I believe it will accelerate at an extremely rapid pace, beginning in 2014, because of a devastating new law about to go in effect very shortly. I know that to most people, the situation seems to be getting better in America. Stocks have recovered all their losses. Real estate has rebounded. Unemployment and bankruptcies have dropped. But here's the thing: The unfortunate reality is that we are actually in a much more dangerous and precarious place today than we were five years ago.
And that is why I've spent a significant amount of time the past few months preparing this article. In short, I want to talk about a specific event that WILL take place in America's very near future... which could actually bring our country and our way of life to a grinding halt. This looming crisis is related to the financial crisis of 2008... but it is infinitely more dangerous. As this problem comes to a head, I expect there will be a near-complete shut-down of the American economy. Life as we have known it for more than 40 years will essentially cease to exist. Our governments on both the Federal and State level will shut down. Banks will not open. Businesses will at least temporarily shutter their doors. I expect we'll see martial law, enforced by the U.S. military. Believe me, I don't make this prediction lightly and I have no interest in trying to scare you.
I'm simply following my research to its logical conclusion. I did the same when I tracked Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's accounting. Also with General Motors, Lehman Brothers and the rest. And when I began giving this warning in 2006 no one took me very seriously... not at first. Back then, nearly everyone just ignored me.
That's why I'm warning you now.. What I am going to say is controversial. It will offend many people... Democrats, Republicans, and Tea Partiers, alike, and I don't give a shit, cause the truth must be known. My guess is that, as you read this blog... you'll say: "There's no way this could really happen... not here." But just remember: No one believed me years ago when I told you world's largest mortgage bankers - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - would soon go bankrupt and no one believed me when I said GM would soon be bankrupt as well... or that the same would happen to General Growth Properties (the biggest owner of mall property -in America).
No one believed me in 2011 when I said the crisis would cause"riots in the streets." Then came the protests in Wisconsin, and the Occupy Wall Street movement all over the country. And that brings us to today... The same financial problems I've been tracking from bank to bank and from company to company for the last four years have now found their way into the U.S. Treasury.
What it means is critically important to you and every American... The next phase in this crisis will threaten our very way of life. The savings of millions will be wiped out. This disaster will change your business and your work. It will dramatically affect your savings accounts, investments, and retirement. It will change everything about your normal way of life: where you vacation... where you send your kids or grandkids to school... how and where you shop... the way you protect your family and home. You can decide for yourself if I'm full of shit, but as for me, I'm more certain of this looming crisis than I've ever been about anything else in my life.
I am literally afraid for my family's future, and I have taken drastic steps to prepare for what I know must inevitably happen next. I know that debts don't just disappear. I know that bailouts have big consequences. And, unlike most of the pundits on TV, I know much about finance and accounting. And this is all coming to a head much, much sooner than most Americans think.
You won't know what to do when banks close... and your credit cards stop working. Or when you're not allowed to buy gold or foreign currencies. Or when food stamps fail... or their Social Security checks come to a halt. In short, our way of life in America is about to change – I promise you. In this letter I'll show you exactly what is happening, and why it is inevitable. Again, you can challenge every single one of my facts and you'll find that I'm right about each allegation I make. Then, I hope you'll take action for yourself. Will you act now to protect yourself and your family from the catastrophe that's brewing right now in Washington D.C.? I hope so.
I believe that we as Americans are about to see a major, major collapse in our national monetary system, and our normal way of life. Basically, for many years now, our government has been borrowing so much money (very often using short-term loans), that very soon, we will no longer be able to afford even the interest on these loans. You may not think things are THAT BAD in the U.S. economy, or that our government spending is not "that bad," and I don't want to overwhelm you with numbers, but consider just one simple fact.. Every single hour, of every single day, the U.S. government spends about $200 million that it doesn't have. Yes, that's every hour of every single day... 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including Sundays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and every other holiday. Our government borrows more money than the combined annual profits of the 100 biggest publicly traded companies in America. That's absolutely incredible, isn't it?
Again, every hour of every single day, we are spending $200 million we don't have. Does that sound sustainable to you? Yet, you'll rarely see this fact reported anywhere else. But lately I've spent most of my time looking into our national balance sheet, because as the banking system collapsed in 2008... all of the bad debts were absorbed by the world's governments. And it continues to this day.
