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  • Paul Farrell predicts apocalypse, anarchy

    Weird to see mainstream financial media publishing stuff like this. Preaching 'survivalism'? Talking about "us realists"? Wow.

    http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how...ion-2010-02-09

    Feb. 9, 2010, 12:01 a.m. EST
    How to invest for a global-debt-bomb explosion

    Prepare for an apocalyptic anarchy ending Wall Street's toxic capitalism



    By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch
    ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- Wake up investors. Are you prepared for the economic anarchy coming after a global-debt time bomb explodes? Are you thinking outside the box? Investing differently? Act now -- tomorrow will be too late.



    Start by looking past the endless cable skirmishes between Rush, Glenn, Bill and Shawn versus Harry, Nancy, Ben and Barack. Look way past the insurgency bonding Sarah and her diehard Tea Party revolutionaries with Ron Paul's Neo-Reaganite ideologues, Fat-Cat Bankers and the Party of No, all planning a massive frontal assault on the 2010 elections, hell-bent on destroying the presidency. All that's the sideshow.


    The Big One is coming soon, bigger than the 2000 dot-com crash and the 2008 subprime credit meltdown combined. A huge market blowout. And as Bloomberg-BusinessWeek predicts: "The results won't be pretty for investors or elected officials."
    After the global-debt bomb explodes don't expect a typical bear correction followed by a new bull. Wall Street's toxic pseudo-capitalism is imploding. Be prepared for a massive meltdown. Yes, already the third major bubble-bust of the 21st century, triggered once again by Wall Street's out-of-control Fat Cat Bankers. And it's dead ahead.
    Can your family survive in the anarchy after the debt bomb explodes?

    America's already descending into economic anarchy. We're all trapped in a historic economic supercycle, a turning point that must bleed through a no-man's land of lawless self-destructive anarchy before a neo-capitalistic world can re-emerge. Investors tell me they "feel" it at a deep level, "know" it's happening. They keep asking: "What's the best investment strategy to prepare now?"
    This is no joke, folks. Are you prepared? Or preparing? Will your family survive in a post-apocalyptic world, when anarchy is rampant in America? Look at Washington, Wall Street and Corporate America today. You know it's already begun.
    You are witnessing a fundamental breakdown of the American dream, a systemic breakdown of our democracy and our capitalism, a breakdown driven by the blind insatiable greed of Wall Street: Dysfunctional government, insane markets, economy on the brink. Multiply that many times over and see a world in total disarray. Ignore it now, tomorrow will be too late.
    Not a war about ideology, but an economic game-changer

    This is a war to control 299 million American taxpayers. A war waged by the "Happy Conspiracy" Jack Bogle profiled in his 2004 "Battle for the Soul of Capitalism," a war machine of Fat Cat Bankers, CEOs, 42,000 mercenary lobbyists and a Congress held hostage to unlimited campaign donations. Their conspiracy has been waging this war against Americans for decades, long before the Supreme Court exposed their dirty secret.
    Yes, your enemy is that "Happy Conspiracy:" It has degraded into a pseudo-capitalism with no conscience, no sense of the public good, hell-bent on controlling America's mind, your money and the global markets for its own selfish ends. And eventually it will trigger the game-changing global-debt bomb, the third global meltdown of the century that finally ignites the Great Depression II, plunging us into an era of anarchy.
    Investors keep asking: "If it is coming, how do I invest? Buy gold? Commodities? Hedge? Short trading? TIPS? Hoard cash? Buy and hold? Lazy Portfolios?" What if the Dow sinks below 5,000? Maybe the worst-case scenario recently predicted by Bob Prechter: A deeper plunge to the 1,000 range? Imagine a global depression, a bear market dragging on for decades: "How do I protect my family? Can I ever retire? What do I invest in? How can anyone prepare?"
    How America's two classes are preparing for a descent into anarchy

    As America descends into anarchy your family's survival and your ability to retire will depend on which of America's two economic classes you belong to out of our total of roughly 300 million citizens:
    1. "Average Joe & Jane" Americans: You're one of 299 million Main Street Americans. Average income is $50,000, only 10% of the average bonuses paid to Wall Street's Fat-Cat Bankers. Or you're already one of America's 20% underemployed ... maybe on food stamps ... maybe among the 47 million with no medical insurance ... your retirement assets are about $50,000, a year's survival. And you are "mad-as-hell" you're not working "inside" the "Happy Conspiracy."
    2. "Happy Conspiracy" Insiders: You're one of the lucky million or so elite Insiders in the "Happy Conspiracy." You may work for a Fat-Cat Bank that American taxpayers bailed out last year so you pocketed a 2009 bonus gift of somewhere between $600,000 and $10 million. Maybe you're a Corporate American CEO. Maybe you're on the Forbes 400 list. Or you're a U.S. Senator.


