Note the humble man in the back of the room studying his notes (Ron Paul)
It does seem that these days we are bombarded with all kinds of fear, hate and the like from all those in and around our government.
Throughout this time there have been some that have stood up for truth in our empire of lies.
Tom Woods shares his take which I find extremely accurate:
By my estimation, the best U.S. senator — by far — throughout this fiasco has been Rand Paul, and the best member of the House has been Rep. Thomas Massie.
Both have been excellent on lockdowns, masks, vaccines and vaccine passports. Both have pushed back against Fauci. Were it not for Rand, we probably wouldn’t know a thing about gain-of-function research and Wuhan.
Ain’t no way a product of the GOP establishment was going to come out swinging like Rand.
Mitt Romney standing up to Fauci? Don’t make me laugh.
John McCain standing up to Fauci? This is the guy who assured us he was learning about economics because he bought Alan Greenspan’s book — an indication of utter hopelessness if ever there were one.
Most Republican governors were horrendous through this ordeal.
But Rand Paul and Thomas Massie? A+ throughout.
Yup .. just two guys influencing public opinion and government a little at a time. Quite the up-hill battle.
Rand Paul challenges Tony Fauci with the truth ..Thomas Massie listening to Tony Fauci’s lies
Tom goes on to identify the source of their inspiration:
The key: both are products of the Ron Paul revolution.
Now let’s recall: when Ron Paul himself was running for president, both the media and the Republican establishment — and, to their eternal shame, some “conservatives” — ridiculed him. He’s a “crank”! We demand someone who will flatter us and speak in platitudes we recognize!
It was embarrassing.
Here was the man who, on the House floor in 2001, predicted exactly what would happen with the housing boom and bust. He said the Federal Reserve was replacing the dot-com boom with a real estate boom, which would surely unravel.
He knew Fannie and Freddie’s days were numbered.
Not one other person running for president in 2008 or 2012 had had the first clue about any of this.
And of course he was right: when the market tried to send people red lights in 2000 and 2001, the Fed turned them all green. So people persisted in the same bad investments, making the eventual crash all the worse, and perpetuating the myths that “housing prices never fall” and “a house is the best investment you can make.” (The 2001 recession is the only one on record in which housing starts actually increased.)
Dr. Paul was withering on the U.S. warfare state, and this of course turned “conservatives” against him. The idea was: we favor limited government, but exporting feminism to Afghanistan and running a world empire? Sign us up!
Not exactly the conservatism of yesteryear, that.
Now, after COVID, perhaps some conservatives are willing to entertain the idea that the whole regime is dangerous and rotten and run by liars, and that that just might also include the people who run the foreign policy.
Incidentally, has anybody been checking in on where Rick Santorum stands on lockdowns? Or the utterly forgettable Tim Pawlenty, whom Sean Hannity promoted? Or any of the other empty suits?
Ron created something lasting. Unlike the suits, he took on rather than aped the establishment. He raised issues like the Federal Reserve that no focus group told him to mention, simply because he considered it urgent for the American public to know about them.
Ron Paul weathered Washington DC and the swamp for many years, but always brought his humble attitude with his truth-bombs with him everywhere he went .. EVEN if what he said would lose him votes!
“He told a Florida audience that free trade with Cuba was the morally correct position, even though he knew that meant a lot of people would never consider voting for him.
Who else does that?
Who else just honestly tells us his views, and is consistent in those views over a 40-year period?”
Great questions. The list of people is very short in this country and this society. I remember Ron being laughed at when he suggested that merely legalizing heroin would NOT suddenly cause a lot of people to “do heroin”. Truth can’t be tolerated when certain narratives are involved sadly.
I also remember Ron saying that we should treat other nations like Jesus’ Golden Rule suggested for individuals. The GOP gathering did a big LOL .. they could not comprehend treating China and Russia and especially Cuba with respect. These days both GOP and Democrats think economic sanctions (similar to what drew Japan into WWII) are a solution. Only to the elite from their safe offices in DC can they pretend that no one is hurt by a foreign policy like this.
