Tipping Point: 25 Signs That The Coming Financial Collapse Is Now Closer Than Ever

Tipping Point: 25 Signs That The Coming Financial Collapse Is Now Closer Than Ever

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The financial collapse that so many of us have been anticipating is seemingly closer then ever. Over the past several weeks, there have been a host of ominous signs for the U.S. economy. Yields on U.S. Treasuries have moved up rapidly and Moody’s is publicly warning that it may have to cut the rating on U.S. government debt soon. Mortgage rates are also moving up aggressively. The euro and the U.S. dollar both look incredibly shaky. Jobs continue to be shipped out of the United States at a blistering pace as our politicians stand by and do nothing. Confidence in U.S. government debt around the globe continues to decline. State and local governments that are drowning in debt across the United States are savagely cutting back on even essential social services and are coming up with increasingly “creative” ways of getting more money out of all of us. Meanwhile, tremor after tremor continues to strike the world financial system. So does this mean that we have almost reached a tipping point? Is the world on the verge of a major financial collapse?

Let’s hope not, but with each passing week the financial news just seems to get eve worse. Not only is U.S. government debt spinning wildly toward a breaking point, but many U.S. states (such as California) are in such horrific financial condition that they are beginning to resemble banana republics.

But it is not just the United States that is in trouble. Nightmarish debt problems in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Belgium and several other European nations threaten to crash the euro at any time. In fact, many economists are now openly debating which will collapse first – the euro or the U.S. dollar.

Sadly, this is the inevitable result of constructing a global financial system on debt. All debt bubbles eventually collapse. Currently we are living in the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world, and when this one bursts it is going to be a disaster of truly historic proportions.

So will we reach a tipping point soon? Well, the following are 25 signs that the financial collapse is rapidly getting closer….

The 25 Signs

#1 The official U.S. unemployment rate has not been beneath 9 percent since April 2009.

#2 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are currently 6.3 million vacant homes in the United States that are either for sale or for rent.

#3 It is being projected that the U.S. trade deficit with China could hit 270 billion dollars for the entire year of 2010.

#4 Back in 2000, 7.2 percent of blue collar workers were either unemployed or underemployed. Today that figure is up to 19.5 percent.

#5 The Chinese government has accumulated approximately $2.65 trillion in total foreign exchange reserves. They have drained this wealth from the economies of other nations (such as the United States) and instead of reinvesting all of it they are just sitting on much of it. This is creating tremendous imbalances in the global economy.

#6 Since the year 2000, we have lost 10% of our middle class jobs. In the year 2000 there were approximately 72 million middle class jobs in the United States but today there are only about 65 million middle class jobs.

#7 The United States now employs about the same number of people in manufacturing as it did back in 1940. Considering the fact that we had 132 million people living in this country in 1940 and that we have well over 300 million people living in this country today, that is a very sobering statistic.

#8 According to CoreLogic, U.S. housing prices have now declined for three months in a row.

#9 The average rate on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage soared 11 basis points just this past week. As mortgage rates continue to push higher it is going to make it even more difficult for American families to afford homes.

#10 22.5 percent of all residential mortgages in the United States were in negative equity as of the end of the third quarter of 2010.

#11 The U.S. monetary base has more than doubled since the beginning of the most recent recession.

#12 U.S. Treasury yields have been rising steadily during the 4th quarter of 2010 and recently hit a six-month high.

#13 Incoming governor Jerry Brown is scrambling to find $29 billion more to cut from the California state budget. The following quote from Brown about the desperate condition of California state finances is not going to do much to inspire confidence in California’s financial situation around the globe….

“We’ve been living in fantasy land. It is much worse than I thought. I’m shocked.”

#14 24.3 percent of the residents of El Centro, California are currently unemployed.

#15 The average home in Merced, California has declined in value by 63 percent over the past four years.

#16 Detroit Mayor Dave Bing has come up with a new way to save money. He wants to cut 20 percent of Detroit off from essential social services such as road repairs, police patrols, functioning street lights and garbage collection.

#17 The second most dangerous city in the United States – Camden, New Jersey – is about to lay off about half its police in a desperate attempt to save money.

