’t per say crunch the numbers, I’m not that smart, but I look at the reliability of the source of the data. For this article it’s my opinion that the trend line and angle of decline are accurate..
Even without this article, as small business owner I’m feeling this angle and trying to survive the rate of decline.
So even if Stansberry was writing from a jail cell with Madoff as his roommate the decline is accurate and in my opinion unstoppable.
Patriot One, I agree, it is unstoppable. Anyone can do the math and see that. Also, our elected leaders aren’t doing anything to stop this train from wrecking – they are only kicking the problems down the street for someone else to solve. And, when the shit finally hits the fan, there will be no fixing of the problems.
The only solution will be to restart the country which will not only cause severe financial losses to America’s citizens and a drastic reduction in their standard of living but also a loss of all the freedoms we have so much enjoyed since becoming a nation under God.
Speaking of God, where is He? Let me see, we have taken Him out of our public schools; we have taken Him out of our courtrooms; and we have taken Him out of our government. And, we ask why are school children killing their parents and other students and why are they being “dumbed-down”; why are the courts making rulings that seem to not make any sense; why are the federal, state, and local governments so corrupt? I believe the answer is obvious.
you sure called this one right. And a restart is coming at some point. The journey to, and the trek after this restart is going to be something else. were it not for our preps, we wouldn’t stand a chance.
Thank you, greaseman. I appreciate your positive feedback. And, keep preparing, my friend. Even if nothing seriously bad happens, at the very least, we know we will have very high inflation which means your food stores will be worth more money in the future as will all the other things you’re storing like silver, gold, guns, ammo, batteries, medicine, etc.
Richard, your last paragraph answer; in sin they trust.
Just a thought, enjoyed your thoughts.
DRD5508, you say, “in sin they trust” – I like that – it has a certain ring of fatality. Did you coin that phrase?
Thanks Richard,
I heard a Doctor of something on Becks radio show saying 7 people really ruled the world. If I’m correct the book of Revelations says 8.
Any ways I have a hypothesis that our so called two party system is just an illusion. It goes like this. Back in the the late 1800’s Elite, Statist, Communist infiltrated the American democratic party and by WWI had taken complete control of the party. They replace their Elite, Statist, Communist lable for Progressive or New Deal Democrates.
In the WWII era The Progressive, New Deal Democrates set their sights on infiltrating the Republican Party and by 1972 that was complete. From 1972 to date the two party system has all been an illusion while 535 members of our Constitutionally elected congress use the power of taxation given them in our Constitution to fleece the Citizenry.
Its high time the American Citizen take a Horatio Bunce stance on our elected officials. If you have any questions please follow the link http://www.juntosociety.com/patriotism/inytg.html and read the account of Col. Davy Crockett and the Grorgetown Fire. In my opinion its a historical waypoint that illustrates just how far off our Constitutional course we are.
Its corruption at the summit of society. They are using the Constitution to make law and regulation to use against the Citizenry. Nothing could be farther from the Founding Fathers Intent of the Constitution.
Oops that Georgetown. I don’t want a liberal attacking me on geography.
Patriot One, thanks for the info – sounds like you’re a historian.
Regarding your comment about 7 people ruling the world – understanding the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation is difficult.
Daniel 7:24 says “And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings” [10 kings less 3 kings leaves 7 kings, which you mentioned]
Revelation 13:1 says “The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.” [here it too mentions seven heads (rulers)]
These passages are difficult to understand and people’s interpretations vary. Some believe the 10 represents the entire world divided into 10 regions with 10 rulers (but 3 will be killed, leaving 7). Some believe the 10 represents a delegation of 10 who rule the “revived Roman Empire” (but 3 will be killed, leaving 7). All agree that for a period of 7 years only one rules and that is the beast with the number 666 (the antichrist).
I have no idea which of the two is right or if either is right but I do believe that I understand enough about these two books to be able to recognize the signs of the times and the antichrist.
It doesn’t matter if you agree with Porter or most of what he wrote about how the Democrats and Republicans have screwed us and continue to.
What matters is that his lengthy article is basically correct about a few things:
1. Taking from one person to give to another or one’s self is theft unless that one person cheerfully agrees and isn’t bamboozled into it. (Taxes and social welfare of all kinds).
2. A sizable portion of our fellow citizens are under the misguided notion they DESERVE and are ENTITLED to what others who WORK have gained. (The expectation of special treatment for a special population).
3. Those with lots of money (think 1%) are under the misguided notion they DESERVE and are ENTITLED to inside information that will keep them on top (The expectation of special treatment for a special population).
So, those on the top and the bottom of the distribution of wealth both believe they should recieve “special treatment” because of where they are on the distribution. Meanwhile, us folks in the middle are getting shafted from both sides.
the on switch is stuck. time for the hammer. followed swiftly by implemtation of the golden rule.RULE .308 OR RULE .223 OR .45 OH HELL YOU GET THE IDEA!
Or, as we used to say about computerized machinery that wasn’t behaving, apply the “North American Hard Reset” – i.e. pull the main disconnect and start over from the beginning.
Porter has a long article and many points. I haven’t decide yet whether I am pro or con on his message, but let me quickly point out a couple items which may or may not support his premise:
Bad news? I am quite sure that the average college grad has debt about twice what Porter stated. WE have covered that ground here before.
