Originally Posted at Single Dude Travel and Free Market Shooter
On Friday January 20th, Donald Trump will take office as President of the United States, replacing Barack Obama. Eight years prior, when Obama took office, the Dow Jones was at 7,929, the S&P 500 was at 805.22, and the Feb 2009 unemployment rate was 8.3%. During Obama’s tenure, the stock market has risen considerably while the unemployment rate has gone down substantially. As of Friday January 6th of 2017, the Dow was up 251%, at 19,980, the S&P 500 was up 283% at 2279.22, and as of the most recent report, the unemployment rate is now down almost half, to 4.7%. If those are the only indicators you were to look at, you would think that Obama’s presidency has been a remarkable recovery from market meltdown that occurred in 2008.
If things are going so great and the Democratic party has done such a remarkable job, how is it that Donald Trump was able to convince so many people (including myself) that he was the best option for this country?
The informed reader already knows why – its because things aren’t going nearly as well as the market and liberal outlets want you to think they are. It doesn’t take much digging beneath the surface to know that this “recovery” has been anything but a recovery, and things are still not going well in America. Just take a look at Zerohedge’s infamous 9 charts (also see Shadow Stats, which it turns out were even confirmed to be accurate by Harvard, one of the biggest Obama defenders out there:
Trump’s victory could end up being a blessing in disguise for his opponents. Take a look at what I wrote was one of my top worries about a Trump Presidency, when I discussed my reasons for voting Trump:
Most importantly, I’m concerned that if Trump wins, those who voted him into office will be blamed for the coming financial crash, which I see as very likely during either a Trump or Hillary Presidency, and this will spell the end of free speech and usher in a new age of censorship and political control by the elites.
Many others besides myself agree, including Darius of TheAntiMedia and Brandon Smith of Alt-Market; this has been the worst economic recovery in U.S. history, and to call it a “recovery” at all is almost farcical in nature. The bill of ZIRP/NIRP, seriously inflated equity prices, astronomical public debt and liabilities, and who knows what else has to come due sometime, and with Fed Chair Yellen no longer “Yellen’ Wolf” and actually raising rates, the straw that breaks the camel’s back is coming, sooner rather than later.
Whether it was Clinton or Trump, whomever won the Presidency was going to be saddled with $20 trillion of debt (not counting the off-the-books liabilities like Social Security, Medicare and pensions), and a stagnant economy that consists largely of welfare recipients, a defunct healthcare system, and several states and municipalities on the brink of insolvency.
Not exactly a recipe for success.
Some like Brandon Smith think that Trump “was the candidate the elites wanted all along,” but I find it difficult to believe that the powers-that-be really preferred someone like Trump to Hillary Clinton. If there is one thing we can all agree on, Trump has demonstrated that he is far less susceptible to control, preferring to do things his way, and Hillary Clinton has a track record of warmongering and corruption miles long, beginning even before her infamous cattle futures trading scandal in the 1970s. While there is an argument that the powers-that-be would prefer Trump to wear the coming economic disaster, I find the argument that Trump was the one that they wanted to be quite foolish.
At this point, that’s all irrelevant. Trump will soon be President, and as for our “recovery” and the all-time highs in the equity markets, what goes up must come down. And when it goes down, and reality sets in, the blame game will be on. I don’t know what will cause it – geopolitical conflict, a terrorist attack, or some sort of financial calamity/default that spurs a race to the bottom, but when the whole thing goes, not only will the Trump administration bear the blame in the aftermath, but his voters, the “white, racist, misogynist, introverted redneck who clings to guns and religion” will be blamed as well for getting Trump elected in the first place.
Collectivists will ultimately use this to push a new era of government omnipotence and control. It doesn’t matter what Trump does or doesn’t accomplish, they will be running against him, and using government failures as an excuse to pile on even more government control and intervention into everything from market regulations to invasions of privacy. You should not give up your principles, and fight vociferously in the face of such opposition. However, you need to prepare for the fact that nothing you do will be able to stop a coordinated global push towards more government control.
For starters, there is no better time than the present to exercise your right to bear arms. Since Trump won, the call for more firearms regulation is going to fall on deaf ears. Don’t wait until gun control takes center stage again to make your purchases, when everyone will rush to stores and drive up prices of guns and ammunition, if they are even available at all.
Also, protect yourself from the impending market catastrophe. I’m not giving out market or investment advice here, but all-time highs in the stock market is hardly a bad time to sell out any assets you own, or purchase some sort of downside protection. As an aside, I’m not big on the gold and/or cryptocurrency bandwagon as a “hedge” against reckless government spending. 2008 is a perfect example; gold sold off just like every other asset. Also, a “safe haven” asset doesn’t lose 13 percent of its value in two trading days, as gold did in 2013.
