Over the years I’ve heard the cries of “Economic Collapse Ahead!” more times then I care to remember. I’m sure you have as well. Ever since the crash of 2007-2008, it seems like nearly every internet voice has claimed at one time or another, that we are headed for an apocalyptic market correction (and just around the corner too!). This of course, is not without merit.

You’d be a fool to think that we’re on a sustainable course. It has come down to a matter of simple arithmetic. From federal and municipal debt, to stock market and housing speculation; from personal credit to student loan debt, we’re in heaps of trouble. We can project how much society as a whole will earn in the future, deduct how much we owe, and how much we will owe, and see that none of this will ever be paid for. At this point there is a 100% probability that the system will crash. The only question left to ask is, when?

And therein lies the problem. Those of us who have been calling it like it is, and speaking of this in terms of inevitability, must look like “chicken little’s” by now. Most people view the world through a very short term window. It’s been six years since the crash of 2008, and the average person will have tuned out the warnings by now. They don’t understand this one fundamental rule when it comes to predicting economics and geopolitical events-it is shockingly easy to predict the fall of any given system. It’s near impossible to predict when it will fall.

In addition, there is another outcome that many of us have failed to recognize. What if the system doesn’t fail so decisively? What if there isn’t a dramatic collapse like we saw during the Great Depression? While there have been many economic bubbles throughout history, and we are no doubt in a pretty serious bubble as we speak, the nature of this debt cycle is fundamentally different than in past decades.

Recently, strategists for Deutsche Bank released a startling study in regards to government debt. They decided to investigate whether or not the bond market is currently in a bubble. What they found was, unlike previous eras, the past 20 years has seen no lag between economic booms and busts:

It has long been our view that over the last couple of decades the global economy has rolled from bubble to bubble with excesses never fully being allowed to unravel. Instead aggressive policy responses have encouraged them to roll into new bubbles.

This has arguably kept the modern financial system as we know it a going concern. Clearly there have always been bubbles formed through history but has there been a period like the last 20 years where the bursting of one bubble has consistently led directly to the formation of the next?

Essentially, our current system has been dying a very slow death. It’s running out of steam. Not only has there been no recovery since the crash of 2008, there has been no recovery for over 20 years. Each economic bubble has been fueled from the remains of the previous speculative mania. Our whole economy has been running like a drunken frat boy, desperate to keep drinking to put off the inevitable hangover. However, the hangover is frighteningly near:

What we found was that bonds are where the bubble has migrated to. This is not to say that the bond market bubble is about to burst — far from it — but that it is a necessary condition for maintaining the debt ladened financial system that has been the by-product of major crisis management over the last two decades. The worry is that there is nowhere left for this bubble to go given that it is now in the hands of the lenders of last resort (governments and central banks with regulators ensuring other large captive buyers).

Although we think this bubble needs to be maintained to ensure the solvency of the current financial system, the best case scenario is that it slowly pops over time via negative real returns for bondholders. The worst case scenario being future restructuring.

This is why for all these years, we’ve heard the cries of “economic collapse ahead” but have never seen it come to fruition. They’ve always figured out a way to shift the bubble to different markets before it all came crashing down. Who knows? Maybe they’ll pull it off again, but I’m not holding my breath. The bubble has finally landed on the lender of last resort. The debt has no nowhere else to go.

They’re out of bullets. The frat boy has had his last drink and the county is dry. I know without a shadow of a doubt that our economy, and by extension our whole society is ready to collapse. And it will.

Just don’t ask me when.

50 Comments on "Our Bubble Economy Is On Its Last Gasp"

J-Gav on Sun, 14th Sep 2014 5:17 pm 



I can relate to this.

Gotta admit, the sociopaths pulling the strings are pretty damn good at keeping bubbles inflated – and blowing new ones immediately when they’re gone …

Still, I sense that the “next time will be just like the last time” mentality could take a whack when this one pops.

It’s a question of context. Too many countries (and even some U.S. govt. officials) crying out to dump dollar hegemony before it’s too late to keep the next crash from sinking the world economy.

‘Easing out’ of a failed system, by modeling a new one, is not what technocratic kleptocrats generally do. ‘Take it to the brink’ seems to be their credo, so the hard way may be the only way in our present configuration. Don’t ask me “When?” either … though it’s pretty much certain to be a matter of a few years at most.

bobinget on Sun, 14th Sep 2014 6:01 pm 



If and when we begin to take a whack at climate change amelioration, that should bring back full employment. Wait too long, THAT will surly spell
the final curtain for western economies.