#18 In 2010, 55 percent of Americans between the ages of 60 and 64 were in the labor market. Ten years ago, that number was just 47 percent. More older Americans than ever find that they have to keep working just to survive.

#19 Back in 1998, the United States had 25 percent of the world’s high-tech export market and China had just 10 percent. Ten years later, the United States had less than 15 percent and China’s share had soared to 20 percent.

#20 The U.S. government budget deficit increased to a whopping $150.4 billion last month, which represented the biggest November budget deficit on record.

#21 The U.S. government is somehow going to have to roll over existing debt and finance new debt that is equivalent to 27.8 percent of GDP in 2011.

#22 The United States had been the leading consumer of energy on the globe for about 100 years, but this past summer China took over the number one spot.

#23 According to an absolutely stunning new poll, 40 percent of all U.S. doctors plan to bail out of the profession over the next three years.

#24 As 2007 began, there were just over 1 million Americans that had been unemployed for half a year or longer. Today, there are over 6 million Americans that have been unemployed for half a year or longer.

#25 All over the United States, local governments have begun instituting “police response fees”. For example, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has come up with a plan under which a fee of $365 would be charged if police are called to respond to an automobile accident where no injuries are involved. If there are injuries as a result of the crash that is going to cost extra.

Source

A lot of the 'signs' given in the above post are new to me - although not all of them completely new, but up to date, and seeing them listed as such really can put a shiver down your spine.

How much longer is it going to be before the big crash happens? Or is tptb going to pull us out of this rut just in time?

Who is really pulling the strings here? That is the questions we all ask ourselves on a daily basis (well at least I have it in the back of my mind a lot).

Do we really want to know? Hell yes! To fix a problem you must go to the source - we were all taught this when we were children growing up, were we not? So, to go to the source we must first find it... to find it we must have someone leak it - problem is every time there is a leak it gets plugged. Either the whistle-blower gets killed in some unforeseen car crash, or they commit suicide at the strangest times.

To be honest there are a lot of people who want to commit suicide but know that tomorrow is another day. Another day to keep on keepin' on. But when will be the day that we stop keepin' on and do something about this 'rut' (to say the least) that our economy is in?

Thought I'd add this favorite of mine from the list...

#16 Detroit Mayor Dave Bing has come up with a new way to save money. He wants to cut 20 percent of Detroit off from essential social services such as road repairs, police patrols, functioning street lights and garbage collection.

Sounds great! Let's make the roads unsafe to drive on, get rid of the police patrols (in this case I don't fully disagree actually), oh and to make those crappy pot-holed roads even more dangerous let's cut off the electricity to some of the functioning street lights - I mean if we cut the street lights out, there will be more crime as well, so getting rid of police patrols sounds even more like a bright idea now that I have pieced all of this together

Oh and garbage collection? Eh... let's not worry about that at all! I mean instead of once a week pick up why not just once a month? Let the trash build up, basically fill the streets... oh wait, the streets have potholes in them so maybe the neighborhoods can get together and use the trash to fill the potholes! Don't forget though that they will need flashlights because the streetlights will be turned off and all...

Porn industry is also feeling the pressure. Many studios in USA and Europe are creating repeated scenes in their new releases commonly referred to as "genre: compilation".

I expect if things are going to go south it will be in the next 3 months as "tax" crunch comes in..

It's definitely getting grim, and I for one, am not looking forward to the end.

There is no way to save the country from this mess..

The crash will come after the numbers are in from a "less then steller" selling period from Christmas.. Even Wal-mart is behind on sales this year... Thats bad.

Make sure you have enough supplies on hand..

I'm in the UK and as a child in the 70's I have extremely vivid memories of a 'Buy British' campaign. These were in the days when there was still British products to buy. Is there any equivalent campaign in the States just now? If not - maybe think about starting one?

It was obvious to the average high school student that the path we were on couldn't continue. The restrictions on China's exporting numbers were lifted in 2000 - it was envisaged that these restrictions would not be lifted until the currencies were more in line (not possible due to China pegging its currency value to the dollar - you guys could NEVER compete) and until China brought its workers rights and conditions into line with the West. Neither criteria were met - and the dragon was unleashed.

