{"id":2902,"date":"2013-11-23T11:38:47","date_gmt":"2013-11-23T11:38:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=2902"},"modified":"2023-12-08T19:44:34","modified_gmt":"2023-12-08T23:44:34","slug":"the-four-horsemen-herald-the-death-knell-of-predatory-capitalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=2902","title":{"rendered":"The FOUR FINANCIAL HORSEMEN<\/em><\/strong> Herald the Death Knell of Predatory Capitalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

First published in January, 2009<\/em><\/p>\n

Economic Armageddon and Financial Apocalypse Are Upon Us<\/strong><\/p>\n

The global money matrix, worldwide financial architecture and planetary economic landscape most closely resemble the proverbial House of Cards<\/em> in the form of a Pyramid-Ponzi<\/em> scheme superstructure built on quicksand.\u00a0 Therefore, any sober and sane inhabitant of Planet Earth would only want to be rid of it all.\u00a0 And that\u2019s exactly what the FOUR HORSEMEN<\/em> of 2012 and beyond, aim to do.\u00a0 Trample it all under, so that we may finally be rid of it all.<\/p>\n

Why the FOUR HORSEMEN<\/em> and just who, or what, are they?\u00a0 The Four<\/em> Horsemen of the Apocalypse<\/em> quite aptly resembles the forces that have already been \u201clet loose upon the land\u201d.\u00a0 The consequences, and aftermath, of what will be left in their wake are listed below, and the challenges and adversities that will accompany each of them will last through this entire decade baring deus ex machina.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. I.\u00a0 <\/strong>ECONOMIC ARMAGEDDON \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. II. <\/strong>FINANCIAL APOCALYPSE<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \n
      1. III.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>MONETARY MELTDOWN<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
          \n
        1. IV.\u00a0 <\/strong>FISCAL COLLAPSE<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          The hooves of these FOUR HORSEMEN<\/em> will be felt in every corner of the globe, as each of them knows no boundaries and has been empowered to act with complete impunity.\u00a0 They know neither rich nor poor, neither strong nor weak, neither clever nor dull.\u00a0 The HORSEMEN<\/em> will spare nothing, and no one, in their zeal to completely level a multi-millennia old system that has brought so much pain and suffering, wreck and ruin, trial and tribulation, to the masses of the world.\u00a0 Every continent, nation, state and province, city and county, village and town will be profoundly affected and fundamentally altered \u2026 forever. \u00a0<\/p>\n

          \"\"<\/a>

          The Four Horsemen of the Financial Apocalypse will seen everywhere on Planet Earth.<\/p><\/div>\n

          By what names are their HORSES<\/em><\/strong> known?<\/strong><\/p>\n

          We all know the names of these horses, as their hooves have become louder and louder with each passing month of 2012 and 2013.\u00a0 They are also known as the four agents of economic, financial and monetary destruction, since by their very destiny, calamity and catastrophe are all they have ever wrought upon the earth, and wreaked upon humankind.\u00a0 The names emblazoned on their saddles are as follows:<\/p>\n

          (1) DOLLAR<\/p>\n

          (2)\u00a0 DEBT<\/p>\n

          (3)\u00a0 DERIVATIVE<\/p>\n

          (4)\u00a0 DEFLATION<\/p>\n

          Let\u2019s take a closer look at these four bucking broncos before they completely break out of the rodeo pit.\u00a0 Each of them alone may appear to be fairly harmless, but when married up with their cruel and ruthless horseman<\/em>, they take on a wholly different temperament.<\/p>\n

          I. DEVALUATION OF THE DOLLAR; DEMISE OF THE DOLLAR AS RESERVE CURRENCY; DEATH OF GLOBAL DOLLAR DOMINANCE<\/strong><\/p>\n

          Of course, the perfect storm<\/em> within this Perfect Storm<\/em> can be easily identified as the inevitable devaluation, and eventual collapse, of the once Almighty Dollar<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Inasmuch as it has functioned as the primary reserve currency for the world, it is quite easy to understand the many negative ramifications of its rapid demise.\u00a0 As nation after nation has let it go as a means of exchange, the ultimate effects on the US currency can best be described as \u201cthat giant sucking sound\u201d.\u00a0 However, the real problem with this giant sucking sound<\/em> is not just the effects on the US DOLLAR<\/strong>, but that it will be deafening to hear throughout the economies of the world.<\/p>\n

          The US Dollar interpenetrates not only the financial structure of the industrialized nations, but also the many economies of the 3rd<\/sup> world, so that its fall will serve to radically undermine the entire worldwide financial architecture.\u00a0 \u201cToo big to fail\u201d simply has no relevance anymore now that this genie is out of the bottle.\u00a0 Just ask Iran, or Venezuela, or China, or Russia, or Dubai, or Ecuador, or Bolivia.\u00a0 Or any of the many other nations just waiting for the right moment to break free from this monetary yoke.\u00a0 Sorry to tell you, but the dollar has now caused so much damage throughout the land <\/em>that it can\u2019t fail soon enough.\u00a0 And the longer it is artificially propped up, and forcefully kept in place, the more damage it will ultimately do.<\/p>\n

          The \u2018Almighty\u2019 <\/em>do not die very easily, as we have seen with this note \u2013 um \u2013 dollar.<\/em>\u00a0 Just look at what happened to Iraq when they attempted to decouple their oil exportation business from the US dollar.\u00a0 Their expressed intentions to follow through on this initiative in 2001 brought them a foretaste of Armegeddon <\/em>\u2013 US style.\u00a0 Likewise, the establishment of the Iranian Oil Bourse has brought a similar curse upon that country, with even the same false accusations being leveled at them as a pretext to military invasion, and a future oil industry takeover.\u00a0 Of course, what further inflamed this tension between those committed to global dollar dominance and those wishing to be free of its tyranny was Iran\u2019s request to be paid in non-dollar currencies by all<\/strong> of its petroleum customers.\u00a0 Not quite sure if they deserve an \u2018A\u2019 for audacity, an \u2018F\u2019 for foolhardiness, or both.\u00a0 Nevertheless, they are doing what is best for the world by breaking free from the planetary plantation and the $$$ master.\u00a0 Quite courageously, they have set a GREAT<\/em> example for the rest of US<\/strong> dollar addicts, debt slaves and derivative junkies.<\/p>\n

