Posts by Marc Nonnenkamp

Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (October 1, 2023) The standard of living in today’s America is actually lower compared to what it was during the Great Depression of 1929 to 1949: https://prepareforchange.net/2023/09/12/we-definitely-are-in-the-great-depression-they-just-want-to-make-us-think-were-not/.  During the Great Depression, a home cost 3 times the average salary, today a home costs 8 times the average salary.  An automobile cost 46 percent of an average annual salary 90 years ago, today that cost is 85 percent.  12 months of rent cost 16 percent of annual salary in the 1930s, today that is up to 42 percent. America long had one of the highest rates of home ownership in the entire world – today, it has one of the lowest rates.  100 million of 129 million US households are renter households, or 78 percent of the total.  And of the 22 percent “homeowners” average equity is much lower than it used to be – no more than 38 percent in 2011.  Furthermore, 44 percent of existing homeowners are using their home much like an ATM (Automated Teller Machine) by doing things like refinancing, taking out a home equity line of credit (HELOC) or older people above age 62 doing a reverse mortgage.  This “credit” is being used for things like expensive home remodeling, student loan debt, auto debt, medical debt, credit card debt or taking trips / vacations…………………NOT a good idea. Yet another “elephant in the room” is ESG debt.  “ESG” stands for “Environmental, Social and Governance” and is of course being pushed by the likes of the WEF (“World Economic Forum” led by Klaus Schwab in Switzerland) – they are behind much of the blatant lies behind “climate change, global warming and destructive / divisive / dishonest woke politics.”  The loss in ESG bond debt to date is a staggering USD $18 TRILLION…

Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (September 1, 2023) Everywhere one looks, one can see evidence of the USA and the western world crumbling.  Ignore whatever you see or hear on mainstream media, because absolutely nothing of what they say is true.  More countries continue to move ever further away from the American Dollar.  The recent BRICS summit in South Africa saw 6 countries join the original 5 members for a new total of 11 nations which control an impressive 80 percent of the entire world’s crude oil market.  Note that natural gas, natural gas byproducts and coal are found wherever crude oil is found – these are necessary and valuable resources which will never disappear.  An additional 14 nations are waiting in the wings to join the BRICS 11 and many more countries attended the summit as observers. At least 19 European countries are refusing to supply the criminal dictatorship in Kiev with support, which is a small step in the right direction – no country should be supplying them with anything other than humanitarian aid, and even that is highly questionable given their extreme level of corruption (because any aid will never reach its intended beneficiaries).  Zelensky’s mother-in-law recently spent USD $4.8 million on a villa in Egypt.  This disgusting robbery of US taxpayer money is much like Hunter Biden recently renting a brand new home in Malibu, California for USD $15,800 per month. Bobby Kennedy, Jr. (one of the very few honest Democrats left) recently highlighted the fact that the massive investment banking houses of Blackrock (based in New York), Vanguard (based in Pennsylvania) and State Street (based in Boston) now control / own 88 percent of all corporations listed on the S&P 500 and a whopping 60 percent of American real estate.  This is the reason…

Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (August 1, 2023) If we step back and view the world unlike the 100 percent dishonest mainstream media does, we realize that our world is in very big trouble due to completely corrupt “leadership.”  Our cost of living is too high, our labor market is not healthy and our standard of living is dropping like a rock.  Case in point: there are 129 million households in the USA with an average 2.57 people per household.  There are 100 million “renter” households in the USA, which tells us that so-called “home ownership” has also fallen like a rock: 78 percent renter households versus 22 percent of households with a mortgage (the usual situation) or outright ownership with no mortgage (the ideal situation). Asset prices remain severely inflated – global stock markets are a valid case in point.  The total number of publicly traded corporations worldwide (companies in which anyone can purchase stock through a stock broker) is now a mere 7,700 or so: https://companiesmarketcap.com/.  In other words, investors are chasing ever fewer companies as they invest their monies – mostly their retirement savings in the form of pension plans, 401 K plans or IRAs (individual retirement accounts).  They are paying absolutely massive “premiums” over what privately held companies report in their annual reports. Nevertheless, the stalling global economy is finally affecting the most visible parts of the economy – real estate sales and automotive sales.  Year over year compared to July 2022, residential real estate prices in the USA have finally fallen by more than 11 percent, and retail automobile prices have finally fallen by 10 percent:  https://prepareforchange.net/2023/07/25/the-most-splendid-housing-bubbles-in-america-home-prices-drop-the-most-year-over-year-in-over-a-decade/?fbclid=IwAR0poJ_Q8cm7nsabpW_jw5EkGCQGwnzVOod_rFPq0Fbsf8Vgw4bSxVnxn5c. Many so-called “democracies” in the western world are in fact no longer “free” societies – they are “crony capitalist” countries with major political parties following a common…

Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (July 1, 2023) This recent video from Elliott Wave International of Atlanta clearly and graphically illustrates just how weak the American economy and employment market are today – job openings or “help wanted” are now at historically low levels regardless of what is reported in the so-called “mainstream media”:  https://www.elliottwave.com/Economy/Have-You-Seen-This-Chart-About-US-Job-Openings?utm_source=com&utm_medium=eml&utm_campaign=ar-cotd&utm_content=cotdrfjobopenings230531. Yet another disturbing trend in the economy is the fact that brand new real estate costs significantly more to build than it is worth to sell in today’s market.  Commercial real estate in the USA already has an astounding 50 percent vacancy rate, and in the residential real estate market this figure is 14 percent.  The latter figure is largely due to the fact that many more affluent people have more than one residential property, and that they have no desire to rent those additional properties.  In any case, building material & labor costs are such that all real estate cost much more to construct than it is really worth – this holds true for high-end real estate all the way down to so-called “affordable” housing.  If you purchase a good insurance policy for your property, you should notice that the entire “blanket” policy is worth much more than the actual property is worth.  You will need this coverage in case of emergency, disaster or tragedy because it will cost much more to rebuild the same property from scratch – more than the property is actually worth.  For modestly priced homes this “surcharge” will be from 30 to 40 percent more than the property is actually worth.  For high-end real estate the same “surcharge” will be much more – say up to 200 percent more than the property is worth.  To make a long story short, this tells us that this is NOT a…

Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (June 1, 2023) The Biden-Harris Administration in Washington and their lackey allies around the world are headed for a train wreck of historical magnitude.  The G-7 nations (the USA, France, Canada, Germany, the UK, Italy and Japan) produced 70 percent of global GDP in 1976 – that has since fallen to a paltry 27 percent.  117 countries have an inflation rate lower than in the USA.  The number of countries which have already abandoned the US Dollar for purposes of global trade & reserve currency status stands at 81 and this number is growing daily.  Never mind the theater in Washington, D.C. – the USA has been and is already bankrupt for all intents and purposes.  It is not just that inflation is too high – the overall cost of living and asset prices are astronomical and they must come down to the ground.  Credit must be deflated and the cost of money must go up – interest rates need to continue to rise.  Here is a short article about the possible US debt default from Elliott Wave International of Atlanta:  https://www.elliottwave.com/Economy/Hope-for-the-Best-Prepare-for-the-Worst?utm_source=com&utm_medium=eml&utm_campaign=ar-ins&utm_content=insdebtceilinggmp2305. This nightmare scenario plays out not just in the political capitals of the G-7 countries and not just in collapsing economies – it also plays out in the utterly dangerous, nonsensical, needless, useless, destructive and immoral Ukraine War which threatens to grow into a 3rd World War due to the reckless policies of the USA and her lackey allies.  As the former Third Reich did under Adolf Hitler, the current administration in Washington, D.C. is moving toward an utterly mad & insane 4 front global war.  The Eastern front is against Russia and her allies in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa.  The Western front is against Mainland China…

Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (May 1, 2023) There are important signs that the both economic-financial and the geopolitical fronts of the western world are starting to buckle (i.e. collapse) in a significant way.  Both the seaports on the east coast of the USA (the largest being Norfolk, Virginia) and on the west coast of the USA (the largest being Long Beach, California) are unusually and abnormally quiet.  The main reason for this is that consumer demand is weakening by the day – the resources of the consumer have been spent and there is not much left in reserve.  Consumer spending comprises 70 percent of GDP or Gross Domestic Product. Major retailers like Walmart are closing stores in big cities or even pulling out altogether – specific examples include Chicago, Illinois and Portland, Oregon, respectively.  Target is planning major staff (or paid hour) reductions in employment.  Kroger (the 2nd largest supermarket grocery store chain in the USA) just announced miserable results for the most recent quarter as did D.R. Horton (the largest homebuilder in the USA).  Cumulative job cuts at large corporations have reached almost one-half million employees, the biggest number of these coming from Amazon.com.  Inflation and an already very high cost of living remain serious problems – the latest annually adjusted figure out of the United Kingdom is 10 percent………………….and we all know that the real numbers are far worse than the “official” numbers regardless of country.  44 percent of US workers are working two or more jobs – not by choice but by necessity. 39 percent of American households have actually skipped a meal to afford their house payments – in households headed by young adults this figure is an astounding 44 percent.  14 percent of American homes are now vacant (along with 50 percent of…

Financial, Economic and Social Mood Update (April 2, 2023) Inflation (or more accurately: the loss of purchasing power) in North America, Europe, Australia and other countries tied to the west is in no way “transitory” – on the contrary, it looks to be permanent and getting worse by the day.  In your own lives, look at the prices in the grocery store, for your monthly utility bills and for insurance – especially something like homeowner’s insurance.  All of these prices have literally skyrocketed over the past few years. The political & the financial system power structure in the western countries appears to be collapsing by the day as well, driven largely by an insane desire to promote conflict with and in much of the rest of the world.  The power structure “on the other side” is becoming ever more independent from the west, specifically from the post-World War 2 hegemony of the American Dollar.  The illegitimate Biden regime in Washington, D.C. is now presiding over the collapse of the American Empire which has ruled the world since 1945. This “other side” power structure can be seen emerging most clearly in institutions such as the “BRICS” countries (these are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), in the SCO (the “Shanghai Cooperation Organization” which includes almost all of Asia) and in the Chinese BRI (“Belt and Road Initiative”).  Note – BRICS actually includes the 5 main founding nations plus 3 applicant nations (Algeria, Argentina and Iran), 5 more nations which have officially expressed interest in applying for membership (Afghanistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey) and finally 6 additional nations now in official dialogue for BRICS expansion (Kazakhstan, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Senegal, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates). The Belt and Road Initiative includes most of Asia, South America, Oceania, Australia, Europe,…