Essentially when you have money you will have monetary independence allowing you to do whatever you want to do. Currently we are four years into a depression, still there are many people who have been brain washed through mainstream media and phony government statistics that believe were in a recovery. If you were to take the long-term approach to this it would be painfully obvious that were far from any recovery. Depending upon how foolish the government reacts to real recovery, the current depression is going to only get much worse and be prolonged for years to come.
Reasons to be Optimistic
When it comes to optimism there are two reasons here that actually add up and make sense.
For starters every person on the planet would want to raise their standard of living while climbing the social ladder. For many, the best possible way to do this would be to produce more than they consume, putting aside the rest to savings. In essence this would create capital that in-turn could be invested into or loaned out for a productive project or endeavor. What could happen should forces beyond any control make it impractical or more difficult that it ought to be?
The other reason for optimism is in the technology development sector enabling the manipulation in the material world to best fit our needs. The development of this type of technology would further increase the supply of capital. As technologies become more and more complex increased capital expenditures are required. What would happen should there be a shortage of capital generation from businesses and individuals to supplement other technological advances?
Reasons to be Pessimistic
Technology and the accumulation of capital are two highly prevalent human factors of progress. These days however, reality is being masked by chaotic and caustic theories assisted by a world so difficult and complex that the mass majority cannot decipher its causes and effects. Additionally in the developed world people are complacent being they are so used to the good times. At the conclusion of WWII wealth and prosperity to those willing to take risks became an everlasting trait for the future.
The quality of life and high standards of living have been in a bubble. These are the main reasons that have been artificially inflated in the developed world. It is important that their not confused with the two causes that would create endless prosperity. There are three reasons; debt, inflation and the exportation of dollars.
Debt
In and of itself is not a bad thing. It allows capital to be dispersed usually done through lending. However for an economy to mature and grow the debt needs to be used for productive purposes, thereby consisting of short-term self liquidating debt. The majority of debt (in the trillions) the world owns today is for consumption, not production. Furthermore this debt is not self liquidating, it's compounding. It's mostly long-term debt that is not pegged or attached to assets of any kind.
Values of short-term loans are usually easy to calculate by the lender. However long-term debts such as 30 year loans realistically are not possible to calculate. The government's debt including debt from all branches of government, mortgages, students and consumers does not help anything. What in reality happens is that all the borrower's end up living off the capital that everyone else already accumulated. This makes debtors fiscal slaves indefinitely. This process has gone un-noticed by most of the world, including true believers of sound economics.
Inflation
Similar to debt but inflation has an effect that allows people to live beyond their means. The penalties for doing so however come at greater costs, being both indirect and delayed. If the central bank were to deposit $25,000 into the bank accounts of each citizen tomorrow, many people would claim their rich. With this newly found wealth people in-turn would start buying more things that in-turn starts a business cycle. The formation of a business cycle is always a direct result of currency inflation regardless how slight or gentle it seems. The damage always created, results in a depression. The longer inflation is allowed to continue the more damage is done.
Exporting of Dollars
This is a situation exclusive to the United States as well, the reason for the pending depression. The depression within the US will in many ways be worse than other countries. The dollar since 1971 has been used in the same way gold was, as it has remained the world's reserve currency. The dilemma is that America exported $7 trillion in foreign exchanges over this time for products all over the planet. Trading was great while it lasted. Sadly however all that the foreign nations received in return was paper that was backed by nothing and cost almost nothing to print, as the American public lived high off the hog with all the stuff that all those worthless dollars bought.
Sometime in the not too distant future dollars are not easily going to be exchanged, it is going to become harder and harder for other nations to accept the dollar. Because smart foreign nations will soon be discarding their dollars. Therefore at some point America will be holding the world's supply of dollars at home. Many of those dollars will be from foreign investors who purchased large plots of land or major businesses inside the US. America's birthright will soon be nothing more than contents left behind inside a storage container. There will be no winners in the end. Those foreigners still holding dollars, who believed their wealth was still protected by the dollar, will wake up one morning finding their dollars completely worthless too.
What's Next?
The last three reasons above essentially have forced the entire world beyond its means for several decades. This progression has aggressively been made possible by the governments in every major country and then some. Governments and politicians rather see people fully satisfied by living above their means, because happy people won't throw the politicians out of office.
America vastly is transforming into a welfare state through debt and inflation. This has turned a large part of society into becoming dependent upon government and its handouts. The general population now has the mindset that government can perform magic capable of repairing the economy when things get out of control or anything gets in the way. Governments are eager to redouble their efforts in the fiscal and monetary areas while trying to find the cure, albeit with increasingly disastrous results.
What can now be done for the "average Joe" and his family to accumulate more wealth? For the most part you're looking at the general standard of living for Joe's family to collapse, as well as the personal freedoms he and his family now enjoys. The ending result is if Joe values his money and personal freedoms, now is the time for Joe to step up and take positive action.
What Steps Can Joe and You Take?
To save his personal assets, purchasing power and individual freedoms Joe should seriously consider following these four steps. Note: the steps below can be time-consuming to implement so start now while time is still on your side.
First - Setup a bank and brokerage account outside of your country and maintain those accounts. You could also setup an asset protection trust offshore. Setting up accounts such as these will take some work but if you take the time to do it now you will most likely find it easier to do today than tomorrow.
Second - Insure a large part of your assets are held in physical precious metals such as gold and silver and more important a major part of those holding should be held offshore and outside the world's banking systems.
Third - Acquire real estate inside a friendly foreign country. Preferably in another country that you would not mind settling down in for a long period of time until things return to some kind of normalcy in your home country.
Fourth - Attempt to become a resident alien of the alternate country you choose to live in. Can you qualify for dual citizenship? Of course there will be advantages and disadvantages but the advantages should give you more flexibility while living inside your alternate country.
Tom Genot -