          \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

          The crux of this issue does lie in the fact that the Federal Reserve Bank is nothing but a printing press.\u00a0 The FED can continue to print its Federal Reserve Notes all day long, exactly as it has done for decades; however, history is replete with similar printing presses of money, and they all have the very same destiny.\u00a0 As a matter of fact, fiat money by any name, or run by any game in town, can only produce one outcome in the end \u2013 complete and total degradation of the nation\u2019s currency, and eventually its\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 financial architecture and economic infrastructure.\u00a0 Welcome to the USA (and UK) in 2009 ! ! !<\/p>\n

          It is truly shocking that so many businesses (privately held companies & public corporations), managed funds (pension funds, mutual funds, hedge funds, trust funds, sovereign wealth funds, etc.), governmental entities (villages, towns, cities, counties, states, provinces and nations) and people everywhere, both smart and stupid, bought into this game.\u00a0 Of course the game of GREED<\/span><\/em><\/strong> knows no bounds or limits, and certainly crosses through all socioeconomic barriers with the greatest of ease.\u00a0 The practitioners of greed neither adhere to the generally accepted principles of ethics and fair play, nor sound business practice and accounting methodology.\u00a0 Nor do they hold in high regard the philosophical bulwarks of Western civilization \u2013 reason, common sense or even sanity, for that matter.<\/p>\n

          Particularly since 1971, after the US dollar<\/strong> left the gold standard behind for good, was this worthless instrument systematically shoved down the world\u2019s throat whether it was wanted or not.\u00a0 The greedy accepted it with gleeful and wanton abandon; the wise did all they could to minimize their exposure to it.\u00a0 In the end, it will be known as the poisonous seed (read GMO) of corrupt, corporate, crony capitalism that was planted so far and wide that not a living thing could claim to be untouched by the fruit of it\u2019s tree.<\/p>\n

          The long awaited DEATH<\/strong> of the Almighty Dollar<\/em><\/strong> is finally here, my friends.\u00a0 Oh, yes, the devaluation process will speed up and slow down, and slow down and speed up, but, in the end, the result will be the very same. It will soon be time to hold a hasty wake, and even hastier funeral service, before this monster tries to come back to life.<\/p>\n

          DISCLAIMER:\u00a0 We bear no grudge against the original US dollar that was backed by the gold standard.\u00a0 We have no quarrel with the US Government (with the exception of the outgoing and incoming administrations), and we harbor only good will toward the American people.\u00a0 It is the Federal Reserve System, and its fatally flawed practice of debt-driven, fractional reserve banking<\/strong> that is the object of our scorn and derision. Likewise, it is the Federal Reserve Bank (FED) that deserves our condemnation and searing criticism.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because the FED is not legitimate.\u00a0 It is not a properly constituted or legislated organ of government, and is actually a privately owned consortium of banking agents whose ownership is more foreign than domestic.\u00a0 The FED is legally unfit to conduct business on behalf of the American people since, as a private entity, it lacks the congressional oversight necessary when appropriated funds have been allocated by the legislative branch of government.\u00a0 The printing presses of the FED<\/em> produce notes \u2013 as in promissory notes \u2013 which are nothing but instruments of indebtedness for all who possess them.\u00a0 Not too unlike credit cards, actually.\u00a0 Therefore, the money that it prints is counterfeit.\u00a0 Is it surprising that an international, privately owned crime syndicate, which issues fake money, would be the biggest player in the worldwide funny money monopoly game that is bringing the entire<\/span> world of commerce, finance and business to a virtual standstill?\u00a0 We are<\/strong> talking about the greatest financial crisis in recorded history, you know?!?\u00a0 And the FED is institutional PUBLIC ENEMY #1<\/strong> responsible for this multi-decade crime spree.<\/p>\n

          \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

          II. DESTRUCTION OF DEBT; DESTRUCTION BY DEBT; DECLINE BY DEFICITS & NATIONAL DEBT; DEFAULT ON DOLLAR-BASED DEBT<\/strong><\/p>\n

          Here\u2019s a horse that\u2019s already broken loose and kicked over \u2018half\u2019 the public and private sectors of the world.\u00a0 Their initial plan was to simply transform (read destroy) the debt, if you will.\u00a0 We all know very well by now just one of their many schemes \u2013 hide it by repackaging it, and then somehow convert it into securities (CDO\u2019s).\u00a0 That\u2019s one plan that really screwed things up.\u00a0 Of course, this little scam began with the whole sub prime mortgage fiasco.\u00a0 Sub Prime!!!\u00a0 Questionable adjustable rate mortgages granted by dubious mortgage lenders to unqualified mortgage applicants.\u00a0 Really brilliant!\u00a0 Then they sold the CDO\u2019s all over the world as triple class AAA \u201csecurities\u201d that would round out a conservative investment strategy like the portfolio that was administered (and subsequently decimated by CDO\u2019s) in the town of Narvik, Norway.<\/p>\n

          The 2008 bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers with debts totaling $613 billion is perhaps the greatest example of what\u2019s around the corner.\u00a0 The subsequent unraveling of this single bankruptcy has yet to be felt in all the places where 613 billion dollars are owed.\u00a0 It represents an amount that is still too staggering to comprehend, and yet there have been others since, and many more to follow.\u00a0 The absorption of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America, as well as the purchase of Wachovia by Citibank, are only a couple.\u00a0 However, AIG is perhaps the biggest sleeper of them all in this debt limbo only because of how it intermeshes with so many other businesses, nations, corporations, industries, banks, etc.\u00a0 Insurance, you know, is everywhere.\u00a0 Required to do business, everywhere.\u00a0 And the way AIG wound itself around so many enterprises makes its total exposure, in all of its many and varied forms, one of the most serious debt bombs in town.\u00a0 Whenever you mix \u2018unheard of risk\u2019 with the insurance industry, you know you\u2019re playing with fire.\u00a0 Watch for this pyrotechnic display very closely; it will dwarf those of last year\u2019s Olympic opening in China.<\/p>\n