Here is a glimpse into what life was like in 2012 when American’s had a chance to do better ..
I was gifted (thank you Captain1776) into being able to meet Ron Paul in person in 2019 at a conference near Dulles International in northern Virginia, and I can tell you he is the genuine thing, a man who is the same in public as he is in private.
A real gentleman who can speak truth to power, whether it be US Empire foreign policy or Covid-19 response.
We need more truth-tellers .. are you up to the challenge?
Roman Empire – Religion (Pharisee) 1st Century power/control partnership (the state)
I was not always aware of the entity that sees me as the enemy. I did not one day just decide that it was my enemy. Over my six decades I have seen more clearly what was hidden by those with evil intentions. Evil prides itself as being seen as a friend, providing benefits even if they have to rob someone else to achieve that. This entity has no ethics, no principles and is selfish to its core. This enemy is the state.
In my youth I knew of this entity, and saw how it dealt with those that would not bow down to it (i.e. JFK assassination in 1963). I saw how corrupt this entity was that sent tens of thousands of young men to Vietnam based on lies that it told (i.e. the domino theory of Communism and the Gulf of Tonkin incident) and following this the details laid bare by the Church Commission in the mid-1970s that showed to the people just a tip of the iceberg called government corruption.
In spite of this I joined the US Navy when the 1960s policy of Affirmative Action made college aid non-attainable. For over six years I learned the inside of one arm of the state, the military-industrial complex and the federal government itself. I then understood how the US Postal Service, Amtrak and other government entities could never become “customer-centric” and would always soak the taxpayer as it ran services in the most inefficient and ineffective ways. Yet, I thought that this disease had not spread to other areas of government “safety-nets” like Social Security and Medicare, but I was wrong.
By the 2000s, with the War on Terror effort to scare Americans into a new world order and the 9/11 Commission’s inability to come to grips with the real truth behind the scenes, I finally saw things coming together. I saw and understood how other nations like Iraq, Iran, Libya and Syria are treated by the American Empire, like 2nd class citizens of the world that could be made into refugees as their communities, societies and nations were destroyed based on lies.
Domestically, the Federal Reserve helps to make self-sufficiency and saving money impossible with the constant printing of money to offset the government’s spending of trillions of dollars with no thoughts towards honoring their debts to the Military-Industrial Complex’s effort to ensure their pockets get filled in the years of potential peace after the Cold War, the people of the United States are viewed as tax cattle OR more appropriately in 2020/2021 called tax sheep (slaves) that can be scared into total submission and total slavery in this new era of bio-terrorism.
The 2019 Event 201 / Covid-19 Plan-n-Case-demic PLUS the Great Reset has been Coup d’tat 9.0 in this nation’s history. (The US Constitution in 1787 was Coup d’tat 1.0) The peak of freedom and liberty actually being enjoyed by the pioneers that escaped Europe mainly in the mid-1700s for the British American colonies. The relative minor clampdown on these liberties with the Stamp Act, Sugar Act and the like triggered the common man (men and women and children) to see the British Empire as their enemy. The entity of the state had made itself known from the Egyptians to the Greek and Romans and then matured (sarcasm) into the modern state where monarchy (royalty and religion) ruled. Sure there were alternative efforts that reduced the state’s direct control of their populations by the Dutch Republics from 1550s-1750s approximately as well as the Swiss Confederation of cantons. But the majority structure to control the masses was the king.
It was in this context that American colonists attempted to create a novel solution to what they had seen go bad in every monarchy. In each American colony there were micro-efforts that preceded the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. A federated republic were words that mattered, and carried with it an idea that government needed to SERVE the people wisely in the limited areas that they were chained down to.
In order to understand the enemy, even one that is chained down, requires understanding the birth of the state (no, the state is not eternal, it neither was historically always there, nor will it live forever) as well as the health of the state.