We began the year 2013 with a net public debt that has more than doubled since the year before Barack Obama took office. These overwhelming public financial obligations are completely unprecedented in the history of our country, outside of the two major global wars we fought in the 20th century. But even these incredible figures don't tell the real story. Or even half of it. Various other government agencies and private companies taken over by the government also have obligations of nearly another $5 trillion. We've already booked complete losses on $140 billion worth of these obligations. Yet they remain completely off the federal balance sheet. When you add these other, genuine, federal obligations that exist right now, today, you come up with a total debt figure that's much more than $20 trillion. Far more than half of these debts were assumed under President Obama. I don't know what the full burden of these new and existing debts will be in total, over time. That's because the Federal Reserves power to manipulate interest rates is unlimited—at least for now that's the case.
Expansion of the monetary base |
Interest rates |
Now, of course, our politicians believe that through policy and currency manipulation, they can simply avoid paying any of these costs. They can order the Federal Reserve to prevent interest rates from ever rising to a level that would cost the American people anything. They believe they can manage the economy, so the debts of Fannie and Freddie won't go bad. They believe (without any proof whatsoever) that they can stimulate the economy by even more deficit spending, so that it grows faster, allowing tax revenues to produce a surplus. Repaying these debts, they say, will be easy and painless. But you know better, my friend. You must know better. The wages of sin must be paid. And they will be paid. Just consider the plans of those who argue otherwise... Paul Krugman, one of the most widely read and respected"economists" in the country wrote about this incredibly naïve and ridiculous solution in a January 7th, 2013 New York Times column. He said: There's a legal loophole allowing the Treasury to mint platinum coins in any denomination the secretary chooses. Yes it was intended to allow commemorative collector's items – bu that's not what the letter of the law says. And by minting a trillion coin, then depositing it at the Fed, the Treasury could acquire enough cash to sidestep the debt ceiling – while doing no economic harm at all."
Very few people, even our most influential economists, seem to remember that the utility of money and credit are based upon their soundness. Money allows people to exchange goods and services widely, economic magic of competitive advantage. Money also plays the critical function of facilitating communications between and among many disparate actors. Price changes guide producers and consumers.
But... when the money can't be trusted... the entire system breaks down. The price signals can't be relied upon. And it becomes harder and harder for people to exchange labor and capital. Likewise, credit enables an economy to grow by facilitating the growth of savings and capital investment through real interest rates. But very few people are willing to delay consumption and trust their savings in an economy that refuses to pay savers any return above inflation for their savings. And that's exactly where we are today Although to most Americans everything seems calm... and that we are enjoying an economic recovery, I can promise you this: We are trapped. There is no way out. And nobody in Washington – not Republicans, not Democrats, and not even Tea Partiers – want you to realize how precarious our government's finances really are. They can't afford for you to understand this dilemma... or what it means. Because this is the big secret the government hopes you never understand..
He's Gone Into Default, Stat! |
The dollar forms the basis of the world's financial system. It is what banks around the world hold in reserve against their loans. And, that's the secret most politicians don't understand: As things stand now, the U.S. government can't go broke in any ordinary sense of the word because it can simply print dollars to pay for its bad debts. (It's been doing so since March of 2009.) That might sound pretty good at first. Since we can always just print more money, what is there to worry about...? Well, here's why our biggest advantage is about to disappear. As things stand today, America is the only country in the world that doesn't have to pay for its imports in a foreign currency. What I mean... Let's say you're a German and you want to buy oil from Saudi Arabia. You can't just pay for your oil in German marks (or the new euro currency), because the oil is priced in dollars. So you have to buy dollars first, then buy your oil. And that means the value of the German currency is of great importance to the German government. To maintain the value of its currency, Germans must produce at least as much as they consume from around the world...otherwise the value of its currency will begin to fall, causing prices to rise and its standard of living to decline. But in America...?
We've been able to consume as much as we want without worrying about acquiring the money to pay for it, because our dollars are accepted everywhere around the world. In short, for decades now, we haven't had to produce anything or export anything to get all the dollars we needed to buy all the oil (or any other goods) our country required. All we had to do was borrow and print more money. And boy did we. America was the world's largest creditor. But by the mid-1980's we'd become a debtor to the world. And since the late 1990's we've been the world's LARGEST debtor. Today, our government owes more money to more people than anyone else in the world. With all of these bad debts piling up, we've had to begin repaying our debts by printing trillions of new dollars.