          Even though this pandora\u2019s box<\/em> has been open for quite some time, the DEBT<\/strong> piece of this current phase of capitalism eating itself is often conveniently unacknowledged, or casually underestimated, or grossly misrepresented.\u00a0 For several months now, there are massive, unprecedented multi-billion dollar write-downs (and write-offs) by the \u2018blue chips\u2019 of the banking and investment world.\u00a0 Likewise, many formerly solid companies have gone into the debt divestment business faster than you can say bankruptcy.\u00a0 Massive corporations with humongous debt loads are acquiring huge corporations with gargantuan liabilities.\u00a0 The bigger the debt burden, the quicker a suitor is found, and then they\u2019re hitched without so much as a honeymoon.\u00a0 We always thought that a dowry went in the opposite direction.\u00a0 You know, it\u2019s about what you bring to the marriage, not what you take away, that makes you attractive.\u00a0 WHEW ! ! !<\/p>\n

          And we haven\u2019t even discussed the specter of the consumer debt bubble burst, or the anticipated fallout from its ensuing mushroom cloud.\u00a0 When you add this looming scenario to the myriad toxic waste sites of incorporated debt, innumerable landfills of national & government debt, and countless hazardous waste dumps of securitized mortgages, you begin to see that the entire economic landscape has become one vast, unbroken disposal area with the typical assortment of garbage dumps, junkyards and recycling stations to handle any type of debt you want to get rid of.\u00a0 The brokerage houses ultimately became transfer stations for all of this financial refuse.\u00a0 Is it any wonder that they all had to disappear, and did so in the span of a just a few months!?!\u00a0 The stench coming from the rot on Wall Street was getting worse than the foul odors in a Neapolitan neighborhood.<\/p>\n

          \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

          Of course, the real \u201celephant in the living room\u201d in regard to DEBT<\/strong> concerns the looming and inevitable default on the US debt owed around the world.\u00a0 How can this possibly be stopped?!\u00a0 It really does represent a conspiracy of circumstances that is so complicated and convoluted that even someone in the know would be hard pressed to present a credible case as to how this titanic will sink in one brief moment of time.\u00a0 So many forces have been silently at work to ensure that this financial cataclysm takes place that it defies the imagination.\u00a0 For one, who has not played with the fire known as US Treasuries, be they bills, bonds, notes or securities?\u00a0 They are the most ubiquitous of their kind, and been produced in the greatest amount, for a long, long time, to finance LOTS of wars.\u00a0 And Uncle Sam, don\u2019t you know, is the greatest salesman of all time.\u00a0 He can sell cow paddies as delectable, sumptuous caviar, and probably has at least once or twice.<\/p>\n

          Not only did the Iraq war drain the US Treasury that had nothing left to drain, but the same war only stirred up fiercely anti-American sentiment abroad \u2013 everywhere!!!\u00a0 The wholly illegitimate war in Afghanistan didn\u2019t help matters much either.\u00a0 When feelings run this strong, it is much easier for the spectator nations of the world to cheer on the slow motion collapse of the undisputed global bully, even when it is may not appear<\/em> to be in their best interest.\u00a0 Sounds crazy, but just take a look at the millions of American voters who consistently vote against their own interest each and every election cycle.\u00a0 Can you believe that, in the so-called American democracy, the debt slaves vote for their plantation masters year after year, and even contribute their hard earned money which further guarantees their continued enslavement!?!\u00a0 No wonder it\u2019s still called the<\/em> American Experiment<\/em> since we, still today, make such compliant and docile guinea pigs.<\/p>\n

          Now we know that the DEBT<\/strong> bomb has always been a major part of their<\/em> strategy.\u00a0 Therefore, the only conclusion one could reach is that the decision-makers, as well as those who implemented the decisions, knew that these, and other wars in the works, would break the country by the newly incurred debt.\u00a0 As of January of 2012 the \u201cofficial\u201d National Debt<\/strong> exceeds 15.9 trillion dollars, which translates to over $50,000 per capita (each US citizen).\u00a0 These wars have also ratcheted up the annual federal budget deficits<\/strong> to the $500 billion to $1 trillion level \u2013 clearly unsustainable for a comatose national economy on life support.\u00a0 The extremely sad piece of this story is that it was actually some of the traditional adversaries<\/em> of the USA who chose to finance these illegal, immoral and highly offensive wars.\u00a0 This little fact will make it that much easier for the US Corp to default, since the pain will be felt far and wide, especially by those who are considered \u2018enemies\u2019.\u00a0 These poor folks will pay dearly twice \u2013 when the dollar goes belly up, and when the US debt goes into default.<\/p>\n

          When all is said and done, the monetization of debt by the leading central banks of the world will be regarded as the single greatest financial fiasco in modern history.\u00a0 Ultimately, it will be viewed as the wooden stake that was driven into the very heart of the vampire<\/em> known as Anglo-American capitalism.\u00a0 Vampires, you know, are notorious for sucking blood, and no one has perfected this process like the killing machine that has been labeled the Military-Industrial Complex.\u00a0 Only through the relentless issuance of mountains of debt, continuous and massive deficit spending, and forcibly maintaining the hegemony of the US dollar were they able to keep this zombie alive and running for so long.\u00a0 Now that the DEBT<\/strong> is coming due, and there is no more blood to be found, this Dracula<\/em> will be forced to enter his coffin for a good long time.<\/p>\n

          \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

          III. DEMOLITION BY DERIVATIVES; DISINTEGRATION OF THE DERIVATIVES MARKET; \u201cDERIVATIVE DEATH STAR\u201d IMPLOSION<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

          \u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>This is where Wall Street high finance meets the blackjack tables of Las Vegas \u2013 both literally and figuratively.\u00a0 This marriage of convenience represents the ultimate fusion of everything that was wrong with the MO of today\u2019s (yesterday\u2019s) investment bankster and all the ways that the gambling casino is always rigged by the house (aka the guvment<\/em>).\u00a0 Just as the house fixes every game in town so that it never loses, the fat cats at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs never walk away from the table without a belly full of fish.\u00a0 Even though many of their bets fell right through the floor, they still, somehow, feel entitled to multi- billion dollar bailouts.\u00a0 Experts at privatizing profits and assets, and socializing losses and debts, they are.\u00a0 Also unparalleled in their ability to turn the entire world into one colossal betting parlor.<\/p>\n

