Abstract

The gravest challenge facing the USA and the nations of the world is the coming economic crisis of the world economies, if present policies are pursued. Few are aware or believe that this event could happen. The spread of centralized government control of the economies, the growth of the welfare state worldwide, the expenditures on entitlements beyond what any nation or even most states can afford, the cost of wars, the rapidly climbing debt of the USA and other countries and their inability to pay for these excessive expenses, the actions of many countries to print “fiat” (false) money to pay for their debts, the raising of taxes to pay for these debts, the rise in immigration to developed countries from the undeveloped world, the associated costs to their societies of this immigration, the promises made by politicians to get elected that cannot be fulfilled, and the desire of the public to have what they want, now, paid for by credit cards (debt), are all contributing to the coming economic crisis.

Keywords: Economics, politics, socialism, socioeconomics, welfare

EDITOR'S NOTE

Most people, physicians included, do not have the time to understand the socio-economic and political events that are happening daily. In many cases, the events are reported by the media in a biased manner. Yet, these events have a great impact on each person's life. In an effort to help Surgical Neurology International's (SNI's) readers understand the events shaping your life, SNI will present the first of four objective summaries on these issues. The first, on The Socio-Economic and Political Changes, is fundamental to an understanding of how these events will shape your life and affect your practice of medicine. The last three summaries, which will appear in future issues, will deal with (1) The Hippocratic Oath in the 21^st Century, (2) The Factors that have Changed the Practice of Medicine, and (3) What Will be the Changes in Medical Practice in the 21^st Century.

James I. Ausman

Editor in Chief

NOTE TO THE READER

To learn the most about this issue, which is so important to you, among all the confusion you read and see in the Media, I suggest that you print this paper out and read it when you have the time. This information applies to all of SNI's readers around the world. Since the Socio-Economic and Political forces are inter-related, they must be discussed together to understand the events that are happening worldwide today and will happen tomorrow. Each section is a short read. I have included the text of what the various experts have said, so that you may interpret for yourself what you read and come to your own conclusions. I believe that you will find the quotations and data astounding in some cases shocking, much of which you have never read or known because the information has been kept from you by the Media, the Press, and the Government.

For those with restricted time, I suggest that you read the ABSTRACT first, then the outline of the contents of the paper to get a broad view of the subject, and finally Section 24 beginning with “What you should conclude from this Information” to the end.

I believe that this paper will be of great importance to your future and may be life changing. Share this paper with your family and friends.

PART I: THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC-POLITICAL-SCENE-WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. What is happening in the USA?

In a recent article in May 10, 2013 in Moneynews,[ 121 ] economist Robert Wiedemer said, “What's really happening now is that many people on Wall Street are trying to fool themselves. They don’t want to look at basic economic data showing very little growth. They don’t want to look at revenues for the Standard and Poor's 500 [the leading 500 companies in the USA], which are now declining. They don’t want to look at over a year of declining earnings growth. They don’t want to see a global economy that is in or near a recession in most countries and, in the few having growth, they don’t want to see the massive slowdown.”

“Most importantly, they don’t want to see what is driving the entire ‘recovery’ they like to talk about — massive government borrowing and massive money printing. The total growth expected in our [US] economy this year — about $300 billion — is still much less than half of our government's expected borrowing this year. In addition, we are printing $1 trillion this year, which is helping raise both stock and real estate asset prices. The big recovery hasn’t been in the economy, it's been in the stock market and other investment markets.”

“The Stock Market growth in the USA is fueled by massive government printing of money, while the fundamentals in the economy in the USA have not changed. Thus, the Stock Market bubble is false and cannot be sustained,” Wiedemer says.[ 122 ]

The second quarter economic growth in the US was weaker as predicted by Wiedemer and others.[ 34 120 122 ] Another recent report stated that billionaires are dumping their investments in stocks.[ 90 ] Walmart reported a fall in earnings in the second quarter of 2013. Macke reported,[ 80 ]

“…Walmart is the thermometer of the American economy.”

“Disregard the government data. Jobs and GDP and all the rest are at best inaccurate measures of the economy and at worst flat out corrupt. Walmart is capitalism writ large. The entire organization is focused on nothing but selling goods and services to Americans. It may be an empire in decline, but Walmart sells more than $1 billion worth of merchandise per day in a bad quarter. When Walmart misses estimates, it can only mean one of two things: Either Walmart or the American economy is weaker than anyone thought.”[ 80 ]

“Walmart is a terrific operator. They didn’t suddenly become stupid,” says Howard Davidowitz, one of the top retail minds in the country. “The economy is in collapse. That's what's going on.” Davidowitz points out that Walmart isn’t just a store for the downtrodden. They have 150 million customers, which collectively spent less in Walmart stores than in the same period last year. Davidowitz says another 50 million customers shop at Target, which he also expects to have negative comp stores sales when it reports next week.[ 80 102 ]

2. What is happening worldwide?

China's economy is collapsing because of corruption, overspending, higher wages, decreasing demand for its products, questionable loan policies, and loss of manufacturing to lower wage countries such as Malaysia and Bangladesh.[ 4 76 103 ] The statistics China tells the world come from a Communist government and are state controlled reporting of figures, which even most of the Chinese people and others do not believe.[ 12 47 69 123 ] India is plagued by corruption, poverty, and illiteracy.[ 47 ] Currently its economy is experiencing a falling of the Rupee (Indian currency), falling markets, high debt, and more imports than exports, thus forcing the country to rely on foreign capital, which all produce a slowing economy.

In Japan, the economy has been stagnant since 1990 because of excessive borrowing and social welfare spending, especially with an aging population. A new Prime Minister was just elected, and he decided to stimulate the economy by devaluing the Yen (Japanese currency) by printing more Yen making the Yen less valuable compared with other currencies. His goal was to stimulate the economy so that Japanese goods would be cheaper outside Japan and raise demand for Japanese products that are now at lower price.[ 82 ] Such a situation will lead Japan to imitate the USA with dependency on others to buy its products to overcome its debt.[ 82 ] Printing currency to remain competitive in the world economy as has been done in the USA and Europe and other countries only causes a currency war that is bad for all. Where does it end?

Europe is now in a second recession, and England just narrowly escaped a third recession. Many of Europe's economies, such as those of Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and perhaps France cannot pay for the debts that have accumulated from overspending.[ 12 43 61 ] Germany's economy has slowed. The countries of Latin America, particularly Brazil and Columbia, which had high growth rates, are facing a slowdown in their economies as the purchase of their goods diminishes because people worldwide have less money to spend. Also in Brazil, the new entitlements paid to the poor have reduced the country's growth rate and prevented these people, who get government handouts, from looking for work. Brazil has created a large welfare state. Why work if your pay for not working from the government is almost the same as from working? In addition, the economies of Argentina, Bolivia, and Venezuela are all run by Socialist or Communist leaders dedicated to central economic planning and are failing.[ 121 ]

3. The results of debt from over promising and over spending

a. An explanation of how much the USA public owes

Although the statistics on the total debt owed by the public in the USA are not easy to find and assemble, Tanner wrote in the NY Post in June 25, 2011[ 112 ] that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), at that time, totaled the National Debt at $120 trillion dollars. This debt consists of (1) government debt, from loans from others; (2) Intergovernment debt, or debt the government owes itself such as Social Security Debt that was taken from Social Security Trust Fund to pay for other government expenditures; and (3) ‘Implicit Debt,’ or debt in obligations to Medicare, Medicaid, or bills that will be due. These numbers are just the debt owed by the government. But, there is more. Updating Tanner's figures to 2013, in rounded numbers, the national debt owed to others is $17 trillion dollars. The intergovernmental debt that is owed to the Social Security program is about $5 trillion dollars. The implicit debt is debt or bills due to be paid is $37-$90 trillion dollars for Medicare. The low figure is from the assumed savings from Obamacare, and the $90 trillion is calculated if those savings do not occur, a situation that is more likely to happen. Add to those numbers the student loan debt that has to be repaid by the students of $1 trillion dollars. So, the total government debt is $60–$112 trillion dollars with the higher number more likely.

The USA collects $2 trillion dollars in taxes each year while spending over $3.5 trillion dollars. So, the government created $1.5 trillion dollars in overspending and debt each year for the past 5 years. So, if the Gross National Product (GNP) of Goods and Services[ 127 ] produced each year by the people of the USA is $16 trillion dollars, which is growing at a low figure of 1.7%,[ 64 ] it would take 4 years of the total production of the USA (or 4 × 16 = $64 trillion dollars) to pay off just the government debt. That means that if the USA paid all the money it produced each year for 4 years it could pay off this debt without paying any expenses for its needs in military, education, healthcare, and the other budget items. The translation is that the USA cannot reasonably pay its debts unless it raises taxes, takes all the public's money, and/or passes the debt on to the next generation. So the government is broke if numbers like these were true for any citizen. But the debt numbers are not finished.