We are no where near bubble stage by most any measure. Look at oil and gas prices for starters.

steve on Sun, 14th Sep 2014 6:04 pm 



I gotta admit even though it will hurt me as well; I am kinda looking forward to seeing that oh shit! look on peoples faces when they realize that their trust funds are all gone…and they are at the same level as me or maybe lower because they can’t do a damn thing for themselves..

noobtube on Sun, 14th Sep 2014 6:15 pm 



As of Sunday, September 14, 2014

DOW – 16,987 (near all-time high spanning a century)
NASDAQ – 4,567 (nearing blow-off top of 2000 of 5000)
S&P 500 – 1,985 (near all-time high)

Yep, no bubbles here.

Plantagenet on Sun, 14th Sep 2014 6:20 pm 



In 2008 we had bubbles in stock prices, energy prices and real estate prices. Today we only have a bubble in stock prices.

Northwest Resident on Sun, 14th Sep 2014 6:33 pm 



It is truly amazing how TPTB have managed to keep BAU trudging along. Those who predicted inevitable near-term collapses over the years just had no idea how many tricks TPTB had up their sleeves, nor could they have imagined to what extent fraud, outright market manipulation, lies, propaganda and just pure bullshit would be deployed to keep BAU floating. On an intuitive level, I personally feel that we are coming to the end of this little game, but I could be wrong. One thing I do know and that is to keep it going, they’re going to have to find the energy to do so. Eventually, hard physical realities intrude on even the best of schemes, and the fact that shale oil — a center piece of the grand illusion — is on the verge of petering out presents a very daunting challenge for TPTB to overcome. But there are still at least a couple of “tricks” I can think of that TPTB might yet employ to keep the illusion going for a while longer. One is deeper levels of demand destruction — only works short term, yes, but that’s all this illusion has ever been anyway. And of course war — nothing like war to provide TPTB with the tools they need to manage and manipulate the population and their perceptions to ever greater degrees. But even the possibility of a “big war” has limiting realities in today’s world — where are they going to get the oil to fuel all those tanks, ships and jets? There isn’t enough oil being pumped fast enough to fuel a “big” war and keep BAU floating at the same time. So, as BAU fades into the sunset and enters the darkness of night, don’t be surprised to find that a lot of “little” wars start springing up around the globe, most of them centered around geographical areas where there is still some amount of reasonably “easy to get” oil remaining. And don’t be surprised to see more retail stores closing, more people without work, more high school graduates living at home with mom and dad or whoever. Eventually, the bubble will pop. I’ve been thinking 2015 would be the year all along, and I’m still thinking that, but who knows — maybe TPTB have a few more tricks up their sleeve that nobody knows about.

Plantagenet on Sun, 14th Sep 2014 6:40 pm 



NWR—I’m surprised at you—-are you actually open-minded enough to contemplate the idea that the the “little wars” that Obama is taking the US into in Iraq and Syria have something to do with oil rather than being a noble exercise in promoting democracy?

Northwest Resident on Sun, 14th Sep 2014 7:00 pm 



Hi Plant — I’m 100% positive that the Iraq war, the Afghanistan war, the “war on terror” and any other “war” that is being fought or will be fought by America in the foreseeable future is about oil — access to and control of it. But as for “Obama taking the US into Iraq and Syria”, I am sure that’s not the reality. From my point of view, Obama is just a figurehead, a temp employee who is following instructions and carrying out orders — or more likely, just signing the documents and otherwise staying out of the way. The orders are issued by much more powerful and entrenched elites who prefer to remain hidden from sight. Obama is just their puppet and their rubber stamp and the face they put on TV for the masses to see. I think you ascribe far too much power and control to Obama with all the many things you blame him for.

noobtube on Sun, 14th Sep 2014 7:10 pm 



Here are some more bubbles for you…

college tuition is at an all-time high
medical costs are at an all-time high
credit card debt is at an all-time high

Putting the young in life-long debt.

What could go wrong?

Plantagenet on Sun, 14th Sep 2014 7:44 pm 



HI NWR:

Your belief that obama is a “puppet” who is taking orders from a secret elite is what is a common “conspiracy theory.” In your version of this conspiracy theory, who are the secret elite who are giving Obama orders and secretly running the world? Do think it is the wealthy? The Iluminati? The Devil? Please elucidate your idea. Would you care to name some names, or are even the names of the secret elite hidden from knowledge of mere mortals like you?

Norm on Sun, 14th Sep 2014 8:16 pm 



Nothing has changed since last bubble 2006-2008. It all the same. Zero xollrs down, a janitor can buy a 6000 sq ft house, no job no credit check. I think the repubs cooked that up, not sure why. In 2008 I was Sta ding in the kitchen of a 6000 sq ft house, was sold to a bulldozer driver who did not know what it means to zip your fly after the toilet. He had been chain smoking in it, could not make the payment. Was part of the foreclosure wave
. Now its history doomed to repeat. People want BAU. Dont want to put down the Monsanto cheeseburger, step out of the Dodge Charger, and pick up a shovel and a rake. Not gonna happen, they would rather die. They will, but watch out they wanna take you with them.

