Free Republic

For the last few days, we’ve been having an important discussion about the magnitude of the economic challenges in the west; if you didn’t read yesterday’s letter, I really encourage you to do so before proceeding because it’s important to understand why the west has truly passed the point of no return. Simply put, the United States and much of Europe are borrowing an extraordinary amount of money now just to pay interest on the money they’ve already borrowed. They cannot even self-fund their mandatory entitlement programs without going into the hole, and their options are limited: Option 1: Continue...

If you listen to Ben Bernanke, Barack Obama and the mainstream media long enough, and if you didn't know any better, you might be tempted to think that the economic crisis is long gone and that we are in the midst of a burgeoning economic recovery. Unfortunately, the truth is that the economic crisis is far from over. In 2010, more homes were repossessed than ever before, more Americans were on food stamps than ever before and a smaller percentage of American men had jobs than ever before. The reality is that the United States is an economic basket case...

Right now, we are witnessing a truly historic collapse of the economy, and yet most Americans do not understand what is going on. One of the biggest reasons why the American people do not understand what is happening to the economy is because our politicians and the mainstream media are not telling the truth. Barack Obama and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke keep repeating the phrase "economic recovery" over and over, and this is really confusing for most Americans because things sure don't seem to be getting much better where they live. There are millions upon millions of Americans that...

We're already in May, and so suddenly people are wondering: Where are all the muni market disasters we're supposed to be getting this year? Why has it been so quiet. Why haven't munis fallen, like Meredith Whitney said they would? Fear not: she hasn't given up. Speaking today at the Milken Conference in LA, she doubled down on her call for hundreds of billions of dollars worth of defaults saying, according to Bloomberg: "This municipal issue, you can criticize me for anything you want, I’m numb to it, because I have more conviction on this than I’ve had on any...

No Buyers For Treasuries aka "Toxic Waste" Bob ChapmanMay 2, 2011 We believe there will be something similar to a QE3 by another name and the Fed will probably have to create some $2.5 trillion to buy Treasuries, Agencies, and toxic waste and perhaps inject funds into the economy. Japan certainly won’t be a buyer and probably will be a seller. China has indicated that they won’t be purchasers in the future either. The question also arises concerning the continued purchase of these securities by countries in the oil producing Gulf States, which are in turmoil. The three countries make...

Considerations For SHTF Living & Bug Out Locations Mac Slavo May 3rd, 2011 Editor’s note: If you are not yet in the location you want to be if the S were to hit the fan, and are currently looking for either a home or raw land, then we recommend that you also read What Is The Best Place To Live In The United States To Prepare For The Coming Economic Collapse. The opinions expressed below are a supplement to that article. If insulating yourself from a worst-case scenario is your primary concern then the following considerations, some of which were...

How QE2 Has Changed Everything By Bill BonnerApril 4, 2011 05/04/11 Baltimore, Maryland – Monday was a no-action day on Wall Street. Tuesday was dead too. Except that gold dropped $16. The killing of Osama bin Laden was supposed to raise prices. Especially the price of the dollar. The buck has been going down for 3 years. It’s now within a few cents of its all time low, registered back in the ’70s. We were prepared to advocate more killing, maybe even mass murder, if it would lower the unemployment rate…but the ‘killing lift’ was short lived. It lasted only...

What Is The Best Place To Live In The United States To Prepare For The Coming Economic Collapse?May 2, 2011 What is the best place to live in the United States? I get asked that question all the time. My answer can be summed up in two words: it depends. The truth is that the answer is going to be different for each person. All of us have different goals and different needs. If you have a very strong network of family and friends where you live right now, you might want to think twice before moving hundreds or thousands...

The dollar doesn’t have much clout these days. The greenback has lost 12 percent of its value against foreign currencies since the chaotic period after the failure of Lehman Brothers in 2008, and nearly 5 percent since the end of 2010. Economists are debating the end of the era of the dollar, while news organizations paint it as a 98-pound weakling. Our so-called “fiat” currency, backed only by the full faith and credit of the government, no longer commands respect. So wouldn’t we be better off without it? Imagine you woke up tomorrow and the dollar had vanished. The Federal...

What is the best place to live in the United States? I get asked that question all the time. My answer can be summed up in two words: it depends. The truth is that the answer is going to be different for each person. All of us have different goals and different needs. If you have a very strong network of family and friends where you live right now, you might want to think twice before moving hundreds or thousands of miles away. If you have a great job where you live right now, you might want to hold...

