It should be clear to everyone by now that geopolitically, the world is re-aligning with new alliances forming such as BRICS. The war between Russia and Ukraine has caused the western world to impose devastating sanctions on Russia, except it's not Russia that is suffering. After E.U. sanctions on Russia literally cut off their natural gas supplies, we can expect a winter of suffering across the Eurozone. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!
Maersk, the world's biggest container shipping company and a bellwether for the health of global trade warned investors last week of 'dark clouds on the horizon' for the global economy as container demand slows.
We're all feeling the pinch of inflation. First, it started as shrinkflation. Packages got smaller but the price stayed the same... a.k.a. stealth inflation. That worked for about 4 or 5 years but now, things can't be shrunk any further. The result is higher prices. The higher those prices go, demand begins to wane as affordability becomes a problem. That's when demand destruction comes into play.
The big shipping companies of the world can sense this coming several months ahead of time. FedEx as reported by Reuters on September 15, 2022, also warned of a worsening economy, withdrew its forecast from 3 months earlier and that global demand slowdown accelerated at the end of August and is on pace to worsen in the November quarter.
Today is November 11. Never forget!
FedEx warned us almost 2 months ago while Maersk did so just last week and we should heed their warnings that basically, a recession is just around the corner or has already begun. This week, we are witnessing the total crash of the second biggest cryptocurrency exchange, FTX.com and as Fortune Magazine reports, it could rival the Lehman Bros. collapse. We know what followed after that event, the Great Financial Crisis. Had the FED and other central banks not stepped in, we were, apparently 24 hours away from total collapse.
Something similar happened just a month ago in England when a liquidity crisis struck. The Pound slid to a 36 year low against the US dollar and pension funds came within hours of collapse, had the Bank of England not intervened.
These are all hints I'm picking up and it's clear to me that another financial / economic / war crisis is upon us. What will transpire will be a deep, worldwide recession or possibly a severe depression. A book titled, 'The Fourth Turning' by Neil Howe and William Strauss explains in detail how cycles of history repeat in 80 year cycles, or an approximate human lifetime and divided into four 20 year periods called turnings. According to their book, we are in the final fourth turning of the present 80 year cycle that began around the end of WWII and the final stage is always the worst period. After this stage passes, an era of rebuilding and prosperity begins, such as we saw in the 1950s / 60s.
Howe and Strauss suggest in their book that the final fourth turning began around the year 2005 and will last approximately 20 years, ending around the year 2035. What happened in the first decade of the new century / millennia? The attack on the World Trade Center, wars in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. All the while, China came alive to become the second biggest economy in the world. Of course, the decade ended with the Great Financial Crisis. What followed in the next decade? NIRP and ZIRP and worldwide debt the likes we've never seen before. What followed in 2020? Lockdowns, mandates, the introduction of experimental gene therapy passed off as vaccines and of course, the destruction of our economies.
The era of wants is over. All the things we used to get on the cheap are now growing more expensive every day, forcing us to consider the things we need the most over things we really don't need. Food and lodgings come first. Useless toys, expensive trips, a second vehicle, a night out on the town, a Netflix subscription, are not as important and some tough decisions will have to be made. Some of the first companies to go out of business during the Great Depression were toy companies.
The era of needs has begun. Going forward, it's time to focus on the things we really need. The world is changing fast and we have to change our habits along with it. For many, it will be hard to quit old habits and start anew. This has happened before, think WWII. Everyone in the world was forced to undergo a change and to never look back as things would never be the same again. We are going through that process right now.
Think of the things you need over the things you want and you may very well get through this episode in our present history. Decades from now, historians will discover that those who 'saw it coming' prospered the most. I hope and pray that you and your family are among them.
Update: This popped up on Zero Hedge less than 5 minutes after I published this post... C.H. Robinson announces largest layoff in the history of freight brokerage.
I earn free Satoshis using CryptoTab Browser. I also use the BAT browser to earn free BAT tokens on my cell phone. Zero investments were made to earn these tokens and the risk is minimal at best. Silver though, is my ultimate back up plan as the S&%t hits the fan. Consider investing in silver and / or gold. Click here for more info and purchase any precious metal at OwnX.
Subscribe to my blog and hit the 'like' button if you enjoyed this post. Tips are always appreciated.
Check out some of my previous posts.
Binance backs out on FTX bailout.
Central banks considering revaluing gold.
The looming diesel fuel shortage.
Another week. Another flurry of rate hikes.
Earning crypto without spending a single penny!
A fan of history? Check out my other blog, 'A Brief History Of'.
A brief history of the feud between Captain Kirk and Mr. Sulu.
A brief history of the Studebaker Corporation.
Imperial Russia's Missing 200+ million gold rubles.
That time Nicola Tesla tore up a contract worth $$$ billions.