    Here's how these savvy Insiders are preparing: In his 2008 best-seller, "Wealth, War and Wisdom," hedge fund manager Barton Biggs, a highly respected Insider in the "Happy Conspiracy," advised rich insiders to expect the "possibility of a breakdown of the civilized infrastructure."
    His advice: Make tons of money. Buy an isolated farm in the mountains. Protect family against the barbarians: "Your safe haven must be self-sufficient and capable of growing some kind of food ... It should be well-stocked with seed, fertilizer, canned food, wine, medicine, clothes, etc. Think Swiss Family Robinson."
    How Wall Street insiders will treat Main Street in 'The Anarchy'

    And when the barbarians do come, firing "a few rounds over the approaching brigands' heads would probably be a compelling persuader that there are easier farms to pillage." Imagine a scene like Port-au-Prince after the quake. Biggs is no radical anarchist, he's an establishment Insider, a great guy. We both arrived at Morgan Stanley about the same time. Biggs remained 30 years, was Morgan's chief global strategist. Ten times Institutional Investor magazine put him on Wall Street's "All-America Research Team."
    True, he did hedge his prediction of the coming anarchy. His odds: 1 in 10. But in an early 2009 Newsweek article, "A Generation of Destruction: Throwing money at the problem and propping up greedy banks is like trying to put out a fire by pouring gasoline on it," Biggs teased us with a bleak scenario: "Great cycles of wealth creation have usually lasted about two generations, or 60 years. Inevitably, unequal riches corrupt and create envy, and they are always followed by a generation of enormous wealth destruction."
    Warning: By vastly understating the risks while his Insiders prepare for the coming anarchy, Biggs is quietly misleading and disarming the rest of America.
    The truth is Insiders in the "Happy Conspiracy" elite will follow Biggs' ultra-simple investment strategy: Make massive amounts of money fast using short-term strategies, spout lip service about the "public good." But always act in your own self-interests first, preparing for when anarchy spreads worldwide in an economic pandemic.
    How can America's 299 million 'second-class citizens' invest for anarchy?

    So what can the average Joe and Jane, the other 299 million Americans do? Warning: In anarchy, nobody knows. Period. The only possible strategy: "Think Swiss Family Robinson." Stockpile like a "Happy Conspiracy Insider."
    Many still challenge us about proven strategies like buy and hold, Modern Portfolio Theory, Lazy Portfolios. Unfortunately, they all need a real democracy driven by honest, transparent capitalism to function effectively. They can't function in anarchy.
    And Wall Street's already lapsed into a toxic pseudo-capitalism, using it to manipulate Main Street America. Eventually that mindset will force Main Street Americans to misuse the same dark "Swiss Family Robinson" tactics as the Insiders in order to survive the coming anarchy.
    What's our alternative? A new American Revolution

    But wait, wait, I hear you asking loudly: There must be an alternative to this dark descent into anarchy, to the loss of everything that made America the greatest nation in history?
    Yes there is an alternative. Out of the ashes of anarchy must come a Second American Revolution. But unfortunately nothing will happen until a great crisis awakens America ... shocks the conscience of the masses ... we are "asleep" ... only a seismic, systemic shock will trigger the necessary revolution.
    The future of our economy and indeed our nation demands another political revolution. We must take back our democracy and capitalism from a government run by Wall Street and its "Happy Conspiracy" ... their toxic self-serving power hold must be broken and, if not, a rising new conspiracy of China, India, oil-sovereignties and asset-rich nations will replace our homegrown "Happy Conspiracy" as it eventually goes down in the flames of anarchy.
    Sadly, that's the future many of us realists see ahead for America."