In search of understanding my enemy (which my own government has declared blatantly over the past year or so) I have started reading a book ( Chaining Down Leviathan) authored by a European that targets a thorough review of the attempt to chain down the state here in America from 1776-1865.
This is a study of American political thought between the secession from Britain and the War Between the States. This period was a struggle between the Jeffersonian and the Hamiltonian visions of America. The Jeffersonians favored a highly decentralized federation of sovereign states, whereas the Hamiltonians favored a highly centralized state with a veto on state legislation. This sort of polity has been called “the modern state,” which was a creation of European monarchs. When the monarchies were overthrown, it took on the form of mass democracy and national elections, both of which greatly expanded central power beyond anything the monarchs could have imagined.
When Britain tried to incorporate the colonies into a British version of the modern state, they resisted and won their independence. Most of the founders did not want an American version of the same planted in America. But some did. Hamilton and others seceded from Britain not because they opposed the modern state, but because they wanted to create an American version and govern it themselves. They failed. The Jeffersonians, though contested, dominated from 1776 to 1861. Lincoln inherited this Hamiltonian tradition and launched an invasion of the South, not to free slaves, but to prevent secession and securely plant a modern style European state in America where none had existed before.
In the balance of my years I desire to know my enemy so I can prepare myself, my family and my friends for the road ahead. We need many more wise students of history to take of the research necessary to help us all understand not only what the colonists faced with the British Empire in the 1770s but also what Jesus-followers faced with the Roman Empire in the 1st century.
Hope for liberty and freedom is an idea that has never been needed more than now in today’s American Empire. Keep the flame alive for the next generations!
Since early 2020, the world has experienced a series of catastrophic events―a global pandemic caused by what appears to be an engineered coronavirus; international lockdowns and border closings causing widespread business closures, economic collapse, and massive unemployment; and an unprecedented curtailment of civil liberties and freedoms in the name of keeping people safe by locking them up in their homes.
We are now living in a world that is increasingly ruled, not by our democratic systems and institutions, but by public health fiat, carried out by politicians who rule by instilling fear and panic.
In The Truth About COVID-19, Dr. Mercola and Cummins reveal new and emerging evidence that:
The SARS-CoV-2 virus was, indeed, lab-engineered and emerged from a negligently managed bioweapons lab in Wuhan, China
The global pandemic was long anticipated by global elites who have used it to facilitate and hide the largest upward transfer of wealth in human history
PCR testing, case counts, morbidity, and vaccine safety and efficacy data have been widely manipulated and misrepresented
Obesity, diabetes, and heart disease are known to worsen COVID-19 outcomes, but the junk food industry continues to push its agenda at the expense of public health
Safe, simple, and inexpensive treatment and prevention for COVID-19 have been censored and suppressed to create a clear path for vaccine acceptance
Effectiveness of the vaccines has been wildly exaggerated and major safety questions have gone unanswered
The good news in all of this is that we can take control of our health and that, together, we have the power to unite and fight back for our health, democracy, and freedom.
No matter how accurate you think Dr. Mercola and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are in their research, there is bound to be a lot of information that is spot on. Their distrust of the state is not just a way they gain popularity, believe me, being a proclaimed enemy of the state is not the easy way forward, but a required one for those whose hearts are burdened for the generations that follow. In this regard, these two men have indeed “stayed the course”.
Be like these men and rise to the challenge to do the same!
If you have been on the “short-view” train (typical American has a very short attention span that also matches their span for the latest fad or fear the media has for them) for the past four years with impeachment, Covid-19, BLM/Antifa, ’20 Election, Election Fraud and “Capitol Insurrection” themes, you might be thinking, “what happened to America in the last four years“. If this is you, you might want to soak up some US history that you will not hear in the text books you would read in government schools (public, private primary or secondary education).
