The Final Collapse of the Economy

[mercytruth]

Abu,

The subject of this forum is social justice. Social justice is only attainable through the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ. Any other ism will fall short, including capitalism with, or without ‘interventionism’. Capitalism with, or without interventionism is destroying this planet. If you want a practical solution in bringing about social justice without destroying this planet, then we need to start with prayer and end with prayer, and then look to the Benedictine model.

In God’s peace.

 

[exnihilo]

One of the biggest confusions in the current mess in the housing market is the claim that it is the result of greed. The problem with that explanation is that greed is always a feature of human interaction. It always has been. Why, all of a sudden, has greed produced so much harm? And why only in one sector of the economy? After all, isn’t there plenty of greed elsewhere?

You know the average person who talks about our problems being ‘greed’ is wrong by the fact that in their explanation greed is only on one side. Sure, there were greedy bankers. But there were also greedy home ‘owners’ who thought buying a house was like a lottery ticket, which is how many understand success - as the result of luck and not work. Anytime someone tells me about the greed of the rich and nothing about the greed of the poor I know that person’s solutions aren’t well founded. We always have a problem with greed, because we are imperfect creatures, and that is true for all classes of society. In fact one great cause of poverty is greed. This basic fact does not register with far too many people. Usually those who talk only about the businessman’s greed want to use the greed of the poor to get their guys elected to office. Exploitation is as much a sin as greed and one found abundantly in America.

 

[ACCT]

Whenever people discuss the American economy they neglect to realize a basic historical fact.
The single thing that enabled the USA to become rich and powerful was abundant cheap food. Dating from Colonial times, the most ignorant uneducated peasant could come to America, find employment and not only feed himself and his family, but have enough money left over for a luxury or two. Historically, this was the basis of our economy, that is until Congress upset the apple cart in the Clinton administration. That is when the Congress provided economic incentives to industry to divert grain from the food chain into making alcohol for “gasahol”…like the Brazilians have. Within one year after Congress did that, the price of bread doubled.
Well, the Brazilians did not divert anything from their food chain. They simply cleared jungle lands and planted more sugar cane to make their alcohol. Of course, we couldn’t do that because our environmentalists would prohibit that.
And this is going to destroy our economy because the disposable income that once bought TV’s, Refridgerators, Washing machines, etc. is now going into the gas tank and the dinner table.
As for the minimum wage, all that does is lessen the buying power of the dollar because every time it is raised, prices go up and the poor lose any advantage of their pay raise. The minimum wage legislation is the biggest scam ever to be foisted on our people.
If any single thing will destroy America, it is their peoples total ignorance of the science of economics. We tend to believe whatever is touted in the press by whatever pressure group is in favor with the mass media. Just look at the growth of the Federal Government since 2008. We are now being regulated to death by people (bureaucrats) that were never elected!

A socialist government is only able to misallocate resources. Additionally, governments are both inefficient and ineffective.

 

[ACCT]

Economics is more than a science; it is also an art. I am still trying to put the pieces of this puzzle together. I will start with a statement made by our ambassador to the UN under the Clinton Administration. She said that food is a weapon, and we intend to use it! Wow! Who benefits from this policy? What incentive does the UN have in implementing this policy?

FDR said that nothing in politics is a coincidence. All the talk of NAFTA and free trade may just be rationalizations. In business we use to say that the deeper the bull **** the fatter the commission!

The IMF is destroying the dairy farmers in Jamaica. The US government is subsidizing the production of dried milk and shipping it to Jamaica at below the cost of production. Why? Does this action fit into the goal of using food as a weapon? This is not free trade. Who has the self-interest of world power?

Is famine possible in the United States?

World food reserves are at a very low level (less than a month of supply), compared to forty years ago. Additionally, the world came very close to running out of corn a few years ago! Low food prices tell us that food is abundant. What gives?

This evil culture will be destroyed. I think the financial crisis will center around food. Can you grow your own food, or can you help someone who grows their own food?