We have little manufacturing in the UK today, but, like the States credit was made cheaper and cheaper. So it lasted 8 years......our mutual economies being sustained by the fact that we had the loan money (and housing equity) to go out and buy **** we didn't really need. What about the things we do really need? I can buy a DVD player for a tenner....it costs a month's salary to pay my quarterly utility bills.

Sadly a total collapse of the economic might be the only hope we have to retake our country. Its the only way most will wake up to the truth of what is happening. Even sadder though history has shown that the usual result is just a more open oppression

Originally posted by lastrebel
Sadly a total collapse of the economic might be the only hope we have to retake our country. Its the only way most will wake up to the truth of what is happening. Even sadder though history has shown that the usual result is just a more open oppression

I agree, and it is very sad. It is very true that history repeats itself, and even though the economy today is not, for lack of a better term, [completely] comparable to the economy of those back in the middle ages, we have seen empires rise and fall and yet we continue to try and make profit through war and not with peace.

Obviously everything can't be peaceful... at least not right now or unfortunately anytime soon (unless something drastic happens & brings everyone together).

We really just need to work together to get rid of the crap politicians that are throwing away our economy.

reply to post by christina-66


We've tried that, but the fact is government is actively pushing companies out of the country. It's not that politicians aren't doing anything, they are, but they are doing exactly the things that are causing the problem to begin with.

Business is becoming less and less profitable, ESPECIALLY for the little guy, let alone producers of manufactured goods.

Of course it's closer than ever, and it will be so next moment, and next moment...it's actually saying nothing at all. Much like, "he's one of the best". To what extent? Compared to what? He could be one of the best and one of the worst at the same time, because there is only one best and one worst. He's just one..based on those words.

Anyways, yeah it's coming. Yeah it's going to happen sooner than later. Still, I think this deranged circus act can continue on for some time yet. I seriously doubt it could last until the end of this decade, and think it's more likely to come to fruition by the end of 2016.

I honestly have to dissagree... we were over inflated before by a huge margin... the market is just readusting itself back to were we are suppose to be...

Although I do agree that at this point Gov't spending will be the only reason for the collapse of the dollar if that.

The DOW closed down 7 points on Friday, the NASDAQ was up 5. Wall Street has been running our economy for a while now. I don't really see anything happening here. The countries to watch are Spain, Portugal and Ireland. They're going through a debt crisis that could really destabilize the Euro. We could see something, like what they're going through eventually. Economically, things are really bad in this country. Using the old way of figuring unemployment, I'd say 25% of the workforce is unemployed. The government doesn't count the people that have stopped looking for work. Personally after going with out fuel for my furnace for over a month, and using (egad!) electricity to heat my place, made enough money recently to put enough fuel in the tank to last me till mid-February. Now I have a gargantuan electric bill to deal with. I wish I had a job on Wall Street.

Originally posted by FoxStriker
I honestly have to dissagree... we were over inflated before by a huge margin... the market is just readusting itself back to were we are suppose to be...

Although I do agree that at this point Gov't spending will be the only reason for the collapse of the dollar if that.

You need to do some research if you already haven't because a collapse is inevitable if things continue the way they are, that is a fact.

And you say it's possible for the USD to collapse, do you realize if that happens than not only the US economy, but others will be effected immensely? The US would fall very hard, China will probably be one of the richest economies left after the USD falls because they have been stockpiling gold for a long time now, and fortunate for them, gold doesn't lose value just because the USD does.

Listen, I'm not hoping for a collapse to be honest, I just want things to get better - like the rest of us. But our economy collapsing doesn't mean the end of the world here, so if/when it happens we will get by. What happens after the economy collapses is what will decide our fates, period.

I have to be honest here. I kind of want the economy to collapse. I see no other way to get our country back, sort of violent revolution anyway.

Originally posted by christina-66
I'm in the UK and as a child in the 70's I have extremely vivid memories of a 'Buy British' campaign. These were in the days when there was still British products to buy. Is there any equivalent campaign in the States just now? If not - maybe think about starting one?

You hear people say "buy American" but that is almost next to impossible to do. Go into any store and just about anything you pick up will say, Made In China, Made in Taiwan, or Made in Japan. The US is a country of importers. We manufacture very little in the US.

The writing is on the wall and it is written in stone. In my mind it is no longer a matter of "if" it is now a matter of "when".

