When uneducated, unthinking, and unconcerned people sense danger, they look to the government—when often the government is the problem.

With the Chinese coronavirus, the world has experienced the first world lockdown, and it was done based on dubious evidence. Not only businesses (which I may add, are in business to do business) shut down and stopped doing business, but all schools, parks, and most churches closed their doors. Attending church or continuing your business one-on-one was illegal, but you could legally protest in huge crowds!

The funeral for former congressman John Lewis in Atlanta was said by the media to have abided by facemasks and social distancing guidelines; however, that was an obvious lie. The audience was seated close together and the singing team and soloist were not masked or separated. So, it’s legal to protest and go to state-approved funerals but not go to church or run your business!

Since when did any official have the authority, power yes, authority, no, to tell churches they must close? Or, if they could open, they could not sing or have more than ten congregants? Never has a nation or the world made such a sea change so quickly.

But that could never happen to us. But it did. “But, it can’t last forever.” Are you sure? “Well, government officials will never let it get so bad that we run out of food and water.” Are you sure about that?

When God warned Noah that bad weather was coming and the earth would be inundated, he followed God’s instructions that involved long term planning. And many years of hard work. He was ready when the rain began. While a global flood had never happened before, Noah thought it best to prepare for it.

The normalcy bias could have killed everyone.

Five years ago, I wrote the following that is more relevant now than it was then.

The normalcy bias is a mental condition individuals experience when facing a disaster. It causes people to become vulnerable to approaching danger as they underestimate both the possibility of a disaster and its potentially dangerous impact. This often results in situations where people fail to prepare for a disaster, and that failure can be catastrophic on a state or national scale.

It is a mental condition that convinces a person that since it has never happened before, it can’t happen. Or “it won’t happen to me.” After all, this is America. We are special; however, we are not immune from natural or manmade disasters.

The town of Pompeii, located on the Bay of Naples, was a flourishing resort for wealthy, powerful, and élite citizens of Rome in the first century A.D. The city of about 20,000 citizens was located about five miles from Mount Vesuvius and citizens, slaves, tourists, and artisans jostled through the well-paved city streets. They passed elegant villas, taverns, cafes, bathhouses, and brothels to attend the arena that could seat 20,000 people.

Everyone knew about the volcano at Mount Vesuvius nearby, but it had been silent for over 1700 years. Nothing to worry about, but in August of 79 A.D., the mountain blew its top sending ashes, rocks, and hot gases 21 miles into the sky that could be seen for hundreds of miles.

Pliny the Younger was living with his uncle Pliny the Elder, an admiral of the Roman fleet who died in the eruption that had 100,000 times the thermal energy of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombings. The younger Pliny watched the eruption from across the bay and then wrote, “I believed I was perishing with the world.” However, there was plenty of time to flee the eruption, yet about 2,000 people watched in wonder as death fell around them! The hot, heavy ash made it difficult to breathe, and then a 100-mile-per-hour surge of poisonous gas rushed down the mountain, killing every living thing in its path. When the mountain stopped shaking, spitting, and sputtering the next day, the silent city of the dead was covered with up to 20 feet of ashes, rocks, and lava.

Highly intelligent people watched the eruption until death devoured them, an ancient example of the normalcy bias.

When Hurricane Katrina slammed New Orleans Aug. 29, 2005, thousands of citizens refused to leave the city, and city officials didn’t even attempt to evacuate them. There were scores of parked buses that could have saved hundreds of people, but the mayor refused to give the order, and 1,461 people died. The National Hurricane Center warned on August 28 that the area would be “uninhabitable for weeks” after “devastating damage” caused by the storm. Finally, the day before the disaster, Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation, yet thousands of people refused to seek safety!

The media have defended those who decided not to evacuate the area “because they were mostly poor.” Wait a minute. Are we to believe that all those people did not have automobiles, did not have friends or family with cars, or could not afford a $50.00 bus ticket out of town? However, they could have walked away from danger! They didn’t leave because “I’m different,” or “It can’t happen here,” or “It can’t be that bad,” or “God (or government) won’t let it happen to me.” Normalcy bias killed again.

The mind seems to make an attempt to protect us from traumatic events that come our way. When some things are too troublesome, traumatic, or tragic, the mind often shuts down. One survivor from the Muslim terrorist attack on September 11 in New York City reports of going blind when she saw some of the 200 humans hitting the ground after falling 100 stories outside the Twin Towers. The human mind is an incredible organ, but obviously, there are some things too terrible to comprehend.

When faced with major danger, the mind goes into one of three modes: it will “suggest” flight, fight, or freeze. Many people freeze–and die.

Americans have had it too good, nice, easy, cushy, soft, and pleasant all their lives. Disaster does lie ahead; so each one, especially heads of households, must prioritize, plan, and prepare. You cannot plan for every contingency, but you can for some. And remember that “hope” is not a plan. And “thinking about it” is not a plan. Nor is “worrying about it” a plan. A plan requires a plan. If you don’t have one, then get one.

Trusting God is very important; yes, God feeds the sparrows, but He doesn’t put worms in their nests.

What’s in our future? It could be a total financial collapse of our economy far worse than the Great Depression. Such suggestions are no longer coming from just me and other “prophets of doom.” Highly respected economists tell us that it is only a matter of time. Not if, but when the big bubble bursts.

Jim Rogers is a famed billionaire investor co-founder of the Quantum Fund with George Soros. Jim said that we are in for a major financial meltdown that will be the most shaking financial event “we have ever seen in recorded history.” But surely not. “It just can’t happen to us.”

A study done in Britain revealed that Britain is only “nine meals from anarchy.” The Daily Mail said that it would take only “nine meals–three full days without food on supermarket shelves–before law and order started to break down, and British streets descended into chaos.” Furthermore, the food you eat for dinner tonight had to be brought an average of 1500 miles. What if the food or the trucks or the fuel or the drivers or the highways were not available to deliver that food?

“But that could never happen here,” says the average American as he snaps open another can of beer.

A financial collapse would bankrupt state and federal governments, and the feds would renege on their financial obligations. Tax payments to the IRS would plummet, and our national debt would really go into the stratosphere. Already billions of dollars in the hole, the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, an agency that guarantees pensions of major corporations, would go belly up. So would Social Security. Everyone would be on his own. “But our government would not permit that to happen.”

The disaster that does you in may be an epidemic that shuts down every school, church, theater, or even all public transportation. Hospitals and clinics will be overwhelmed, taking only the most diseased and dying. “But that couldn’t happen here.”

