'Financial Armageddon' By Michael J. Panzner

Elaine Meinel Supkis

Three days ago, the economics writer and analyst, Michael J. Panzner sent me his latest book, 'Financial Armageddon.' It is a good introductory book for the general reader who has little knowledge about finances and international trade. But it does have some flaws that are obvious to me, at least. Namely, he doesn't quite grasp his own title. Namely, the financial messes we are making can lead to the greatest war of all time: World War III. This is what my own blog unflinchingly looks at, right in the Eye of that Beast.

Here is an Amazon.com review of this book:

59 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
Gripping, terrifying and informing, March 2, 2007
By Andrew Rastrick (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Financial Armageddon presents an alarming discussion of the Four Horsemen riding towards the U.S economy. Panzner has turned what might seem dry or inaccessible subjects - i.e derivatives, deficits, pension liabilities - into a tale even the layest of laymen can understand. Some will suggest it goes overboard in it's pessimism (hyper-inflation? widespread beggary and pestilence?) but even if it does it scarcely begins to offset the institutionalised optimism pumped out in the popular media. However the book is not just doom and gloom, it also provides concrete ideas on how individuals can prepare themselves and their investments. If even a fraction of Panzner's predictions come to pass investors will be grateful for the recommendations contained in this book. Read it and come away disturbed, but informed.

Last week, I got a surprizing email from Mike Panzner. He had read some of my blog and decided to give me a copy of his latest book. It was a very nice gift and I got it two days ago and read the whole thing in between writing several long stories about comets and meteorites raining down on North America 12,900 years ago (OUCH) and several articles about the yen and comparing CIA numbers for Germany, Japan and the USa.

The title of this latest book from this very prolific and incidentally, very good writer, is most provocative. I talk about 'Armageddon' a lot. And of course, it won't be a financial melt-down like 1929. Just as 1929 was merely the prelude to the world's worst war in human history, so will our own mess be a mere opening shot of WWIII. And like the title accidentally points to, this war will be over Armageddon which is in the Middle East and all the forces converging here will converge at that particular point on the earth.

And the forces pushing us towards the Apocalypse have not abated, they grow worse by the day, every hour of every day, everything is pointing towards Armageddon with relentlessnes that frightens me. Look at today's news! The whole Middle East is seething with rage, fighting, murder and mayhem. Everyone is attacking everyone else on all fronts! How bad can it get?

Much worse, I assure everyone. And the logic of this system is embedded within the economic systems of the entire planet's trading systems as well as economic support systems.

Mr. Panzner teaches at New York Institute of Finance:

Michael J. Panzner is a 25-year veteran of the global stock, bond, and currency markets who has worked in New York and London for HSBC, Soros Funds, ABN Amro, Dresdner Bank, and J.P. Morgan Chase.

Panzner has appeared on or been quoted by CNBC, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Barron's and other print, radio, and television outlets. He is also a graduate of Columbia University.

He regularly speaks to a diverse range of audiences, from small groups of individuals with little specialized knowledge about money matters to gatherings of the world’s top money management professionals, on a variety of business, finance, and investment-related topics.

If someone is teaching international finances in New York City, they can't talk openly about the true Armageddon forces because the Zionists will drive that poor soul out of the city and out of the country. Even when a former President dares talk about this in a muted voice, he is attacked relentlessly. This week, Jimmy Carter got sufficiently frightened and fed up, he has openly called our international affairs a total disaster and he pointed straight at the Beast itself. I salute him for this. Thank you, Jimmy.

Click here for a list of articles at Panzner's archives at Safe Haven.com.

I have read Mr. Panzner in the past and he posts stories regularily. Unlike some of the other economics teachers who post online, his postings aren't the usual lazy, 'Look at this!' stuff that simply links to other stories. He truly strives to explain in layman's terms, what is going on. And this is why I do recommend his book. He is very clear and his simplicity isn't done in a way that misleads, he tries to tell the truth.

The chapter I loved the most, Chapter 4: Derivatives, was introduced with this ancient saying from Imperial Rome: 'Beware of silent dogs and still waters.' I would say, 'Beware of silent three-headed hell hounds!' And in this chapter, he tries to explain the latest incarnation of 'Let's build a pyramid scheme that is based on the most irresponsible people paying back their loans' schemes. Hedge funds are unregulated because they are entities that always kills economies and thus, are illegal for long periods of time until people forget the messes caused by previous incarnations of hedge funds. They all have different names, of course.

If nothing else, this book is worth the price of admission just for this chapter. I have given myself many a headache, trying to figure out what a hedge fund is and how derivatives work but once I was able to turn them into cartoon characters, it becomes increasingly easy to understand them. They are what they look like! Heh.

