Most of us are aware of the very old fairly tale by Hans Christian Andersen in which two weavers promise an emperor the finest suit of clothes imaginable, but from a fabric invisible to anyone who is unfit for his position or "just hopelessly stupid". Well, in the fairy tale it turns out that nobody wants to admit that they are "unfit" or "stupid", so when the emperor parades before his subjects in his imaginary new suit of clothes, it takes a child to cry out: "But he isn't wearing anything at all!" Well, many of us have been declaring that the world economy "has no clothes" for some time now, but when the anchor of NBC News declares it on national television it gets a bit more attention. During his recent appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, NBC's Brian Williams was asked about the world financial situation. His answer included this shocking statement: "The world has no money, and the Emperor has no clothes."
During the interview, it was readily apparent that Williams was honestly shaken up by what had happened last Thursday in the stock market. But who can blame him? After all, most of us who watch the markets were totally stunned when the stock market dropped almost 1000 points exactly in less than an hour.
Normally a network news anchor is much more guarded and is much more careful about what is revealed to the public. But on Letterman's show, Williams gave us a glimpse of what he really thinks about the world economic situation....
"If I wasn't a tad too close to this, I'd probably not leave the house. But that's how bad it is."
A video clip that includes these jaw dropping comments by Williams is posted below....
So why did the U.S. stock market plunge so rapidly last Thursday?
Well, many have blamed the episode on a "bad trade" or a "computer glitch". Others claim that the Greek debt crisis caused a brief panic. There are yet others who see something more insidious going on - such as Goldman Sachs seeking to remove their name from the financial headlines, or the Federal Reserve sending a message that S. 604 (the bill to audit the Federal Reserve) should not be passed.
The truth is that we will probably never know what actually caused the market to fall through the floor that afternoon.
But it did pave the way for more bailouts.
Over the weekend, European policy makers unveiled an unprecedented loan package worth almost $1 trillion and a program of bond purchases designed to stop the sovereign debt crisis that threatened to shatter confidence in the euro.
The Federal Reserve got into the act as well. Over the weekend the Fed promised to flood the international financial system with U.S. dollars. This was seen in the markets as a sign of "resolve" meant to keep doubt about the European economy from turning into a global crisis of confidence.
So on Monday, investors responded to these bailouts with exuberance. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 405 points that day, which was the average's biggest one day point gain since March 23rd, 2009.
But are more bailouts, more debt and a flood of paper money really something to celebrate?
No.
The truth is that debt and paper money that continually declines in value are some of the chief causes of the financial mess that the world is now in.
In fact, Congressman Ron Paul is warning that the European bailout that was just announced will just lead to even larger financial problems in the future....
And Ron Paul is right - all of these bailouts and all of this debt will eventually cause all of the major paper currencies (including the U.S. dollar) to collapse.
The funny thing about these bailouts is that they never seem to help the average people on the street. Just take a look at the U.S. economy. We are told that Wall Street has recovered and that things are getting back to normal, and yet more Americans than ever find themselves dependent on the U.S. government for their survival.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced that 39.68 million people, or 1 out of every 8 Americans, were enrolled in the food stamp program during February, an increase of 260,000 from the previous month.
Nearly 40 million Americans on food stamps?
How in the world did that happen?
Once upon a time, the old timers would tell us that one day things would get so bad that we would all have to stand in bread lines.
Well, today food stamps are the new bread lines.
If you have to rely on the government for the very bread that you eat, what kind of a position does that put you in?
The truth is that the once great American middle class is allowing the system to slowly keep grinding them into oblivion.
Like never before in our lifetimes, wealth is being concentrated in the hands of the "lucky one percent", while the rest of us are rapidly being marginalized.
Do you ever stop to wonder why it seems like almost everyone is either broke or up to their eyeballs in debt?
That even goes for the major governments of the world. The U.S. government (the "wealthiest" nation on the globe) has piled up the biggest mountain of debt in world history.
You see, Brian Williams was actually chillingly accurate when he declared that "the world has no money".
So if the world doesn't have any money, then who does have it?
The international bankers.
But, shhhhh, don't tell anybody.
Just keep quietly clapping as the emperor walks down the street with no clothes on.
Another excellent piece. I was in absolute shock and awe as markets shot skyward Monday. Taking on a trillion in debt plus interest was a good thing?
This insanity knows no limits.
Today, I was watching straight shooter Peter Schiff on Fast Money. He was being attacked for saying the very same thing. Schiff is long gold and knows the world is broke. And there he was, telling the truth-just like he did before the banking collapse-and all the young cast members who get paid to tell people to invest were ridiculing him.