Originally posted by FoxStriker
I honestly have to dissagree... we were over inflated before by a huge margin... the market is just readusting itself back to were we are suppose to be...

Although I do agree that at this point Gov't spending will be the only reason for the collapse of the dollar if that.

Where we are supposed to be???

So if we kept factory and corporate jobs in the united states instead of sending them to China, would that mean we are not where we are supposed to be?

reply to post by highlyoriginal
Sometime I find it very hard to reconcile the line between what ordinary people think how the economy is based on and what it is not.For our purpose a nation is represented by the people in it. Now the vast majority of those people are workers ie some-one producing an article that takes material to make and is an object to sell. This was always called oue industrial base. When all the so called modern nations ie USA, Europe etc., decided to move their economies from an industrial base to a monetary base ie the stockmarket this was the death knell for singular nations. The emphasis thus took off the welfare of the work-force in deciding the value of a said nation. Therefore a nation was sucessful if you had near enough full employment and were selling those manufactured products. Gross National Product, GNP. was the method to determine the economy. But when the GNP was altered to the money markets all pretence of nation was secondary. I clearly remember in 1992 a singular man nearly bankrupting the bank of England. 1992! One must realise vast amounts of money are made and lost on this global money-go-round called the economy and I say once again that national economies are only a sideline in the "game". It's always been global. Part of the way to stop this is(some of you will immediately jump on the solution NWO etc) is to have a single world currency. THIS is the single most detrimental form that attacks national economies ie. buy dollars, sell yen, sell dollars buy euros, so on and so on. This money-go-round creates only ghost money which your econimy is based. Now sooner or later some-one is going to be wanting paying actual money on these transactions. Enter the phase of 2009 and 2010 in the money markets. Please notice that the near collapse was world-wide not jusu one nation. Because the governments instigated this system they are bound to perpetuate it. Hence the bank bail outs. The more important question is our nations are in debt to the tune of multi-trillions(dollars, euros, pounds) and we are going to be trying to pay these debts off but are failing because we are borrowing more money than we are paying off. The kicker comes when you ask the questions. Who do we owe these trillions to? Who are we paying the repayments to? Where are these vast amounts of money going?. You have to take into concideration no organisation or nation(even China) has this amount to lend. Yet borrowing of trillions is done every year by our nations. If ,as I suspect, it could be the international monetary fund(the IMF) this is made up of all the industrialised nations putting into a fund for just this purpose, then it is onother money-go-round taking out of one hand to put it into the other. I do hope of cause you realise that the only set of people(no matter which nation) that pays for ANY of this is the workers.

reply to post by projectvxn

....Business is becoming less and less profitable, ESPECIALLY for the little guy, let alone producers of manufactured goods.....

Ain't that the truth in SPADES. This year the traitors (they are long past the IDIOT stage) passed two laws that will severely injure the US.

First the Obamacare bill. The 50 employee cap was pretty obvious. If you hire one more employee over 50 you have to have medical coverage and incur all those additional costs. Why bother expanding in that case?

The hidden I gotcha is the massive, hidden tax change

An all-but-overlooked provision of the health reform law is threatening to swamp U.S. businesses with a flood of new tax paperwork.

Section 9006 of the health care bill -- just a few lines buried in the 2,409-page document -- mandates that beginning in 2012 all companies will have to issue 1099 tax forms not just to contract workers but to any individual or corporation from which they buy more than $600 in goods or services in a tax year.

The stealth change radically alters the nature of 1099s and means businesses will have to issue millions of new tax documents each year.

Right now, the IRS Form 1099 is used to document income for individual workers other than wages and salaries. Freelancers receive them each year from their clients, and businesses issue them to the independent contractors they hire.

But under the new rules, if a freelance designer buys a new iMac from the Apple Store, they'll have to send Apple a 1099. A laundromat that buys soap each week from a local distributor will have to send the supplier a 1099 at the end of the year tallying up their purchases.

The bill makes two key changes to how 1099s are used. First, it expands their scope by using them to track payments not only for services but also for tangible goods. Plus, it requires that 1099s be issued not just to individuals, but also to corporations.

Taken together, the two seemingly small changes will require millions of additional forms to be sent out....

What does this mean to US workers?