          Derivatives are the real hidden time bomb in this whole story.\u00a0 You talk about a wild card \u2013 man oh man \u2013 it doesn\u2019t get any wilder than the card stamped with \u201cD\u201d for DERIVATIVE<\/strong>.\u00a0 This tangled mess has touched every nook and cranny on every continent, in every nation, in every corporation on planet earth.\u00a0 They don\u2019t even know \u2013 We don\u2019t even know \u2013 No one knows, if the notional value of the total sum of derivative instruments issued worldwide is closer to 500 trillion dollars or, get this, ONE QUADRILLION dollars.\u00a0 Can you imagine the high intensity hawking that had to happen to get to a place of\u00a0 $1,000,000,000,000,000.00 of highfalutin bets?!?!\u00a0 Oh my gosh!\u00a0 All the gambling casinos in Vegas, Atlantic City, and every reservation in the lower 48 put together couldn\u2019t come close to a mere fraction of that number.<\/p>\n

          The real challenge concerning this inconceivably heavy lead balloon<\/em> was how to make it respectable, and legal, and salable, and acceptable, all at the same time.\u00a0 But somehow they did it.\u00a0 Of course they set this little charade up completely outside the normal framework of:<\/p>\n

          (i) governmental regulation, (ii) monitoring by financial analysts, (iii) legal due diligence, and (iv) scrutiny by the financial news media.\u00a0 How many people have even ever heard of a credit default swap, forward rate agreement, or turbo warrant?<\/p>\n

          We\u2019re talking about the outhouse of the financial industry here, so one must really give them credit for their ability to turn crap into caviar.\u00a0 And then sell it as such, as we mentioned earlier.\u00a0 These crap conversion factories (aka hedge funds) became the ultimate in new age financial alchemy.\u00a0 The hedge fund lab directors somehow managed to transform pure lead into pure gold.\u00a0 Mind you, we\u2019re talking about the proverbial philosopher\u2019s stone, right here, in the midst of the modern financial marketplace.\u00a0 Wonder who the MERLIN<\/em> was that thought up this scheme which will ultimately ensured the downfall of an entire civilization?\u00a0 We know who the Federal Reserve Chairman was that aided and abetted the perpetrators, as well as helped implement the entire scheme.\u00a0 Probably ought to start there and follow the trail back to those that conceived the whole plot, so that we might at least confiscate their <\/em>piggy banks.\u00a0 Never has the phrase \u2013 pigs at the trough<\/em> \u2013 been more apropos.<\/p>\n

          The reality was, is, and will forever be that this instrument of high finance \u2013 the DERIVATIVE<\/strong> \u2013 transformed the entire realm of international finance into a Turkish opium den.\u00a0 Anyone who entered had to be high to get in, and would most assuredly be higher when they left.\u00a0 They all smoked the same crack derivative<\/em>, could never get enough of it, and, like every addict attempts to do, wanted to turn everyone else onto it.\u00a0 They knew that only through widespread addiction would this habit become institutionally acceptable.\u00a0 And do you know that this ploy worked like a charm!\u00a0 Of course, whole national, and regional economies, will never, ever, be the same, just as gambling has always been notorious for bringing total ruination to the home of an addict.<\/p>\n

          The saddest part of this story concerns the referral effect which ensured that the real pain from this financial stratagem would be referred to the worker or company or entrepreneur or office worker or small business owner who really does work for a living.\u00a0 And who, in the process, produces a real good or service untainted by hedge upon hedge, bet upon bet, swap upon swap.\u00a0 For it always is the salt of the earth that becomes the unsuspecting fodder, especially in a perpetual war economy that only knows how to sacrifice the \u201cweak\u201d for the benefit of the \u201cstrong\u201d.<\/p>\n

          Here again, demolition by derivatives will prove to be the surest way to bring down virtually every corner, of every floor, of every building, of every financial institution on planet Earth.\u00a0 The derivative casino<\/em><\/strong> will go down in history as the most pervasive, unregulated and \u2018successful\u2019 gambling establishment of all time.\u00a0 It broke the bank (the FED, the Bank of England, among numerous other central banks), busted up the \u2018street\u2019 (Wall Street, cobblestones of the City of London, among other national financial districts) and wreaked havoc within the US & UK governments, among many others throughout Europe, the Pacific Rim, etc.\u00a0 In time it will prove to be the primary reason why whole populations will find themselves broke, busted and disgusted.\u00a0 Truly, the Derivative Death Star<\/em><\/strong> will soon glow like a supernova for all future generations to gaze upon.<\/p>\n

          After this \u201ccontrolled demolition\u201d runs its course, the only logical and natural consequence will be the complete disintegration of the worldwide derivatives market.\u00a0 Trust will have been so thoroughly diminished in the wake of so many derivative caused disasters that they will become not only the pariah of the financial world, but also rejected by any and all who can say or spell the word \u2013 D E R I V A T I V E.<\/strong><\/p>\n

          \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

          IV. DEPRESSION BY DOWNWARD DEFLATIONARY SPIRAL;
          \nDETERIORATION OF NATIONAL ECONOMIES BY DEFLATION;
          \nDEFLATION MORPHS INTO HYPERINFLATION<\/strong><\/p>\n

          The planet is hardwired by one, and only one, global money matrix.\u00a0 Although seemingly diverse, there is in reality, only ONE<\/span><\/em><\/strong> worldwide financial architecture.\u00a0 It has been purposefully designed, fastidiously engineered, painstakingly constructed, and put into place over many centuries, everywhere national economies have been born and died.\u00a0 Likewise, the planetary economic landscape, which once upon a time sat on a fairly seamless and monolithic bedrock, has been shattered and pulverized so much throughout the past 100 years that it is now a mere desert of shifting sands<\/p>\n

          \u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Since the early 1980\u2019s the US economy began to morph back into the same shape as the one that preceded the Great Depression.\u00a0 Only this time the BUBBLE economy became an amalgam of many more, and much larger, bubbles than in the 1920\u2019s.\u00a0 The dot.com bubble burst at the turn of the century is only a small example of this phenomenon, but also an excellent illustration of what would follow.<\/p>\n

          The various Bubble Bursts of 2008, 2009, and 2010 have their roots in the same forces and dynamics of those that contributed to the Crash of \u201929.\u00a0 Only this time there exists a conspiracy of circumstances that simply overwhelms the imagination, as much as it challenges credulity.\u00a0 For starters the overall economy today is exponentially larger than \u201929.\u00a0 The sheer number and variety of financial instruments is likewise so much greater that a meaningful comparison with is practically irrelevant.\u00a0 Globalization has created a much more complex world economy that has completely blurred national boundaries, created an imperceptible financial superstructure, as well as an economic infrastructure, which inextricably intertwines the commerce of all nations.<\/p>\n

