Preparing for Dark Days

I really had to think about this post very carefully. The angle in which I approach it will determine how well this is received, and like any blogger, I have a message to get across - something to say.

I'm not much for doom and gloom scenarios; I'm practical, a realist; I deal with facts, figures and formulate a scientific opinion based on all the data. I never like to rush to a conclusion. I'm a well educated and well traveled man. I have degrees I have put to use without boasting or bragging; I have traveled to many places and met many kinds of people. We are all different, but very much the same. And we all have a sense that something isn't right and coming down the road...

Having said that, I'd also like to point out that I love my country, I'm a loyal Conservative and I as tell my friends, a man dedicated to Christ. But I dislike the leadership we have: from my local city and county, to the state and all the way to the senate, the house and the executive branch. I do not trust them or the mainstream news media. There is even leadership I never voted for that I dislike and don't trust - including the ones behind the scenes - the shadowy figures you never hear about or ever know they are there within our government. In any government there is abuse by those in power: money is squandered, deals are made, but promises broken to the masses - those, or rather we who have a form of government by the people and for the people. Somehow that message got lost and despite our honest attempts and best efforts to get things back on track, the mark seems to get missed. I know I'm not alone in this. I get mail and messages and have conversations about these things on a weekly basis. It seems like we are all waiting for the other show to drop - something else to happen to disrupt our lives even more and interupt our sense of family values, grounded ethics and morals, honesty and integrity. Meanwhile, others have been lulled into a false sense of security, this as their personal debt skyrockets, inflated prices, and trials and calamity hit, then loom in the distance. There are hints in the air and signs written on the wall. How perceptive are we to take them into account, analyze the data and form reasonable, logical conclusions? The is only irony, but never a coincidence.

The other shoe is about to drop and the people we elect are not in control and actually never really were. The strings lead elsewhere - and I have no understanding where - but I have clues. I'd like to share to of these interesting clues and revelations that have come from some digging and probing. They were startling, even to someone like me:

Point #1 The U.S., Great Britain and Israel are preparing to attack Iran. As it appears the main reason for invading Iraq was to stop it from selling oil in Euros, likewise Iran has plans to dump the dollar, as does China and even Europe as the standard.

Point #2 U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow issued a warning in '06 that the U.S. Government is on the verge of collapse - as the statutory debt limit imposed by Congress of $8.184 trillion dollars would be reached in mid-February of the same year - the government would then be unable to continue its normal operations. Considering the current total U.S. debt stands at $9.421 trillion dollars, once the official debt ceiling ($8.184 trillion) is reached, the U.S. government’s credit abroad (its borrowing power) is gone. Those countries (mainly China) who presently keep America afloat by holding U.S. Treasury Notes, will most likely no longer continue doing so. The estimated population of the United States is 304,192,091 so each citizen's share of this debt is $30,972.05. The National Debt has continued to increase an average of $1.57 billion per day since September 28, 2007! In addition, the UN's Rob Vos, the Director of the Development Policy and Analysis Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), stated the same year that the U.S. dollar is facing imminent collapse in the face of an unsustainable debt

Point #3 Bank Of America and Compass Bank managers (most likely all other U.S. banks too) have been instructing their employees in the last few weeks on how to respond to customer demands in the event of a collapse of the U.S. economy - specifically telling the employees that only agents from the Department Of Homeland Security will have authority to decide what belongings customers may have from their safe deposit boxes - and that precious metals and other valuables will not be released to U.S. citizens. The bank employees have been strictly prohibited from revealing the banks’ new "guidelines" to anyone. (however, employees have been talking to friends and family).

Point #4 FEMA has activated and is currently staffing its vast network of empty internment camps with armed military personnel - unknown to most Americans, these large federal facilities are strategically positioned across the U.S. landscape to "manage" the population in the event of a "terrorist" attack, a civilian uprising, large-scale dissent ,or an insurrection against the government. Some of these razor-wired facilities have the capacity of detaining a million people.