Now add to that debt $12 trillion dollars in consumer debt, $1 trillion dollars in credit card debt, $8 trillion in mortgage debt, and $4 trillion dollars in debts of the states.[ 2 ] Thus, the grand total of debt owed, ultimately, by the public is $85-$138 trillion dollars, likely more near $140 trillion dollars in rounded numbers. Yet, the total value of all the assets of all the people in the USA is $99 trillion dollars. So, one can see that the people of the USA do not have the resources to pay their expenses.

It is known that The Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) is the biggest buyer of the USA debt at the present time.[ 32 ] The Fed is buying this debt with money it is printing! To try to solve this debt problem and to get the banks to lend more money to the public, the Fed bought the bad mortgages from the 2009 recession and beyond from the banks. This move prevented the banks from going bankrupt. But, this payment to the banks is with printed money, or false money, that has no value and is not backed by gold as in the past. As a result the purchasing power of the dollar has fallen 50% in the past 10 years because the dollar is worth less as more dollars are printed. In addition, only 50% of able-bodied men work.[ 107 ] How can this debt be repaid? Would you invest in such a business?

b. What a bipartisan commission appointed President Obama said about the debt

The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform[ 115 ] (also known as The Debt Commission, a bipartisan committee of Democrats and Republicans), appointed by President Obama, published its report in 2010. It stated,

“Our nation is on an unsustainable fiscal path. Spending is rising and revenues are falling short, requiring the government to borrow huge sums each year to make up the difference. We face staggering deficits…. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects if we continue on our current course, deficits will remain high throughout the rest of this decade and beyond, and debt will spiral ever higher…By 2025 revenue will be able to finance only interest payments [on the debt] Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Every other federal government activity from national defense and homeland security to transportation and energy will have to be paid for with borrowed money. Debt held by the public will outstrip the entire American Economy…Federal debt this high is unsustainable. Rising debt will deprive the government of the ability to respond to future crises and to invest in other priorities…America cannot be great if we go broke. Our businesses will not be able to grow and create jobs, and our workers will not be able to compete successfully for the jobs of the future without a plan to get this crushing debt burden off our backs.”[ 27 115 ]

The Debt Commission recommended $4 trillion dollar cuts in government spending and decrease in taxes to avert a financial disaster. The President and many members of the Congress of the USA dismissed the report of the Commission.[ 27 115 ]

c. What others are saying about the debt

James Dorn in the conservative Cato Journal[ 32 ] stated factually that in 2013,

“The cause of the U.S. debt crisis is overspending and an explosion in entitlements, especially Medicare and Medicaid. The stimulus programs, in response to the 2008-09 financial crisis, have also contributed to U.S. public debt. The Federal Reserve has vastly expanded its balance sheet and in fiscal year 2011 was the largest buyer of new U.S. Treasury debt, acquiring 77 percent [of that debt-Ed].”[ 32 ]

Peter Schiff, CEO of EuroPacific Capital, another conservative with a credible viewpoint, stated,[ 99 ]

“A record breaking stock market is distorting a frightening reality: The U.S. is being eaten alive by a horrific cancer that will ultimately destroy the economy and impoverish the vast majority of its citizens…I think we are heading for a worse economic crisis than we had in 2007,” Schiff said. “You’re going to have a collapse in the dollar. A huge spike in interest rates. and our whole economy, which is built on the foundation of cheap money, is going to topple when you pull the rug out from under it…Eventually interest rates will rise. and when they do, [Schiff says], stocks will tank and bonds dip to nothing. Massive new tax hikes will be imposed and programs and entitlements will be cut to the bone…We are broke, Schiff added. ‘We owe trillions. Look at our budget deficit; look at the debt to GDP ratio, the unfunded liabilities. If we were in the Eurozone, they would kick us out…’ It's not that the stock market is gaining value. it's that our money is losing value. And so if you have a debased currency, a devalued currency, the price of everything goes up. Stocks are no exception,” he said. “The Fed knows that the U.S. economy is not recovering,” he noted. “It simply is being kept from collapse by artificially low interest rates and quantitative easing [money printing]. As that support goes, the economy will implode…”[ 99 ]

4. Attempts to solve the debt crisis

a. The budget sequestration of 2013 – a failed attempt to solve the debt problem

The President, politicians, and the public rejected the sacrifice and austerity recommended by The Debt Commission.[ 115 ] Other attempts to correct the debt problem were met with the President demanding more spending while the Congress wanted to cut the budget to correct deficits. Political gridlock resulted. Similar situations face many other countries in the world.

Wikipedia states, “On August 2, 2011, President Obama signed the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA) as part of an agreement with Congress to resolve the debt-ceiling crisis. The Act provided for a Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (the ‘Super Committee’) to produce legislation by late November that would decrease the deficit by $1.2 trillion over ten years. When the Super Committee failed to act, another part of the BCA went into effect, which directed automatic across-the-board cuts (known as ‘sequestrations’) split evenly between defense and domestic spending, beginning on January 2, 2013.

The spending reductions are approximately $85.4 billion (equivalent to $42 billion in actual outlays) during fiscal year 2013, with similar cuts for years 2014 through 2021. However, total federal outlays will continue to increase by an average of $238.6 billion per year during the next decade, although at a somewhat lesser rate because of the sequester.” So, the government debt will continue to climb.[ 124 ]

Thus, since both political parties could not find a compromise to the dilemma of reducing spending and raising taxes, the automatic sequestration cuts to military and nonmilitary expenditures were made. As you can see, spending still exceeded reductions by 5×. As a result although some austerity was automatically begun, it was hardly enough to follow the recommendations of the Debt Commission, which also stated that solving the fiscal crisis should be nonpartisan, another recommendation that was not followed.[ 124 ]

So, for the present, the apparent political answer is to keep spending and keep printing money as if the problem did not exist or as a default of the politicians to solve this problem, and hope for an economic recovery. That recovery is unlikely to happen under the circumstances stated earlier.[ 121 ] If the USA reaches a point when no one wants its dollar because its value is so low, and it cannot pay its debts, the USA will be bankrupt.[ 136 ] So will most other countries.

5. What has actually happened? Corruption, overspending, misuse of power, an agenda for central control for a selected few, disregard for the public, alleged violation of the constitution, and greed

a. Overspending to get elected

Overspending has involved both Democrat and Republican Administrations of the US government for decades. So, one party is not solely to blame for the desire to get elected by promising the public more for which there are no funds available.

b. Misuse of power, corruption, and cover-up

Recent reports indicate that the US Government has used the Internal Revenue Service, the government tax collection body, to intimidate those who are opposed to its policies.[ 73 ] In addition, there is evidence that the Obama Administration has lied to the American Public about the attacks on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya and used an extensive cover-up of the truth that is little questioned by the Press.[ 20 ]

c. Violation of the constitution

The Obama Administration appears to have violated Amendments 1, 2, and 4 of the US Constitution.

Amendment I deals with freedom of the Press and Freedom of Speech and Religion. It is also reported that the Obama Administration has also targeted two news organizations by wiretapping of their phone conversations.[ 25 ] Initially, none of this information was covered by most of the US Press with few exceptions. There are recent revelations that the US government has access to the phone conversations and e-mails of the public worldwide and in the USA.[ 35 51 52 53 54 87 ] Only when the revelation of these recent invasions into the privacy of the citizens and the threats to the Press were made, has the Press begun to take an active role in reporting the actual news about the Obama administration. Where is the line between protection of the citizens and violation of their liberty?

6. What the public thinks about these violations of their rights

A recent report by The Pew Research Center on July 26, 2013 of public opinion about their concerns on privacy stated:[ 41 ]

“A majority of Americans – 56% – say that federal courts fail to provide adequate limits on the telephone and Internet data the government is collecting as part of its antiterrorism efforts. An even larger percentage (70%) believes that the government uses this data for purposes other than investigating terrorism.

And despite the insistence by the President and other senior officials that only ‘metadata,’ such as phone numbers and email addresses, is being collected, 63% think the government is also gathering information about the content of communications – with 27% believing the government has listened to or read their phone calls and emails.

Nonetheless, the public's bottom line on government anti-terrorism surveillance is narrowly positive. But, this national survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted July 17-21, 2013 among 1480 adults, finds that 50% approve of the government's collection of telephone and internet data as part of anti-terrorism efforts, while 44% disapprove. These views are little changed from a month ago, when 48% approved and 47% disapproved.”[ 41 ]

The misuse of the IRS powers and other activities as stated indicates that a majority of the public does not trust the actions of the government in regard to their individual privacy.[ 41 ]

Information in this editorial could be used against the Editor, for example, violating Amendment IV of the Constitution in addition to Amendment I guaranteeing the right of… “Freedom of speech or of the press….” The final truth of all these allegations has not been learned. But, this alleged deception has led to a “loss of credibility for President Obama and his administration” as stated belatedly in The NY Times.[ 96 ]

7. The Press: What the NY Times, a liberal newspaper supporting the government, states

Moreover, in an editorial covering this subject[ 97 ] the NY Times states, “The government tells the citizens in the USA not to worry. These invasions of privacy are to protect them from ‘terrorism’…” “We have heard these phrases before from the Obama Administration…” “Those reassurances have never been persuasive – whether on secret warrants to scoop up a news agency's phone records or secret orders to kill an American suspected of terrorism – especially coming from a president, who once promised transparency and accountability.”