          What does all of this have to do with the current DEPRESSION<\/strong> through a downward<\/strong> deflationary spiral<\/strong>?\u00a0 What isn\u2019t allowed to burst due to inordinately high pressure will inevitably deflate by way of a steady and sometimes quickly accelerating downward spiral.\u00a0 All of the major markets are so artificially propped up by hot air that they have only one way to go —>DOWN<\/em><\/strong>!\u00a0 So, no matter what anyone else tells you please be acutely aware of the asset deflation which has been plaguing the residential and commercial real estate markets, the equity and bonds markets, the commodity and currency markets.<\/p>\n

          Severe, unprecedented and permanent asset deflation is the real killer of this faux economy.\u00a0 It\u2019s easy to understand when looked at through the prism of leverage.\u00a0 After all everything \u2013 and we mean just about every asset under the sun \u2013 is currently being used to leverage another asset, investment or speculation.\u00a0 That\u2019s just the way the financial world has worked during this reign of the Almighty Dollar<\/em>.\u00a0 Just look at the current official debt of the USA to get a hint of what we speak.\u00a0 Can you imagine how much the debt service alone is on this multi-trillion dollar national debt?!<\/p>\n

          However, it is the degree to which everyone who\u2019s playing this monopoly game is leveraged throughout their personal portfolios which will cause this universal scheme to unwind so quickly.\u00a0 The ease of securing home equity loans and lines of credit, as well as 2nd<\/sup> mortgages, made sure that every homeowner would dig a grave just deep enough to be sufficiently buried.\u00a0 Of course this very same principal can be applied to every other market to the extent that those assets have been systematically used to collateralize other debts, investments, etc.<\/p>\n

          Of course there is also the other kind of deflation.\u00a0 Let\u2019s see now, it starts with decreases in price, which will then lead to lower production, which will cause lower wages that will then translate into lower demand, which will again cause prices to come down even further. This predicament then triggers hiring freezes and causes businesses to close which further exacerbates job losses and systemic unemployment. ‘Jobless recovery’ then becomes the standard oxymoron throughout economic and political circles trying to explain and spin respectively a self-perpetuating trajectory. This economic vicious cycle, which inevitably occurs when a systemic problem exacerbates it own cause, is merely a protective mechanism that ensures that the entire hopelessly flawed system will ultimately end in failure.\u00a0 And so it has.<\/p>\n

          \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

          For those who didn\u2019t catch it, the global stock market did crash in the Fall of \u201908 in what will be forever known as the \u201cCRASH OF THE MILLENIUM<\/strong>\u201d.\u00a0 Actually, it crashed numerous times from mid September to the end of October, only the media forgot to tell anyone about it.\u00a0 There was a manufactured sucker\u2019s rally<\/em> after each and every crash to present the appearance that the market returned to normalcy.\u00a0 How else to explain the massive volume of stock purchases right in the wake of the worst financial\/economic news and data reporting cycle in memory?\u00a0 Since there were few real suckers to be found, the central banks and their henchman did all the fake buying with fake $$$\u2019s in order the keep the markets artificially propped up.\u00a0 As they\u2019re still doing today!<\/p>\n

          Now, all we can do is sit back and watch the relentless erosion of every economy on earth through deflationary <\/strong>downward pressures, and all of its consequent stages of devolution.\u00a0 The fungus of deflation<\/strong> will guarantee that every national economy will deteriorate.\u00a0 This most pernicious variety of deflationary<\/strong> mold is known for the many phases of deterioration it brings upon the host nation, so we know there will be periods of both hyperinflation and stagflation, mini-booms and maxi-busts, commodity-specific buying sprees (e.g. gold) and unprecedented market blowouts, runs on the banks and flights to foreign currencies.\u00a0 In the end, the nations of the world will be thoroughly decimated by the plague known as deflation<\/strong>.\u00a0 The economies of the regional financial unions\/economic super-states (e.g. European Union) will be particularly vulnerable to the extent that they chose to play this game of BUBBLE monopoly (see the EURO).<\/p>\n

          It\u2019s an extremely unfortunate fact of modern economic and financial life that when there is a tremor in the City of London, countries like Iceland get hit with a 100-foot tsunami right after a 10.0 earthquake.\u00a0 Conversely, when the US sub prime mortgage market tanks, small towns all over the world can go bankrupt, just as small nations can go under, because of their investments in things like CDO\u2019s.\u00a0 When the American consumer stops buying, China has just lost its largest customer, as well as a huge and highly profitable marketplace in which to dump their many toxic wares.\u00a0 This is how national economies are so tightly interwoven in the postmodern age. Because they share the same warp and woof of all that binds them together economically and financially, they will descend together into this GREATEST DEPRESSION<\/strong> of all time.<\/p>\n

          There is a bright side to this part of the story which is best illustrated by a bit of humor.<\/p>\n

          We all know that what goes up, must come down.\u00a0 And, we know full well that the bigger they are, the harder they fall.\u00a0 Therefore, in the case of our current planetary Humpty Dumpty <\/em>sitting \u2013 actually teetering \u2013 on the wall, we are seeing what is categorically the biggest bubble-head, bubble-belly and bubble-butt in history, all ready to pop when this poor chap takes his great fall.\u00a0 We know it ain\u2019t gonna be pretty, but at least we\u2019ve been assured for many generations that \u201call the king\u2019s horses and all the king\u2019s men couldn\u2019t put Humpty together again\u201d.<\/p>\n

          \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

          By their trademark BLACK HATS<\/em><\/strong>, ye shall know them.<\/strong><\/p>\n

          Just who are these FOUR HORSEMEN???\u00a0 Undoubtedly the greatest CON MEN<\/strong> of all time! ! !\u00a0 And their names will be forever and indelibly etched and engraved, written and imprinted, digitized and coded in the annals of global criminal history.\u00a0 Their MO, of course, is quite familiar to us, and precisely portrayed by the black hats that they wear which further distinguish them by the following traits, tactics and techniques:<\/p>\n