Point #5 The Patriot Act and the US Senate’s vote to ban habeas corpus (Nov 14th) - along with George W. Bush having signed executive orders giving him sole authority to impose martial law, suspend habeas corpus and ignore the Posse Comitatus Act, have together pretty much destroyed any notions of freedom and justice for Americans.

Summary: The U.S. economy is broken, the United States is bankrupt - the unchecked spending by this and other administrations and lawmakers, the simplistic ease by which they wage war on home and foreign soil, the cost of unprecedented weapons and military build-up - have all contributed to an irreversible emergency which is threatening our nation’s existence and our very lives.

The welfare state that the socialists built here from the 1930s (after they destroyed the money supply and created an artificial depression) is going to do the same thing it did when they built it in the Soviet Union. And if their example is any guide, it won’t take until 2040 for the nation’s economy to collapse utterly. It will be sudden and unexpected. It will be horrific. Millions of Americans will die, never knowing what happened. But if you’ve read this far, you will know why: In a word, socialism, or perhaps even more appropriate - Godlessness.

Socialism sounds good, because it plays on the emotions, not because it’s good fiscal policy. It’s terrible fiscal policy. For that matter, it’s also terribly damaging — psychologically and financially — to those who it ostensibly would help.

Maybe this time around, we will actually remember the lesson. Maybe this time around, we’ll remember what real money is, and reject the worthless paper our overlords have given us in its place. Maybe this time around, when millions of Americans are starving in tents, we will look not to government for a “solution” which makes economic slaves of us all, but where we should have looked in the first place: our neighbors, our communities and within ourselves.

A Canadian military analyst who's served in the armed forces and has written on international affairs for more than two decades, is issuing a warning today about the collapse of the United States as a superpower.

In his latest book, The Mess they Made: the Middle East after Iraq, Gwynne Dyer says there's no doubt that the US will withdraw its troops from Iraq once President George W. Bush leaves office.

But he predicts that already that war has set in motion events that will radically transform not only the Middle East but the role of the United States in the world.

Hospitals are closing, major corporations are declaring bankruptcy and/or moving their companies overseas, the monopolized news media spews nothing but lies, and our fearless leaders have turned out to be only ruthless criminals hell-bent on destabilizing our country and robbing us all.

The Great Depression will look like a small blip compared to the economic collapse the United States is about to suffer, according to several experts. But Congress refuses to listen and do what’s necessary to stave off disaster.

Worse, Congress has been warned year after year since at least 1992, and perhaps before that.

“The federal budget is structurally unbalanced. This will do increasing damage to the economy and is unsustainable in the long term. Regardless of the approach chosen, prompt and meaningful action is essential. The longer it is delayed, the more painful it will be.”

Those were the words of the General Accounting Office (now the Government Accountability Office) 15 years ago. Reporting on the long-term fiscal outlook of the federal government, GAO reported then (PDF) that Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security would grow out of control and that “the path of ‘no action’ is unsustainable.”

It also warned that “a major effort to strengthen the economy must be completed by 2010,” when the Baby Boomers will begin retiring.

We all know what happened in the intervening 15 years: absolutely nothing good. The entitlement programs are still here, larger than ever, and draining ever larger percentages of the national economy.

Last month, GAO reported again to Congress on the nation’s long-term fiscal outlook. It’s only gotten worse.

“GAO’s current long-term simulations continue to show ever-larger deficits resulting in a federal debt burden that ultimately spirals out of control,” GAO reported (PDF). Even under the best-case scenario GAO studied, “the risks to the Nation’s future financial condition are too high to be acceptable.”

And again, the problem is government entitlement programs — and Social Security, bad as it is, isn’t even the biggest one.

In the succeeding 2 decades America’s population will age dramatically, and relatively fewer workers will be asked to support ever larger costs for retirees. . . .

