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Image | The Fed Is Destroying the World One Saver At A Time
The Fed Is Destroying the World One Saver At A Time
 PREVIEW
by Chris Martenson

I must confess to a deep-seated anger at just how insultingly stupid the world has become. As a sufferer of crisis fatigue I can be caught exclaiming You have got to be kidding me!!? several times per day, or perhaps shouting How dumb do they think we are?

Three choice outbursts came last week as I read Bernanke’s new blog and came across statements like this one:

 

 

The Fed Is Destroying the World One Saver At A Time
 PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

I must confess to a deep-seated anger at just how insultingly stupid the world has become. As a sufferer of crisis fatigue I can be caught exclaiming You have got to be kidding me!!? several times per day, or perhaps shouting How dumb do they think we are?

Three choice outbursts came last week as I read Bernanke’s new blog and came across statements like this one:

 

 

Image | Off the Cuff: The Great Global Economic Slowdown
Off the Cuff: The Great Global Economic Slowdown
 PREVIEW
by Chris Martenson

In this week's Off the Cuff podcast, Chris and Mish Shedlock discuss:

  • Economic Slowdown
    • Economic growth is fast disappearing all across the world
  • The Evils Of The Banking System
    • Corrupt & corrupted; we need a return to old-school fiduciary stewardship
  • Chicago Blues
    • A case study for the fraud & rot soon to appear in cities across the US
  • Fracking's Legacy
    • From poisoned water tables to earthquakes
Off the Cuff: The Great Global Economic Slowdown
 PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

In this week's Off the Cuff podcast, Chris and Mish Shedlock discuss:

  • Economic Slowdown
    • Economic growth is fast disappearing all across the world
  • The Evils Of The Banking System
    • Corrupt & corrupted; we need a return to old-school fiduciary stewardship
  • Chicago Blues
    • A case study for the fraud & rot soon to appear in cities across the US
  • Fracking's Legacy
    • From poisoned water tables to earthquakes
Image | What Systemic Breakdown Will Look Like
What Systemic Breakdown Will Look Like
 PREVIEW
by Chris Martenson

Executive Summary

  • The real (and growing) risk of one or several systemic breakdowns
  • What to expect during a breakdown of our
    • Economy
    • Energy systems
    • Environmental systems
  • The importance of intelligent stewardship, and focusing on controlling the variable you can

If you have not yet read Part 1: If We're Going To Borrow Against The Future, Let's Borrow To Invest available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

But what if don’t invest in our future as outlined in part I?  What if the powers that be and system-wide inertia combine to simply deliver us more of the same going forward? 

What if we simply have a profound failure of leadership and none of that good stuff happens, and the next round(s) of QE simply fatten up the trading profits of large banks and hedge funds?

One sign you’ll have that we’re headed nowhere fast in the US is if the next election for president involves a Bush and a Clinton.  That will be a choice between status quo option A and status quo option B, which is no choice at all.

As Winston Churchill said about Americans, you can always count on them to do the right thing…after they’ve tried everything else. 

Unfortunately, we don’t have time in this story to try everything else first and if we don’t do things differently, then I see no other outcome besides a huge, systemic breakdown occurring across…

What Systemic Breakdown Will Look Like
 PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

Executive Summary

  • The real (and growing) risk of one or several systemic breakdowns
  • What to expect during a breakdown of our
    • Economy
    • Energy systems
    • Environmental systems
  • The importance of intelligent stewardship, and focusing on controlling the variable you can

If you have not yet read Part 1: If We're Going To Borrow Against The Future, Let's Borrow To Invest available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

But what if don’t invest in our future as outlined in part I?  What if the powers that be and system-wide inertia combine to simply deliver us more of the same going forward? 

What if we simply have a profound failure of leadership and none of that good stuff happens, and the next round(s) of QE simply fatten up the trading profits of large banks and hedge funds?

One sign you’ll have that we’re headed nowhere fast in the US is if the next election for president involves a Bush and a Clinton.  That will be a choice between status quo option A and status quo option B, which is no choice at all.

As Winston Churchill said about Americans, you can always count on them to do the right thing…after they’ve tried everything else. 

Unfortunately, we don’t have time in this story to try everything else first and if we don’t do things differently, then I see no other outcome besides a huge, systemic breakdown occurring across…

Image | A Tough Winter
A Tough Winter
 PREVIEW
by Chris Martenson

Last year we had the ‘polar vortex’ which delivered some of the absolute coldest air to our region, so the back-to-back experience is one of relentless cold, snowy winters and short summers.

Similarly, there seem to be a bunch of new economic rules that we have to adjust our thinking around.

 
A Tough Winter
 PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

Last year we had the ‘polar vortex’ which delivered some of the absolute coldest air to our region, so the back-to-back experience is one of relentless cold, snowy winters and short summers.

Similarly, there seem to be a bunch of new economic rules that we have to adjust our thinking around.

