Has the West been cornered? It’s an odd question isn’t it? This can be interpreted in several different ways. “Cornered” as in financially? Militarily? Economically or even from a production standpoint. How about “morally” or even religiously? Or even intellectually? Let me explain with hopefully few side tracks.
I first thought about writing this because I believe the West has allowed itself to be “cornered” in both the gold and silver markets. You know by now that it’s my belief the Chinese are the longs in the COMEX silver and have actually “carried” us along time wise so we would divest more and more of our gold. In order to keep the game going, China put forward 1,000+ tons of silver in their Shanghai inventory which has been 90% drawn down and more than likely used to keep the game going. But after thinking about this for a little bit, it occurred to me that it’s not just the precious metals markets “we have let go of” …it’s pretty much everything!
Think about it, we have “cornered” ourselves within a $1.4 quadrillion (with a capital Q!) derivatives market. Like it or not, the U.S. is at the epicenter of this. (We didn’t have to be but “rulers” like Alan Greenspan lobbied for it). We are now financially in a position where there is no way out because there must be a loser for every winner and when the loser is busted so badly and cannot make settlement …even the winner becomes a loser. Without a huge explanation, we live in a “zero sum” financial casino where if someone wins, someone also must lose. This has become the “American way,” the Chinese mindset is different as they believe in business as a “win, win” process. Maybe this is why China announced within the last year “they reserve the right for any state agency to default on any derivative”?
How about militarily? Are we cornered here? First, how many bases and how many different fronts can we afford? I don’t know the answer but I do know the “direction,” less. Finance and military are connected at the hip, in order to “reflate” the economy and markets, wars have always been started because they are “good for business.” The problem is that over time, we actually had to start skirmishes in order to get wars started… but the world has wised up to this…and alliances are shifting. Maybe the word “cornered” is wrong in this instance, instead maybe it should be “isolated” as we have proposed for Russia.
Next, has the U.S. been cornered from an industrial or productive standpoint? What is it exactly that we make for export? Unfortunately the answer is “not much”. We do however grow a lot of food and foodstuffs …but much of this is of the GMO variety. What exactly will we be exporting if other countries decide they will not import GMO foods? What if foreigners decide to no longer accept dollars? How will we buy shoes or underwear? How about TV’s, smartphones, computers and let’s not forget our kids video games? Where will we get these from? How about simple things like wrenches, screwdrivers or even a saw or an ax? We don’t make this stuff anymore…where will we get it from if we can’t trade dollars for them and no one wants to accept GMO’s in trade?
How about religiously? I’ll bet you haven’t thought much about this one. All over the world, Islamic populations are migrating to western nations with the intent of imposing Sharia law. Just look to Europe, Muslims can block a busy street in prayer with no consequences. Can you imagine were a group of Christians, Jews or Hindus to try this? They would all be hauled off for “disturbing the peace”. Don’t get me wrong, I am completely tolerant when it comes to religion, anyone has the right to pray to any God they choose but they do not have the right to impose their views, beliefs or laws on anyone else. Particularly if the country was not based on Islam at its creation. In this instance, religion, Europe in particular is being cornered, maybe a better term is “boxed in”. As today is Election Day in the U.S., I might as well mention that “religion” is not a requirement to vote, however, what will happen if a single religion grows so populous that they “vote” to change the land’s laws from top to bottom. Scary thought huh?
Speaking of Election Day, what about our “morals?” In my opinion, we have outright “cornered ourselves” from a moral standpoint which directly affects us from the financial standpoint, let me explain. We have become a nation that no longer believes in self-reliance. We are now at the point where half or more of our population receives some type of support or stipend from the government. Does anyone really believe that the “receivers” will ever vote to have their benefits “turned off”? I will give you my opinion on this and if you don’t like it then “oh well.” In my opinion, anyone under the age of 65 years old who receives any benefit whether it be for housing, food, medical or disability (other than military), should not be able to vote. Once you are 65 years old and receiving Social Security, theoretically this is the repayment of monies already deposited (even though we know the money was spent years ago). The only people who should be allowed to vote are those who “pay in” to the system. They should be the ones who have a say as to how it is spent. I am sure I will get all sorts of liberal pabulum telling me I’m not a nice guy for saying what is obvious and what most who think fairly are thinking. Bring it on!
As for my definition of “corner,” I believe we have slowly put ourselves in a position where nearly no movement is possible. We chose this road years ago and it started out harmlessly enough when our prosperous post WWII parents wanted a better and “easier” life for their children. What happened is that this began to weaken the backbone of a once strong nation. Don’t get me wrong, much damage has been done by “politicians” along the way always offering “free this and free that” but we should have known better. We should have known that nothing in life is free. The population of the U.S. will probably vote incumbents out of office like unwanted trespassers, it’s not going to work and it’s too late. We have a two party system of wolves in the same sheep’s clothing. Voters can choose door number one or door number two but both corridors lead to very same corner we have allowed ourselves to be painted in.