Statements supporting this deception of the public have been published in The Guardian,[ 51 52 53 54 ] which goes on to say that “a full discussion of these allegations in a fair court hearing are essential so that the public will know the truth.”

The New York Times Editorial[ 97 ] also stated, “A senior administration official quoted in The [NY] Times about the Verizon order, offered the lame observation that the information does not include the name of any caller, as though there would be the slightest difficulty in matching numbers to names. He said the information ‘has been a critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats,’ because it allows the government ‘to discover whether known or suspected terrorists have been in contact with other persons who may be engaged in terrorist activities, particularly people located inside the United States.’”[ 97 ]

The NY Times further stated, “The administration has now lost all credibility on this issue. Mr. Obama is proving the truism that the executive branch will use any power it is given and very likely abuse it.”[ 97 ]

What is happening to the Republic and Liberty in the USA? (“A Republic is a form of government in which affairs of state are a ‘public matter,’ not the private concern of the rulers”).[ 134 ] Where has The Press been to defend those rights for the public? Is the government abusing its power over the citizens? What do all of these reports mean about what the public worldwide is being told about the economies of their countries and other actions of their governments?

8. Why isn’t The Press reporting this news?

Little of the information cited above has appeared in The Press or other Media in the USA. The threat to the economy of continued spending and printing of money is scarcely reported in the Press. A Pew research study showed that public believed that the Press was one sided (leftist), was influenced by powerful organizations, had inaccurate reporting, but believed that the Press should be the “watchdog” for the American people.[ 3 ]

Look in your newspapers wherever you live in the world. How much do you read about this impending financial crisis? Why are you not being told about this dangerous situation affecting yourself, your family, and other citizens, and your country? Why is the other news about spying on the public, and covering up the killing of Americans in Benghazi and the death of the 30 Navy Seals Team (Team 6), not being told?[ 3 ]

a. The Simple Answer

The simple answer is that the members of the Press do not believe the “doom and gloom” scenarios that have been written or believe that the events are not newsworthy.

b. The Probable Answer: Power and Control of and by The Press

There is evidence that Press is liberal oriented.[ 3 41 55 ] Major banks and corporations own the news organizations and can influence their reporting.[ 3 26 41 ] These media corporations that also have ties to the government and direct their papers to support the positions the government takes. Also, big volume advertisers can determine the orientation of the news by threatening to withdraw their sponsorship.[ 26 ] In the USA we have already witnessed these actions in regard to talk show hosts and a major media company that are not pro-government.

As the evidence above indicates, this disregard for the law by the government, and the Constitutional rights of the people to individual freedom, privacy and self-determination is purposeful. Cuddy has extensively documented in his book, “The New World Order” (NWO), that the major goal is to concentrate power in a self-selected elite group of people. It is all about power over the people.[ 26 ]

Those committed to a NWO fear that if the people were in control, the self-selected elite's desire for a NWO will be rejected and with it the power of this group few would vanish.[ 13 26 ] Those advocating the NWO also do not have respect for individual liberty and the ability of the public to make its own decisions.[ 13 ]

9. How politicians can influence the people-by creating crises and forcing quick decisions to gain their objectives by fear

Rahm Emanuel, former Chief of Staff to President Obama and now Mayor or Chicago stated, “You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”[ 36 ] This is a tactic of the government to gain control over the people.[ 26 ] Many decisions are now being made by the politicians by creating crises to wrest control from the people and disregard the Constitution. That is what happened over the years to healthcare in the USA because the healthcare system was constantly described as worse than that of other countries that paid less for their care, which it is not,[ 23 ] and that there was a 47 million uninsured people.[ 91 ] Both of these claims are untrue and only tell part of the facts.[ 23 91 ]

10. What are other countries doing to protect themselves from this coming economic crisis?

Many countries are buying large amounts of gold instead of investing in the USA. “The lack of investment choices and a risky financial system make demand for gold in China particularly attractive.”[ 4 45 135 ] They are also trading using their own currencies and not dollars,[ 17 22 42 ] which means that the dollar is in less demand, and its value is declining. These moves away from the dollar are in small amounts and symbolic at this time but represent a trend to be watched and a lack of confidence in the dollar and the markets. Callick reported,[ 17 ] “Brazil and China are working to allow trade between countries to be carried out in local currency to protect [them] from dollar fluctuations, said Fernando Pimentel, Brazil's minister of development, industry and foreign trade.” Similar arrangements between China and Japan[ 22 ] and Australia and China[ 17 ] are being made to exchange goods in their own currencies.

To pay for all of our debt, the USA government has printed dollars, an action that will cause the value of the dollar to decline and lose its worldwide status as the currency of exchange. This money printing has been called the “Stimulus Plans” and “Economic (Quantitative Easing) Easing,” “Buying Long Term Debt,” or “Troubled Asset Relief Program” (TARP). These actions were and are being taken by the Federal Reserve Board (Fed) of the USA.[ 104 ] Governments around the world are also printing money that has no value to pay for their expenses.[ 28 56 68 ]

The end result of countries buying gold instead of dollars, exchanging goods in nondollar currencies, and printing false (fiat) currency is the devaluation of the dollar and other currencies. As a result everyone will pay more of their currency to buy the same goods and services. That is called inflation. The US government has made it unattractive to invest in bonds or to keep your money in the bank at the low interest rates that are paid, which are lower than the rate of inflation. The banks pay very little for savings accounts; so the public is forced to invest in the stock market even though the workforce has not increased, wages have not increased, unemployment remains the same, and sales of companies are becoming flat with all the stimulus money that has been spent.[ 121 122 ] Also companies are not hiring workers full-time but hiring them part-time to avoid paying the high costs of the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare), which covers full time employees.[ 48 79 137 ]

11. Misrepresentation of inflation numbers

The actual rate of inflation reported by the USA government is manipulated. It excludes the cost of food and gasoline that are essential components of an inflation measure.[ 121 ] Ask your spouse how much the cost of groceries has risen. My wife says 30%. Gasoline prices in the USA have also increased affecting every driver who works.[ 56 ]

Because of the high unemployment figures, the rising prices for food and transportation, calls for austerity, and/or desires for freedom, riots have occurred in Sweden, Greece, Italy, countries in the Middle East, and other countries around the world. These riots represent part of a 21^st century worldwide revolution of people.[ 6 ] We are already seeing race riots in the USA that are supported by the comments of the President and the actions of the Department of Justice.[ 44 ] These riots serve to deflect the attention of the people from the government scandals and corruption of the present administration.[ 46 ]

Futurist, Naam stated that in the past 10 years with the introduction of cell phones, of which there are 4 billion in the world, communication of information now occurs instantly between people everywhere.[ 85 ] The news anywhere in the world is immediately available in pictures and sound to all.[ 6 85 ]

Inflation will, ultimately, produce a decrease in demand for products, as the costs of these products rise. As a result fewer people will be able to afford these purchases, resulting in slowing of business growth, increasing unemployment, and stalling of the economy leading to a serious financial crisis. This scenario is also known as Stagflation, (or a stagnant economy with inflation). Together with the bursting of the “Dollar Bubble” will be the collapse of the “Debt Bubble” that is already causing Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and others to struggle to raise money to pay their debts.[ 121 128 ]

12. What are the real unemployment figures?

The US Government reports an unemployment statistic for the US, the U-3,[ 16 ] which is 7.6%. But the actual unemployment rate not cited by the government but which can be found in the Bureau of Labor Statistics data (the U-6) is 13.9% and more accurate.[ 16 ] The U-6 includes those who have stopped looking for work, those who have not looked for work in 4 weeks, and involuntary part-time workers.[ 9 16 ] This figure does not include the longtime discouraged workers looking for work for more than one year that would raise the totally unemployed to more than 23%.[ 24 ] The reports of a recent increase in employment (753,000 jobs) was represented mostly by part-time jobs (557,000).[ 134 ] In addition, 11 million more people are on disability, which means this number of workers will never reenter the work force.[ 80 ]

Zuckerman, Editor of US News and World Report, says that the economy is in a “jobless recovery.”[ 137 ] Thus, the US government specifically quotes a lower unemployment rate that does not include the discouraged, marginally attached, or involuntary part-timers, or those out of work for more than a year.

Yet, President Obama, in his recent speech on the Economy, stated that his administration had created many jobs, stimulated economic growth, and also mentioned that the charges of corruption in his administration are “phony.”[ 46 ] He and his colleagues obviously believe that people will accept this misinformation even though their personal experience is different than what he says. Who benefits from this distortion of the truth?

13. Who pays taxes? Who supports whom? What happened to all the “stimulus” money?

a. Who pays taxes?

