I was Thinking About Making Some 2010 Predictions

Posted on January 1, 2010
Filed Under General Insanity |

I was thinking about making some 2010 predictions but I decided I really did not like making such prognostications in a financial environment that is so “on-the-edge” as the one we are confronting this New Year’s Day. So many things are unsettled, it is hard to see where they are going to end up. Frankly, our three choices for 2010 look like “bad,” “terrible” and “disastrous.” So, let us review where we stand and where things could settle out this coming year.

Food
Food is my number one concern. All things considered the world has about a 10-month’s supply needed to take us through the next 12 months. Unfortunately, the real issue with food is the distribution so the food shortages will not spread equally around the globe. I expect that continents like Africa and SW Asia (India and Pakistan especially) will suffer mega-famines. In the industrialized world, there will be shortages but not full-scale famine. There is hunger in our inner cities already and it will grow worse as a result of the unemployed ranks continuing to grow. The big issue though will be the price of food. I expect prices to skyrocket. This will make things real hard on the people living on fixed incomes such as retirees and pensioners. The only good thing I see on this is that it appears sunspot activity is now increasing and has been doing so through the month of December 2009. If this continues, the world will get on a more normal weather pattern making 2010 harvests a little better. But this corrected weather pattern will be too little, too late for those farmers around the world that have gone bankrupt last year and can no longer get financing to plant their fields this spring. This is mostly due to the failed 2009 harvests and the current rotten banking conditions.

Banking
Well, it has been over one year since the November 2008 financial collapse and as a country we have not reduced our personal or governmental debts one iota. The fact is our governmental debts have dramatically increased due to bailouts and failed stimulus programs. Our overall personal debts have climbed due to the miserable employment situation as well even though individual savings are up. Property values have slumped back to where they were in the 1980’s and will likely continue to fall to where they were in the 1970’s. This will bankrupt a whole slew of banks and businesses currently on-the-edge financially in the process. The FDIC is already broke and my expectation is that other US inner cities will follow the model of Detroit and be stunned as their buildings and infrastructure collapse over the next year. I recently watched a YouTube video  showing that whole skyscrapers are now being abandoned in Detroit. Where will this all end? I think it will end with a complete banking melt down as the debt on buildings and homes held by banks will force them into receivership and FDIC control. Make sure you have cash stored in a secure place in your home as you may need it should there be a run on banks this year.

Cities and States
Speaking of Detroit, expect to see several cities and states declare insolvency in 2010 as their tax collections plummet due to the unemployment and loss of business. Look for California, Michigan and New York to be the most likely candidates to go first. This will result in a dramatic loss of services from these governments including the loss of police and fire department personnel. How it will affect schools is also at question but since most governments are locked into union contracts with teachers, the disruptions will likely result in strikes and walkouts as funds dry up. All of this will of course result in increasing unemployment figures as government workers join the swelling ranks of the unemployed.

Gold and Silver
What should you do about gold and silver? Buy some. Buy as much as you can afford. With the Tungsten filled Gold bars fiasco  still unwinding, government financial collapses and the impending food shortages, the only thing that will hold any value at all will be precious metals. My expectation is that 100 ounces of silver purchased today will likely be enough to pay off a house mortgage in a couple of years.

War
According to Ron Paul the US is now attacking Yemen . Meanwhile, Noble Peace Prize recipient Barak Obama is increasing the overall troop strengths in the Middle East to 222,000. This is up from War Monger George Bush’s total of 189,000. The real wild card in this mess though is Israel. They want desperately to attack Iran despite warnings from the US, Russia, China, the EU and whole groups of other third world countries. My guess is that Israel will have to do something dramatic in order to drag the US in on this fool plan and this time blowing up trade towers in a false flag operation will not work. Israel just called in all their envoys from around the world for an emergency meeting . This tells me they are planning something big in the very near future. I think they are planning on a major Gaza operation that will likely draw Syria into a war with them setting off a chain reaction forcing Iran to attack Israel. This will be a clever move on Israel’s part to get the US to once again do their dirty work for them and defend Israel by attacking Iran in retaliation. Look for oil to jump from $78 per barrel to over $200 per barrel the next day. This could likely put the entire world on a war footing. It will also result in more US debt.

I think that 2010 will make us wish for the good old days of 2009 in a relatively short time. Let us hope we are all smart enough to prepare for feeding and taking care of our own in the days ahead. Let us also hope we are smart enough to throw out the entire Congress and place individuals into office who will actually try to solve problems rather than support the people who paid for them to get elected. The sad part is I don’t think we are really smart enough to do such a thing.

Yes, I was thinking about making some 2010 predictions and I don’t like it.

Clayton

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