Warning from Paul Ferrell.

[Atash Hagmahani]

Marketwatch is "relatively" mainstream. But this guy is getting fairly radical, and blunt.

I will start becoming a tad more blunt, even though it draws some unwanted attention to myself (you know, "crackpot" issues), because I think we're running out of time for just dropping hints.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-to-invest-for-the-debt-bomb-explosion-2010-02-09?pagenumber=1

This guy is telling you like it is folks. Say "thank you", and appreciate the favor.

I would like to mention that Jim Sinclair, who does NOT need the business (he made "his" a long time ago), is also sounding the warning. So is Jim Rogers, who does not need the publicity; he could buy it if he wanted to. These are men of good will despite their good fortune and a high standing in life. They are warning the little guys. That is why Marxist class-baiting is evil; it judges people because of their fortunes instead of WHETHER THEY EARNED THEM.

The people who are singing the siren's songs of "green shoots" and "spreading democracy and decency" are evil. They are lying to you, leading you down the primrose path. Don't fall for it; they are embezzling this country's wealth and other countries' too truth be told. The "harlot of Babylon", whose sins are piled up to heaven.

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.
...
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.

[MamaBear]

This guy is telling you like it is folks. Say "thank you", and appreciate the favor.

Amen, brother; good article. Thanks for the link.

So here's a related (I  think) question: how feasible is it to leave the country, and if so, when do we know it's time to put that plan into action? I know this has been kicked around in past posts, but I can't remember who, if any, is giving serious thought to this one. I am thinking about getting passports for my two young children just to reserve the option in the future. But it's one of those "the devil you know is better than the one you don't" type situations; I don't have contacts in another country to help me relocate and the option of going it alone is daunting to say the least. But then again, my great-grandparents fled Europe without any help; these things can be done I guess. Just some thoughts...

[offdalip]

where would you go?

Chile?
Western Canada?

Logistics of carrying anything but cash or gold/silver are daunting. (esp. if a huge collapse is underway).

Then like you said, you gotta work with only what's available......

[Atash Hagmahani]

Mamabear, I will answer your question shortly. The short answer is that you don't flee anywhere DURING a crisis. You either go before it hits, or you wait until the situation stabilizes afterwards.

Several of us will be looking around South America. The reason for South America is that the land is affordable, the countries relatively hospitable, and the population densities low enough to find areas where we can lay low.

New Zealand, a popular destination, is beautiful and has a gentle climate, but the government is not friendly towards our interests. Australia also has some political issues, plus is so dry that there's not a lot of arable land without irrigation.

[MamaBear]

where would you go?

Chile?
Western Canada?

I've thought about Canada because logistically it would be the easiest place to get to, and then could be a springboard to a different destination if needed. I've only considered countries where my professional credentials would directly transfer, which for me is English-speaking countries. I wouldn't touch Europe; I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir on that one. Only other option would be Australia/New Zealand, but as Atash points out so well:

New Zealand, a popular destination, is beautiful and has a gentle climate, but the government is not friendly towards our interests. Australia also has some political issues, plus is so dry that there's not a lot of arable land without irrigation.

and he's very right. I guess the reality is that I will be sitting this one out here in Appalachia. Which is fine really b/c the US is the only place with favorable gun laws (for now) -- definitely couldn't own firearms in those other countries as I do now.

I guess when I read an article like Mr. Ferrell's, my initial response is to FLEE, but probably is not the most practical option. But I was curious if this were a real option for some of you readers.

[Eddie]

I really don't see anything new that hasn't been discussed already at some point.

Okay, so a financial collapse is coming.

[Mike]

Our descendants have been unjustly encumbered with debt.... and the debt is growing. 

*********

Every day I go to the gym and ask, "Have you heard any interesting news today."  The Olympics and the-game is the only thing they have been watching. 

Wait until the bill is slipped under their door.

****************8

I just got a visa to Paraguay. 

It will be an exploratory vacation.  I don't know anyone in Paraguay.  Paraguay has a lot of problems...., but it is cheap. 

My 'interesting' list includes Peru, Uruguay (thanks offdalip), Bolivia, & Colombia,

In my opinion, Canada & Mexico are too much like home.

