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"What We Are Paying For Is 20 Years Of Blunder & Neglect"

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Simon Black via Sovereign Man blog,

In May 1940, a visibly concerned Winston Churchill traveled to Paris to survey the city’s defenses.

Nazi forces had already blasted past French units and were rolling easily through the Somme Valley towards Paris.

There wasn’t much time. And Churchill bluntly asked the commanders in his notoriously pitiful French, “Où est la masse de manoeuvre?”

“Where are your reserve forces?”

He later wrote in his memoirs that their response was one of the most shocking moments of his life. “Aucune,” replied the commander. “We have none.”

Hitler took Paris within a few weeks.

And on June 22, 1940, seventy-five years ago to the day, French diplomats signed a peace treaty making France a vassal state of Nazi Germany.

Maxime Weygand, France’s most esteemed general, remarked of the occasion, “What we are paying for is twenty years of blunder and neglect.”

Given the extraordinary risks in the system right now, these words may soon come to haunt us as well.

Seven years ago a global financial crisis was spawned from too much debt, artificially low interest rates, and a complete misperception of obvious risks (like loaning money to dead people…)

They ‘solved’ that problem with even more debt, lowering interest rates below zero, and continuing to ignore obvious risks (like buying stocks at all-time highs).

You don’t have to be a financial genius to see the absurdity in this logic.

Based on their own financial statements, most Western governments are completely insolvent, and most major central banks are close to insolvency.

They’ve already ratcheted interest rates down to zero (or below) and have racked up a mountain of debt.

There are effectively no tools left for governments and central banks to deal with another major crisis.

Like Paris in 1940, they have no Plan B. They’re completely defenseless to support the financial system or the currency in the event of a major shock.

We should all take a moment to appreciate this level of incompetence. This doesn’t happen overnight.

It takes decades of “blunder and neglect” to engineer financial vulnerability on this scale. But they’ve somehow managed to pull it off.

The only question is– how long until the next financial shock? Because it’s not a question of ‘if’, but ‘when’.

Note- this is not some sensationalist, fear-mongering assertion. Quite the opposite. I’m incredibly optimistic about the future (more on that in a moment). But calling a spade a spade is merely a statement of fact.

Bear in mind that financial crises, depressions, and recessions are all ‘normal’ parts of the business cycle… even when there’s not this level of risk in the system.

In the United States, in fact, the government calculates an average of 57 months between the end of one recession and the beginning of the next one.

So just looking at the government’s own historical averages, at a minimum, a recession is long overdue.

Given all the other major risks around the world (a Greek default, bond illiquidity, the Chinese stock market, etc.), something much more severe may be in store.

Today, an independent, freedom-minded person knows they can’t rely on the government to reduce the risks they face in the world.

Luckily, you don’t have to. Your government might not have a Plan B. But all the tools are out there to take care of yourself and your family.

Consider this: most of the Western financial system is extraordinarily overleveraged right now.

Banks are highly illiquid. Governments are insolvent. Debt has exploded. And yet bond liquidity is drying up at an astonishing rate.

If you are 100% invested in this system, your money is exposed to significant risk.

Greece, Iceland, Cyprus, etc. are modern testaments to how easily governments impose capital controls when the metaphor hits the fan.

Why leave yourself so vulnerable, when instead you can easily shift some of your savings to a stronger, healthier banking jurisdiction abroad?

Or you could jump ship on the corrupt paper financial system entirely by owning real assets held abroad (or digitally)– precious metals, private businesses, real estate, and even cryptocurrency.

Another smart option is to establish a second residency abroad.

This gives you the legal right to reside elsewhere, ensuring that you always have a place to go in case you ever decide leave in hurry.

With the Nazis at the gate in 1940, I imagine a lot of people in Paris probably wished they had planned better.

And in general, a major crisis can turn people’s lives upside down if they’re unprepared.

But I’m optimistic.

We’re in the beginning of a major system reset thanks to a massive technological revolution.

Just as the Agricultural Revolution and the Industrial Revolution fundamentally changed human civilization forever, so will the Digital Revolution.

It will change everything– from the financial system to the power of government to the way that societies are organized.