It may be an attack by one of the rogue nations such as China, North Korea, or Iran dropping an EMP device over a major heartland city knocking out all electronic devices including all electrical power, all automobiles, all cell and land phones, all elevators, televisions, radio, traffic lights, air traffic control, air travel, etc. In other words, we would be back in the 18th century. A major solar bombardment would have the same effect! “But that just couldn’t happen, could it?”

Naïve, confused, closed-minded Americans say, “The President would never declare martial law and incarcerate mass numbers of people who refuse to be vaccinated.” No, it hasn’t happened here, but something similar has sure happened elsewhere. Why can’t it happen here?

Tomorrow morning a dirty bomb may explode in the heart of Dallas or Washington revealing the fact that some suitcase bombs are circulating in Muslim circles. A mushroom cloud does not portend a normal life for anyone in America. But then, “It’s never happened here.” Yet!

It may only be a natural disaster that destroys your city, rendering you without utilities, food, employment, etc. But that disaster might ignite your normalcy bias that ends up killing you or your family. It is better to prepare and not need it than to not prepare and need it.

Hope is not a plan. Wishful thinking is stupid thinking.

Remember, it wasn’t raining when Noah entered the Ark!

(Dr. Don Boys is a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives who ran a large Christian school in Indianapolis and wrote columns for USA Today for 8 years. Boys authored 18 books, the most recent Muslim Invasion: The Fuse is Burning! eBook is available here with the printed edition (and other titles) at www.cstnews.com. Follow him on Facebook at Don Boys, Ph.D.; and visit his blog. Send a request to DBoysphd@aol.com for a free subscription to his articles, and click here to support his work with a donation.)

The November election will be the showdown when Kool-Aid drinking Trump-haters will go to any length to thwart the will of Americans who want a return to a stable, safe, and secure nation. Wiping the purple Kool-Aid from their quivering lips, they will lie, distort, purchase votes, steal votes, and stuff ballot boxes and other nefarious acts to defeat Trump.

Now we face another shutdown that will destroy millions of small businesses and some large businesses. Business bankruptcies are in the stratosphere, and small and large companies are closing daily.

Low-life protesters, mixed with naïve do-gooders, are not only protesting but also demanding resistance, reparations, and revolution as they throw Molotov cocktails and swing unregistered bats. The evil leaders behind these protests are not concerned with the alleged mistreatment of Blacks. The illusion of concern is only cover for the real goal—to keep Trump from reelection and to do so if it means destroying America.

My warning over six years ago appears to be coming to fruition. Get ready for the worst economic times in US history. The bells have been going off for months especially since the start of the shutdown: massive unemployment; paying people not to work; student loan forgiveness; national debt now past $25 trillion; major push for reparations amounting to $6 quadrillions; promises of universal income even for non-workers; a second stimulus package in days; demands for pension bailouts; even Minneapolis asked for the feds to repair the damage done to their city that local officials refused to condemn and deal with; etc.

I wrote the following column in 2014 that is very appropriate today. One word was corrected, links were added, and minor punctuation was changed.
Only a fool would publicly predict what will happen in the near future regarding the U.S. economy; however, I suggest that we will have a slowdown, shutdown, or shakedown–maybe all three. We are already in the slowdown; however, I think it is also probable that the other two disasters are in store for all of us. The “storm” is far from over.

One portentous indication of trouble just surfaced on Jan. 3 when it was revealed in a headline: “Billionaires Dumping Stocks.” The article on the Newsmax website reported that Warren Buffet is “dumping shares at an alarming rate.” He sold 19 million (no misprint) shares of Johnson & Johnson, and he is very disappointed in Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods, and others.

Billionaire John Paulson also dumped 14 million shares of JPMorgan Chase and all of his shares in Family Dollar and Sara Lee.

Then there’s billionaire George Soros, the radical leftist that conservatives love to hate, who sold almost all his shares of JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs. Obviously, George doesn’t have any confidence in financial stocks. Hummm, wonder what he and his fellow billionaires know that we don’t know?

Maybe these wealthy elite know that a massive correction is coming on Wall Street. Highly revered economist Robert Wiedemer, the author of the best-seller Aftershock, says that the stock market could fall 90%! Wiedemer predicted the collapse of the housing market in an earlier book.

Standard and Poor’s suggested that Wiedemer’s prediction “demands our attention,” while Philip Gross, founding CFO of American Online, said the book was “A compelling argument for a chilling conclusion.”

CNN reported that about half of Americans agree with the doomsday predictions: “48% [of Americans] see a second Great Depression.” I think it will be called “the Greatest Depression.”

We must remember that our government is $17 trillion [now more than $24 trillion] in debt, almost $150,000 per taxpayer! But then we must take our pencil from behind our ear and add Social Security obligations, Medicare, etc., totaling more than $100 trillion!

The average American needs to look at the facts, analyze his financial condition, and make some difficult decisions. Does he believe Obama who said, “The private sector is doing fine,” or does he consider that statement like Obama’s assurance that “You can keep your doctor, period.”? Or maybe he believes the Washington Post that assured us with a headline: “No Housing Bubble to Pop” or the Washington Times’ headline, “No Housing Trouble,” or the conservative National Review’s article, “Hate to Burst Your (Housing) Bubble, But There Isn’t One.” Or the revered Wall Street Journal: “Housing Bubble? The Market Won’t Pop.”

Pop, pop, pop, pop. They were all wrong!

Or the average American could believe the financial wizards on the television shows who never said a word about the imminent massive collapse of Enron in December of 2001. The financial experts were telling us to buy right up to the collapse! And they never apologized!

Everyone knows that those experts and many others were wrong about the housing bubble as they have been wrong about many things.

So, when the stock market hits bottom, 50% of Americans are out of work, bankruptcies soar skyward, and cities and states go belly-up as is happening as I write, you will know the nation is on the cusp of a shutdown mode. Does that mean riots in the streets accompanied by martial law? Wiedemer thinks not, since “that did not happen in the Great Depression.”

However, the astute economist may know finances, but he apparently doesn’t know human nature: this disaster will be far worse than the 1930s, and Americans today don’t have the character those citizens had. Plan on it: panic, suicides, hunger, food riots, gang violence, etc. A recent British study declared that we were “nine meals from anarchy!”

I don’t feel lonely anymore way out on the limb!

How do the optimists in their rosy glasses defend their positive view in light of our massive debt? Today, the U.S. has more government debt than any country in the history of the world! In fact, we have more national debt than all the nations in the European Union put together!

So, what is the Fed’s answer? Well, the Federal Reserve has been printing $85 billion per month; that’s more than a trillion dollars a year! That means the dollars in your pocket are worth less, or is that worthless?