 

[gamewell45]

Abu,

freemasonry had as much to do with where we are today in America than anything else. freemasonry founded Mormonism in this country whose intention is to bring the new Jerusalem to America. freemasonry overthrew the monarchy of France. freemasonry infiltrated the Zionism of Israel.

the love of money has brought us to the precipice of self-indulgent rot.

where does it say in scripture that we are endowed with the inalienable right to pursue happiness? the american dream is the antithesis of denying one self, taking up one’s cross and following Jesus Christ.

whose seal is on the back of the dollar? it is not the seal of the Catholic faith.

what kept Europe alive during the dark ages was the Benedictine tradition of communal sharing, prayer and discipline.

We have strongholds in our minds that must be brought down by the truth of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we have tried every type of ism, and have found that they do not work, then we will embrace the kingdom of God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Do you have any legitimate sources of your allegations?

 

[Abu]

mercytruth #40
The subject of this forum is social justice

The subject of this thread is an assumed “financial collapse of the economy” – a contrived fantasy.

Capitalism with, or without interventionism is destroying this planet.

Such myopia demeans Bl John Paul II who praises the free enterprise laws of cause and effect developed by the great Catholic Late Scholastics, as well as Pope Benedict XVI who shows that it is not the “market” but PEOPLE who are at fault. (Post #29).

A continued failure to accept the wisdom of the Church can only spread confusion and help no one.

**The wise understanding of “social justice” is considered by Do We Need Social Justice Or Social Engineering?
This question is answered by Fr Torraco of EWTN on Nov-24-2003 to a Question:
What is “Social Justice”? When was this concept introduced in Catholic moral doctrine?

Answer by Fr.Stephen F. Torraco on Nov-24-2003**:
The term “social justice” was introduced into Catholic teaching in the 19th century. On the one hand, it is intended, at least in part, to avoid the error of reducing what Aristotle calls “general justice” (devotion to the common good of one’s country) to LEGAL justice. On the other hand, consciously or not, the term “social justice” aptly reflects the political philosophy of the modern philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, according to whom justice is fundamentally a matter of achieving the proper institutions and external settings that would effectively mold human beings into model citizens. In other words, for Rousseau, justice is not rooted in nature as it is for Aristotle and for the Church’s teaching. It is something that has to be attained by “social engineering.”

Unfortunately, in the minds of many if not most, consciously or not, the term “social justice” is viewed more in a Rousseaunian than an Aristotelian way. From the vantage point of both Aristotle and the Church’s teaching, the phrase “social justice” is redundant because justice is already social: it is the social virtue par excellence.

Refer to,post #33: “So many economies are in dire trouble because of the finagling by governments in distorting free enterprise and the absurdities of substituting Welfare Statism against subsidiarity and solidarity as emphasised by the Church, thus encouraging the “world owes me” mentality in contrast to enterprise, prudence, thrift, **justice **and fortitude. The problem has been self-inflicted by disregarding the Church’s teaching.”

We are not commanded to pray alone, we are commanded to keep the commandments and as St Escriva teaches “work is prayer.”

That “the entrepreneur can (and should) work for the development and maintenance of the common good…is a consistent feature of the Fathers of the Church, of St Thomas Aquinas and other Scholastic Theologians.” Entrepreneurship in the Catholic Tradition, Fr Anthony G Perry, Lexington Books, 2010, p 81-82].

The failures in starting a business far outweigh the successes and the entrepreneur in Catholic tradition is affirmed through: Scripture and Tradition; also Private Initiative in the Social Teaching of Leo XIII through Paul VI; Work and Enterprise in the Second Vatican Council, and from Human Work to Entrepreneurship: the Revolution of Centesimus Annus. Entrepreneurship in the Catholic Tradition, Fr Anthony G Percy, Lexington Books, 2010]

 

[ACCT]

The subject of this thread is an assumed “financial collapse of the economy” – a contrived fantasy.
Such myopia demeans Bl John Paul II who praises the free enterprise laws of cause and effect developed by the great Catholic Late Scholastics, as well as Pope Benedict XVI who shows that it is not the “market” but PEOPLE who are at fault. (Post #29).

A continued failure to accept the wisdom of the Church can only spread confusion and help no one.

**The wise understanding of “social justice” is considered by Do We Need Social Justice Or Social Engineering?
This question is answered by Fr Torraco of EWTN on Nov-24-2003 to a Question:
What is “Social Justice”? When was this concept introduced in Catholic moral doctrine?

