The Greek Financial Crisis - What's Happening Around the World?

The Greek Financial Crisis – Which Country Is Next?

It seems to be only a matter of time before all the currencies of the world become worthless. As they say, history repeats itself, and paper currencies have never survived in the past, so what makes you think they will survive today?
In the midst of global upheaval, massive and growing indebtedness, low interest rates and more speculative bubbles on the way, the vulnerability of fiat money grows by the day. And the average person still seems to be unaware of the possible consequences of this.

As governments keep on bailing out the banks, as countries and states have to be bailed out, where will it all end? Whoever thought that governments would support the idea that banks are “too big to fail?” I can understand that in connection with the utilitarian purposes of banks which is to provide a service to people so that they can exchange goods and services more easily. It’s a bit like the utility companies so they say, where we need to have electricity and gas, so the government steps in and bails them out if they get into trouble.

However, what about the speculative ventures of these huge financial institutions? Should taxpayers really have to come in and bail out these so-called financial wizards who have continued to risk their investor’s money in huge speculative deals that have gone bad? This cannot be right, but again, the average person doesn’t have a deep understanding of what is going on and in some ways although we haven’t got a physical war in most western countries, there is a war going on against us which is about robbing us blind through inflation, which reduces our purchasing power, through luring us into more debt through low interest rates, through tempting people who rely on interest on their savings into more speculative investments…it goes on and on and whilst the sheeple are still asleep and listening to mainstream media to idiotic statements like “the jobless recovery” and believing that we are coming out of a recession, nothing much will change and millions of people will lose huge amounts of their wealth overnight.

It’s happening folks. I was a bit too young to see what went on in my own family. My father took out an insurance policy in the 1950’s which would pay out $2000 25 years later. This was enough money to buy a house outright. He paid in faithfully year after year, but he wasn’t savvy enough to see that there was high inflation on the horizon, and he continued to pay into his policy. When it came to maturity, that $2000 wouldn’t even give him a 10% down payment on a property. All his wealth had been eroded. He never really recovered.

And we have a similar situation today. We are on the verge of economic breakdown, the powers that be are frantically trying to hold everything together, but sooner or later, as we all know, there are consequences for our actions.

This is going to get much much worse. Try to prepare for it.
I have written a book “handbook for surviving the global financial crisis” – just a pocketbook sized publication to give you tips so you can not only survive but thrive in the coming changes.

Remember, get out of debt, don’t do anything speculative unless you really know what you are doing, get some physical gold and silver if you haven’t already done so, and store some supplies of food and water in case of an emergency.

It’s advisable to take action sooner rather than later – once a panic starts it will be much more difficult to get supplies. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

Understanding your finances

So much is written about our money, our economy, markets, productivity, wages, salaries, bankers, bonuses, riches and poverty – how do we wade through this quagmire of data to find the nuggets of information that can transform and help us in our everyday lives?
Who is right? Is anyone right?
In the midst of online arguments between such “greats” as Robert Kiyosaki of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and Suze Orman, a financial coach and author – criticizing one another’s approaches to money and finance; in the midst of countries like Iceland, Ireland and Greece being bankrupt to whole states in the US such as California and Michigan being on the verge of bankruptcy – what can you as the average person do?

Here are some simple rules of thumb which can help guide you through:

1. Don’t believe all you see and hear in the media. Most everyone has an agenda and you must analyse carefully the information they are giving. For example, recently, George Soros publicly announced that gold was in a bubble and was likely to fall in price soon. The minute he did this, the price of gold did fall and he was reported to have purchased a huge amount of gold at the cheaper price.
2. With any books you read, remember that no one person has all the answers, and what they are writing about – whilst it may appeal to the majority – may not be applicable or relevant to your personal situation.
3. Most of us don’t like change, but in the current economic climate, we need to be ready to turn on a dime. Governments around the world are bringing in new laws every week, laws are changing on taxes, employment…you need to stay abreast of these changes in order to be one step ahead of possible disaster.
4. Be conservative. Make sure you have planned for the worst. Ensure you have at least six months living expenses in cash, six months food and water stored up and some physical gold and silver. Pay off all your debts and only if you have some money left over after all this preparation, should you consider investing in more risky ventures such as stock markets or property. I have so many clients who want to be full time traders on the stock market. They seem to see it as a quick way to get rich. I see too many people losing more than they can afford and they unnecessarily put their families and homes in jeopardy. Best to play it safe. Life moves in cycles – as long as you are in tune with the cycle, then you can benefit from the changes. If you go against that trend, then you may end up in severe financial difficulties.

Economic Recovery or Economic Collapse?

The media would have us believe that we are just about to come out of recession and very soon we will be on the road to recovery. Yet, I speak to more and more people who are feeling very uneasy about the situation in their respective countries. From the US, to Europe, to Hong Kong, to China, India and Japan, to Russia, Australia and New Zealand, people all over the world are feeling the pinch and cannot bring themselves to trust their politicians and their bankers.

So what is the situation? Of course, there are extremes of opinion on both sides. From Gerald Celente who spoke of the Panic of 2008, the Collapse of 2009 and the Total Breakdown of 2010 to governments around the world who are talking up the economy and the end of the housing collapse and the bright future ahead of us. While at the same time, these governments are cutting costs as never before, we have states like California, Michigan and others that are bankrupt and having to issue IOU’s to their employees; in the UK the cost-cutting measures to public services are the most drastic for decades. The US promised to kerb their deficits, yet within a few months the deficit has gone from 9 trillion dollars to over 13 trillion.

So isn’t the writing on the wall? Shouldn’t we be taking notice and starting to prepare for a possible total breakdown of world economy and trade?

In my opinion, there is much worse to come and it is best to be prepared physically, emotionally and mentally. Even if things turn out to be much better than I outline here, then your preparations will not have been in vain – you will just have a store of goods that you can use at your leisure and you will probably have bought them at greatly reduced prices.

Here are my top tips:
- get yourself out of paper currencies. That means if you have all your money in a bank, make sure that you put some of it into gold and silver. That doesn’t mean paper gold and silver as in stocks and shares – it means the actual coins and bars.
- start storing up paper goods, toiletries, canned foods, dehydrated foods, water
- make sure you have at least one other form of heating and lighting that doesn’t depend on electricity
- get a wind-up radio. With the increased threats of tsunamis, earthquakes and tornadoes it is wise to have a radio that you can take with you so that if you have to evacuate your home, you can keep up to date with current events
- connect with people in your community and start to grow your own food and become as self-sufficient as you possibly can

Hold onto your hats because the economy is likely to tumble severely towards the fall of 2010. We haven’t seen the half of it yet. I wish you and your loved ones the best of luck. Take care.