Economic Collapse Watch: Banks Now Preparing For Emergency Scenarios
This blog is loaded with the latest (videos and articles) as it relates to the coming Economic Collapse which will be allowed so the New World Order can further push Socialism.
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US Banks now training for emergency scenarios, which means runs on banks and bank holidays.
X22 Report- Banks Now Preparing For Emergency Scenarios
Jim Willie: Global Banking Cabal and Their Satanic Rules Are Ready to Strike
Dr. Jim Willie pulls no punches when he says, “We’re witnessing the death of a nation.” Is there anyone who needs to ask what nation he’s referring to? If you’re not sure, check out the post titled, History Unlearned Is History Repeated. The theme of that post comes from a man named George Santayana. Everyone’s heard the saying, but few know where it originated:
“When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Thomas Jefferson once said, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” People all around the world but Americans in particular, have chosen to willfully ignore the lessons of history, and instead have chosen to put their belief in foolish promises given to them by corrupt politicians. After only several minutes into the interview, Dr. Willie says what’s REALLY on his mind when it comes to the ignorance of the American people, and he calls what’s happening “tragic,” which it certainly is.
The tragedy is that it’s easier for ignorant Americans to do as the mainstream media has taught them, and to point and laugh at anyone who talks about the New World Order or the Illuminati, than it is for them to do the research, and realize they are being played for total fools by the global elite. The Simple Truth Most Americans are Woefully Unaware of, is the Rothschild Family Owns Almost Every Central Bank on the Planet, Including the U.S. Federal Reserve.
As Dr. Willie Explains, it’s been known for YEARS that the Fed gave out $23 TRILLION DOLLARS in loans at 0% interest to it’s owners, and that was done so that the 13 Families Who Make Up the New World Order can can buy virtually all the world’s assets after they crash the global economic system on purpose, and continue their march to enslave a broke and destitute mankind. If you’ve done your homework, then you know that regardless of what name you want to give the global banking elite, they play by a very different set of rules, however they DO have rules, and Dr. Willie explains them.
As research will show you, there are very specific rules of engagement when dealing with SATANIC SYSTEMS, and make no mistake about it as Dr. Willie explains, the global elite are Satanists to be sure. Their rules of engagement require them to give their victims fair warning first, and then invite them to sacrifice themselves. Those are Dr. Willie’s words, not mine.
The world SHOULD have been on notice the last several years, but since most people have preferred to stay ignorant, Dr. Willie estimates only 5-10% of the population has any comprehension of how the Dollar or the global economic system works, or how TRUE UNEMPLOYMENT before the next crash is really between 22-25% putting the United States at depression like numbers.
As stocks continue to crash, you can blame the Federal Reserve, because the Fed is more responsible for creating the current financial bubble that we are living in than anyone else. When the Federal Reserve pushed interest rates all the way to the floor and injected lots of hot money into the financial markets during their quantitative easing programs, this pushed stock prices to wildly artificial levels. The only way that it would have been possible to keep stock prices at those wildly artificial levels would have been to keep interest rates ultra-low and to keep recklessly creating lots of new money. But now the Federal Reserve has ended quantitative easing and has embarked on a program of very slowly raising interest rates. This is going to have very severe consequences for the markets, but Janet Yellen doesn’t seem to care.
There is a reason why the financial world hangs on every single word that is issued by the Fed. That is because the massively inflated stock prices that we see today were a creation of the Fed and are completely dependent on the Fed for their continued existence.
Right now, stock prices are still 30 to 40 percent above what the economic fundamentals say that they should be based on historical averages. And if we are now plunging into a very deep recession as I contend, stock prices should probably fall by a total of more than 50 percent from where they are now.
The only way that stock prices could have ever gotten this disconnected from economic reality is with the help of the Federal Reserve. And since the U.S. dollar is the primary reserve currency of the entire planet, the actions of the Fed over the past few years have created stock market bubbles all over the globe.