Answer by Fr.Stephen F. Torraco on Nov-24-2003**:
The term “social justice” was introduced into Catholic teaching in the 19th century. On the one hand, it is intended, at least in part, to avoid the error of reducing what Aristotle calls “general justice” (devotion to the common good of one’s country) to LEGAL justice. On the other hand, consciously or not, the term “social justice” aptly reflects the political philosophy of the modern philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, according to whom justice is fundamentally a matter of achieving the proper institutions and external settings that would effectively mold human beings into model citizens. In other words, for Rousseau, justice is not rooted in nature as it is for Aristotle and for the Church’s teaching. It is something that has to be attained by “social engineering.”

Unfortunately, in the minds of many if not most, consciously or not, the term “social justice” is viewed more in a Rousseaunian than an Aristotelian way. From the vantage point of both Aristotle and the Church’s teaching, the phrase “social justice” is redundant because justice is already social: it is the social virtue par excellence.

Refer to,post #33: “So many economies are in dire trouble because of the finagling by governments in distorting free enterprise and the absurdities of substituting Welfare Statism against subsidiarity and solidarity as emphasised by the Church, thus encouraging the “world owes me” mentality in contrast to enterprise, prudence, thrift, **justice **and fortitude. The problem has been self-inflicted by disregarding the Church’s teaching.”

We are not commanded to pray alone, we are commanded to keep the commandments and as St Escriva teaches “work is prayer.”

That “the entrepreneur can (and should) work for the development and maintenance of the common good…is a consistent feature of the Fathers of the Church, of St Thomas Aquinas and other Scholastic Theologians.” Entrepreneurship in the Catholic Tradition, Fr Anthony G Perry, Lexington Books, 2010, p 81-82].

The failures in starting a business far outweigh the successes and the entrepreneur in Catholic tradition is affirmed through: Scripture and Tradition; also Private Initiative in the Social Teaching of Leo XIII through Paul VI; Work and Enterprise in the Second Vatican Council, and from Human Work to Entrepreneurship: the Revolution of Centesimus Annus. Entrepreneurship in the Catholic Tradition, Fr Anthony G Percy, Lexington Books, 2010]

 

[ACCT]

The cornerstone of accounting is internal control. The government does not, and cannot, have internal control. That is why any government entity that pretends to be an enterprise is a fake and doomed to failure. A good example is the United States Post Office:

USPS Titanic (2002)

The United States Postal Service’s basic problem is its Universal Service Obligation (USO). The Postal Service USO is a positive externality that Congress wants to subsidize. “Every American – no matter who, no matter where – has a fundamental right to affordable, accessible mail service,” said John E. Potter, Postmaster General (Potter, 2002). Congress gave the USPS a monopoly over First-Class Mail in exchange for universal postal service to all areas of the United States.

What is the cost of the Universal Service Obligation? The U.S. Postal Service does not know. One of the difficulties in addressing USO costs arises from the law. Legislation broadly defines postal obligations. The law requires uniform rates for letters and requires service across the United States. Universal Service Obligations permeate the entire Postal Service, from the shipment of live animals to Express Mail for remote communities. There is no accounting for USO costs.

There is no easy way to allocate USO costs. A USO does not come in a neat business segment. The Postal Service simply averages rates across a number of mail pieces with different cost characteristics. To the extent that the Postal Service averages rates, low-cost customers subsidize high-cost customers. Additionally, there is no precise definition for Postal Service USO costs. If a USO includes an extensive list of obligations, there will be high costs. A limited definition will have lower costs. As long as the Postal Service is a subsidized quasi-government agency, we may never know the full scope and costs of the Postal Service’s universal service obligations. A privatized Postal Service would drop unprofitable services and products. These abandoned services and products would be a visible sign of the scope and costs of the Postal Service’s USOs.

