Prepare For the Worst
Those who have been paying attention have known the Euro is in deep trouble, and much of it stems from the way in which is was created. Too many member states were admitted which had currency that was overvalued for the merger, and they’ve done nothing to curb ridiculous fiscal policies in those countries. This includes nations such as Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, but also to a lesser degree, France. Now, it’s time to pay the piper, and predictably, nobody wants to do so. Governments in Europe are now forced to consider what will happen if the Euro falls and the member states wind up reverting to their prior forms of currency. Some estimates suggest that GDP would decline in Europe among member states by as much as half, or more, and that widespread unemployment on a scale that would dwarf any previous depressions in scale and depth. In short, they’re now planning for a calamity, complete with riots and revolutions, and the reason is simple: It’s now a very real possibility. From a story in the UK Telegraph:
The Financial Services Authority this week issued a public warning to British banks to bolster their contingency plans for the break-up of the single currency.
Some economists believe that at worst, the outright collapse of the euro could reduce GDP in its member-states by up to half and trigger mass unemployment.
Analysts at UBS, an investment bank earlier this year warned that the most extreme consequences of a break-up include risks to basic property rights and the threat of civil disorder.
“When the unemployment consequences are factored in, it is virtually impossible to consider a break-up scenario without some serious social consequences,” UBS said.
Of course, many Americans are not moved by these tidings, somehow believing that we are insulated from a European crisis, but nothing could be further from the truth. If such drastic circumstances arise in Europe, the effects will be global, and so will be the civil unrest that accompanies it. This is the kind of calamity from which there is virtually no escape, anywhere on Earth. In such an environment, not only would our own exports to Europe would collapse, but also we would find our own currency in free-fall because we have so thoroughly tied it to the Euro. The defaults alone would wreck our own currency, and leave the United States in a similar situation.
Reuters is now carrying a story about the French and German effort to establish some fiscal controls to stave off a calamity, but the truth is that this will likely be too little, too late. Some authorities realize that this will be a stalling tactic at best, and are using the time it may buy to prepare for what is increasingly being seen as an inevitable collapse. From the Telegraph:
A senior minister has now revealed the extent of the Government’s concern, saying that Britain is now planning on the basis that a euro collapse is now just a matter of time.
“It’s in our interests that they keep playing for time because that gives us more time to prepare,” the minister told the Daily Telegraph.
Recent Foreign and Commonwealth Office instructions to embassies and consulates request contingency planning for extreme scenarios including rioting and social unrest.
As is now obvious, this is all a play for time. They’re buying time, but they’re not going to save things, and the Europeans seem to know it. The question thus becomes: What is our own government doing to prepare? What are they telling you to do in preparation? Nothing. Your own federal government is behaving irresponsibly in the face of this looming crisis.
For three years or more, the hand-writing has been on the wall, and our own government has obfuscated and lied about the direction of things, but has done little to prepare the American people for the possibilities now in the offing. Let me suggest to you that the recent sporadic reports of spikes in the purchase of survival supplies is an indicator that the American people have begun to figure it out without governmental warnings. No rational person can examine what’s been happening on the global economic and financial front and not have some sense of the very real dangers now accumulating. It remains a prudent course of action for Americans to prepare for any sort of emergency, but with the real possibility of complete Euro-zone collapse now seemingly imminent, prudence would dictate an uptick in preparedness planning. Our own currency has been tied too closely to the Euro currency to avoid the consequences of its collapse.
"As is now obvious, this is all a play for time,"
Yep it is, Will you and I accept paper check from government , U.S. or
Europe , for my/your labor, service, or product like food for yours /mine…for which someone else will accept for the same?
That's the theory of money. We have to agree. That's the economic contract. To be able to do that we have to know nation state is secure, along with borders…which isn't so.
If you think gold is the answer, if this contract collapses…even with gold…how do you pay for a loaf of bread…pure gold is soft…if the bread seller has a scale you can scrape a few shavings off with your knife for payment.
Still got to be that economic contract. If bread seller takes shavings of gold, he expects to use it for whatever…a good nights sleep at the inn.
What's happening in Europe, now U. S. is too many with nothing to offer as to scrapings of gold, labor, or services, or products.
Reblogged this on Vasile Roata.
Very interesting that this website is making the rounds ! I would just say very good, . Just makes sense.
Posted in my best French @ website.
One can bet that any resounding European economic ripple coming from this to America's shores will be the societal crisis necessary to declare martial law.
