The coming economic crises?
[I know that what I’m going to say here is controversial and many will probably disagree, and if you do, I would very much like to hear your comments, but I feel that I need to say it since this “situation” is so well hidden and non-obvious.]
Many believe that the past 2 years of economic crises is coming to an end because the stock market is way up and lots of other “economic indicators” are up and the news is constantly pointing out how things are improving, but I believe with everything that is in me that though we might enjoy a brief economic recovery, the worst is yet to come.
One of the key indicators that is seldom talked about is the value of the US dollar and this is, I believe, critical. The dollar has been dropping and continues to drop in value and is close to an all time historical low and as the value drops, the cost of everything has to go up to make up the difference. People are surprised at the high cost of gasoline, but since oil is bought and sold in US dollars, as the dollar decreases in value, the oil producers naturally raise the price of oil to compensate. As an example, $1.00 in 2000 is now only worth $0.79 in today’s (2011) dollars. What this means is that to get a dollars worth of something (in year 2000 dollars) you would have to pay $1.27 today in 2011 dollars.
Everything is in one way or another dependent on the cost of oil. For example, to get groceries, clothing, and other merchandise to you it has to be shipped by truck, train, plane, or ship and all require fuel and as the price of oil/gas goes up, the cost of what you buy has to go up. This is inflation. Yet have you heard anything about inflation? Doubtful! In fact, some have even suggested that there is deflation.
Unfortunately most people only see and hear about the rising stock market (or other rising “economic indicators”) and just assume that all is going great. They don’t realize that like the price of oil, the rise in the stock market (or other economic indicators) is mostly due to the decreasing value of the dollar.
One of the biggest reasons why the dollar is falling in value is because the Federal Reserve (actually not at all a part of the US government but a separate entity altogether) keeps printing more money. And they are doing this mostly because the US government keeps spending more and more money (our ever increasing national debt) and that money has to come from somewhere and it is borrowed from the Federal Reserve (who has to print the money to satisfy the governments needs).
So in a sense, it is all one big lie. With one hand the US government is saying that all is OK and that our economy is improving, yet with the other hand by spending more money than it receives through taxation, our government is causing inflation (but says that we don’t have inflation because they have in subtle ways tweaked how inflation is calculated since they want things to appear better than they really are).
Complicating things is we no longer have just a US economy, a British economy, a Chinese economy, etc., but rather we now have a world economy and it is far more like a house of cards than most people realize. A house of cards can stand to have a card here or there removed without causing too many problems, but there are a few “key” cards that if removed will cause the entire thing to collapse. I don’t know what these cards are, but I believe that some time in the next 2-18 months some of these “key” cards will be removed causing an economic crises that will make the past two years look fantastic.
In reading the Old Testament it is very clear that the Lord does NOT like His children to worship idols and always instructed them to tear down and to destroy any and all idols. The problem is that for most Americans, their idol has become money and stuff and I believe that a day is coming soon (2-18 months) when the idol of money and financial security will come tumbling down.
As I was listening to the business news last week I was surprised to hear them talking about the fact that recently 3 financial institutions have started selling a “mutual fund” that was designed to make money if the stock market crashes. If the market doesn’t crash, then these investments would be worthless, but if the market does crash, then this “fund” would soar. As I listened to this news story, I thought of the scripture in Amos 3:7 which says, “Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets” and I was wondering if these “fund” managers weren’t prophets (whether the realized it or not) preparing themselves, and others, for the coming days.
Are you ready if there is an economic crises? What are you leaning on? Are you leaning on your own understanding, your financial managers understanding, someone else’s understanding, or are you leaning on the Lord?
3 Comments
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April 26th, 2011 at 2:31 PM
It hardly seems to be by accident. A significant part of the price rises is the galling dollar as you point out. A big part of that is caused by “quantatative easing”, high spending and other Administration policies. Any attempts to remedy the situation are rebuffed by the President and the Democrats.
To answer the question, I am not as prepared as I want to be. Six years ago I wanted to buy gold. My financial advisor said I should not — it would be stable in price and gold stocks were better. I trusted him so I did what he suggested: bad move. Business is way down. Employment is at its lowest since WWII (at least it was two weeks ago). The real estate market is “soft”. Tough times.
April 27th, 2011 at 4:12 AM
I agree that it doesn’t seem like an accident. Too many things have come into alignment at the same time for it to be random. There definitely seems to be “a plan” and my sense is this “plan” has long been in motion and in the next few months will really start to show itself for what it is. Not totally clear on what “the plan” is, but it isn’t good. Fortunately we serve a God who IS in charge and IS in control so it doesn’t matter what “the plan” is. Proverbs 19:21 (NLT) says, “You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.” So man can do all “the planning” (and scheming) he wants, the Lord’s will WILL be done regardless.