Sociopaths see the financial collapse as a way to despotism, with them on top. It’s an opportunity for Hidden High Potentials with moral compasses, too. Some notes from a colleague on what’s going to happen and how long it may last.
One of my associates chimed in recently with his latest thoughts on the collapse. He’s had some interesting achievements, like selling off his two biotech startups and writing important articles in psychoanalysis and systems theory, among other things. He’s been right thus far about the severity of the collapse. He notes in a recent communication
Things seem to be as serious as I had expected—but we are just at the beginning. It is going to get quite a bit worse. However, I don’t think it will be as bad as past inflationary collapses (eg in the 14thC we had the Black Death, roaming bandits, famine and depopulation—well it might be like that in Russia!)….
In crises of this magnitude, things can go either way…. Best and most likely result would be that we muddle through for several years with a lot of pain, unemployment, repetitive asset destruction etc etc while developing new technologies and improving democratic systems—worst results might be collapse of the monetary system, China descends into social chaos, closure of borders with fascist controls, EU disintegration etc etc. It all depends on how constructively authorities and people generally respond to their stresses and losses….
By the way, all those out-of-work investment bankers and mortgage salesmen believed money grew on trees, so they will probably come to believe it is buried underground—anything but productive work. I suspect we may witness another gold rush before 2020.
You gotta love anyone who can talk about “past inflationary collapses” and mean the 14th century. He thinks it’s the end of a cycle that started with the last big collapse c. 1872.
XLF, which should be the marker, has not quite lost 80% of its peak value. I’m still betting on a 90% loss and anticipate market recovery by 2020 or so. Remember that it took markets twenty-five years to achieve 1929 pre-crash levels.
He’s not pessimistic: he sees this as a moment when the forces of Liberty, Freedom and Democracy will rise up again, when elites will stop backing fascist policies and demands restoration of rights, when strides in spiritual growth. I’m more optimistic than he is about the chance of a major military conflict between powers, which would take money and innovation out of the system, which further delays the recovery. Again, World War II may have gotten us out of the depression but the markets didn’t recover to peak until after the Korean War was done and America had fully joined the cold war with the Soviets. Yes, I’m still bullish on a Chinese-instigated conflict of major Asian powers. Like he says, it can go either way: the unlikely path forward is muddling through the middle.
For Hidden High Potentials, the worsening of the current crisis provides you with an opportunity that only comes by once every century. The people who have knocked you down are currently looking for saviours, and that means sociopaths are on the rise in democratic countries. The next gen of despots know what they will do with this opportunity. What will you do with it?