According to the National Taxpayers Union for 2009,[ 88 ] those top 1% of income earners in the USA pay 37% of all taxes while those top 5% earners pay over 50% of all taxes and the top 10% earners, who make more than $110,000, pay 70% of all income taxes in the USA. The bottom 50% of income earners who make less than $32,000 pay only 2% of the total taxes in the USA.[ 81 ] Yet, the Obama administration wants to raise taxes on the rich. However, in the process, taxes will rise on the middle class to pay for Obamacare and other government programs.[ 83 ] It is important that those who cannot care for themselves be helped by others, but have we gone to excesses in spending that will bankrupt our society, thwart innovation, and jeopardize individual liberty?

b. Food stamps

Chris Kirk reported in Slate[ 65 ] that 15% of the US population or 45 million people receive Food Stamps as of January 2013.

“Under President Obama's watch, the value of the benefits distributed by the program each year has more than doubled as more people have fallen below the poverty line and more households have joined the program. Obama has expanded eligibility under the theory that it helps the economy, which led Newt Gingrich to dub him the ‘food stamp president’ early in the 2012 election season. Due to the high unemployment rate, the Obama administration has also waived a 1996 job requirement—a rule that made finding a job or enrolling in job training a prerequisite for receiving SNAP benefits—for 46 states. [Italics-Ed] Republican leaders are trying to reinstate the requirement to counteract the program's escalating cost.”[ 65 ]

In a report from the Heritage Foundation, the Food Stamp Program “(or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), as it is now called)”[ 101 ] it was stated,

“However, application loopholes and policy changes over the past decade or so have allowed recipients to bypass income and asset tests, meaning many people are receiving food stamps who would not have been eligible under the program's original purposes.” …Even those who just get a brochure on assistance to needy families can obtain Food Stamps… “Some states have gone so far as to hire food stamp recruiters, tasked with filling a monthly quota of new food stamp enrollees…However, a significant portion of able-bodied recipients of food stamps perform little to no work” The report continues stating, “Likewise, programs like food stamps should be reformed to promote self-reliance through work, empowering individuals and families to become free from government dependence…”[ 101 ]

A recent report indicates that the US government is feeding 101 million people daily[ 57 ] and food stamps are being used to buy food, which is sent in barrels to relatives of US families in other countries.[ 21 ] Also rising gasoline costs impact the working poor more than others, driving many of these people to obtain food stamps and government assistance programs.

Of course the support of those who are out of work is a reasonable policy. But has that support become excessive? Doesn’t the stagnant economy, lack of jobs, limited economic growth by companies because of the fear of new taxes with Obamacare, the welfare mentality, and the increasing taxes, all paid to the government take money from the private sector and put it under the government's control?

c. Bankruptcy in the USA: States and cities

This welfare state mentality and spending beyond what can be afforded is already collapsing the economies of states like California, Illinois, and New York, which are on the brink of bankruptcy and are still spending money these states do not have. Other states are in debt.[ 108 118 ] The voters in California just agreed to raise taxes to pay for the debt of the state. So, as a result of higher home prices and taxes people are leaving California for other states with lower home values.[ 67 ] The Daily Beast and the New York Times reported in 2011 that 44 states were discussing declaring bankruptcy.[ 106 ] Yet, the spending goes on.

The city of Detroit has just declared bankruptcy. It is the largest city in the USA to default on payment of its debts.[ 30 ] Other cities have declared bankruptcy such as San Bernardino CA, Mammoth Lakes CA, Stockton CA, and Jefferson County AL.[ 8 89 ]

d. What actually happened to all the stimulus money (or “printed money”)?

Bill Bonner, a world known publisher of many financial newsletters, interviewed Neil Barnofsky, who was in charge of the disposition of the first government stimulus program of $700 billion dollars, called the TARP during the Bush administration.[ 14 ] Barnofsky said, when asked what happened to that money,

“I wondered the same thing,” he said (from memory). “It was amazing to me that no one knew. We gave it to the banks…They were supposed to increase lending to help bring about a recovery. None of them did that. Instead, they used it to repay each other's loans…In other words, they looked out for themselves. just as you’d expect.”[ 14 ]

Neil Irwin, a writer for the Washington Post wrote an opinion article for that paper on March 13, 2013, assessing the “doom and gloom” view of the American Economy.[ 59 ] He stated… “The Paul Ryan budget plan [Republican Plan-Ed] released Tuesday starts by laying out a grim scenario for America's fiscal future: ‘Unless we change course, we will have a debt crisis,’ it says. “Pressed for cash, the government will take the easy way out: It will crank up the printing presses. The final stage of this inter-generational theft will be the debasement of our currency. Government will cheat us of our just rewards. Our finances will collapse.”…Ryan is not necessarily alone in forecasting it. You can hear elements of that forecast in everything from the doom-and-gloom investment newsletter crowd to the language centrist deficit hawks who consider it a given that a debt crisis has already begun.”[ 59 ]

Irwin went on to state, “…there's a solid argument that today's budget deficits are too small, not too large, and that future deficits are less of a crisis than Washington discourse would suggest.”[ 59 ] [This position is supported by Paul Krugman, a NY Times columnist-Ed.]

But Irwin stated that continuing to print money would lead to inflation that would not be good as the costs of everything would rise including the Federal Budget. Also, he stated that the world would lose confidence in the Fed if it allowed inflation to occur. However, he believed that the problem would be adequately controlled.[ 59 ]

Coupled with the Bush's TARP program of $700 million dollars, about $5 trillion dollars were given to the Stimulus Programs or to “Printing Money.”[ 18 ] This figure does not include the $85 billion dollars monthly or $1 trillion dollars yearly being printed by the Federal Reserve Board to buy troubled mortgages. In addition, there is evidence that the President is doing favors for supporters with the “Stimulus” money, another sign of disregard for a fair and open process of distribution of this money.[ 58 ]

14. The dollar as the international currency of exchange: Will it last?

a. The dollar as the international medium of exchange

One major factor to help you understand the basics of the economics of the world is that since World War II the US Dollar has been the currency of exchange. What that means is that if China wanted to buy oil from Iran, it would first have to convert its currency, (Renminbi), into dollars as the accepted medium of exchange, and then pay Iran in those dollars. Thus, the USA dollar is what is used as the standard of money exchange. In the past its value was stable and believed equal to the gold that it replaced when the gold standard was abandoned in 1971.[ 117 ] But, in the past few years, the value of the dollar has fallen with the printing of more dollars.[ 121 ]

b. How the dollar is losing its status as the medium of exchange

The USA has gone from the largest creditor nation to the largest debtor nation beginning in 1985.[ 117 ] Since the dollar is the accepted medium of exchange, all the USA has to do is to print more dollars, and the USA will pump more money into the world monetary system, devaluing the worth of the dollar. While that happens, those other countries that have much of their money in dollars find that the value of those dollars it owns declines, and their money loses value. To avoid this loss, countries have begun to buy gold and to exchange goods with others in their own currencies[ 17 22 42 ] and not US dollars. So, when there is less demand for the US dollar, its value goes down further. The end result is that the value of the dollar will continue to fall because no one wants it. Inflation will occur, as it will take more dollars to pay for an item than it did when the dollar was worth more or equal to a standard price of gold.[ 126 ] So, inflation will become rampant, and the economies of the USA and other countries will reach an economic crisis. The people in the USA, being the leading consumers of goods in the world, will stop buying these goods, and other countries will suffer because they cannot sell their products.[ 136 ] Never in the history of the world has there been such widespread debt and printing of false money. There is no experience to guide anyone on how to manage this problem.

c. What is happening to the Prices of Gold and Silver?

At a time of excessive money printing, the value of the dollar should decline rapidly and the price of gold and silver should rise, as these commodities are in short supply and have had value for centuries because of their rarity. Yet strangely, the price of those rare metals was falling recently while many countries are accumulating gold.[ 135 ] Why? Jeff D. Opdyke, Editor of The Sovereign Individual, stated,[ 93 ]

“[Gold and] Silver's current slump is based on improving investor sentiment regarding America and the troubled European Union…the temporary fear that supported precious metal prices has dissipated. What hasn’t dissipated are the long term economic imbalances in the US-and that is a far more important influence on precious metal prices long term.”[ 93 ]

Some report that the “Central banks are manipulating the price of gold to blunt the impact of their wanton economic policies.”[ 84 106 ] Yet, the rise in the stock market is a result of the printing of money by the US government as has been stated.[ 121 ] If these allegations of manipulation of the gold and silver prices are true, it suggests collusion among the large banks that control significant amounts of the precious metals to manipulate the markets. In the case of gold and silver prices, the banks are forcing the prices lower, driving people to sell the metals, and then buying the gold and silver to make large gains as the bankers know the price of the metals will go up as the value of the dollar will go down. It is also possible that there is collusion between the governments and the banks to keep the price of gold and silver low, so that their value will not rise making the dollar worth less. Yet, at a future time when the value of the dollar is falling and the stock market is set to decline, the only place for people to secure their money is in gold, silver, precious metals, real estate, antiques, and tangible items that maintain value.[ 93 ]

d. How can the USA attract the Money it needs?