The above was written prior to the election results. Americans stood up and “threw the bums out” as the Republicans have taken over the legislative process. I say “bravo” to Americans as they did the only thing they could do in protest. Unfortunately I believe this to be one last shrill of protest before collapse and chaos. As I said prior, we live in a two party system where each party serves the same master, there is no door number three. One can hope but “hope” is the vestige of fools. We can hope that America returns to that of a rule of law. One can hope we go back to strictly following The Constitution. One can hope for investigations into what has happened over the last six years (and prior administrations) to hold accountable all sorts of wrongs and outright crookedness. At least we can hope the new Congress will thwart a dictatorial executive branch and hold the Attorney General accountable for actions and the inaction of looking the other way. In my opinion it is now far (as in many years) too late. Changing Congress at this point is like flying in a new crew to the Titanic after hitting the iceberg. The damage has already been done in every way possible. We are taking on water quickly, a new crew, and a new captain, a new anything will not fix the gaping hole in our hull. Only a new ship (system and currency) will do. May God bless America, she needs it!
I totally agree that someone should be paying Federal Taxes in order to get a vote – solves all sorts of problems!
you must be from Texas?
Nice article Bill. You are right to connect the dots ultimately back to morality and religion. Honest scales in business and banking have not been used by the US for a long time and there will be judgement and consequence for this both out of natural law but also divine intervention. I felt proud the GOP got back the Senate but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter. I look for Obama to become US dictator during the collapse and law to be forced through the executive branch anyway during the “collapse”…. I’m thinking there is something to these “blood moons” and its interesting 2 down and 2 to go in 2015.
not sure about the blood moons but pretty on dictatorial cravings.
“In my opinion, anyone under the age of 65 years old who receives any benefit whether it be for housing, food, medical or disability (other than military), should not be able to vote. Once you are 65 years old and receiving Social Security, theoretically this is the repayment of monies already deposited (even though we know the money was spent years ago). The only people who should be allowed to vote are those who “pay in” to the system. They should be the ones who have a say as to how it is spent.”
Bill – AMEN!!!!!!! I am not an expert, but from what I have read and my understanding of the book “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth” being self sufficient is the overarching principle.
Many blessings to you and your family. And thanks for telling the truth – we need more of it. I am just so tired of the lies, I don’t want anymore lies. For so many people that I know lying has become their way of life – I am tired of all the lies.
Bob
it looks like the American public feels somewhat the same as you do.
Bill, with the draw down of silver inventories at the Shanghai exachange do you see the Chinese replenishing any of it? Do they even have the metal to do that?
hard to say and hard to say. I will say that if they believe we have no more gold to deliver, they will not be furnishing any silver.
Bill,
What do you mean by this story on shanghai silver ?
What would be the chinese purpose to do that ?
Thanks.
Shanghai silver inventory has been drawn down by 1,000 tons over the year… it was “used”.
Bill,
There is another way in which we have been “cornered” that many people overlook. That is, our health. The incidence of obesity and diabetes is horrendous and shows no sign of changing. We are literally eating ourselves to death. This is a huge component of increasing healthcare costs and adds to the deficit. This is another way in which people have become more and more dependent on the current system. I have no illusions that people will rise up and change the system that they are so dependent on. This is true here as well as elsewhere. I totally expected the Scottish “independence” vote to fail because of the great dependence of the people on the status quo; no need for stealing the election. In our mid-term elections Wall Street contributed more than ever to the Republicans, so they are bought and paid for from the start, as well as the Democrats. Change will only come after the system has a total collapse.
… not to mention our new health insurance system!
Hi Bill – Thank you for telling it like it is. The current PTB have distorted this system so badly that I doubt Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, or even Franklin could tell this is the system they started 240 years ago. HOW SAD!
On Welfare – I have been suggesting this very same idea about people on any sort of ‘assistance’ (outside of social security or military benefits) should not be allowed to vote until they cease using the ‘assistance’. I am all for helping my fellow man, but to have this pervasive ‘free lunch’ constituency that continues vote more treasure away is BEYOND RIDICULOUS!
You hit the nail on so many of these – and what it would take to fix it is either 525 servants of the people elected to office to shut off the corporate fascism and government money spigot (which is highly unlikely) or the great reset to finally force the issue. Sadly either way will be a road of pain.
thanks Rob.
Bill,
Excellent article. Things are now dire! Too late to fix and just wating on the crash which is in process.
GOP wins last night change nothing.
Question: If we are in a recovery and unemployment is down to 5.9%, then why are 46.5 million Americans on food stamps?
This would indicate a huge fraud in the food stamp program.
