Fear continues to grow in America. Drought, soaring food prices, unemployment, big banks up to their same old greed-driven tricks, threat of war with Iran, and degrading loss of liberty through legistation such
as the Patriot Act, SOPA, and the NDAA all add to a comprehensively
negative outlook for the future. However, of the multitude of real and
perceived catasrophies that could inevitably fall upon the American
people, one primary fear outweighs all the others... that of an economic collapse.
Here is the list of Feared Catastrophies as measured in a survey by the Ecohealth Alliance, and their percentage of importance.
- Economic Collapse: 46%
- Natural Disaster: 46%
- Terrorist Attack: 44%
- Global Disease Outbreak: 33%
- Global War: 27%
- Nuclear Accident: 25%
- Global Warming: 22%
- Fuel Shortage: 15%
- Cyber War: 8%
- Famine: 8%
- Oil Spill: 6%
- Industrial Accident: 5%
Overwhelmingly, the people's trust in a secure economy, and the
leaders who administer economic policies, is failing. Nearly two-thirds
of those polled fear a complete economic collapse based on the news and
evidence provided to them in both the media, and financial experiences
such as unemployment, higher retail prices, and lifestyle changes such
as losing a home, or falling home values.
Besides polling, the raw economic data also suggests an economic
collapse as being of high probability in the near or medium term future.
Global banks.
which make up the primary central bank shareholders for governments in
the west, have all fallen in value, been downgraded by ratings agencies,
and have experienced liquidity problems that have forced them to the
brink of insolvency at one point or another in the past three years.
- BofA: -60.38%
- Citi: -44.76%
- Goldman Sachs: -46.41%
- JPMorgan: -23.03%
- Morgan Stanley: -45.24%
- RBS: -50%
- Barclays: -34.32%
- Lloyds: -63.02%
- UBS: -29.33%
- Deutsche Bank: -28,55%
- Crédit Agricole: -56.04%
- BNP Paribas: -37.67%
- Société Générale: -59.57%
Lastly, the American people have had the opportunity to see what an
economic collapse in nations can do to the people, and the policies of
governments in both Greece, and in several Middle Eastern countries in
2011. When the solvency of a government fails, and international
monetary agencies such as the ECB and IMF attempt to impose austerity
measures such as added taxation, or cuts in public safety nets,
businesses begin to fail in large numbers, and people grow the internal
fortitude to lash out at the system.
If you want to see what happens when a collapse happens and a depression begins, just look at what is happening in Greece....
- 100,000 businesses have been closed since the beginning of the crisis.
- About a third of the nation is now living in poverty.
- The unemployment rate for those under the age of 24 is 39%.
- The number of suicides has increased by 40% in the past year.
- Thefts and burglaries have doubled.
- Things have gotten so bad that hundreds of families in Greece are abandoning their children.
Little has changed in the economic outlook for the
United States in the past year, the growing fears of an economic
collapse remain very high in the minds and fears of many Americans. In
the past 10 years, millions of jobs, and hundreds of thousands of
businesses have failed, or move overseas, and governments on a local and
Federal level have borrowed themselves into insolvency. With more
people expected to fall outside of the safety nets of unemployment, and
the ability of their legislators to solve the economic problems hanging
over the country like a Damocles Sword, the remaining avenue for
Americans will be the streets, not the ballot box if their primary fear
of economic collapse does take place.
