"If the monetary system of the world is not reformed, then we are headed towards the end of industrial civilization. I won't say that we're going to the end of humanity. But it's just going to be absolute collapse of our world as we have known it. Because it can not function on fiat money. And none of those who are responsible for this want to admit it.
But that is a fact."
But that is a fact."
—Hugo Salinas Price
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Earlier in the year (around March) I was speaking with a man I've known since high school days. He owns a business with several employees. He's a smart and successful guy. I asked how his business was doing. He told me last year was a good year and he was expecting another good year this year. Then he said something that really surprised me. He said the stock market was doing great and he was making money there.
The instant he said that I realized my friend was getting all his financial information from the mainstream, corporate-media propaganda purveyors. He was gauging the health of the American economy by the American stock market. He seemed to be unaware (or unconcerned) that the stock market was artificially high; that it no longer reflects economic reality.
I must have made some sort of facial response at his comment about the stock market because he then said, "Don't you think things are looking good for this year?" I mumbled something about problems brewing in Europe and the world economy being so interconnected. He replied, " Well, yeah." and that was the end of the economic discussion.
That conversation bothered me for days. It bothered me because if my friend is so hoodwinked by the mainstream news media, and blind to the serious fundamental economic problems that underly our economic system, then most of the country must also be similarly ignorant of these things. That is disturbing.
But, for my part, I may be totally blind to anything hopeful or optimistic about the world economic situation. And that's because, instead of watching and listening to MSNBCBS (or whatever those television stations are now) I regularly (as in, several times a day) check out the articles at Zero Hedge. If you want alternative economic perspective, Zero Hedge is the place to start. And I really do think that web site reflects more of the reality of our world economic situation better than any other source. The recent "Black Monday" stock market crash was no surprise to Zero Hedge readers.
I'm sure many people who read this blog (a very aware group of contrarians) are already tapped into Zero Hedge.
Only God knows exactly how, in His providence, He will tear down the modern idols of The Love of Money, Trust in Money, and The Pursuit of Ease and Affluence. But it would appear that we are coming much closer to a perfect storm of financial chaos on a worldwide level. Actually, we're already seeing a confluence of smaller storms already wreaking their carnage, and they will coalesce at some point.
The fundamental problem in the financial world is debt. Too much of it. It can't all be paid. It won't all be paid. National economies, managed (manipulated) by central bankers, will default in some manner on their loans. The worldwide banking system may seize up, as almost happened in 2008.
If that happens, all bets are off, so to speak. The just-in-time distribution of goods and services would then be severely impaired. Commerce as we now know it will be stifled.
No country, no bank, no persons will take responsibility for the financial crisis to come. All parties will be pointing fingers at other parties and making accusations. American politicians and financial heads will probably accuse the Chinese and the Russians (the usual suspects). But if any country is to blame, it is America, and the rest of the world knows it.
Our American dollar, the world reserve currency that was once "good as gold," is no longer so, and this nation has run up more unplayable debt than anyone.
Watch out for the Powers That Be in Washington (an entity with interests separate from the people of the United States of America) as they will likely identify more nations in the world to clandestinely destabilize, or go to war with. War is a diversion. War is big business. War is necessary to perpetrate the Empire of Washington DC.
The alternative economic scuttlebutt is that the American dollar will eventually cease to be the world reserve currency. This eventuality is already in the works. There will be some sort of new monetary scheme. Or, if things really fall apart, there may not be a global monetary scheme for some time.
My advice, for what it's worth, has not changed over the years. I routinely direct readers of this blog to my January 2008 post titled, An Agrarian Economic Self-Defense Plan. More recently, I posted A Different Perspective On Wise Investing, which meshes perfectly with the agrarian self-defense plan.
The way it looks to me, making money by investing (especially in conventional ways) is a moot subject. The challenge anyone with money faces these days (if they are cognizant of current economic reality) is not making more money, but preserving the wealth they already have.
It saddens me to see some alternative financial opportunists advertising that there are ways to profit from the coming collapse. That's Pride and The Love of Money for you.
