-- Published: Monday, 25 August 2014 | Print | Disqus
By Bill Holter
While out for my morning ride I was thinking of topics to write about and the thought popped into my head "what could possibly go wrong?". Actually, I then thought to myself "with everything as they are, what could possibly go right?". I normally out of habit because the way I am wired put "odds" on almost everything. The odds in my opinion for the current system to go forward for any length of time and "right itself" are zero. Not "almost zero", ZERO! I will get into the "zero" part in bit, I first want to point out where we are since it's hard to keep track with the age of information overload we live in.
Financially we are broke. When I say "we", I am talking about the U.S. though it might as well be the entire world because the dollar floats and permeates everywhere. We have run deficits every single year that I have been alive since 1960 (please don't tell me about Clinton's smoke and mirror one year surplus because our debt increased that year also). The "promises" made can never ever be kept, Social Security, pensions, disability, welfare, they are all broken programs. While on this subject, I will ask a couple of questions. How is it we always hear about Social Security going broke? This is a program that "we" actually paid into, our employers also paid and currently pay into it. Why is it we never hear that "welfare" is going to go broke? Shouldn't this go broke first? Why should people who paid into a plan not get their money back while people who never paid into "the plan" not have to worry about their program "going broke"? It doesn't make sense to me but little does these days.
But not to worry, the stock market is at all time highs and who needs stable finance when "we got the Dow Jones" right? I want to point out a little something under the surface of this "all time high". Volume has collapsed almost entirely. Stock market volume is now down 60%+ from where it was in 2006. Think about this, volume is down 60% but the market is higher? Can this be? This is so, even with the HFT's trading stocks in nano seconds for nano penny profits. But ask yourself this, if volume is down and the price is at an all time high, what is the "substance" or the meat, or in reality the "foundation" to the stock market? Like I said, what could possibly go wrong?
Then of course we have politics and religion, you know, the two subjects you're not supposed to talk about because you might offend someone? We have completely lost it in these categories, no more "God" in school or public places because we might offend someone. The "someone" however is probably here illegally but still, let's not offend them. And politics? They are all full of crap. Chances are 99.something%, if a politician is speaking, he/she is knowingly telling a lie. Politicians have always lied for a living, I get it, but it seems to me the lies in earlier years were "better" or at least plausible. The lies today are ridiculous, nearly every single economic report is manufactured backwards from the number they want to show that "all is well". The problem is these numbers are now conflicting with each other where if one is true, the other cannot be and so on. But no matter, CNBC reports it and everyone knows, "if it's on TV or the internet it must be true!".
Regarding politics and religion, have you recently read the comments section of a controversial article? The hate is boiling over at 212 degrees where conservatives and liberals attack each other. The way I see it, the "left vs. right" argument is really dumb because they are both wrong. We are always offered "two choices" to make us feel like we actually have a choice ...but who's in charge of picking what the choices are? This is a topic for another day.
Of course we also have foreign relations and it seems the U.S. has not "played well with others" for so long, the world is finally leaving us to play by ourselves in our own sandbox. Our foreign policy is so messed up, all you need to do is look at what is being discussed with the Islamic State situation. ISIS, which was originally funded by the CIA and now using U.S. armaments taken from the Iraqis, is in the midst of forming their own state. President Obama has ordered airstrikes without consent of Congress (which is now "par for the course" with U.S. presidents) against ISIS. But there is a funny thing here, we are now siding with Syria to stop ISIS. Weren't we ready to bomb them back into the stone age last November just 9 months ago? If this isn't enough, China and Russia seem to be calling our foreign policy bluffs on a daily basis from an intellectual standpoint. They expose our lack of any logic in forming foreign policy which in turn the rest of the world see. In short, we look like lying bullies who can't or don't bother to use reason or logic.
Oh, and let's not forget a little domestic unrest in St. Louis or the Secretary of Defense and a sitting U.S. Senator telling us a "U.S. city will be bombed" by terrorists. Big subjects here and too little space to do justice to them but I do have a few comments. How about patrolling our borders and enforcing laws which are already on the books? Don't let foreigners in except through proper channels and deport illegals. How hard is this? Just do what should be done, but no, we might "offend" someone again.
As for the civil unrest, why does it always have to be a racial thing? I'll tell you why, because the "racial flames" have been fanned with more fury since President Obama came into office than ever before. A white cop shoots a black thief who punched the cop in the eye in front of more than a dozen witnesses, cop shoots assailant and this is the reason for looting? Looting? This is the form of protest? I saw one interview where a looter actually said "we deserve this". Really? Just yesterday I went to the store to buy a steak, some mushrooms and corn amongst a few other items and the woman in front of me had just one item. I didn't pay attention to why she was hanging around at the end of the aisle but I found out later. I got to my car and realized the corn and mushrooms weren't there so I went back in. The checker looked at me and said "corn and mushrooms right?". Yes, it turns out the lady in front of me grabbed the bag and told the kid "I bought the same stuff" and walked out. The moral to this story?... the mindset is becoming (has already become) like the guy from St. Louis said, "I deserve this".
My point to writing this piece is not to blow off a little steam but to point out the fact that we are breaking down in every way imaginable. The answer to "what could possibly go wrong?" is simple, EVERYTHING! Every facet of life is going to change, and change soon! What you have been watching for the last 5+ years (really 20++) and hoping was an anomaly or a passing phase is now becoming ingrained as the new normal. The U.S. is broke and losing status globally. Internally we are becoming a police state where the residents (legal and illegal) are at odds with each other and divided by race, religion, politics, ideology and wealth status. Many have nothing and have never saved anything, some have saved and believe they in fact do have something. What will happen when banks, brokers and insurance companies close? These people who believe they "have something" will be more angry than the ones who already know they have nothing, and for good reason. They worked and saved yet are having their savings "stolen" though debasement...bail ins will be the coup de grace. I do want to point out the maybe not too obvious about this, the ones who saved are also the ones who are more likely to be armed with more than just one clip of ammo and the anger level will be off the charts.
In light of what I have written above and I challenge you to disagree with much of what I wrote, how will it be possible for the U.S. dollar to retain any purchasing power? How will a bankrupt entity which continually issues more debt and currency just to keep the game going ... support its own currency? This is an effort in making something out of nothing but faith. A "faith based" currency as dollars (and all others) are, must rely on "trust". Trust in the rule of law, its leaders, the military, the financial system itself, the country's morals. it's populace and industry. The way I see it, there is a 100% probability we will see a complete breakdown where as screwed up as things are currently will be looked upon as "the good ole' days"!
Regards, Bill Holter
http://blog.milesfranklin.com/
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-- Published: Monday, 25 August 2014 | E-Mail | Print | Source: GoldSeek.com