Presently, when a nation wants to purchase a product from us or any other country, they usually make payments in U.S. dollars. They could choose the British pound sterling, the Chinese yuan, or the euro; however, only a few nations bypass the dollar. That is going to end. We have begun to see the “flight from the dollar.” China, Russia, and the United Nations, as well as some Muslim nations, are already on record that they want to back off the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

Why is the U.S. dollar so special and is used by almost 70% of nations as the reserve currency? It is because the market for U.S. Treasury securities is “liquid and deep.” “Liquid” means the dollar can be sold quickly, and “deep” means a large amount of dollars can be sold without impacting the price of the currency.

When I have traveled in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Australia, etc., I never changed dollars into the currency where I was traveling. I always used U.S. dollars, but those days have changed. It is now common for the dollar to be refused, as I experienced in Africa and Japan.

Sam Zell, the 60th richest man in the U.S., told CNBC: “My single biggest financial concern is the loss of the dollar as the reserve currency. I can’t imagine anything more disastrous to our country…I think you could see a 25% reduction in the standard of living in this country if the U.S. dollar was no longer the world’s reserve currency.”

James Richards wrote in his Currency Wars, “If the currency collapses, everything also goes with it…stocks, bonds, commodities, derivatives and other investments are all priced in a nation’s currency. If you destroy the currency, you destroy all markets and the nation.”

In light of the above facts, it seems we are in the slowdown, and the shutdown or collapse is staring us in the face. So, how will the politicians extricate the U.S. from the bottomless pit—dug by the same politicians?

Enter the shakedown phase.

The London Telegraph of January 4, 2014, reported, “Much of the Western world will require defaults, a savings tax and higher inflation to clear the way for recovery as debt levels reach a 200-year high, according to a new report by the International Monetary Fund.”

Author Ambrose Evans-Pritchard opined that the debts of many nations are so huge that it “will require a wave of haircuts, either negotiated 1930s-style write-offs or the standard mix of measures used by the IMF in its ‘toolkit’ for emerging market blow-ups.” He says that what debtor nations must and will do is use huge taxes, massive inflation, and debt repudiation to stay afloat. He says we will all get a close-cut financial “haircut.”

I think he means a scalping, not a haircut.

That amounts to a shakedown. There will be no other choice. Weary, worn, wrathful citizens will be forced to pay for the failure and corruption of generations of pompous, prissy, profligate politicians.

Slowdown, shutdown, or shakedown? All three are in your future, ending with a showdown! I’m afraid that the sky is falling after all.

(Dr. Don Boys is a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives who ran a large Christian school in Indianapolis and wrote columns for USA Today for 8 years. Boys authored 18 books, the most recent Muslim Invasion: The Fuse is Burning! eBook is available here with the printed edition (and other titles) at www.cstnews.com. Follow him on Facebook at Don Boys, Ph.D., and visit his blog. Send a request to DBoysphd@aol.com for a free subscription to his articles, and click here to support his work with a donation.)

However, the roaring twenties came to a sickening halt on Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929 when the stock market hit bottom and newspaper headlines screamed, “Wall Street in Panic as Stocks Crash!”

America and the world got a sense of reality that resonates today—a scientific fact became reality: what goes up also goes down.

This economic disaster was worldwide and lasted longer and was more devastating than any financial crisis in the history of the industrialized world. America was hurting all across the fruited plain as a result of the Great Depression and that was made worse by the drought and dust storms in the 1930s

In 1930, severe droughts in the Southern Plains brought high winds and dust from Texas to Nebraska, killing people, livestock and crops. With no jobs and no savings, consumer debt proliferated. Then the drought in the Midwest was followed by crop failure; other farmers left crops to rot in the fields as people starved in other parts of the distressed nation.

Thousands of farmers lost their farms that were engulfed by the dust storms. Not too smart farming, especially over-cultivation, had caused the Midwest to turn into a Dust Bowl.

Americans were forced to buy on credit with no jobs or money resulting in numerous foreclosures and repossessions that constantly climbed.

U.S. unemployment soared to 25% and wages fell for those fortunate few who had a job. When their money ran out, people stopped spending, only accelerating the panic. Since so many people were unemployed, the Gross National Product plummeted into the basement to 50%.

Unemployed citizens pulled savings out of their accounts triggering a bank run that caused half the nation’s banks to close. In 1933, all U.S. banks were closed by order of President Roosevelt. There were about 9,000 bank failures during the ten year depression. In 1933 alone, Americans lost $140 billion dollars and there was no federal insurance to reimburse the depositors.

Long lines of the unemployed (15 million) were common as were soup kitchens. Once wealthy men lost everything and jumped from the high windows of their plush offices. Others, literally sold fruit on the street for pennies. Hundreds of men carried signs informing all that they were unemployed and would take any job.

Many large cities had their shantytowns where once prosperous or at least middle class people now lived in squalor. Millions of Americans lived in the illegal, but tolerated ramshackle dwellings.

In desperation, Americans turned to the Democrats for their salvation; their savior was President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR). The leftist president signed the New Deal into law creating 42 new government agencies. The most long-lasting result of the Great Depression was the Social Security System that plagues and pleases (depending on one’s perspective) our nation yet today. Socialism was introduced to America and will unfortunately stay until the millennium.

After a devastating, dismal, and destructive ten years, the depression ended, not by FDR’s socialist alphabet federal agencies, but by World War II.

During the ten-year depression, politicians vied with each other to gain the ear and the vote of Americans. Roosevelt had already primed the pump but the water turned out to be bitter. Such difficult conditions brought out the worst of people—including more socialist politicians who demagogued their way into office.

An ostentatious, loud, grandiose senator from Louisiana named Huey “the Kingfish” Long took the stage in 1935 with his “Share the Wealth” plan—which included a guaranteed minimum income of $2,500 for every adult, old-age pensions for all, cancellation of all personal debts, free college, a thirty hour work week; four weeks of vacation for everyone, and an electric refrigerator and automobile for every America home.

There were over 27,431 local Share the Wealth Clubs, with over 7 million members nationwide promoting Socialism.

Americans were swallowing the socialism pill.

Like all demagogues, the Kingfish went after the corporations and billionaires (who had provided millions of jobs) as looters, moral lepers, and thieves. Sound familiar?

Just after his 42nd birthday, Senator Long was shot in Baton Rouge, the state capital, and died saying, “God, don’t let me die. I have so much to do.” But he died and nascent Socialism’s ascendency was delayed.

FDR projected a calm energy and optimism, famously declaring, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” No, all you have to fear are self-righteous, zealous, Socialists—many of them Democrat presidential candidates.

Every Democrat candidate is so leftist, they make Huey Long and FDR look like flaming Libertarians.

