Financial Tsunami Still Unfolding

I wish I could report that it appears the worst is over for the economy. It is not. That bad news continues to unfold, with the summer of 2009 shaping up to fulfill "summer from hell" prediction of the time monks at HalfPastHuman.

As confirmation, the Global Europe Anticipation Bulletin (GEAB) has recently predicted that this summer would see Phase IV of the global systemic crisis with Breakdown of the Global Monetary System. A few weeks earlier, they forecast that the United States would default on it debt in the same time period. (Merrill Lynch reports America will soon lose its AAA credit rating.) Lest you wonder about the validity of their forecasts, in February 2008 they predicted that September would mark the breakdown of the US economy. Read all three of these summaries to to appreciate the magnitude of the worldwide financial crisis.

Gerald Celente, CEO of Trends Research Institute, is one of America's most famous trends forecasters. He predicted the stock market crash of 1987, the fall of the Soviet Union, gourmet coffees, etc. He "says that by 2012 America will become an undeveloped nation, that there will be a revolution marked by food riots, squatter rebellions, tax revolt and job marches, and that holidays will be more about obtaining food, not gifts." See his video here.

Paul Farrell, who predicted the Dot.com crash and the sub-prime meltdown, has listed 30 reasons why we will have a second Great Depression by 2011. (Ed Roubini lists only 20 reasons if you want a more optimistic assessment.) The US dollar is in a temporary rally that will not last. Soon it will collapse, along with the global credit markets. Three megatrends driving the collapse are: falling tax revenues, rapidly increasing US debt and liabilities, and a corresponding reluctance of foreign countries to buy US debt. Hyperstagflation will result.

Here's what it looks like in Zimbabwe. Present-day Iceland give us a preview. And we know what the German inflation of the 1930's led to. What might it become in America? The effects of depression in the US are likely to shake us to the core. The real economy will collapse.

Dmitry Orlov's Five Stages of Collapse is well worth the read. The progressive collapse is: financial, commercial, political, social and finally cultural. Sweet!

Worldwide economic contraction is occurring. I still predict the total dollar collapse or devaluation by 2013, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Federal Reserve, which started the American phase of a 300 year-old central banking Ponzi scheme. When the general commodity de-leveraging finishes, expect gold to explode. Baby Boomers, pondering retirement options, need to take this into consideration.

Democrats have been holding hearings on various proposals to confiscate personal retirement accounts, including 401-Ks and IRAs to convert them to Guaranteed Retirement Accounts (GRAs) managed by the Social Security Administration. Based on his statements about "redistributing the wealth," Obama would not oppose this. Watch this closely and think about cashing in your retirement accounts early if this appears likely. If the Democrats get their filibuster-proof Senate, I'd bet on it happening.

Speaking of Obama, we see increasing likelihood that those who want a major change in US military intervention around the globe will be disappointed. Several (and here, here, and here) progressives observe that the early list of Obama's transition team and appointments indicate the War Party will continue unhindered. He's committed to expanding the unwinnable quagmire in Afghanistan. Gerald Celente says that "Going to Summers, Rubin, Reich, Tyson, Volker and the rest of them to fix the economy is like fighting the War on Crime by bringing in Al Capone, Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Seagal, and Machine Gun Kelly." The Clinton team played a big role in causing the crisis.

Another trend to take into consideration is the increasing mention of preparations for martial law in America. Congressmen were threatened with martial law if they did not vote for the Banker Bailout Bill (estimated at more than $3.5 Trillion now) in October. Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman reports it here. Republican Senator Jim Inhofe recently revealed that the threats were made directly by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. Drills for domestic martial occur yearly. NorthCom has now repositioned three combat units from Iraq into the US. Even MTV anticipates martial law. I saw several references in movie trailers before we watched the new James Bond movie last night.

Speaking of the Big Banker Bailout bill and it's associates, the total bill now is $3.5 Trillion and growing! Rep. Dennis Kucinich says it was sold as a "bait and switch" opeation, and that we're seeing "racketering on a scale this country has never seen before." Paulson's refusal to show the recipients of the loot is only fueling the movement to reconsider the Bailout.

What practically can we do?
None of this is pleasant to think about. Proverbs 27:12 says: "The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it." Hiding means taking prudent preparations. In our case, prudence requires that we convert as many of our dollar-denominated assets to gold, silver, security measures, food storage (great Christmas idea), seeds, water filters, and whatever else we will need to prepare for hard times. See Robert Waldrop's excellent website on Permaculture for lots of good advice. I'm encouraging my neighborhood association to develop plans for neighborhood security and helping neighbors plant victory gardens to ease dependence on the food transportation system. I also recommend looking into joining the fastest growing movement in Christianity, the house church. You know, like the New Testament model.

FYI, even though I'm planning a later article on global cooling, I found this today cataloguing the failures of Global Warming theories with stories from just the last two weeks! Keep these in mind as Obama pushes for carbon taxes.