I don't reckon anyone below the 1% is going to profit from this coming crisis. And I suspect that many of those 1% will also be victims. Living an ostentatious (or even just prosperous) lifestyle could be a liability in the days ahead.
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As an aside, if you have not already seen Kathy Lee Gifford's Eulogy To Frank, please take a few moments to watch it. You will be blessed.
The one part of the eulogy that sticks in my mind is Frank Gifford's early life during the Great Depression. His family moved more than 50 times as his father tried to find work. They ate dog food to survive, and they were thankful for it.
People like Frank Gifford, who experienced the reality of our nation's last financial depression, are now pretty much all gone. Few Moderns have a clue about how difficult life will be in the next depression that lies before us.
http://www.barnhardt.biz/2015/08/30/when-markets-disintegrate-cash-futures-delinkage/
ReplyDeleteI definitely *don't* read Ann Barnhardt for her religious views, but she's spot on about many other things.
Mrs. G.—
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link. I'll be sure to read it. I've listened to Ann Barnhardt and been to her blog in the past.
When I first heard one of her interviews, I thought to myself that she is a "firecracker." Wondering if I was using the word correctly, I looked it up. One online definition defines "firecracker" as "an outspoken person who doesn't sugar coat what they say." yes, that's Anne B.
And I do think she knows what she's talking about when it comes to the reality of the economic situation we are in.
I also check out Zero Hedge a couple times a day. As far as I'm concerned, it's one of the best sources of news. Kitco is another place I go to to check what's going on with the price of metals and the markets.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy your site. I'm guessing that if we lived closer we would be great friends.
God Bless
Thanks, Herrick, for keeping us abreast of the true state of our economy, and in the world, too. I think you're listening to the Lord's wisdom, and the sources He gives you are true. The month of September will experience a bull market on Wall street, with its true fruition in mid-Feb. I believe that our industrial culture is, indeed, going down the drain. This, altogether, is being called a megashift, in America's very near future.
ReplyDeleteDear Mr. Kimball,
ReplyDeleteIt is a foregone conclusion, in my mind, that "the centre cannot hold". You have commented, in the past, that you wish it would be done already and I responded that this would be a bad thing. So many would be hurt, killed or die. But a body gets tired of waiting...anticipating interminably. Today, I felt the fatigue of anticipation, powerfully.
I took a picture of an advert in a periodical, by Bic pens saying, "Fight for your write" because the art of handwriting is being lost. For me, this was a major tipping point. What is wrong with the world today?
It already is a world unlike one I knew...TEOTWAWKI has happened for me. I wish I could step out, step back, right now and be done. Retire from the world. To each his own, survival of the fittest etc..
But I would dearly miss you and Mr. Littlefield and Frank & Fern. It is very challenging to find folks IRL that share similar mentality and interests.
Thanks for sharing,
Pam
There will be interesting times ahead. I would not want to be facing them without a saving faith in Jesus. Kathy Lee Gifford's Eulogy to Frank was indeed a blessing. Thanks for passing it along.
ReplyDeleteRonC
I read ZeroHedge too. But I do caution that a constant diet of ZH can be bad for one's perspective. Though any diet of MSLSD will cause cranial infarction.
ReplyDeletePersonally I think we will end up somewhere between a full blown depression and business as usual Those that have a AAA or AA+ rating will be able to acquire funding. Anyone else will be denied. Credit Cards will disappear as banks contract credit lines. Holders of gold or silver will be sitting pretty.
But life will go on.
The danger of collapse is in people's reactions to it. The religious faith that people put into fiat currency will be the defining factor in how they perceive its effect on them when it collapses.
ReplyDeleteMy garden, root cellar, grain storage, etc. is my version of financial insurance. I make premium payments in food, tools, and soil improvement. On the off-chance that something terrible happens, my insurance claim will not be denied on a technicality.
Thank you for writing about these subjects, it can be hard to discuss without an overwhelmingly pessimistic slant.