Precious metals are more long-term stores of value, and cryptocurrencies are still highly speculative investment vehicles. If you are going to diversify your assets into precious metals, cryptocurrencies or other currencies besides USD, it is not an awful idea. However, there are other precious metals besides Gold that offer much better long-term value at current prices, notably Silver and Platinum. Just because Gold is a super liquid, widely available metal does not mean it is the only one that can be used as a “store of value” to safeguard from currency debasement.
If things get bad enough, you can always follow the SDT mantra and move out of the USA. I’m not certain of the best place to go – that is something that should be left to your personal preferences as well as guidance sites like this one. But it is something you should certainly consider. If it is possible, get a second passport – you never know when you’ll need it.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and it doesn’t take more than an ounce of common sense to realize that this “recovery” really just set the next President up for failure. When the chickens come home to roost, make sure you stand fast and don’t allow yourself to be blamed for the problems the U.S. government has accrued long before Trump ever took office. And, prepare yourself for the fact that whether the “recovery” was false or not, and no matter what Trump does, sooner or later, the music always stops. Don’t be the only one left without a chair when it does.
Obama is a basket of lies / deceptions / unstated truths / withholding critical info / ‘adjusted data’. He’s leaving Trump a big shit sandwich.
Since most of the world’s debt is denominated in US dollars it follows that when that debt becomes difficult to sustain, paradoxically it should manifest as a shortage of US dollars (making dollars more valuable in the marketplace.) How this plays out vs other currencies is even more of a guess.
Moving out of the USA sounds great IF YOU ARE A CITIZEN OF SOMEWHERE ELSE. Go! Good Riddance!
For the rest of us, leaving would be volunteering to be the OUTSIDER, at a time when outsiders are hardly welcome. I think those “escaping” to a Caribbean island, South America or somewhere else are HIGHLY LIKELY to be going from the frying pan into the crater of the volcano. Thanks, but no thanks.
I’ll stick with the devil I know, and where if I see them coming I have the tools to make them wish they went elsewhere.
PS: Trump will be blamed. This is the way it always works. The good news/bad news is that just because he fails doesn’t mean the Left gets another bite at the apple. In coming years the urge to rip leftists into meat chunks will become irresistible.
The Left destroyed objective rule by dismantling respect for their (delusion-embracing) authority. They’ve sown the wind. The rejection of rules is fertile ground for horrors that make Sherman’s March look benign.
I wonder if Obozo will go back to teaching Constitutional law…yah’ know the stuff that was was never released to the public like writings,grades,college transcripts etc.
Poor Ol’ Trump…he’s going to take an Ass Whopp’in soon on the economy . I wonder if the Left will allow him to use the excuse ” It’s Obozo’s fault ” as often as Obozo used it was Bush’s fault ?
Things may not be happening the way some people are thinking they will.
Dealing with the same events in different ways produces different results, so it depends on how inevitable events are dealt with more than just that they happen.
Yes, difficult to predict when the shooting starts, now.
The only reason why the Diebolds (or whatever they’re called now) weren’t utilized more than they were (which was substantial, trying to get people to believe Illary got anywhere near the votes they say) is because if the Hag won, the shooting would have begun immediately.
Those pulling the Selections strings knew it, because the real Silent Majority was very quiet, except for the sounds of magazines being loaded with the massive amount of firepower bought in the months and weeks ahead of said Selection.
Why does just about everyone keep referring to the 4.7 / 4.9 % uemployment rate when EVERYONE should know that that number is COMPLETE BULLSHIT !
I just heard a commentator on NPR state that TRUMP is inheriting a great economy. Really pissed me off so much I blasted NPR with a scathing email. I am at work and NPR is the only station this radio picks up – imagine tbat.
You should point out to them that if the economy was great, Hillary would be our new President.
Yes, as Disraeli said, there are “lies, damned lies and statistics.” Obama has made that real…95 million out of the work force is somehow 5% unemployment. 4% inflation is 1.9% inflation, etc.
Good maybe Trump will declare martial law . Make himself King for a while.
The fake news is already out talking how great an economy Trump has inherited. They waste no time setting him up and so many people are so ignorant to the reality of our economy they will buy into it.
I would hazard to say that almost everyone that supports Trump knows that the so called great economy is a lie.
So now we will see what happens when a Fourth Turning occurs during a Third Wave. Perhaps it will be social, economic and political upheaval TBPers can feel good about!
A good portion of America will thrive on a serious program of America-first — just not the same ones who thrived on the globalization above all agenda.
Blame for that? Who cares?!