Can we all call it “official” now? Now that the World Bank has issued a report warning of a severe global economic meltdown? They’re not even trying to deny it anymore.
And it’s not just the World Bank that’s reporting that the outlook is a lot bleaker than anyone wanted to admit. Every day, more and more prominent, mainstream figures in the financial world are now telling us we’re on our way to massive economic crisis and that we need to start preparing for the worst.
From the Bloomberg article: “Apocalypse How? Dire ’12 Forecasts“.
-John Mauldin, president of Millennium Wave Advisors: “We’ve got a cancer. That cancer is debt”
-Mark Spitznagel of Universa Investments: “Too much malinvestment has been kept alive, and history shows an inevitable wipeout, which started in 2000.”
-Michael Panzner of Financial Armageddon: “The fundamental outlook is even worse now than it was a few weeks ago, given (the lack of positive) developments in Europe and growing evidence that the economies of major countries around the world are deteriorating fast.”
Originally it was thought that the economic problems in Europe could be contained to just a few countries, so nobody was too concerned about it, but the global economy is more interconnected today than ever. Back in 2008 the financial crisis that started on Wall Street ended up devastating economies all over the planet. The same thing will happen during this next great financial crisis. Now it’s looking like this global economic crash will leave no country unscathed.
At this point, almost everyone in the financial world is anticipating a Greek default of one form or another. The fact is, they’re already in default (after 2 bailouts), as well as a full-blown depression. The austerity measures imposed by Greece’s lenders were supposed to help Greece pull itself out (at least a little bit), but they’re actually making things worse.
Manufacturers are selling their products outside of the country where they can get higher prices. Twenty percent of the country’s retail stores have gone under. The unemployment rate rose to over 18 percent (from around 16 percent last summer). For those under the age of 24, 43.5 percent are now unemployed. The Greek economy is shrinking at at annual rate of 5.5 percent, and their national debt is now at 189 percent of their annual GDP.
Everybody is waiting for March 20th, the day when Greece will either make its 14.5 billion euro bond payment or it will default. If they do, not only will it sink Greece’s own banks, but the banks of Germany and France will be hit hard and it would leave Spain and Italy (which are struggling in depressions of their own) totally dependent on a lifeline from the European Central Bank.
Trends forecaster Gerald Celente recently explained to ABC Australia that much of Europe is already essentially experiencing an economic depression….
“If you live in Greece, you’re in a depression; if you live in Spain, you’re in a depression; if you live in Portugal or Ireland, you’re in a depression,” Celente said. “If you live in Lithuania, you’re running to the bank to get your money out of the bank as the bank runs go on. It’s a depression. Hungary, there’s a depression, and much of Eastern Europe, Romania, Bulgaria. And there are a lot of depressions going on [already].”
This time, the U.S. economy is in much worse shape than it was back in 2008. Then, the “official” national debt figures were over $10T. In less than 4 years, we’ve gone past the $15T mark (though many believe the actual figures are much higher).
So what are we going to do here in the U.S. when large numbers of banks fail and unemployment skyrockets? Where’s the bailout money going to come from this time for all those “too big to fail” institutions? What’s going to replenish the unemployment coffers?
We’re all afraid of socialism in America, but this country is already a socialist, welfare state. As I mentioned in an earlier post; nearly half of all Americans live in a household that receives some form of financial benefits from the government already. In the coming crisis, the number of people dependent on the government is only going to go even higher.
I’m afraid a global economic meltdown will be disastrous for us on more than just a financial level. In times like these, the government will always seek to distract us by creating a common enemy, upon which to redirect the anger and animosity of the American people, and in doing so, make another BOATLOAD of money for government contractors.
That’s right… Another war. Can anyone say…. Iran?
You can also expect to see civil unrest and rioting as millions of people lose their jobs, savings and homes. Gee, it’s a good thing Obama signed that NDAA into law, just in time to deal with all those starving, homeless, “domestic terrorists” that are suddenly going to be appearing out of nowhere. And if they run out of room at Guantanamo Bay, they’ve got plenty of fresh new FEMA camps in which to indefinitely detain them.
Again, Gerald Celente:
“…and the build up to social unrest, calamity and possible civil war can be seen a mile away…They just passed a law in the United states, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA),” he said. “It now gives the president the right to identify a person like me and call me a terrorist and that I’m against the government. And the military can come and break down my doors—the military—and arrest me, charge me with nothing, give me no trial, no rights of habeas corpus, no jury, no judge, and they can kill me if they so choose, torture me; they can send me to any country around the world.”
The ramifications of a dollar devaluation aren’t clear, but an enacted NDAA, FEMA camp readiness and scheduled TSA checkpoint expansion plans suggest the U.S. may enter a crisis on par with the lead up to the Civil War.
When even the World Bank tells us to hope for the best but to prepare for the worst, you know that it’s getting late in the game. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people out there are still asleep and will only believe what they want to believe. They don’t want to accept that a great economic crisis is coming, so when it does happen they’re going to be the ones who suffer the most.
If you’re just “waking up” to the real world, there’s no more time to wait. Start preparing now and spread the word as far as you can! To read more on how to prepare for the coming economic disaster, check out this article from the Economic Collapse Blog.
