Things are going down hill at an accelerated rate.
I'm not necessarily talking about the US or Europe (although the case can be made) but more importantly the emerging markets. Check this out from Reuters.
Economic uncertainty/unrest leads to SERIOUS trouble.
The Arab Spring? The Obama Administration wants the world to believe that it was a democratic uprising. The truth? People were protesting over economic conditions. Young men couldn't find jobs, food prices increased beyond the ability of the average person to afford it and life became hell for the masses. Their answer? They toppled the government. The Islamist took over and concentrated on instituting Islamic Law instead of dealing with the issues that were of concern to the people. Their answer? They put the military back in charge! That was just Egypt but the same issues played out all over the Middle East and parts of Africa.
Now we have that same set of circumstances about to hit India, Africa, Asian countries and S. America.
Shit is about to get real. When internal problems are beyond the ability of govt to handle, scapegoats are sought and external enemies are always a good way to focus the masses.
UPDATE: Judgement day was averted in China by the Chinese govt using a proxy "investor" to save the Shadow Bank that was about to go under...or so the theory goes. Whoever bought the debt is a savior to the market. The world probably dodged the 2nd great depression and most don't even realize it. Shadow Banking continues to be an issue. Even with that, the Dow Jones closed 150 pt down today.
I'm not necessarily talking about the US or Europe (although the case can be made) but more importantly the emerging markets. Check this out from Reuters.
The Federal Reserve's decision to keep trimming its economic stimulus drew fire on Friday as India's central bank chief said Americans should be more attuned to the global impact of their policies, and the IMF called for vigilance given strains in financial markets.Read the entire article but let me be clear.
The push-back came on Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's last day on the job and two days after the U.S. central bank reduced the pace of its huge asset purchase program. The Fed made the move on Wednesday despite a bruising selloff in emerging markets that was prompted in part by the prospect of less U.S. monetary support.
With the turmoil in currencies and stocks spreading into more emerging markets on Friday, Fed officials, addressing the rout for the first time, offered no hint the sell-off would influence their policy stance unless the U.S. economy were threatened.
But in Mumbai, Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan said the United States "should worry about the effects of its policies on the rest of the world."
Economic uncertainty/unrest leads to SERIOUS trouble.
The Arab Spring? The Obama Administration wants the world to believe that it was a democratic uprising. The truth? People were protesting over economic conditions. Young men couldn't find jobs, food prices increased beyond the ability of the average person to afford it and life became hell for the masses. Their answer? They toppled the government. The Islamist took over and concentrated on instituting Islamic Law instead of dealing with the issues that were of concern to the people. Their answer? They put the military back in charge! That was just Egypt but the same issues played out all over the Middle East and parts of Africa.
Now we have that same set of circumstances about to hit India, Africa, Asian countries and S. America.
Shit is about to get real. When internal problems are beyond the ability of govt to handle, scapegoats are sought and external enemies are always a good way to focus the masses.
UPDATE: Judgement day was averted in China by the Chinese govt using a proxy "investor" to save the Shadow Bank that was about to go under...or so the theory goes. Whoever bought the debt is a savior to the market. The world probably dodged the 2nd great depression and most don't even realize it. Shadow Banking continues to be an issue. Even with that, the Dow Jones closed 150 pt down today.
I keep hearing internet rumors that HSBC is in trouble, $80 billion in the hole.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing that got zero play in defense media, maybe it's not very important but I saw some pictures of a Egyptian H-60? being shot down by a MANPAD over the Sinai. Oh well, if nobody else cares, I guess I shouldn't worry about it....
yeah i saw that helicopter shoot down report...i thought it was a Sea King and not an H-60 though...and i've heard rumors that not only is HSBC in trouble but so is Bank of America.
Deletewe'll see how all this plays out but it looks like chickens are coming home to roost.
Did the economic stimulus actually get trimmed? President Obama announced the creation of the MyRA program, which according to this CNN article "will solely invest in government savings bonds" (http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/29/retirement/myra-accounts/). So while the Federal Reserve trims its asset purchases, new purchases are made through the myRA program. Looks to me like either the cost of the stimulus is simply being transferred to someone else (us) or this myRA is being used to funnel even more money into bond purchases.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to run afoul on Solomon here by posting other links to other information sites on his very excellent military and USMC-centric blog....but if y'all watch these sites (I said "watch" or just listen to them instead of "read" them so it should be a little easier to take the time-out to do it) y'all WILL find yourselves a little better caught-up on just how fvcqued up things are around the world right now.
ReplyDeletewww.usawatchdog.com
www.SGTreport.com
www.drudgereport.com
www.kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/Broadcast/Broadcast.html
In the meantime...top-off your SHTF supplies as if you're going to have to survive the aftermath of a hurricane and zombie apocalypse indefinitely. You have been warned.
never underestimate a persons ability to convince themselves that all is well when they know it isn't. the entire nation knows that things are jacked up. the entire nation knows that neither the democrats or the republicans are doing the hard things that need to be done to get things on the right track.
Deleteinstead they'll fool themselves into believing that anyone who thinks otherwise is a nutjob. quite honestly i contend that if we used 1920 definitions of what a depression is, that we'd find that we're already in one. i further contend that people forget that people still had jobs, still went to work etc...
the difference today is that we have social programs to keep the masses satisfied while the world burns. i don't expect that to last much longer. i'm not worried about where i live. but if i was in a city i would be concerned...very concerned.
if you live in the megalopolis that is the east coast corridor then you're screwed.