With QE3, the latest round of "quantitative easing," the Fed is now promising to print $85 billion a month. That's over a trillion dollars a year. And now, finally, the impact of this is being felt in a big way. As our creditors figure out what's happening, we are beginning to have very, very big problems. I believe our creditors (which include foreign countries and other investors here and abroad) will either completely stop accepting dollars in repayment... or greatly discount the value of these new dollars. I'm sure you think that sounds crazy, but it's already happening. In fact, Zha Xiaogang, a researcher at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, recently said: The shortcomings of the current international monetary system pose a big threat to China's economy." That's why China is now actively taking steps to phase out the U.S. dollar because of its frustration with the U.S. government's mismanagement of our currency. And how does our government respond? We have the audacity to label China a "currency manipulator!" Can you see the bullshit here? As a result of what our government is doing today, you can bet your ass we will soon see an end of the U.S. dollar standard. In fact, I'm 100% sure of it. It's not a matter of "if," but "when." And I know it'll happen much, much sooner than most people think. In fact, I believe that a series of new laws, set to go into effect on July 1st, 2014, are going to accelerate this trend... in very dramatic fashion.
Even more importantly, these new regulations set to take place on July 1st will make it nearly impossible for most Americans to legally protect their savings... so it's imperative that you get the facts, learn what you can do, and take action before that date. Some mainstream publications like the New York Post are recognizing the inevitability of this event. The Post recently reported that, "The US dollar is getting perilously close to losing its status as the world's reserve currency. Should it cross the line, the 2008 financial crisis could look like a summer storm. It will fade probably fairly quickly, so the United States, which accounts for almost two-thirds of the reserves will probably go down to 50% of the world's reserves."
Keep in mind, the U.S. dollar has been the world's reserve currency for decades now... so most Americans don't have a clue about what the repercussions are of losing this status. And maybe you think it could never happen... but the truth is, this is exactly what happens when countries get too far in debt or when they consume too much or produce too little. In fact, the same thing happened to Great Britain in the 1970's. First Britain… Now America Most people don't know this, but Britain's sterling was the reserve currency for most of the world for nearly 200 years... for most of the 18th and 19th centuries.
It continued to play this role until after World War II, when America was forced to prop up Britain's economy with foreign aid –remember the famous Marshall Plan, when we gave billions to help European countries rebuild? Unfortunately though, Britain pursued a socialist national agenda. The government took over all of the major industries. Like Barack Obama, Britain's leaders wanted to "spread the wealth around." Pretty soon the country was flat broke, so you can't tell me that wealth redistribution is a great idea. The final straw for Britain came in 1967, when things got so bad the Labor Party (the socialists) decided to "devalue" the British currency by 14%, overnight. They believed this would make it easier for people to afford their debts. In reality, what it did was make anyone holding British sterling 14% poorer, overnight, and it made everything in Britain, much, much more expensive in the coming years. And for the country as a whole, it ushered in one of the worst decades in modern British history.
Most Americans don't know about Britain's "Winter of Discontent" in the late 1970's, when the government put a freeze on wages. There were continuous strikes in nearly every sector... grave diggers, trash collectors... even hospital workers. Things got so bad at one point that many hospitals were reduced to accepting emergency patients. And mothers giving birth had to bring their own linens. In 1975, inflation in Britain skyrocketed 26.9%... in a single year The government also imposed what was known as the "Three Day Week" in 1974, sound familiar? We're considering a four day work week and the US postal service has already cut they's down to five days a week. In short, businesses were limited to using electricity for only three specified consecutive days' each week and they were prohibited from working longer hours on those days. Television companies were required to cease broadcasting at 10:30 pm... to save electricity. Just how bad were things, exactly?
Imagine... Britain was a global superpower for 150 years. But when they started intentionally devaluing their currency, things went straight downhill. Britain's sterling when it was the world's reserve currency, is now happening to the U.S. dollar. In fact, the exchange value of the U.S. dollar has fallen nearly 10% since June 2010. And its rate of decline is accelerating. As the U.S. dollar continues to lose its position as the world's currency, gas, oil, and other commodities will continue to skyrocket. Almost EVERYTHING we consume will get dramatically more expensive. All the clothing, furniture, and household goods we import from China. All the food we get from Central and South America... all the electronics, televisions, computers, and cars we get from Asia and Europe. And when you look back over the past few years, the numbers are startling.
This is NOT a coincidence Around the world, as we print, prices soar... citizens protest... governments get overthrown. And it's only going to get worse.. Because there's no possible way for us to actually afford our existing debts. No one wants you to know this. That's why, despite the obvious inflation going on all around the world, the Fed continues to say there's no inflation at all. And that's the scary part, to me.
Just like in a Third World country, the government is radically devaluing the dollar and simply lying to everyone about what is really happening. Whether you realize it or not, there is already a "run" on the dollar. Many of our creditors, like the Chinese, are getting out of the dollar as fast as they can via strategic commodities, like copper, gold, and oil. That's partly why commodity prices are soaring. Unfortunately, skyrocketing commodity prices are just the beginning. There are other disastrous consequences to the U.S. dollar losing status as the world's currency... For example, as demand for U.S. dollars around the globe decreases, interest rates will skyrocket. Instead of getting a mortgage at today's incredibly low rates of around 3%, it might cost you 8%... or even 10%... or 15%. Imagine what that would do to housing prices.
