Although the letter may be fictional, I think it summarizes our economic situation perfectly and shows how the government’s tax and “stimulus” policies are doing nothing but worsening the current situation. I just don’t get how these politicians with no business experience think they can fix the economic crisis we are in.

It’s time to get your preps in order because the worst is yet to come…

Subject: Letter from the Boss

To All My Valued Employees,

There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy doesn’t pose a threat to your job.

What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country. Of course, as your employer, I am forbidden to tell you whom to vote for – it is against the law to discriminate based on political affiliation, race, creed, religion, etc.

Please vote who you think will serve your interests the best. However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interest. First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understand that for every business owner there is a back story.

This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear sure, you see me park my Mercedes outside. You’ve seen my big home at last year’s Christmas party. I’m sure all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life. However, what you don’t see is the back story.

I started this company 12 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 300 square foot studio apartment for 3 years. My entire living space was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company which, by the way, would eventually employ you.

My diet consisted of Ramen noodles because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a defective transmission. I didn’t have time to date. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business — hard work, discipline, and sacrifice.

Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50K a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes. Instead of hitting Nordstrom’s for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the Goodwill store extracting any clothing item that didn’t look like it was birthed in the 70′s.

My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.

So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9 a.m., mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5 p.m., I don’t. There is no “off” button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have the weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat, ****, and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this business is attached to me like a one day old baby.

You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden — the nice house, the Mercedes, the vacations. You never realized the back story and the sacrifices I’ve made. Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right decisions, sacrificed and saved his money, have to bail-out all the people who didn’t.

The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for. Yes, business ownership has is benefits but the price I’ve paid is steep and not without wounds. Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why:

I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don’t pay enough. I have state taxes. Federal taxes. Property taxes. Sales and use taxes. Payroll taxes. Workers compensation taxes. Unemployment taxes. Taxes on taxes. I have to hire a tax man just to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time. On Oct 15th, I wrote a check to the US Treasury for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my “stimulus” check was? Zero. Nada. Zilch.

The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Is it me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over 2,200,000 people per year with a flourishing business? Or, is it the single mother sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting for her next welfare check?

Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this country. The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your paycheck you’d quit and you wouldn’t work here. I mean, why should you? That’s nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree which is why your job is in jeopardy. Here is what many of you don’t understand … to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had suddenly government mandated to me that I didn’t need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Washington black-hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But you can forget it now.

When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don’t defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to life, do you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart? Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it. Suddenly, the power brokers in Washington believe the mud of America are the essential drivers of the American economic engine.

Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of change you can keep. So where am I going with all this? It’s quite simple. If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I fire you. I fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your SUV payment and for your child’s future. Frankly, it isn’t my problem any more. Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire.

You see, I’m done. I’m done with a country that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship.

While tax cuts to 95% of America sounds great on paper, don’t forget the back story: If there is no job, there is no income to tax. A tax cut on zero dollars is zero. So, when you make decision to vote, ask yourself, who understands the economics of business ownership and who doesn’t? Whose policies will endanger your job? Answer those questions and you should know who might be the one capable of saving your job. While the media wants to tell you “It’s the economy Stupid” I’m telling you it isn’t.

If you lose your job, it won’t be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country, steamrolled the Constitution, and will have changed its landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about.

Signed, your boss

via abovetosecret.com

Meltdown, a 4-part documentary by Al Jazeera deals with what caused the crash, how it spread like a cancer throughout the world, who were affected the most, and how the world leaders are (conveniently) rethinking capitalism.

Even though I’m not a big fan of Al Jazeera, they did a great job of bringing to light some of the key players involved in this financial mess (although I feel the rabbit hole does indeed go much deeper).

Each episode is around 45 minutes but well worth it.

Part 1: THE MEN WHO CRASHED THE WORLD

In the first episode of Meltdown, we hear about four men who brought down the global economy: a billionaire mortgage-seller who fooled millions; a high-rolling banker with a fatal weakness; a ferocious Wall Street predator; and the power behind the throne.

PART 2: THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL TSUNAMI

In the second episode of Meltdown, we see how the financial tsunami swept the world. We hear about a renegade executive who nearly destroyed the global financial system and the US treasury secretary who bailed out his friends.

PART 3: PAYING THE PRICE

The third episode of Meltdown looks at how the victims of the 2008 financial crash fight back. A protesting singer in Iceland brings down the government; in France a union leader oversees the kidnapping of his bosses; and thousands of families are made homeless in California.

