Prophetic? - The Coming Financial Collapse of America (and Why Today's Market Bloodbath is Only a Small Taste of Things to Come...) Tuesday, January 22, 2008

"
Solutions for Surviving the Economic
Downfall of America
First off, let me share with you one of the best
books on what's coming in terms of the U.S.
economy. (It's also loaded with financial
investment recommendations in the last
chapter.) The book is called The Coming
Economic Collapse: How You Can Thrive When
Oil Costs $200 A Barrel
by Stephen Leeb.
Leeb is right on the money when it comes to
understanding economics trends (and telling the
truth about what's coming). He was one of the
first to predict oil would reach $100 a barrel
(which it did just a few weeks ago), despite the
raucous laughter from the investment
community following his prediction. (He
predicted that price when oil was hovering
around $25 a barrel, by the way...)
His book gives outstanding investment
recommendations for those who have savings or
retirement funds they wish to protect from the
coming economic fallout. Rather than repeating
that investment advice right here, I would
prefer that you get his book, read it and the
follow his recommendations that best suit your
risk vs. reward goals.
Secondly, let me say that the great drunken
spending orgy is nearly over for everybody
involved: Households, cities, states and even the
U.S. federal government. Although there may
be a few remaining grunts and gasps of debt
spending that manage to squeeze through the
cracks, the bottom line is that this debt bubble
party is essentially over. This means we're going
to see a contraction in spending at all levels, and
a significant lull in the national economy.
You see, until now, we've actually been partying
on China's money. It's true! China has been
lending the U.S. hundreds of billions of dollars,
and the U.S. has been using that money to
finance wars and lousy health care spending
policies that keep the American people
perpetually diseased. This nation has actually
been partying like a rich banker's daughter on
her 21st birthday who borrowed daddy's credit
card and hit the town for a night of (finally)
legalized drinking. It's largely been someone
else's money that has financed our drunken-
sailor spending spree, and that line of credit will
soon be significantly slowed (or made a whole
lot more expensive to finance).
Why? Because the United States will, I
predict, lose its AAA credit rating in
international debt markets. With the U.S. in
debt far more than ever before -- and
hemorrhaging wealth by the second through
spending on war and disease (health care) -- it
won't be long before the serious lenders of the
world (China, Japan, Abu Dhabi, etc.) figure out
that loaning money to the U.S. Treasury
Department at low rates of return is an
idiot's gamble. They'll hike up the rates for
future loans to the U.S., and that will cause the
U.S. federal government's debt spending
addiction to suddenly become a more expensive
habit than a D.C. Mayor's crack addiction.
Overnight, the U.S. could become a sub-prime
borrower. Its banks have already landed in that
category, thanks to the huge cash injections
from wealthy foreigners we've seen taken on by
U.S. banks in the last few weeks!
And all this, of course, means yet more
contraction of the U.S. economy.
Getting back to how you can protect yourself in
these hard economic times, this is a time to
control your own spending. Here's what I've
consistently recommended to intelligent people
over the years:
1) Own your car. Don't borrow money to drive
a car. It's better to own a beater than to make
payments on something you can't really afford.
2) Own your home. Instead of moving to a
larger home when you qualify for loans, work to
pay off your existing home mortgage and own
your home outright. At the very least, pay down
your loan so you have 50% equity in your
home, which should insulate you from all but
the very worst housing bubble price drops.
3) Stop spending money on stupid overpriced
things like Starbucks coffee, soda, brand-name
laundry detergent, diamond jewelry and
processed foods. Stretch your money by buying
low-cost, bulk food ingredients like lentils,
brown rice and quinoa.
4) Protect your health! Mark my words: There
will be no such thing as a national health care
system that's any good; not under ANY future
president. Why? Because our entire health care
paradigm is focused on treating disease rather
than promoting health. If you're waiting around
for a health care system to make you healthy,
you're on a fool's errand. Take charge of your
health right now and use nutrition, superfoods,
sunlight, exercise and avoidance of all toxic
chemicals to boost your health (and thereby
insulate yourself from future health care
minefields).
5) Own some productive land. Can you actually
grow at least 10% of your own food? How
about 25%? Owning productive land that
actually generates fruits, nuts or edible herbs
and plants is a form of permanent wealth.
Regardless of what happens to the world
economy, land that can produce food and
medicine will always hold value (to yourself and
others). Climate matters. An acre of land in
wind-swept South Dakota isn't worth much.
That same acre in Southern California or Hawaii
is a whole lot more useful in terms of producing
things that people value.
6) Own a good bicycle (and know how to repair
it). There's no form of transportation that's
more affordable. Too out of shape to pedal? No
worries: Get yourself an Electric Bike from
Electric Bikes Northwest (they ship all over the
country). Electric bikes cost almost nothing to
operate (far less than a penny per mile) and still
give you a bit of exercise.
7) Don't save all your money in one bank! And
certainly don't save it all in U.S. currency.
Diversify. Banks may fail. The currency may
even fail. Be prepared to wake up one day and
see your green U.S. dollars declared worthless.
Disclaimer: I'm not offering you financial
advice. Do your own research on this and make
informed financial decisions using the help of
financial professionals. My information here is
offered as-is, with honest intent but no promise
of accuracy. You'll have to decide for yourself
what's really ahead in terms of a bankrupt
nation and a depressed economy.
It's not all bad news, by the way...
The Good News..."


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www.naturalnews.com/022528.html