America Is Greece…On Steroids

Bob Bauman
The Sovereign Investor
June 21, 2012

Take a moment to consider this number: $16,084,425,792,391

At the last count, this is the level of the U.S. national debt. And if that number scares you… it should.

The fiscal and debt situation of the United States today is nothing less than Greece on steroids – with an added dose of political hallucinogens inducing insane denial.

It’s the same insanity that sent international markets up this week on the news that a paltry 30% of Greek voters supported a political party that advocates the country paying its bills and living within its means.

But let’s put this news in its horrific perspective:

In spite of the fact the Greek election results have allayed fears of the country’s imminent exit from the euro zone, swathes of political analysts still believe the move is a mere momentary respite, and that the European Union dream could yet turn to nightmare.

With Spain, Italy and probably France, on the brink of disaster, Greece must now be kept on life support because of the very real threat of economic contagion and perhaps even the demise of the euro and the European Union itself.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

Yet, in 2009, Greece’s economy was just 0.40% of world total GDP, and in 2015 the Greek GDP is forecast to be 0.41% of the world total. If that is the potential impact of an economic crash in a country whose economic output is less than 1% of the rest of the world, what do you suppose will follow the economic disintegration of the U.S. government, whose economy dwarfs Greece?

The U.S. economy is the world’s largest, with a 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion – that’s 22% of global GDP. While Greece is likely to survive through bailouts from other nations, the money involved is trifling compared to what the U.S. would require.

Stop for a moment and think about the true dimensions of the deep economic and financial hole into which politicians of both parties have dragged the United States.

As of today, the U.S. government’s national debt is approaching $16 trillion devalued dollars (a number that is 104% of U.S. GDP and yet excludes trillions in unfunded future entitlements).

The true U.S. national debt as a percentage of GDP is, in fact, nearly 130%. The government adds $4 billion per day to that debt while GDP is stagnating with growth at little better than 2%. Economists Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart, after analyzing over 200 years of data from around the world, have concluded that once debt reaches 90% of GDP, a tipping point is reached. Crisis and collapse will ensue.

And we don’t “owe it to ourselves,” as discredited Keynesian economists used to claim. Over $5.1 trillion of the debt (and the interest on it) is owed to foreigners – a major share held by the unfriendly government of Communist China.

At the center of this financial chaos, the White House incumbent hawks another plan for more failed multi-billion bailouts, and hiring more government employees to add to the existing 20 million state and federal employees. All while he dictates more unconstitutional executive orders aimed at buying selected minorities and special interest groups.

Yet, the putative candidate for president from the other U.S. political party seems to have adopted the dynamics of the late President Calvin Coolidge: “The business of America is business.”

Talk about the need for hope? The need for change? Brother, can you spare a trillion? Leader where art thou?

The final reckoning day will come soon enough when China, Singapore and other investors stop propping up the U.S. Then the game will be over – with a resounding crash.

Who then will bail out profligate America?

The “experts” keep telling us that, someday, all this will have to be paid by taxpayers. But about 50% of U.S. households don’t pay any income taxes at all. Most income taxes are paid by the top 20% of households – those “rich” people whose taxes Mr. “Fair Share” Obama wants to increase so they can be more “patriotic” (in vice-president Biden’s quaint words).

In the meantime, the waning Obama government is printing money as fast as it can. Government “assets” are stacks of paper with words and colored ink on them. Not gold, not silver, just paper. And when all else fails, the U.S. Federal Reserve steps in and buys more paper – trillions in U.S. government debt; yet another insane example of the “we owe it to ourselves” freak-o-nomic theory.

Carved into the wall of the National Archives in Washington, D.C. are the words of the late George Santayana – “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Yes, you’ve read similar warnings from me and from my colleagues at the Sovereign Society for a good part of the last 15 years. We are not mystic soothsayers endowed with great powers of divination, but we know history – and we can count. And we continue to give the advice you need. To avoid disaster when Greece comes to America, you need to take action now.

Here are five emergency actions you can take starting today:

1) For asset protection and investments, establish bank and financial accounts in stable offshore financial centers. To protect against a failing dollar, denominate your holdings in stronger currencies.

2) For your family’s future, create an offshore asset protection trust or private foundation.

3) For personal safety, take steps towards foreign residence and eventual second citizenship.

4) For peace of mind, invest selectively in precious metals with safe, offshore storage.

5) For personal survival, take steps to protect your personal and financial privacy.

While the politicians may pretend that America can never be the next Greece, the truth is clear – we’re well on our way already.

The sands in the hourglass of time are running out – Act now.

P.S. Whether Obama or Romney wins this coming fall, the situation won’t change. The government will continue to find new ways to take the money they need from the pockets of the taxpayers, while at the same time continuing to quash the liberties we’ve seen fading over the past decade. Taking steps now to protect yourself is the only way to avoid being caught in the coming storm.

This article was posted: Thursday, June 21, 2012 at 3:13 am

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