I'll explain why the collapse of the dollar as the world's reserve currency could happen much sooner than most people expect. The REAL State of the U.S. Economy is in serious trouble and we are in complete denial about a major currency crisis here in the United States. But this is natural... In the world of psychology, they call this the "normalcy bias." You see, the normalcy bias actually refers to our natural reactions when facing a crisis. The normalcy bias causes smart people to underestimate the possibility of a disaster and its effects. In short, people believe that since something has never happened before... it never will. We are all guilty of it... it's just human nature. The normalcy bias also makes people unable to deal with a disaster, once it has occurred. Basically... people have a really hard time preparing for and dealing with something they have never experienced before. What's scary is the normalcy bias often results in unnecessary deaths in disaster situations.
Economic Storm |
Most of us in America simply cannot fathom these things changing. But I promise you this, things are changing... and faster than most people realize. For a moment, just look at a tiny fraction of the evidence around us..** 18% OF POPULATION ON FOODSTAMPS. Did you know that there are now more than 52 million Americans on food stamps? That's nearly 18% of the entire population. Those numbers are up 65% since 2008 and that translates to roughly 1 in 8 Americans. Can a country really be in good shape when 18% of the population can't even afford to buy food? Or how about this...** 43% OF AMERICAN FAMILIES ARE ESSENTIALLY BROKE
According to a recent article on MSN Money, about 43% of American families spend more than they earn each year. Americans hold $15.8 TRILLION in household debt. And of those households carrying debt, the average credit card balance is a whopping $15,422 It's no wonder... The U.S. Census Bureau says the median household income in America is actually 8.9% LOWER today than it was in 1999. So how in the world can we possibly "spend" our way out of the current crisis? We certainly can't do it with savings... or increased earnings... the only answer is to print more money, which will hasten the fall of the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency. And that brings me to...
THE MYSTERY OF DISAPPEARING JOBS. There's simply no one better at bending statistics than the U.S. government. Take the unemployment rate, for example. Back in the 1930's, anyone without a job but not retired was considered"unemployed." Today, however, the government calculates unemployment mainly by counting the number of people receiving unemployment benefits. So when unemployment benefits expire, people are no longer counted... and the unemployment rate actually falls! Ridiculous... I know And how about this... Every month, 14 million Americans get a "disability" check from the government. In some states, like West Virginia, nearly 10% of the entire working age population is on disability. In some rural counties, like Hale County, Alabama, 25% of the working age population gets a disability check. Of course, because these folks aren't officially in the job market, they don't count in the government's"official" unemployment numbers In other words, reality is, the true unemployment rate is much, much higher than what the government is reporting. In fact, an article in Forbes in mid-2013 suggested that the true unemployment rate in America is about 17.3%, meaning 1 in 6 of all potential full-time employees are not able to earn a living wage to support themselves. If you don't believe me, look at two job postings I read about recently.. In November of 2012, 3,000 people in Chicago stood in line for as long as four hours to apply for one of the 55 city jobs on offer. And American Airlines recently announced it was hiring 1,500 new flight attendants – jobs that pay an average $23,000 per year. Twenty thousand applicants responded -- so many that American stopped taking resumes after eight days. The point is, our country is not growing jobs, because the government is making it harder and harder for businesses to thrive. And with current regulations in place, our country will never experience the type of growth necessary to dig our government out of the hole they've put themselves in.
I'm sure you think I'm exaggerating, but just look at what the CEO of one of America's most important companies said recently: Intel CEO Paul Otellini said in a speech:"I can tell you definitively that it costs $1 billion more per factory for me to build, equip, and operate a semiconductor manufacturing facility in the United States." He said that 90% of the additional costs are not from higher labor rates... but from higher taxes and regulatory charges, which other nations simply don't impose. Cypress Semiconductor CEO T.J. Rodgers agreed that the problem is not higher U.S. wages, but anti-business laws. He was quoted in an interview with CNET News saying:"The killer factor in California for a manufacturer to create, say, a thousand blue-collar jobs is a hostile government that doesn't want you there and demonstrates it in thousands of ways." Few Americans today realize that the United States has overtaken Japan and now has THE highest corporate tax rate in the developed world. Why would anyone want to start a business here, when they can do it for less money... and keep more of the money they make... by locating elsewhere? It's just another good reason to avoid the U.S. dollar.. So is this... DEBT-RIDDEN U.S. COMPANIES Did you know that in 1979, there were 61 American companies that earned a top-level AAA credit rating from Moody's? Today, there are only four: Automatic Data Processing, ExxonMobil, Johnson& Johnson, and Microsoft. Does this sound like an economic recovery to you... when only four companies in the entire country are stable enough to earn a triple-A credit rating? Me neither. And think about this... can you really have any AAA- rated companies in a country where the government is not AAA-rated? I don't have the answer for that, and so far, these companies have not been downgraded along with the U.S. government. But remember, most of their assets are in U.S. dollars, so it could soon mean big problems for these companies as well, even though they've been as conservative and responsible as possible with their finances. That's the thing you need to remember.