The second half of this book tries to warn everyone how all this will unwind if we go into the dangerous waters of either run away inflation or depression. The two outcomes are the results of the government taking various actions. The run away inflation has been tried before and poor ole Mr. Jimmy Carter squashed it brutally by having interest rates rise until inflation stopped. He succeeded. And was thrown out of office in favor of more inflation. Mr. Clinton then tried this again, interest rates went up, trade deficits fell slightly, government spending began to be reduced. Al Gore, famous for responsible finances, was literally thrown out of the election by the media and almost half of the voters who got huge inflation, low interest and tax cuts which is causing us to go off the cliff now as our debts mount higher than Everest.

Reading this book, I became more and more annoyed as he thought we would merely return to the 1970's. I went through all sorts of hells back then including watching my community burn to the ground in riots. Returning to that mess would be hellish enough but alas, unlike back then when the US still was the number one economy of the world, we recovered and didn't suffer too much. This time around, the struggle won't be over oil or pulling out of expensive, stupid wars, it will be a rush to see if the entire US imperial power is destroyed not partially but totally.

Namely, will we be destroyed? The outcome is obvious: the USA eats 25% of world resources, especially energy, and China with 25% of the world's population, gets only 3% of world resources. This is utterly unacceptable for them and it is understandable, why.

When the US poo hits the Chinese fan, we will see many sudden changes we won't like at all. One being, our ability to buy energy will collapse. Even Canada will think twice about selling energy to us. They are our biggest trade partner, you know. Few people are aware of this fact. And Canada has a very high trade surplus with the US thanks to oil, gas and water energy systems.

Americans live lives of luxury due to cheap energy, the majority of which we are paying IOUs for. Most of our oil is imported, for example. Once our currency collapses and it will, we will have to reduce our driving by at least 60%. This is a gigantic change. In the news today, I see stories about how sales of gas guzzling SUVs is increasing! This is due to special sales and rebates. But the government should stop this in its tracks because in order to save the US itself, the government must---nay, it is life and death!---prevent fools from buying these things. National security is at stake!

Instead, it encourages these sales. The average gas milage of cars today is still mired at less than 20 mpg! This is ridiculous. I drive a huge truck when hauling building materials but it is used strictly for that purpose. Otherwise, I drive my 38 mpg car. But half the cars I see on the roads get worse milage than my diesel truck! It gets over 22 mpg! Most SUVs get only 11 mpg.

When we lose our grip on our own currency and economy (we lost it already) all these SUVs will be non-operational. Or worse, the drivers of them, traitors. Traitors enriching our enemies and rivals. So long as the government lets energy pour in while not balancing it with trade values, we will sink.

And everyone fights wars over energy. Nazi Germany launched its military across all of southern Europe and parts of Russia, seeking control of oil and the need to control oil pouring out of the Middle East means every military power will lust to seize that black gold. There is Mexico and Canada, our neighbors. The US elites are already trying to tie both countries to our own and erase the borders. Many right wing Americans fear this but they are silly.

The people who should be alarmed are the Mexicans and Canadians!

The USA is the world's biggest arms dealers. Of course, many of these sales are paid for by the recieving nations in the form of IOUs which many of them don't really pay off especially Israel. And these sales are bankrupting us and not helping our trade figures when it comes to translating all this as banking matters. But the fact remains, our main business is war and selling war stuff. And I assume our main solution to all our future woes will be the same.

Namely, we can't protect ourselves from disaster if we are the disaster that is unfolding because just like the crazed gunman this week in Idaho and the one last week and the week before that and so on, all the suicidal murderers that stalk our streets, our leaders are the same. They won't go down quietly nor will they let riots rip up our cities without using their paramilitary and military machinery, the biggest on earth, to crush people here at home and everyone abroad.

The problems attached to this Armageddon future are obvious: a billion Muslims hate and fear us and hate their leaders. And bin Laden's plan of attack to clean up Mecca involves bankrupting the USA. And Russia is on the march again. They are rebuilding their military and they can thwart the European Union because they are the energy providers for them and the EU isn't a military power at all. Russia can wipe it out in a minute, anyway. Russia is big and Europe is divided.

And then there is China: another billion+ people. And they have not only nuclear bombs but all the things we have and then some. The main thing they own is Japan: they can annihilate the entire Japanese people in less than 5 minutes. This time frame is the whole problem with Armageddon: it will happen in less than 3 hours. Not even three days. Three HOURS.

And this is where I differ from other writers of books warning us about stuff: this is the real warning, straight from Cassandra and her Watchers: we saw World War III already. And if America wants this horror, we will get it and the road to it is the road we are on right now. We pass one fork in the road after another. The most recent was Saudi Arabia offering peace to the Jews if they withdraw from the lands they took in 1967 from Jordan. But this has been rejected outright and fighting has escalated tremendously there. Today, it is raging in Lebanon yet again as al Qaeda's tentacles, the revolution that will bring the Apocalyse, continues to strenghten. And the US, far from fixing this, is siding with the Zionists and helping them.

