I’m sure that everyone saw the video of the destruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge at a major port in Baltimore. My first thought -before more information came out- was that this is just great. We send BILLIONS- and probably TRILLIONS to other countries as our infrastructure crumbles. Congress is SUPPOSED to vote on spending that benefits ALL of their constituents. Of course, this has not been true for a LONG time but now that we are insolvent (without conjuring cash up out of nowhere) and our lifestyles being threatened more and more every day, almost everyone is noticing that it appears our “leaders” have no desire to make OUR lives better, but only to answer to their masters that fund them.
As more information came out it was noticed that the ship lost power at least twice and lost the ability to navigate. Now, I have to wonder if this could have been a terrorist act. What could cause a ship to lose power? Honestly, it could just simply be a short-circuit or faulty wiring to an EMP-type of attack. The sad part is that we may never know the truth.
What we do know is that the crew was aware and probably saved dozens of lives (if not more) by warning the authorities there was a problem.
Congress has had hearings recently that acknowledged that China had communication devices in cranes that could be used for spying- AT OUR PORTS. Could it do anything else? The Russians have EMP capabilities that they demonstrated in Syria as mini-EMP strikes sent Israeli planes back to Israel with no navigation, communication or defense systems. A US ship was similarly disabled in the Black Sea years ago. (Dr. Paul Craig Roberts)
The result of our hubris and stupidity is that whether our infrastructure is collapsing (it most certainly is) or we are being attacked in a way that will further harm our economy the rest of the world is watching the USA implode.
We are in a situation where the government is spending FAR beyond what the economy can support- and that gap is widening day by day- and the only solution is to keep spending more, so the entire edifice doesn’t implode.
I’m sure that many are noticing gas prices are rising again. There are many things that could make the prices go FAR higher. The tumult in the Middle East, the drone attacks on Russian refineries, the switch to summer blends in the USA to name a few.
The biggest reason why we could see a major spike is because of all the “printing” and the loss of purchasing power of the US dollar. Many times, we talk about the dollar losing its value, but most people can’t really understand it. That is not a huge surprise because since the 1960s we have been on an inflationary path with VERY few respites. Basically, it is all we have known for decades.
A story that might shed a little light on the subject is that of Cocoa. Zerohedge had a story that showed the price of cocoa beans have risen from $650.00 per ton 10 years ago to $2500.00 per ton 1 year ago to an all-time high of $10,047.00 recently. BUY YOUR CHOCOLATE BARS NOW!
Many things go into pricing commodities and cocoa is no different. There are production problems, supply/demand considerations, etc. Having said that, the price rise has been catastrophic for people who produce chocolate. The reason that this may help people understand how our depreciating “money” figures into this is that there was a previous spike in the 1970s that took the price of cocoa beans to $1350.00. Stunning at the time. Today, if we were to see that type of spike the cost in CURRENT DOLLARS would be $27,000.00 per ton.
Basically, we have seen an all-time high in dollars, but we are NOWHERE near an all-time high in actual PRICE. Yes, the dollar has lost that much of its purchasing power since then.
The fact of the matter is simple. As these dollars (or any fiat currency for that matter) is conjured up out of nowhere and with no physical asset to back it, it decreases the perceived value of all the existing currency units. Since there was virtually no labor and no cost to “produce” the trillions in currency units what is the actual VALUE?
The answer is that there is NO VALUE except its perceived value. As our personal, local, state, corporate and Federal finances continue to spiral out of control and “printing money” becomes the answer to our crumbling economy, collapsing productivity, wars around the world, and freebies to citizens and anyone who can get across our border the likelihood that this will reverse is, in my opinion, ZERO.
I believe this will continue until there is a collapse that will stun even the most astute “market” participants.
When this artificially induced bubble implodes it will not just be the last few years of fakery that will have to be unwound. It will be decades of illusory prices that will have to be reconciled. My guess is that when this takes place it will be very fast. The ability to maneuver through it will likely NOT exist so if you have no plans in place PRIOR to whatever event takes place to bring the world back into equilibrium you will likely have NO chance.
Gold, hard assets and companies that produce them are at least a start!
Be Prepared!
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