          (1)\u00a0 DECEPTION<\/p>\n

          (2)\u00a0 DUPLICITY<\/p>\n

          (3)\u00a0 DECEIT<\/p>\n

          (4)\u00a0 DOUBLE-DEALING<\/p>\n

          Now it is extremely important to understand, as well as highly instructive, just how these HORSEMEN operate, as well as how such a state of affairs could have evolved.\u00a0 The operative words that well describe the MO of all who had a hand in its creation, once again, begin with \u201cD<\/strong>\u201d.\u00a0 The handiwork of those responsible for the creation, maintenance and destruction of the now legendary corrupt, corporate, crony capitalist system will eternally be known for its DECEPTION, DUPLICITY, DECEIT <\/strong>and DOUBLE-DEALING.\u00a0 <\/strong>At every level of formulation and implementation of the aforementioned policies were these 4 dubious characters employed with perfect timing and extraordinary cunning.\u00a0 From the US Senate to the US House, from the POTUS & VPOTUS to the SCOTUS, from the US Treasury to from the World Bank & IMF, from the SEC to the FTC, from the Federal Reserve Bank to the Bank of England, from the Council on Foreign Relations to the Trilateral Commission to the Bilderbergers, from the last of Wall Street Investment Banks to the still standing(?) major Commercial Banks, from the Big Four Auditors to the Big NYC & DC Law Firms, from the K Street Lobbyists to the DC Think Tanks, from the transnational Oil Companies to the Military\/Security\/Industrial Complex, as well as the rest of Corporate<\/strong> America<\/strong>, they were all materially invested and substantially complicit in this CON<\/em><\/strong> job of the millennium.\u00a0 From the NYSE to the NASDAQ, from the Dow Jones to the S&P 500, from the WSJ & NYT & WASHPO to FORBES & FORTUNE & FINANCIAL TIMES, from Bloomberg.com to CNNMoney.com to Economist.com, they all enthusiastically participated in the making of this bubble of BUBBLES.\u00a0 That\u2019s right, the one that\u2019s now deflatin\u2019 faster than you can say The<\/em> Hindenburg<\/em>.<\/p>\n

          Really, thicker than thieves<\/span><\/em> says it better than anything else in the English language.<\/p>\n

          So many hands in this cookie jar at once it gives new meaning to sleight of<\/em> hand<\/em>, doesn\u2019t it?!\u00a0 Really surprising they went through all the effort, as the jar has been empty for so many years!\u00a0 One has to really stretch to wrap one\u2019s mind around the degree and profundity of so much intentional fraud, system-wide malfeasance, misappropriation of any vulnerable fund with value, routine embezzlement of the public purse, outright theft of shareholder value from equity accounts as well as bondholder value from bond account, swindling of all retirement accounts within reach, and the looting of any national and corporate treasury not yet the victim of a heist.\u00a0 From the US Treasury to the US taxpayer, from 401K\u2019s to Keough\u2019s and IRA\u2019s, Pensions to Annuities, from CalPERS to NYSLRS, savings accounts to checking accounts, from central banks to piggy banks \u2013 nothing has been spared a fleecing by these four very dubious con men.\u00a0 We mean nothing.\u00a0 And if you think something has somehow escaped, it just hasn\u2019t happened yet.\u00a0 Or maybe you haven\u2019t figured it out yet.<\/p>\n

          You see bubbles, whether dollar, debt or derivative, don\u2019t just happen, and then somehow deflate; they were created by an extraordinary amount of ongoing institutional misrepresentation, incessant prevarication from officialdom and a continuous flow of calculated fabrication from the top level controllers.\u00a0 Wall Street, alone, can be tagged with enormous criminal activity that touches on every aspect of the banking, investment and financial industries.\u00a0 The degree of market manipulation (stock, bond, commodity, currency, derivative, etc.), insider trading, price fixing, price gouging, executive stock option abuse, securitization of bad debt, setting up rogue investment managers, publishing false prospectus claims, insufficient liquidity to meet investor cash-outs, robbing Peter to pay Paul (illegally mixing funds), etc. is so great as to be inconceivable.\u00a0 Calculated and premeditated naked short selling has also played its part in bringing down some of the biggest titans of the global financial sector.\u00a0 And then there is the Street<\/em>\u2019s never-ending penchant for exaggerating (and illegally hyping) profits; revenue streams; income projections; dividend payouts; capital gains & appreciation estimates; business outlooks; product expectations, etc. which has become so commonplace that the most serious felonies associated with this behavior have to exceed grand larcenies in excess of a hundred million $$$\u2019s in order to be prosecuted with the same vigor as jaywalking.<\/p>\n

          \"\"<\/a>

          Sucker’s Rallies have become the dominant mechanism for drawing the unsuspecting back into the market even when the economic news is truly bad and the real financials are even worse. It’s called a redistribution of wealth from the 99% to the 1%.<\/p><\/div>\n

          The flip side of this conduct, however, has been responsible for the downfall of many an investor throughout the current bear market. This concerns the willful nondisclosure by your broker of lots of bad corporate news, including everything from hidden bad debts to bad management, unreported losses, financial statements prepared with bad accounting, tanking revenues, runaway operating costs, unpredictable energy costs, uncontrollable overhead, debt defaults, loss of lifelong credit ratings, imminent bankruptcies, looming criminal prosecutions, labor unrest & union demands, unpaid taxes, top heavy debt\/equity ratios & miniscule return-on-equity ratios, and on and on.\u00a0 Additionally, many of the financial analysts, themselves, are either withholding accurate information or fudging the prepared data in their service as part time shill for their real corporate masters.\u00a0 So oftentimes the brokers don\u2019t even have a chance to get it right.<\/p>\n

          Here\u2019s how an author at The Market Oracle<\/em> recently spoke about the trade secrets that are currently being \u2018protected\u2019 by the US Federal Reserve concerning the lawsuits filed against the FED by both Bloomberg and Fox Business News.<\/p>\n

          \u201cThe trade secrets pertain to money laundering, fraudulent bond issuance, influence peddling of debt ratings agencies, collusion with regulatory bodies, maintenance of double book accounting, insider trading with JPMorgan & Goldman Sachs, and financial genocide of hedge funds. Those are trade secrets worthy of keeping secret and protecting.\u201d– Jim Willie<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