Right now our creditors are receiving a low interest rate on their billions of dollars of investment in USA Treasuries. They are concerned that if the dollar is worth less, their investments will lose money. But at this time the dollar seems to be better to have than any other currency. To attract money to the USA, its interest rates must rise, which is beginning to happen.[ 93 ] That interest rate rise will cost the US government more money to pay back its loans and will increase the federal debt. If countries decide not to loan us more money, we will have to increase our interest rates further to attract their money.[ 93 ] This scenario is happening in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece and is just being seen in the USA now. An increase in our interest rates will cost the USA perhaps a trillion dollars or more a year in interest expenses at the higher interest rate, 4× what it is now and an unsustainable cost to the taxpayer according to the Debt Commission.[ 115 ]

15. What is a Financial Ponzi Scheme? How government corruption is sold to the public

David Stockman, a former member of Congress and Budget Director to President Ronald Reagan, has written a new book, “The Great Deformation. The Corruption of Capitalism in America.”[ 110 ] In an interview about the book[ 109 ] he stated, “The monetary central planners are…essentially buying debt that no one else would buy in order to keep this whole system afloat. It's Ponzi Economics.”

Wikipedia states that a financial Ponzi scheme is a corrupt plan to take money from unsuspecting people while promising them to grow their investment and using the money and spending it on their own personal interests.[ 132 ]

According to Stockman,[ 109 ] the governments and many banks of the world are engaged in Ponzi schemes taking the taxpayers or investors’ money, while spending it on welfare schemes paying people to retire or not to work, encouraging banks to lend money to those who have no ability to repay it so that they can buy homes they cannot afford. The mortgages of these people eventually cannot be paid, and the government buys these bad mortgages from the banks to keep them from defaulting.

So, the state of the economy, the value of the stock market, the unemployment numbers, and the Inflation rate are all probably being manipulated to save the banks and the governments and to prevent the people from rioting. The Press has ignored these alarming developments even to the point where the government is watching the Press if it becomes critical of the government.[ 26 ] Those, who appear to disagree with the Government policies, are allegedly investigated by the IRS.[ 73 ] These are components of this crisis that point to a type of scheme in which the government and others are involved in a plan to deceive the public by preventing the people from realizing the crisis is coming.[ 3 ] Thus, it appears that the governments of the world are manipulating the economies and markets under a central controlling philosophy by a self-selected few, who believe they know more than others and should decide the course of human life.[ 26 ] WHY? Is this George Orwell's book on “1984” come true?[ 95 ] Or “Animal Farm,” which he also wrote?[ 96 ]

16. The possible solutions to this coming financial crisis

The possible solutions to solve this problem are (1) to raise money by raising interest rates to attract investment (which I have mentioned is unsustainable), or (2) to raise taxes, which in a depressed economy, is a disastrous decision because it takes money from the private sector leaving less to grow businesses by placing it in the government controlled public sector, (3) to cut expenses by trillions of dollars to balance the budget, a decision which has yet to be accepted in countries around the world,[ 109 ] or (4) to generate an additional $1 trillion dollars or more in revenue/year through growth of the economy. Such an increase in economic growth will require a different fiscal policy than is now being pursued. To raise this money there will have to be high employment, decreased welfare payments and entitlements, decreased regulations on business, and liberation of the people to create and innovate while the government retreats to its Constitutionally designed responsibilities. Other possibilities include (5) to reduce taxes as suggested by The Debt Commission,[ 115 ] or (6) for the government to take over all the pension and retirement funds,[ 10 ] and or physical gold of the public to pay off the debt.[ 10 ] F.D. Roosevelt did the latter in 1935. Also recently Cyprus took 60% of the holdings of depositors with large balances to pay the country's debt.[ 50 ] All of these actions coupled with government-controlled healthcare supervised by the IRS would give the government complete power over the individual. That is the reason there is so much resistance to Obamacare as it would lead to the government control of 1/6^th of the economy, represented by its $2 trillion dollars in expenses. It is feared that this step would be the first the government would take to reach total control of the economy.

As everyone knows reducing entitlements was tried in France and Greece with a revolt of the public against these cutbacks. With $2 trillion collected in taxes each year in the USA and over $3.5 trillion dollars being spent each year, there is no hope that this debt in the USA can be paid.[ 121 ] That is reason why President Obama wants to raise taxes, the opposite of what the Debt Commission recommended, but it also recommended spending cuts, which were not done.[ 115 ] The Obama Administration has done the opposite to provide welfare support for many to be paid by taxing “the rich.”[ 88 ] Obamacare represents another huge trillion-dollar tax increase alone.[ 60 83 ]

17. What are the opposing economic philosophies about the economy?

What are the opposing explanations for all these events? There are a variety of opinions about the economy of the world at this time. There are basically two main schools of thought on Macroeconomics as applied to countries.

a. A Centrally Controlled Socialist economy

John Maynard Keynes, a British Economist in the 1930s believed that during times in which the economy slowed, the government should print money so that the public would be able to buy goods to overcome the crisis. Most economists in the world subscribe to this philosophy although it has never been proved to work.[ 129 ]

b. A Free-Market economy

The Austrian School of Economics, popularized by Friedrich A. Hayek, an economist, supports the Free Market economy and not the government intervention into markets or the publics’ choices.[ 125 ]

“Hayek was one of the leading academic critics of collectivism in the 20^th century. Hayek argued that all forms of collectivism (even those theoretically based on voluntary cooperation) could only be maintained by a central authority of some kind. In Hayek's view, the central role of the state should be to maintain the rule of law, with as little arbitrary intervention as possible. In his popular book, The Road to Serfdom (1944) and in subsequent academic works, Hayek argued that socialism required central economic planning and that such planning in turn leads toward totalitarianism. Hayek believed that a central planning authority would have to be endowed with powers that would impact and ultimately control social life, because the knowledge required for centrally planning an economy is inherently decentralized, and would need to be brought under control.”[ 125 ]

“Building on the earlier work of Ludwig von Mises and others, Hayek also argued that while in centrally planned economies an individual or a select group of individuals must determine the distribution of resources, these planners will never have enough information to carry out this allocation reliably. This argument, first proposed by Max Weber, says that the efficient exchange and use of resources can be maintained only through the price mechanism in free markets.”[ 125 ]

There was and is great controversy about which of these economic philosophies is correct. Most countries today follow the Keynesian model.

18. What are other opinions about the events that are happening?

a. The USA is the most dominant economy in the world

One group states that the USA has the most dominant currency in the world and that there is no other country that can match that power. So, the USA currency will be the dominant one for some time. Also the world banks and governments cannot afford any default; so they will continue to spend and print money.[ 119 ]

b. The big banks cannot allow any default to occur or they will all collapse

Others believe that many of the major banks in the world are all inter-related. The money given to the banks was to prevent them from collapsing. They have all lent money to each other and each other's countries, so that if any were not paid on the money they have lent they would not be able to sustain the rest of their investments and loans. Thus, if one bank collapsed then others that have given loans to countries and major businesses will collapse. This collapse will start a cascade of bank failures that those favoring this explanation say no one wants. So, in response, these economists believe that the present economic status of banks and most countries will remain the same. If one country devalues its dollar, then others will devalue their currencies by printing more money, thus lowering the value of their currency and making its goods cheaper than similar items on the market. So, a currency war results but with no bank letting the other fail.

In his worldwide travels evaluating the economic situation, Opdyke said that people in other countries, “…see the Land of the Free losing its liberties to laws that spy on our activities and constrain our physical and financial movements. They see that America has managed its currency and its finances with all the grace of an obese glutton…” Opdyke spoke with a leading Economist from Estonia who said, “Russia,” he announced, “is using oil, gas and minerals as the new tools of war instead of military tools. This will be the beginning of a currency cold war…” “What he told me – easily the most-stunning bit of information I gathered on that research trip –has stuck with me.”[ 94 ]

c. Paul Krugman: The liberal interpretation of the economy

Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize winning economist and a leader of a liberal view of the economy wrote in the NY Times on June 28, 29, and 30, 2013:[ 70 71 72 ]

“When we first entered this crisis, economists and economic pundits quickly sorted themselves out into two camps. One camp—the ‘doves’—basically said, we’ve turned into Japan; we’re a liquidity-trap economy in which even large deficits won’t drive up interest rates and even huge expansion of the Fed balance sheet won’t cause inflation. The other camp said that we weren’t Japan, we were or soon would be Weimar, or maybe just the 1970s: High rates and high inflation were just around the corner. These differing views reflected fundamental differences in economic models—differences that tended to be associated with political leanings.”[ 72 ]

“And when unemployment is still too high, and long-term unemployment is still too high, and there's still weak demand in a lot of industries, I want a Fed chairman that can step back and look at that objectively and say, let's make sure that we’re growing the economy, but let's also keep an eye on inflation, and if it starts heating up, if the markets start frothing up, let's make sure that we’re not creating new bubbles.”[ 71 ]

“So, here we are with inflation at a long-term low, many economists arguing that we need higher inflation expectations, and unemployment [is] the overwhelming problem we face.[ 71 ] …Yet there are many economists, myself included, who regard this view as highly unrealistic, yet support more aggressive Fed action all the same. Why? First, because it might help and is unlikely to do harm. Second, because the alternative — fiscal policy — may be of proven effectiveness, but is also completely blocked by politics. So the Fed's efforts are all we have.”[ 71 ]