The United States Postal Service seems to be following Dr. Max Gammon’s Theory of Bureaucratic Displacement: An increase in expenditure of money will be followed by a fall in production. Such a system acts like a black hole in the economic universe. Costs go up and benefits decline. James Miller, director of the Office of Management and Budget said, “The Postal Service is a monstrosity. It is overstaffed, overpriced and inefficient. Postal patrons are paying more and more and getting less and less in return (Castro, 1988).” Postmaster General Potter (2002) wants to restructure the Postal Service into “a commercial government enterprise that would operate under more businesslike conditions than currently possible. I think that Postmaster General Potter is rearranging the deck chairs on the USPS Titanic.

References

Castro, J (1988, March). Charging more and delivering less; the U.S. Postal Service struggles to move its mountain of mail. Time. p. 50(1), n13, v131.
Remarks by Postmaster General John E. Potter, Board of Governors Meeting. (2002, April 9). Postal News.

 

[JimG]

Forgiveness of debts every 50 years sounds like a good thing; I’m not sure how it would work. I suspect a great many people would take out mortgages in year 49.

It also occurs to me that forgiveness of debts every 50 years would give the Fed an opportunity to stiff all bondholders of U.S. Treasury Debt. A great way to write off the national debt, but all those people holding Treasury notes, Savings bonds, and Treasury bills would suddenly find their investment worthless. That would certainly not be social justice.

 

[mercytruth]

gamewell45,

There are freemasonry sites that openly admit their linkages to gnosticism, kabbala, and other occult forms of mysticism. One can find plenty of historical statements by the Catholic Church warning us of the dangers of Freemasonry.

.**Please focus on our Lord Jesus Christ and his truth. **

Since I did mention the Mormons, here are some Mormon statements:

Dr.Reed Durham, President of the Mormon Historical Society gave this lecture in 1974 regarding the Freemasonry connections with Joseph Smith, founder of LDS. Later he was to retract this speech, after the controversy that it caused. Nevertheless, much of what he documents can be verified.

mormonismi.net/temppeli/durhamin_puhe1974.shtml

There is plenty of Mormon statements regarding Zion, and/or the New Jerusalem being established in America. Here is just one Mormon source, discourses 274-275

jod.mrm.org/14/271

Here are some authors who give documentation.

Prof. Antony Sutton
Rabbi and Dr. Marvin Antelman
Carroll Quigley

 

[Jason_Firestone]

Whenever people discuss the American economy they neglect to realize a basic historical fact.
The single thing that enabled the USA to become rich and powerful was abundant cheap food. Dating from Colonial times, the most ignorant uneducated peasant could come to America, find employment and not only feed himself and his family, but have enough money left over for a luxury or two. Historically, this was the basis of our economy, that is until Congress upset the apple cart in the Clinton administration. That is when the Congress provided economic incentives to industry to divert grain from the food chain into making alcohol for “gasahol”…like the Brazilians have. Within one year after Congress did that, the price of bread doubled.

********Unfortunately, the real “facts” do not support that assertion.
From the USDA Economic Research Service : % of US disposable income spent on food
2005 - 9.9%
2004 - 9.7%
1992 - 11.7%
1982 - 15.1%
1933 - 25%
In fact, the long term trend, is precisely the opposite.
No one just buys bread, and the demand for bread is elastic.
Citation of one anecdotal example can be very misleading. ********:manvspc:

 

[mercytruth]

This is the most sacred time of the year. It is the time to remember the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I am sincerely sorry for having gotten into a discussion about the economy. I am sincerely sorry for having mentioning that which is of darkness. There are those who are willingly aligned with the forces of darkness, and those who are not aware of their own blindness.

To some degree or another, we are all blind. May God have mercy on us all.

Jesus Christ was sent to overcome the darkness, and the lies of the enemy. There is no reason for me to give attention to these forces of darkness. Jesus Christ has and will overcome the very forces of darkness that are gathering for the final battle. This will be a battle that the forces of darkness will wage against Jesus Christ and his Church, a battle at which they will not succeed. We must be strong in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We must be prayerful until the end.

‘Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.’

Today, we are going to remember our Lord Jesus Christ and his resurrection victory over sin and death. Today, we are going to be children of the Light. Today, we are going to walk and abide in the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Today is a day of thanksgiving, today is a day of praise. Today is our celebration of the new beginning. Today hope has sprung from the earth, as all of creation awaits the restoration of all things, and the fulfillment of Christ’s final victory over all suffering and over all death.