Real history is very important, but finding that can be challenging. Napoleon Bonaparte (1768-1821) was spot on when he said:
History is a set of lies agreed upon.
Those of you as old as I (three score and a few more) might think of the 1960s and 1970s as a time when the three network news hours had the unbiased truth. Sorry to burst your bubble, Project Mockingbird’s declassification has shed that myth to pieces. Since then several deep state actors have added credence that the “news” has been “narrative” for some time. Imagine how a younger me laughed at those in the Soviet Union that believed in their state news source Pravda, when in fact, the Russians were probably laughing at me!
While in the 20th century we think of the Federal Reserve’s creation in 1913 as the start of the undoing of America, we actually have to look a LOT further back to see a parallel theme to today’s media panic censorship to preserve a narrative. Consider the 1798 Alien and Sedition Act that I outlined in a previous post where I said:
It was in fact the US Government’s (called General government in those days, now labeled the Federal Government) over-reach that set-off a push back politically:
The conflict became obvious when President John Adams pushed through the 1798 Sedition Act, making it a crime to speak ill of the President or Congress. Since it was harshly enforced for some of the mildest criticisms, strict constructionists respond. Among them was future President James Madison who is known as the Father of the Constitution. He denied that the Supreme Court was the ultimate authority on States Rights. This can be seen from the 1798 Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions he helped write with Thomas Jefferson condemning the Sedition Act as unconstitutional.
Jefferson’s presidential victory in 1800 guaranteed that the 1798 Alien and Sedition Act would be eliminated ..
Since 1798-1800 we also had a major censorship produced ONLY by the Executive Branch of the US Government from April to July 1861 (Lincoln refused to call Congress into session until 04JUL1861) when Habeus Corpus (right to a quick trial) was suspended and tens of thousands of people were imprisoned for as little as being accused by a 19th century “Karen” of saying something against the Lincoln Administration. Hundreds of presses were destroyed and associated newspapers closed down by the US government for words said.
By the 1930s after the Banking coup arranged by a 1910 meeting at Jekyll Island was firmly in place, the Progressive Left was swept into power with FDR’s 1930 election. While Republican presidents and majorities in congress have come and gone, they have done little but offer a Democratic-Lite agenda to the people of the US. Whether it was New Deal Lite offered by the Eisenhower Administration in the 1950s or Obamacare Lite under the Obama administration when the GOP had control of both houses, the Republicans are basically liars that never stand on principle. The Democrats may be evil, but the Republicans have proven themselves stupid.
Listen to some of Brion McClannahan’s Saturday podcast (30 min) for some eye-opening insight into past trends and what we may expect in the future:
So here are some quotes starting from back in the 1930s that help underscore how BOTH parties in government see “We the People”:
The world is divided in to three classes of people: a very small group that makes things happen, a somewhat larger group that watches things happen, and the great multitude which never knows what happened.
– Nicholas Murray Butler, President of Columbia University, 1931 Nobel Peace Prize winner
Ninety years ago, the people were already seen as know nothings!
The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.
– Henry Kissinger, National Security Advisor and Secretary of State under Richard Nixon, and Secretary of State under Gerald Ford
We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.
— William Casey, CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)
The CIA owns everyone of any significance in the major media.
– William Colby, former CIA director
Is there any doubt that 40 years AFTER the CIA director said this statement that anyone with an IQ should depend on public media (MSM) for knowing what is happening in the world around them domestically or internationally?
If the personal freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution inhibit the government’s ability to govern the people, we should look to limit those guarantees.
– Bill Clinton
The purpose of government is to rein in the rights of the people.
– Bill Clinton
We can’t be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans.
– Bill Clinton, U.S.A. Today, 11 March 1993
… and so many people LOVED Bill …
See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.
– George W. Bush, 43rd US President
.. and GW Bush, such a nice Christian man. Geez.