          Since many of these practices became standard operating procedures for the entire brokerage industry over the course of many decades, the very dynamic between broker and investor changed as well.\u00a0 Suffice to say, this relationship changed in such a way that the typical investor became a much more engaged and active player in the game and, therefore, a much more interested and invested party to the process (Remember day traders?).\u00a0 How responsible we are as an investor playing in a game that thrives on an ever-ballooning bubble economy remains to be answered.\u00a0 If we buy into the game, are we culpable as well, even if we are to a lesser degree?\u00a0 We\u2019re quick to take our profits, count our days to retirement, check out the IRA balances, add up our quarterly dividends, calculate our annual appreciation, assess the pension plan, and so on, never really considering how we ourselves have benefited from, or perhaps contributed to, the various bubbles.\u00a0 How the bubbles have grown so fast, or why the get-rich-quick<\/em> schemes never seem to slacken is rarely considered by the beneficiary during the good times.\u00a0 Truly, the $64,000 question is, and always has been, \u201cWhere is all of this unearned<\/em> money, wealth, income, revenue, appreciation, etc. going to come from in the end?!?\u201d<\/p>\n

          The convergence of so many of these co-factors, together with the agenda of the underlying control matrix that runs through all of the financial and commercial capitals of the world, have given rise to the Mega\/Ultra\/Super BUBBLEs of 2008, 2009 and beyond<\/span>.\u00a0 Add to this mix a past and present Federal Reserve Chairman who both very purposely and deliberately encouraged the formation of one bubble after another \u2013 in real estate (residential and commercial), stock, bond & commodities markets (relaxed margin requirements as well as critical regulation), currency and, of course, derivatives, Derivatives, DERIVATIVES.\u00a0 <\/strong>Through formal and targeted policy adoption, as well as selective policy elimination, a highly conducive environment was systematically massaged and methodically finessed into place so that only<\/strong> \u2018bad\u2019 things could happen.\u00a0 Since this overarching scheme was meticulously sculpted, orchestrated and implemented over a twenty-five + year period, and well after the original bubble burst should have burst in the first place (Many of us financial planners fully expected a major bubble burst in the mid \u201980\u2019s.\u00a0 When it turned out to be only a minor pop heard during the Stock Market Crash<\/em> in August of \u201987, we knew they were hard at work postponing the BIG<\/em><\/strong> ONE<\/em><\/strong>.), one starts to get a sense of proportion and begins to see the enormity of the events that we are facing.\u00a0 This is HUGE beyond belief, beyond comprehension and beyond the ability\/capacity of anyone, any nation or group of nations, any consortium or international body to fix.\u00a0 This is really HUGE!\u00a0 As a matter of fact, it doesn\u2019t get any bigger.<\/p>\n

          Why did they<\/em> do it?\u00a0 And why does it matter so much?!\u00a0 Let\u2019s revisit a previous commentary on the matter to get just a glimpse of their<\/em> intentions:<\/p>\n

          Special Message to the Market Oracles and Money Masters of the Universe<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

          \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

          Has ‘Free Market’ Capitalism already crashed<\/em><\/strong> and burned<\/em><\/strong> ?<\/strong><\/p>\n

          We sincerely regret that we paint not a pretty picture through this assessment of the future.\u00a0 In all likelihood, it is a picture that will only get uglier in the short and intermediate terms, especially by the looks of the day-to-day deteriorating circumstances and developments.\u00a0 Just as our friendly investment broker, Mr Madoff, made off<\/em> with all the goods and ensured they conveniently found safe haven abroad, so too will many others at the top of the food chain do the same.\u00a0 This is, after all, the last phase of self- destructive capitalism eating itself.\u00a0 The dog eat dog world<\/em> will never have more relevance than now in the upper echelons of global financial decision-making and implementation.\u00a0 Every day seems to bring to light a new drama in the realm of international finance, especially for once highflying investment fund managers and hedge fund crackerjacks. (Sir Allen Sanford presents a nice copycat<\/em> example, as does Jon Corzine of MF Global.)<\/p>\n

          At the national and regional levels we can point to numerous conflicts as evidence of \u201cFree Market\u201d Capitalism experiencing its final death throes. Certainly the economic warfare being waged against Russia is demonstrative of the desperation of those who would maintain the energy status quo. As is the financial battleground on which Iran has found itself, because of its new oil bourse and burgeoning oil and gas revenues.\u00a0 Of course, Iceland has already become a victim of this hoity-toity cannibalism having recently been eaten by the UK, just as Ireland, Spain, Italy, Greece and as well as most of Eastern Europe are about to become victims of the European Union.\u00a0 Then there is the Dubai Multi-Commodity Center challenging all the traditional commodity exchanges that have been routinely and flagrantly fixing the prices of gold, silver, platinum and the like. \u00a0Let\u2019s not forget Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and a handful of other South American countries taking on their former North American taskmaster and its corporate thugs.\u00a0 Zimbabwe has surely taken a beating ever since they confiscated (actually repossessed) the land that was once theirs from the recently evicted British land squatters.\u00a0 Likewise, Iraq, Sudan, The Congo, and Nigeria have all been the site of violent confrontations between those who want resources by force and those who actually possess them.\u00a0 How could we ignore the \u2018disaster capitalism\u2019 acting out in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Thailand, Burma, Somalia, Sri Lanka and Indonesia?\u00a0 Virtually every nation in the Caucasus, as well as the other former Soviet republics, have likewise come under fire for either their (un)fortunate location or something of value they sit upon.\u00a0 Even Mexico, like Columbia, has had a very rough time lately in its attempts to secure and efficiently transport the various commodities that comprise the illegal drug trade, as is Afghanistan with their again blossoming poppy fields and opium production\/trade.\u00a0 What recently occurred in Gaza is a glaring example of what certain states will do for more land.\u00a0 The whole of Palestine, of course, has become the victim of a modern day land grab that is at the very heart of the \u2018free market\u2019 philosophy.<\/p>\n

          Incidentally, less recent history is also packed full of examples of what will happen to a nation, or group of nations, when they fail to heed the commands of the planetary overlords.\u00a0 On the military side, we all saw what they did to Yugoslavia to secure and control energy conduits (oil &gas pipelines) throughout the Balkans by way of the Bosnian War of \u201991-\u201995, the Kosovo War from \u201996-\u201899, as well as the smaller skirmishes before, during and after.\u00a0 On the financial side, we all witnessed the financial catastrophe that was imposed on many of the Asian Rim nations in what has since been labeled the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.\u00a0 Not only were Thailand, South Korea and Indonesia ruined, but the Philippines, Laos, Malaysia and Hong Kong were wrecked as well. And Japan went through a 10 year period of major asset devaluation, especially the real estate and stock markets.\u00a0 On the economic side, Argentina, the USA of South America at the time, was practically destroyed in a week and a day in 1999 when the same overlords decided to economically collapse a nation in order to see how the population would react.\u00a0 Fast forward to the US and the UK in 2008 & 2009 for a replay now that they think they know how we\u2019ll respond.<\/p>\n