To anyone that I have offended by that which I wrote, I humbly ask for your forgiveness, and for God’s forgiveness.

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.

O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
And he will redeem Israel
from all his iniquities.

Psalm 130.

 

[ACCT]

This is the most sacred time of the year. It is the time to remember the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I am sincerely sorry for having gotten into a discussion about the economy. I am sincerely sorry for having mentioning that which is of darkness. There are those who are willingly aligned with the forces of darkness, and those who are not aware of their own blindness.

To some degree or another, we are all blind. May God have mercy on us all. Quote

“Dear children! Open your heart to God’s mercy in this Lenten time. The Heavenly Father desires to deliver each of you from the slavery of sin. Therefore, little children, make good use of this time and through meeting with God in Confession, leave sin and decide for holiness. Do this out of love for Jesus, who redeemed you all with His blood, that you may be happy and in peace. Do not forget, little children: your freedom is your weakness, therefore follow my messages with seriousness. Thank you for having responded to my call. (Our Lady Queen of Peace - Medjugorje’s February 25, 2007 message for the world)”

Why are you sorry? As you surmised, there is a connection with the final collapse of the economy and God. That connection is in Mathew 6:24. We cannot love money and God. Because we have loved money, the dollar will go bankrupt.

Look at our situation today. What is testifying to the truth? Who is testifying to the truth? How do we know what truth is? Personally, I am only interested in truth with a capital “T,” not opinions or flexible truth with a small “t.” I am only interested in search for “absolute truth.”

Remember that Jesus did not work any miracles for those who mocked Him. God wants you to grasp what you read in the bible. Deep prayer to the Holy Spirit is necessary.

Happy Easter!

 

[ACCT]

Have you ever considered that there is a revolving door between big business and big government? How can you condemn one without condemning the other? For example, one of our former senators is now working as a lobbyist for a large corporation!

This is no longer our government. It is the government of special interests.

 

[Abu]

ACCT #52
We cannot love money and God. Because we have loved money, the dollar will go bankrupt.

There is really no need for such assumptions. What needs to be remedied is the foolish government interference with free enterprise, and the reevangelisation of more people to do good and avoid evil.

Wealth has to be produced before it can be distributed and the work of the entrepreneur is highly valued by Christ. So what is needed is more good people who produce what is needed and consume and interact with prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance.

Dr Alejandro Chafuen: Economics “is the study of the formal applications that can be deduced from the fact that human beings act purposefully. It does not consider whether these actions are good or bad (an ethical question). Economic science is value free. It analyses cause and effect relationships that, if true, are scientific….only human acts can be judged morally.” (Christians For Freedom, Ignatius, 1986, p 33).

As Fr James V Schall explains of Centesimus Annus: “These ways can be known and imitated, but they must include a juridical system, profit, enterprise, knowledge, exchange, a market, voluntary organizations, a relatively independent economy, private property, and a respect for work and excellence.” (*Does Catholicism Still Exist?, *Alba House, 1994, p 185).

Fr Percy states that Leo XIII has acknowledged that “Private property is intimately related to private initiative. In order to preserve the right to private property, one must respect the right to private initiative – one is not possible without the other.” [See Fr Percy, *Entrepreneurship in the Catholic Tradition, p 98].

“We can thus affirm unambiguously that Jesus Christ ‘looks with love on upon human work’ and that the work of the merchant – the businessman or the entrepreneur – is one of the ‘different forms’ of work that is affirmed. The parable of the talents makes this clear by its reference to money, trading, risk taking and banking.”
Entrepreneurship in the Catholic Tradition, Fr Anthony G Percy, Lexington Books, 2010, p 48-49].

Just as Christ’s parable of the Talents most strikingly acknowledges Christ’s respect for the work of business, so does the parable of the Dishonest Steward – the steward is dishonest, “but the nature of his work is not. In fact by praising his shrewdness, Christ admires his opportunism. While the steward abuses the trust his master extends to him, it must be recognised that the nature of the work that is entrusted to him is fundamentally good. The sin of the steward is his misuse of his master’s business, not the work of business itself.” Entrepreneurship in the Catholic Tradition, Fr Anthony G Percy, Lexington Books, 2010, p 47].