But the only way to keep the party going is to keep the hot money flowing. Unfortunately for investors, Janet Yellen and her friends at the Fed have chosen to go the other direction. Not only has quantitative easing ended, but the Fed has also decided to slowly raise interest rates. The Fed left rates unchanged on Wednesday, but we were told that we are probably still on schedule for another rate hike in March.
Great Depression 2.0: Sell Everything, 2016 ‘Cataclysmic Year’ For Stocks, Warns RBS
Saudis freak out over collapsing oil prices while Chinese economy no different than Ponzi scheme
The Royal Bank of Scotland warned its clients to “sell everything” and exit the stock market as soon as possible, a warning which indicates the global economy is heading towards a 1929-style Great Depression.
“Sell everything except high-quality bonds,” warned Andrew Roberts, the bank’s research chief for European economics and rates. “We think investors should be afraid.”
He said the collapsing price of oil, the impending destruction of Chinese markets and ever-exploding debts – all within the first week of January – were significant red flags revealing the “cataclysmic year” ahead.
To elaborate, the S&P’s 500 had its worst five-day start on record since 1929 and the Dow Jones industrial average never had a start so bad since 1897.
And in China, government officials are demolishing never-used high-rises built in unoccupied “ghost cities” funded by the country’s credit-fueled investment bubble.
Some of these cities are as large as Austin, Texas, yet completely devoid of human life – a shocking consequence of China attempting to boost its GDP though unsound Keynesian economic policies.
China's Ghost Cities
“All this amounted to a rapid expansion in the stock of debt, a large percentage of which became non-performing assets backed by vacant and incomplete infrastructure projects,” Forbes reported. “This became the equivalent of an economy banking on future global demand to justify its rapid current infrastructure investment.”
And oil is declining towards $20 a barrel and experts suggests it may even hit $10, which indicates the collapsing oil prices aren’t just due to Saudi Arabia attempting to bankrupt U.S. shale producers but also because the global demand for crude is following the global economy’s free fall.
In fact, Saudi Arabia now admits the current price of oil is hurting its economy.
“The 13 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will work toward meeting in early March, [Nigeria’s minister of state Emmanuel] Kachikwu said in an interview in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday,” Bloomberg reported. “Members are already engaged in informal discussions with some non-OPEC producers, including Russia, to join any future production cut to shore up prices, he said.”
All these red flags combined show the economy is in worse shape than before the 2008 financial crisis.
“If there’s one thing to take away from this year’s developments in markets and economies so far, it’s that they are all linked, they’re all part of the same thing,” The Automatic Earth reported. “If you can’t see that, you’re not going to understand what’s happening.”
“Looking at falling oil prices as a separate thread is not much use, and neither is doing the same with Chinese stocks, or the yuan, or the millions of Americans who are one paycheck away from poverty, for that matter: it’s all one story.”
Canadians Panic As Food Prices Soar On Collapsing Currency
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-13/canadians-panic-food-prices-soar-collapsing-currency
Puerto Rico enters “Economic Collapse”
Puerto Rico’s economy is collapsing, US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said Friday as he announced a visit to the US territory two weeks after its debt default. In a letter to Congress, Lew urged passage of bankruptcy legislation for the Caribbean island weighed down by $70 billion in debt and the effects of a decade of recession.
“Although there are many ways this crisis could escalate further, it is clear that Puerto Rico is already in the midst of an economic collapse,” Lew said in the letter, addressed to Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan. “In order to assist the 3.5 million Americans living in Puerto Rico, Congress must pass legislation for the president to sign into law before the end of March.” He noted that Puerto Rico’s government is now shifting funds away from one creditor to pay another, and has stopped payments altogether on some of its bonds. FULL REPORT
12 days before ’08 financial crash, Congress was told to sell their stocks
Less than two weeks before the economic collapse of 2008, several members of Congress took their money out of the stock market.
Many high ranking government employees were given a heads-up about the impending market crash in secret meetings with the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department.
Then they used that information to engage in insider trading.
It was revealed that Senator Shelley Capito and her husband sold $350,000 worth of Citigroup stock at $83 per share, just one day before the stock dropped to $64 per share. Another shady trader was Congressman Jim Moran, who had his biggest trading day of the year days after the secret meeting, sellings stock in nearly 100 different companies.