(Dr. Don Boys is a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives who ran a large Christian school in Indianapolis and wrote columns for USA TODAY for 8 years. Boys authored 18 books, the most recent Muslim Invasion: The Fuse is Burning! eBook is available here with the printed edition (and other titles) at www.cstnews.com. Follow him on Facebook at Don Boys, Ph.D. ; and visit his blog. Send request to DBoysphd@aol.com for a free subscription to his articles, and click here to support his work with a donation.)

In the last few years the world has seen one economy grow like never in world history—China has exploded on the world scene. A few years ago China made no laptops and now makes more than 40% of them that are sold worldwide. They produce about 40% of the world’s cell phones and half the shoes of the world! The Chinese make the television sets and Americans watch them. Chinese peasants are saving 40% of their meager incomes and Americans are saving none! Of course, since we spend 10% more than we make, it is impossible to save.

China’s economy has slowed and they have sold 520 billion dollars in U.S. Treasury Bills in the past 15 months! They are dumping their U.S. debt; moreover, this month China announced that they purchased 600 tons of gold in one month! What does China know that others don’t know? Furthermore, economists believe that China is not dumping dollars because of retaliation against the U.S. but because of massive internal problems.

Millions of U.S. jobs have been lost to Mexico, India, and the rest of the world. Bankruptcies, personal and corporate, are at an all-time high. Detroit; Jefferson City, AL; Orange County, CA; Stockton, CA; and San Bernardino, CA have gone bankrupt to the tune of billions of dollars. And note that three of the five are located in California ruled by “Moonbeam” Brown.

Montgomery Ward, a solid fixture in America’s past, has been long dead and not even known by many Americans. Gone is Enron, Pacific Gas and Electric, Radio Shack and others! A & P is gasping for breath and will be dead in a few months; a sickly Kmart (who bought sickly Sears) and J.C. Penny are in their death throes; Abercrombie & Fitch is dying for which no one should mourn; even IBM is valiantly struggling to stay alive. GM and Chrysler are still breathing only because U.S. taxpayers (Obama) bailed them out of deep water. The clock is ticking and Americans are sleeping. But “after all, this is America” and “it can never be like it was during the Great Depression.” Can it?

However, financial experts like James Cook say otherwise: “In a country where savings are negligible, spoiled and pampered people are commonplace, millions of people enjoy subsidies and half the people can’t scrape a thousand bucks together, you have the formula for national bankruptcy,… and confiscatory government.”

Michael O’Higgins, Money Manager answers, “When you say it can’t be like 1929 through 1931 [when stocks lost 89 percent of their value], you’re right. It could be worse.” Fear mongering? No, just the facts.

Dr. Kurt Richebacher, financial wizard was asked: What’s the nature of this recession you predict? He answered: “It will prove unusually severe and long.”

Bill Buckler, wrote, “Asian Central Banks alone hold $US 1.4 TRILLION in liquid U.S. ‘paper.’ If just a part of this immense stock of funds lent to the U.S. were to start to run for the exits, the entire U.S. financial system would be forced up against a wall and then off a cliff.” The stampede has started. In the January 23, 2004 issue of the Asian Times they opined: “All Beijing has to do is to mention the possibility of a sell order going down the wires. It would devastate the U.S. economy more than any nuclear strike.”

We are told by the talking heads on television that the stock market will bounce back, but they don’t tell viewers that the market also bounced back following the crash in 1929 only to crash later! Besides there is more to the economy than the stock market.

While I am by no means a financial expert I can read graphs and make comparisons. I would not be in the stock market except for gold and silver stocks or unless the funds I invested in had some kind of insurance guarantee. But then if the whole economy goes down the tubes, most “guarantees” would be worthless. I would use any “bounce” in the market to get out especially if I could make a profit. Then I would put that money in rental property. In most areas you can purchase doublewide mobile homes for a very reasonable amount and rent them for $600 or more per month. Before making a commitment you should check all local ordinances to make sure there are no prohibitions regarding mobile homes.

Try to scale down your lifestyle in preparation for difficult times ahead. Do you (or your adult children) really need such an expensive home? Or automobile? Why not purchase a smaller home or smaller car? It is incredible that so many homeowners are paying $1000 and $1,200 per month for a home when they can hardly make the payments. Many have second mortgages having been told to “take your cash value” in your home; however, your home isn’t a life insurance policy. It is your home. And home prices fluctuate. Very foolish people take a second mortgage on their home to purchase other items or to pay monthly bills! That is a scenario for disaster. You can’t borrow yourself into financial freedom just as you can’t fornicate your way back to virginity.

The money managers in the U.S. Government have kept interest rates down so that young couples find it difficult to resist borrowing to finance their high standard of living, but such decisions are insane. Thus far, it has worked. In fact, that has probably been what has kept our nation from going bankrupt but Ludwig von Mises was right when he advised: “Expansion of credit does lead to a boom at first, it is true, but sooner or later this boom is bound to crash and bring about a new depression.”

Those of you who are in your 60s should look very closely at your finances. If you have a choice of taking a lump sum retirement or monthly payments, I would go with the lump sum. Many pension plans are billions of dollars underfunded. I don’t mean to scare you but some funds may not survive the next two years. Washington insiders are very concerned about pension plans, and the federal insurer undergirding 31,000 U.S. pension plans confessed that there are “multi-faceted and profound challenges” ahead for Americans.

It is time to reevaluate your financial position, and make decisions to cover various contingencies whenever possible. Simplify your life, scale down your lifestyle, and get out of debt.

The party is almost over.

http://bit.ly/1iMLVfY Watch these 8 minute videos of my lecture at the University of North Dakota: “A Christian Challenges New Atheists to Put Up or Shut Up!”

However, I am sure that America and the free world face a catastrophic financial meltdown because it is not reasonable to believe we can spend far more money than we take in. Almost 19 trillion dollars of debt is proof of criminal behavior. Everyone knows it is immoral to pass on trillions of dollars of debt to our posterity and repudiation of that debt is just as immoral. The meltdown will be heightened because we have a nation of free loaders who don’t know how to work and don’t even think they are required to work. The fact that the dollar is almost worthless will destroy us even quicker.

My support for belief in a total collapse of the economy with attending gang wars, race wars, home invasions, breakdown of law and order (remember Katrina?), disappearance of food and its production, and massive unemployment is the following.

It was a fantastic year when the stock market boomed and major U.S. companies made huge profits in domestic and foreign markets. New technology totally changed many industries, and financial pundits told us that we were on the edge of a new level of prosperity. Politicians, business leaders, and economists told us that the future was incredibly bright. No, that was not in recent years but in 1929! From May of 1928 to September of 1929, stocks jumped forty percent! In fact, trading in 1929 was more than twice that of 1928.