  • #2
    Re: Paul Farrell predicts apocalypse, anarchy

    Put the coffee cup down Paul.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Paul Farrell predicts apocalypse, anarchy

      I'm sorry, I'm very very tired of reading quotes like this:

      ""Your safe haven must be self-sufficient and capable of growing some kind of food ... It should be well-stocked with seed, fertilizer, canned food, wine, medicine, clothes, etc. Think Swiss Family Robinson." "

      Gimme a break. You need guns and a gang. Seriously, if civilization breaks down it will be people with guns and gangs that will rule. War lords .. think Haitia, think Afghanistan.

      Unless you can turn gold into gold bullets, it'll be useless.

      You want to be prepared? Stock up on bullets and like minded friends who can bring it.

      The only currency will be how dangerous and invincible you are.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Paul Farrell predicts apocalypse, anarchy

        Could someone who believes we're heady for anarchy please cite an example of a Western nation that descended into anarchy because of financial collapse.

        What Western nations have experienced the worst financial collapses in the past, say, 200 years?

        Weimar Germany comes to mind. And did it descend into anarchy? No. Things got scarce. People went hungry; some may have even starved. But there was still law and order. It was not 'Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.' They got a really bad dictator out of it but they didn't have anarchy.

        The US had the Great Depression, a serious depression in 1907, another back in the 1870s. Never had anarchy.

        Before I get too worked up about anarchy I would like some realistic examples of where this happened before because of a serious economic situation. It seems to me that a collapse into anarchy in the past - and I'm not sure offhand what examples I can think of except perhaps Somalia - is because of civil war between competing ethnic/religious identity groups in a country.

        Yes, financial collapse would bring a period of economic hardship. That's a long leap from 'anarchy', however.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Paul Farrell predicts apocalypse, anarchy

          I think that we've got the ingredient to make civil war in this country.
          The government, being one of the most devisive organizations we know, would probably do a lot to feed it. I certainly think it would be powerless to stop it.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Paul Farrell predicts apocalypse, anarchy

            Obama needs to come to the center. I agree, he's a little out of touch with what's going on. And by center, I don't mean Wall Street.

            The problem is, he made a lot of promises and now he can't keep them if he goes to the center.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Paul Farrell predicts apocalypse, anarchy

              Originally posted by blazespinnaker View Post
              Obama needs to come to the center. I agree, he's a little out of touch with what's going on. And by center, I don't mean Wall Street.
              I don't think Obama has got what it takes; time will tell.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Paul Farrell predicts apocalypse, anarchy

                Originally posted by blazespinnaker View Post
                Obama needs to come to the center.
                What? He is already center-right, and for all practical intents and purposes there is no true Left in America. There is Center, Center-Right, and Extreme-Right and that is it in the US.

                We'd be better off if there was a true Left, or at least some true right progressives that stood for classical Rep. values (ie. small gov, fiscal restraint, preservation of individual rights) instead of a bunch of corrupt posers who continuously say one thing and do another.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Paul Farrell predicts apocalypse, anarchy

                  Originally posted by blazespinnaker View Post
                  The only currency will be how dangerous and invincible you are.
                  I'm gonna have to ramp up my mojo.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Paul Farrell predicts apocalypse, anarchy

                    Originally posted by Mn_Mark View Post
                    Could someone who believes we're heady for anarchy please cite an example of a Western nation that descended into anarchy because of financial collapse.
                    Certain localities, such as West Los Angeles or New Orleans have collapsed into anarchy in recent times.

                    I'm figuring that when the big overriding "good times" economy collapses, we will each get to learn how healthy our local economies and society are. Most areas will do just fine, albeit quite a bit poorer, scraping by. Some inner cities will be hell on wheels.

                    The U.S. (I'm U.S. centric) is a big place. It's not one size fits all. Much of this diversity has been obscured and obfuscated by the pervasive expansion of nation wide retail chains these last few decades. Some of those chains will be doing some serious down sizing.
                    Most folks are good; a few aren't.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Paul Farrell predicts apocalypse, anarchy

                      Originally posted by Mn_Mark View Post
                      Could someone who believes we're heady for anarchy please cite an example of a Western nation that descended into anarchy because of financial collapse.

