Some warning signs - numbers from Europe
A list of twenty reasons why the S is about to Hit The Fan -- from
The Survivalist Blog:
20 Signs That The Next Great Economic Depression Has Already Started In Europe
The next Great Depression is already happening � it just hasn�t reached the United States yet. Things in Europe just continue to get worse and worse, and yet most people in the United States still don�t get it. All the time I have people ask me when the �economic collapse� is going to happen. Well, for ages I have been warning that the next major wave of the ongoing economic collapse would begin in Europe, and that is exactly what is happening. In fact, both Greece and Spain already have levels of unemployment that are greater than anything the U.S. experienced during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Pay close attention to what is happening over there, because it is coming here too. You see, the truth is that Europe is a lot like the United States.
The author draws some more parallels, goes into a bit of history about our 1930's and then enumerates the list -- here are the first five:
#1 The unemployment rate in France has surged to 10.6 percent, and the number of jobless claims in that country recently set a new all-time record.
#2 Unemployment in the eurozone as a whole is sitting at an all-time record of 12 percent.
#3 Two years ago, Portugal�s unemployment rate was about 12 percent. Today, it is about 17 percent.
#4 The unemployment rate in Spain has set a new all-time record of 27 percent. Even during the Great Depression of the 1930s the United States never had unemployment that high.
#5 The unemployment rate among those under the age of 25 in Spain is an astounding 57.2 percent.
The author also has
this quote from Peter Schiff:
�The crisis is imminent,� Schiff said. �I don�t think Obama is going to finish his second term without the bottom dropping out. And stock market investors are oblivious to the problems.�
�We�re broke, Schiff added. �We owe trillions. Look at our budget deficit; look at the debt to GDP ratio, the unfunded liabilities. If we were in the Eurozone, they would kick us out.�
Schiff points out that the market gains experienced recently, with the Dow first topping 14,000 on its way to setting record highs, are giving investors a false sense of security.
�It�s not that the stock market is gaining value� it�s that our money is losing value. And so if you have a debased currency� a devalued currency, the price of everything goes up. Stocks are no exception,� he said.
�The Fed knows that the U.S. economy is not recovering,� he noted. �It simply is being kept from collapse by artificially low interest rates and quantitative easing. As that support goes, the economy will implode.�
I read somewhere that Apple and Microsoft have more "real money" on hand than the Federal Reserve.
Even if the system doesn't collapse, it is still prudent to cut back on your lifestyle and to stockpile (and rotate through) enough food for a month or two, water reserves and trade goods. A lot of people around here are doing just that.
Be sure to read the 100+ comments -- a lot of good information there as well as a nice comment on
Normalcy bias which will be a problem with the non-preppers.
Posted by DaveH at May 1, 2013 11:54 AM