Economic Meltdown or Turnaround?Jon David Miller Hope you had a good one. You probably know the Groundhog Day legend: If the old woodchuck comes out of his home under a cloud cover, he confidently goes about his business getting ready for Spring, and there will be only 6 more weeks of winter. If the sun is out, the groundhog gets scared by his own shadow and runs back inside for some more hibernation. Then winter wont be over for about a month and a half. Its been a completely cloudy day with intermittent light rain then heavier snow where I am, pretty good Groundhog Day weather! Hope you have been as lucky. In any case, winter is half over no matter whether it is sunny or cloudy on this day. This groundhog tradition is a metaphor for the awareness of looking ahead. There are different ways of thinking of the future that may or may not have any bearing on how it unfolds. Nonetheless it seems wise to consider possibilities, plan and prepare. What is to come is somewhat predictable by examining what has happened previously and noticing the causes, effects, trends, strategies, plans, policies, powers of control and similarities of circumstance. Time does not even exist in reality. There is only the present, yet the past and future are considered in the present as well. From the perspective of a dimension outside of the agreed-upon convention of time, everything occurs at the same instant. The thing is, once we are into the timeframe, we may become really committed to the intensity of the unfolding scenario, and participate in it full tilt without recalling or knowing the likely details. In other words, focusing on time as a condition of awareness and thought, makes being surprised or shocked more likely. In the realm of economics, experiences of time, surprise and shock can be especially profound. Economic Factors The assets of the United States are increasingly in foreign hands. Like Japan a few years ago, China has been buying massive amounts of U.S. debt and dollars, and turning them into a lot of hard assets here. They are purchasing U.S. real estate, especially in New York City, and there are rumors they are interested in U.S. wild land resources. The Federal Reserve Bank is actually the largest holder of U.S. debt. Through the stages of Quantitative Easing, the FED has accumulated trillions of dollar in assets in the forms of mortgage-backed securities from banks and U.S. bonds using fiat dollars, thus expanding the debt obligations of the United States, currently stated to be between $17 and $18 trillion. The FED is tapering their monthly creation of fake money. (However, some economic commentators think they will come out with Quantitative Easing #5 before long as big banks go into failure.) The U.S. Treasury has introduced their own FRNs (Floating Rate Notes), which are bonds with variable rate interest for greater appeal to potential bond holders. NOTE: The term FRNs also applies to Federal Reserve Notes, the banker play money. Most of us carry a small amount of them around to trade for things in the New World Order Empire economy game. These notes represent our own collective debt, but thats what we currently use to do our business. (Perhaps they call this currency because it only has value currently.) Other nations, such as the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are taking steps to avoid FRN dollars, which they anticipate will be losing a lot of value soon. Saudi Arabia and OPEC may be nearing disengagement from the trading of oil exclusively via the petro dollar. Most Americans have no idea of the repercussions of the dollar losing status as world reserve currency and petro dollar. The U.S. is about to hit the debt ceiling again, as we do every few months. (Will the DC players make another drama out of it this time?) The stock market has fallen recently and probably will zig-zag its way to much lower. The big money boys have already cashed out of stocks expected to take a big hit. Inflation has been hidden by changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), as well as in many product size reductions. Amazing numbers of people are receiving food purchasing assistance, which has just been cut a little. (Are more cuts to come? Will they include Social Security? If there are substantial cuts will there be social disturbances?) The numbers of homeless are growing, and many more homes are on the verge of foreclosure. Real unemployment is far higher than the governments number, as they dont count the discouraged workers that come off unemployment benefits who have abandoned the notion of getting a full-time job at this time. Underemployment is through the roof as businesses avoid med insurance requirements by making employees part time, and leaving the insurance obligation to them with less income to handle it. Major retailers are laying off massive numbers (Sams Club, Sears, J.C. Penney, etc.). That was the only reasonably healthy industry the U.S. had left besides government contractors. >- Raising the minimum wage might cause cost-push inflation price increases, make it more expensive for new business start-ups, and reduce employment as marginal workers are cut. (Government interference in the economy, as in Keynesian Economics, usually creates more problems than it solves.) Financial Concerns The economy is not in recovery. The official statistics are manipulated and the leaders bend the truth, to put it politely. Is the U.S. dollar about to be abandoned worldwide? Is the derivative-debt bubble about to burst? (NOTE: Several of the worlds executive bankers have suddenly died recently, apparently by suicide.) Will certain mega banks have to be restructured (i.e., cut up in pieces and sold off to smaller but healthier entities)? If you have money in the bank, it could be taken by a bail-in haircut to save the banking system (as in the Cyprus beta test), because its actually their money as soon as you deposit the funds there. A depositor is an unsecured creditor to the bank. (If the bank goes down, unsecured lenders are down the asset claim list a way). ALERT: There have recently been multiple instances of cash withdrawal limits imposed at various banks around the world, even for sizeable depositors. At the same time, there is not really an interest incentive to keep funds in the bank. A Harvard trained economist has announced about removing his million dollars from the bank. Perhaps your money would be safer hidden in a safe at home than at a bank. What about retirement accounts? Will those be taken over by the government before long? Will you get as much as you expected in your golden years? Perhaps silver and gold would help hold the value of any wealth one has beyond the pinnacle assets of love, spiritual wisdom, food and other necessities for future consumption, perhaps at a time when the stores are not open because there is no power, or no food, or no value in money, or no society. However, could a major change to asset-backed currencies forestall economic collapse and revive the economy here and around the world? Alternative media blogs and talk shows have discussed the possibility of a global currency reset for a couple of years. Even in the mainstream media there have been hints of this lately, possibly planned leaks. Christine Lagarde, head of the IMF, has used the term reset multiple times in her recent remarks at financial conferences and other events. Further, a week ago Friday, Art Cashin, a well-known financial market expert, said on a CNBC TV segment that the market fall-off may be partly in anticipation of important currency changes coming soon (which he said would likely be on a weekend). What if there were a change to an asset-backed digital currency? (Interest in Bitcoin, Litecoin and several other digital currencies is currently growing, as their value has increased with a higher floor of the volatile fluctuations indicating these may be stabilizing.) J.P. Morgan filed for a patent not long ago on a new digital payment system, a modification of an earlier patent of theirs. What if there were a digital one world currency used exclusively for international trade, leaving national currencies to be used just in-country? Currency exchanges would then go through that universal digital format, bringing an end to the direct exchanges between national currencies. What if your bank account could be managed by your just wearing a tattoo instead of having to keep track of a card that could be lost or stolen? What if you just had a little RFID micro chip inserted in your body that would be your ID, your payment account, your access to work and other venues, your medical records, your fine account for infractions of the corporate state regulations, your trackable location finder, your monitor of acts, feelings and thoughts, and your programmer? It seems likely that before long we may experience several major life changes. Jon David Miller is a societal analyst, philosopher, wellness educator and singer/songwriter. His education includes a Bachelor of Arts with honors in economics and philosophy from Ohio University, a Master of Arts in religion with emphasis in psychology and a Master of Divinity from Hartford Seminary, and 40 years of experience in wellness education, business, community organizations, social science research and writing. Jon has an internet radio program and is the author of several books, including The New World Order Empire, and developer of several websites, such as SurviveTheChanges.com and ReallyWell.com. 