PART 4: AFTER THE FALL

In the final episode of Meltdown, we hear about the sheikh who says the crash never happened; a Wall Street king charged with fraud; a congresswoman who wants to jail the bankers; and the world leaders who want a re-think of capitalism.

In his interview with Infowars Nightly News host Alex Jones, he lays out the coming trends just over the horizon:

Gerald Celente on the Timeline for Collapse and Recommendations

When is it going to collapse? Like I said, I’ve never seen a summer like this. I think we’re going to see the Winter of Discontent…You’re going to start seeing an unraveling more and more every day as you watch the news. So, October is my month, and it’s only a guesstimate, that we’re going to see the big unraveling.

Even if it doesn’t happen in October, because you don’t know what phony schemes they’re going to come up with, it’s going to happen eventually. And, that’s why I’m fully invested in gold.

…

Look at housing. How many times did they say the real estate market is turning around. It’s worse. It’s worse than it was during the Great Depression, and it’s only going to get worse.

…
We’re seeing a collapse happening. It’s an economic collapse worldwide.

China’s not going to make it out of it, Brazil’s not going to. That old saying ‘when America sneezes the world catches a cold’ – we’re the largest consumers hands down. Us and Europe are going under.

What we’re telling people is, know where you’re money is, because we’re going to see bank failures one after another…This thing is running out of control and we’re telling people to take proactive measures.

…

You better learn how to protect yourself. Gerald Celente’s three G’s. Gold, Guns and a Getaway Plan. Because it’s not going to be nice.

Increasing Civil Unrest in the United States

Look what’s going on in the UK. Look at the riots – they called them hooligans and criminals. It’s the same thing that’s happening around the world. And it’s going to happen here in the U.S.

You know my saying, ‘when people lose everything, and they have nothing left to lose, they lose it.’ And they’re losing it.

Use the UK as your model. They’re taking away all civil liberties…What happens is, the more the government loses control, the harder they are going to crack down on us.

So, when you see a society where so many young people have no education, they can’t get jobs, they’re wacked out on drugs… you think you’re going to see a lot more violence? The response is going to be ‘we gotta crack down on crime.’

The worse crime becomes, the harder they’re going to crack down on us.

They’ll use it… just as the United States used 9/11 to rape us of our Constitutional rights. That’s where we’re going and it’s only going to get much worse…

False Flag Attacks

Look for a false flag attack – be it terror, or something along the line of fear and hysteria. Things are going to get very ugly. Crime is going to escalate at levels we’ve never seen before. The presstitutes are going to keep coming out with these phony figures, just like they do with inflation, just like they do with unemployment. They’re going to come out with them in crime.

The Growing Gap between the Rich and Poor: The Great War of the 21st Century

It’s the beginning of the first great war of the 21st Century…The war is underway. It’s class warfare. It’s going to be a battle between the have’s and the have not’s. Only a very few have everything and way too many have much too little.

For the complete interview, see the following videos:

Japan’s most powerful earthquake since records began has struck off northeastern Japan this afternoon. The 8.9-magnitude earthquake triggered a massive 30 foot tsunami, swamping the Japanese shoreline, shaking Tokyo and causing fires to break out.

According to the Geological Survey, the epicenter of the quake was east of Sendai and northeast of Tokyo.

Watch the video footage (if reading this from the email be sure to click on this link if the video doesn’t appear):

What this Means to You

Disasters happen without warning

Even though we don’t live in Japan, this should be a wake-up call for all of us. Potential disasters can come to any of us at any time and we need to be vigilant and prepare for things that could affect us in our neck of the woods.

Natural disasters are on the rise

Whether you believe that climate change is due to man or the sun, we should all agree that the times they are a changin’. Natural disasters are on the rise and more and more we are seeing Katrina-level events happening throughout the world. This, I believe, is only going to increase.

A potential rise in oil prices

We are now a tightly linked world. No longer can we observe foreign events with detachment. Events in one part of the world can intimately affect us as well.

For example, this earthquake has shut down many oil refineries in Japan which will force them to seek for imports. Global suppliers, including refineries in California, may decide to go for the bigger buck and increase shipments to Japan instead of selling the fuel domestically, causing a bidding-up of prices.

What You Should be Doing

Brainstorm potential disasters in your area

It’s events like this that should motivate you to start thinking. What potential disasters could occur in your area? Do you live near a fault line? How about near a dam or a power plant? Is your area susceptible to major winter storms or summer hurricanes? How about power outages and water shortages?