These actions would be illegal for any American in any other circumstance, but members of Congress and high-ranking government officials are actually exempt from insider trading laws.
Years later, a 60 minutes investigation aired on television which highlighted the government’s deep history of insider trading. The investigation sparked outrage, prompting Congress to pass “the STOCK Act” which was said to hold members of the government to the same standards as any American when it came to insider trading.
However, Congress watered down the bill and changed key elements that would hold them accountable, allowing them to return to business as usual, and escape any consequences for their prior crimes.
In an interview during the 60 minutes investigation, Peter Schweizer of the Hoover Institute told Steve Kroft that “It’s really the way the rules have been defined. And the people who make the rules are the political class in Washington and they’ve conveniently written them in such a way that they don’t apply to themselves.”
“These meetings were so sensitive– that they would actually confiscate cell phones and Blackberries going into those meetings. What we know is that those meetings were held one day and literally the next day Congressman Bachus would engage in buying stock options based on apocalyptic briefings he had the day before from the Fed chairman and treasury secretary. I mean, talk about a stock tip,” he added.
Since it was passed, the STOCK Act has been more or less worthless. Whenever a politician is accused of anything, they are defended by other politicians and the investigation is immediately stonewalled. For example, a former staffer for the House Ways and Means Committee, Brian Stutter was guilty of insider trading. However, he avoided charges because House Speaker John Boehner refused to hand over the evidence, and claimed that Sutter had legal immunity.
It seems that America operates on two different sets of laws – one set for those who claim to rule us, and another for everyone else.
Something Big Underway! Banks Have Never Done This Before — End of Dollar?
By Lisa Haven
The truth about the elites agenda is about to ‘slap us in the face’. No longer do they hide behind closed doors—no—they are wide open about their cause and they are laughing at the masses while secretly planning our economic downfall.
The collapse of the dollar will be the single largest event in human history. It will be the first event that touches every single person living in the world. All human activity is controlled by money. Our work, our wealth, our government, our food, even our relationships are affected by money. No money in history has had as much of an impact as the dollar.
It is the de facto world currency. All other currency collapses will pale in comparison to this one. This collapse will be worldwide and it will take down not only the dollar but all other fiat currencies, as they are essentially no different. This collapse will lead to the collapse of all paper assets and the consequences to this will have inconceivable results universally.
In the video below Elite NWO Agenda has informed us that China is suspending their banks for the foreign exchange markets and ordered them to stop buying US dollars, which could have devastating effects on the economy. Here is more on this breaking report….
U.S. DOLLAR COLLAPSE 2016 - China Orders Banks To Drop The USD
Furthermore youtuber Pinksapphiret2 reveals that banks are doing something they’ve never done before and that’s gobbling up precious metals, gold and silver. Here is more on that breaking report…
Prepare For Total Economic Disaster: “We Are Going Down And Going Down Hard”
Editor’s Note: There’s no more hiding it. The global economy is at a standstill – almost literally. The Baltic Dry Index, which tracks the price of moving raw materials across the ocean has completely collapsed to all-time lows. Last week it was reported in China that not a single container ship was transporting materials across the sea. Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, announced that they are laying off thousands of people and closing hundreds of stores across the country. Consumer spending through the holiday season was abysmal and some of the countries leading companies are confirming these results in their latest quarterly reports. Stock markets around the world are crashing. Governments and central banks are in panic mode. While they will no doubt attempt to save the system as they did in 2008, it may already be too late for our immediate future. As James Quinn of The Burning Platform notes in his latest article, “we’re going down.” The recession is here.
Consumer Drowning Sorrows At The Bar
By James Quinn
The Burning Platform via SteveQuayle.com
Month after month I watch as the MSM mouthpieces try to spin declining consumer spending in a positive light. They are practically out of excuses. They are befuddled, because month after month they report “awesome” job gains and can’t understand why all these gainfully employed Americans aren’t buying shit they don’t need like they used to. These faux journalists, spouting propaganda for their ruling class bosses, are willfully ignorant of the fact the job gains are in low paying part-time jobs and the fact that Obamacare and record high rents are sapping any discretionary income households would use to buy stuff.
