Great Depression of 2016

[rufus]

There seems to be a tendency for lefties to try to drive the conversation into forbidden territory whenever it gets close to an uncomfortable reality. Getting the thread shut down doesn't solve the problem. This thread is about economics. We don't care about religion, abortion and a whole plethora of hot button issues.

Don't take the bait.

What we do want to discuss is our economic future and how we will be able to survive some really tough times. Some well intentioned but not well thought out policies in the past have put us into a real bind, and things are not going to get better.

But, we need to deal with the here and now and not the then and there. Obama's delaying the employer mandate is like giving CPR to a dead man. The fatal decisions were made years ago. So, lets not go there.

Dick Morris yesterday interviewed James Fitzgibbon, an economist for the Highlander Fund. It takes about 23 minutes to hear the whole interview. Look it up if you are interested.

The gist of the interview is that Fitzgibbon feels that the stock market is due for a major correction. Stocks are over sold, and the correction could last several years. In my book, that isn't just a correction.

I am afraid we are about to see high inflation and high unemployment. That means a falling standard of living.

Not all survival techniques work for everyone. Some of us can garden; some of us can't.

My first suggestion is to not get into debt with anything with an adjustable interest rate. That would be mortgages and credit cards.

Stocking up on food and other items might make you look like a kook, but when times turn tough, you will be eating while those that laughed at you are still hungry.

Put your assets into real property. Buying gold and silver will get you killed. When times get really tough, the government will confiscate precious metals.

Other good suggestions will be appreciated.

 

[newfoundland]

I wish we could send you some of our rain water Rufus, because we have thousands of acres under flood water and homes and businesses flooded out. There is apparently no end in sight to the conveyer belt of storms that are crossing the Atlantic Ocean on the Gulf Stream. It seems that none of us have quite what we need or want doesn't it? Oh well, the Prime Minister is about to talk on TV. Nothing like a natural disaster to bring out the 'Winston Churchill' in a British politician. Pity none of them have his vision and determination!

 

[newfoundland]

Well! further to my post above, have just heard the Prime Ministers statement. Would you believe it, after spending the last 3 years undergoing the most swingeing cuts in capital spending, and clawing every last penny from the battered population, all of a sudden, and I quote, ' Money is no object we will spend what's necessary for the relief effort'. Amazing isn't it, how the money can be found when the need is so public. Apparently there will be grants to help people and businesses to get themselves sorted out. There will be a hardship fund for those uninsured. Pumps have been brought in from Holland and troops have been deployed and more will be as many as necessary. I smell a rat here! If the environment agency had not stopped dredging the rivers, which they have neglected for years, despite public concern, I wonder if all this flooding would have happened. As usual with government, Too Little, Too Late!!!

 

[rufus]

I wish you well. Hopefully everything can be pumped out.

 

[cupman]

I miss the pre-Obama days when nobody was on welfare and the country was not in debt. Oh wait...

 

[oldrooster]

Well! further to my post above, have just heard the Prime Ministers statement. Would you believe it, after spending the last 3 years undergoing the most swingeing cuts in capital spending, and clawing every last penny from the battered population, all of a sudden, and I quote, ' Money is no object we will spend what's necessary for the relief effort'. Amazing isn't it, how the money can be found when the need is so public. Apparently there will be grants to help people and businesses to get themselves sorted out. There will be a hardship fund for those uninsured. Pumps have been brought in from Holland and troops have been deployed and more will be as many as necessary. I smell a rat here! If the environment agency had not stopped dredging the rivers, which they have neglected for years, despite public concern, I wonder if all this flooding would have happened. As usual with government, Too Little, Too Late!!!

I believe our government can do anything like you should feel about your government too! like in this video

 

[newfoundland]

I watched the video. How true! How gullible do these politicians think people are? Having been told for years we are living beyond our means. We must tighten our belts, and face years of austerity measures, today, and I quote, 'WE ARE A RICH NATION.' Beggars belief doesn't it? Oh I forgot, elections loom in the not too distant future. My guess is the PM is a gonner!

 

[Bluebonnet]

No matter your politics, being as self reliant as possible is a positive way of life for many Americans.

Even in the South, we have to go out of our way to grow certain items. Pineapples, bananas, papayas etc., all have to be grown in a greenhouse, because it just is not hot enough for them to thrive, if you can believe that!

I see that someone mentioned that owning gold and silver is a mistake.

How so? It is not like you have an obligation to tell anyone else about your purchases and if you are concerned about the government monitoring of purchase lists, you can hire persons abroad to buy and ship it to you or to bring it into the country, if you are concerned about postal records.

It is always better to have your hard goods and be secure before disaster strikes, rather than having to compete with other buyers after the fact.

Currency can change value in a crisis, but gold and silver will always be worth something. If you have to leave your home in a disaster, having a valid passport and legal papers, combined with some foreign currency, can mean the difference between you being able to get out of dodge and you becoming a refugee, which is a very vulnerable position.

Since the dollar is the world reserve currency, other countries' money is likely to be subject to wild changes in value as well.

Any shield you can get against that, the better.

 

[ClovisMan]

This is my first post in this thread and I can honestly say that I did not go back and read through 48 pages of posts, but I think ya'll are being generous giving it until 2016. I'm not a Doomsdayer or whatever they are called, but we are way over due for a Market correction. The bubble that is Quanitive Easing is already being spun down and when the Fed decides to cease buying up the 70 million a month in bonds, the economy is going to spin out of control. The dollar is already worth less than toilet paper because of the over-printing of the fiat currency. It just appears to have value because of QE and because it still being used by the World Banking System. China and Russia are already trading between themselves using the yuan, once a couple more countries jump on that ship, its all over. Don't want to sound pesimistic, but when that happens, those kooks on tv that have buckets full of rice and beans won't look so kooky any more.

 

[rufus]

Gold and silver will get you killed. When the government cannot or will not protect you, your wealth is fair game. If the thugs don't get you, the government will. Remember the Watts riots?

Nothing is secret anymore. If the government knows who bought precious metals, the thugs know also.

Keeping money in accounts abroad will get you in trouble with FATCA. That is the Foreign Accounting Tax Compliance Act. You are assumed guilty. Every time the funds are moved, a per centage is withheld and forwarded to the US government. Thirty per cent is withheld each time it is moved from institution to institution. Move it enough, and they will have most of your money. You can file and get some of it back if you can prove you earned it legally and paid taxes on it. Good luck with that.

Transfer funds to a bank in Mexico to buy a house, thirty per cent is gone. Write a check to pay for the house, another thirty per cent is gone.

A good many foreign banks will not accept US customers because the filing requirements are such an onerous boondoggle.

You cannot take more than $5,000 in or out of the country without filing papers with the government. Do so without proper paper work and the funds will be confiscated and you will end up in the cold and stoney. That said, they catch people moving hundreds of thousands of dollars across the line in Nogales. Just think of how much doesn't get caught.

Grocery stores on the other hand don't keep track of what is sold for cash. You can stock up on goods and secrete them in your residence. Food stuffs, anti biotics, toilet paper etc are the way to go.