The EU is in a precarious position. The whole world is watching – at least those with an interest in witnessing the potential collapse of the EU as a project, and also witnessing the catalyst that could ignite phase two of the “greater depression”.

Right now Spain is in a fix. Fitch, the ratings agency, has just downgraded Spain – at the very moment it needs all the “reputation” it can get. Spain is being squeezed – perhaps to the point of collapse.

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard takes up the dismal story in Spain is trapped in a ‘perverse spiral, as wage cuts deepen the crisis

As governments get squeezed financially, they will increasingly seek to squeeze those with money. The tax “police” are already well advanced in their nefarious planning:

IRS Wealth Squads on The Way

I’ve just released my two popular offshore banking reports as a combo package – two reports for the price of less than one:

“The 10 Things You Really Must Know Before Opening an Offshore Bank Account” and …

“The Ideal Offshore Bank Account”

For more info click HERE.

We are entering potentially dangerous times. The private debt crisis that erupted in 2008 resulted in governments everywhere bailing out the banks. Now the debt crisis is moving on to stage two – the sovereign debt crisis, where states themselves get in over their head.

As before, the choice is quite clear – either let failing enterprises fail, or attempt to keep them on life support (with more debt) in the hope of a recovery. This time governments in the EU are looking at collective responsibility for bailing out failing member states. Trouble is, all this additional debt is creating a future situation where many nations will be unable to even service such escalating debts.

What is more worrying is the most indebted nations are the developed Western ones – including the major EU countries, the UK – and the USA.

All rational analysis of the debt problem points to an intractable situation – that nations are headed for a debt-trap, and will find themselves in debt-slavery. And one predictable response to this will be increasing civil unrest and disorder, as ordinary people rise up against the imposition of austerity – austerity caused by their governments “living” beyond their means.

It’s obvious that such civil disorder will be met with force, even martial law. And what certain governments will be looking for, in order not to go too far down the suppression path, is a “distraction” – something to take people’s minds off their governments. Something to unite people under a nationalist banner.

That “something” is war. It’s been done before, and it’s likely to be done again. If the going gets tough, then you can almost count on it that politicians will start talking “tough” regards any perceived enemy. And it’s no secret that the preferred and already-targeted enemy is Iran.

All the talk about diplomacy and sanctions is simply cover for the real agenda, preparing people for the inevitable – a war with Iran. This war will not be started by Iran (not unless it appears to start it via a false flag operation), but will be waged as a result of the inevitable “logic” of sanctions accompanied by series of “big lies”.

Once a war breaks out, people in their various nation-state “prison camps” will suddenly forget their economic hardships, their staggering indebtedness, their loss of welfare largesse and negative net worth, and rise up together in a chorus of nationalistic fervour. For nothing unites a desperate people more than war. And our “dear” leaders are well aware of that fact.

Why am I writing about this at all? Because war is a threat to our freedoms. War is just what totalitarian governments want and need to give them the cover to increase their power over us.

We are seeing the rise of fascism everywhere – not socialism. This new breed of corporatist warfare state is exactly what fascism is, and it seems ironic that we fought World War II to overcome Hitler’s fascism, only to succumb to it ourselves. Talk about unintended consequences!

This road to war has an ‘inevitable’ feel to it. You can sense it everywhere. The most recent evidence of this was Brazil’s and Turkey’s attempt to thwart the march to war by negotiating a deal with Iran over its uranium enrichment. Contrary to many commentators, this deal was almost identical to the previous one which Iran rejected – on the grounds it did not trust the parties to that deal. Then, just as it looks as if a real diplomatic breakthrough is possible, the US (and its lackey allies) turn on the deal as if it were authored by the devil himself. Such is the war momentum that is currently gaining pace.

Unless something truly unforeseen arises on the global stage – some sort of awakening, revolt, or unexpected surprise of a different sort – I cannot see this march to war being stopped. Of course it could be stopped – if someone in a significant leadership position were to “call a spade a spade” and lay the agenda bare before the world – then rally the masses behind such a disclosure. But I fear that such an event is but an optimistic notion of my own imagining.

Who said history repeats itself? Hang about and find out.