Despite the propaganda from the media and happy talk from the Liar-in-Chief, the country is currently in a recession and the Fed has no ammo to fake another recovery. We are going down and going down hard. When 70% of your economy is based on Americans buying shit they don’t need from China on credit cards, a dramatic slowdown in consumer spending equals recession. When sales actually fall from November to December during the holiday season, you are in recession. We’ve arrived.
The December report was a disaster and portends horrible retailer results coming down the road. More ghost malls coming to your neighborhood. The annual results were pitiful, with the more recent months even more dreadful. So after adding 10 million jobs, according to Obama, spending declines? They must be great jobs.
I think the results are even worse than portrayed in the results presented by the Census Bureau. Retail sales grew by only 2.2% in 2015 versus 2014. That is significantly less than the real inflation being experienced by real people, so on an inflation adjusted basis they fell. Even the 2.2% increase is artificially pumped up by the Fed induced auto debt fueled boom in car sales (or long-term rentals in reality). The 7 year 0% auto loans, subprime auto loans to deadbeats, and record levels of auto leases have created fake demand that will end in tears when the defaults skyrocket. If you remove these fake sales, then total retail sales are up a pitiful 0.9% over 2014.
When you realize that two of the few strong sales categories were autos (7.5%) and furniture stores (5.8%), you can put your thinking cap on and realize the 7 year 0% financing scam is solely responsible for these sales. Reducing credit score criteria and extending loan terms always works. Right? The other relatively strong area was internet sales (6.3%). Amazon and the rest of the on-line retail segment continues to destroy the bricks and mortar retailers, but even these sales are slowing. They were up a weak 0.3% from November. Before the states started taxing internet sales and it was still a newer concept, the annual growth rates were 15% to 20%, so the 6.3% growth rate is rather unimpressive.
And this leads me to the strongest spending segment – restaurants/bars. Sales were up 8.1% over 2014 and continued strong in December. I know this is true firsthand as my wife is a waitress at a restaurant/sports bar and business was booming in December and continues to be good in January. My thesis for this strong spending is that people are so miserable about the economy in general and the direction of the country (reflected in Trump’s support), they have decided to drink and eat, for tomorrow we die. Dining out or getting loaded at a bar takes your mind off your troubles for a few hours. It’s not a huge expenditure and you just put it on your credit card and worry about it later.
When the mass layoffs start hitting in 2016, even this category of spending will contract. If you think the 2015 consumer spending numbers were atrocious, you haven’t seen anything yet.
Also Read:
How to Prepare For The Disaster To Come – A Step-By-Step Guide
Analyst: “Millions Upon Millions of People Are Going to Die on a World-Wide Scale When the Debt Bubble Bursts”
“Sell Everything!” Royal Bank of Scotland Tells Investors to Fear 2016 Financial Cataclysm
The Worst Ever Stock Market Start Is Just the Beginning: “Unprecedented Chaos Is Coming”
Stalling Economy Threatens Food Supply: “This Perfect Storm Could Cause You to Starve to Death”
Economic emergency declared in France
French President Francois Hollande has announced what he called "a state of economic and social emergency" involving a €2 billion plan to revive hiring and catch up with the world’s economy.
"Due to the threat of terrorism in the past, we had to introduce a state of emergency. But amid global chaos and an uncertain economic environment, it’s appropriate to talk about a state of economic and social emergency. Employment is the most important question after the security of French citizens," TASS quotes Hollande as saying.
“New economic powers are rising, the digital economy is rapidly developing, we have to rethink our economic and social model," said the President.
Hollande's socialist government has been failing to boost long-stagnant French growth or cut chronic unemployment, which has been about 10 percent for a long time. One of the key milestones of his presidential program of 2012 was to cut the unemployment. Hollande’s chances for a second term may depend on his ability to create jobs.