It doesn't matter if you personally have a good credit rating, or very little going to have disastrous effects for EVERY American and for nearly every asset in America. You simply must take some simple steps to protect yourself as much as possible. This currency crisis is going to get much, much worse. It's going to make the mortgage crisis of 2008 look like a walk in the park. Almost every state in the country is on the verge of bankruptcy. The federal government has borrowed an impossible amount of money, which we'll never be able to pay back. Our economy is an absolute mess. Taxes are sky high already... and now Obama in his 2nd term has raised taxes even higher. I'm sure we'll see tax hike proposals in the years to come too. Plus nearly all of the world's major financial players are preparing for an alternative to the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency. To me, it is so obvious that we are about to experience a serious currency crisis, I can't believe people can deny this reality with a straight face. And I think that's part of the problem... Today it's not uncommon to find editorials in some of the most respected publications, like the New York Times, stating that it's impossible for the U.S. to have a debt crisis. But I promise you, the people making such idiotic claims today are going to be humiliated when this all unfolds. They'll be just like the guys pumping internet stocks in 1999... or the guys saying "real estate could never go down" in 2005. In hindsight, it will all appear to be so obvious— Yet today for most people the idea of the U.S. dollar collapsing is still an unfathomable event. And if you still have your own doubts that this could really occur, just take another look at the price of gold and silver compared to the U.S. dollar over the past decade.
And think about this... The only reason people buy precious metals like gold and silver is because they realize there are major problems with saving money in ordinary currencies. And since 2000, gold is up more than 300%... while silver is up around 250%. Yes, gold and silver have fallen back significantly in 2013. But this is natural, normal correction after such astonishing moves over the past dozen years. And I promise you this, both gold and silver are going much, much higher than their highs of recent years, and much, much higher than their current prices today. And think about this: People have lost so much faith in the U.S. dollar, they are pouring money into radical alternatives like Bitcoin. I wouldn't touch Bitcoin with a 10-foot pole, but because people have lost so much faith in the U.S. dollar, it soared more than 8,000% in 2013. Absolutely insane The point is: Anyone with any sense or basic understanding of economics can tell the U.S. dollar is doomed. And as it continues to collapse, it's going to have major repercussions. Here's what's happening... In 2010, the U.S. Congress passed House of Representatives bill H.R. 2847. Hidden within this bill is a provision known as "FATCA," which stands for the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. This bill does several important things, as of July 1st, 2014: 1. It forces all worldwide banks to comply with the IRS if they have any transactions in U.S. dollars 2. Because the U.S. dollar is still the world's reserve currency, it essentially means ALL WORLDWIDE BANKS, except for the smallest community institutions, must comply. 3. To comply, banks can either spend a fortune segmenting, tracking, and potentially "taxing" their U.S. dollar transactions by as much as 30%... or they can simply get rid of all of their U.S. customers. In other words, the U.S. government is saying to all banks around the world: If you deal in U.S. dollars in any way, you have to give us full, unfettered access to all of these transactions... or you have to get rid of all of your U.S. customers. The repercussions here are enormous: For one, it means more and more institutions will move AWAY from the U.S. dollar, accelerating the already rapid worldwide move away from the dollar as reserve currency.
For another, it essentially makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the average American to get some of his money out of U.S. dollars, and into more stable currencies via foreign banks. Already, I've seen two of the largest banks in the world, JP Morgan Chase and HSBC, basically eliminate international wire transfers. Many small banks have reportedly followed suit. And I expect many, many more banks to basically outlaw international wire transfers, the run up to the July 1st law. This is a clear example of Capital Controls. This is what a broke and desperate government does when they know the value of their currency is about to collapse. I've seen governments around the globe pull these stunts over and over again... right before a currency devaluation or collapse. And now it's happenings right here, in the United States of America So, what can you do? There are still a surprising number of simple things you can do to not only protect what you've currently got, but to also potentially make quite a bit of money as this currency crisis unfolds. And that is GET OUT OF THE DOLLAR AND BUY GOLD AND SILVER NOW.
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