I have contended for a long time that if Y2K hits our banks hard enough, we will see:
A rush to withdraw dollars before the banks collapse
Forced limits on withdrawals
A possibly issuing of new currency at mandated, rip-off exchange rates
And one of the main criticisms of the Y2K preparedness people has been that the above scenario could never happen.
Guess what? Today, as reported by the Washington Post, Russian Citizens are seeing:
A rush to withdraw dollars before the banks collapse
Forced limits on withdrawals
A mandated exchange rate with the U.S. dollar at rip-off exchange rates
Sounds familiar. And just a few short years ago, Russians took great pride in belonging to one of the strongest, most stable
countries in the world. Things can certainly change fast.
Still, I hear the argument that this could never happen in the United States. Hogwash. Nobody can say it can't possibly happen. At
the same time, no one can predict it will happen either. And that's the point: WE DON'T KNOW. Nobody knows for sure, and from
what I can tell, when you don't know for sure, you should
prepare
for the likely possibilities, just in case.
That's what Y2K preparedness is all about. Nobody knows for sure whether the railroad, the banks, the IRS, and the power grid are
all going down. At the same time, nobody can say with certainty they will stay up either. And in the absence of certainty, we all buy
insurance.
Funny how most of us own life insurance, health insurance, and auto insurance, but almost nobody owns any food insurance. How
do you buy food insurance? Just stock up on a little extra food. Nobody owns money insurance either. What is money insurance?
It's owning a little extra gold, silver, or stashing a little currency under your mattress. You don't need a policy; you just need a little
Boy Scout preparedness.
The main argument that the U.S. could never experience the bank situation mentioned above is often based on the now-monotonous
statement, "The economy is good!" Is it really? I suppose it depends on what figures you consider. For certain, the economy
SEEMS good, but you can slap new paint on a junker car, too, and sell it for twice as much. The real question concerns the
underlying structural strength
of the economy. And when you look at those numbers, they get pretty scary.
Just a few, for example:
The United States owes more money to money people than any other country in the history of civilization. It's the National Debt,
and too many people confuse "national debt" and "balanced deficit." Sure, the budget may be balanced, but the debt still exists. In
fact, since Bill Clinton has been in office, the national debt has increased by over $660 million dollars A DAY on average. But you
sure won't hear Mike McCurry making any statements about it. They're trying to sweep $5.5 TRILLION dollars of debt under the rug
while claiming our economy is great!
Think about it. If your neighbor makes $50k a year but spends $100k a year buying a nice house, big boat, luxury car, and throwing
lots of expensive parties, you might say, "Gee, his economy is great!" And it would appear so, on the outside. But underneath, he's
going into debt at a quickening pace. In the end, the party can't last.
Personal bankruptcies are at record levels
The dollar has lost almost 90% of its value since the 1940's
Real wages have been dropping since 1956
The stock market "boom" is based on pure speculation, not fundamental profitability
Banks are making
deperate
loans to create another round of profits: like the 125% home equity loans to people with bad credit
.. and so on. These are not signs of a "good economy," no matter what the spinmeisters insist. But they
are
signs of a really fun, wild, expensive party. When that party ends and the bill arrives, things will look a lot different.
Sure, there are good signs, too. Unemployment is very low, the GDP continues to rise, and we're not seeing any bank collapses in
1998. These are good signs, but they hardly wipe out the $5.5 trillion national debt or the other facts mentioned above.
As we head towards Y2K, I hope you'll do your own research and uncover
all
the facts here in order to make your own decision. If you rely purely on the mainstream media and the politicians to tell you
everything is OK, you're probably not getting the full picture. For example, how often have you heard in the past year about the
still-existent $5.5 trillion national debt? Almost never, right? That's because the National Debt is incompatible with their "strong
economy," so they just remove it from your view. As long as they don't remind you, and they keep chanting, "balanced budget!"
most Americans will think the debt is all paid off. It is based on that kind of subterfuge that most people believe the events
happening in Russia right now could never strike the USA.
I humbly beg to differ.
- Mike Adams |
