Wealth Wire April 24 2013 (Thanks, A.L.)

“How to defeat terrorism? Don’t be terrorized. Don’t let fear rule your life. Even if you are scared.”— Salman Rushdie, Step Across This Line

The events of last week seemed straight from the pages of graphic suspense drama…

Macabre images of terror and blood in the streets, cowardly terrorists on the run, and families destroyed by unfathomable tragedy in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing.

How could something this horrifying be happening… again?

The most shameful part in all of this is I’ve found it’s often easier to cope with the chaos in our world by treating it as if it were just something we find in the fiction shelves at a local library.

But the reality is pandemonium fills the streets, even if most of us are watching it unfold on television from the comfort of our own living rooms.

This leads us to have difficulty in separating ourselves from the discord that plagues even the strongest of our nation’s cities.

What we must do is begin to accept reality for what it is, not what we wish it to be… Then, and only then, can we as individuals and communities take positive steps forward to overcome the fear that has relentlessly befallen us, especially over the last decade.

Responsively, today’s Americans are suffering the most severe levels of stress to date. Suicide now outranks car accidents in leading cause of injury death in America; one-third of our nation’s employees suffer chronic debilitating stress while millions are dependent on SSRI antidepressants – highly controversial, mood-altering psychiatric drugs with the FDA’s “suicidality” warning label and alarming correlation with school shooters.

Times are tough, and events like the recent Boston Bombing remind us that everyday living is full of unpredictabilities with the power to transform individuals, families, communities, and the world at large.

Not Your Grandfather’s America

Author David Kupelian says when we have “a chaotic economy and disintegrating monetary system and a power-mad government dominated by demagogues and sociopaths, the normal stresses of life are greatly multiplied.”

He’s right.

This is precisely what we’re dealing with today…

In addition to these humanitarian crises, U.S. debt is set to surpass the $20 million mark by 2016. Quantitative easing is a joke. Investors can’t keep up with the volatile stock market. Young adults can’t get on their feet because the record-breaking student loan debt is holding them hostage.

At the same time, more than 10,000 baby boomers are reaching retirement age daily as the retirement crisis spirals out of control. And the rampant political and social unrest makes stability as unattainable as stress-free living in today’s crazy world…

Not to mention the fact that we can no longer count on the government for reassurance and hope. Earlier this month, renowned investor Jim Rogers said: “If you’re going to listen to government, you’re going to go bankrupt very quickly.”

We at The Outsider Club believe that’s a very plausible scenario… which is why we’re presenting you with the cold, hard facts so you can prepare to protect yourself independently — without any of the sugar-coated nonsense.
The Facts

From the start of the new millennium, things haven’t been pretty.

Here’s a brief overview:

• 2001: 9/11 fundamentally changed America. President George W. Bush launched a Global War on Terrorism with controversial political motivations and serious financial ramifications.
• 2002: The Open Skies mutual surveillance treaty, initially signed in 1992, officially entered into force. The United States invaded Afghanistan. Operation Anaconda began.
• 2003: The Iraqi disarmament crisis reached its climax. George W. Bush demanded an absolute end to an alleged production of weapons of mass destruction.
• 2004: An American civilian contractor in Iraq, Nick Berg, was shown being decapitated by a group allegedly linked to al-Qaida in a Web-distributed video. Preliminary hearings began in Iraq in the trial of former president Saddam Hussein for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
• 2005: The growth of China and India as world financial powers. Economists estimate that both nations can grow at the rate of 7-8% for decades to come. China, alone, has grown at about 9.6% for the past two decades. Together, the two countries account for one-third of the world’s population.
• 2007: The sub-prime housing crisis and housing bubble began. Individuals and families who, in the past, could not have qualified for a mortgage were able to qualify for adjustable-rate mortgages with low or no down payments and low initial interest rates.

• 2008: The global economy faced the most dangerous crisis since the Great Depression in the 1930s. Taxpayers were forced to front the bulk of a $700 billion bailout for big banks and companies.
• 2008-2012:The Federal Reserve launched three unconventional and unsuccessful rounds of quantitative easing in a poor attempt to revive the U.S. economy. Currency devaluation prevailed and inflation skyrocketed; families and small businesses struggled dearly.
• 2012: A drone debate emerged: Are U.S. drones killing terrorists or creating them? This led to…

• 2013: Rand Paul filibustered for 13 hours against Washington’s drone program and warned of the impact of government’s increasing control in our everyday lives. Meanwhile, our government plans to spend an additional $40 billion on drones through 2020.
• A slew of horrific school shootings and other mass-public killings from 2005-2013 opened up new debate between guns and mental illness in 2012-2013, and the government sought to remedy the problem by limiting Americans’ right to bear arms.
• Gold is up 442% since 2000. S&P is up 2%. This is not a coincidence.

That’s a lot of bad news to digest in just over ten years’ time.

In the midst of it all, however, we mustn’t let terrorism scare us into tyranny, nor let poor monetary policy control our future…

We must arm ourselves with knowledge instead.

We can stand up together and come back stronger than ever. After all, resiliency runs in our blood…

And see how the flesh grows back
across a wound, with a great vehemence,
more strong
than the simple, untested surface before.

There’s a name for it on horses,
when it comes back darker and raised: proud flesh
— Jane Hirshfield, “For What Binds Us”

We are all bound together by a common desire for a true democracy and the opportunity to live the life we choose.

We must be diligent in our fight for liberty in all its fashions. From personal to financial liberty, we must continually work to free ourselves from the suffocating fear of terrorists, scheming, banksters, and power-hungry politicians.

Some say a fundamental transformation of America is under way. We must question the kind of transformation that is taking place.

I’m hopeful people are finally waking up, impassioned enough to actively reclaim what is the right of every American citizen: freedom, liberty, and justice.

Stay tuned in to The Outside Club for ways you can achieve personal and financial liberties and pursue the American Dream, despite the long road ahead.

Farewell for now,

Brittany Stepniak for The Outsider Club