We are witnessing the beginning stages of political collapse. The government and its leaders are being discredited on a daily basis. The mismanagement of fiscal policy, foreign policy and domestic policy, along with the revelations of the NSA conducting mass surveillance against all Americans has led critical thinking Americans to question the legitimacy of the politicians running the show on behalf of the bankers, corporations and arms dealers. The Gestapo like tactics used by the government in Boston was an early warning sign of what is to come. Government entitlement promises will vaporize, as they did in Detroit, with pension promises worth only ten cents on the dollar.

Total social and cultural collapse could resemble the chaotic civil war scenarios playing out in Libya and Syria. The best case scenario would be for a collapse similar to the Soviet Union’s relatively peaceful disintegration into impotent republics. I don’t believe we’ll be this fortunate.

The most powerful military empire in world history will not fade away.

It will go out in a blaze of glory with a currency collapse, hyper-inflation, and war on a grand scale.

My best estimate as to what happens next is in this final installment can be read HERE in TRYING TO STAY SANE IN AN INSANE WORLD – AT WORLD’S END 

In the first three parts (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 below the GDP Chart ) of this disheartening look back at a century of central banking, income taxing, military warring, energy depleting and political corrupting, I made a case for why we are in the midst of a financial, commercial, political, social and cultural collapse.

TRYING TO STAY SANE IN AN INSANE WORLD – PART 1

1971, bankruptcy, Bernanke, Bush, Carl Bernstein, Charles Mackay, Charles Manson, collapse, Consumer credit, default, Delusion, Federal Reserve, fraud, Friedrich Nietzsche, gas prices, GDP, gold window, Inflation,insanity, Jamie Dimon, John Lennon, Jon Corzine, Kurt Nimmo, Michael Lewis, Muppets, National Debt,Obama, oil, Paulson, ponzi scheme, Propaganda, QE, Robert Heinlein, Too Big To Trust, Wall Street, ZIRP

What does it take to be in the much denigrated top 1% of Income Earners in Canada?

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A man leaves the Lehman Brothers headquarters building on Monday, Sept. 15, 2008, the day Lehman filed for bankruptcy.

It’s been five years since the beginning of the financial crisis forever changed the trajectory of American banking — and American history.

The plot lines of the financial crisis are well–documented, but it should still give any market watcher pause to stop and think again about the events as they unfolded.

From Lehman’s collapse to AIG’s bailout, September and October of 2008 were, simply put, absolutely nuts.

To celebrate the 5-year-anniversary, we take a walk down memory lane with a cast of familiar faces.

….view all 25 HERE

Marc Faber likes High dividend Stocks

“We are in a bull market that is in the tail-end instead of the beginning but that does not mean prices will collapse. I don’t think that stocks are the greatest bargain anymore, but it’s not that expensive either,” Faber told his audience during a luncheon talk organized by MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd.in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia – in The Sun Daily

Diversification ~ I recommend the investors to take a balanced approach to Invest in Equity, Corporate Bond, Real-Estate and Gold

“I recommend the investors to take a balanced approach to invest in equity, corporate bond, real-estate and gold,”

“The inflation in China is much higher than it seems. Credit growth in China will slow down. It is very much depends on whether they’re going into hard landing or soft landing, but this will inevitably lead to economic slowdown in emerging markets,”- in the Sun Daily

….more commentaries below:

At the beginning of the year there was a growing chorus that U.S. housing was on the freeway to recovery. In March, I remember watching “Your Money” on CNN when hosts Christine Romans and Ali Velshi were pleading with Americans to buy homes before things really took off. Words like “hot” and “booming” were used liberally.

They were partly right. National home prices had risen about 15% from the recent bottom. However, prices were still off a significant 23% from the 2006 highs (prices had fallen 33% from peak to trough and have spent the last five years fluctuating in a range).

The miscalculation for those who thought U.S. housing was on a sustained recovery and back on a track towards its old highs was that it was a traditional recovery: the economy was doing a bit better, employment was slowly improving, and housing usually does well when this is the case. However, from our perspective, it was the financially-engineered and artificially low interest and mortgage rates that were pushing up prices.

The real reason is now more evident as mortgage rates have jumped since the Federal Reserve hinted that it would slow down the rate at which it pumps money and liquidity into the U.S. economy. Rates are up well over 1% since May.

One would think that a real recovery in housing would have a great deal of inertia. Instead, the 1% increase in rates has been enough halt the momentum.   New mortgage activity highlights this. The number of new mortgages in the last three months has been hammered by about 30%. It has gotten so bad that yesterday the Bank of America announced that it had begun to lay off 2,100 mortgage-related staff.  JP Morgan said that it now expects to lose money on home lending in the 2^nd half of 2013 as new mortgage volumes will fall by 40% compared to the 1^st half of the year.

Unless the Federal Reserve decides against “Tapering” the rate of money printing (which would be a bombshell announcement at this stage), U.S. housing is going to face headwinds. With prices only climbing to mid-2004 levels and still 23% below the peak, U.S. housing is falling well short of a full recovery. But, maybe it was never a real “recovery” at all if it was mostly due to Ben Bernanke, the Wizard of Oz, pulling levers behind curtains.

The opinions expressed in this report are the opinions of the author and readers should not assume they reflect the opinions or recommendations of Richardson GMP Limited or its affiliates. Assumptions, opinions and estimates constitute the author’s judgment as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice. We do not warrant the completeness or accuracy of this material, and it should not be relied upon as such. Before acting on any recommendation, you should consider whether it is suitable for your particular circumstances and, if necessary, seek professional advice. Past performance is not indicative of future results. 

Richardson GMP Limited, Member Canadian Investor Protection Fund.

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