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The writing is on the wall. If you can’t read
it, then you’re going to have a problem – very soon. It was in early 2009
that we first warned our readers of the coming wave of riots and social unrest that would
envelop the globe. Nearly three years on we’re seeing a progressive
increase in tension among those affected by deteriorating economic conditions
and the trend towards social unrest seems to be accelerating. Absolutely
nothing has been resolved in terms of the economic and financial woes facing
the world, despite the literally trillions of dollars of wealth in the form
of credit and monetary easing that has been committed to the crisis.
As the economic paradigm shifts and hundreds of
millions of citizens from the world’s advanced economies are thrown
into poverty (including 100 million
from the U.S. alone),
the situation is getting critical. So much so that what once existed only in
the realm of conspiracy theory and alternative news web sites – that
governments, especially in the U.S., are planning for
large-scale economic meltdown and social unrest – is now a foregone
conclusion in
political circles.
Europe, as we discussed in 2009, is now coming
unhinged and we have the real possibility of not just a collapse in the
sovereign debt of a single nation, but the entire European Union and their
beloved currency. This is not just some far-out possibility. The collapse of
Europe now seems more likely than ever, and governments and regulatory
agencies all over the continent are calling for immediate preparations,
planning and strategies to deal with the imminent collapse of sovereign debt
of individual countries, European banks, and the Euro monetary system that is
the glue holding it all together.
“It’s in our interests that they keep
playing for time because that gives us more time to prepare,” the
minister told the Daily Telegraph.
Recent Foreign and Commonwealth Office instructions
to embassies and consulates request contingency planning for extreme
scenarios including rioting and social unrest.
Greece has seen several outbreaks of civil disorder
as its government struggles with its huge debts. British officials think
similar scenes cannot be ruled out in other nations if the euro collapses.
Diplomats have also been told to prepare to help
tens of thousands of British citizens in eurozone
countries with the consequences of a financial collapse that would leave them
unable to access bank accounts or even withdraw cash.
…
The EU treaties that created the euro and set its
membership rules contain no provision for members to leave, meaning any break-up
would be disorderly and potentially chaotic.
If eurozone governments
defaulted on their debts, the European banks that hold many of their bonds
would risk collapse.
Some analysts say the shock waves of such an event
would risk the collapse of the entire financial system, leaving banks unable
to return money to retail depositors and destroying companies dependent on
bank credit.
The Financial Services Authority this week issued a
public warning to British banks to bolster their contingency plans for the
break-up of the single currency.
Some economists believe that at worst, the outright
collapse of the euro could reduce GDP in its member-states by up to half and
trigger mass unemployment.
…
“When the unemployment consequences are
factored in, it is virtually impossible to consider a break-up scenario
without some serious social consequences,” UBS said.
Source: Telegraph
Underestimate this events
at your peril. Similar events played out in Europe in the early 1930′s,
and we experienced a decade’s long depression here in the United
States, followed by five years of world war – and that’s when we
were a creditor nation without hundreds of trillions in debt and liabilities.
The collapse of Europe, as we have argued for
several years, is imminent. If it so happens that Europe does collapse as we
forecast, and capital flees to the safety of the US dollar (thus boosting the
dollar’s strength and causing a stock market meltdown) than we urge
readers to consider the repercussions
that will be felt in America. Within a period of a few months to a few years a
similar scenario will play out with our own sovereign debt and currency. And,
when the world’s reserve currency goes into meltdown mode, all bets are
off.
There’s a reason governments the world over
are preparing contingency plans. They know it’s coming, and they know
it will be pandemonium. There is, as we noted two years ago, No Way to
Avoid Financial Armageddon.
Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst -
- collapse of purchasing power due to
hyperinflation
- interruptions to the normal flow of commerce
- disruptions
to food supplies
- the militarization of Main Street
- and the potential for failure of
our domestic utility grid.
We realize these are extreme potentialities and many
might suggest we take off the tin foil hat, but the same was true when we and
others forecast a collapse of Europe, civil unrest and government contingency
planning three years ago. That has now been actualized.
The next leg of this crisis will take hold in the
United States in due time. Don’t wait until it’s too late. Start
thinking about money during
a collapse, bartering
items, post-collapse
trade skills, and creating a
solid preparedness foundation.
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