Two centuries of lies have yet to convince the masses that their government really does not care for them, Archie Bunker was right:
Now y’all know .. now get on with the next season of your lives (family, friend, neighbors) and prepare for what is coming ..
A couple posts ago I lamented about the GOP’s DNA from the birth of that political party that Lincoln was elected under:
.. in 2020, the Trump administration would never concede to have GOP majority states secede from the US and allow the Democrats to have the empire. The GOP’s DNA is war and empire.
However, could the Trump administration stray from their DNA (I mean with politicians, “principles” are easily discarded)? Could the GOP part with large sections of California, New York and New England? Could the city-states of Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and Cincinnati (along with other Democratic majority cities in various states) be allowed to go on their own and pay their own way?
This is a real question. No one, I mean no one brings this up because supposedly states can’t secede, but I really think it is because BOTH parties are Marxist at their core.
Lincoln was adored by Karl Marx, and the Progressives since 1901 have been in control of this country’s leadership and cemented the deal in 1913 with Constitutional amendment to place the private entity the Federal Reserve in charge of the fiat currency (USD).
While I really doubt any politician these days thinks philosophically, the statesmen of yesterday did. It was important for the likes of Jefferson, Calhoun and even Jefferson Davis to get it right, based on principle.
While the Constitution is not in the forefront of 2020’s political debates between Twitter Trump and Dementia Joe, the statesmen of 1861 saw it all clear as day. I would say that the following is why the southern seven states that seceded were so confident of a peaceful separation, because in their mind their ancestors did the same in 1776.
Article 3 Section 3 of the US Constitution defines treason as follows:
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or to adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort
The words THEM and THEIR refer to who? Well, the truth is the first time the “United States” was written it was the “united States”. That is why it is plural, a collection, a federation, a confederacy of states. So levying “War” against them was about going to war with Massachusetts or Virginia, or any other state!
Technically then, there is NO treason except that against the individual states themselves according to the US Constitution. Opposition to Washington DC is NOT therefore treason! Nor is defending your own state from Washington DC.
Let that soak in before I proceed. Doesn’t this all have a connection to 2020?
Now look at 1861 from this Constitutional perspective and we see that Lincoln made war, not just on the seven states that left the union by FEB1861, but also against the four others that left after Lincoln called up volunteers in APR1861 after Fort Sumter’s surrender. Lincoln is guilty of treason, but don’t expect the US history books to state that fact.
In essence, Lincoln engaged in treason for four years and redefined treason, not by a constitutional amendment, but with cannon and rifles. Treason became to include anyone who was critical of the US general government or himself. As a result he suspended the writ of habeas corpus and had his soldiers arrest and imprison thousands of northern civilians for speaking up against him in public, for publishing newspaper articles in opposition to his policies. Lincoln had congressmen arrested, arrested the grandson of the author of the Star Spangled Banner, Francis Scott Key and also had a congressman from Ohio deported to Canada. Lincoln even arrested those who chose to remain silent when hearing Lincoln’s policies discussed!
The man who stands by and says nothing when the peril of his Government is discussed cannot be misunderstood. If not hindered, he is sure to help the enemy, much more if he talks ambiguously – talks for his country with “buts” and “ifs” and “ands”. – Abraham Lincoln
The bottom line is that Lincoln never publicly admitted that secession of any state took place and placed his trust in Article 4 Section 4 of the US Constitution that allows the federal government to protect the citizens of any state from “domestic Violence”. However, the Constitution couches this in first receiving a request to do so from that state’s legislature or governor. The southern eleven states NEVER asked for assistance with “domestic violence”.
Lincoln is a certified tyrant guilty of treason.
How tempting it must be for President Trump, in command of the American Empire’s military might, to only bring a fraction of that force “for good” against any state that is currently dealing with domestic violence.
If he is wiser that Lincoln, he would have followed the US Constitution and waited until asked.
Will Trump pull a full-on Lincoln? Time will tell.