Newspaper headlines on Oct. 24, 1929 (Black Thursday) screamed, “Wall Street in Panic as Stocks Crash.” President Hoover (not President Roosevelt as Biden declared!) assured the American public that it was only a little correction, but the prosperous became paupers overnight. The best stock on Wall Street was General Motors, selling for 73 and after the crash, it fell to eight!

Men jumped from skyscrapers when their wealth was wiped out in the market. Powerful men were reduced to selling fruit on the streets for pennies. Bread lines were a block long. U.S. unemployment was 25% and about 10,000 banks failed. In addition, our nation did not come out of that depression until the Second World War– twelve long years! Better keep that fact in mind.

It must be kept in mind that even after the stock market crash, political, business, and financial leaders were telling all who would listen that it wasn’t really that bad! The U.S. Secretary of Commerce reported in early 1930 that business was doing well! He said that 1930 would be a “normal” year and those who predicted prolonged depression were “foolish.”

The New York Times jumped into the parade in its Jan. 24, 1930 issue with a headline blaring, “TRADE RECOVERY NOW COMPLETE—No Stimulants Needed—PROGRESS IN ALL LINES BY EARLY SPRING IS FORECAST.” Many major leaders gave such false assurances with no solid, sensible, or sane reason to support them. America was being broken, and our leaders were playing politics to keep everyone from further panic.

Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon assured the nation in early 1930, “I see nothing in the present situation that is either menacing or warrants pessimism.” Mellon must have been President of the League of the Willfully Blind!

Then, on Dec. 6, 1930, when the market had plunged through its 1929 low, unemployment was rising sharply, and business and bank failures were setting records, the Secretary of Commerce said in a radio speech, “We have weathered the storm and signs of stability and recovery are already appearing.” He must have been Vice-president of the League.

We are hearing the same kind of assurances today as the world is brought to its knees. (May not be a bad position!) So get ready for a wild ride that may last for years and be far worse than the hot shots in Washington and New York are telling us. Remember that these are the same people who took months before they used the word “Recession” while some of us knew we were in a “Depression.” It may be that in a few months everyone will use the word, “Panic.”

Economist Richard Yamarone said, “There is no light at the end of the tunnel, and the outlook is pitch black.” With a volatile stock market, U.S. jobless number is now about 9 million (although Forbes reports that the real number is twice that) and major banks and corporations are going belly-up. Millions have stopped looking for work and millions more are working fewer hours because of Obamacare. Your 401-k account may be worth only $401.00! It is almost too late to lash yourself to the mast to keep from being washed overboard.

While pessimism is not my nature, I see a dark cloud on the horizon. First, a major Depression followed by massive inflation. Informed Americans should make plans for some very difficult years ahead. Because life is so uncertain, every thoughtful person should always be prepared for anything. Get ready today for whatever may come tomorrow. Preppers are not only wise but are playing it safe.

I have written before that we don’t have to know the future to prepare for the future. So prepare today. The most compelling preparation is spiritual. Do you know Christ in forgiveness of sins? Are you in a good church that will provide support in time of disaster? Take care of those things immediately.

Try to get out of debt; keep as much cash on hand as possible; purchase some gold and as much silver as you can afford; look for a place to go if chaos hits town as gangs take over and law and order disappear; keep vehicles’ gas tanks full and extra fuel in a safe place; have a safe water supply that you control or stored water in glass jars; have a couple guns for protection against home invasions; have bleach for use in purifying water; purchase food in bulk such as large bags of rice, beans, oats, wheat from Sam’s or Costco’s; also purchase salt, pepper, peanut butter, raisins, nuts, honey, toilet paper, soap, tape, nails, tools, medicine, etc. Be sure to rotate the perishable food. Finally, everyone should have a garden, if only a few plants.

If the cock-eyed optimists are right and nothing happens then you have lost nothing and experienced many good nights of peaceful sleep. You can pour the water on your garden and the food you can eat for the next few months. For sure, the food will not be cheaper. It is win-win.

This is a good time to prepare a garden spot if you have any ground to use so you would need garden tools and other supplies as well as non-hybrid seeds. It would be good to plant some fruit trees.

Simply put: for the storm that is approaching, you need God, groceries, gold, guns, and a garden. Forget about living well because those days are gone for a long time, if not forever. Look for this headline: Panic on Wall Street and Main Street!

And that’s from an optimist! There is no silver lining, just a massive, dangerous, swirling, black cloud. It’s a major storm that will smack everyone.

http://bit.ly/1iMLVfY Watch these 8 minute videos of my lecture at the University of North Dakota: “A Christian Challenges New Atheists to Put Up or Shut Up!”

One portentous indication of trouble just surfaced on Jan. 3 when it was revealed in a headline: “Billionaires Dumping Stocks.” The article on Newsmax website reported that Warren Buffet is “dumping shares at an alarming rate.” In fact, he sold 19 million (no misprint) shares of Johnson & Johnson and he is very disappointed in Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods, and others.

Billionaire John Paulson also dumped 14 million shares of JPMorgan Chase, and all of his shares in Family Dollar and Sara Lee.

Then there’s billionaire George Soros, the radical leftist that conservatives love to hate, who sold almost all his shares of JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs. Obviously, George doesn’t have any confidence in financial stocks. Humm, wonder what he and his fellow billionaires know that we don’t know?

Maybe these wealthy elite know that a massive correction is coming on Wall Street. Highly revered economist Robert Wiedemer, author of the best seller Aftershock, says that the stock market could fall 90%! Wiedemer predicted the collapse of the housing market in an earlier book.

Standard and Poor’s suggested that Wiedemer’s prediction “demands our attention,” while Philip Gross, founding CFO of American Online said the book was “A compelling argument for a chilling conclusion.”

CNN reported that about half of Americans agree with the doomsday predictions: “48% [of Americans] see a second Great Depression.” I think it will be called, “the Greatest Depression.”

We must remember that our government is $17 trillion in debt, almost $150,000 per taxpayer! But then we must take our pencil from behind our ear and add Social Security obligations, Medicare, etc., totaling more than $100 trillion!

The average American needs to look at the facts, analyze his personal financial condition, and make some difficult decisions. Does he believe Obama who said, “The private sector is doing fine,” or does he consider that statement like Obama’s assurance that “You can keep your doctor, period.”? Or maybe he believes the Washington Post that assured us with a headline: “No Housing Bubble to Pop” or the Washington Times’ headline, “No Housing Trouble,” or the conservative National Review’s article, “Hate to Burst Your (Housing) Bubble, But There Isn’t One.” Or the revered Wall Street Journal: “Housing Bubble? The Market Won’t Pop.” Pop, pop, pop. They were all wrong!