Questions like these get your mind thinking about how best to prepare for the worst. It’s not negative thinking, it’s constructive thinking.

Begin with the basics

If you’re a complete newbie, then I would recommend first getting your food and water storage in order. Major disasters (and even minor ones) cause disruptions in our fragile communication and supply-line networks. Having at least a 3-month supply of food and (depending on your area) water stored up will give you some major piece of mind when disaster strikes.

Here is a list of articles that details where to begin and where to go from there:

• Getting Started with Food Storage
• Food Storage Basics: Step 1 – Water
• Food Storage Basics: Step 2 – Building a Three Month Supply
• Food Storage Basics: Step 3 – Long Term Storage
• Food Storage Basics: Step 4 – Non-Food Items
• The Basics and Beyond

If you have an hour and fifteen minutes to spare, I would highly recommend you watching this next video. He does an excellent job at encapsulating exactly how we got into the economic state we are in as well as the problems we are facing in the near future:

Although this should come as no surprise to most of my readers, we are seeing more and more evidence that California is hemorrhaging and on the verge of complete collapse. To put it in perspective, they are so far in the hole that it would take freeing 168,000 prison inmates and permanently closing 240 university and community college campuses just to balance its budget in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

California, once the third-largest economy in the world, is becoming the next Greece. The California government has spent so far beyond its means that mass layoffs, a failing infrastructure, and welfare reductions that leave a million children and the poor and elderly without the services they need are now the norm.

Unemployment in some areas of California is at Great Depression levels. In fact, the total number of people unemployed in the state of California is equal to the populations of Nevada, Vermont, and New Hampshire combined.

On top of that, California’s health care system is also on the verge of system failure.  Over the past ten years, dozens of California hospitals and emergency rooms have shut down. Why? They weren’t able to keep up with the endless influx of illegal immigrants, unemployed Californians and homeless people who could not pay for the services that they were receiving.

As a result, the rest of the health care system in California is now completely overloaded and long waits, and even unnecessary patient deaths are becoming commonplace.

To resolve this issue, California policy makers are begging the Federal Government for bailout funds proclaiming that they too are “too big to fail”.

What This Means

As California goes, so goes the nation.

Even if you don’t live in California, this should give you reason to be concerned. California’s economy is very much intertwined with the rest of the nation. If California fails, be prepared to see the rest of the country to soon follow suit.

Besides that point, California is not the only state on the verge of bankruptcy (Florida, New York etc). The whole nation is infected.

We have become entitlement slaves

This once strongly independent and fiercely self-reliant country has turned into a population of entitlement slaves. Too many are dependent upon and expect to continue to be supported by government dole-outs. But this is completely unsustainable as we are seeing.

The system throughout the U.S. (and world) is collapsing and unless we revert back to the principles that founded this country (self-reliance, frugality, industry, faith) we all — not just California — are doomed to follow Greece.

As a side note, I find it ironic that the government of California — an overspending, overpromising, in-debt-up-to-its-eyeballs behemoth — is petitioning to an overspending, over promising, in-debt-up-to-its-eyeballs behemoth for a bailout. There’s something just not right about that.

How Does this Affect You?

If the saying “as California goes, so goes the nation” is true, we are in a world of hurt. For this purpose, if you haven’t yet, you’ll need to get yourselves prepared.

For you newbies who might be overwhelmed and not know where to begin, I’ve written some articles that lay out the process and begin with the basics:

Food & Water Storage and Beyond

Food & water storage should be the first thing you prepare your family with. It’s not just for end-of-the-world emergencies —  it’s pure common sense (ie you lose your job, food prices go through the roof with the devaluation of the currencies etc).

Here is a list of articles that details where to begin and where to go from there:

• Getting Started with Food Storage
• Food Storage Basics: Step 1 – Water
• Food Storage Basics: Step 2 – Building a Three Month Supply
• Food Storage Basics: Step 3 – Long Term Storage
• Food Storage Basics: Step 4 – Non-Food Items
• The Basics and Beyond

Efforts to prevent looters from entering neighborhoods after Chile's disaster include barricades like this one in Concepcion

In the wake of the earthquake, hundreds of Chilean survivors are forming organized neighborhood watch groups, arming themselves and barricading streets to protect their homes from looters.