Run on the Banks Begins in Italy as Italian Banking Stocks Collapse
The Italian financial meltdown that we have been waiting for has finally arrived. For quite a long time I have been warning my readers to watch Italy, and now people are starting to understand why. Italian banking stocks continued their collapse for a fifth consecutive day on Wednesday, and nervous Italians are beginning to quietly pull large amounts of money out of the banks. In particular, Monte dei Paschi is a complete and utter basket case at this point. A staggering one-third of their loans are “non-performing”, and the stock price has fallen a staggering 57 percent since 2016 began. Monte dei Paschi is going to need a major bailout, and the same thing could be said about almost all of the largest Italian banks. But where is the money going to come from?
As rumors of trouble at Monte dei Paschi spread, Italians are getting money out of the bank while they still can. The following comes from the Daily Mail…
Some Monte dei Paschi customers have been pulling savings out of the Italian bank, its chief executive said on Wednesday, as it faces a crisis over a mountain of bad loans that has wiped nearly 60 percent off its market value this year.
CEO Fabrizio Viola did not say how much money savers had withdrawn, or when the outflow began, though he said the fall in deposits was “limited” and that the bank could cope with it as he sought to reassure customers and investors.
Italian bank shares have lost 24 percent since the beginning of 2016 as investors, already rattled about global economic growth, have sold out of a sector with low profitability and about 200 billion euros ($218 billion) of loans that are unlikely to be repaid.
And investors are pulling money out of Italian banking stocks at an alarming pace as well. According to the Telegraph, Unicredit is down 27 percent since the start of 2016 and Monte dei Paschi has plunged a total of 57 percent so far this month…
Italian banking stocks crashed again on Wednesday, continuing a month of poor performance and raising questions over the sustainability of the industry in its current structure – and even if it could end up in the same boat as Greece’s banking sector.
Long-suffering Monte dei Paschi’s stock dived another 18.5pc on the day, meaning the shares are down 57pc so far this month.
Even much more stable banks are witnessing a flight of investors – Unicredit’s shares are down 6pc on the day and 27pc since the start of the year.
Overall, the FTSE Italia All-Share Banks Index has plummeted 21 percent over the first three weeks of this year.
We normally only see numbers like this during a major financial crisis, and that is precisely what is happening.
Of course trouble has been building at Italian banks for a very long time. They have been exceedingly reckless, and almost all of them are absolutely saturated with bad loans at this point. Here is more from the Telegraph…
The analysts estimate the average Texas ratio – a measure of bad loans versus a bank’s capital buffers – of Italian banks stands at around 105pc, compared with just over 50pc in much of the eurozone.
A Bloomberg analysis puts Monte dei Paschi’s non-performing loans at almost one-third of its asset book, followed by Banca Carige at 27.4pc and Banco Popolare at 26.2pc, all cripplingly high levels.
And all of this comes in the context of a much broader European financial meltdown. The carnage that began at the turn of the year continued on Wednesday. Here are some of the specific numbers from Business Insider…
European markets dived into the red on Wednesday morning, and they didn’t come back out.
All major stock indexes on the continent had a pretty horrible day, with all but two, the DAX 30 in Germany, and the AEX in the Netherlands, falling more than 3%. The FTSE MIB in Italy, and the FTSE100 here in the UK are the biggest losers.
At the close Italy’s benchmark was down by 4.95% to 17,946 points, while the FTSE100 fell 3.39%, or 199 points.
At this point, almost all of the major European indexes have entered bear market territory.
Just check out how far stocks have fallen in some of the largest European nations since their 52-week peak…
United Kingdom: down 20 percent
Netherlands: down 22 percent
France: down 22 percent
Germany: down 24 percent
Turkey: down 24 percent
Italy: down 25 percent
Sweden: down 25 percent
Poland: down 26 percent
Portugal: down 28 percent
Spain: down 30 percent
Greece: down 44 percent
Overall, global stocks have now officially entered a bear market, and panic is spreading fast.
In the U.S., our markets are still in better shape than most of the rest of the world, so we don’t necessarily understand the severity of the situation quite yet. But let me assure you that what we are facing is incredibly serious. Even at the best of times, most of the major banks in Europe and Asia were on shaky ground, and all it was going to take was a major financial downturn for them to start toppling like dominoes.