Unlike them, Schiff has no vested interested in lying to people.
Remember the great saying about truth. First truth is ridiculed, then it is violently opposed, and in the last stages it becomes self evident.
We don’t own anything. We borrow our cars and houses from bankers while they steal our money. We don’t even own our houses because even if we do we rent space via property taxes from local government. The house is simply held in escrow until we die, and what we do have gets stolen via inheritance taxes. The idea that we own anything, is ridiculous. What we think we own is simply borrowed. With interest and taxes.
If Brian Williams is talking like this you have to believe things aren’t as they seem. And the best place for your money is in your pantry filled with 6 months worth of food, in your geothermal heating system or woodstove, and your solar domestic hot water heater. Now is the time to invest in hard assets that will make you more resilient to these shocks. “Thriving During Challenging Times, The Energy, Food and Financial Independence Handbook” is the tool you need to develop a strategy to shock proof yourself. http://www.cammather.com
Now more than ever it is important to pay off your mortgage and use solar and wind to make your own power and grow your own food. Time to go back to our independent roots!
I supposed the only good part to this is that people are waking up and fighting back. In the U.S. we haven’t reached that point; we’re still trying to change the system through voting. But as long as both parties are exactly the same, I doubt we’ll get the “hope and change” we need. After a few more elections when the party of No has gotten more seats and shown themselves to be corrupt (and stupid), maybe the sheeple will turn off American Idol and take to the streets.
Every way I’ve looked at it during the last year it really does look like Brian Williams is right.”Having no money” seems to be addressed by borrowing more money from banks and India/China. And that money is geared off government reserve money “eased” into the system.
Nationally we are all mortgaged up to our necks and it’s going to hurt even more later. At the end of it all we will have poured all our money away. I live in the UK but things are similar for us both.
Individually we are just as badly off but with no power to change our situation.
I feel a little sick.
If this is any indication, the FDIC has taken over 69 banks as of last Friday.
Last year it took until November to reach that same amount.
It’s only May…
I can’t help wondering HOW LONG can we continue this way????
When will the line of credit for bankrupt nations dry up (or snap)?
I read THE COMING ECONOMIC EARTHQUAKE by Larry Burkett back in 1990—a fascinating read—and he was predicting hyper-inflation and the eventual collapse of the US dollar. That’s 20 years ago!
WHAT is going to finally tip us over the edge?
World has no money … but European countries have come up with $1 trillion (with a ‘T’) just like that …
In fact I am still waiting fro the time the central bankers do not have the stuff to throw but they seem to be able to open the tap and out pops the money .. so I can’t believe that the world does not have money … that is when the bailouts will stop
Subject: Economics 101
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It is a slow day in a small Florida town and streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody is living on credit. A rich tourist drives through town, stops at the motel, and lays a $100 bill on the desk saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs to pick one for the night.
As soon as he walks upstairs, the motel owner grabs the bill and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher.
The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to retire his debt to the pig farmer.
The pig farmer takes the $100 and heads off to pay his bill to his supplier, .the Farmer’s Co-op
The guy at the Farmer’s Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer her “services” on credit.
The hooker rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill with the hotel owner.
The hotel proprietor then places the $100 back on the counter so the rich traveler will not suspect anything.
At that moment the traveler comes down the stairs, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, picks up the $100 bill and leaves town.
No one produced anything. No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now out of debt and now looks to the future with a lot more optimism.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the United States Government is conducting business today
That is great news that the United States Government has no debt in the long term because when it does have debt in the short term all it has to do is wait for someone to show up to give it every thing it owes so it can settle up immediately with it’s creditors. In the real world it just prints up as much money it needs to when there are no more suckers to borrow it from destroying the value of the money and the lives of innocent powerless people.
Thanks Bob,
That paints an amazingly clear and vivid picture of our current financial mess.
Kind of like a “shell game” that just keeps moving…
Sooner or later you gotta stop and take a peek, only to realize that it was a scam all along.
There was never a ball under ANY of the shells to begin with!
Regards2All
Stu
Most people, especially Ron Paul fans (I’m one myself, actually) would find me a bit of a contrary type when I consider a fiat system superior to that of a gold standard.
But what we got here is a double whammy. Both systems are horrible.
The problem with the fiat system today is that we’re in an inflationary hell. Our purchasing power has been dropping dramatically.
The problem with having a gold standard is that never before has so much gold been consolidated into fewer and fewer institutions.
It’s a scary situation indeed. I think the biggest problem is not the crises that we currently have now, but the international bankers who are deliberately exasperating them.