When the Tidal Wave Hits, Part II – Jeff Nielson

by Jeff Nielson, Sprott Money:

Part I of this series was a wake-up call. Many readers know that we are headed toward an economic cataclysm, the cumulative result of decades of political corruption and willful self-destruction. What few (yet) understand is that what lies ahead is historically unprecedented in economic terms.

A collection of bankrupt governments are about to experience the most severe economic collapse in the history of these nations, simultaneously. The preceding installment provided some of the reasons why this will be the most horrific economic event in history.

We have historically unprecedented levels of debt . That is a house of cards waiting to collapse. We have historically unprecedented asset bubbles in terms of both their number and their magnitude. That is another house of cards waiting to collapse. But it gets much, much worse.

The currencies of our nations are worthless. The authority for this is none other than former Federal Reserve Chairman, B.S. Bernanke :

U.S. dollars have value only to the extent that they are strictly limited in supply.

But Bernanke did not “strictly limit” the supply of U.S. dollars. He engaged in the Bernanke Helicopter Drop, the most-reckless dilution of a major currency in history. In four years, he quintupled the supply of U.S. dollars – quintupling a supply accumulated over the previous 80 years, combined.

Other Western currencies (and the yen) have been similarly debauched. The paper currencies being pawned off across the Corrupt West are worthless, with the exception of the Swiss franc.

The wealth which people unwisely hold in this paper in one form or another will be extinguished as soon as this paper acquires its actual value. The bonds of these governments will be doubly worthless: the debts of bankrupt regimes, denominated in worthless currencies. Another house of cards.

However, as noted in the previous instalment, these are far from the only economic diseases which now afflict our societies. Both unemployment and poverty are now at historic extremes, at a structural level. What is meant by that is that we have previously had episodes of extreme unemployment and/or poverty. But we have never had permanent levels of unemployment and poverty at the levels they are at today. Historically unprecedented.

In North America alone, there are more than 50 million permanently unemployed people. People who will never be allowed to work. The occasional few who manage to escape the permanent unemployment trap will simply displace others into this ever-growing demographic.

How do our corrupt governments deal with our massive, permanent/structural unemployment problem? They pretend that most of the unemployed don’t exist. Their bogus “unemployment rates” only include people actively looking for employment.

We live in societies which produce few new jobs that provide more than minimum wage (a below-poverty line wage), and even fewer which provide a wage substantial enough to support a family. Where is the incentive to look for a job (if you can find one) where you work hard all day and still require charity just to survive?

People who have given up looking for jobs which don’t exist have effectively become “non-persons” in our societies. Their economic plight is no longer even dignified (by our corrupt governments) with the term “unemployment”. They are simply forgotten.

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