I believe the term “Full Spectrum Dominance” has arisen out of the USA’s preferred approach of using its mighty military to solve most “problems” and the strategy of employing overwhelming force to achieve objectives. However, when it comes to the current debt and economic problems, a military response is obviously useless and irrelevant (unless it involves starting a war to focus attention elsewhere).

So a typical military response of “crushing” the enemy must be replaced by a one to “crush” debt – as David Galland explores in – An American Concept: Crushing Debt

It’s a fact that all the money we have is debt.

Fiat money – that is, paper currency declared money and created out of thin air by the banks under government-mandated monopoly – is issued as debt. As the money supply grows, so does the debt.

In times of economic growth this debt does not appear as a problem, as production increases, generating profits to service such debt. But in times of economic recession, as now, such debt starts to eat away at the economic foundations of our society.

You can see this in the logical fallacy of attempting to get out of a debt by issuing more debt. For that is essentially what governments and their central banks are doing – as a means of attempting to reflate the economy. Trouble is, a situation of over-indebtedness cannot be cured by more debt. The very idea is ludicrous – at least to those of us not in government!

This reality is most obvious when you consider your own life. If you were to over-extend yourself and max out your credit cards, then the only way out of your situation would be to tighten your belt and pay off your debts. But what would you think of some charlatan who suggested you simply keep getting more credit cards and transferring your old debt onto them? I’m sure you can seen the miserable end-game in store for you, if you followed such advice.

But government is not rational like you. They have a constituency to consider – those people whose lives have been continuously supported by benefits financed by ever-increasing debt. Such a government cannot countenance the idea of paying off such debt – as this would force it to cut back on the payments it makes to its voters, and likely see them thrown out of office.

Money is created as debt. When debt is repaid, money is destroyed. So the logical consequence of any attempt to repay all the debt in the world would be to eliminate all the money. Hardly a cure to our ills I’m sure.

And it is this apparently ridiculous situation that marks the debt-money system as a ponzi scheme – a fraudulent system is that is bound to fall over in the end.

What is a ponzi? It’s normally understood to be an “investment” where those who participate are actually paid out ‘profits’ from the money brought in by new investors – not from any productive enterprise. In other words, it’s not an investment at all, but a fraudulent scheme to con those whose greed exceeds their judgement and common sense.

Every ponzi scheme must fail, as money from new investors dries up and old investors are then unable to be paid. Once that happens the game is up and the ponzi collapses. Those who got in early sometimes make a killing, while those who came in late lose their shirt.

Debt money is like a ponzi scheme, in the sense that the more indebted we are, the more debt we need just to keep going. Each year the debt goes up, in order to ward off the terrible consequences of a debt-induced deflation.

Right now, governments around the world are trying their hardest to avoid the reality of this debt trap – the fact that we cannot proceed to borrow more in order to service the ever-increasing debt.

The end result will be that governments will simply “print” money to cover the gap – the gap between their expenditure and their income – and in so doing will lay the foundation of a hyper-inflation to come.

Reality demands that the debt be unwound, but political reality will stop that from happening. The end result will be the same as for all victims of a ponzi scheme. We will all be defrauded by the device known as inflation – the devaluation of money in order to make the repayment of debt easier. For, as you can imagine, it’s much easier to repay a trillion dollars if such dollars lose half their value (and devalue your holdings of dollars in the process).

At the core of the money-debt fraud is the very banking system itself – what is termed “fractional reserve banking”. This sleight of hand enables banks to effectively (and collectively) lend up to 10 times the money on deposit. The essence of the fraud is that banks are allowed to lend out money that is on demand from the original depositors.

In other words, banks take in money from depositors, but instead of locking it away, or only lending out money on fixed time deposit, they create two demand deposits from just one. How? Simple really. Person “A” makes a deposit of $1,000 into their cheque account. This new deposit enables the bank to lend out 90% of it (under a 10% reserve system). If the borrower of this money deposits it in another bank, that bank can now lend out 90% of that – in an ever-increasing spiral of new debt creation.

Fractional reserve banking is fraudulent because it creates two legal owners to the same funds – the person who makes the original deposit, and the person who borrows 90% of that money in the form of a new deposit to his bank account. Thus there are two claimants to essentially the same money.

And this is the reason banks fail. They fail because they can never honour all the outstanding deposit claims. If every depositor walks into the bank and withdraws their money, the bank must fail – precisely because they do not have the money. It does not exist.