Many people are now beginning to speculate that Italy may be the next Greece. Those that are saying this don’t truly grasp what is going on.
Greece is the 44th largest economy on the planet.
Italy is the 8th.
We have already seen how the rest of Europe really struggled to come up with a bailout for tiny Greece.
What in the world are they going to do when Italy goes down?
And of course Italy is not the only one that is going to need help. Financial meltdowns are now erupting all over the continent.
Those that believed that the European crisis was “finished” were sadly mistaken.
The European crisis is not over.
The truth is that the European crisis is just beginning.
Italy will probably be first, but economic and financial problems are going to spread like wildfire.
And by the time it is all said and done, European society is going to be fundamentally altered, trillions of euros will be lost, and the face of the continent will change.
12 trigger events that could unleash economic collapse in the U.S
As practically the entire world seems to be nearing the end of its run financially, many people are beginning to wonder how much longer America has before our own teetering house of cards finally falls. Nobody can say for sure how it will all play out, of course, but there are a number of potential scenarios that could act as trigger events to bring about a cataclysmic economic collapse here in the United States, in the very near future. According to Jim Willie from GoldenJackass.com, the following imminent events could predicate a complete financial breakdown, unlike anything ever before seen in America:
1) Plummeting oil prices. As I’m writing this, oil prices have already dipped below $30 a barrel, which Willie suggests is a major indicator of impending financial doom.
2) Bank failures due to oil and gas hedge expiration. Many companies locked in higher prices for oil sales in 2014, but not indefinitely. Declining revenues from deflating oil and gas prices could trigger a string of bank failures, leading to a collapse.
3) Default from emerging market debt. Such debt currently clocks in at nearly $20 trillion, and experts predict a major default in 2016.
4) Saudi Arabia concedes to Chinese oil sales with renminbi (RMB) currency. With Russia now accepting renminbi currency as payments for oil, the U.S. dollar is further sliding away from being the world’s reserve currency. CONTINUE
This Is What The Death Of A Nation Looks Like: Venezuela Prepares For 720% Hyperinflation
For citizens of Nicolas Maduro's socialist paradise the news is terrible, and getting worse with every passing day.
Yesterday, we reported that one year after our November 2014 forecast, Barclays has decided that Venezuela is now past the "point of no return", and a bankruptcy in 2016 will be "difficult to avoid." But while some may have thought that this dramatic impact, while welcome by the rest of OPEC and oil bulls around the globe, would only impact the government, the reality is that this latest hit means a total disintegration of the economy and will take the country's already staggering hyperinflation to previously unprecedented levels.
According to the latest IMF estimate, Venezuela’s consumer inflation, already the world’s highest, will triple this year to a level above all estimates from economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
This is because the IMF, which until recently had predicted "only" 204% inflation for Venezuela, already higher than the 140% consensus, revised its numbers and now sees a mindblowing 750% hyperinflation in 2016: this means that the average price of products and services will increase over eight times over the span of the next 12 months.
Bloomberg reports that inflation will surge to 720 percent in 2016 from 275 percent last year, according to a note published by the IMF’s Western Hemisphere Director, Alejandro Werner. That’s nearly quadruple the median 184 percent estimate from 12 economists surveyed by Bloomberg, and exceeding the highest forecast of 700 percent from Nomura Securities.
Venezuela’s central bank published economic statistics Jan. 15 for the first time in a year, confirming that inflation had reached triple digits and closed the third quarter at 141.5 percent on an annual basis. As of December 2014, the last time data was released, inflation was 68.5 percent.
It has gotten so surreal, that the local central bank accused websites that track the dollar’s street value of “destroying prices” and installing a “savage” form of capitalism in the country, adding that 60 percent of inflation was the result of currency manipulation.
Whatever the cause, the reality is that real inflation is even worse, and when charted, this is what the death of a sovereign nation looks as follows (this does not assume a sovereign bankruptcy; when that happens the hyperinflation will really take off):
And when described with words:
Spiking prices and widespread shortages for even staples have driven discontent in Venezuela. That helped spur the opposition to gain control of Congress for the first time in a decade as President Nicolas Maduro attempts to turn the tide of what he has deemed an “economic emergency.”