Northwest Resident on Sun, 14th Sep 2014 8:27 pm 



Plant — Mere mortals like me depend on analytical analysis of facts, and the testimony of individuals who know much more than I do.

“I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.” —Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States (1801–1809) and principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence (1776), in a letter written to John Taylor on May 28, 1816

“A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many and various powerful interests, combined in one mass, and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in banks.” – John C. Calhoun, Vice President (1825-1832) and U.S. Senator, from a speech given on May 27, 1836

“Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day.”— Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, An Autobiography, 1913 (Appendix B)

“A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is privately concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men… [W]e have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated, governments in the civilized world—no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and the duress of small groups of dominant men.” – Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, The New Freedom, 1913

“Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men’s views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.” – Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, The New Freedom, 1913

“The real menace of our Republic is the invisible government, which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy legs over our cities, states and nation… The little coterie of powerful international bankers virtually run the United States government for their own selfish purposes. They practically control both parties, … and control the majority of the newspapers and magazines in this country. They use the columns of these papers to club into submission or drive out of office public officials who refuse to do the bidding of the powerful corrupt cliques which compose the invisible government. It operates under cover of a self-created screen [and] seizes our executive officers, legislative bodies, schools, courts, newspapers and every agency created for the public protection.” – New York City Mayor John F. Hylan, New York Times, March 26, 1922

“Mr. Chairman, we have in this country one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Banks. The Federal Reserve Board, a Government board, has cheated the Government of the United States and the people of the United States out of enough money to pay the national debt…Mr. Chairman, when the Federal Reserve act was passed, the people of the United States did not perceive that a world system was being set up here… and that this country was to supply financial power to an international superstate — a superstate controlled by international bankers and international industrialists acting together to enslave the world for their own pleasure.” – Congressman Louis T. McFadden, from a speech delivered to the House of Representatives on June 10, 1932

“The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson.” — Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States (1933–1945), in a letter to Colonel Edward M House dated November 21, 1933, as quoted in F.D.R.: His Personal Letters, 1928-1945.

“Today the path to total dictatorship in the U.S. can be laid by strictly legal means… We have a well-organized political-action group in this country, determined to destroy our Constitution and establish a one-party state… It operates secretly, silently, continuously to transform our Government… This ruthless power-seeking elite is a disease of our century… This group…is answerable neither to the President, the Congress, nor the courts. It is practically irremovable.” – Senator William Jenner, 1954 speech

“The individual is handicapped by coming face-to-face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists. The American mind simply has not come to a realization of the evil which has been introduced into our midst. It rejects even the assumption that human creatures could espouse a philosophy which must ultimately destroy all that is good and decent.” —J. Edgar Hoover, The Elks Magazine, 1956

“There exists a shadowy government with its own Air Force, its own Navy, its own fundraising mechanism, and the ability to pursue its own ideas of national interest, free from all checks and balances, and free from the law itself.” – Daniel K. Inouye, US Senator from Hawaii, testimony at the Iran Contra Hearings, 1986

Plantagenet on Sun, 14th Sep 2014 9:16 pm 



Hi NWR:

Thank you for your lengthy and well-thought out answer. I can see you are well-informed about this subject.

CHEERS!

Davy on Sun, 14th Sep 2014 9:22 pm 



It is my hope we have a global crisis and soon. A crisis is not a collapse. Our last great hope for the energy and resources to transition to a post BAU globalism is through a crisis that shakes the global system to its foundation forcing attitudes and lifestyle changes. We need to eliminate all those enjoyable activities that are not essential. We have to triage out energy intensive leisure, food, discretionary travel, consumerism, sporting events, and many other un-necessaries. This can only happen when society is pushed to the limit but the societal fabric holds so a full scale collapse is avoided. With this crisis we can begin to reshape society by force of circumstance into something less complex and less energy intensive. It is a guess if this can happen without full scale collapse with all the destructive forces associated with a social and economic free-fall. I picture a crisis with a duration and degree within tolerances of society to adjust. We have so much low hanging fruit to harvest in efficiencies from elimination of nonessentials and unessential discretionary activities. One could write a book on what I just described. My point is a crisis will free up resources and reorientation of attitudes. I feel it is the only chance to harvest the last of the low hanging fruit found in our energy intensive and wasteful lifestyles.