And this is seriously exciting. There will likely be a number of upcoming crises as the old system fades away and a new system takes its place.

But for those who are prepared and in a position of strength with a solid Plan B, this is truly a time of tremendous opportunity.

 

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Mon, 06/22/2015 - 20:13 | 6223859 Paveway IV
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System reset? Sounds profitable for tribesters.

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 20:17 | 6223874 Normalcy Bias
Normalcy Bias's picture

Awww, c'mon. Take the 1 for 5 reverse split. We're here to help!

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 20:23 | 6223896 kliguy38
kliguy38's picture

you meant "Plunder and neglect"......fixed it for ya

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 20:28 | 6223916 Normalcy Bias
Normalcy Bias's picture

That, and 5 for 1... LOL

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 20:34 | 6223935 knukles
knukles's picture

Just a cultural FYI for y'all
WInnie is not making the voctory sign.  That's done palm outward.
What he's doing was the old fashioned F-U sing form long ago.    Wankers.

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 20:38 | 6223950 Newsboy
Newsboy's picture

The Eurasian Union, now in beta testing, will be ready to accept the pieces of the EU soon.

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 21:03 | 6224014 Uchtdorf
Uchtdorf's picture

Isn't that the place we've always supposed to have been at war with?

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 21:16 | 6224056 Sages wife
Sages wife's picture

.

Tue, 06/23/2015 - 08:22 | 6224947 Stuck on Zero
Stuck on Zero's picture

Blunder and neglect?  No. Organized thievery. Yes.

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 21:30 | 6224109 nevadan
nevadan's picture

Funny story for you knukles.  A friend of mine was an aspiring ship captain and was taking some training from the Coast Guard.  It was a class attended by quite a few  from other countries.  As it happens there were a couple of French and British sailors in the mix as well.  The two Frenchies were being obnoxious toward my friend because they didn't think he was really that salty of a sailor, making snide remarks about his participation in the class.  But he is also a student of history and knew that the gesture you refer to dates back to the days when the English longbow was the state of the art offensive military weapon, feared by the French so much that any Englishmen who were captured had their index and middle fingers amputated to render them incapable of drawing a bow. This made the gesture with two fingers, palm facing inward, as the FU to a Frenchman.  Basically it was saying "don't fuck with me because I can kill you from afar Frenchie".  After trying to ignore the two guys and their insults he simply turned to them and gave them the two finger salute.  They were completely taken aback by the unexpected rebuke and didn't have a response for him, but the two British guys went into convulsive laughter.  Of course nobody else in the room had a clue what had just transpired but the Brits and French were very much aware.

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 22:01 | 6224193 MonetaryApostate
MonetaryApostate's picture

Cool story bro. :D

Tue, 06/23/2015 - 09:00 | 6225071 mtl4
mtl4's picture

Never heard that one, ditto on the good story.

 

I think I would have just turned to them and said "pluck yew"

Tue, 06/23/2015 - 14:25 | 6226305 Analyse2
Analyse2's picture

@nevadan

Right.

The English longbow, also called the Welsh longbow, was a powerful type of medieval longbow (a tall bow for archery) about 6 ft (1.8 m) long used by the English and Welsh for hunting and as a weapon in medieval warfare.

English use of longbows was effective against the French during the Hundred Years' War, particularly at the start of the war in the battles of Sluys (1340), Crécy (1346), and Poitiers (1356), and perhaps most famously at the Battle of Agincourt (1415).

They were less successful after this, with longbowmen having their lines broken at the Battle of Verneuil (1424), and being completely routed at the Battle of Patay (1429) when they were charged before they had set up their defensive position.

The Hundred Years' War lasted in fact 116 years (1337-1453) and it ended by the French triumph.

In 1453, 22 years after Jeanne d’Arc death, the last major battle of the Hundred Years War, the battle of Castillon cost the English around 4,000 killed, wounded, and captured as well as one of their most notable field commanders. For the French, losses were only around 100. Advancing to Bordeaux, Charles VII captured the city on October 19 after a three-month siege.