With history disappearing before our eyes (note the latest purge from You Tube of history lessons related to Nazi Germany and Hitler because – “Hate Speech”), it probably good to remember what your grandparents, or great grandparents said about the Great Depression. Possibly, you have only learned this from a history teacher, or from history books .. or, maybe you are unaware of what happened in 1929 that rippled out from the United States to the rest of the world.
However, history repeating itself has been a saying for a long time, but is it actually true? Sometimes it does, but it seems that there is a little different spin on it in every age. As a wise man said years ago:
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
Context does matter, but this does not mean we can’t learn from history, we just have to be smart about it. We have to be able to discern those “red flags” and take appropriate action to be prepared.
So when I read this post from Doug Casey I thought to myself, ‘this is why so many people don’t get it’ .. it is because there are certain things that don’t add up. What can make the Stock Market go up on bad news when in 1929 it went down on bad news. This is where we need to consider a few things without drawing our conclusion too soon.
Doug’s examples up front help set the tone:
During the American Revolution, the British came prepared to fight a successful war—but against a European army. Their formations, which gave them devastating firepower, and their red coats, which emphasized their numbers, proved the exact opposite of the tactics needed to fight a guerrilla war.
OK, so what worked in the past, did not work on the American continent. Next:
Before World War II, in anticipation of a German attack, the French built the “impenetrable” Maginot Line. History repeated itself and the attack came, but not in the way they expected. Their preparations were useless because the Germans didn’t attempt to penetrate it; they simply went around it, and France was defeated.
OK. Same thing .. only different. Now on to economics:
Investors, unfortunately, seem to make the same mistakes in marshaling their resources as do the generals. If the last 30 years have been prosperous, they base their actions on more prosperity. Talk of a depression isn’t real to them because things are, in fact, so different from the 1930s. To most people, a depression means ’30s-style conditions, and since they don’t see that, they can’t imagine a depression. That’s because they know what the last depression was like, but they don’t know what one is. It’s hard to visualize something you don’t understand.
True. We saw this before the last bubble ..
This brings me to another post, also put out today by my favorite independent financial guy who has a heart for the world, Jesse Colombo. His frustration is that most people conclude that he is sayin’ the sky is falling over and over again:
I have been criticized literally thousands of times as the stock market surges year after year and the economy continues to grow. The criticisms typically take the form of “you’ve been warning about bubbles for years – you’re a broken clock!,” “you’re a permabear!,” and “you’ve been missing out on tons of profits!” I’ve heard every criticism in the book and I’m completely unfazed by them because those criticisms are based on misunderstandings of my approach and because I know that my analyses are correct.
He was correct about the 2008 bubble, and his stats show that we are on a similar path since there has been nothing else the Federal Reserve can do but QE (Quantitative Easing) all over again as it is the last card they hold.
Jesse’s message is two-fold, and that is where many get confused. On the one hand is his message to the average person (get your own financial house in order) and on the other hand his message to investors is different:
I am able to separate anti-economic bubble activism from tactical trading and investing. I am fully aware that shorting a bubble too early (such as when I make my warnings) would completely wipe out any trader who is foolish enough to do so. Furthermore, I have publicly stated for years that I believe in “trading with the trend and not against it,” which is an approach that helps economic skeptics like myself avoid the bad outcomes experienced by typical “permabears” who are short all the time.
Back to Doug Casey for a moment. What can we learn about the 1930’s Depression that needs to be adapted to today’s situation?
First, we need to understand the foundational difference between then and now in the financial world when it comes to businesses and their relationship to the federal government:
1930s
Banks, insurance companies, and big corporations went under on a major scale. Institutions suffered the consequences of past mistakes, and there was no financial safety net to catch them as they fell. Mistakes were liquidated and only the prepared and efficient survived.
