Those of us following the markets, analysing official economic and corporate data with the aim of trying to join the dots to make sense of it all, would probably agree after a few happy hour drinks, that the fundamental economic prospects look shaky. Maybe in the cold light of day, stone sober, without your boss listening over your shoulders and not worrying about those dodgy positions your investment house has to unload, you'd confess that the situation is dire.
But even if the worse were to happen, a total financial meltdown, or as James Rickards puts it in his book called, “The Death of Money,” while it is no pleasant event to live through, the world will still keep turning. People will go on wanting necessities, food, water, shelter, warmth, they will want to communicate. The transition period will be difficult, but in the end those businesses, or entities providing what people really need, will survive and maybe even prosper.
The graveyard of fallen Empires is full. The Byzantine, Persian, Greek, Roman and more recently the British, were all once Great Empires, but they are no more. Everything has a beginning and an end, so perhaps the US Empire is approaching its twilight period. Will the US dollar continue its reign as the world’s reserve currency?
Monetary scholar Edwin Vieira, answers the question. “The average life span of a fiat currency monetary system is just 27 years,” said Viera. So every 30 to 40 years the reigning monetary system fails and has to be retooled. The last time that happened for the U.S. was in 1971, when Nixon cancelled the convertibility of dollars into gold. Many would also agree that the Nixon petrodollar deal with the House of Saud also saved the US dollar.
So the dollar could get “retooled” yet again and the Empire might metamorph into something else and live on. The ingenuity of the US to be able to reinvent itself to survive is awesome.
If the previous economic policy of Quantitative Easing (QE) didn't do much for the economy on main street, in terms of creating full time well paid jobs, increasing consumption and business investment, then maybe more public investment projects are required. Mending the roads, building bridges, the railways and the kind of infrastructure projects that President Obama was standing on his soapbox preaching about a few weeks ago.
Or maybe even something more radical is needed.
Perhaps the US Treasury officials are burning the midnight oil to try and come up with a wining plan.
Maybe they are indeed planning something radical if they’re focusing on survival kits. Regretfully I don't mean this in the metaphorical sense.
The kits of which I speak are the type used by military commandos forced to survive in hostile environments without electricity, food, water etc.
Survival kits are typically required by the military… But the Department of Treasury?
Below is a leaked 27 page tender and protocol from the Department of Treasury requesting survival kits for their employees who oversee the federal banking system.
http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Survival_Kits_RFP.pdf
Department of Treasury released the tender on December 4.
The emergency supplies is destined for every employee at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), which conducts on-site reviews of banks throughout the country.
The survival kits must come in a fanny-pack or backpack that can fit all of the items, including a 33-piece personal first aid kit with “decongestant tablets,” a variety of bandages, and medicines, according to the tender.
The survival kit must contain the following items;
240 calorie food bar (minimum 5 year shelf life)
3 pack 8.5 oz. water (minimum 5 year shelf life)
50 water purification tablets (minimum 5 year shelf life)
Reusable solar blanket 52” x 84”
Dust mask
One size fits all poncho with hood
12 hr. light stick
1 pair of latex gloves
Whistle with lanyard
33 piece personal first aid kit:
1 antibiotic ointment pack
2 extra strength non asp
Dynamo rechargeable lantern with AM/FM radio
Aid emergency mask for protection against airborne viruses.
The government is willing to spend up to $200,000 on the kits.
Survival kits will be delivered to every main bank in the US including Bank of America, American Express Bank, BMO Financial Corp., Capitol One Financial Corporation, Citigroup, Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Company, and Wells Fargo.
What is the function of the OCC?
According to the website, “the mission of the OCC is to ensure that national banks and federal savings associations operate in a safe and sound manner, provide fair access to financial services, treat customers fairly, and comply with applicable laws and regulations.”
The agency has roughly 3,814 employees , each of which would receive a survival kit. The staff includes “bank examiners” who provide “sustained supervision” of major banks in the US.
“Examiners analyze loan and investment portfolios, funds management, capital, earnings, liquidity, sensitivity to market risk for all national banks and federal thrifts, and compliance with consumer banking laws for national banks and thrifts with less than $10 billion in assets,” the OCC website explains. “They review internal controls, internal and external audit, and compliance with law. They also evaluate management’s ability to identify and control risk.”
What is going on?
US Defence Secretary resigns suddenly, and nobody wants the job and now this. Treasury Department is ordering survival kits, which are usually destined for the military or law enforcement agency such as the FBI.
Are they thinking the unthinkable?
hope this helps you.
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