The end of the Hundred Years' War saw all English territory on the Continent reduced to the Pale of Calais, while France moved toward being a united and centralized state. 

http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/battleswars12011400/tp/The-Hundred-Years-War-An-Overview.htm

http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/battleswars14011600/p/castillon.htm

 

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 20:25 | 6223906 pods
pods's picture

Plan B: Alpacas

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 20:54 | 6223987 disabledvet
disabledvet's picture

Plunder and Neglect is more like it.

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 22:30 | 6224259 fromthinair
fromthinair's picture

There are no limits to plan B. There are plenty of ways it can be done. Sorry, the arguments in the article are too weak.

Yes, it is quite another matter if they have the ablility to pull off such Plan Bs. Yes, governments are that inefficient.

http://just-a-thought-from-thinair.blogspot.com/

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 22:29 | 6224260 fromthinair
fromthinair's picture

There are no limits to plan B. There are plenty of ways it can be done. Sorry, the arguments in the article are too weak.

 

http://just-a-thought-from-thinair.blogspot.com/

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 20:13 | 6223861 crisrose
crisrose's picture

It has nothing to do with blunder and neglect.  Collapse is BUILT IN.  Once interest is added to debt there is no way to pay it off.  

What you see are attempts to manage the collapse. I'm amazed they've been able to hold it together this long.

 

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 20:34 | 6223925 CPL
CPL's picture

They haven't.  Inflation is the rule of thumb rather than the exception.  Only took from Bush until today to make all the packages shrink in size, prices to go up 800-1400% and make a $20 worth around three bucks in terms of buying power.  Remember all the bank rubber stamping happened on his shift.  The inheritance of the government by that single decision carries over.

What's actually happening is 'they' are wondering why nothing has happened yet.  Almost like they are watching an instant replay while they are complelled to shut up and watch it happen completely powerless to the obvious conclusion on the near horizon. 

Their memories remember something familiar about it the situation.  A certain amount of deja vu but they just can't put their finger on it, like a song stuck in their mind, they hear the music but the words escape them as it loops endlessly driving them to action.  Yet, they are unsure if the action is mere repetition, because they still can't shake the overwhelming deja vu with each decision they make as they stupidly plod towards groundhog day.

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 20:14 | 6223865 BullyBearish
BullyBearish's picture

The IRS is the "Banker's" US collection agency, legally stealing the country's wealth for foreigners...

 

http://rense.com/general44/exec.htm

 

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 20:16 | 6223870 NoPension
NoPension's picture

I having a hard enough time with plan A.

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 20:22 | 6223893 Bighorn_100b
Bighorn_100b's picture

Yet another sales pitch. Blah, blah blah.

Maybe ZH is just a profit machine like every other website. Same if not more ads even with blocks added.

Maybe ZH geared to preppers, stackers, and haters.

Maybe if ZH had something positive to post. Nah, that won't happen, not in the sales plan or advertisers best interests.

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 20:55 | 6223988 Usurious
Usurious's picture

 

 

if you like your PLANTATION SCRIPT, you can keep YOUR PLANTATION  SCRIPT..........

 

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 21:13 | 6224049 Arnold
Arnold's picture

Some how , he is able to log on and comment with out any skills.

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 21:30 | 6224114 Bighorn_100b
Bighorn_100b's picture

Arnold, did you write this lame article?

Your so touchy today. ZH does not need your help defending itself. The article sucks, that's why I said what I said.

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 20:35 | 6223937 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

egad that was awful

Tue, 06/23/2015 - 09:18 | 6225145 Eeyores Enigma
Eeyores Enigma's picture

I totally agree...technocopian BULL $#IT!

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 20:35 | 6223941 NavMan
NavMan's picture

The cycle will continue. We are 'set'.

www.navigatingmanifestations.com ~ dream rather

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 20:43 | 6223961 Salsipuedes
Salsipuedes's picture

"Reservas?... RESERVAS? We no need no steenkeen reservas!"

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 20:58 | 6223995 DOGGONE
DOGGONE's picture

W.C. Fields -- his dictates followed:
Never give a sucker an even break.
Don't smarten up a chump.

"Stop whoring for Wall Street"
http://www.showrealhist.com/yTRIAL.html
http://patrick.net/?p=1223928

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 20:58 | 6223997 essence
essence's picture

"Blunder & Neglect" ?