It could be big enough to turn a tyrant into a dictator.
Most of these folks running for Pres are believers in the global solution. After all we do have just this one planet, Earth.
First, nation state of USSR had to fall, now U.S,A.
Do you think they have global elections planned?
So who do we elect?
You can determine who they are. I've been fooled for so long.
You're going to have to decide.
signed. The ole "Unit."
This is off the topic of this article; however, this is a must read!!!
Have you seen this???
Senate Moves To Allow Military To Intern Americans Without Trial
“NDAA detention provision would turn America into a “battlefield”
Saturday, November 26, 2011 http://www.prisonplanet.com/senate-moves-to-allow…
It should prove to be an interesting week…
The media in this country is doing there best to hide the problems in Europe because there vested in the progressive socialist welfare society.
This is a serious subject. And maybe civil unrest is not the last consequence. Actually all across Europe we experience that in several cities cars are burning night by night. Not to speak from all the demonstrations and street fights. Unrests are already present, but the main question is if there will be civil war in Europe, especially here in Germany? Already many journalists and editors have written about a coming civil war in Germany and that many cultural issues will have impact on it. So it is not the Euro alone, it is the clash of failed integration politic and the mistrust in democracy. In Germany certainly one aspect of the current public mood has to do with the occupation by the allies and the installation of a legal framework with that the Germans cannot identify themselves.
It is like that Americans would have to live under a constitution that Japan would have installed. Americans also would not like that, they would want back their own. And somehow this re-awakening of national identity is happening within all society classes. Once Germany would enter civil war all of Europe would destabilize. The people would loot and plunder. More interesting would be the question what comes after civil war, monarchy or a democratic United European States or even a global United States? In such a civil war and system-switch all money would be come nearly worthless, even Gold would not be worth much. All of today’s economic elites would be destroyed and blamed.
When you look at Greece then they already reached a level that is not just anymore unrest. The citizens have become so poor due to the reforms, that they hardly can live. They have to fight for survival. Imagine before the crisis a teacher was earning about 1300 Euro per month, now around 600 Euro (in Germany approx. 2500-3500 Euro). Many public servants were fired. Those who kept their job had to accept cuts of 30-50% while the weekly hours were increased. In addition the retirement payments were cut more than 30%.
Asked yourself what would you and your family do when you suddenly earn half, but still have to pay the same rent and bills which are instead of shrinking drastically increasing? Then think of all the retired people who are too old to work, how shall they live with such a cut?
When this happens step by step in all European Nations, then I would not be surprised when the mob runs around.
But I trust in God and hope that in a case of an escalation in Europe the catholic and protestant churches agree to renegotiate the Westphalian treaty to end the secular order and to transfer governmental power back to Rome. So while some people go on the street to destroy Europe, I am sure that conservative Christians will plea to the holy church Rome to actively intervene in politic. Otherwise Christians would have to watch how their countries sink under wild hordes that act like barbarians.
I agree to people that in politics many mistakes have been made and changes are inevitable, but I do not see benefits when people burn cars, fight with police or even do worse things. All such things only cost victims and money which worsens the problems. Unfortunately you can see this in several German cities, just look at video portals. This kind of mentality makes it dangerous in the future, especially if the dimension of the crisis becomes bigger. Pumping more and more money in the system does not prevent a crash, but only delays it.
Vinzenz,
Thank you for the thoughtful post. My wife is a native of Ansbach. I agree that the situation is dire, but I do not have any solace to offer to you. There is more than one way for a person's wages to be halved. One is through such austerity programs, but another is through inflation(devaluation of the currency.) The results are quite the same, but at least the austerity programs are honest, which makes them more difficult because it is not gradual, and governments cannot hide it, as is being done here in the US even now. I do not believe that transferring governmental power back to Rome will be of any assistance at all.
The simple but ugly truth is that there are too many who take without earning, and too many who have negotiated very nice retirement benefits that the private sector cannot sustain. There is no economy without the private sector, and the US is now suffering from the same disease that has afflicted Europe: When the governments grow too large, in terms of how much of the Domestic Product it consumes and redistributes, the private sector is choked out of existence to the peril of all.
I have just posted an article regarding Frederic Bastiat's "The Law," and I would commend it to your reading. If Europe is to have any chance to save itself, it must learn Bastiat now, as must my own countrymen.
Thank you!
Mark