Tag Archives: Greater Depression

Here’s What the Government Should Really Do in the Greater Depression, by Doug Casey

Posted on April 29, 2020 | 1 comment

All of Casey’s suggestions make far too much sense to be implemented by our current rulers. From Casey at internationalman.com:

It’s hard to have a conversation today, or even overhear one, without being exposed to moronic – and I now use that word in its colloquial as well as its clinical sense – opinions about what “we” should do.

“We,” of course, is the government. Everyone believes it should “Do Something.” And it is.

But why deal in half-measures?

Why only send everybody a check for $1,200? Why not buy everyone a new Cadillac to get Detroit back to work, a big new house to help builders, and a $10,000 check that must be deposited at a failing bank and then spent at Victoria’s Secret.

A plan like that certainly sounds like more fun than what I’m going to propose. Especially since Americans are going to be a bit short on fun over the next little while.

They used it all up over the last generation.

I’ve explained elsewhere why we’re embarked on the Greater Depression. That’s a done deal. But here is what needs to happen if the depression is to be as brief and as therapeutic as possible.

1. Allow collapse of bankrupt entities. They’re uneconomic (as their bankruptcy has proven), their managements are overpaid and are proven incompetents. The bailout money going into them is simply wasted. Most of the real wealth now owned by the bankrupt will still exist. It will simply change ownership.

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“When No Man Has a Farthing…” by Jeff Thomas

Posted on April 27, 2020 | Leave a comment

Sell paper assets, buy real ones. Maybe wait a while after executing the former to execute the latter. From Jeff Thomas at internationalman.com:

economic collapse

Market cycles have existed since the advent of lending institutions. As far back as 2,000 BC, in Assyria, merchants provided loans to farmers and traders. Often, this created prosperity, with greater amounts of money passing from hand to hand with greater frequency.

Not surprisingly, the interest paid to the merchants inspired them to increase the amounts they would lend, again increasing prosperity.

But periodically, hard times returned and those who borrowed were unable to pay back the loans, leading to recessions.

Since at least the 14th century, rather than lending out gold and silver, goldsmiths in Europe issued letters of credit. Then, in the 17th century, fractional reserve banking emerged as a common practice.

The concept was that a bank might lend out the majority of its deposits, retaining a small percentage for day-to-day business. But for many banks, at some point, the temptation to lend out more in promissory notes than the bank actually had on deposit became too great.

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Doug Casey Explains the Real Reasons the US Arrived at the Greater Depression

Posted on April 23, 2020 | Leave a comment

First and foremost: living beyond our means, or debt. From Doug Casey at internationalman.com:

Let’s talk about what conditions will be like and about how you can get through the Greater Depression confidently, comfortably, and profitably. It’s not going to be easy or fun, but it’s possible.

I am of the opinion that what’s happening now isn’t just another cyclical downturn that can be papered over by printing up some more money—although that’s exactly what the U.S. and other governments are doing, and in unprecedented amounts. In fact, what the world’s governments are doing is not only wrong but also the opposite of what they should be doing.

Barring the start of another world war—which is not unlikely—the physical world probably won’t be changed much by the Greater Depression, but the way people relate to the world will change a great deal. And not because of the virus, which is about 90% hysteria; it’s just the pin that broke the bubble.

For roughly a whole generation, the U.S. government’s inflation of its currency has been inviting the whole country to live beyond its means. Living beyond your means is what consumer debt is all about.

Mortgage debt is where it all started, and it allowed people to live in houses much bigger than they could afford. In the Greater Depression that is now upon us, many people won’t be able to pay their mortgages. In fact, they won’t even be able to pay their utilities and taxes; maintenance will be deferred indefinitely. But that’s just the tip of a very big iceberg.

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Welcome to the Greater Depression, by Doug Casey

Posted on April 9, 2020 | 3 comments

Doug Casey sees a Depression greater than the Great Depression looming. SLL thinks he’s right. From Doug Casey at internationalman.com:

There are a lot of questions people are asking themselves today. Among them: How serious is this economic downturn likely to be? How long will it last? How can it be ended? Whose fault is it?

The answers to these questions being given by pundits, economists, money honeys, and politicians are, almost without exception, totally incorrect. This is most unfortunate because it means the actions taken by the US (and, it appears, every other government in the world) are not only going to be ineffective but counterproductive.

For years, I’ve predicted something I’ve called the Greater Depression. I’ve seen its arrival as being completely inevitable. Only its exact timing was in doubt. So let me be as clear as I can be about what’s going on in the world right now.

