3 Troubling Signs That We’re Still on the Brink of Economic Disaster

By Daisy Luther

Survival Saturday is a round-up of the week’s news and resources for folks who are interested in being prepared.

This Week in the News

This week on Survival Saturday, I want to show you several reasons why I’m still very concerned about our economy. A lot of people are breathing a sigh of relief with Donald Trump as the President-Elect, but through no fault of his own, he is on the precipice of a massive disaster. If you’ve been prepping but then stopped because you thought everything will be just fine now that Trump will be taking the reigns, please read this with an open mind. It may be one of the most significant round-ups that I’ve written, and it’s a long one.

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#1 President Obama has relentlessly raped our economy for 8 years straight.

Maybe he didn’t do it on purpose. Maybe he figured it wouldn’t matter because he’d be long gone from the Oval Office before things came crashing down.

Some people like to credit President Barack Obama for “saving us” from economic disaster, but in reality, he played the most epic game of kick-the-can ever during his eight years in office.

You could compare his financial policy to a person who loses his job but has incredibly good credit.

That person could potentially manage to put his entire life on credit and get by for quite some time. Maybe he taps into his line of credit at the bank, he buys groceries and pays utilities with credit cards, and he borrows money against his house. He uses all of his credit and racks up an enormous amount of debt, but outwardly, it seems like he is doing just fine. The mortgage is paid, there is a car in the driveway, and the fridge is filled every week. He uses the money from his LoC to pay off his monthly credit card payments, robbing Peter to pay Paul.

But finally, it comes to a point when he has no credit left. He has extended himself to the point that there is nothing available. Peter refuses to be robbed anymore, which means Paul isn’t getting paid.

That was the financial strategy of Barack Obama, and now Donald Trump will inherit a no-win situation: massive debt in the trillions of dollars with nothing to back it up. He may be able to pull our fat from the fire – he’s pretty brilliant economically – but he has years of horrible mismanagement to overcome, and this won’t happen without some economic pain.

Read this article, because Michael Snyder explains it way better than I do.

#2 The Dallas Pension Fund isn’t allowing investors to withdraw money. Is this the beginning of a trend?

When retirement funds that were supposedly safe begin to fail, it’s a bad sign.

The city of Dallas has halted early (DROP) withdrawals from pension funds, just in time for Christmas. Firefighters, police officers, and other city retirees no longer have access to their money. Zero Hedge reports:

Two days after the Mayor of Dallas, Mike Rawlings, filed a lawsuit against the Dallas Police and Fire Pension system to block withdrawals, which he referred to as a “run on the bank” of an “insolvent” pension system in “financial crisis, the Pension’s board has finally taken steps to halt further withdrawals.  Of course, this delayed action has come only after $500 million in deposits have been withdrawn since just August.

According to the Dallas Daily News, an incremental $154mm in withdrawal requests were pending at the time the decision was made earlier today.

Perhaps future ponzi schemes pension systems will take note of Dallas’ current situation prior to guaranteeing 8% returns on retirees’ pension balances.  Who could have ever guessed that a decision like that could have backfired so badly?

Hopefully, it will be an isolated incident, but I can’t help but flash back to Cyprus, in 2013, when banks assessed the accounts of depositors by up to 40% overnight, providing themselves with a “bail-in.”

It’s also of note that at the current rate, Social Security will become defunct by 2034. A bill is on the table that would change the age for full benefits from 67 to 69, reduce benefits for high earners (who paid more in, of course), reduce cost of living adjustments, and increase the minimum benefit for some low-earners who meet certain criteria. (source) All in all, the average retiree can expect at least 17% less, and that’s assuming Social Security is saved at all.

#3 An optimistic market doesn’t necessarily mean a bright future.

Since the election, the stock market has shown amazing performance. The market has gained 1200 points and has had 13 record-high closings. The media is calling this the Trump Bump and it shows that people have renewed confidence in the economy with President-Elect Trump heading to the White House.

But, hang on to your halo, angels. This boom may be good for giant corporations but bad for everyday folks like you and me. If we had a free market, it would be one thing, but our market is regulated and soon to be even more regulated. While I think it’s great that Trump is trying to keep jobs in America, assessing tariffs and sending prices of the imported goods on which we have come to rely skyrocketing will make it much harder for the average American to afford those goods, even if they now have a job.

Steven Horowitz from the Foundation for Economic Education explains:

Trump’s economic nationalism and cronyism will surely enrich a number of American firms…But don’t confuse that profitability with improved economic well-being. Trump’s policies may well enrich many firms, but they will impoverish the average American. We are not better off having to pay more for domestically produced goods thanks to a 35% tariff on imports. We are not better off when firms are given tax breaks or direct subsidies to keep their production in the US where labor or other inputs are more expensive, raising the costs of those goods and increasing our $20 trillion dollar national debt.

According to Horowitz, we may see short-term improvements, but we need to be on the lookout for long-term pain for the middle class. He concludes:

Don’t be fooled. The Trump rally is not a sign of economic health, but of what quite likely will be harm to all Americans through higher prices, fewer choices, and a reduction in entrepreneurial innovation.