          \"\"<\/a>

          The Four Horsemen are also known by their names War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death, which have always followed in the wake of the Anglo-American juggernaut.<\/p><\/div>\n

          The real war, however, is the oil & gas revolution that\u2019s been simmering everywhere lately, especially between Saudi Arabia\/Iran (OPEC) and the Anglo-American juggernaut.\u00a0 The altercations on this battlefield have been fast and furious regarding oil pricing, supply, transport, stockpiling and dwindling demand.\u00a0 It may very well turn out to be the shot heard around the world if it breaks out in the open like the 2008 Georgian\u2013Ossetia conflict between Russia, the Ukraine and the European Union.\u00a0 The slaughter in South Ossetia by Georgia was just a small example of just how volatile and precarious things have become throughout the worldwide geo-political realm.\u00a0 It also underscores just how much self restraint will be required by the Russians to avoid a full blown theatre of war from developing over competition for natural gas supplies and transport pipelines.\u00a0 Ditto for the Iranians, only for oil in their case.\u00a0 No one can deny that these are heady times!<\/p>\n

          Just how bad will it get?\u00a0 Well, since many of the practices of our current fascist corpocracy, as well as the kleptocratic oligarghy, find their roots in Imperial Rome, we might look there to see what might lie around the corner here, that is, if they<\/em> are allowed to go unchecked.\u00a0 As long as they continue to define ‘free market’<\/em><\/strong> as free and unfettered for themselves, but at a cost \u2013 often severe \u2013 for everyone else, there will be unprecedented friction and great conflict.\u00a0 The good news is that we are now at the end of a long and arduous cycle, and at a point on the evolutionary spiral where there is significantly less karmic slack \u2013 for each and every global citizen<\/strong>.\u00a0 Therefore, the divide and conquer strategy will not only no longer work, it will boomerang on all who attempt to use it to their advantage.\u00a0 Hopefully, the deceivers of DAVOS<\/em><\/strong> will realize this truth sooner than later for the sake of the entire planet.<\/p>\n

          Conclusion:<\/strong><\/p>\n

          The real good news in this whole story, of course, lies at the other end of the abyss.\u00a0 It is always darkest before the dawn, you know?\u00a0 Yet the shining dawn will only appear after we emerge from this darkest part of the tunnel.\u00a0 While that may be difficult for most to understand, or appreciate, it is nevertheless how the end of this story will unfold.<\/p>\n

          Real prophecy is only ever uttered with the purpose of catalyzing a process of contemplation in order that a substantive reformation\/transformation might take place, so that one\u2019s downfall may be averted.\u00a0 Much of what has been stated in this \u2018revelation\u2019 has either already occurred, or should be perceived as forgone conclusion.\u00a0 For instance, the crashing and burning of the current financial\/economic order has been happening in slow motion for many years.\u00a0 Likewise, the current and obvious freefall of the world economy will inevitably lead to many of the stated foregone conclusions.\u00a0 Therefore, any predictions that one may read into this depiction should focus on the following:<\/p>\n

          The ash heap that remains from the self destruction of \u201cfree market\u201d capitalism will contain just the right stuff<\/em> for the ongoing rebirth and regeneration of civil society.\u00a0 However, inasmuch as the bipolar world of the past 100 years was defined by both capitalism and communism, it is very likely that the coming New World Order<\/em> will emerge from the ashes of the latter as well.\u00a0 Just as the PHOENIX<\/em><\/strong> of ancient lore was consumed by the flames of its self-created funeral pyre, so too shall humankind raise a more enlightened civilization from the ashes of both Anglo-American capitalism and Sino-Soviet communism.<\/p>\n

          \"\"<\/a>

          The Phoenix can only rise from the ashes of it’s funeral pyre after it has thoroughly completed its process of self immolation.<\/p><\/div>\n

          Neither the death of the old \u201csystem\u201d, nor the birth pangs of \u201cA New Earth\u201d will be quick and easy.\u00a0 Nevertheless, we hold within US<\/strong> and around the globe, the collective wisdom, and will, to get the job done right this time around the spiral.\u00a0 So that social and economic justice may prevail, environmental and ecological awareness may predominate, and all nations \u2013 the peoples of the world \u2013 may enjoy a lasting peace and prosperity.<\/p>\n

          State of the Nation
          \nSubmitted: July 7, 2012
          \n          admin@stateofthenation2012.com<\/a><\/p>\n

          Caveat<\/strong>
          \nThere will undoubtedly be some feedback\/discussion about whether this portrayal has a tinge of doom and gloom<\/em>.\u00a0 By no means is this the author\u2019s intention. But, let\u2019s face it, sometimes a reality show can be quite difficult to watch, except that this is not a reality show, it\u2019s a very serious reality check.\u00a0 Therefore, we would like to pose the following question, especially to the fainthearted, for serious consideration:<\/p>\n

          When you\u2019re watching an 18 wheeler, with a supposed full payload of newly minted gold that was switched in a double cross with a cargo of gold painted tungsten bars, barreling down a very steep and winding mountainside road, and the steering wheel is broken, the brake lines have been cut, the windshield\u2019s been shattered, 16 of 18 wheels have come off, the driver has just suffered massive cardiac arrest and the guy riding shotgun has just finished his 4th<\/sup> six pack\u00a0\u00a0 \u2026\u00a0 \u2026\u00a0 \u2026\u00a0 and now it\u2019s careening toward a cliff side overlooking a deep, dark chasm.\u00a0 We all get the picture, don\u2019t we?<\/p>\n

          \u00a9 2012 State of the Nation
          \nPermission is granted to post this essay as long as it is linked back to the following url:
          \n          https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=2902<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          First published in January, 2009 Economic Armageddon and Financial Apocalypse Are Upon Us The global money matrix, worldwide financial architecture and planetary economic landscape most closely resemble the proverbial House of Cards in the form of a Pyramid-Ponzi scheme superstructure … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2902"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":133229,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2902\/revisions\/133229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}