Over 50% of the jobs in the USA are created by small businesses. However small businesses do not have the deep pockets needed to weather bad times. This new tax ruling will spell the end of a lot of struggling small businesses.

...80% of new businesses fail within their first year....

...Of these failed business, only 10% of them close involuntarily due to bankruptcy and the remaining 90% close because the business was not successful, did not provide the level of income desired or was too much work for their efforts....
www.moyak.com...

That @##$%^& ruling will mean hundreds of hours of additional time filling out paperwork even for small one or two person family businesses.

Think of how many different gas stations you fuel at, how many different stores you shop at... You are talking about at LEAST 1/2 hr per business gathering the information needed and filling out the forms.

From the research work I have done and from what I can see, you guys (Americans) can only stave off the full effects of a collapsing economy- not resurrect it with a plan (and with 10,000+ ideas emerging per day on fixing the economy, who do you follow?). Something duly notable and of the scale not seen before has to/most likely will happen. Whether it's as drastic as open war, exporting immigrants etc. is yet to be determined. The best of luck to you all! Fingers crossed Australia is not harmed too extensively, however I feel that as we (well our governments) are quite closely tied there will be ramifications for Australian citizens as our political leaders have behavioral resemblance to schoolyard children looking up to 'the strongest kid in the class'.

Could it be that this has been planned? That no matter what, america will spiral in to an economic depression for the greater agenda of the/a governing body?

reply to post by highlyoriginal


For those that went to the link, I suggest that you clean out the cookies from that site.
Furthermore, I would take with a grain of salt the information from a website that makes virtually all of its profit from vendors selling gloom and doom products, including gold, coins, and survival food.
I'm not refuting that many of the points are valid;however, read their privacy information, and that of their third party associates. Draw your own conclusions.
Be prepared, yes. Panic, no.
BTW, I am not selling ANYTHING, other than asking people to use common sense.

reply to post by projectvxn

We've tried that, but the fact is government is actively pushing companies out of the country. It's not that politicians aren't doing anything, they are, but they are doing exactly the things that are causing the problem to begin with....

I mentioned there were two new laws. The second one is even worse. The food safety farce is down right evil, especially if they manage to slip in a rider that repeals the Tester amendment and of course they will.

This new law saddles farmers with massive red tape and allows Corporations to pass off the liability from their shoddy processing practices onto the farmers. The loss of more independent farmers will have a domino effect. Corporate farms add nothing to the local economy while family farm dollars have a multiplier of 7 according to a Pew Report.

For my state:
All farms except for 171 are family held. That is 53,759 family farms with $3,145,202,000 spent on supplies and $617,679,000 spent on labor. A total of $3,762,881,000 added to the states economy. Then add in the Horse Population of 256,000 horses with a Total Economic Impact: $ over 704 million and you get 4.5 BILLION. A real healthy chunk of change. Do the politicians want the newspapers to know they plan to kill 4.5 BILLION dollars worth of business for the state?

BACKUP DATA
The state of North Carolina, according to the 2002 Ag Census, had 53930 farms, 47652 farms gross under $250k, 47480 farms netted under $50,000. Only 171 Farms are not Family held.

MONEYS PUMPED ITO THE NC ECONOMY BY FARMING
238,389,000.....Fertilizer, lime,etc
220,109,000.....Chemicals
160,111,000.....seeds,plants
1,917,997,000.....feed
170,533,000.....gas/oil
118,921,000.....Utilities
319,142,000.....Supplies,repairs, Maintainance
3,145,202,000......TOTAL

552,486,000.....Labor
65,193,000.....Contract Labor
617,679,000.....TOTAL

3,762,881,000 Total added to economy
164,848,000......Interest expense



For the US economy (horses)

almost 2 million American horse owners
4,659,719 people involved in the horse industry

$39 billion in direct economic impact
indirect spending included $102 billion dollars

$32 billion from the recreation segment
$29 billion from the showing segment
$26 billion from the racing segment
$14.7 billion from other industry segments

When direct and indirect spending are included it is estimated that the horse industry
creates approximately 1.43 million FTE jobs.

The Horse Industry contributes nearly $40 billion annually to the Gross Domestic Product of the economy. When indirect spending is included this number jumps to approximately $63 billion.

www.horseproperties.net...