I have often wondered what people must think when they see me buying large quantities of lottery tickets and running to the racetrack to bet on horses, or when I buy large quantities of items at the stores.
I am always running errands for my boss. Seeing as I don't have a stove, fridge, or anywhere to put anything I can't handle any more belongings than the belongings I am sat watching being ruined. But I am very attentive to the cost of living and the economic instability we are living in. And these are simply terrifying days.
How Miserable? Index Says The Worst In Twenty Eight Years.
When it comes to measuring the combination of unemployment and inflation, it doesn’t get much more miserable than this
In fact misery as measured in the unofficial Misery Index that simply totals the unemployment and inflation rates, is at a 28-year high, reflective of how weak the economic recovery has been and how far there is to go.
The index, first compiled during the soaring inflation days of the 1970s by economist Arthur Okun, is registering a nausea-inducing 12.7—9.1 percent for unemployment and 3.6 percent for annualized inflation—a number not seen since 1983. The index has been above 10 since November 2009 and had been under double-digits from June 1993 through May 2008.The good news, of course, is that the Fed-led Paul Volcker embarked on a highly successful inflation-slaying campaign that brought the level of misery down sharply through the rest of the ’80s recovery decade.
The bad news, of course, is all the bad news.
This is simply not the time to be left homeless, or struggling trying to get a roof over one's head.
"The problem we now face is the most extraordinary financial crisis that I have ever seen or read about." —Former Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan (August 7, 2010, interview in the New York Times)
So begins this extraordinary book that takes the reader through a logical and linear progression toward what is likely to become the worst financial disaster in American history. The financial Armageddon will begin with the collapse of the so-called PIIGS nations—first Greece, then Ireland—leading to a crisis of confidence in European banks and a sharp devaluation of the euro. Speculation about the fate of the EU will spark a trading frenzy in world equities markets, and the rising uncertainty will bring a rapid decline in world stock markets. The bond markets will all but shut down, and interest rates will spike. In short order, the focus will shift from Europe to the United States and its monumental debt and out-of-control deficit spending. The U.S. Treasury will shift its printing presses into high gear as it churns out additional billions to cover its debts, but America's deteriorating financial condition will cause a spike in interest rates as buyers of U.S. Treasuries lose confidence. Several states will default on their municipal debt; in many cases, retirement checks to former state employees will cease. From there, events inexorably will lead to soaring inflation of an order not seen since the 1970s.
If this grim scenario seems far-fetched to you now, it won't by the time you're done reading this harrowing account of the current state of the world financial system.
Authors Peter Tanous and Jeff Cox brush aside the "blue skies" propaganda coming out of Washington and the New York Fed to offer a cold-eyed assessment of the facts. Step by painful step, they delineate the events that have led us to the current state of affairs until they arrive at the inescapable conclusion that decades of profligate spending by government and reckless speculation in the financial markets have taken us too far down the path of destruction for us to entertain any ideas of turning back. Global economic collapse may be inevitable. The only question remaining now is what you can do to protect your assets until the crisis blows over.
In answer to that question, Tanous and Cox explain why Modern Portfolio Theory and the traditional 60/40 portfolio structure no longer apply. In their place, the authors offer a set of inflation-busting asset allocation strategies that include a substantial investment of real assets—including oil, gold, timber, and even farmland—as well as inflation-protected bonds.
A storm is coming. How soon, exactly, it will arrive, no one can say for sure. If you want to know how it will shake out and what you can do to shield your hard-earned assets from the worst of it, read Debt, Deficits, and the Demise of the American economy.
Today was one of those days I had to be everywhere at once. My boss had a maiden horse running at the track and I needed to get there before 2.30 pm, shopping to do, medication to pick up, and all the while fighting rising panic over my own situation and how to face winter homeless AGAIN. Not able to get back to my work, not able to see my mother. That dull pain that sears through your very soul.
Earlier this evening I ended up attending one of those parties where you buy products, purchases aimed at women. Seeing as my daughter was the hostess I thought I could manage to steer off the migraines for a few hours. I couldn't. I ended up sat in a vehicle deathly ill with a migraine ripping my head off my shoulders, taking as much medication as I could to decrease the pain.
As I drove back to Alto around 8.30 pm I looked at the homes with lights coming on, families sat watching television, settling down in the comfort of their homes and I didn't want to come back to this shed. I just wanted to pull out a door key and walk into my home, and feel the same familiar comfort others feel. I wanted to feel safe and secure. It's the loneliest feeling any human being can have.. to not have a home to go to.
I still have not found anyone who can help with the trailer and barn, nor even give me some professional guidance so I can get electricity working on that land. It's turning into a dangerously dry summer, and I feel too old and worn out to face another winter.Again I appeal to the Huckins family members, if it be Malcolm Huckins, Dr. Kenneth Ogilvie, Patricia Ogilvie-Huckins or someone else: PLEASE help me recover the stolen building fund so I can have a home and my family & life back before winter arrives. This is so cruel and unjust.
When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it? ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