And even as the Japanese push us to confront China for them and China continues to build its own power base, Japan has changed its constitution to allow it to repeat the whole Japanese Empire business yet again only they are fools, they have no sons able or willing to die for the emperor who is touring Europe today.

In a confrontation started by Japan using our military, they will surrender instantly when it is certain our fleets can't protect them. This will take up the first hour of WWIII. Suddenly, we will find our entire military in Asia captured. And our fleets in the Middle East will be sunk by DU tipped Silkworm missiles. And Europe will kow tow to Russia in the second hour.

Hopefully there will be no third hour. The US warlords will realize they lost and they will stop. Only this won't happen and why do I know this?

Simple: since when have heavily armed leaders losing wars, surrendered? They don't, you know. Not until the last soldier, the last civilian, is dead. And this is why any advice about how to weather Armageddon of any sort is sad. The only way we can do this is to not end up in that situation in the first place and the key to saving ourselves lies in cutting our military down by more than 50%, closing ALL the military bases we are running in other lands and focusing on protecting only our own shores. We have to do this because we can't afford not to do this. Our empire is finis. Dead as Rome's. And it is time we face this fact and deal with it. Our country is rich still in many resources as well as people power.

I lived for 10 years in a tent with only a solar panel for part-time electricity after the 6th year in the tent. Running water was rain, we had for entertainment, books and games. And my child did excellently in school to the point, the Principal said, everyone should raise their kids without electricity!

The future doesn't have to be dark if we really want to make living life the best part of living! We can do so many things without raping the entire planet. This means ending our gluttony problems by walking and biking much more! Heh! The Great American Lifestyle is deadly. Losing it isn't really all that terrible.

But losing our minds and launching WWIII in order to rule the planet is pure insanity.

Culture of Life News Main Page

Comments

[JSmithq]

IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT!!!

[JSmith]

IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT!!!

[Elaine Meinel Supkis]

Correct both times, Smith. You are so perceptive. Heh.

[Eric]

Elaine wrote, "There is Mexico and Canada, our neighbors. The US elites are already trying to tie both countries to our own and erase the borders. Many right wing Americans fear this but they are silly."

A merger of a different sort...

From http://www.cato.org/pubs/regulation/reg14n1d.html
on the 1989 Free Trade Agreement between US and Canada, an excerpt:

"The agreement guarantees the United States access to Canadian oil, gas, coal, and electricity at the prices paid by Canadians under comparable commercial circumstances. Export embargoes, export taxes, and practices raising export prices above domestic prices are prohibited. In the event of shortages, available supplies will be shared equitably among U.S. and Canadian consumers."

[Andy]

You mention Panzner as an easy to understand writer... well... he doesnt begin to compare to someone that has been writing about difficult economic issues for years now. heh, difficult for ME that is. I've always struggled to understand economics, but through the use of toons, sprinkled with a common sense mentality about the world, you Elaine, blow away anything else I've read regarding assessments of 'where things are at, and where they're going'. Bravo.

[Elaine Meinel Supkis]

Thank you, Andy. Blushing.

Actually, my first economic cartoons took a lot of thought. But now that I have regular characters who have regular reactions to things, it is easier and easier to do.

I happen to have grown fond of the Dragon, Miz Liberty, Miz Japan, the Cat of Iran and all the other characters.

[DeVaul]

You have developed an incredible cast of characters, and they are so easily identifiable with their representative countries. That took a lot of thought, but it was well worth it.

The only one I am not sure about is the Japanese lady. Why a lady? Why not a samurai warrior (male)? Clue me in on why you chose the lady warrior (if that is what she is).

[D. F. Facti]

I'm ready for a reprise of Flat Earth Friedman and his backup chorus of stick figures

[Elaine Meinel Supkis]

Heh. The first cartoons. But the NYT put Friedman behind their pay for view wall so I ignore him and suggest everyone ignore him.

[Jeff]

Someone driving a 38 mpg vehicle is likely driving a foreign vehicle. How exactly does that help our country?

Our problem appears to be debt and buying a foreign vehicle adds directly to our debt.

Let's say your foreing vehicle goes for 100000 miles.. thatis 2632 gallons of gasoline. A domestic might get 30 mpg..there are many US vehicles that achieve 30 mpg by the way. This means this car uses 3333 over its lifespan with this owner. You have saved 700 gallons of gas but sent probably 25000 dollars into the hands of foreigners instead of American workers.

That appears to be a losing proposition for America in my book...

want to support this country? Then support American jobs and businesses that can increase our tax base and improve our industrial capacity... This in turns improves our infrastructure and makes us less dependent on foreigners.... OIL can be replaced with another fuel.. but try replacing our lost industrial infrastruture when the citizens are all poor and working at mcdonalds and Walmart.