Posted on 12/09/2011 9:58:44 PM PST by Para-Ord.45
I don’t think you understood what I said - TOTAL, COMPLETE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE OF EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES.
Haven’t you been following what is going on in Europe? do you read Ann Barnhardt’s blog, especially this week?
I suggest you start with Monday, Dec.5th, and work your way through everything until today. It’s a wake-up call when someone like her says we may have a total economic collapse - system wide - before Christmas.
Disclaimer: I don’t know what I’m talking about and need Freeper guidance.
I am a hard wired, genetically programmed prepper and a hard asset person and have been for a long time. If tshtf, I’m as good as I can be.
However, I am surrounded by successful, soft asset, 401k, etc. people (my children, among others) who do not see the world as I see it.
When I bring up the potential threat, they remind me about the FDIC and that if the bank(s) fails, then the next day it reopens with a new owner and name and their accounts are just as liquid and just as safe.
Barnhardt and Zero Hedge are good but it is like pointing at cracks in a big tall building that is in New York City and isn’t relevant to their lives. While I think that it can land on their heads, I am not making the case. I need intellectual ammo.
Could the government just provide liquidity on demand accounts, i.e. checking, passbook savings, etc. and convert all others in timed commitments like CD’s, 401k’s, etc. to a “government bond at 2-3% and no withdrawal until the government says you can” type of arrangement? (I think I just made this up but it makes sense at some level.)
What is the scenario for these kids?
Not to make light of your concern, but way back in the mid 1980’s and again in the 1990’s there were a series of “economic survival” books and 2 I remember were written by the same author whose name I cannot recall except to say it was an Indian name. These books had the self same theme, the coming collapse, why it would happen and what to do about it to protect yourself.
It didn’t happen then and although no one can say with certainty whether or not it will happen before Christmas, I personally would like to place a small wager of say $1000 that it will not. Of course if I lose then the $1000 you win will be worthless. Perhaps we could make the wager in gold?
LOL! Even though I do not feel like laughing.
I’ve been unemployed since January. All my coins, gold and silver, have been spent trying to keep my dad, who has Alzheimers, in adult foster care. It appears, by New Years Day, all my efforts will be for nothing. We’ll be out of money and the only financial support he will have is his pensions and social security which can pay for his medical care and immediate support, but not the mortgage, credit card payments, or the car payments.
I know what you’re trying to say, for I too, had your hard core belief in our capititalist system. But something is wrong now with our economy and even the whole system, and I can’t quite put my mind to exactly what it might be.
At this point in time I suspect the only really stressful moment will be determining when to rush to the bank and withdraw all those worthless paper dollars.
I’m not sure what is in store for our kids.
My nephew, age 19, is trying to get a job with a railroad, at the same time he is seeking financial aid to attend college and earn an associates in welding tech.
I suspect that for the young, they must research what jobs will help rebuild our economy and take a path towards jobs that meet those goals. Maybe becoming a machinist, a millwright, or a carpenter; or maybe learning computer assisted manufacturing. The truth about work is timeless: if you love what you do for a living, it isn’t really work.
I tell young people if you don’t know what you want to do with your life, join the military. It doesn’t matter which branch. I guarantee that within two weeks of starting recruit training (BOOT CAMP!) you will likely know what you want to do the rest of your life, and it ain’t the military! But it is a good interlude where young minds can learn to become organized and self-disciplined, and maybe earn the seed money to start a business. The opportunities are there, they just need to recognize them.
For the young, there is always a future. We should encourage them to think positive for they have the time to follow differing pathways of discovery. Some will end in disappointment but some will open other avenues of opportuniaty. Just keep going forward and do not get discouraged.
I hope this helps you, Ron. For the youngsters, I think there is potential in the future. It is those like ourselves I worry about.
Not that I understand this situation completely, but, rather than rush to withdraw a stash of worthless paper dolars, wouldn’t it be better to convert that cash now to food stores and ammo?
I know what you’re trying to say, for I too, had your hard core belief in our capititalist system. But something is wrong now with our economy and even the whole system, and I can’t quite put my mind to exactly what it might be.
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The problem is easily identified as debt. Debt incurred by spending and promising to spend more then can be afforded. The solution is as easily identified as cutting both current spending and future spending.
I think up until very recently the politicians who engineered this (world wide) Ponzi scheme of ever escalating give aways funded by ever increasing taxes believed there horseshit scheme would last forever or atb least until THEY retired with their stash.