In 2010 12 million vehicles were sold, up from the 5.4 million he mentioned. Just saying, that supports a growing economy; but with an average cost of $22,000 +/- per vehicle.
Remember that 51% of the population makes less than $26K annually.
Which leads me to point three.
GDP per capita is not a useful stat because that stat lumps in the rich and the poor together.
If the average car costs 22K and the average worker makes 26K before taxes and costs of living, there is going to be a real limitation on the economy because most people will NOT be buying a car or sharing in the good times.
Time for wages to rise if WE do not want to kill the golden goose which originally created OUR prosperity: the consumer and the American means of production from OUR manufacturing base.
That cannot happen with OUR factories and jobs stolen and offshored by the gangster banksters.
KILL the FED.
90 million gun owners hold the fate of America in their hands.
The article is good if you’re only looking at the last 40 years or so. However, the problems run all the way back to 1871 when the US government became a corporation. Then later passed the unconstitutional and traitorous Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Not to mention the creation of the monetary strong arm, the IRS. Let’s not forget the bankruptcy of the illegitimate bastard corporation known as the United States Government, Inc. that occurred in 1933. Along with the outright seditious Gold Seizure act against the people the same year. These only name a few of the scams.
He completely left out the unpatriotic Patriot Act that destroys our liberties in order to protect them, if that pile of horse shit can even make sense in such a paradoxical statement. What about all the wars based on false flags and outright lies? No, none of these massively substantial sources of economic exsanguination are even mentioned.
I can understand not wanting to shock readers to the point of trashing the write up into the garbage can, but hell, these points are as massive, if not more massive than the dependency creation factors. To ignore the fraud pulled off by the Rockefeller’s, Morgan’s, Rothschild’s, Schiff’s, Warburg’s, Vanderbilt’s, Rhodes’, Carnegie’s and the like, is a complete failure to properly identify the true culprits!
Damn it, these people and their illicit plans to dominate the world are not a theory. They have been at it for a very long time. If you’re going to start dropping names, drop the real names. The aforementioned families are the TRUE ENEMIES OF ALL CIVILIZATION!!
To identify only the symptoms of a scam so large, so deeply engrained, so utterly insidious, is to do nothing more than eventually allowing to happen again, if you do not recognize the disease itself. These people and what they have been doing must see the light of day. Everyone must know what they have done. They must be held accountable for their crimes against everything natural, not just humanity, but the entire planet. A crime syndicate so tightly knit as theirs can never be allowed to form ever again.
http://www.americandeception.com
Know your enemy!
Govt tyranny is the stage of the game. The sheeple are being fleeced in preparation for the slaughter to come.
This next year is going to be interesting at the least deadly at the worst as the entitlement crowd starts to realiZe that there is no money for them and they will start looting and robbing to get “theirs”.
As another post here axplains the new PM is lead and lead throwers, I’m afraid for those who haven’t prepared even a little, they will be marched off or killed in the riots and lootings to come.
I think that by mid summer there won’t even be elections scheduled due to martial law or EMP strike against us.
That’s my worst fears, I pray they don’t come about.
Good luck and GOD bless you all. Yes even you atheists.
Anyone who knows how to work and get things done will easily give you the equation of a massive toll in the streets by the time this agenda is diverted ,not counting the sabatoge our own government will do to the infrastructure as a punishment
No nation can “offshore” its private sector and not end up poorer. The inevitable effect of shifting private-sector jobs abroad is fewer taxpayers (especially middle class) and more on government benefits. Also fewer who can afford to buy anything (regardless of where made).
Redneck2
Yep it’s a self defeating cycle. The more people employed making 50 cents / hr manufacturing the less people making $20 / hr to buy the goods. It’s not that the developing world is making goods it’s that they don’t make sufficient pay to consume.
They can print all the money they want but it is not and does not replace wealth.
this is a test for the “happy faces” – please ignore – thanks
: lol :
No spaces.
😆
: )
🙂
People there is only one solution which can be implimented by you, the people of this country to change the federal governmental controls over your lives. You need a powerful origanization which you can influence. It is obvious that we the people cannot influence this current federal government. Its like trying to stop a runaway truck going downhill, with brakes designed for a car. It can’t be done, however, you can get the state government to oppose any law, rule, regulation, or policy that the federal government passes which violates the constitution. Tell them what you think , why you need their help to change the course of this country. Central government is out of control .The state governments are the only origanized force powerful enough to oppose the central government. MAke them your sword of justice and restore the great power of the constitution. and say no to any law which violates the constitution, So, if you want to redirect the destructive force , of the central governement , tell your state representatives, governors and state courts that you want your constutuional rights perserved against all agencies who try to violate your rights. Lets see how the federal government deals with all the states who say NO, NO MORE. This will not happen in my state.
Now, lets say that YOUR STATE REFUSES to listen to your needs and respect the constitution, what answer does that send to you the citizen of this country? Think about it.
Then you will finally have the answer, you will know exactly where you the people stand, hopefully it is not on quicksand, but on solid foundation supported by your state.
Only one real way to find out. ask your state for help. Follow the example of Vermont and Some of the towns and cities in Maine. Read and become educated.. I am almost 70 and I tell all you young people out there, this country is yours, but you have to fight for it. Get your state to support your efforts, don’t be part of the PROBLEM, be the SOLUTION.
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