You should be, if you like eggs and if you want to stay alive because here in the United States, the Greater Depression - that has been delayed via actions by the Fed and the federal government - is about to go live.
Since March of last year, when the pandemic went live in the US, profound changes to the landscape of life have been underway, though the immediate effects have not been felt. The lockdowns and COVID-related restrictions damaged millions of small businesses and devastated many to the point at which they closed their doors permanently. Incomes were slashed, employees laid off, and extra money was pumped into a collapsing economy via additional unemployment insurance checks, mortgage forbearance, a moratorium on evictions, and other safety net remedies.
While the economy was salvaged for a while and the stock market boomed, there was still a massive degree of income and wealth destruction. Rents and mortgages haven't been paid for nearly in year in many circumstances. A huge number of people are facing either eviction or foreclosure within months, if not weeks.
The Greater Depression (a coinage which should hold up as a comparison to the "Great Depression" of the 1930s) is likely to last anywhere from six to 12 years. There's only so much money and resource that the federal and state governments can throw at the problem. Eventually, either the rents and mortgages get paid or they don't and the probability of them not getting paid is rising by the hour.
Our political class is about to engage in internecine warfare on Capitol Hill. Forget the Georgia elections, which conclude tonight. That's a sideshow to the electoral college counting of votes on Wednesday, January 6 in a joint session of congress. Republicans are poised to contest the electors chosen for Joe Biden in six or seven states, including Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, and possibly New Mexico, where dual sets of electors - one each for Biden and President Trump - have been delivered. Vice President Mike Pence, in his role as President of the Senate, will present, in alphabetical order by state, the slates of electors for confirmation by the House and Senate. When he gets to Arizona, after Alabama and Alaska, the fireworks begin and the process is not likely to go smoothly. It could last days if House members and Senators object and trigger debates on all six or seven contested states.
In the meantime, maybe a million or two million supporters of President Trump, opposed to what they consider an attempt by Joe Biden and the Democrats to steal the presidential election through various means of fraud, will be occupying much of Washington, DC. Along side the protesters will be the National Guard and maybe elements from ANTIFA and BLM, just to make things interesting.
It's going to get crazy and at the end of it, there is going to be one enormous segment of the population that's not going to be happy, and another, equally large segment that thinks it has won. Or, it could drag on and on without resolution for days or weeks, even beyond the scheduled date for inauguration, January 20. There's a chance that the nation's capitol will be under siege, as has been the case in countries that have endured so-called "color revolutions" in places like Tunisia, Macedonia, Armenia, Georgia, and elsewhere.
What a sight for the world to behold would be an encampment of Americans at the seat of government, protesting everything corrupt, everything wrong, everything suspect, basically, everything.
Thus, for those of us not interested or otherwise occupied, the world will seemingly stop. Nobody will really know what's going on for at least 48 hours, probably from the reveal of the Georgia Senate elections around 9:00 pm ET Tuesday through the joint session of congress and bayond, through, at least, 9:00 pm ET Thursday night.
The power may go out. The internet may go down. Telecommunications networks may be compromised, so it would be a good idea to adopt a Boy Scout mentality based on their "Be Prepared" model, to charge up your phones and computers (even though they may not work anyhow), get candles and generators ready, have extra batteries ready for the worst if only because it could happen.
With the coming mad side show in Washington, DC - oh, yeah, and maybe some urban terrorism, like last summer, in big cities, courtesy of our progressive friends - ushering in the Greater Depression, being prepared just makes sense. Beyond the next few days to a few weeks, people should be preparing for the long haul, like making plans for a garden and buying those young chicks or getting some adult ones from producers.
If you've never tended to a garden, you're about to find out how much hard work and fun it is. For those in the Northern exposures, you're going to have a wait a few months for the pleasure (and, not to be facetious, it can be an enjoyable experience) unless you've got a working greenhouse. Southern folks can get an early start because temperatures are warmer and soon will be conducive to growing hardy vegetables like broccoli and various greens.
Let's not forget that the media will be constantly bombarding you with contagious disease stories to keep you off the streets and on your toes... at home. The stock market and all other markets will probably continue to function, albeit imperfectly, and the possibility of not just a long-overdue correction in stocks, but a outright crash is not to be dismissed. After all, the Fed can print up as many new dollars as it pleases and send them to the banks for quick entry into stocks, but only for so long. They've been pumping the market for years with counterfeit funds. Eventually, even big money will seek an escape from hopelessly rigged markets.
As a prelude to where all this is heading, stocks opened trading for 2021 on Monday with a nasty sell-off. At the same time, gold and silver were being bid up, as was Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin actually topped $34,000 on Sunday (Jan. 3) before drifting a little lower. It's still well above $30,000. It was less than $20,000 three weeks ago.
Silver is at its best level since September, checking in above $27 an ounce while gold continues to climb, hitting $1950 as of this writing. Stock futures are pointing toward another negative opening on Tuesday.
At its core, everything in stocks, bonds, crypto, commodities, politics, and daily life is all about the demise of the US dollar, the world's reserve currency, which has been in a downdraft since well before the pandemic struck, continues to this day and will experience unrelenting decline through all 2021.
The era of fiat money is coming to an end. The Fed already has plans in place for a cryptocurrency of its own which is not likely to provide much in the way of a "reset" or restart unless it's backed by gold and is limited, which it won't be, at least not right away. Otherwise, the Fed is prepared to go full frontal MMT, complete with UBI (Universal Basic Income) for the masses. Everybody will get some to spend, but it's going to be like the $600 checks being delivered in the second big COVID relief bill, not enough for anything beyond the basic necessities.
Hollowing out the middle class through inflation and government confiscation (taxes) has been the aim of the Federal Reserve and the central bank global cabal since the GFC of 2007-09. It's now about to reach a new phase with 800,000 new jobless claims every week and even more devastation, lockdowns, forced evictions, crime, and yes, starvation.
Those who have been willing to seek the truth and discount the lies of government, medicine, and media will probably manage to survive most of the coming carnage. It's unavoidable at this point as the politicians, whether by accident or with full knowledge and purpose, have pushed people to the edge and segregated them into two opposing groups of liberals and conservatives, blue team and red team at each other's throats while the real villans play out their evil charade.
The events in Georgia and Washington, DC, may pass without dispute or disruption, but only the most wide-eyed optimists or criminally insane are counting on that. Better to be prepared for the worst than experience it unprepared.
Like all depressions or disruptions of economies, this one will end in war or revolution or both. Probably both.
Get some chicks and some batteries. Be A Boy Scout for once in your life. Be Prepared.
Some Bitcoin wisdom from Michael Saylor:
At the Close, Monday, January 4, 2021:
Dow: 30,223.89, -382.59 (-1.25%)
NASDAQ: 12,698.45, -189.83 (-1.47%)
S&P 500: 3,700.65, -55.42 (-1.48%)
NYSE: 14,376.70, -148.10 (-1.02%)
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