What's up Simon. Business is down so you need to scare up more voting with feet and service fees.
Can't really mention the words globalist & conspiracy because that tends to scare off prospective clients?
Instead it's just "Blunder & Neglect. Sure, that's it. Right (wink).

Was it "Blunder & Neglect" of Winston Churchill as undersecretary of War to oversee loading munitions aboard the liner Lusitania and then pretend that the Germans sinking it was an outrageous act against an innocent civilian ship.

Appears more like a conspiracy to me. One that has been verified by subsequent investigations.

 

"Blunder & Neglect"   HaHaHa    sometimes Simon you are so transparent.
Do you really think your time shares in Chile or Singapore bank/gold accounts will be a haven if the globalists win?

 

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 21:11 | 6224030 JR
JR's picture

And Churchill bluntly asked the commanders in his notoriously pitiful French...

“Where are your reserve forces?” He later wrote in his memoirs that their response was one of the most shocking moments of his life. “Aucune,” replied the commander. “We have none.”

And it’s Churchill making up stuff again. I’m sure the French never told him that.

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 21:21 | 6224082 Shad_ow
Shad_ow's picture

Wouldn't "plunder and theft" be more accurate?

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 21:00 | 6223998 Uchtdorf
Uchtdorf's picture

The current financial disaster cannot be the result of blunder or honest mistakes. If the elites in charge were simply beneficent yet incompetent, they would, over time, and on average, make mistakes which would be good for us 50% of the time. That everything they do hurts the 99% proves their malevolent natures.

Make no mistake: our overlords aren't making mistakes. Their actions are the result of secret combinations, as old and as evil as the father of lies.

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 21:17 | 6224063 Arnold
Arnold's picture

chump yourself, Lack of control of consequences is fundamental to chaos.

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 21:34 | 6224126 Niall Of The Ni...
Niall Of The Nine Hostages's picture

Run? But where? There's nowhere to escape to. Greeks can escape because the rot hasn't set in too obviously elsewhere. 

We're all riding the tiger. Don't count on getting off alive.

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 21:40 | 6224137 q99x2
q99x2's picture

When can we go bankster huntin? That's all I want to know.

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 21:43 | 6224146 adr
adr's picture

After 1929 the wealth of the common man was obliterated, stocks plummeted, and unemployment shot up to around 30%. What could have been a short recession if debts were cleared became a depression as the government sought to backstop banks and re-inflate the stock market.

From 1930-1933 the stock market actually recovered much of its losses and regained a level just short of the mania phase of 1929. The bankster wealth was recovered. Because none of that renewed wealth went to the average person, we had a depression that took a world war to climb out.

Reality hit and the stock market tumbled. Again the stock market was rescued. From 1933-1940 the market climbed and fell. Not really matching the economic reality on the ground. On Wall Street fortunes were made during the depression. One could even argue that certain players amassed fortunes that would not have been possible had the crash of '29 not happened.

This really all sounds very familiar. Of course today we have closer to 45% unemployment and even if you have cash in the bank, you get nothing for it. The players gifted us with a depression even greater than the 1930s and gave us a stock market that puts the bullshit runs of the 1930s to shame. Once again greater fortunes than would ever have been possible are being amassed and the spectre of global war is being bantered about. Amazingly the people that were alive who orchestrated the last global war are orchestrating this one. They were young when WWII broke out. This time they leave war as a parting gift before they die. Completing the circle I guess.

 

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 23:18 | 6224370 squid
squid's picture

But one has to wonder about the stupidity of the common man, in particular those who think they're free, Americans.

The most productive slaves are always the ones who think they're free.

 

In 1933 FDR ROYALLY buggarded every American and is still revered as one of America's greatest presidents.

Lets review 1933:

1. Banking system insolvent due to the 1920's explosion of un-backed credit,

2. FDR is/was owned by the banks so had to save them,

3. Since gold was money, to do 2 you have to devalue the currency relative to gold,

4. Nationalize all the nations' gold (unconstitutional but never mind),

5. The day after, increase the price of gold by 75% thus devaluing the dollars held by the public and we have the first Federal Reserve QE but executed by the treasury.

