Topic: Comprehensive Write up what we are facing

[Weisshaupt]

http://www.theburningplatform.com/2015/02/09/fourth-turning-the-shadow-of-crisis-has-not-passed-part-one/
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2015/02/10/fourth-turning-the-shadow-of-crisis-has-not-passed-part-two/
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2015/02/11/fourth-turning-the-shadow-of-crisis-has-not-passed-part-three/
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2015/02/12/fourth-turning-the-shadow-of-crisis-has-not-passed-part-four/

Via Z/H  of course.


   

"Harvard professor Laurence Kotlikoff has been a lone voice telling the truth about the true level of unfunded promises hidden in the CBO numbers. The unfunded social welfare liabilities in excess of $200 trillion for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare are nothing but a massive future tax increase on younger and unborn generations. Kotlikoff explains what would be required to pay these obligations:

    “To honor these obligations we could (a) raise all federal taxes, immediately and permanently, by 57%, (b) cut all federal spending, apart from interest on the debt, by 37%, immediately and permanently, or (c) do some combination of (a) and (b).”

    The level of taxation and/or Federal Reserve created inflation necessary to honor these politician promises is too large to be considered feasible. Therefore, these promises, made to get corrupt political hacks elected to public office, will be defaulted upon."

    The Federal government insists the unemployment rate has fallen from 10% in 2009 to a miniscule 5.7% today. The ridiculousness of this claim is borne out by the fact the working age population has grown by 14 million since 2009, while the number of employed has only grown by 7 million. The number of people who have left the workforce since the economic recovery started is an astonishing 12 million. In the previous five years, only 4 million people left the workforce. There are now 102 million working age Americans not working versus the 147 million working. The labor participation rate stands at a 38 year low, back to levels before women entered the workforce in great numbers.

    The American people have lost their ability to think, reason, question, do math, control their urges, defer gratification, or realize when they are being lied to by the people they elected to public office. A culture of ignorance, celebration of the absurd, salutation of stupidity, honoring of the inane, being mesmerized by electronic gadgets, and satiating their egocentric shallow impulses on social media, is a sure recipe for societal collapse."

 

  I now believe the focus of this Fourth Turning will be the conflict between the government and its supporters, and those who oppose the welfare/warfare surveillance state controlled by Wall Street vested interests. The overbearing, militarized, captured Federal government has treated citizens like suspects since 2001. Those in the highest echelons of wealth and power have captured the three branches of government (executive, legislative, judicial) and are ruthlessly ransacking the remaining wealth of the nation. Their unquenchable desire for more wealth and power has never been more blatantly obvious than in the aftermath of the 2008 financial collapse created by their derivative orgy of debt which blew up in their faces.

    As trust in the political, economic and financial systems implodes, the existing social order will crumble and be swept away in a torrent of chaos and upheaval. Severe misery will settle on our land and tear the fabric of our society. Internal strife will be compounded by external threats, with citizens fighting each other and nations going to war on a large scale. It has happened before and it will happen again. The realization this Crisis would be driven by the conflict between government and the people occurred to me in 2013 when Edward Snowden revealed the depth and depravity of a government which believes it to not be bound by the constraints of the Constitution, laws, regulations, or human decency.

    What kind of government clandestinely spies on its citizens; militarizes local police forces; conducts military training operations in major cities; wires its streets and highways with surveillance cameras; disperses peaceful protestors with water cannons, tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets; and treats the U.S. Constitution like toilet paper? An authoritarian regime treats its people like this. Authoritarian regimes treat everyone like a potential enemy. They trust no one. Those in power care only for themselves and their lackeys.

    It appears this Fourth Turning’s primary driving force will be the internal conflict between government and the people. To linear thinkers, self-proclaimed progressives, corrupt politicians, obedient government workers, and those dependent upon the government for their sustenance, the thought of civil war in the United States is inconceivable. Civil uprisings generally occur after currency collapse when mass hunger and poverty overtake the land. A breakdown in the electronic based economic system in which store shelves go empty, fuel becomes scarce, and the electronic transfer of welfare benefits ceases would create mass chaos in the streets. With our just in time supply chain, a grid failure or breakdown of electronic ordering, payment and communication would bring the nation to its knees within one week. Millions would perish within a few weeks. The government would attempt to utilize the military and national guard to maintain order. With their families also starving and no means of getting paid, will they be obeying the orders of a government that caused the collapse?


    The other possibility is secession. It’s been tried before and the conflict was bloody and earth shattering. There really are two Americas. The east and west coasts are dominated by the liberal elite who look down upon the rest of the country. The .1% mostly resides in their gated enclaves, penthouse suites, and luxury beachfront mansions. They have nothing but contempt and disdain for the average American, living in Middle America or the South. The feeling is mutual amongst the working class towards the liberal elites. Most of the 300 million guns are concentrated in the Midwest and South. As trust in government and institutions wanes, the issue of states’ rights is likely to gain traction amongst a large swath of the critical thinking citizenry. The animosity between factions in this country is at historic levels. Again, civil war, secession, and the nation breaking into sectional regions of common interests are unlikely to occur until the existing social order collapses under the weight of un-payable obligations. That time is coming.