Or the average American could believe the financial wizards on the television shows who never said a word about the imminent massive collapse of Enron in December of 2001. The financial experts were telling us to buy right up to the collapse! And they never apologized!

Everyone knows that those experts and many others were wrong about the housing bubble as they have been wrong about many things.

So, when the stock market hits bottom, 50% of Americans are out of work, bankruptcies soar skyward, and cities and states go belly-up as is happening as I write, you will know the nation is on the cusp of a shutdown mode. Does that mean riots in the streets accompanied by martial law? Wiedemer thinks not, since “that did not happen in the Great Depression.” However, the astute economist may know finances but he apparently doesn’t know human nature: this disaster will be far worse than the 1930s and Americans today don’t have the character those citizens had. Plan on it: panic, suicides, hunger, food riots, gang violence, etc. A recent British study declared that we were “nine meals from anarchy!” I don’t feel lonely anymore!

How do the optimists in their rosy glasses defend their positive view in light of our massive debt? Today, the U.S. has more government debt than any country in the history of the world! In fact, we have more national debt than all the nations in the European Union put together!

So, what is the Fed’s answer? Well, the Federal Reserve has been printing $85 billion per month; that’s more than a trillion dollars a year! That means the dollars in your pocket are worth less, or is that worthless?

Presently, when a nation wants to purchase a product from us or any other nation they usually make payments in U.S. dollars. They could choose the British pound sterling, the Chinese yuan, or the euro; however, only a few nations bypass the dollar. That is going to end. We have begun to see the “flight from the dollar.” China, Russia, and the United Nations, as well as some Muslim nations are already on record that they want to back off the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

Why is the U.S. dollar so special and is used by almost 70% of nations as the reserve currency? It is because the market for U.S. Treasury securities is “liquid and deep.” “Liquid” means the dollar can be sold quickly and “deep” means a large amount of dollars can be sold without impacting the price of the currency.

When I have traveled in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Australia, etc., I never changed dollars into the currency where I was traveling. I always used U.S. dollars but those days have changed. It is now common for the dollar to be refused as I experienced in Africa and Japan.

Sam Zell, the 60th richest man in the U.S., told CNBC: “My single biggest financial concern is the loss of the dollar as the reserve currency. I can’t imagine anything more disastrous to our country…I think you could see a 25% reduction in the standard of living in this country if the U.S. dollar was no longer the world’s reserve currency.”

James Richards wrote in his Currency Wars, “If the currency collapses, everything also goes with it…stocks, bonds, commodities, derivatives and other investments are all priced in a nation’s currency. If you destroy the currency, you destroy all markets and the nation.”

In light of the above facts, it seems we are in the slowdown, and the shutdown or collapse is starring us in the face. So, how will the politicians extricate the U.S. from the bottomless pit– dug by the same politicians? Enter the shakedown phase.

The London Telegraph of January 4, 2014 reported, “Much of the Western world will require defaults, a savings tax and higher inflation to clear the way for recovery as debt levels reach a 200-year high, according to a new report by the International Monetary Fund.” Author Ambrose Evans-Pritchard opined that the debts of many nations are so huge that it “will require a wave of haircuts, either negotiated 1930s-style write-offs or the standard mix of measures used by the IMF in its ‘toolkit’ for emerging market blow-ups.” He says that what debtor nations must and will do is use huge taxes, massive inflation, and debt repudiation to stay afloat. He says we will all get a close-cut financial “haircut.” I think he means a scalping, not a haircut.

That amounts to a shakedown. There will be no other choice. Weary, worn, wrathful citizens will be forced to pay for the failure and corruption of generations of pompous, prissy, profligate politicians.

Slowdown, shutdown, or shakedown? All three are in your future ending with a showdown! I’m afraid that the sky is falling after all.

http://bit.ly/1iMLVfY  Watch these 8 minute videos of my lecture at the University of North Dakota: “A Christian Challenges New Atheists to Put Up or Shut Up!” And pass it on!

Copyright 2014, Don Boys, Ph.D.

An old college friend asked me recently where I really think America is headed. I basically said that our nation is an out-of-control train running top speed with an incompetent and suicidal engineer at the throttle. To change metaphors, our country is a packed jumbo jet with an unlicensed pilot at the controls. (While he’s not a real pilot, he did have breakfast with one at one of those local motels a few years ago.)

To be fair, the incompetent “pilot” has had help from Republicans and Democrats, in and out of Congress, including George W. Bush. With that, Republican fanatics just turned me off and went to the fridge for a can of adult refreshment.

While I have been an optimist all my life, believing a sovereign God is in control of our lives and over this world; I am convinced God permits us to hang ourselves. Believing that we will reap what we have sowed and we will reap proportionally, I think, out of various possibilities, we are going to experience the worst-case scenario. Yes, that is positive pessimism.

In no obvious sequence, I see the following taking place.

We are facing almost total rejection of mainline political parties with an infusion of new blood coming to power that may or may not keep their word once they get to Washington. It seems that when politicians arrive in D. C. they turn to the left. Power usually does that. They contract “Potomac fever” and become raving, lying, power-hungry aristocrats as the fever makes them think they really deserve all the praise, perks, and power that are handed over to them. However, even if the soon-to-be elected crowd is very courageous, competent, and committed it is too late, in my opinion, to do much more than delay the dismantling.

The stock market could fall far below 5,000 and gold pass $5,000 an ounce and unemployment pass 25%, producing tent cities or shantytowns across the nation. Soup lines in every city will be as common as political ads in October, straining churches and charity groups to the breaking point.

With fewer Americans working, the state and federal governments will be unable to pay their bills causing the printing of even more money (more inflation) or repudiating debt, including Social Security, Medicare, Military pensions, etc. That would result in Americans feeling abandoned, angry, and alarmed. Their protests could make the storming of the French Bastille look like a schoolroom fuss.

As America comes apart at the seams, I will be shocked if a coup d’état does not occur carried out by retired and presently serving military personnel who have been horrified watching America become a third world nation. When they are convinced that America has been taken over and is being dismantled, it will not be difficult for men to convince themselves that they have a duty to “do something” to save this country. After all, they will justify their action because “We took an oath to defend our country against domestic and foreign enemies.”

Muslim fanatics will take advantage of our problems or may be used as the trigger for these problems by launching a massive attack against our churches, governments, police departments, schools, and any place easily accessible to them. Alternatively, the attack may be low tech such as suicide bombers or mass random shootings since those are not complex and can be easily carried out causing unrest, uncertainty, and unlawfulness throughout every hamlet, town, and city in America.

Our largest, glitziest malls will be turned into ghost malls with only a few retail stores still in business.