The groups have taken over the role of security since the police were overwhelmed by looting and soldiers were not able to restore order quick enough after the disaster.

What this Means

Looting seems to be a common theme in natural disasters. When the grid goes down for a period of time and the first responders become overextended, 1) the less savory people of society see it as a free for all and go on a looting spree, and 2) when people become desperate enough due to lack of food and supplies they often resort to looting as well.

This is especially problematic in an extended grid-down situation.

To reduce inventory and the associated carrying costs, modern grocery stores receive their inventory “just in time” for the next day’s demand. When that supply line gets held up for whatever reason, those who are dependent upon the goods in that store go without.

These Just in Time (JIT) supply strategies allow for no extended stock of food and supplies — which is why we see the shelves become empty prior to impending storms. The longer the supply is gone the more desperate people become.

How Does it Effect You?

A neighbor guards his block from looters in Lota, Chile, on Wednesday. (Aliosha Marquez / AP)

Think again, it happened in Louisiana after the Katrina disaster and if another major disaster comes — economic or otherwise — it will happen again.

There are a number of lessons to be learned from this:

1. You must be prepared: Food (and water) storage is absolutely essential. A minimum of 3 months but ideally one year’s worth or more. For more info on how to get started with food storage be sure to read my Food Storage Basics article series.
2. Get to know your neighbors: Similar to these Chileans, banding together provides safety and security and besides, you can’t expect to man a 24/7 watch all by yourself.

   Get to know your neighbors now, before disaster strikes. If possible, come up with neighborhood disaster plans and discuss the possibility of how the neighborhood would respond to looters.

3. Arm yourself: When the law is not around and the lawless run amok, you are the last line of defense for your family.

   Just having firearms is not enough. Be sure to get the proper training. There are numerous civilian training schools around the country that teach personal defense with a firearm.

4. Beef up the security of your residence: Having a secure home is a good idea even without a mob of looters running around. Now’s the time to increase the security of your residence before the zombies come a’knocking.

Resources

This is by far THE best book out there for building a secure home. 700 pages of hard-core information (no fluff):

The Secure Home (by Joel Skousen)

• Chilean survivors arm selves against looters
• Chile earthquake: Why do people loot? – A look into the psychological reasons people loot.

In a recent issue of The Trends Journal, he wrote:

“Back in the Cold War days, survivalism meant building a bomb shelter and stocking it with enough food to outlast nuclear fallout.

In the late 1970’s, with inflation soaring, Iran raging, and gold and oil prices skyrocketing, survival meant cashing out of paper money and heading for the hills with enough ammunition and pork & beans to wait out the economic and political storms.

In 2000, the Y2K crowd – the most recent breed of survivalists – expecting computer clocks to crash, infrastructure to break down and the world to go dark, were armed and barricaded with enough food to feed an army and enough ammunition to hold one off.

In 2010, survivalism will go mainstream. Unemployed or fearing it, foreclosed or nearing it, pensions lost and savings gone … all sorts of folk who once believed in the system, having witnessed its battering, have lost their faith.

The realities of failing financial institutions, degrading infrastructure, manipulated marketplaces, soaring energy costs, widening wars, and terror consequences have created a new breed of survivalist. Motivated not by worst-case scenario fears but by do-or-die necessity, the new non-believers, unwilling to go under or live on the streets, will devise ingenious stratagems to beat the system, get off the grid (as much as possible), and stay under the radar.”

I think Gerald is right on the money here. I’ve been seeing the growth of survival and preparedness-related blogs/websites explode within the last year. More and more ‘mainstream’ folks are getting concerned about the fate of the nation — especially the economy — and as a result they are seeing the wisdom in preparing for what may come.

Overall I feel that this is all very positive. The more of us that are prepared the better off this nation and our communities will be.

If you haven’t by now, it’s time to get your food storage together, work on getting out of debt, and protect your wealth with strong hedges such as gold and silver. For step by step instructions in getting your food storage together and what to do after be sure to read the following articles I’ve written in the past:

• Food Storage Basics: Step 1 – Water
• Food Storage Basics: Step 2 – Building a Three-Month Supply
• Food Storage Basics: Step 3 – Long Term Storage
• Food Storage Basics: Step 4 – Non-Food Items
• Food Storage Basics: The Basics and Beyond

If this doesn’t spurn you on to get out of debt, and get some real assets (such as gold to save your wealth), then nothing will. Thanks Jimmy for keying me in to this vid!