Things are so dire I wish I could go to sleep for 20 years and wake up to a fixed and good running system.
God help us all.
I like your thinking on linking government aid and voting. If someone is not able to manage their affairs (due to whatever circumstances) such that they need charity to survive then they don’t get a say (the vote) in who the charity provider will be (the taxpayer) and at what level (amount of support). In fact, I would expand this concept of yours to receipt of charity in general.
Yes, people in trouble should get charity. But it should be a temporary condition for the vast majority and the recipient should be working to change their condition such that they do not need charity. The parable of the ant and the grasshopper comes to mind here. The ant just wasn’t going to dole out aid to the grasshopper so he could lay about.
Way too much charity is wasted today and the direction of fewer ants and more grasshoppers is a recipe for disaster. So aid organizations like churches and foundations should be required to name the individuals who are recipients of the charity to the respective county clerks where removal from the voter rolls for a period of one year would result. Being charity free for a year and a day would allow reinstatement to the rolls.
Ideally I’d like to see all government charity cease, taxes cut on the ants and then the ants donate to organizations that effectively make charity a temporary condition for the most people. Stop rewarding failure and start rewarding success (even charitable success).
Best,
Mark
yes.
Bill, if you get a chance watch the movie “the rover”starring Guy Pierce. Takes place in Australia post societal collapse
(a decade after). Really raw & sobering glimpse of life I’m assuming post monetary meltdown (as the movie doesn’t go into detail of what caused the collapse ) . There’s even a scene that depicts all currencies as “just paper”
or …you could just watch Mad Max, also from Australia. Maybe Australia’s not the place to be?
That’s a shame cause the Perth mint is my favorite!
certificates?
Excellent, excellent article Bill – That needed to be stated as you so effectively did. Everything in our nation today is rigged and our Government has been captured by the PTB since 911. The new crew that was just placed in charge of the USS Titanic were tapped in advance. Though these newly installed at the helm are who we all see on the bridge – Their orders all come from shore. With the installation of the Diebold computerized voting machines nation wide – people need to understand that their individual vote is completely out of their control. TPTB have conspired to Control everything on the USS Titanic. Prepare your own individual life boat – or suffer the consequences.
thanks Richard.
No representation without taxation?
Nice idea – may I suggest some tweaks?
Every adult legally in the country gets one vote, on the house.
They then get an additional vote for every $100,000 in income taxes they have paid in their life.
To prevent the wealthy getting lots of votes, cap it at ten votes per person.
If on welfare, your voting entitlement is recalculated monthly to take into account by the cost of keeping you.
If imprisoned, your voting entitlement is recalculated monthly to take into account by the cost of keeping you inside.
If you’re tax-dodging, you’re sacrificing voting entitlements.
too complicated.
You’ll need to link that $100,000 to inflation of course.
Well said, the Only people you will offend are the ones on the gravy train.
true story but the last time I wrote something like this the “gravy trainers” were out in force. Haven’t had any negative comments on this yet but it’s still early I guess?
Bill First I’d like to mention right up front I agree with everything in this post except for one thing which I’ll leave till last. Just a couple of points I’d like to touch regarding some of the topics in this post. Cornered militarily? I would suggest readers might want to think of ancient Athens. It’s the exact same scenario playing out. Athens started to dictate how their allies would conduct themselves and dictated their laws. Long story short one by one they left the democratic Capitol city of Athens and slowly one by one joined the neighboring communistic country of Sparta. We all know what happened when the Spartans invaded Athens. Think about whats currently happening with America and Russia it’s a mirrors image.
Industry is all but done with in western nations. the citizens are just as much to blame. Can’t shop at the giants to save a couple of bucks while at the same time complain no one’s still purchasing products in your small family owned store. You just can’t have it both ways. GMO’s are already being rejected by several large nations. After the inevitable bump in the night occurs it’s my belief soon after GMO might take on a whole new meaning like Got More Ounces. Republican democrat for decades now is nothing more than separate cheeks off of the same ass and last the part I really disagree with. Paragraph two “after thinking it occurred to me” Bill I know it’s occurred to you years ago perhaps decades ago this was unsustainable and the nation was already cornering itself. You don’t just wake up to find a fully grown oak tree in your front yard. Years ago a seed was planted perhaps decades ago. I know you’ve known this for a good many years.
Best wishes and biggest fishes
Barry in DR
We should be able to vote for who is going to be Rich. “Hi my name is Joe Blow and I have been your Rich Guy. If your life was better these four years please vote for me again…”
not sure I get this one?
I’m sixty five and I’ll agree with you. Not because of the idea, but as I see it the vote matters not! What has change the direction washington movement the pass 52 years? The Vote. I think not! And I didn’t pull that number (52) out of my hat!
don’t remember 1962, I was only 2 at the time.