I believe this is it.

We’ve entered a downturn that is going to be longer, deeper, and different than the unpleasantness of 1929-1946.

I sincerely hate to stick my neck out by saying that. Clearly, the longest trend in existence is the Ascent of Man, and it’s usually a mistake to buck any trend; the trend is your friend. But no trend rises like a straight line. That said, it seems to me this is going to be a really, really serious correction – I suspect, the worst since the start of the Industrial Revolution.

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More People Died Of Suicide Last Week In Tennessee Than Covid-19, by Mac Slavo

Posted on April 8, 2020 | Leave a comment

The medical consequences of the coming depression will outweigh those of the coronavirus. The depression will exacerbate the effects of the coronavirus itself, unemployed and depressed people are more susceptible to all diseases, and this time that will include the coronavirus. From Mac Slavo at shtfplan.com:

As we previously warned, this pandemic will bankrupt and kill more people from suicide than the virus will. When you sacrifice people’s livelihoods, you create a difficult situation of desperation for many who will see no other way out.

TRUMP: Suicides From The Coming Economic Depression Will FAR SURPASS Those From The Virus

Coronavirus Crisis: The Virus Will Bankrupt More People Than It Kills

We are about to have a mental health crisis during an economic depression that will be tough to live through.  The virus is no longer the problem.  The government’s reaction has been the problem and even some politicians have figured it out. Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs revealed in a weekly update that our solution to this pandemic has not been a good one. “Thus far, our reaction to COVID-19 has been to sacrifice the global economy,” said Jacobs. “The truth is: a sick economy produces sick people.”

Most people don’t want to hear the truth, unfortunately, and the longer state governments insist on businesses being closed and an economy shut down to combat what’s looking like a fairly insignificant virus for most of the population, the aftermath will worsen.  Each day that drags on will make the next few years more difficult.

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The Biggest Thing Since 1776 is Happening NOW… How the Coronavirus Will Spark the Greater Depression, by Doug Casey

Posted on March 19, 2020 | Leave a comment

SLL agrees with Casey’s economic prognosis. From Casey at internationalman.com:

coronavirus economic depression

International Man: Panicked people are emptying supermarket shelves and stockpiling toilet paper. Hand sanitizer is impossible to find anywhere.

Is the impact of the fear and hysteria greater than the risk of the virus itself?

Doug Casey: Yes, very much so. The virus itself is what we can call a first-order effect. I don’t want to spend much time talking about the flu itself because, even though worst-case numbers like a million deaths in the US are tossed around, it’s not the biggest problem.

The second-order effects—like the economy shutting down from hysteria—are actually much more serious.

The third-order effects—new laws and state action—will have the longest-lasting consequences. We can talk about them in a minute.

As far as the virus itself is concerned, I’m sure everybody has read lots of articles and listened to podcasts from experts. So knowledge—such as it is—about the virus is fairly widespread. Except very little is certain, even now. FWIW, I say that as a lifetime science aficionado, reading in many areas of science for years.

Just in the last generation, we’ve had hantavirus, the bird flu, swine flu, Zika, West Nile, MERS, SARS, and H1N1. We’ve also had anthrax—which everybody’s forgotten about. Of course, it’s a bacterial infection as opposed to a viral one. They’ve all had their day in the dark sun of mass hysteria.

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Doug Casey: “This is Going to be One for the Record Books”

Posted on December 25, 2019 | 1 comment

Doug Casey thinks the impending depression will be off the charts. SLL is not arguing with him. From Casey at internationalman.com:

economic depression

Just because society experiences turmoil doesn’t mean your personal life has to. And a depression doesn’t have to be depressing. Most of the real wealth in the world will still exist—it will just change ownership.

What is a depression?

We’re now at the tail end of a very long, but in many ways a very weak and artificial, economic expansion. At the same time we’ve had one of the strongest securities bull markets in history. Both are the result of trillions of new dollars created over the last decade. Right now very few people are willing to consider the possibility of tough times—let alone The Greater Depression.

But, perverse though it may seem, this is the very best time to think about it. The U.S. economy is a house of cards, built on quicksand, with a tsunami on the way. I urge everyone to read up on the topic. For now, I’ll only briefly touch on the nature of depressions. There are at least three good definitions of the term:

  1. A period of time when most people’s standard of living drops significantly.
  2. A period of time when distortions and misallocations of capital are liquidated.
  3. A period of time when the business cycle climaxes.

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