“I think the real question is: Is Barack Obama willing to shut down the government over Obamacare? In essence, I think we should pay our military. I think we should fund the government. I just don’t think we should fund Obamacare. And what the President is saying is we either fund Obamacare or we don’t fund anything. And I think that's an unreasonable position.”[ 70 ]

d. An alternative view of the forces behind the economy- The New World Order

Russell Blaylock has written, in his excellently documented essay on “Managed Truth: The great danger to our republic.”[ 13 ]

“The transformation of American society, from a society of defenders of freedom to one of collectivist thinking, grew out of a small network of influential Fabian intellectuals meeting at the Hull House in Chicago at the turn of the century. By using their prestige, power, and influence and by utilizing the enormous wealth of the tax-exempt foundations, they have been able to challenge the concept of the separation of powers of our government, alter our economic system, violate our constitution via judicial activism, and alter our perceptions on national sovereignty. Private property, for the first time in our history, is being directly challenged. Our children are being taught to ignore moral principles, accept relativism, and abandon the concept of individual liberty in exchange for collectivist ideas of ‘the village.’[ 13 ] The evidence behind the concept of a New World Order is also explained in detail by Cuddy in his book on ‘The New World Order.’”[ 26 ]

It is common sense that if you have control of the money, you have control of the person or the people who get that money. That is the principle of the employer–employee relationship. Today's young Americans will inherit $17 trillion dollars in debt, which will keep them in servitude to those to whom the debt is owed (the government) until it is paid off. Similarly the debt of the states and cities may be assumed by the government, which further centralizes control over every aspect of one's life. That is what we are leaving to our children with this huge self-centered consumption and welfare state we have created.

The goal of those who support the NWO is to eventually place all citizens in servitude to the government.[ 13 26 ] Such a situation occurred in the centralized administrations of Sumeria in 2100 BC and in Babylonia in 1750 BC where Hammurabi fixed the charges of physicians for operations and wages of herdsmen and artisans. Similarly in Egypt in 323–30 BC, the state owned and controlled everything and everyone and had high taxes, which eventually led to revolt. Such Socialistic systems of government existed in Rome and other civilizations up to present day Russia according to Durant and Durant.[ 33 ] All such systems succumbed to corruption, excessive taxation, and revolt or expenses of wars that bankrupted the regimes.[ 33 ]

19. What does the public think about its leaders?

In a poll taken by the Gallup Organization on “Honesty and Ethics in Professions” in November 26-29, 2012, the results showed that Nurses, Pharmacists, and Doctors ranked the highest with 85-70%, respectively, while car sales people rated 8%, Members of Congress 10%, stock brokers 11%, HMO managers 12%, senators 14%, lawyers 19%, and business executives 21%.

President Obama's performance is approved by 46% of the people polled by Gallup and the same number by Rasmussen Polling.

PART II: HOW DID THIS WORLDWIDE CRISIS OCCUR?

20. How did this financial crisis happen?

Surgical Neurology International surveyed the opinions of its Editorial Board asking them, “What are the three major changes/challenges in your life”?[ 7 ] Overwhelmingly from all over the world the answers were:

“The progressive centralization of the control of medicine in the hands of large organizations and the government; the socialization of America with the majority favoring the ‘entitlement mentality’ and, in addition, the loss of individual freedom

Theodore Roosevelt Mallcoh, Research Professor of The Spiritual Capital Initiative and Jordan Mamorsky, a lawyer experienced in business regulation and corporate governance, both from Yale and the authors of “The End of Ethics and a Way Back: How to Fix a Fundamentally Broken Global Financial System,” blamed many sources for this “holistic lapse of ethics.” Mamorsky was interviewed about the book[ 63 ] and stated,

“It is lapses of business ethics, lapses of corporate culture, which have really worsened the way capitalism has operated…It has morphed into this crony capitalism model where you have these large banking institutions that control the way markets work and they manipulate it…It's more exploitation of markets rather than the free market and letting private systems work properly. These too-big-to-fail banking institutions really run the world…These rating agencies really were the cause of the financial crisis because they gave these glistening AAA ratings to these junk mortgage bonds that resulted in tremendous financial calamity…People realize that American consumerism is a major issue, but there's money to be made, and that is the issue. People need to look in the mirror and realize they cannot afford certain things that they’re charging to their credit cards and that goes back to the financial scandal. The major cause was [that] you had American consumers trying to procure mortgages [for homes] that they couldn’t afford and. They [signed] mortgages, and they were exploited [and the interest rates rose making them unable to pay those mortgages]…You see colleges, you see law schools, business schools give out these tremendous loans that no one can afford, [that] they’re not going to pay back for 20 or 30 years.”[ 63 ]

Also the US government forced banks to give loans to high-risk clients so that more Americans could own their own homes.[ 105 ] As we know these mortgages could not be paid by the owners once the interest rates rose, and the owners lost their homes creating the bursting “housing bubble” worldwide.[ 121 ]

So the reasons are multiple, worldwide and can be summed up by the Collapse of Morality, from greed, the desire for power and money, and self-interest. Still the problem exists, and there is no apparent realization by the public, private corporations, and the politicians that a correction in their values is necessary.[ 47 ] What will be the end result of these attitudes, if uncorrected?

21. Why the failure of the education system has contributed to this coming crisis

Gordon has written a number of books on the world's “jobs crisis” and in his most recent, “Future Jobs,”[ 47 ] he analyzes the shortage of skilled workers worldwide. The basic reason is that the educational systems have failed to turn out educated young people who can read, write, communicate, and hold skilled positions. In place of the education systems, new nongovernment organizations (NGOs) with collaboration of industry and governments have started to develop educational training for these poorly educated people in various parts of the world to take the jobs waiting for them in industries desirous of skilled workers.

Gordon says, “The economic advantages gained from U.S. educational exceptionalism in the 20^th century have disappeared. Too many younger workers lack both the general education and career skills, let alone a strong work ethic to sustain a middle class standard of living…The US needs workers, who can think critically and possess intellectual curiosity…The jobs and skills mismatch is not simply escalating in the United States but also across the globe as well…Six out of every ten applicants for basic tech jobs do not qualify because they lack a basic liberal arts education in reading, writing, math, and science…For the remainder of this decade business competition for this scarce talent will be unprecedented…only ten percent of Chinese engineering graduates meet the global professional standards of major American and European firms…[In India] talent growth is constricted because academic quality is so poor in many of India's higher educational institutions…[In India] 75% of the technical graduates and 85% of the general college education graduates were considered unemployable…Although the United States invests more in its schools than any other nation, the results of its general education system largely range from mediocre to downright dismal…the percentage of Americans who are well educated is below average compared to other rich nations…Only 7 percent of US students scored at the advanced level in math, in contrast to 48% of eighth graders in Singapore and 47% of South Koreans, the two best performing nations…In reading and math the number of low achieving American children exceeds the total combined number of similar students in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Turkey and Japan…[In the USA] one million students drop out of school every year…”[ 47 ]

Gordon describes a solution to this skill-education crisis that is being utilized worldwide. A collaboration between industry and local governments is occurring to create Regional Talent Innovation Networks (RETAINS) to re-educate those in the workforce to be suited for the jobs in the Cyber Mental Age (The Information Age) which is the 21st century.[ 47 ]

The Futurists, Alvin and Heidi Toffler[ 113 ] have also criticized our educational systems as serving the 20^th century industrial mentality while not being suited for the 21^st century Information Age. Cuddy[ 26 ] and Blaylock[ 13 ] have also described how our educational systems have been transformed from learning the fundamentals necessary for life's work to social systems replacing the work ethic with the entitlement mentality and self-interest. The school systems are being used change the minds of young people to living in a unified world socialistic system without providing the students with the basic skills to make their own independent decisions.[ 13 26 ] Yet, there is a deeper cause for this failure.

22. The low information voter

The real question is, “Are there enough people left who understand what is happening and will act to reverse the course of the country toward Socialism, mediocrity, and the Welfare State?” asked Mark Levin, a Conservative Radio Talk Show host in the USA. This same scenario occurred in the 1920s leading to the first Great Depression in 1929, described in a book written by Frederick Lewis Allen.[ 1 ] Capitalism in the USA has become “Crony Capitalism,” where selected people and companies, favored by the government, flourish, and everyone else does not because of this undemocratic economy.[ 63 ] Such a favoritism by an authoritarian minded government can evolve into one form of Fascism.

The reactions of the USA public to the recent revelations that the US Government under President Obama, lied to the public about Benghazi,[ 20 ] and targeted selected citizens for IRS examinations[ 63 ] and spied on newspaper reporters, who were allegedly hostile to the administration,[ 20 ] was reviewed in a poll of President Obama's popularity published in Investors Business Daily on June 4, 2013.[ 75 ] Forty-eight percent approved of his job performance. But when the poll separated those who followed the issues closely compared with those who did not, Obama's approval ratings were around 40% among the more informed group and 60% among the less informed group that did not follow the news closely about the three issues discussed above.

