A TIME OF CHOICE

From 24hGold we get these happy words of encouragement:

"Starting in the next 6 months and culminating in 2011-12 the world will experience a series of tumultuous events which will be life changing for most people in the world. But 2011-12 will not be the beginning of an upturn in the world economy but instead the start of a long period of economic, political and social upheaval that could last for a couple of decades."

The author goes further and maybe more to the real point when he states:

"We will discuss the three areas that we for some time have argued will determine the faith of the world for the foreseeable future..." (highlight added).

The author, Egon von Greyerz, goes on to say that true unemployment numbers are now around 20% and that he expects to see these numbers rise to over 35% over the next few years. He continues:

"But even the current figure of 30 million unemployed is a catastrophe. Adding dependants to every unemployed person there are currently 100 million people affected by unemployment in the US. In the next three months 3 million unemployed will fall out of the social security safety-net. These are the people who were laid off in the second half of 2008. Including their families this means that around 10 million people will become destitute between now and September with no social security and no savings. If we then add the 4 million that were made redundant in the first half of 2009 that will result in an additional 13 million people including families will become destitute around Christmas. This is a disaster of unimaginable consequences that will affect the whole fabric of American society."

Von Greyerz predicts that over the next 6-9 months unemployment will severely affect most of the world. This will lead to a dramatic downturn in demand for goods which will only lead to more unemployment. Tax revenues will sharply decrease just as the need for social programs to feed and house the unemployed explodes. This will cause an eruption of civil unrest, disease and starvation on a scale never before seen.
He believes that because the bankers have not changed their ways but have returned to the same toxic investment devices and bloated paychecks that got us into this in the first place we will enter into another round of banking collapses sometime this autumn. Because there are no private investors all of the money needed to prop them up will come from the printing presses. This will cause hyper-inflation and the collapse of the dollar and the pound first, with others to follow. We will then enter into what the author calls "The Dark Years." Von Greyerz continues:

"In the next few months we will see the start of the Dark Years. For the first time in the history of the world there will be a synchronised downturn affecting all nations (although some a lot worse than others).This is the culmination of the world and especially the Western world, living above its means for decades in a mania of credit bubbles, asset bubbles, real estate bubbles as well as excesses leading to decadence and a society with very weak moral and ethical values. (Of course no society recognises this as it is happening but only afterwards). Governments have fuelled this process by printing unlimited amounts of paper thus destroying the money and purchasing power of most nations.


The Dark Years will be extremely severe for most countries both financially and socially. In many countries in the Western world there will be a severe depression and it will be the end of the welfare state. Most private and state pension schemes are also likely to collapse. It will be a worldwide depression but some countries may only have a deep recession. There will be famine, homelessness and misery resulting in social as well as political unrest. Different type of government leaders and regimes are likely to result from this.


How long will the Dark Years last? There is a book called ”The Fourth Turning” written by Neil Howe. He has identified a pattern that repeats itself every 80 years. The pattern has been extremely accurate in the Anglophile world. We have recently entered the Fourth Turning which is the final 20 years of the cycle. According to Howe we are in the early stages of a 20 year period of economic and institutional upheaval. This is a period of Crisis when the fabric of society will change dramatically. Previous Fourth Turnings have been the American Revolution, Great Depression and World War II. According to Howe the Crisis will be substantially worse before it is over and it will last for another circa 20 years.


All of this is not good news and we hope that we and Howe are wrong regarding the severity and length of this crisis. But we fear that we are both right. We must stress again that never previously has the the whole world entered a downturn simultaneously in such a fragile state both financially and economically which is why the Dark Years are likely to be so devastating and long lasting."

At the beginning of this article the author states his belief that the "Dark Years" will determine the faith of the world. Not test, determine. I know that a lot of us sense that things are at a hinge point, a place in history where everything is about to change. Whether Von Greyerz chose his wording purposefully or just kind of backed into this idea of determination I think he has struck upon a frightening truth. This is the time in history when a single determination of faith will be required, from each and every soul. We are entering a time when the fog and ambiguity of faith will be stripped away so that the choice is laid bare. Everyone will know the truth and be able to make a decision based on cold, hard fact. How many will remain blind? How many will turn their back on the truth due to pride? To hate? To love of self? Will I? I pray that I have the strength and the humility to see this through. That I follow Christ and am not distracted by some trap laid by Satan. See us safely through this desert, Lord. Amen.