DID NOSTRADAMUS PREDICT GLOBAL FINANCIAL MELTDOWN?
These few verses are excerpted from Jean-Charles de Fontbrune's book, Nostradamus 1: Countdown to Apocalypse, Pan Books, 1984. ISBN 0 330 28062 7. Current events make these verses stand out in a remarkable way, I think you will find.
The quatrain in Old French is presented first, then the English interpretation by Fontbrune, then my additional comments on possible interpretations linked to current events. These are perhaps best thought of as "what ifs", to reflect on potential outcomes depending on how forthcoming events are managed.
Des Roys et princes dresseront simulachres,
Augures, creux eslevez aruspices:
Corne victime dorée, et d'azur, d'acres
Interpretez seront les exstipices.
CIII,Q26
The heads of states and governments will fabricate imitations [of gold: excess of paper money]; prophets will make forecasts devoid of sense [speeches of politicians and economists]. The horn of plenty [consumer society] will fall victim to them and violence will follow peace. The prophecies will be fulfilled.
Fiat money- pale imitations of "real money"- abounds; no longer constrained by the requirement for gold backing, the heads of state can print as much money as they wish and fund economies through sales of government bonds. As Alan Greenspan once said, "In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation". Politicians will be forced to make optimistic speeches to talk up the economy, and bull-market proponents will continue to predict stock market recovery as the nascent bear market continues to make lower highs. As economic prosperity decays for many, as in East Asia, things start to turn nasty...
Le grand crédit, d'or d'argent l'abondance
Aveuglera par libide l'honneur:
Cogneu sera l'adultère l'offence,
Qui parviendra a son grand deshoneur.
CVIII,Q14
The importance of credit and the abundance of gold and silver will blind men greedy for honour. The offence of deception will be known by him who attains his own great dishonour.
Mountains of consumer debt, government bond financing, and great apparent prosperity as symbolised by gold and silver (or could this be a reference to the flood of Central Bank gold sales and loans for short selling that discredits gold as a store of value and keeps faith in debt instruments such as the fiat-currency dollar and government bonds as safe havens) supports confidence in personal advancement in the "new economic paradigm" of low inflation, sound economic fundamentals, and bull-market advocacy. Meanwhile, someone is accused of dishonourable acts and deception- now who could that be?
Les simulachres d'or et d'argent enflez,
Qu'après le rapt lac au feu furent jettez,
Au descouvert estaincts tous et troublez,
Au marbre escripts, perscripts interjettez.
CVIII, Q28
Images produced in gold and silver, victims of inflation, after the theft of prosperity, will be thrown into the fire in anger; exhausted and disturbed by the public debt paper and coin will be pulped.
"Paper gold", which is to say certificated forms of gold trading, such as is carried on at the LBMA, which does not involve taking delivery of physical metal, will be tarnished by loss of confidence. This could possibly be as a result of alleged "fractional reserve gold", a re-run of the 17th century's invention of paper money as certificates against gold deposited with goldsmiths, which began to circulate as currency in its own right and ultimately tempted the goldsmiths into issuing more paper certificates than there existed gold to redeem against them. Ultimately the "Paper gold" will be devalued by investors stampeding to take delivery. Inflation will devalue ordinary paper and coin currency until it may as well be thrown on the fire. The world's greatest debtor nation is the US, as Japanese politicians have been reminding us lately. Inflation and a rise in interest rates would cause the debt service costs to skyrocket, with sovereign debt default at risk, the currency would lose its value and, if hyperinflation ensues, notes and coins would have to be reissued with zeroes lopped off, the previous issues being pulped and melted down. Alan Greenspan has just commanded a second interest rate reduction. How then could there be interest rate rises? When the markets collapse, the "missing inflation" which is hiding in money measures (i.e. M1, M2, M3), bonds, and the stock markets will be released as "real inflation". When the dollar collapses and money flows overseas, interest rates will have to go up again just as they have in parts of Asia and Latin America.
Despit de règne nunismes descriés,
Et seront peuples esmeus contre leur Roy:
Paix, fait nouveau, sainctes loix empirées
RAPIS onc fut en si tresdur arroy.
CVI,Q23
Power will be despised because of the currency devaluation and the people will rebel against the head of state. Peace will be proclaimed; through a new fact, sacred laws will be corrupted. Never was Paris in such dire disarray.
When markets collapse and the good times end, prosperity falls and unemployment rises, any politician in power falls out of favour, regardless of their merits. This tendency is well documented in various works on long wave economic cycles. Several heads of state have already fallen; e.g. Japan's Hashimoto, Germany's Kohl, Indonesia's Suharto. The new incumbents will claim that the turmoil has ended, but there will be new corruption and overthrow of cherished institutions, principles and traditions, such as has been asserted by some as the depredation of America's constitutional rights. Paris is often mentioned by Nostradamus as the centre of his own country, but also as a symbol for the West, caught up in the global financial turmoil.
La grande poche viendra plaindre pleurer,
D'avoir esleu: trompez seront en l'aage.
Guière avec eux ne voudra demeurer,
Deceu sera par ceux de son langage.
CVII,Q35
They will complain of lost wealth and weep over choosing [responsible politicians] who will make mistakes from time to time. Very few men will want to follow them, deceived as they will be by their speeches.
People whose investments have fallen in value will not want to blame impersonal market forces or long wave economic cycles- they will blame the politicians and stockbrokers who cheered on the bull market, before it turned into a bear. The smallest mistake will be siezed upon as evidence against them and on losing office they will remain discredited, their reputations tarnished for ever.
Près loing defaut de deux grands luminaires,
Qui surviendra entra l'Avril et Mars:
O quel cherté! Mais deux grands débonnaires
Par terre et mer secourront toutes pars.
CIII,Q5
Shortly after the shortage of the two metals [gold and silver] which will occur between April and March, how expensive life will become! But two heads of state of noble birth will bring help by land and sea.
Precious metals- which have thousands of years of history as currency- become so much in demand for investment purposes, as the ultimate 'safe haven', and the debt obligation of nobody, that to all extents and purposes their physical trading ceases. There is currently reported a shortage of bullion coins and prices rising for the popular American 'Saints' in collectors' grades. What could the bit about heads of state be about? Could 'noble birth' be a reference to European traditions; in which case this could be implying aid from Europe to America?
We should hope and pray that these prophecies are nothing more than an interesting resonance with current events.
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