Plantagenet on Sun, 14th Sep 2014 9:24 pm 



There is no doubt that obama and other politicians are strongly under the influence of the wealthy and powerful. This reflects the nature of our political system, where politicians must pander to the wealthy to get campaign donations. However, I doubt there is a single big conspiracy directing the actions of the US government. The wealthy are not monolithic—-the Hollywood elite are hardly in bed with the oil companies, George Soros does not conspire with the Koch brothers, and Google and Lockheed Martin do not seek the same government policies. Instead, I see US government policy as a wonderful, bumptious, chaotic mess which alternately tilts one way or another based on changing circumstances and alliances. AND right things seem to have suddenly shifted and tilted in favor of the US going to war in Iraq and Syria.

steve on Sun, 14th Sep 2014 9:47 pm 



Davy have you read “Shock Doctrine” by Naomi Klein? The PTB use every crises to gain more power and influence. Look at all the liberties and rights people gave away that they would normally fight for…Who knows what they are going to do next but I am pretty sure they have a plan in place….I just hope it doesn’t mean getting rid of people like you and me…Also I think Gail has discussed what you have mentioned and why it can’t be a “controlled” or soft landing. Everything is so intrinsically connected unfortunately and we have made too complex of a system…I hope and pray you are right and I am wrong. The outcome I see would make mad max look mild….

PrestonSturges on Sun, 14th Sep 2014 10:08 pm 



So there’s no recovery AND we have a bubble? That makes no sense.

Makati1 on Sun, 14th Sep 2014 10:26 pm 



Plantegenet, the world has had a cabal running it for centuries. You doubt the ability of a few hundred people to be controlling the world but how many does it take to run the banking system? A few hundred at the most and maybe only few dozen in reality. The Rothschilds have been at this game for over 100 years. Then the Rockefellers and the Gettys and the other oil and steel barons of the early 1900s got on board. They financed both sides of every war since. Nothing new there.

War is profitable. Why else would the US continually stay in a war mode since WW2? The MIC is making too much money for the real masters of the the world. ‘O’ is a puppet, as will be Hillary or whomever they decide is going to live in the White House after 2016. You do NOT have a choice. As Trump once claimed: “You can elect whomever you want. We own them all.” I think they own most of the world leaders either by payoffs or by blackmail. It is naive to believe that a few very powerful people could not run the world.

Apneaman on Mon, 15th Sep 2014 12:29 am 



Power always wants more power, but no one (individual, group) always gets what they want. There are always many other competitors great and small. If there is some small multi-generational cabal, apparently they aren’t as competent as some make them out to be. 100 fuckiing years and they still ain’t got world dominance? Now they must contend with the Chinese and other up and comers. I know some loose groups of powerful people exist, but they exist in a world of many variables that is largely random and rudderless. That’s why it’s a full time job just to hang onto power. No rest for the wicked and all that.

Northwest Resident on Mon, 15th Sep 2014 12:54 am 



So Plant, when Woodrow Wilson made the statement below, would you claim that he didn’t know what he was talking about, or perhaps that he was just lying or joking around?

“The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men… [W]e have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world — no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and the duress of small groups of dominant men.”

I think you’re right to a certain extent. Obama gets to run the domestic show, as long as he doesn’t hurt any of the big players. But when it comes to foreign policy, global force and the global economy, I believe he is an empty suit just playing roles that are assigned to him. No doubt consensus plays a vital role in shaping the really big issues that the Obama admin pursues, but there are some people who have much greater input in forming that consensus than others. The masters of finance and owners of the world most certainly have their loyal servants in positions to shape policy and consensus. Through money and manipulation, and probably through threat both subtle and not so subtle, they exert great influence and for all practical purposes they run the show. Conspiracy theory? Hey, talk to Woodrow Wilson or other notables who believe the same that I do.

Makati1 on Mon, 15th Sep 2014 3:11 am 



Apneaman, they are good at camouflage. They stay out of the news and off of the lists of the wealthy and powerful. When did YOU hear about the Rothschild es and what do you really know about them? Are you so sure they are not in total control?

Why has the US been at war for the last 75 years? Mega-trillions in profits and mega-power to take over the rest of the world. Maybe you missed the One World Order frequently talked about? It takes time to manipulate 7 billion people, but they are almost there. Only Mother Nature can stop them now. I think she just might. We shall see.

If you are interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzyOtl4MDC4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WfqdcnjvlA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmgJE8hrL1Y

WelshFarmer on Mon, 15th Sep 2014 5:14 am 



I am agnostic as to whether there actually is a monolithic power structure that pulls strings from the shadows off-stage. Somehow, I doubt it.
In any case, if their aim has been the achievement of world hegemony, then they have failed because they are out of time.
It will be completely impossible to control and otherwise manage the expectations and aspirations of the undisciplined seven-odd billion souls we now have on this planet in the era of every more acute resource shortages.
Had world population been successfully held at a couple of billion or so, then a fascist techno-utopia Brave New World might have been achievable.
Bar a radical culling of population, this is now off the menu. The same applies to all the various transhumanist fantasies.
I think that religious factionalism and tribalism will be the dominant forces for the foreseeable future.