As is indicated in Luke (12:29-31): “you must not set your heart on things to eat and things to drink; nor must you worry. It is the pagans of this world who set their hearts on all these things. Your father well knows you need them. No; set your hearts on His kingdom, and these other things will be given you as well.”

Dr Chafuen notes that “many people close to Jesus were quite wealthy for their times. Joseph seems to have had his own business and perhaps a donkey; Peter owned a fishing boat, and Matthew was a tax collector. Jesus praised the rich man Zaccheus. It was the wealthy Joseph of Arimathea who kept faith even when the Apostles were beset by doubt (Mt 27:57). Jesus does not condemn the possession of riches but, rather disordered attachment to them.” Notice also that Jesus did not ask His Apostles to renounce their property. Christians For Freedom, Ignatius 1986, p 45].

 

[Ridgerunner]

Been away for awhile, so I just read the first post. I am inclined to agree with it, but with an exception. Mises assumes there is no way to “offload” any of the debt, but there is actually more than one way to do it.

One way is to saddle foreigners with it, then devalue. That has a history. One can bring to mind Japan’s “Dollar Swindle” in the 1930s, in which the Japanese government bought up dollars on credit, then devalued its own currency. Helped Japan finance the buildup to WWII.

We nailed the Japanese in the 1980s. Remember how they were going to buy up everything in America? But we devalued (de facto) and also brought on a recession that shrank their holdings substantially. Japan has really never recovered from that.

And now we owe China massively. Simultaneously, we are printing dollars in a de facto devaluation.

And, of course, there are millions of people who have purchased CDs and bonds at very low rates of return. Rising interest rates will devalue them all, particularly the bonds.

I’m not saying any of that is morally good, but simply that there are exceptions to Von Mises’ central assumption.

 

[BobCatholic]

I have been predicting that the dollar would go bankrupt

If the dollar goes bankrupt, every fiat currency on earth will join it. Because our pieces of paper back up their pieces of paper. They call it “foreign exchange reserves”

 

[ACCT]

Been away for awhile, so I just read the first post. I am inclined to agree with it, but with an exception. Mises assumes there is no way to “offload” any of the debt, but there is actually more than one way to do it.

One way is to saddle foreigners with it, then devalue. That has a history. One can bring to mind Japan’s “Dollar Swindle” in the 1930s, in which the Japanese government bought up dollars on credit, then devalued its own currency. Helped Japan finance the buildup to WWII.

We nailed the Japanese in the 1980s. Remember how they were going to buy up everything in America? But we devalued (de facto) and also brought on a recession that shrank their holdings substantially. Japan has really never recovered from that. And now we owe China massively. Simultaneously, we are printing dollars in a de facto devaluation.

Very good! Bonds are set to implode. The dollar will probably lose 50% of its purchasing power in the next 3-4 years when the debt crisis in Europe hits Washington between the eyes. Now what are you going to do about it? A surprise is still a surprise if you know what is going on, but do nothing about it.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Ridgerunner;9160926:

Been away for awhile, so I just read the first post. I am inclined to agree with it, but with an exception. Mises assumes there is no way to “offload” any of the debt, but there is actually more than one way to do it.

One way is to saddle foreigners with it, then devalue. That has a history. One can bring to mind Japan’s “Dollar Swindle” in the 1930s, in which the Japanese government bought up dollars on credit, then devalued its own currency. Helped Japan finance the buildup to WWII.

We nailed the Japanese in the 1980s. Remember how they were going to buy up everything in America? But we devalued (de facto) and also brought on a recession that shrank their holdings substantially. Japan has really never recovered from that. And now we owe China massively. Simultaneously, we are printing dollars in a de facto devaluation.

Very good! Bonds are set to implode. The dollar will probably lose 50% of its purchasing power in the next 3-4 years when the debt crisis in Europe hits Washington between the eyes. Now what are you going to do about it? A surprise is still a surprise if you know what is going on, but do nothing about it.