Although Social Security is a major part of the fiscal challenge, it is far from our biggest challenge. Spending on the major federal health programs (i.e., Medicare and Medicaid) represents a much larger and faster growing problem. In fact, the federal government’s obligations for Medicare Part D alone exceed the unfunded obligations for Social Security. Over the past several decades, health care spending on average has grown much faster than the economy, absorbing increasing shares of the Nation’s resources, and this rapid growth is projected to continue. For this reason and others, rising health care costs pose a fiscal challenge not just to the federal budget but to American business and our society as a whole. — Government Accountability Office

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke last week also warned Congress, but of course, most of them refused to listen or even acknowledge that the problem exists.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke could not have sounded the alarm any clearer if he had carried a bullhorn and a gong. “This expansion of debt would spark a fiscal crisis. . . . The U.S. economy could be seriously weakened. . . . This is sort of like a snowball rolling down the hill. . . . This can really get out of control.”

Other lawmakers struggled to wrap their arms around the crisis Bernanke was describing. “We’re just, kind of, whistling past the graveyard?” asked Rep. Marion Berry (D-Ark).

“Yes, sir,” said the chairman.

“And hoping that the tooth fairy comes and bails us out of this deal?”

“I don’t know about the metaphors there, Mr. Congressman,” Bernanke replied.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.) had a different metaphor to run by the chairman. He asked if “we are debating how to mop up six inches of water in the stateroom of the captain of the Titanic when we should be focused upon the gaping hole in the hull of the ship.”

“The heart of the problem are the entitlement programs,” Bernanke affirmed. — Washington Post

“Federal deficits will grow to unsustainable levels in as little as two decades,” says David M. Walker, the comptroller general of the United States, “At that point, without significant policy changes, federal deficits could reach 10% or more of our economy.”

As head of the GAO, it’s Walker’s responsibility to sound the alarm. Not at all satisfied with Congress refusing to listen, he’s taken his message directly to the people, appearing on CBS News’ 60 Minutes television program on Sunday, and touring the U.S. “We are the world’s largest debtor nation, and time is working against us,” Walker said in an article for The Futurist magazine.

Indeed, the American welfare state is growing out of control, with tens of millions of Americans receiving some form of government handout.

The number of families receiving cash benefits from welfare has plummeted since the government imposed time limits on the payments a decade ago. But other programs for the poor, including Medicaid, food stamps and disability benefits, are bursting with new enrollees.

The result, according to an Associated Press analysis: Nearly one in six people rely on some form of public assistance, a larger share than at any time since the government started measuring two decades ago. — Associated Press

“This story only looks at the welfare state for the poor,” writes Cato Institute vice president David Boaz. “Far more than one in six Americans are dependent on such government programs as Social Security, Medicare, unemployment compensation, and so on. . . . And how long can a nation remain free if half its citizens are dependent on government hand-outs?”

Be aware - we stand at the threshold of total ruin - the international bankers and war profiteers care little for our lives and families - these demons worship money and all things vile and evil - they have very much to gain from war, misery, disease, famine, chaos and death (our deaths).

We are right on the edge - the Treasury is already overextended - the U.S. government cannot (and will not) care for its own citizens’ needs, nor secure our borders against illegal aliens - plus, the whole "terrorist" thing has seem to become a cruel hoax perpetrated against a trusting citizenry - and only designed to instill fear and garner support for whatever devious plans they have drawn up without our consent.

Should America (along with British & Israeli forces) launch a war against Iran, or another country, without yet paying for, or even recovering from the current losses in Iraq and elsewhere - the costs of such of an invasion will overwhelm an already crippled economy and push the U.S. over the edge into oblivion.

19th century French economist Bastiat describes this tendency best It should be required reading for any advocate of increased government spending or opponent of small government.

Question: Considering the U.S. Treasury Notes that China currently holds (which keeps the U.S. economy going)...

Do you think China will continue to support a country’s economy (the U.S.) whose military launches a nuclear strike against its neighbor (Iran) - thus delivering a blanket of radioactive fallout over western Chinese provinces - killing hundreds of thousands, if not millions of its citizens?

I think not.

Factoring in the aforementioned points of "preparation" engineered by U.S. (and perhaps 'other') authorities, I’d say there’s a stinking rat in the woodpile.....can you smell it too?