Davy on Mon, 15th Sep 2014 6:15 am 



Yea, Welsh, I believe there was a point when the world domination and control was possible but I find the idea especially hard to fathom with the polarizing multi-polar world we live in today in limits of growth and population overshoot. I still believe within these competing world powers there are very few who have real power.

Davy on Mon, 15th Sep 2014 6:22 am 



Preston, the bubble is in reality a wealth transfer to the 1%’ers. The recovery is a 1%’er recovery with all other classes experiencing purchasing power declines. I would also say there is no growth in aggregate by all traditional financial measures pre-new-normal.

Davy on Mon, 15th Sep 2014 8:33 am 



Steve, I have not read the “Shock Doctrine” by Naomi Klein? Steve, I believe your comment was true and still true but in decline. We are going through a profound paradigm shift. The type of shift that is opposite of the past growth paradigm. Power tends to concentrate and has been concentrating through this previous growth cycles. This power concentration has hit limits of growth and diminishing returns like everything else. Nowhere is this more apparent than the relative decline of the US and its many power centers and structures. This dispersement and decline of power centers will actually open up a whole new set of issues as political, military, and economic vacuums form. You can also expect a renewed effort of the elites to hold on to power at the expense of the lower classes through parasitic wealth transfer and triage of whole segments of the population by shutting them out of the modern economy. This is why the hope of a top down plan B and mitigation efforts are futile. A crisis of the kind that shakes all segments of the population to its core is needed while we still have all those low hanging fruits of attitude and lifestyle changes available. This type of crisis will destroy BAU and globalism quickly but initially if the crisis degree and duration is soft enough adjustments and mitigation can occur. We know this will only be the first step in further drops as entropic decay degrades resources and infrastructure both mental and physical. We have some time left not much but some. Time at this point is one of the most critical of resources. What I am describing is not a managed descent which in aggregate is not possible. What I am saying is a crisis soon with the last frontier of low hanging fruit of BAU waste and nonessentials can be eliminated to free up necessary resources for emergency services and emergency responses. Capitalism and representative democracy will be swept aside by necessity. Expect martial law and hybrid command and control economy. Unfortunately this sounds like dictatorships and fascism and that may well be the case in various locations. This will be a global event with no region unscathed. The great depression would be an example but even the great depression had sustainability and resilience with food production and huge untapped high quality resources. We will have none of this and to the contrary be in a population overshoot with multiple degraded ecosystems and degraded vital resources across the board. This will truly be an apocalyptic event not seen by humans since the last bottleneck. If we are lucky we may do better than worse. If that is the case a reboot of civilization following the fall may be acceptable to many of us. Yet, it will not be pretty and it will have little joy at least for the current generations.

JuanP on Mon, 15th Sep 2014 8:50 am 



Excellent thread with very insightful comments by Plant, NWR, Davy, Mak, and others.
NWR’s quotes are, IMO, interpreted by each of us according to our own prejudices and biases. I will add my own biased opinion to this great discussion.
As I have told NWR before, I don’t believe there is one single conspiracy in control of everything, but rather a number of groups made up of very rich and powerful individuals and families that are beyond the reach of the law.
US presidents, and most others, are allowed to operate freely within certain parameters not chosen by them. Some things are a no go, but the presidents are provided with a range of choices to save face. Some choices are simply not available to them or us. Almost every country in the world is playing this game, but not all.
I believe the reason we are attacking Russia is because Putin refuses to play along, he controls the other Russian oligarchs, and ignores global oligarchs and doesn’t play along.
As for the coming economic recession, I am hoping to get one more cycle at 80-90% functionality before further collapse later on, but I fear this could be the one that crashes the system.

Davy on Mon, 15th Sep 2014 9:10 am 



Putin upset the apple cart of the New World Order with his own version of the New World Order. I admire the guy. He is taking a gamble at a good time for Russia. It is still a gamble.

Northwest Resident on Mon, 15th Sep 2014 10:03 am 



JuanP — Your belief that there are “a number of groups made up of very rich and powerful individuals and families that are beyond the reach of the law” who play a major role in shaping US policy would tend to echo the exact sentiments of Woodrow Wilson when he said “a government by the opinion and the duress of small groups of dominant men”. And these would be those people who in my words “have much greater input in forming that consensus than others”. One thing we know for sure and that is the in order to get elected to the senate or congress, you need a LOT of money and financial backing. That’s where the big-money guys step in a make their deals. Then, once you have your bought-and-paid for senators and congressmen in place, you get them to nominate and appoint un-elected officials such as judges, heads of departments and a broad assortment of “public servants” all of whom answer to those that put them in place and who have the power to remove them from their places of privilege if they don’t toe the line — creating a chain that leads all the way back to the big money man — the guy who exerts enormous influence over political and policy decisions. That’s how “they” exert their influence and control — they buy everybody. And one more thing — the really big money guys might have a lot of differences of opinion, but they have a lot more in common with each other than they do with the losers in the world who all work for them — they stick together, they form consensus together, and they coordinate the efforts to control policy. Don’t take my word for it — look again at what people who know much more about the subject than I do are saying about it.