“A lack of hard currency has led to scarcity of intermediate goods and to widespread shortages of essential goods — including food — exacting a tragic toll,” Werner said. “Prices continue to spiral out of control.”
Actually, the hard currency exists, because while locals may not have access to dollars, they certainly could have converted their now totally worthless currency into gold, thus not only preserving but boosting their purchasing power relative to the local stock market which, as we showed previously, has also generated negative returns relative to the rampaging hyperinflation.
According to Bloomberg, Venezuela’s economy will shrink 8% this year following a 10% contraction last year, according to the IMF. While these forecasts are more pessimistic than economists’ median estimates for a contraction of 4.1%, in reality the Venezuela economy no longer exists, with all transactions now taking place in the gray or black markets, and the government apparatus effectively operating in a vacuum.
Which, as we noted yesterday, is good news for oil bulls: once the now inevitable sovereign bankruptcy hits, the resulting chaos and collapse in oil production in the political and power vacuum which may last for years, will serve as just the supply drop buffer the world oil market so desperately needs.
But while that may be good news for oil traders, there is no good news in any of the above for the long-suffering citizens of this "socialist paradise" which any minute now will be downgraded to its fair value of "socialist hell."
Massive food inflation strikes Canada... consumers paying $8 for a head of cauliflower, $3 for a single cucumber.
(NaturalNews) Due to a "perfect storm" of inflationary factors – not the least of which being the continuing drop in oil prices – Canadians are seeing the effects of a weakening currency reflected in food prices at the supermarket.
$3 cucumbers, $8 for a head of cauliflower, grapes at $10 per bag – the spiraling cost of foods, particularly those imported from Canada's neighbor to the south, has consumers there reeling from sticker shock.
Social media platforms have been inundated lately with complaints about the rising food costs, and the offset in low prices at the gas pump has not been enough to make up the difference for Canadians who are now paying more for almost all imported goods.
It's one thing having to forego buying a new iPhone or other luxury items, but not being able to afford the foods one is accustomed to is particularly frustrating for the average consumer.
So what's behind the collapse of the Canadian dollar?
From The New York Times:
As prices for commodities have dropped, the value of the Canadian dollar has fallen, a direct link to an economy that is dependent on oil and other resources. It makes imports, like fresh American vegetables during the dark Canadian winter, look especially costly. Two years ago, one Canadian dollar was worth 93 American cents. On Wednesday, it stood at 69 American cents.
Canada imports 80 percent of its produce – much of it comes from California where the prolonged drought has caused prices to rise in terms of American dollars. This, combined with other factors, has caused prices for fresh fruits and vegetables to skyrocket – many items now cost more than three times what they did as recently as one year ago:
Iceberg lettuce sells for 3 Canadian dollars, up from the typical 90 Canadian cents. One head of broccoli goes for $4, compared with $1.50 for two in the past. Last winter, a head of cauliflower was selling for 2.50 Canadian.
U.S. food prices expected to rise
At the moment, food prices in the United States are maintaining an average growth rate, but the future is not so bright. In fact, many are predicting a steady rise in food costs in the coming years.
From CheatSheet.com:
There is plenty of concern over the future of food prices in America right now, and for good reason. Even big business is growing wary. Most of the western United States is experiencing a drought of epic proportions, which is most certainly going to have an effect on food prices nationwide. Droughts, along with the changes they force on supply lines, increased transportation costs, and destruction of livestock and farmland, all play a pivotal part in determining food prices.
Grow your own!
The only way to protect yourself from rising food costs is to produce as much of it on your own as you possibly can. Self-reliance is more crucial than ever in the face of global insecurity – both in terms of currency fluctuations and extreme weather patterns that individuals have very little control over.
If you're not already growing your own fresh produce, it's time to get started.
One of the best ways to do so is with the Food Rising Mini-Farm Grow Box system developed by Natural News founder Mike Adams, the Health Ranger.