We have now arrived at a financial “Armageddon”. Since going off the gold standard (which was a monetary form of discipline), governments the world over have enjoyed enhanced popularity by bribing voters with money they did not have. But this is no longer financially feasible.

We’re about to find out, over the next year or so, exactly what it’s like to be on the victim end of a ponzi scheme. Hold your hats!

So you’ve decided to expatriate, or you’re at least looking at that option – so where do you go?

Well, there is one corner of the world which is surely worth considering.

You’ve possibly heard about it, thought about it or actually spent some time in it. If it is the latter, it’s likely you’ve come away very impressed.

Tax free for non-residents and ranked best country in the world to do business in by the World Bank. Its largest city is ranked as the 5th best urban centre to live in the world. Its passport is ranked in the top 10 most desirable passports to hold for travel purposes, and it hosts some of the world’s most spectacular scenery imaginable.

Religiously and politically tolerant, English speaking, safe, clean, geopolitically removed from the worlds “hot spots”, offering an exceptionally high standard of living and quality of life that is frankly hard to beat.

Where exactly are we talking about?

The same place that Doug Casey of Casey Research and singer Shania Twain have chosen to plant a flag in.

If you have an interest in diversifying your assets outside of your current borders, establishing a second home, acquiring second citizenship, buying investment property or migrating to New Zealand then you should do yourself a favour and read this new book.

Written by two successful entrepreneurs from uniquely different backgrounds who have both “been there and done it”, this book is far more than your typical guide book – with valuable insights from those that have made and lost money in the country and spent considerable time establishing high quality, reliable and professional contacts in respective areas.

This book is simply a must have guide for any freedom loving individuals concerned about their wealth and well being, and looking to find out more about how to go about establishing life or business relationships in the country, or wishing to take advantage of some of the investment opportunities that New Zealand has to offer.

Covering subjects as diverse as the economy, history, healthcare, education, migration, cultural issues, business and investment, and many more topics, the book provides you with significant resources and actionable information, contacts and ideas previously largely unattainable.

If you’re looking at your options, then New Zealand should definitely be on your radar.

Learn more and order your copy now:

The New Zealand Retirement, Immigration and Lifestyle Guidebook

I often talk about gold. I believe gold is real money – as opposed to the fiat paper stuff we use every day. However, the history of money also shows that silver fulfils the same monetary role, but due to its lower value per ounce has often been referred to as “poor man’s gold”.

The fact is, both these precious metals provide a unique opportunity to gain – as a result of the currency crisis now unfolding.

For more on silver, and whether or not you should be buying, and if so when, have a read of Jeff Clark’s commentary – How Low Will Silver Go?

I must say I really do enjoy the fact that internet-based news and views are often accompanied by blog-type reader response functions – so you can either comment yourself or read the comments of others.

Of course, often such comments are mindless fluff and distraction, or represent the uninformed opinions of those with too much time on their hands. But occasionally you read a gem or two and perhaps, more importantly, get a feel for what the “man in the street” thinks – rather than just those whose job it is to “inform” us.

The following reader comment (from someone calling himself Beast0666) was spotted in response to an essay in the UK Guardian entitled: Angela Merkel’s ban on naked short-selling is brave, not naive

To understand the comment below it pays to read the context provided by the original essay above, but either way here’s the comment (also viewable on the page linked above):

“This is arrant nonsense. Governments wrought this crisis, for decades buying votes with money they did not have. The markets act as no more than impartial economic watchdogs that will punish those who deny reality.

As for government ‘prerogatives’, what an arrogance leads you to believe that governments should or can have the final word in resolving such crises? Almost uniformly comprised of the representatives of life’s losers, of deluded, venal fools, these fast-decaying and archaic 20th century institutions are ripe for dissolution.

So cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war, for the madness of rule by the mindless masses is all but at an end in this new information age. What comes next I do not know, but it will surely be a period of chaos in which the superior individual rises at last above the mediocrity of this appalling and corrupt democracy that long ago was severed from its honorable roots.”

You can be excused for wondering what’s really happening in the economy, seeing as conflicting information is the name of the game. David Galland tackles some well-spun myths in - Fact vs Fiction on Today’s Economy