I do know some Peruvians, Venezuelans.

*******
By all means, everybody should have a passport.  The time to make ties and friendships is now.

[Atash Hagmahani]

Eddie, you're right that this is nothing new, but the fact that a somewhat mainstream publication dares to openly discuss it, and that, furthermore, he's explaining that the elites have THEIR plans in place (looting the system for everything they can get their hands on) is significant, if for no other reason that it is a confirmation of what the rest of us have suspected for a long time.

[Eddie]

You do have a point there Atash. I would like to see some other mainstreamers buck the trend soon.

[Atash Hagmahani]

Mamabear, many of us will stay here either by choice or will get stuck. Other parts of the world will have their own challenges, so you pick where you want to take your stand, according to your best information available.

What might be a good idea, if it can be arranged, is for those of us who do leave to stay in touch with those who do not, so that multiple refuges are set up in multiple locations, so that not all eggs are in one basket.

My friends, for example, would be welcome at my door in times of hardship, just like our immigrant ancestors often organized things in groups, and helped each other get established.

People from the old countries fleeing poverty, war, religious persecution, and other problems, did indeed go many different directions. They didn't all come to the USA. Some went to Canada, some to Argentina and Brazil, some in various odd corners of the world. Some had to move a few times before they found someplace they felt they could call "home".

For me, English language is not only NOT a necessity, but is actually a DRAWBACK. New Zealand for example would report my financial business to the US government. There is also the problem that a lot of international policy trends follow the English language. For example, most of the English-speaking countries were the first to adopt the "white list" (restrictions on the flow of crop seed), and the first to implement Rockefeller Foundation bad educational policies. 

I can learn virtually any "Indo-European" (as the universities call them) language, although Polish might be a bit of a challenge.  (Polish is tricky). It helps that so many of the root words are recognizeable, and they all have similar grammars (compared to something really exotic, that is). Spanish will probably be the main one and that is relatively easy to learn aside from the large numbers of exotic verb tenses. I would guess that some of them are vaguely similar to those in French, which I can speak (though exotic verb tenses in French don't necessarily come to me all that readily!! But to tell you the truth, they hardly ever use them all anymore anyway).

The alphabet is almost identical aside from things like n with a tilda. For that matter, Cyrillic is pretty easy, and Devanigiri isn't hard.

6 months and you'd be fluent.

One interesting thing about new environments: new opportunities.

I happen to know some skills that are very rare in South America. I could live well again. 

[offdalip]

I don't know anyone in Paraguay.

I seem to recall George Bush (or Cheney?) and George Soros bought huge parcels of land in Paraguay....

[Atash Hagmahani]

Unsubstantiated rumor, and apparently a hoax, apparently motivated by post-Cold-War political objectives.

The idea is that Paraguay is run by Nazis, and the implication is that George Bush is a crypto-Nazi. It isn't, and never was, and George Bush isn't either. It does have a substantial German minority, who were not Nazis, contrary to Hollywood fiction, and who were victims more than perpetrators of anything.

It did long have a local dictator who was half-German, and who also happened to be quite dark-skinned from his Guarani Mama. I don't think that history shows that there was any significant body count from his repressions. He was quite tolerated as an ant-Communist as long as the Cold War was raging, but as soon as it was over, he "had to go" and was ousted in what was probably a CIA-orchestrated coup.

Then imaginations ran wild. 

[offdalip]

in any case, those were rumors I heard last year of those guys buying large farmland tracts down there.
there are ways to ultimately verify I am sure if somebody wants to dig.

I am still doubtful of the idea of resettling when the whole premise 200, 100 years ago was based on
an "endless frontier". If you settled where there were resources you got rich. If not, you struggled.

There seem to still be plenty of areas in the North American Continent to find the places which fit
our criteria ( minus taxes and liberties ).

But taxes can always be minimized  (ahem, make your own whatever), and liberties can be distanced from their point of enforcement.

I guess this is the Amish approach as well.

[hancocs]

I thought this article was good, but why make a pile of money when it not going to be worth the paper it is printed on.   

[offdalip]

I thought this article was good, but why make a pile of money when it not going to be worth the paper it is printed on.

you can convert it into something else that does not lose it's value over time.....