In case you haven't noticed, the world is on the verge of a horrific global food crisis. At some point, this crisis will affect you and your family. It may not be today, and it may not be tomorrow, but it is going to happen. Crazy weather and horrifying natural disasters have played havoc with agricultural production in many areas of the globe over the past couple of years. Meanwhile, the price of oil has begun to skyrocket. The entire global economy is predicated on the ability to use massive amounts of inexpensive oil to cheaply produce food and...

The discussions and facts concerning an impending economic collapse have been an ongoing source of contention since the last presidential election. I am cognizant of the facts and the Cloward-Piven Strategy as well as the lack of leadership in the political arena to address the necessary measures to return to a responsible fiscal policy. The issue that I want to address is one with “We the People”. How many conversations have you had concerning your personal finances in respect to credit cards? Have you considered running up multiple credit card balances since the dollar will collapse or hyperinflation will make...

Click the link. It's devastating to Obama.

In response to my ongoing discussion of a deflationary depression versus an inflationary depression, readers often ask me if a “soft landing” is possible. I guess the answer to that question depends on how you define soft landing. If by soft landing, you mean we will somehow muddle through, things will calm down on their own, and we will not experience a great deal of pain, the answer is no. But if your definition of soft landing is an economy that declines slowly, without violent revolution, I would say such a scenario is possible. There are a number of complex...

It was during that conversation with Ray a few days ago that he nailed me with that question. We had been talking for about an hour about how things went down here in Argentina, the similarities, inflation, how “shopping carts” keep getting more and more expensive, how crime affects your lifestyle. But what to do? The person now gets it, the person not only understands the wisdom in preparing for disasters large and small but comprehends that due to the current economic situation, life in general is going to change from now on, unemployment, inflation, loss of life quality in...

WHEREAS, the present monetary and banking systems of the United States, centered around the Federal Reserve System, have come under ever-increasing strain during the last several years, and will be exposed to ever-increasing and predictably debilitating strain in the years to come. WHEREAS, many widely recognized experts predict the inevitable destruction of the Federal Reserve System’s currency through hyperinflation in the foreseeable future. WHEREAS, in the event of hyperinflation, depression, or other economic calamity related to the breakdown of the Federal Reserve System, for which the Commonwealth is not prepared, the Commonwealth’s governmental finances and Virginia’s private economy will be...

In the lead up to the 2008 Presidential election college campuses fairly crackled with excitement and anticipation. The oh-so-much-more enlightened “Youth vote” was ready to explode and “show” the older generations who was the smartest most compassionate and most politically correct generation in American history. They intended to elect America’s first Black president, and they did. Now two years later those 18 to 24 year olds look like the dumbest group of people ever to walk into a polling place. The most recent USA TODAY analysis of the employment picture reveals the startling fact that, as a group, those aged...

Unlike Zimbabwe, the U.S. can easily get the currency it needs without being beholden to anyone. But wouldn't that dilute the value of the currency? No... ...If the Fed were to follow the lead of Japan and hold federal debt equal to the country’s gross domestic product, the Fed would be holding $14.75 trillion in federal securities, enough to refinance the ENTIRE U.S. federal debt of $13.8 trillion virtually interest-free. The federal debt hasn’t been paid off since the 1830s under President Andrew Jackson. It is just rolled over from year to year. An interest-free debt rolled over indefinitely is...

Is the beast of deflation crouching outside our door? Could this be the real reason behind the Federal Reserve's recent injection of $600 billion into the economy? Despite the logic of much of the criticism being aimed at the Fed, it may be doing what it has to do to keep the country from spiraling down into a deeper recession. In the midst of what amounts to a virtual economic war with some of our trading partners, it's important for us to understand exactly what is at risk and what the Fed is up to. First, the risk: Deflation is...

Even if IÂ’m wrong, and my old rival Paul Krugman is rightÂ… and that is possible. I donÂ’t rule that out. Even if heÂ’s right and the interest rate is low, the bond market is in a coma, and the vigilante go off and take up some other activities. Recurrent deficits year after year, never much less than 5 percent of GDP even on the administrationÂ’s optimistic forecasts, plus debt accumulation as a result mean inevitably that interest payments will consume a rising proportion of tax revenue. The process I have described you is independent of any bond market panic....