Uninformed citizens cannot protect themselves from corruption of the Republic and its democratic system or an authoritarian government. Significantly, if the education systems do not educate students about the great achievements of civilization throughout history and its outstanding leaders, who attained excellence in all fields of interest, the education systems have failed in preparing citizens for the 21^st century, which Gordon illustrates in his book.[ 47 ] The family also plays a major role in this disintegration of its children.[ 13 26 33 113 ] The Press also bears responsibility for failing to inform the public of this information, but as has been shown, it, too, is Liberal oriented, leading to a misinformed citizenry.[ 3 55 ]

According to Faria, a refugee from Communist Cuba, “The government of a constitutional republic requires an informed and vigilant electorate led by wise leadership, but we have become a social democracy with a dependent population led by an irresponsible, demagogic oligarchy.”[ 40 ]

23. What history tells us

a. Cicero–Rome 55 BC

This quotation is what Cicero stated in 55 BC:

“The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.”

What have civilizations learned?

b. How democracies end

The following quotation that appeared in The Daily Oklahoman by Elmer T. Peterson in September 12, 1951 states:

Two centuries ago, a somewhat obscure Scotsman named Tytler made this profound observation: “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy.”

c. A 5000 year historical perspective by Will and Ariel Durant

Will and Ariel Durant summarized their 11 volume “The Story of Civilization” in a 109-page book entitled, “The Lessons of History”[ 33 ] published in 1968. These are quotations from what they wrote that apply to what everyone is experiencing today: “…the first biological lesson of history is that life is competition…peaceful when food abounds, violent when the mouths outrun the food…The second biological lesson of history is that life is selection. In competition for food or mates or power some organisms succeed and some fail…Utopias of equality are biologically doomed [because humans are not equal in intelligence and abilities-ed] and the best [one] can hope for is an approximate equality of legal justice and educational opportunity…by and large the poor have the same impulses as the rich, with only less opportunity or skill to implement them…”[ 33 ]

“…So, we cannot be sure that the moral laxity of our times is a herald of decay rather than a painful or delightful transition between a moral code that has an agricultural basis and another that our agricultural civilization has yet to forge into social order and normalcy…”[ 33 ]

[Alvin and Heidi Toffler[ 111 ] described the transitions of human civilization from the Hunter-Gatherer Age to the Agricultural Age to the Industrial Age and now to the Information Age and ultimately to the Space Age, each with its challenges to the civilizations of the times. In fact, these various stages of civilization exist today around the world and are undergoing transitions progressively from one Age to another-Ed.]

The Durants continue “…There is no significant example in history, before our time, of a society successfully maintaining a moral life without the aid of religion… As long as there is poverty there will be gods…”[ 33 ]

The Durants summarize the history of Socialist governments that span 5000 years of history. Many were very successful and productive, but all eventually crumbled under the corruption of the greed of the leaders, who believed that they were better than the others to run society, or by bankruptcy from failed wars to extend their domination. The Durants continue: “…The experience of the past leaves little doubt that every economic system must sooner or later rely upon some form of the profit motive to stir individuals and groups to productivity…”[ 33 ]

“…If we were to judge forms of government from their prevalence and duration in history we should have to give the palm [award] to monarchy; democracies, by contrast, have been hectic interludes…All deductions having been made, democracy has done less harm and more good, than any other form of government…”[ 33 ]

24. What should you conclude from this information?

So, you have read the conflicting interpretations of what is happening economically. Heidi and Alvin Toffler state, “Never believe what an Economist says because they all turn out to be wrong.”[ 104 ] The problem I had when I studied Economics in college was that there were many ways to explain what was happening to the Economy. Nothing seems to have changed.

From all you have read in this paper and what you see happening where you live, what are the facts you know?

For those in the USA (1) the economic growth (GDP) is low and some say it will stay low.[ 64 ] (2) Businesses do not want to hire full time workers because of the unknown taxes and regulations of Obamacare that can affect their profits. So, part-time employment is up,[ 137 ] but people cannot get full-time jobs.[ 16 ] Thus, one out of every five or six people is unemployed,[ 24 ] a figure not reported by the government and most of the Press. (3) In over 4 years of stimulating the economy, according to Keynesian Economic Philosophy, with $5 trillion printed stimulus dollars of the taxpayers’ money, the results are dismal. Money has flowed to the banks and to those with special relationships to the government.[ 58 ] But, the average person has seen little of this money. (4) The Press, which is Liberal oriented,[ 3 55 ] either does not report what is happening or does not report it objectively.[ 3 ] (5) The Government has abused the powers given to it by the people[ 41 86 ] by intimidating the public through the IRS,[ 73 ] spying on the Press,[ 25 ] instituting policies against Catholicism for its beliefs against abortion, and trying to deprive the public of guns to protect themselves,[ 37 38 ] all Rights granted under The Bill of Rights, the first ten Amendments to the Constitution. The method of passage of Obamacare violated the Constitution.[ 39 ] (6) All of these actions have resulted in a Loss of Trust in the Administration, the Congress, the Press, and Big Businesses, and a fear of the loss of individual Freedoms.[ 41 ] (7) Congress and the President have wasted 4 years or more in deadlocked discussions on important issues affecting us all, and the public is disgusted (Section 19). There is no obvious credible plan to get the economy growing, reduce the debt, and get the people jobs so that they can come off welfare and be gainfully employed. (9) The economic figures on inflation and unemployment do not fit with what the public sees and hears and are manipulated by the government.[ 24 121 ] (10) It appears that the economy will get worse as there is little prospect under these conditions that the situation will improve,[ 19 64 ] even though the government and the controlled Press tell the people otherwise.[ 3 59 71 ] (11) There appears to be a breakdown in ethics and morality in a society in which the government disregards the influence of religious teachings and faith in all but itself.[ 63 ] (12) Taxes are rising, and (13) there is more central control of our lives. (14) The education system in the USA is failing to produce the talent necessary for the 21^st century.[ 47 ] (15) The lessons of history tell us that civilizations have gone through periods of intense central control of every action their citizens and their transactions with central control of everything. These Collectivist, Socialized systems have ultimately failed.[ 33 ] Pure Capitalism has also failed from greed and failing to consider the poor.[ 33 ] (16) Democracies have had a much shorter time of existence in human history but appear to be the fastest growing and best form of governance but imperfect.[ 33 ] Republics and their democracies can be corrupted as all forms of government.

Now given these observations each one can make, you need to ask yourself what will happen in 5 or 10 years under these present circumstances, if they continue? Even under miraculous conditions of change, it will take time for the economy and everyone's lives to improve. Given what you have read, what is the probability of the same, worse, or an improved economic situation? Should the economy descend into chaos, who will assume control? Will the people rise up against the government, as is happening in other countries[ 6 ] or vote the legislators out of office? So, what would you do in these circumstances if you were an average member of your society and what, personally, should you do?

25. Quotations from Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin “was a Russian communist revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the leader of the SFSR, (Soviet Federative Socialist Republic) from 1917, and then concurrently as Premier of the Soviet Union from 1922, until his death. Politically a Marxist, his theoretical contributions to Marxist thought are known as Leninism, which coupled with Marxian economic theory, have collectively come to be known as Marxism–Leninism.”[ 130 ] Here are 10 quotes from Lenin:[ 74 ]

“The way to crush the bourgeoisie (the Middle and Upper classes) is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation

As you read these quotations and think about this paper, what did you learn? Is there a planned order to what is happening worldwide or is what is happening a chance occurrence? If there is a planned order, who is behind that movement and what will happen? If it is a chance occurrence, what will be the outcome?

Who is deciding what you should do with your life? If you do not have a plan for your future, someone else will. The reader will have to decide what his/her future will be and make the appropriate plans. What we are all witnessing worldwide at this time in our history is Real.

26. Hope and challenge

Naam, a futurist, has written that the hope for the future is through innovation.[ 85 86 ] He cites evidence and states that (1) life expectancy has been rising for 150 years. It has doubled in the past 100 years. (2) There has been a “massive” reduction in poverty, and (3) Education of the masses has soared across the globe. (4) Access to information has risen dramatically. In 1990 there were no cell phones while in 2013 there were 4 billion cell phones on the planet of 7 billion people. (5) With increased connectivity, more education, more wealth, and widespread connectivity, people are demanding more control over their lives, which means liberty. (6) The number of nations that are democracies has doubled since 1970. (7) Although there is a growing inequality in the USA as the Middle Class is destroyed by the present economic system,[ 46 ] more people around the world are growing richer with rising numbers in the Middle Class. (8) Huge resources in natural gas and oil have been found in the USA, Israel, and other countries that will break the economic grip of the OPEC nations on many nations’ economies and decrease the flow of money outside each country to the Middle East. (9) Preagriculture, it took 3000 acres to feed one person by hunting and gathering, while, now, three people can be fed from one acre of land. Since the population has doubled, Naam states, only a 10% increase in farmland was required to feed these extra billions.

