Time travel possible? I'm skeptical, but anything's possible. Have we been visited by a time traveler from 2036? Very skeptical, but anything's possible. While I'm new to this site and the whole John Titor phenomenon, I see the possibility of a Civil War in the U.S. in 2005 surrounding the 2004 elections. But, the cause will be due to civil unrest from an economic crash that's entirely probable in the next year. A large and growing civil unrest (riots, etc.) because of harsh economic times would give Dubya the excuse to declare martial law and take/get emergency powers suspending the elections. If history has shown us anything, Americans vote with their wallets. An economic financial crash would certainly cost the Pres. the election, just like his father. How could we fall into an economic deflationary crash, especially with all the "glowing" economic news of late? Remember, the "gubment" produces most of these economic reports. Trust them with the innocense of children and suffer the consequences. Truth is this country, or any other country in the history of the world, has never had as much debt as we have now. In any way that it's measured, the debt bubble in this country on a federal, state, local, corporate and consumer level is epic. At the height of the mania in 1929, total debt to GDP was about 275%. Today, total debt to GDP is north of 300%, and growing by the billions everyday. Personal bankruptcies are in their third straight year of historic highs. Foreclosures are near historic highs with interest rates not seen since the 1960's, and "easy Al" Greenspan is encouraging everyone to keep borrowing and buying things we don't need with money we don't have. Our trade defict of about $500 billion per year is starting to weigh on foreigners who take our paper/electronic debits in exchange for their goods and services.
The dollar has been falling for the last two years and could easily collapse in the next year. Foreigners are tired of lending the U.S. consumer about $1.5 billion per business day for a lifestyle that's all about consumption. Hell, even Dallas Fed president Bob McTeer told an audience in 2002 something to the effect of "we should all just lock arms and buy an SUV, preferably a Navigator." If the dollar crashes, the bond market gets trashed - raising interest rates through the roof - and the stock market is not far behind. Pretty soon the price of everything comes down drastically. While falling prices sounds good, remember that it also applies to things like your salary, home value, any real estate or business that you own, commodities, etc. The 1930's was a good example of life during deflation. As businesses can't move their goods, they lay people off. We've already lost over 2 million jobs since Dubya was elected, and now white collar, high tech jobs are being "offshored" with increasing velocity. Go to www.yourjobisgoingtoindia.com to read more on this. As more and more people are laid off, businesses sell less and less. Money and credit supply contract and we get a full blown deflationary downward spiral, a.k.a. crash.
Money supply as measured by the Fed, M3, started slowing in its growth rate over the summer, and now it's actually shrinking over the fall. Commercial and industrial loans - used by businesses for short-term production - have been falling steadily for over two years. And now the wholesale and consumer inflation numbers fell in November. The Consumer Price Index "core" rate fell for the first time in about 20 years. What's all this mean? Deflation may already be taking place, and harsh economic times will follow.
I don't know about you, but the "baby boomers" have never collectively lived through any hard economic times. Yes, there've been some recessions, but they were relatively mild. Now take away the cushy lifestyle of the biggest demographic group in the country that's not used to hard times, and my bet is you'll get plenty of civil unrest. Suspend the elections and crack down even harder on civil rights under the guise of "Homeland Security" (why didn't they just name it "Fatherland Security?") and you have a nice recipe for the beginnings of a civil war or at least a revolution.
I normally don't spend time on "stuff" like this, but what caught my attention about the John Titor thing was how he described the whole thing spinning out of control in 2004 to 2005, which is about the time things should be pretty bad here economically. Yes, I study a lot about economics, financial markets, etc. because that's my line of work. As for Bush, I wouldn't put anything past him. I voted for him in the last election thinking he wouldn't screw things up too much. Unfortunately, his "good old boy" cover fooled me. He's surrounded himself with some very hawkish people, and 9/11 gave him the excuse for a couple of small wars. John Titor commented something about "Is it a surprise that Iraq has nukes, or is that the hype needed to gain approval for the next war?" I'm paraphrasing from memory, so the quote is probably not exact. I wouldn't be surprised at anything that the current administration does to stay in power - from debasing the U.S. dollar, starting more wars, creating an even bigger deficit, allowing another terrorist attack close to the elections, or just declaring martial law and suspending the next election.