Profits and rising stock prices in truly free markets reflect real value creation and want satisfaction. Profits and rising stock prices in a system of economic nationalism and cronyism reflect the satisfaction of the desires of those with political power. Firms and political actors might win more power and influence, but average Americans, many of whom voted Trump and his crew into office, will be the big losers.

This also brings to mind the predictions of Brandon Smith, from Alt-Market. Back in August, Smith predicted that Trump would win the election, while nearly everyone was certain that Hillary Clinton had it in the bag. But he also made a much more grim prediction: that Trump was being set up as the fall guy for the economic collapse of America. The day after the election, Smith wrote:

The bottom line is, Trump is on the way to the White House because the elites WANT HIM THERE..Trump may or may not be aware that he and his conservative followers have been positioned into a trap…The elites will initiate a final collapse of the global economy under Trump’s watch (this will probably escalate over the course of the next six months), and they WILL blame him and conservatives in general.  This IS going to happen.   The elites play the long game, and so must we.

While millions of Americans are celebrating Trump’s win today, I will remain even more vigilant.  The party is just getting started, folks.  Don’t get too comfortable.

For even more information on what I suspect is pending financial doom, read Smith’s article, The Economic End Game Explained.

This Week on DaisyLuther.com

Let me emphasize that I am not anti-Trump. I’m delighted that he defeated Hillary Clinton. But that doesn’t mean he’s perfect. He still requires accountability.  I was rather astonished at the vehement responses when I shared an article last week criticizing some of Trump’s cabinet selections. Let me be clear: I questioned President Obama throughout his administration. It would be the height of cognitive dissonance not to do the same with President-Elect Trump. It’s my job to ask questions and be watchful. Asking questions is not indicative of a lack of support.

Enjoy this week’s postings over at the news blog.

• Regulation Nation: Where Independence Is Illegal without a Permit
• WiFi-Capable Brain Implants: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
• How the “Truth” Is Measured on a Sliding Scale
• The DEA Would Rather You Be Addicted to Opiates Than Use This Natural Painkiller
• Did Trump Con Everyone?
• The No-Win Debt Disaster Caused by Obama’s Epic Game of Economic Kick-the-Can
• Italy’s Boot Was Made for Walkin’ … Away from the EU
• MSM and Social Media Discredit #PizzaGate as a “Fake News Conspiracy Theory”
• Was Julian Assange Taken by the CIA in October?
• What Nixon Could Tell Trump About Ticking Off the Establishment

This Week in Preparedness…

I’m extremely concerned that people who were actively preparing have simply stopped.

It seems like preparations have ground to a halt since the election, and that is worrisome indeed, for all of the reasons I mentioned above. While we might have a brief lull in the soundtrack, we are still on the road to economic hell, and we should be using this opportunity to ramp up our preps.

Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse Blog has observed the same thing:

…sales of emergency food and supplies have been crashing since Donald Trump’s surprise election victory.  Firms that help people relocate outside of the United States have seen business really dry up, and I know of one high profile individual that has actually decided to move back to the country after Trump’s victory.  It is almost as if the apocalypse has been canceled and the future history of the U.S. has been rewritten with a much happier ending.

If you believe anything I’ve ever written, believe this. An economic crisis is coming that will make 2008 look like a walk in the park. It would have happened regardless of who was put in office. Because of this, you need to increase your preparations with more fervor than ever before.

Snyder continues:

Tens of millions of Americans are completely convinced that we are heading into a new golden era for America just because Donald Trump won the election, and for the sake of the nation let us hope that they are correct.

But what if they are wrong?

What if the rioting, violence and civil unrest that the radical left is planning for the Inauguration on January 20th sparks a movement that plunges many of our major cities into chaos throughout Trump’s presidency?

What if all of the incredibly bad decisions that were made during the Obama years result in the biggest economic downturn we have ever seen early in the Trump years?

What if Trump’s inability to get along with China results in a major trade war between the two largest economies on the entire planet?

What if the growing financial instability in Europe results in a new global financial crisis that Trump will not be able to do anything to stop?

…All of the things that myself and other watchmen have been warning about all this time are coming…A day of reckoning for America is fast approaching, and those that are wise understand the signs of the times.

Here’s what you need to do:

Get educated: If you’ve been thinking about signing up for a Prepping Intensive course so that you can get prepared, now is the time to do it. I know money is short because it’s the holiday season, so we’ve made it even easier to get started. You can reserve your space for only $30 and take care of the balance of your course in two easy payments.

Stock up: Start building your pantry (check out my book on the topic) and purchase some buckets of emergency food, just in case.

Shift to a more frugal lifestyle NOW. Here’s my favorite book on embracing a frugal way of life:

The Complete Tightwad Gazette

And these articles can help:

• How to Survive a Personal Economic Collapse
• 12 Ways to Radically Cut Your Expenses
• How to Survive When You Can’t Pay Your Bills
• 30 Frugal Living Tips: Small Changes That Add Up to Big Savings

Anything to add to Survival Saturday?

Okay, so tell me your thoughts on the economy. Are we about to crash and burn? Is this the last gasp of a dying dollar or are things improving? Have you slowed down on prepping now that Trump has been elected?

Feel free to share any links of interest in the comments below. Please join the discussion!