Yet, Naam says there are challenges to be faced. (10) The need for energy sources converted from the Sun's radiation, and (11) the need to desalinate seawater to provide water for the worlds billions. I would add (12) the conquering of disease by the end of the 21^st century by molecular and genetic changes, (13) the introduction of Artificial Intelligence providing creative powers beyond what can be conceived today, (14) the production of food for all, and (15) the challenge of meeting other civilizations that probability must exist in yet undiscovered planets.

The advances of science have revolutionized the world throughout history. Will the path of the 21^st century be written by the molecular and biological scientists, brain researchers, computer artificial intelligence creators, space explorers, nano-engineers, and with them the artists and musicians and others who have transformed other transitions in history as we grow from the Information Age to the Space Age and beyond? Who will lead the way to the future?

Is our vision of the present limited by our knowledge locking us into the past and our ignorance of the future?

PART III: IMPLICATIONS FROM THIS IMPENDING ECONOMIC CRISIS FOR PHYSICIANS

27. A short history of the development of medicare

Schulte in writing in the Socialistworker.org on “The Story of Medicare”[ 100 ] stated, “…Now, back in 1927, an American socialist, Norman Thomas, six times candidate for President on the Socialist Party ticket, said the American people would never vote for socialism. But he said under the name of liberalism, the American people would adopt every fragment of the socialist program.”

“One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It's very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project. Now, the American people, if you put it to them about socialized medicine and gave them a chance to choose, would unhesitatingly vote against it…” “…In 1961, there were 800 commercial health carriers and 40 million individuals enrolled, according to John Geyman in The Corporate Transformation of Health Care. However, only a quarter of the population had health insurance. Two-thirds of people over 65 years of age had no hospital insurance. These statistics spoke to the overwhelming need for Medicare…”[ 100 ]

“In the context of the growing civil rights movement in the South, a national spotlight was cast on Black poverty – and poverty generally – in the United States. At the same time, for its own self-preservation, the Democratic Party was being forced to refashion itself from the party of racist Dixie to a ‘party of the people.’ The Johnson administration's launching of its War on Poverty and Great Society programs fit into this transformation…”[ 100 ]

“When [President Lyndon] Johnson signed Medicare into law on July 30, 1965, he said, ‘For the first time in the history of America, every senior citizen will be able to receive hospital care – not as a ward of the state, not as a charity case, but as an insured patient…’”[ 100 ]

“The passage of Medicare gave credence to the idea that care for the aging and the poor is society's responsibility. The civil rights and anti-poverty movements infused American society at large – from the streets to the halls of government – with this attitude…”[ 100 ]

Although Medicare was opposed by the American Medical Association, which represented 90% of all physicians in the USA in the early 1960s, the social background of the country could not continue as it was. The Boomers and Hippies of the 1960s started a social revolution that has carried us into the 21^st century with its good and bad aspects. Although a welfare state, social dependency and a lack of education will not equip us to face the challenges of the 21^st century, there are positive aspects of this cultural change that will encourage a pioneering attitude to advance civilization into the 21^st century to find solutions to the problems each generation has faced. It has been the course of history.[ 33 ]

28. Implications of the economic crisis to physicians and to the practice of medicine

No one really knows when this economic crisis will occur. The predictions are from 1 to 10 years.[ 121 ] Wiedemer et al.[ 121 ] indicated that the economic collapse has to happen. You cannot spend your way out of debt. There is no way to stop this crisis from happening.[ 121 ] This economic crisis will lead to severe cuts in payments to doctors and hospitals as people limit their spending and save money while the economy contracts, businesses slow, and unemployment even goes higher. Hospitals are already laying off employees to save money.[ 49 ] As more people are unemployed and have no money for health insurance, hospitals and doctors will be paid less and less to care for the public. Money for research will even be more limited, stressing Academic Medical Centers.

The crisis will produce major changes in the USA government, as people will lose faith in their representatives, who have created this mess. Some predict that riots will occur.[ 81 92 ] Both political parties are responsible for this disaster over the years going back to the early 1900s or before.

In my opinion, the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) will be too expensive to be fully implemented. Patients will leave the USA to get care in other countries, as is already happening.[ 77 ] Restrictions in care for elders have already been implemented in an early phase of Medicare in the USA.[ 78 ]

Betsy McCaughey, 72^nd Lieutenant Governor of New York and an expert on healthcare policy stated, On October 1, 2012.[ 78 ] “…The Obama administration started awarding bonus points to hospitals that spend the least on elderly patients. It will result in fewer knee replacements, hip replacements, angioplasty, bypass surgery and cataract operations …Astoundingly, doctors will be paid less to treat a senior than to treat someone on Medicaid, and only about one-third of what a doctor will be paid to treat a patient with private insurance.”[ 78 ]

These policies exist in many European countries with Socialized Medicine.[ 11 15 31 ] The results of this economic crisis on healthcare and physicians will be profound.

Over the years, doctors’ pay is flat to declining.[ 111 116 ] According to a NERVES study, (an organization in the USA of neurosurgical practice administrators) spine surgery revenues have already declined 16% in 2011. The only factor saving physicians in the USA will be the shortage of doctors in almost every specialty except dermatology and plastic surgery.[ 98 ] There is already a shortage of physicians (and neurosurgeons) across the USA, which will reach 60,000 by 2015 and 100,000 by 2025.[ 98 ] Such a supply shortage places physicians in a powerful position, which the government is now trying to overcome by passing legislation to train more physicians.

One night I was invited to dinner in a northern European country with 10-15 neurosurgeons. They all were depressed because the government had overcome the shortage of physicians by training so many, that almost every hospital had a neurosurgeon. Obviously, the quality of neurosurgery at that time declined as the experience of the neurosurgeons was limited. The government had effectively subjugated the neurosurgeons and doctors and compromised their dreams of an independent future life. Their earnings also declined.

29. What is happening to doctor's incomes in the USA?

NERVES data states that eighty percent (80%) of neurosurgeons are rushing to join a hospital for employment and presumed protection from the economic disaster. This strategy, by physicians, results in surrendering the value of everything they worked for to a hospital administrator with no guarantees of future income.[ 69 ] Yet, the young doctors, who are in debt and who desire a protected and easier life style, do not understand this developing disaster. This hospital employment strategy will fail in the economic collapse as hospitals’ revenues decline resulting in less payment to physicians who are employed by hospitals. Physicians, who expected to make good incomes, will find that they will be paid less than they expected. Investors Business Daily surveyed physicians a few years ago and found that 45% would quit or change practice if Obamacare was enacted.[ 5 62 ] A recent survey had a higher percentage leaving Medicine.[ 29 114 ]

30. What doctors should do?

Neurosurgeons, physicians, and the public may not want to hear this news, but it has a high probability of coming true. It is likely that the politicians and the news media are keeping this information from the public to prevent panic among the people so that those in power can maintain their positions. What should you do? Are you prepared? In Cyprus 60% of the savings of people with large bank accounts were just taken by the government as a tax to pay its debts.[ 50 ]

It has been predicted that your net worth will decline 25-50% in the coming Major Depression.[ 99 ] Have you thought about these issues, which will also have a profound effect on your income and family and future plans? Do you have a financial plan for the future? What is it that you really want as a family person, a citizen, a physician, and a neurosurgeon? Why did you go into Medicine? If it was to help others, no change can affect that goal.

The future of Medicine is in Research and the huge unknown worlds that wait to be discovered.

Whether you are young or aging, these questions raised in this paper are of greatest importance to you. People are now living 20-40 years longer than any generation in the history of the world. Everything is changing. Obviously, what will happen to the socio-economic and political aspects of your country will affect your future. As a worldwide civilization, we are all transitioning to the 21^st century. Are we trying to solve our problems as a civilization with solutions from the past that have not worked? Is that the best we can do?

As the government gains more control of Medicine, what will happen to your future? Will your future be controlled by a central authority, your decisions determined centrally, or even your practice location determined by societal needs and not your own desires? Is that the best path to the future? Or will a new aspect of Medical Practice emerge as a result of technology and scientific advances that will allow us to provide care to all people on earth of high quality for a low cost? You need to think about the questions I have asked, because all of us will face them. It is important that you know what you want in your life, to find happiness. You need to share these ideas with others and discuss them.

I have said in the past: “If you care about the patient, you will never have to worry about money or success. If you care about money, you will lose both.”

I suggest that you buy the book “Aftershock” published in 2011 by David Wiedemer et al. and read it.[ 121 ] It will shock you also. You can get it on Amazon.com Also buy the book “The Lessons of History” by Will and Ariel Durant[ 33 ] from the same source for a wise perspective on the history of civilizations. Another excellent book that covers the economic issues in readable detail is the book by King. “When the Money Runs Out: The End of Western Affluence.”[ 64 ] None of these authors, publishers, or companies has given SNI or me any compensation for this endorsement.

The author wishes to thank Russell Blaylock, Miguel Faria, Ben Roitberg, and Ron Pawl for their review of and suggestions for this manuscript.

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