    I would love to just be an impartial observer during this Fourth Turning, like a sports announcer in a booth far above the field, broadcasting the events as they unfold. But, it is not to be. I’m living in the midst of this Crisis with all the other participants. I’m not happy about the prospect of financial collapse, societal collapse, and war. I have three young sons and refuse to allow them to be used as cannon fodder by the State, in their quest to retain dominion over the American people. I understand the younger generations must do the heavy lifting during this Crisis, but I do not relish the prospect of putting them in harm’s way. It’s not fair they are left with the burdens created by decades of bad choices and cowardly acts of their elders. But no one said life is fair. This generation was born at a particular time in history when much will be required. They have a rendezvous with destiny. None of us has a choice. We can’t sit this one out. The bad times ahead will require courage, fortitude, sacrifice and intelligence, if we are to be triumphant. This Fourth Turning could end in apocalypse or glory. Our decisions and choices will matter. Prepare now.

Yep, that pretty much covers all of the bases. Not a lot of new information,  just another party out there seeing the same things we are and drawing the same conclusions, and then writing it up in a very through and cohesive manner.  I may have to read " the fourth turning. "  But then what is the point? I already accept the cyclical nature of things - but how they feel inter-generational dynamics enter into each one may be an interesting study.

It does seem like we are headed for another major bump this year..  I hope not, as I really need the rest of this year to get some more pieces into place to be really ready.  My guess is it will be September, October, November again.   I think the looming  winter months tend to be more brutal on the economy and on people's spirits... if it falls I think it will fall then.  But even so I expect another partial hit..not the big one..  The Eurozone collapses , emergency tarriffs are put in place ( Snoot Hawley revisited!)    and ISIS continues to conquer the middle East.  The United  States becomes directly involved when Saudi Arabia is attacked.  The resultant "flight for security"  props us the dollar a little longer, as I don't think the BRICS nations are ready to shoulder that yet, nor do they have the required trust.

After this bump I expect that the next move after that event will be IRA confiscation  via mandatory myRA pre-tax deductions. and negative interest rates at banks, with withdrawal limits.  I do hope to be out of the Banks by September.  We are getting down to the last purchases,  Most of it is "smaller" ticket items - used  Horse trailer,  fencing supplies,  Green house renovation, Paint/Trim on the house ( wife must be appeased) , a generator/welder,  Roadbase for under the fences  ( mostly to keep predators out) , additional animals ( horses, yaks)  with the big ticket item being a Steel post barn..   But we are definitely starting to get into the "really useful, and incredibly nice to have" section of prepping vs the "we will probably die without this" section.

[Libertas]

"The American people have lost their ability to think, reason, question, do math, control their urges..."

Just stop right there!  Going any further is redundant and expecting any kind of rational behavior beyond this point is foolish!

..."Federal government has treated citizens like suspects since...well before...2001!"

Moving on...

"Authoritarian regimes treat everyone like a potential enemy."

We will find out how that works out for them in the end...

"...the thought of civil war in the United States is inconceivable."

Bullsh*t!  I think the great unwashed might think that way, or foolishly think government will always be there to protect them, feed, them, shelter them and wipe their ass...but the oligarchs and bureaucrats foisting this charade know better, they will cut and run and hide in taxpayer funded bunkers and ships and what have you and expect to ride out the chaos in peace.  The latter they may do, for a time, but they have to emerge sometime, and when they do, people who remember them will slaughter them on sight, their very elitist and self-absorbed natures will expose them faster than if their faces were plastered on every ruin with a wall still standing!

Secession to me is the only option left that peacefully separates people into different, two as a minimum, perhaps more states, if PaulBots want their own Xenophobic state, and perhaps the greens want Oregon or some such paradise to live like naked savages, etc.  It won't guarantee permanent peace, for sure the greens won't last long on their own before the locusts invade their communes and settlements and rape them for everything they have, then, they'll turn their mindless ravenous hoard on others.  Then they'll have to be slaughtered on an industrial scale.  And assuming all this goes on without foreign meddling (some new states may even court foreign partners for support in return for certain rights) when the dust settles there could be peace to be had.  And perhaps the biggest elephant in the room is what to do about everybodys debt and unfunded liabilities etc...it could not possibly be assumed, vast write off's would have to occur, many businesses left destitute, perhaps only a portion of foreign obligations passed on and assumed by the new entities.

Barring that recognition and the will to execute such a partitioning there is nothing but violence coming.

I hope the timing is off too, but things seem to be accelerating out of control.  A misnomer I know, things never really were under control, just barely hanging together by a common fear of causing anything else that could be worse than what is already happening...but that avoidance thing has a way of ensuring the rupture inches closer.  For sure major precursors to the main event seem to be shaping up.

We all need to be situationally aware, prepared as possible and ready for anything.

[whimsicalmamapig]

I think we should just begin referring to obama as Darius and the dems as "persians".

nuff said