What am I PERSONALLY going to do about it? If that’s your question, my response is:

1. Stay away from bonds of all sorts.
2. Keep enough liquidity on hand to retire debts that do not have fixed interest rates.
3. Build up the quality of land and cattle I own. A lot of farms and ranches would collapse, you know, if interest rates soar.
4. Get the equipment that would be useful to me at the earliest opportunity, so long as I can pay cash for it.
5. At least pay passing attention to the most expensive European wines. If the European economy collapses, even a devalued dollar will be king. I rarely drink such stuff myself, but give a business client a bottle of something that costs $4,000 (which you hopefully bought for $200) and he’ll never forget it.
6. Stay away from gold. In a high interest rate environment aimed at disinflation, gold drops a lot.
7. Continue to pay attention to stock in companies that produce essential things. (same theory as with the cattle) Watch for severe dips.
8. Watch very carefully for radical governmental actions that are detrimental to business, like Obamacare, and avoid positioning oneself in the cross-hairs of the redistributionist mentality as much as possible.
9. Be prepared for the environmentalist craziness that is about to make all our lives much more difficult, and which the left will not abandon no matter how much suffering it causes. Consequently, though I do not presently rely on wood-burning for example, I can if it comes to it.
10. Oppose Obama politically (all Democrats, really) though I am not especially optimistic about the outcome. And I say that as a lifelong Democrat. The party has badly lost its way, and it will continue attempting to buy votes with the resources of those who produce.

Remember, even in the Depression, not everyone was unemployed, and many of those who were employed had it better than they did before the Depression. They did not stop buying the things they wanted, and especially not things they could put in their mouths or on their backs.The Soros/Obama group are reading out of FDR’s economic and political playbook, and one needs to pay close attention to that fact. One particularly needs to pay attention to the fact that FDReconomics failed terribly, late in the Depression.

 

[ACCT]

What am I PERSONALLY going to do about it? If that’s your question, my response is:

1. Stay away from bonds of all sorts.
2. Keep enough liquidity on hand to retire debts that do not have fixed interest rates.
3. Build up the quality of land and cattle I own. A lot of farms and ranches would collapse, you know, if interest rates soar.
4. Get the equipment that would be useful to me at the earliest opportunity, so long as I can pay cash for it.
5. At least pay passing attention to the most expensive European wines. If the European economy collapses, even a devalued dollar will be king. I rarely drink such stuff myself, but give a business client a bottle of something that costs $4,000 (which you hopefully bought for $200) and he’ll never forget it.
6. Stay away from gold. In a high interest rate environment aimed at disinflation, gold drops a lot.
7. Continue to pay attention to stock in companies that produce essential things. (same theory as with the cattle) Watch for severe dips.
8. Watch very carefully for radical governmental actions that are detrimental to business, like Obamacare, and avoid positioning oneself in the cross-hairs of the redistributionist mentality as much as possible.
9. Be prepared for the environmentalist craziness that is about to make all our lives much more difficult, and which the left will not abandon no matter how much suffering it causes. Consequently, though I do not presently rely on wood-burning for example, I can if it comes to it.
10. Oppose Obama politically (all Democrats, really) though I am not especially optimistic about the outcome. And I say that as a lifelong Democrat. The party has badly lost its way, and it will continue attempting to buy votes with the resources of those who produce.

Remember, even in the Depression, not everyone was unemployed, and many of those who were employed had it better than they did before the Depression. They did not stop buying the things they wanted, and especially not things they could put in their mouths or on their backs.The Soros/Obama group are reading out of FDR’s economic and political playbook, and one needs to pay close attention to that fact. One particularly needs to pay attention to the fact that FDReconomics failed terribly, late in the Depression.

I agree with everything except #6. Keep in mind, ever since the gold standard was abolished, all fiat currencies have ultimately been destroyed by policymakers — systematically devalued to inflate away fiscal imprudence (budget deficits), and bad debts, both public and private.

It’s how wealth is transferred from savers to debtors … from the private sector to the public sector (to pay off government debts and liabilities).

It’s a shell game, but at your expense. That’s why I consider it absolutely mandatory that you understand this process. Your only chance of financially surviving it is to understand the mechanism, and what the government is doing to your money.
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