                      What Western nations have experienced the worst financial collapses in the past, say, 200 years?
                      Let's ask a different question. Can someone please cite an example of a society that has attained such a high level of hypercomplexity such as ours?

                      Here's what I mean by hypercomplexity:

                      -most money is virtual, whether it's accessed thru debit or credit cards. It relies on electricity, the internet, and the banks' health.

                      -most food is grown hundreds, if not well over a thousand miles from where you live

                      -many of the employed rely on high asset values. They are employees of the FIRE economy. I work in a major city, and as I walk to work in the morning, I see thousands of people doing the same thing, all going to offices and cubes to tap on keyboards all day. It blows my mind to think what the hell are we really doing and how do we all get paid doing it.

                      - in the Great Depression, 25-30% of the population grew food. They lived where they found food. Now it's 2-3% of the popualtion.

                      -Everybody drives. Eveything is ultimately trucked. Petroleum and money move together. One impacts the other.

                      -With state and local budgets under duress, how many cops can we really afford?

                      Those are just a few of the things that make our society hypercomplex. Whereas our society has evolved to produce efficiency and profits, I think it comes at a cost - robustness. A village in the third world is more robust than our society. If there was a financial collapse, the village moves on. I don't know what that would mean for us though.

                      Look at New Orleans just after Hurricane Katrina. That town went mad max in just a couple days.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Paul Farrell predicts apocalypse, anarchy

                        Gun owners have bought about 12 billion rounds of ammunition in the past year, industry officials estimate. That's up from 7 billion to 10 billion in a normal year.

                        http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...110202712.html

                        And this is with shortage... I am sure if ammo was more readily available, the numbers would be higher.

                        This isn't an encouraging number...

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Paul Farrell predicts apocalypse, anarchy

                          Originally posted by mesyn191 View Post
                          What? He is already center-right, and for all practical intents and purposes there is no true Left in America. There is Center, Center-Right, and Extreme-Right and that is it in the US.

                          We'd be better off if there was a true Left, or at least some true right progressives that stood for classical Rep. values (ie. small gov, fiscal restraint, preservation of individual rights) instead of a bunch of corrupt posers who continuously say one thing and do another.
                          Sorry friend. I would not like to be living under a true social
                          left environment. I would rather loose all my gold to Banks than
                          live in a society where moral values come to the level
                          of animals. Money can come and go.

                          I would have really liked Huckabee to win election in USA. He was
                          a money left and social right candidate. But then that
                          wall street Trojan horse Romney brought him down
                          because the people got confused and votes got split.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Paul Farrell predicts apocalypse, anarchy

                            The difference between past depressions and this one will (or may) be the availability of energy.

                            In past depressions the population still had available the energy that was in use at the time, so goods were still able to be grown (a significant portion of which was still provided by the families themselves, unlike today) and transported to market.

                            Our system today is JIT which is highly dependent on gasoline/diesel as well as food production being both concentrated (requiring long distance supply lines) and highly dependent on fossil based fertilizers and machinery.

                            A depression which also has as a component severe energy supply restrictions (peak oil type stuff or supply being cutoff to US vis-a-vie war or currency crisis) may very well result in anarchy as cities and towns run out of food. If either food or gas is rationed it will start a feedback loop where folks either have to drive more often to get food (food rationing) which results in more gas usage OR vice versa which results in stores running out of food as people buy twice as much as usual (assuming they can afford to).

                            If one believes in peak oil and studies the impact oil has had on population growth and sustenance, then a large dieoff is the only conclusion that can be reached sans a new energy source adaptable to the current system of food production/disbursement. We are not transitioning to anything remotely capable of replacing this system as far as I can tell, so I'm thinking dieoff.
                            I don't think folks are programmed to sit around watching their families die of starvation so yeah, anarchy is possible depending on the energy availability.

                            Transitioning back to low fossil fuel usage isn't going to be pretty for the world, assuming that what we are experiencing now is just the leading edge of such a transition. IMO.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Paul Farrell predicts apocalypse, anarchy

                              Originally posted by skidder View Post
                              We are not transitioning to anything remotely capable of replacing this system as far as I can tell, so I'm thinking dieoff.
                              A way to profit from the big dieoff............http://www.sci-corp.com/SCICORP/home.aspx

                              Comment

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