“The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson.” — Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Davy on Mon, 15th Sep 2014 10:11 am 



Agreed NR, I am just not sure if I can take the next step to believe the world TPTB are organized in such a way to have a common purpose and plan as you allude to sometimes. I do believe they have an informal plan for all of them to work together to hang on to their power and wealth where possible. The problem is the complexity of the system limits cooperation. There are too many cases of overlapping interests that do not fit together. I suspect this will get worse as we are seeing with Russia, Europe, China, and the US.

GregT on Mon, 15th Sep 2014 10:26 am 



“The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government of the U.S. since the days of Andrew Jackson.”
– U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a letter written Nov. 21, 1933 to Colonel E. Mandell House

“If congress has the right under the Constitution to issue paper money, it was given them to use themselves, not to be delegated to individuals or corporations.”
– Andrew Jackson

“The Government should create, issue, and circulate all the currency and credits needed to satisfy the spending power of the Government and the buying power of consumers. By the adoption of these principles, the taxpayers will be saved immense sums of interest. Money will cease to be master and become the servant of humanity.”
– Abraham Lincoln

We can’t be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans.”
– Bill Clinton, USA Today on 3/11/93, page 2a

“It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.”
– Henry Ford

“Today, America would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order. Tomorrow they will be grateful! This is especially true if they were told that there were an outside threat from beyond, whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will plead to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well-being granted to them by the World Government.”
– Henry Kissinger, Bilderberger Conference in Evians, France, 1991

“The drive of the Rockefellers and their allies is to create a one-world government combining super capitalism and Communism under the same tent, all under their control…. Do I mean conspiracy? Yes I do. I am convinced there is such a plot, international in scope, generations old in planning, and incredibly evil in intent.”
– Congressman Larry P. McDonald, 1976, killed in the Korean Airlines 747 that was shot down by the Soviets

“Some even believe we (the Rockefeller family) are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as ‘internationalists’ and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure – one world, if you will. If that’s the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.”
– David Rockefeller, Memoirs, page 405

“It is the system of nationalist individualism that has to go….We are living in the end of the sovereign states….In the great struggle to evoke a Westernized World Socialism, contemporary governments may vanish….Countless people…will hate the new world order….and will die protesting against it.” – H.G. Wells, in his book, “The New World Order”, 1940

“Bankers own the earth; take it away from them but leave them with the power to create credit; and, with a flick of a pen, they will create enough money to buy it back again… If you want to be slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let the bankers control money and control credit.”
– Sir Josiah Stamp, Director, Bank of England, 1940.

“We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nations will accept the New World Order.”
– David Rockefeller

“We are grateful to the Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years… It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries.”
– David Rockefeller, Bilderberg Meeting, June 1991 Baden, Germany

“The few who understand the system, will either be so interested from it’s profits or so dependent on it’s favors, that there will be no opposition from that class.” – Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild
“Give me control of a nation’s money and I care not who makes it’s laws.”
– Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild

“I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war.” –
Abraham Lincoln – In a letter written to William Elkin

“In the next century, nations as we know it will be obsolete; all states will recognize a single, global authority. National sovereignty wasn’t such a great idea after all.”
– Strobe Talbot, President Clinton’s Deputy Secretary of State, Time Magazine, July 20th, l992

Northwest Resident on Mon, 15th Sep 2014 10:46 am 



Davy — In normal times and throughout history, the super wealthy have vied and competed with one another for a greater share of the pie. They are like bands of thieves operating in the same geographical location, very unlikely to cooperate or agree on much of anything except for a broad range of basic ground rules — the thief’s code of honor. But when outside pressure threatens them all, they will tend to dismiss their differences and begin working more closely together, forgetting their differences, in an effort to preserve their ill-gotten gains and to maintain their crime syndicates. Today, with energy and resources running out, I believe these powers that be are being forced to work more closely together, to coordinate their efforts and to reach broad consensus on how to deal with outside threats against their well-established positions of power. As shortonoil posted a day or two ago, something to the effect of the elite’s positions depend upon the continuance of BAU, which is dependent on finance and vast amounts of oil/energy. The super-elites are under intense pressure like never before, and it is clear to me that they are sticking together and consolidating their consensus on how to deal with outside threats. Just my opinion.