We may see astronomical crime rates with child abuse, armed robbery, kidnappings, shootings, extortion, etc., doubling within months, and prisons packed and seething with angry, desperate, and hopeless people ready to explode

Frustrated, fearful people living on the edge will force divorce, abortion, and suicide rates into the stratosphere.

With crime exploding, police forces will be cut to the bone, leaving citizens without any promise of protection, forcing homeowners to defend themselves. .

As funding to cities and counties stops, so will the services as garbage stacks up, school buses stop running, all unnecessary classes eliminated such as all sports, foreign languages, home economics, shop, art, music, etc. Teachers and students will protest to no avail since if no funds are available, no checks can be written. I.O.U.’s will be normal for state and federal workers.

Gangs, KKK, skinheads, and other opportunists may control parts of major cities even into the suburbs. A spark such as the killing of a political demagogue or religious leader could ignite irrational actions resulting in major cities going up in flames. Gangs and mobs (but then, I repeat myself) would then take over neighborhoods and move to the countryside in search of food, fuel, and fun. Blood may run in the streets and neighborhoods as citizens fight back in self-protection.

My view of the immediate future and for decades ahead is one of gloom but long-term it is glory for Christians! However, we must live in the here and now, and Christians would be wise to plan for “hard times” because hard times are coming. During the trials, trouble, and turmoil ahead of us, men will finally realize that toys and things don’t matter and are not in the league with faith, friends, and family.

That’s what I think is really ahead of us. I hope and pray that I am wrong.

The party is ending and the hangover is here.

Copyright 2013, Don Boys, Ph.D.

It was a fantastic year when the stock market boomed and major U.S. companies made huge profits in domestic and foreign markets. New technology totally changed many industries, and financial pundits told us that we were on the edge of a new level of prosperity. Politicians, business leaders, and economists told us that the future was incredibly bright. No, that was not in recent years but in 1929! From May of 1928 to September of 1929, stocks jumped forty percent! In fact, trading in 1929 was more than twice that of 1928.

Newspaper headlines on Oct. 24, 1929 (Black Thursday) screamed, “Wall Street in Panic as Stocks Crash.” President Hoover (not “President Roosevelt” as our newly elected VP declared!) assured the American public that it was only a little correction, but the prosperous became paupers overnight. The best stock on Wall Street was General Motors, selling for 73 and after the crash, it fell to eight!

Men jumped from skyscrapers when their wealth was wiped out in the market. Powerful men were reduced to selling fruit on the streets for pennies. Bread lines were a block long. U.S. unemployment was 25% and about 10,000 banks failed. In addition, our nation did not come out of that depression until the Second World War, twelve long years! Better keep that fact in mind.

It must be kept in mind that even after the stock market crash, political, business, and financial leaders were telling all who would listen that it wasn’t really that bad! The U.S. Secretary of Commerce reported in early 1930 that business was doing well! He said that 1930 would be a “normal” year and those who predicted prolonged depression were “foolish.” Then, on Dec. 6, 1930, when the market had plunged through its 1929 low, unemployment was rising sharply and business and bank failures were setting records, he said in a radio speech, “We have weathered the storm and signs of stability and recovery are already appearing.” He must have been president of the League of the Willfully Blind!

Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon assured the nation in early 1930, “I see nothing in the present situation that is either menacing or warrants pessimism.” Mellon must have been vice-president of the League.

The New York Times jumped into the parade in its Jan. 24, 1930 issue with headline blaring,
“TRADE RECOVERY NOW COMPLETE—No Stimulants Needed—PROGRESS IN ALL LINES BY EARLY SPRING IS FORECAST.” Many major leaders gave such false assurances with no solid, sensible, or sane reason to believe them. America was being broken, and our leaders were playing politics to keep everyone from panicking.

We are hearing the same kind of assurances today as the world is brought to its knees. (May not be a bad position!) So get ready for a wild ride that may last for years and be far worse than the hot shots in Washington and New York are telling us. Remember that these are the same people who only now are using the word “Recession” while some of us are using the word “Depression.” It may be that in a few weeks everyone will use the word, “Panic.”

Economist Richard Yamarone said recently, “There is no light at the end of the tunnel, and the outlook is pitch black.” With stocks in a free fall, U.S. jobless number is now at 10 million, major banks and corporations going belly-up, it is almost too late to lash yourself to the mast to keep from being washed overboard. Don’t even open your monthly 401-k statement. It may be worth only $401.00!

While pessimism is not my nature, I see a dark cloud on the horizon. First, a major Depression followed by massive inflation. Informed Americans should make plans for some very difficult years ahead. Because life is so uncertain, every thoughtful person should always be prepared for anything. Another terrorist attack is coming with only the date unknown; a major natural catastrophe totally unforeseeable; a major race war touched off by some religious or racial nut; or a total collapse of the economy resulting in no jobs, no money, no gas, no food, and no silver lining. Get ready today for whatever may come tomorrow.

I have written before that we don’t have to know the future to prepare for the future. So prepare today. The most compelling preparation is spiritual. Do you know Christ in forgiveness of sins? Are you in a good church that helps provide support? Take care of those things immediately.

Then head for the store and purchase what you need to stay alive. Humans need, that is absolutely need, air (can’t do much about that), water, food, and shelter. Everyone should maintain a rotating food pantry of non-perishable foods such as dried beans, rice, salt, honey, and canned foods (which don’t require cooking) to name a few to get you thinking. Also, think about essential personal products and include toilet paper, soap, and medicines.

This is a good time to prepare a garden spot if you have any ground to use so you would need garden tools and other supplies as well as non-hybrid seeds. It would be good to plant some fruit trees.

Simply put: For the storm that is approaching, you need God, groceries, gold, guns, and a garden. Forget about living well because those days are gone for a long time, if not forever. Look for this headline: PANIC ON WALL STREET AND MAIN STREET!

And that’s from an optimist!

DUMPies are Destitute Unprepared Mature People who had “confidence in the system” and who were “sure everything will work out all right.” However, their faith was in the wrong place.

My view of the immediate future is one of gloom but long-term it is glory! However, we must live in the here and now, and Christians would be wise to plan for “hard times” because hard times are coming.

The financial experts (those talking heads who never told people to sell before the dot.com crash and the present popping of the real estate bubble) always put a positive spin on every negative problem. Every downturn is always a “buying opportunity.” However, when you look at the unemployment figures, plunging real estate values, consumer spending, manufacturing, savings, bankruptcies (personal and corporate), credit-card debt and loan defaults, it is obvious that the nation’s economy is in deep trouble.

Those of us not trained in economics can understand a simple fact: when falling income and rising debt converge on the same family or business, the result is financial disaster. We are at that juncture today, even a Harvard professor knows we are in a recession and speeding swiftly into a major depression! Yet the wise guys on Wall Street and media pundits tell us “we are in recovery.”

