One of the unfortunate realities of Yakushima in the rain is the absence of bookstores for browsing and immediate book-buying gratification. There is always Amazon.Com, of course, but until my return to Tokyo in ten days I’m suffering Bookstore Withdrawal Syndrome. But once back in urban Japan I’m looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of Kevin Phillips new book, Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism (published by Viking Adult). Amy Goodman of DemocracyNow.org interviewed Kevin on May 6: go here if you want to read his interview. Good stuff.
While I searched the internet for more interviews with Kevin I discovered a fascinating video by author Bill Still: “The Money Masters: how international bankers gained control of America”(1996). Many people are aware of the importance The Federal Reserve Bank has on the US economy, but very few know the history and agenda of the privately-held central banks that have financed Western society over the past three hundred years. The Money Masters lays out the awful truth, and makes for riveting viewing.
Although the late Nineties economic crash did not occur as Bill Still predicts in The Money Masters, Kevin Phillips updates the situation and explains why the coming collapse is inevitable. Of equal importance to Kevin’s book, The Money Masters educates us to the reality of international banking “farming” of the US economy, where bankers implement a period of expansion and easy credit (which also builds incredible public and private debt) followed by a recession and fiscal contraction, resulting in the accumulated wealth being transfered from the middle class to the extremely wealthy class. All the signs are that this will occur very soon, leading to recommendations by experts to baton down the fiscal hatches and prepare for the worse. The best advice out there seems to consist of getting out of all paper debt and assets as soon as possible, move your liquid funds into Euros or Swiss Francs, and to stock up on physical gold or silver bullion.
Just as worrisome are American concerns over the availability of food and water should a financial crash occur. If the US economy wakes up one morning to an economically dead dollar and the rapid onset of hyper-inflation, food will vanish from the shelves of supermarkets faster than a speeding bullet. Survivalist thinking that encourages stocking up on non-perishable food and bottled water while you still can is probably prudent.
These days it is not a good time for a naive trust in our governments. Burma’s junta seems complicit in the deaths of thousands of their citizens this week, the US government did little to respond to the Katrina disaster a short time ago, and European countries allowed Chinese troops dressed in tracksuits to protect the “sacred” Olympic flame by assaulting Free Tibet protesters. Healthy adults take care of themselves, rather than expecting it of others. It sounds to me like Americans stocking up on food and water right now is worth consideration.