Davy on Mon, 15th Sep 2014 11:34 am 



Good point NR yet I see a regionalization of your thesis. So let’s say China/Russia/Brics axis with increased cooperation and the US/Europe/Canada/Australia axis doing the same as this regionalization level. The conflict may be seen between these types of axis of cooperation. My point is the global world elites do not have a common plan and agenda globally today. I think they tried and the DC/Wall street mafia ruined it by pushing an American version of a New World Order. We were at a point post USSR collapse that global cooperation was possible. I still think you have a great point albeit at a regional or axis level

J-Gav on Mon, 15th Sep 2014 11:37 am 



Good discussion on a subject I’ve read quite extensively on – so I’ll throw in my two cents worth.

Those who described the power structure as “a number of groups” and “not monolithic” are correct. If I’ve connected the dots accurately, it consists of about 4 more or less concentric circles.

There is a hard core (the smallest but most powerful group) which is not easy to get into and only those already in the second circle manage to.

Broad-brush, the circles are made up of big finance, industrial heavyweights, the top military leaders, political insiders and top media moguls. Actually, if I remember correctly, the 4th circle would include the wannabees trying to push and shove their way up.

Do the different groups and levels always agree, top-to-bottom and inside-out? Absolutely not! But does it really matter that much if they disagree on the means as long as the primary goals are shared?

And those goals, my friends, are not likely to benefit you or me!

Northwest Resident on Mon, 15th Sep 2014 11:43 am 



Davy — We agree then. It looks to me like TPTB are dividing into three geographically-oriented groups — Asia, EuroAsia (aka: Russia) and the west. The rough equivalent of the global power elites getting together and agreeing on broad zones of control. I can hear it now: Look here Mugsy, you and your boys run your rackets over on the other side of the Pacific Ocean and if you stick your noses into our action over here then you’re gonna end up with a bloody hole where your nose used to be, got that? And yoos guys over there where it snows all the time, you just stay put on your big ice cube and keep selling us that oil at the price we agreed on or some of my boys with their fingers on those red nuke buttons might start getting a little twitchy, know what I mean?” Hey, just trying to shed a little humor on the situation, that’s all…

Northwest Resident on Mon, 15th Sep 2014 11:48 am 



J-Gav — You’re right. We’re all just pawns in the master-level chess game the PTB are playing. Or, actually, that game is probably more like Risk than it is like chess, which would make you and I and everybody we know just a bunch of plastic board pieces to be deployed on the whims of powers far greater than POTUS.

MSN fanboy on Mon, 15th Sep 2014 12:42 pm 



LOL “Without a functioning society, oligarchs mutate into peasants!” LOL

Don’t worry, when they wake up to see all their paper money “vanish” and the social fabric torn, they will get a taste of the monster they created.

When the many headed monster rips them from limb to limb

WelshFarmer on Mon, 15th Sep 2014 5:37 pm 



J-Gav /Northwest

If you were a member of this putative global elite that has apparently been in control for generations, would you have allowed the plebs to consume the majority of primary non-renewable resources available on this planet ?
How much fun will it be to be a feudal lord in a world with a seriously screwed-up ecosphere and only the lowest grade (shale/bitumen) fossil fuels to power your limousines ?
My conclusion is that these shadowy groups don’t enjoy nearly as much power as you fear and are probably as clueless about long-term planning as the rest of us.

Northwest Resident on Mon, 15th Sep 2014 8:48 pm 



WelshFarmer — Or, alternatively, the global elites drove the BAU machine into overdrive to produce the most advanced technology possible, then seeing that the end of the easy-to-get supply was nearing depletion, they enacted a broad scheme to suck all the wealth from the plebs in order to build their magnificent doomer hideouts and to ultimately crash the global economy leaving the world with just a few survivors that posed no threat to them and their chosen people.

WelshFarmer on Tue, 16th Sep 2014 9:54 am 



That is all possible of course, but I think you take my point.

Northwest Resident on Tue, 16th Sep 2014 10:17 am 



Welsh — Your guess is as good as mine. But I do detect what appears to be a single source of power and decision making behind all the chaos that we are witnessing today. Probably the same one Woodrow Wilson described as “a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive”. That was back in Woodrow Wilson’s day, but that same powerful well-organized group has only grown more powerful and more organized and more all-knowing and ever-watchful since then, in my honest opinion. I’m sure you understand my point also, even if you disagree.

GregT on Tue, 16th Sep 2014 10:25 am 



Some food for thought guys. I know I’ve posted this here before, but here it is again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbp6umQT58A

Your average citizen here in NA lives better than the Kings of old, but at the same time, TPTB of today live exponentially better than the Kings of the past. In a collapse scenario, I suspect that we will return back to some form of feudalism. Those that hold the power today, will most likely still retain that power, albeit at a lower standard of living.

That’s my take anyways.