 
Image | Off the Cuff: Pinball Markets
Off the Cuff: Pinball Markets
 PREVIEW
by Chris Martenson

In this week's Off the Cuff podcast, Chris and Brian Pretti discuss:

  • Pinball Markets
    • Volatility & unpredictability is on the rise
  • Lack Of Liquidity
    • Becoming a top market concern
  • Capital Flows
    • May keep US markets better than the rest, but not forever
  • Watch The Bond Markets
    • When they fail, it will be ugly
Off the Cuff: Pinball Markets
 PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

In this week's Off the Cuff podcast, Chris and Brian Pretti discuss:

  • Pinball Markets
    • Volatility & unpredictability is on the rise
  • Lack Of Liquidity
    • Becoming a top market concern
  • Capital Flows
    • May keep US markets better than the rest, but not forever
  • Watch The Bond Markets
    • When they fail, it will be ugly
Image | Off the Cuff: Losing Legitimacy
Off the Cuff: Losing Legitimacy
 PREVIEW
by Chris Martenson

In this week's Off the Cuff podcast, Chris and Charles Hugh Smith discuss:

  • Lies, Damn Lies & Politics
    • When it gets serious, they lie to us
  • The Age Of Confiscation
    • Get ready for the government to claw more of your wealth
  • The Desperation Of TINA Legislation
    • We'll be told "there's no other choice"
  • The Security Of Non-Participation
    • The safest place for your wealth is out of the system
Off the Cuff: Losing Legitimacy
 PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

In this week's Off the Cuff podcast, Chris and Charles Hugh Smith discuss:

  • Lies, Damn Lies & Politics
    • When it gets serious, they lie to us
  • The Age Of Confiscation
    • Get ready for the government to claw more of your wealth
  • The Desperation Of TINA Legislation
    • We'll be told "there's no other choice"
  • The Security Of Non-Participation
    • The safest place for your wealth is out of the system
Image | The Coming Age Of Confiscation
The Coming Age Of Confiscation
 PREVIEW
by charleshughsmith

Executive Summary

  • Crisis intervention as policy = bad decision-making
  • Why politics will defer dealing with the big problems, even though that will make them even bigger
  • Why more taxes are in your future
  • The criticality of increasing our alternatives — without our agitation, the government will appropriate from us while claiming "there's no other option"

If you have not yet read Part 1: Things Are Unraveling At An Accelerating Rate available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

In Part 1, we examined how the dynamic of lowering interest rates to boost debt-based consumption inevitably leads to debt saturation and lower consumption. It also generates instability and rising systemic risks.  As the returns on the central bank tricks of lowering interest rates and encouraging borrowing diminish, the resulting unraveling is speeding up.

There is another core dynamic at work: TINA, there is no alternative.

When There Is No Choice, Bad Policies Abound

In this week’s podcast with Chris (What To Expect From The Fourth Turning We're Now In), guest Neil Howe noted that crisis intervention is the result of authorities “feeling they had no other choice,” a.k.a. TINA.  In this frame of mind, the eventual consequences of crisis intervention policies are ignored in the pressing desperation to make the financial and political pain of crisis go away.

As policymakers around the world soon discovered, TINA policies are habit-forming. Since they had no choice but to bail out the parasitic, dysfunctional banking sector, and goose debt-based consumption with cash for clunkers, mass purchases of mortgages, etc., they also had no choice but to continue these interventions, lest the desired result—expanding consumption and a rising stock market—falter.

Substituting crisis intervention for long-term constructive policies leads to bad policies, for the simple reason that…

The Coming Age Of Confiscation
 PREVIEW by charleshughsmith

Executive Summary

  • Crisis intervention as policy = bad decision-making
  • Why politics will defer dealing with the big problems, even though that will make them even bigger
  • Why more taxes are in your future
  • The criticality of increasing our alternatives — without our agitation, the government will appropriate from us while claiming "there's no other option"

If you have not yet read Part 1: Things Are Unraveling At An Accelerating Rate available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

In Part 1, we examined how the dynamic of lowering interest rates to boost debt-based consumption inevitably leads to debt saturation and lower consumption. It also generates instability and rising systemic risks.  As the returns on the central bank tricks of lowering interest rates and encouraging borrowing diminish, the resulting unraveling is speeding up.

There is another core dynamic at work: TINA, there is no alternative.

When There Is No Choice, Bad Policies Abound

In this week’s podcast with Chris (What To Expect From The Fourth Turning We're Now In), guest Neil Howe noted that crisis intervention is the result of authorities “feeling they had no other choice,” a.k.a. TINA.  In this frame of mind, the eventual consequences of crisis intervention policies are ignored in the pressing desperation to make the financial and political pain of crisis go away.

As policymakers around the world soon discovered, TINA policies are habit-forming. Since they had no choice but to bail out the parasitic, dysfunctional banking sector, and goose debt-based consumption with cash for clunkers, mass purchases of mortgages, etc., they also had no choice but to continue these interventions, lest the desired result—expanding consumption and a rising stock market—falter.