Whether John Titor is/was a hoax or not is immaterial to me. He hit on a lot of things three years ago that make a huge amount of sense, and some of his implied predictions have come to pass. The ultimate test and answer to this whole thing is just a year away. You can get prepared and nothing happens. What have you wasted? You can be unprepared and everything happens. You will be wasted. Think about it.
If you're interested, there are some free websites that you can expert economic and financial analysis/editorials from. Sites I recommend are Prudentbear.com, financialsense.com, safehaven.com, and freebuck.com. You can find links to many other sites from these. No, I have no personal or indirect interest in these sites, and they aren't selling anything to anyone. Be forewarned, be forearmed.
The dollar has been falling for the last two years and could easily collapse in the next year. Foreigners are tired of lending the U.S. consumer about $1.5 billion per business day for a lifestyle that's all about consumption. Hell, even Dallas Fed president Bob McTeer told an audience in 2002 something to the effect of "we should all just lock arms and buy an SUV, preferably a Navigator." If the dollar crashes, the bond market gets trashed - raising interest rates through the roof - and the stock market is not far behind. Pretty soon the price of everything comes down drastically. While falling prices sounds good, remember that it also applies to things like your salary, home value, any real estate or business that you own, commodities, etc. The 1930's was a good example of life during deflation. As businesses can't move their goods, they lay people off. We've already lost over 2 million jobs since Dubya was elected, and now white collar, high tech jobs are being "offshored" with increasing velocity. Go to www.yourjobisgoingtoindia.com to read more on this. As more and more people are laid off, businesses sell less and less. Money and credit supply contract and we get a full blown deflationary downward spiral, a.k.a. crash.
Money supply as measured by the Fed, M3, started slowing in its growth rate over the summer, and now it's actually shrinking over the fall. Commercial and industrial loans - used by businesses for short-term production - have been falling steadily for over two years. And now the wholesale and consumer inflation numbers fell in November. The Consumer Price Index "core" rate fell for the first time in about 20 years. What's all this mean? Deflation may already be taking place, and harsh economic times will follow.
I don't know about you, but the "baby boomers" have never collectively lived through any hard economic times. Yes, there've been some recessions, but they were relatively mild. Now take away the cushy lifestyle of the biggest demographic group in the country that's not used to hard times, and my bet is you'll get plenty of civil unrest. Suspend the elections and crack down even harder on civil rights under the guise of "Homeland Security" (why didn't they just name it "Fatherland Security?") and you have a nice recipe for the beginnings of a civil war or at least a revolution.
I normally don't spend time on "stuff" like this, but what caught my attention about the John Titor thing was how he described the whole thing spinning out of control in 2004 to 2005, which is about the time things should be pretty bad here economically. Yes, I study a lot about economics, financial markets, etc. because that's my line of work. As for Bush, I wouldn't put anything past him. I voted for him in the last election thinking he wouldn't screw things up too much. Unfortunately, his "good old boy" cover fooled me. He's surrounded himself with some very hawkish people, and 9/11 gave him the excuse for a couple of small wars. John Titor commented something about "Is it a surprise that Iraq has nukes, or is that the hype needed to gain approval for the next war?" I'm paraphrasing from memory, so the quote is probably not exact. I wouldn't be surprised at anything that the current administration does to stay in power - from debasing the U.S. dollar, starting more wars, creating an even bigger deficit, allowing another terrorist attack close to the elections, or just declaring martial law and suspending the next election.
Whether John Titor is/was a hoax or not is immaterial to me. He hit on a lot of things three years ago that make a huge amount of sense, and some of his implied predictions have come to pass. The ultimate test and answer to this whole thing is just a year away. You can get prepared and nothing happens. What have you wasted? You can be unprepared and everything happens. You will be wasted. Think about it.
If you're interested, there are some free websites that you can expert economic and financial analysis/editorials from. Sites I recommend are Prudentbear.com, financialsense.com, safehaven.com, and freebuck.com. You can find links to many other sites from these. No, I have no personal or indirect interest in these sites, and they aren't selling anything to anyone. Be forewarned, be forearmed.