However, remember that not one famous Wall Street oracle told us to SELL before the market started sliding. No, it is always a “buying opportunity.” You see they are called “brokers” because if you deal with them very much you will be broke! Do you know that none of the Wall Street hot shots or television pundits told us to sell Enron even as close as a couple of weeks before it sank! As the ship was going down, it was time to buy more shares of the Titanic!

I expect many large corporations, banks, S & Ls, and insurance companies to go belly up. If one has money, he should diversify. In fact, rather than have savings or CDs in banks, I would have some in Swiss annuities.

Swiss insurance and annuities are 100% funded by a currency not backed by gold but “as if it were.” There is no reporting to the IRS or any other agency and no taxes are paid until one receives payments, usually when one is much older and is required to pay less taxes. These financial instruments are easily purchased (at the present time) from US representatives—at no commission although Swiss companies may not solicit business in the U.S. One may buy directly from Swiss companies or use a U.S. rep. The interest on Swiss annuities is higher than what U.S. companies are paying.

My point is to do what the very wealthy have done for 300 years: send some of your money where it is safe. Often the very wealthy are greedy but they aren’t stupid. They send their wealth outside the states before the blood flows in the street—Wall Street, that is. However, I don’t believe there is much safety anywhere.

Our problems are not exclusively American. Japan had been sinking into recession for many years after many of their high dollar U.S. investments went south a few years ago. You may remember that Japan walked away from their investment in Rockefeller Plaza. Recently, Japan’s large banks have improved their financial standing.

Japan is the lender to the world—the source of 60% of the world’s loans. Where will the money come from when Japan dries up like an old Jersey cow?

The party is over in South Africa and disagreement, disdain, and distrust rule the day. The silver lining is gone and a dark cloud hangs over the nation in which liberals had put much hope. Mandela promised homes and jobs and was not able to produce, and the natives are restless on the reservations. It is a nation of malcontents, and any small spark could set off a powder keg that would reverberate around the globe.

Mexico has problems in at least 14 states besides Chiapas. Two political assassinations and about 200 extortion kidnappings have not helped stabilize the nation where the peso was devalued in 1994. The U.S. bail out was too little too late. I expect massive bankruptcies, social unrest, assassinations, political corruption and general turmoil. Moreover, it is folly to think it will not cross the Rio Grande. Everything else has!

Putin may lose control of Russia and a new “strong man” may appear who will try to reconstruct some of their losses after Communism’s collapse. I see many more problems between Russia and former members of the Soviet Union. Many of the “republics” have “former” Communists in the driver’s seat, and they can’t drive since they always turn left! In addition, the Russian mafia is almost running the nation. It is sure running many of the banks. Bribery, political corruption and intimidation are widespread. Not only could the economy collapse, but also anarchy could be their future.

Of course, there are massive problems in France, England, Germany, etc. The dark cloud covers most of the world indicating a storm is coming. Make reasonable preparations, and lash yourself to the Mast. Finally, be of good cheer for the Son is above the storm!

I am suggesting that the party is over. Difficult days are ahead for all of us. It is time to save, cut back, make do, do without, plant a garden, fill a large pantry with food and water, and buy some gold and silver. Abraham did!

Don’t become a DUMPy.

While I am not a pessimist, I do believe you should prepare for very difficult days ahead. If you are planning on Social Security or even a corporate pension to support you, you may be standing on a bridge of mist.

I suggest that everyone develop a second profession or trade. A lawyer should learn carpet laying; a physician should learn to refinish furniture; a teacher should learn plumbing; a salesman should learn small engine repair. Moreover, everyone should plant a garden—and not only for health reasons.

Make plans now to get out of debt personally and corporately. Churches should start debt retirement projects. If I were a pastor of a church that owned multi-acres, I would seriously consider selling a few acres to pay off the debt.

Of course, churches cannot put every building program on hold and not make moves that circumstances require, but I would move slowly with any building program whether for a church or a business.

Therefore, what should prudent Americans do about a major catastrophe that is about to hit us right between the eyes? Get out of debt if possible. Sell your stock; after all, something is better than nothing. Take any temporary rise in prices as an opportunity to sell any stocks except possibly gold and silver shares. I also suggest that you get a part-time income if your job is insecure (and whose is not?), or better yet, start a sideline business.

In addition, don’t plan on retiring! Retirement is never found in the Scripture. Adam was to work to the day of his death. There is something carnal about waiting all your life until the day when you can lie around all the time, fishing, hunting, and generally playing. Of course, bad health can demand that you stop working. However, you cannot count on your pension plan being available or sufficient to replace your working income. Moreover, those under 50 are very foolish or naïve if they plan on Social Security to provide the necessary retirement income. Work is in your future, and a wise move on your part would be to plan for that now. If not, plan to be a stock “boy” at the local supermarket, greeter at Wal-Mart or item checker at Sam’s.

If (when) total financial collapse comes, the cities will be madhouses, so make plans to get your family to safety—that means at least 20-30 miles from a metropolitan area. Property values are still reasonable in small towns and a wise investment might be to buy a rental that you could move to when dangerous times arrive. On the other hand, you could buy a lot on a lake or a mountainside and put a mobile home on it. You could always rent it or retire there if the future turns rosy.

We will be going back to the days when 8 or 10 family members live in the same house because of difficulty in renting or buying a house. Older people will live with their married children and grandchildren—three generations in the same house. Dumpies—Destitute Unprepared Mature People will be everywhere. Few people will drive a new car and vacations will be short, or non-existent. People will once again learn to “make do” with what they have.

It would be prudent to purchase some freeze-dried food from some survival outfit and a few five-gallon cans of wheat and corn. The food you ate today traveled 1500 miles to get to your table. If the terrorists hit delivery trucks, bridges, and tunnels leading to major cities will food and fuel be transported? You should also have many gallons of water packed away for an emergency. Most people think such suggestions are extremist, but not so.

Our grandparents would not have considered having empty pantries. After all, disasters do happen, don’t they? A wise person plans for all contingencies as much as is possible. If the water is not used, pour it on your garden, and eat the stored food. After all, the price of food will not go down.

If there is a financial collapse, you can count on a breakdown of law and order. Surely, there is no question about that. In event of riots, it would be wise to have a couple of guns and ammo available! What, a Christian shooting someone? Yes, in my home it will happen if necessary. If a mob kicks down my door, be assured that they will be shot. Then I will expect a commendation from the governor for doing all people in Georgia a favor! It is very “Christian” to protect your family.

Rememer that one of Christ’s last commands to His Disciples was to buy a sword. Why did He say that? Because shotguns hadn’t been invented yet!

(Many more columns