Northwest Resident on Tue, 16th Sep 2014 10:39 am 



GregT — That’s a pretty good guess, imo, and the same guess that I’m making. It is inconceivable to me that the same group of super-wealthy elites who are buying the politicians and putting their secretly-paid servants into numerous governmental, military and CIA positions of power are clueless about peak oil and all the related consequences. It is illogical to assume that these masters of the world are ignorant fools so in love with their current lifestyles that they are incapable of seeing the writing on the wall. Of course they are preparing for life after collapse and reset of civilization, and of course they are planning to still be the guys at the top once all the dust settles. How successful they will be remains to be seen, but my prediction is that they will be very successful at reestablishing themselves in positions of power and control. I can see the argument that unpredictable chaos and total breakdown of BAU will render these super-elites powerless, but I’m absolutely positive they’ve thought that same scenario out and have made plans to prevent it. They’re idiots if they haven’t thought and planned extensively around this subject, and they most definitely are not idiots.

Northwest Resident on Tue, 16th Sep 2014 10:44 am 



BTW, GregT — Very interesting and compelling video link you posted.

ghung on Tue, 16th Sep 2014 10:54 am 



NR – “…but that same powerful well-organized group has only grown more powerful and more organized and more all-knowing and ever-watchful since then….”

…while populations are becoming more fractured, more deluded, less trusting, less governable and less controllable. Works both ways.

Northwest Resident on Tue, 16th Sep 2014 11:06 am 



ghung — No argument there. What does a farmer do when his herd/flock grows too large to manage and individual members of the herd/flock start causing trouble? One word — cull. It is coming, sure as hell.

Northwest Resident on Tue, 16th Sep 2014 1:19 pm 



ghung — Speaking of populations becoming fractured… Nice article that kind of highlights the point you are making:

Debt Rattle Sep 15 2014: The Yin and Yang of Growth and Power

“These are dangerous times. The dangers come from places hardly anybody ever thought to look for them. And that is a danger in itself.

The world has become an amalgamation of centralized blocks of power on the one hand, and a move away from these blocks on the other. The latter happens for good reason. Not that any such reason should be required. The plain and basic human right to, and desire for, freedom and self-governance should be enough. It isn’t, though, as we shall find out soon enough.

The centralized blocks have been able to gather far too much power, politically, socially and militarily, all concentrated in the hands of far too few people. And because we are who we are as a species, once you arrive at that sort of power concentration, it is inevitable that the people who go look for it, and obtain it, are the last ones who should have it. That is, from the point of view of all the rest of us.

It takes a certain mindset to want so much power over others, and if you don’t end up with outright psychopaths holding the reins, you’ll get something very close to it. Nevertheless, on the other hand, the process of increasingly concentrated powers is a natural one.

But then so is the move away from that concentration, the urge to break away from the huge entities and into smaller ones. It’s as yin and yang as it gets. Still, we all understand where the problem lies: those who have accumulated all that power in their few handfuls of hands, will be extremely reluctant to give up even a few crumbs of it.”

ht tp://www.theautomaticearth.com/debt-rattle-sep-15-2014-the-yin-and-yang-of-growth-and-power/

Davy on Tue, 16th Sep 2014 1:29 pm 



Sounds like your describing a succession ecosystem NR

Northwest Resident on Tue, 16th Sep 2014 1:38 pm 



Davy — Or more specifically, Secondary Succession — with “disruption of a pre-existing community” in this case being global economic collapse? Hey, I’m just reposting the article, but I agree with it.

“Ecological succession is the observed process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time. The community begins with relatively few pioneering plants and animals and develops through increasing complexity until it becomes stable or self-perpetuating as a climax community. The ʺengineʺ of succession, the cause of ecosystem change, is the impact of established species upon their own environments. A consequence of living is the sometimes subtle and sometimes overt alteration of one’s own environment.[1]

It is a phenomenon or process by which an ecological community undergoes more or less orderly and predictable changes following a disturbance or initial colonization of new habitat. Succession may be initiated either by formation of new, unoccupied habitat, such as from a lava flow or a severe landslide, or by some form of disturbance, such as from a fire, severe winds, logging, of an existing community. Succession that begins in new habitats, uninfluenced by pre-existing communities is called primary succession, whereas succession that follows disruption of a pre-existing community is called secondary succession.”

Davy on Tue, 16th Sep 2014 3:49 pm 



Great info NR thanks, I am into mico ecosystem development on the farm

J-Gav on Tue, 16th Sep 2014 4:54 pm 



Welsh – In my view you’re both right and wrong, as are we all I suppose in the long run …

Wrong to assume that the existence of a global elite is “putative.” it’s been demonstrated and ‘pointed at,’including by many people in power, for well over a century.

Right to say they’re clueless about long-term planning. That’s not in their interest. They don’t give a shit about that.