In this rather solemn post, I formally declare that I stand by my family and friends in preparing for the coming wave of desperate times and will secure and protect them as I know they will do the same for me; I resolutely stand by my spiritual beliefs and trust Christ, as it is with Him that all solice, peace and contentment lies - everything is under His control and according to His plan and will. There is no other way.

....to be continued.

Walter

SIdenote: I'm hardly one of the anti-war protester crowd (I served in the military and, like Reagan, I believe a strong defense is good), and I'm hardly into Bush-bashing, but come now - as a lifelong Republican, I can state categorically that Bush is not a Conservative. He's hardly a Republican... more like a Socio-neo-Republican.

Bush and Cheney are steering the U.S. into a collapse. Only strong public voices by influential people can prevent the coming disaster. We desperately need for men and women who are known to the public and have credibility to speak up in the critical period ahead to avoid catastrophe.

• Israel bombed a alleged nuclear facility in Syria. This is a warm-up for an attack on Iran.
• In the last few years, the U.S. unilaterally tightened sanctions on Iran. Russia and China do not support this move.
• Bush warned Iran that its attainment of nuclear arms would lead to World War III.
• Russia, which has been assisting Iran in its nuclear construction program for decades, regards Western military action against Iran as unacceptable.
• China has been arming Iran with missiles. Its relations with Iran have been improving for years.

We know that Bush and Cheney are capable of pre-emptive attack. We know that Bush will act if he believes he is right no matter what the costs are. In his distorted worldview, Iran with nuclear weapons is a scenario worth any cost to avoid.

We know that Bush, Cheney, and Rice have repeatedly warned Iran of meaningful consequences if Iran arms itself with nuclear weapons. We know that their terms in office end in 5 months. These are the critical months.

But it is by no means clear that the front-running candidates for office who may replace them hold substantially different views. Hillary Clinton has publicly called for sanctions against Iran and has called Iran a threat to Israel.

Why may an unprovoked attack on Iran lead to WWIII and why may it lead to the collapse of the U.S.?

Imagine this scenario. The U.S. encourages Israel to bomb the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran. Russia attempts to restrain an Iranian response but fails. Iran responds in any of many ways, such as launching missiles on Israel, firing on shipping in the Straits of Hormuz, mining the Straits of Hormuz, sending troops into Iraq, or allying its military with Hezbollah and attacking Israel from Lebanon.

The U.S., citing Iran’s aggressions (that will be the story), launches a full-scale attack on Iran designed to devastate the country. This attack has actually been planned by the U.S. for years. Syria is unable to maintain neutrality and quickly becomes a battleground between Iran and Israel.

The price of oil by this point has already soared to $200 a barrel. The U.S. begins to use its strategic reserve and to divert Iraqi production. Russia responds by taking steps to prevent its oil production from reaching the U.S. China responds by cutting off its support of the U.S. Treasury market. Venezuela halts oil shipments to the U.S. The first stages of WWIII are economic warfare designed to cripple the U.S. and halt its war-making capacity.

The U.S., unable to finance its deficits and fund its sovereign debt, is forced into raising interest rates drastically in order to borrow. The Fed is forced to print money. An inflationary spiral occurs. Meanwhile the high interest rates and high oil prices, not to mention the shock of a spreading conflict, drive the U.S. economy into severe decline. The U.S. attempts to raise taxes in order to fund itself, further crippling the economy. Gold soars to $1,500–$2,000 an ounce.

The U.S. attempts to bolster its military forces. The draft is reinstated. The severity of the emergency allows Bush and Cheney to assume emergency powers and begin a dictatorship. Elections are postponed.

The U.S. collapses.

Unfortunately, even if this scenario does not occur, the position of the U.S. is so precarious that any number of other scenarios equally disastrous lie in wait. This house needs urgently to be put in order or it will fall, and especially if it does not terminate its misguided, huberous adventures. The very fact that Bush and Cheney (or any major U.S. political officials) gain by starting WWIII is a terrible indictment of our entire political system.