Today
The world’s financial institutions are in even worse shape than the last time, but now business ethics have changed and everyone expects the government to “step in.” Laws are already in place that not only allow but require government intervention in many instances. This time, mistakes will be compounded, and the strong, productive, and efficient will be forced to subsidize the weak, unproductive, and inefficient. It’s ironic that businesses were bankrupted in the last depression because the prices of their products fell too low; this time, it’ll be because they went too high.
You catch that? No deflation, but inflation, because of government interference in the “free” market.
But wait, there’s more:
UNEMPLOYMENT
1930s
If a man lost his job, he had to find another one as quickly as possible simply to keep from going hungry. A lot of other men in the same position competed desperately for what work was available, and an employer could hire those same men for much lower wages and expect them to work harder than what was the case before the depression. As a result, the men could get jobs and the employer could stay in business.
Today
The average man first has months of unemployment insurance; after that, he can go on welfare if he can’t find “suitable work.” Instead of taking whatever work is available, especially if it means that a white collar worker has to get his hands dirty, many will go on welfare. This will decrease the production of new wealth and delay the recovery. The worker no longer has to worry about some entrepreneur exploiting (i.e., employing) him at what he considers an unfair wage because the minimum wage laws, among others, precludes that possibility today. As a result, men stay unemployed and employers will go out of business.
Wait, you get that? Lowest unemployment statistics in years, so the economy MUST be buzzing. Hogwash!
WELFARE
1930s
If hard times really put a man down and out, he had little recourse but to rely on his family, friends, or local social and church group. There was quite a bit of opprobrium attached to that, and it was only a last resort. The breadlines set up by various government bodies were largely cosmetic measures to soothe the more terror-prone among the voting populace. People made do because they had to, and that meant radically reducing their standards of living and taking any job available at any wage. There were very, very few people on welfare during the last depression.
Today
It’s hard to say how those who are still working are going to support those who aren’t in this depression. Even in the U.S., 50% of the country is already on some form of welfare. But food stamps, aid to families with dependent children, Social Security, and local programs are already collapsing in prosperous times. And when the tidal wave hits, they’ll be totally overwhelmed. There aren’t going to be any breadlines because people who would be standing in them are going to be shopping in local supermarkets just like people who earned their money. Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of it is that people in general have come to think that these programs can just magically make wealth appear, and they expect them to be there, while a whole class of people have grown up never learning to survive without them. It’s ironic, yet predictable, that the programs that were supposed to help those who “need” them will serve to devastate those very people.
So what happened in 1865 when the slaves were free? They were UNPREPARED for real life. Ditto here with all the social programs that have made so many dependent on the Nanny State. This will not end well.
There are many more examples, but one more before I conclude:
THE FINANCIAL MARKETS
1930s
The last depression is identified with the collapse of the stock market, which lost over 90% of its value from 1929 to 1933. A secure bond was the best possible investment as interest rates dropped radically. Commodities plummeted, reducing millions of farmers to near subsistence levels. Since most real estate was owned outright and taxes were low, a drop in price didn’t make a lot of difference unless you had to sell. Land prices plummeted, but since people bought it to use, not unload to a greater fool, they didn’t usually have to sell.
Today
This time, stocks—and especially commodities—are likely to explode on the upside as people panic into them to get out of depreciating dollars in general and bonds in particular. Real estate will be—next to bonds—the most devastated single area of the economy because no one will lend money long term. And real estate is built on the mortgage market, which will vanish.
Everybody who invests in this depression thinking that it will turn out like the last one will be very unhappy with the results. Being aware of the differences between the last depression and this one makes it a lot easier to position yourself to minimize losses and maximize profits.
So much for the differences. The crucial, obvious, and most important similarity, however, is that most people’s standard of living will fall dramatically.
Ouch! Didn’t see that coming right?
So when Jesse’s stats show this:
You have to see the difference. Look at that Federal Debt level. We have built the largest military on the planet, probably in the hopes that the elite can remain safe under its protection in the years to come.
Sorry for all the Friday “Debbie Downer” news, but this was too important not to share.