 

Just think about number 5. FDR screwed every American out of 75% of their savings and they still call him one of the Great Presidents? FDR got away with it.

 

History WILL repeat. The only thing the treasury is doing is thinking about how to package this. There is 9 trillion in bank deposits in the USA, 75% of that is almost 7 trillion.

 

Its coming. They have done it before in the US, they'll do it again.

 

Squid

Tue, 06/23/2015 - 10:59 | 6225027 Oscar Mayer
Oscar Mayer's picture

The number currently being used is $11-trillion in deposit accounts.

The actual number is $0.00.

There is nothing in deposit accounts, they are all just ledger book entries denoting how much money the banks owe to their depositors.

It just amazes me how totally ignorant some people are when it comes to their 'money' and banking.

I suppose everyone will learn the hard way what 'fractional reserve banking' really means, even more so than those taught that lesson in the 1930's.

There is a difference between Money and Credit.

Don't forget to click "Home" at the end for more.

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 22:37 | 6224279 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

Government, being nothing but a criminal syndicate of theft and violence, always accomplishes the opposite of the stated goal, as the stated goal is actually cover for additional theft.

So if the government says it is building an army and fortifications for the defense of the land...

If the government says that it is building a "Homeland Security" apparatus for the security of the land...

Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission.

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 23:33 | 6224399 GRDguy
GRDguy's picture

"Blunder & Neglect??"  Plain-spoken b.s.!!!   According to the 1889 book "The Great Red Dragon: Foreign Money Power in the United States", this attempt to "own the earth in fee-simple" has been going on since the 1600s.  Barclays was founded in 1690, and they're still here; alive and well in Zimbabwe, Cyprus, Greece, all over the world.  That's why the U.S. flag resembles the British East India Company's flag, with only the upper-left changed. They never lost control.

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 23:48 | 6224432 windcatcher
windcatcher's picture

Simon wrote quote: “Seven years ago a global financial crisis was spawned from too much debt, artificially low interest rates, and a complete misperception of obvious risks (like loaning money to dead people…)”

No Simon: The financial crisis was caused by criminal bankster mortgage fraud, coercion, bribery, theft and felonious debt. They were not prosecuted as criminals but hailed as heroes and the sucker bailout began.

Simon says in conclusion: “And this is seriously exciting. There will likely be a number of upcoming crises as the old system fades away and a new system takes its place. But for those who are prepared and in a position of strength with a solid Plan B, this is truly a time of tremendous opportunity.”

No Simon: opportunity was lost with our democracy and Free Enterprise System of capitalism economy that was free from corporate monopoly. Today the criminal bankster Washington Empire of Debt, Fraud and Chaos is morphing into the full fascist New World Order Empire of Debt, Fraud and Chaos.

You know the banksters will pay top dollar for a propagandist with good cover to pump out such bilge that you pump out but when I read your bullshit, I can actually smell it! Ha. Ha. Ha.

Tue, 06/23/2015 - 04:49 | 6224718 Money Boo Boo
Money Boo Boo's picture

Simon has been drinking his alpaca ball sweat martini's again!

Mon, 06/22/2015 - 23:58 | 6224458 Thorny Xi
Thorny Xi's picture

They can print. They will. It's what they do.

Tue, 06/23/2015 - 06:47 | 6224795 matagorda
matagorda's picture

Thanks for writing a readable summary of the current disastrous state of affairs.  The multi-page tomes that do the same are unreadable and irrelevant.  However, those that warn individuals to isolate themselves from the system prepper-style appear to miss the point that governments become more poowerful in systemic collapse.  They don't go away.  Lincoln, Wilson, FDR all dramatically increased their power in wartime.  So a few helpful hints on how to cope successfully in wartime would be helpful.  Perhaps Catch 22 will be the new survival manual.

Tue, 06/23/2015 - 08:56 | 6225065 TrumpXVI
TrumpXVI's picture

"Why leave yourself so vulnerable, when instead you can easily shift some of your savings to a stronger, healthier banking jurisdiction abroad?"

 

Sounds good!

I'm IN!

So,........we're gonna open a bank account on Mars?

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