Substituting crisis intervention for long-term constructive policies leads to bad policies, for the simple reason that…

Image | Off the Cuff: Time To Sell
Off the Cuff: Time To Sell
 PREVIEW
by Chris Martenson

In this week's Off the Cuff podcast, Chris and John Rubino discuss:

  • The Downside Of The Strong Dollar
    • Why the US is losing the currency war
  • The Endgame Approaches
    • What to expect when every country is handing out free money
  • Time To Sell
    • Dumb money is buying while smart money exits
  • The Wisdom Of Gold
    • Will likely end up being the only sane option left
Off the Cuff: Time To Sell
 PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

In this week's Off the Cuff podcast, Chris and John Rubino discuss:

  • The Downside Of The Strong Dollar
    • Why the US is losing the currency war
  • The Endgame Approaches
    • What to expect when every country is handing out free money
  • Time To Sell
    • Dumb money is buying while smart money exits
  • The Wisdom Of Gold
    • Will likely end up being the only sane option left
Image | How To Prepare For War
How To Prepare For War
 PREVIEW
by Chris Martenson

Executive Summary

  • There's much you can do to reduce your risk in advance of the arrival of a:
    • Trade war
    • Energy war
    • Financial war
    • Cyber war
    • Grid-down sabotage
    • Shooting war
    • Nuclear war
  • The steps you should prioritze the most right now

If you have not yet read Part 1: Is It Time To Prepare For War? available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

As a preamble, I need to note that I do not enjoy or derive any satisfaction from writing about or spending time on figuring out how to dodge the worst impacts of human behavior.  War sits right at the top of my ‘This is stupid’  list, as war represents the idea that all other attempts at being smart or diplomatic have already failed.  I'm sorry that I have to spend time writing this report, and I am sorry that you have to spend time considering it.  With that said, I feel I have no choice, and somebody has to take on this task.  With a heavy heart…

If the West (meaning the US and Europe) decides to further goad Russia, war may be inevitable. Sooner or later, Russia will have to switch from 'response' mode to 'reaction' mode.  I’ve previous detailed the reasons for this in previous reports here, here and here.

As (sadly) expected, things have only escalated over the past year, not de-escalated. The West has a serious bone to pick with Russia, yet nobody can really explain what it is or why the conflict exists. (As an aside, I think it’s just bruised neo-con egos over Syria, but it really doesn’t matter what the explanation is at this point.) So, here we are in la-la land.

The consequences of an escalated conflict between Russia and the US/West could range from a very minor skirmish fought over some relatively meaningless items of trade, to an attack on financial markets, all the way to an all-out nuclear exchange.

The question becomes: What, if anything, can we do to prepare?

Lots, as it turns out.

No matter where…

How To Prepare For War
 PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

Executive Summary

  • There's much you can do to reduce your risk in advance of the arrival of a:
    • Trade war
    • Energy war
    • Financial war
    • Cyber war
    • Grid-down sabotage
    • Shooting war
    • Nuclear war
  • The steps you should prioritze the most right now

If you have not yet read Part 1: Is It Time To Prepare For War? available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

As a preamble, I need to note that I do not enjoy or derive any satisfaction from writing about or spending time on figuring out how to dodge the worst impacts of human behavior.  War sits right at the top of my ‘This is stupid’  list, as war represents the idea that all other attempts at being smart or diplomatic have already failed.  I'm sorry that I have to spend time writing this report, and I am sorry that you have to spend time considering it.  With that said, I feel I have no choice, and somebody has to take on this task.  With a heavy heart…

If the West (meaning the US and Europe) decides to further goad Russia, war may be inevitable. Sooner or later, Russia will have to switch from 'response' mode to 'reaction' mode.  I’ve previous detailed the reasons for this in previous reports here, here and here.

As (sadly) expected, things have only escalated over the past year, not de-escalated. The West has a serious bone to pick with Russia, yet nobody can really explain what it is or why the conflict exists. (As an aside, I think it’s just bruised neo-con egos over Syria, but it really doesn’t matter what the explanation is at this point.) So, here we are in la-la land.

The consequences of an escalated conflict between Russia and the US/West could range from a very minor skirmish fought over some relatively meaningless items of trade, to an attack on financial markets, all the way to an all-out nuclear exchange.

The question becomes: What, if anything, can we do to prepare?

Lots, as it turns out.

No matter where…

Image | Is It Time To Prepare For War?
Is It Time To Prepare For War?
 PREVIEW
by Chris Martenson

I am seriously entertaining preparing for war, and as I’ve written before, the nature of this next war could involve everything from trade battles, to cyber attacks, to financial system assaults,  a downing of the US electrical grid, to an actual shooting war  — perhaps one that escalates to a nuclear exchange.

When things are this obviously crazy, anything is possible.
Is It Time To Prepare For War?
 PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

I am seriously entertaining preparing for war, and as I’ve written before, the nature of this next war could involve everything from trade battles, to cyber attacks, to financial system assaults,  a downing of the US electrical grid, to an actual shooting war  — perhaps one that escalates to a nuclear exchange.

When things are this obviously crazy, anything is possible.
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