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I’ve
read a lot of books, nearly all fiction. My intense focus on
day-to-day events – financial and otherwise – has ALWAYS consumed
me, so by the end of each day, I need a break from reality. That said, some of the best authors are those that combine
historical characters and stories with fictional ones; an exercise that both educates
and entertains the reader.
Sebastian Junger’s Perfect Storm is a great example of
combining the REALITY of the Andrea Gail’s disappearance during
the “1991
Perfect Storm” and the fictional account of its crew’s last
hours; while James Michener
is the “gold standard” of the “historical fiction”
genre, having created it over a 60-year writing career. Similarly,
Stephen King has expertly incorporated knowledge of his home state of Maine
into his writing; as has Pat Conroy with Charleston, South Carolina and
Nelson DeMille with our mutual home of Long Island,
New York.
However,
today’s undisputed champion of “historical fiction”
is the British writer, Ken Follett.
At 63, Follett has been writing for nearly 40 years. However, until his
masterpiece Pillars of the Earth was published in 1989, Follett books
were principally fiction – for the most part, World War II spy novels
like “Eye of the Needle.”
Pillars of
the Earth and its
equally brilliant sequel – World Without End – are
historical fiction pieces focused first on Olde
England of the mid-12th Century, and then the same region 150
years later. Following World Without End, Follett contracted to write
an epic trilogy covering major wars of the 20th Century.
The first entry, 2010’s Fall of Giants, taught me more about
World War I – while enthralling me for 1,000 pages – than
I learned in my entire life; and thus far, the sequel, “WINTER OF THE
WORLD” has me glued to my Kindle.
World
Without End stopped at
the end of World War I in 1918, and Winter of the World picks up the
saga of its main characters 15 years later; in Germany, the UK, Russia, and
America. The book starts out in March 1933 Germany; two months after Hitler
was elected Chancellor, en route to taking full dictatorial power a
year later via the newly created office of Führer
und Reichskanzler.
On
Tuesday, I wrote the following:
This
morning, I read a profound statement that turned my entire thought process of
the past century upside down. Not only was it ominous – and eerily
similar to the terrifying outcome I foresee – but completely refutes
the “consensus” view of history. I was going to address it this
morning, but it is too meaningful to be lost in the morning commentary. Thus,
it will be the topic of Thursday’s RANT topic – given that both today’s and Wednesday’s are already spoken
for.
That
statement came from Winter of the World, “time stamped”
March 1933…
What on
Earth is happening here in Germany? Maud said: “We were doing all right
in the mid-Twenties, with a democratic government and growing economy. But
everything was ruined by the Wall Street crash of 1929, and now we’re
in the depths of a depression.” Her voice shook with an emotion that
seemed close to grief. “You can see a hundred men standing in line for
one advertised job. I look at their faces. They’re desperate. They
don’t know how they’re going to feed their children. Then the
Nazis offer them hope, and they ask themselves: What have I got to lose?
I cannot
speak for Europeans, but certainly Americans; whom have been taught in every middle
school, high school, and university that onerous
reparations from the 1919 Treaty of Versailles
created the German economic implosion that left it prone to a charismatic demagogue.
Essentially ALL educated Americans are aware of the Treaty of Versailles; and
those versed in finance, the Weimar
Hyperinflation of 1922-23…
However,
there is a “convenient gap” in American history books between
1923 and 1930, where it is assumed – by teachers and students
alike – Germany endured seven years of unbearable economic depression.
However – per the passage above – Germany quickly recovered from
its hyperinflation, as the global “can” was “kicked down
the road” by the American-led boom of the “roaring
twenties.”
Like the
1980 and 1990s – when global “economic growth” was fueled
by post-gold standard MONEY PRINTING – the 1920s expansion was fueled
by debt and speculation financed principally by the newly-formed U.S.
Federal Reserve. In fact, the impact of such unabated speculation was
so powerful, it temporarily lifted sickly, post-War
European economies like Germany…
The Roaring
Twenties Bubble & the Stock Market Crash of 1929
However
– again per the book passage – it was the Stock Market Crash of
1929 that set Germany on its collision course with Hitler. Clearly, the
“modern-day equivalent” of the 1929 crash is 2008’s Global
Meltdown I – a “shot heard round the world” that
reverberates louder each day; particularly in Europe…
Printing
more money to save a failed system
…and
especially Greece, the “weakest link” in the European
Community; where a combination of mis-management,
poor financial advice (by Goldman Sachs, among others), and a negligent populace have placed the nation’s
economic and financial situation at “DEFCON 1”…
One
Third Of Athens Businesses Shuttered
The ECB,
European Community, and EuroZone leadership in
Brussels – aided by other Western world “henchmen” like the
Federal Reserve – are desperately trying to prevent
Greece’s HOPELESS situation from spilling over to the rest of the PIIGS
– and by extension, ALL of Europe – via its only remaining
tools; MONEY PRINTING, MARKET MANIPULATION, and PROPAGANDA. However,
Greece’s financial and economic implosion is becoming IMPOSSIBLE to hide…
Greece
Caught Underreporting Its Budget Deficit By Nearly 50%
…mask…
Greek
Economy Shrank 6.2% in Second Quarter
…or contain…
Greek
unemployment rises to 24.4%
…and
SHORTLY, will no longer be able to be “papered over” with goosed
financial assets…
…as
the inexorable, long-term trend CANNOT be stopped…
…particularly
on “MAIN STREET”…
Thousands
of Greeks Protest Planned Pay Cuts
…whose
denizens made an initial statement at the polls in May…
Radical left and neo-Nazis
score well in Greek elections
…and
today, is moving further down the “road to perdition”…
Popularity
Of Greek Neo-Nazi Party Continues Surging
Central
bank MONEY PRINTING was not the only cause of World War II, but
clearly played a far larger role than we have been told. Not to
mention, the strange “coincidence” that World War I commenced
just six months after the Federal Reserve was created.
Read this
RANT, then think long and hard of the direction you believe the
world is headed, and what role MONEY PRINTING is likely to have. Afterwards,
don’t walk, but RUN to…
PROTECT
YOURSELF, and do it NOW!
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