The Food Rising system is an inexpensive and revolutionary method that can be utilized for growing fresh organic produce without the need for electricity or a large garden space.
The Mini-Farm Grow Box System is a self-watering, non-circulating hydroponic system that makes growing your own organic fruits and vegetables a simple and easy task. The system requires very little tending, and all the open-source plans are available for free on the FoodRising.org website.
Stop worrying about the rising cost of food – start your own organic garden today!
Next Crash Worse than 1929 & 2008 Combined
Money manager Michael Pento says the next crash will be one for the record books. Pento contends, “If you look at any of the economic data coming out, it screams recession. It will be one of the worst recessions since 2008 and 1929—combined.” This is a description of a global depression. Pento contends, “Unfortunately, I think that’s exactly where we are headed. It’s not my opinion. It’s not a Cassandra. It’s not my view. It’s the entire view of all global markets. China is 45% down. There’s a bear market in Europe. There’s a bear market in Japan. There is a bear market in most of the United States.”
Why is it going to be so historically bad this time around? Pento says, “In prior recessions, the Federal Reserve was allowed to lower the borrowing costs significantly and dramatically. For instance, the Fed Funds Rate, that interbank lending rate, was 5.25%. Today, it’s between .25% and .50%. The Fed is unable to reduce borrowing costs to the consumer. All they can do is take back their measly .25% rate hike that they did in December. So, there is no debt service relief coming from the Federal Reserve. That’s number one. Number two, a normal function of recessions is a surge in the deficit. We saw this in the Great Recession from about $200 billion a year to $1.5 trillion a year. This time, if they skyrocket again . . . who’s going to buy that Treasury debt? There’s no more QE. China is a huge seller. Japan is a huge seller. So, interest rates are going to rise because sovereigns are insolvent. It’s not the banks that are insolvent anymore, although that is still the case to a great degree. Central banks are insolvent, and sovereign governments are insolvent. That’s why this is no normal recession.” CONTINUE
Retail Apocalypse: 2016 Brings Empty Shelves And Store Closings All Across America
It appears that the retail apocalypse that made so many headlines in 2015 has gone to an entirely new level as we enter 2016
Major retailers in the United States are shutting down hundreds of stores, and shoppers are reporting alarmingly bare shelves in many retail locations that are still open all over the country.
It appears that the retail apocalypse that made so many headlines in 2015 has gone to an entirely new level as we enter 2016. As economic activity slows down and Internet retailers capture more of the market, brick and mortar retailers are cutting their losses. This is especially true in areas that are on the lower portion of the income scale. In impoverished urban centers all over the nation, it is not uncommon to find entire malls that have now been completely abandoned. It has been estimated that there is about a billion square feet of retail space sitting empty in this country, and this crisis is only going to get worse as the retail apocalypse accelerates.
We always get a wave of store closings after the holiday shopping season, but this year has been particularly active. The following are just a few of the big retailers that have already made major announcements…
-Wal-Mart is closing 269 stores, including 154 inside the United States.
-K-Mart is closing down more than two dozen stores over the next several months.
-J.C. Penney will be permanently shutting down 47 more stores after closing a total of 40 stores in 2015.
-Macy’s has decided that it needs to shutter 36 stores and lay off approximately 2,500 employees.
-The Gap is in the process of closing 175 stores in North America.
-Aeropostale is in the process of closing 84 stores all across America.
-Finish Line has announced that 150 stores will be shutting down over the next few years.
-Sears has shut down about 600 stores over the past year or so, but sales at the stores that remain open continue to fall precipitously.
But these store closings are only part of the story.
All over the country, shoppers are noticing bare shelves and alarmingly low inventory levels. This is happening even at the largest and most prominent retailers.
I want to share with you an excerpt from a recent article by Jeremiah Johnson. The anecdotes that he shares definitely set off alarm bells with me. Read them for yourself and see what you think…
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I came across two excellent comments upon Steve Quayle’s website that bear reading, as these are two people with experience in retail marketing, inventory, ordering, and purchases. Take a look at these:
#1 (From DJ, January 24, 201