Now that realization has hit them they know exactly what must be done but the problem is to convince the “deliberately kept stupid public” of what must be done. The public was led to believe and mostly still does that if taxes are just raised on the “rich” who certainly don’t NEED all that money and in any case stole it from hard working middle class people, all the problems would go away and paradise will remain open.
That extreme cuts in both current and future spending will be made is a given. It is just a matter of when and how extreme. Will the “free stuff for me” crowd be upset? Will they riot? probably they will to some extent but it will in the end make no difference because if the cuts are not made soon the pain and the rioting will be that much worse and the so called “leaders” know this. Being politicians it is difficult for them to come right out and state the obvios and admit their past policies are all failing and we must make corrections to sustain the necessary programs now or else they will be lost forever or so diminished they will be all but gone.
SS will go private, of that I have absolutely no doubt and it will begin with all those entering the workforce and include those already in the workforce to a limited extent based on their age and how near retirement they are. The retirement age will be raised and perhaps some means testing done as well as removing the cap on SS pmts (I know it’s a tax increase but it may be necessary). There will be medical savings accounts made mandatory to new entrants into the work force and these accounts will fund the medical coverage for workers who retire.
Some changes will be radical and the ones who will scream the loudest are predictable and they must be ignored. Like that man said,(paraphrase) “The needs of the many outweigh the wants of the few”
Yes. Unless the cash is needed to pay the mortgage, the car payment, or the credit card.
Then again, if the whole damned economy is going to go “poof”, why bother paying. I’ll go buy food and ammo.
Thanks!
You are correct on the advice to your nephew. I was a reluctant participant in the US Army, but, it turned out to be a life altering (in a positive way) experience.
My kids, though, are past that stage. One is an attorney, the other a successful programmer. They have assets to lose if there is a financial collapse. I can’t get them to see beyond what the FDIC can and cannot do for them. The concepts of the ATM not working and the government grabbing their retirement funds are what I cannot get across.
I can’t seem to formulate a plan for what they should actually do and sell it.
“SS will go private, of that I have absolutely no doubt and it will begin with all those entering the workforce and include those already in the workforce to a limited extent based on their age and how near retirement they are. The retirement age will be raised and perhaps some means testing done as well as removing the cap on SS pmts (I know it’s a tax increase but it may be necessary). There will be medical savings accounts made mandatory to new entrants into the work force and these accounts will fund the medical coverage for workers who retire.”
This is so sensible, one wonders why it hasn’t been the norm for these past 70 or so years. Really!
I suggest you print out what Ann Barnhardt has said this past week, Dec. 5th. throught Dec. 9th, at her blog.
She does a good job of explaining what is going to happen. She even says that taking the tax penalty when cashing out the 401K is worth it, as the government will seize all.
Good luck with your children. Maybe they’ll listen, maybe they won’t. But at least you’ve tried to alert them to the potential dangers of our future. That is all that we, as loving elders, can do to aid the young.
Our children roll their eyes and laugh behind our backs at the paranoia of the geezers. Until they actually lose their financial cushions and their futures, they are unlikely to listen to anyone who isn’t telling them soothing tales. And, when it actually happens, they will blame the capitalists, producers and conservatives because that is what they are conditioned to do.
I know countless families like yours. In the end, the culture won and we cannot protect adult children from consequences.
If the worst sort of collapse happens, how many of them will even be able to get from wherever they are to any sort of even relative safety?
In the end, most parents continue to worry, make sure their kids know there is some preparation ongoing by their parents and leave the rest to God.
At some point they may even ask you how you knew all this when every news source they respect has told them it can’t happen here. If we are very lucky, they will neither blame us nor give us up to the authorities in the name of fairness.
It’s painful, but no one I know has an answer. The best response I have seen is one family where the father has managed to set up two of his kids in business managing family real estate assets. One other child is in the military and the fourth has a slew of kids, a stubborn independent spouse, is on welfare, but knows that Dad has the means and the place for them all to be safe. Ironically, it is only the fourth who is a conservative and has the personal skills to survive after a collapse.
It is a strange world, these days.
Because by keeping control of the folks money the sleazebag pols keep them needy and can get their votes.
It’s really no more complicated then that. Why do you think the blacks have gone nowhere in this country? The Dems have kept them down and dependent and turned them as a race against everyone else. They have bought 100% into the line handed them by the dems and that is “Whitey be keepin’ you down” (but vote for us because we will help and we are your only chance)
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