"Everything is out of whack. We can’t be the policeman to the world and provide a safety net for all citizens if we don’t have the tax rates or the income to the government that supports all that. It seems like common sense, and it should be common sense. But something happens when you take it from a discussion that you and I might have to the political level, which is often just driven by emotion and public speech. Somehow the desire, the continued promising that the government can solve all problems, meets with jubilation and boasts. And people want to just keep going, and they never want to actually accept that at some point the unsustainable has to end. I mean, that’s the nature of the world.
It gets frustrating to think that we’re at a point where politicians are really going to have to work together to come up with solutions that are going to be unpopular to anyone – and I struggle to think that we’re even capable of putting together a set of solutions that will work. It might be too late."
So states Addison Wiggin, executive publisher of Agora Financial and executive producer of I.O.U.S.A. Strong words from a man who has been writing for over ten years about how our debt-inebriated economy will eventually collapse upon itself – but is still shocked and saddened to see his predictions play out in reality. He sees the global economy to be at a point of massive destructive transformation – but full of opportunity for informed investors, and, ultimately, for the system that succeeds it.
Click the play button below to listen to Chris' interview with Addison Wiggin (runtime 41m:50s):
[swf file="http://media.PeakProsperity.com/audio/addison-wiggin-2011-04-29.mp3"]
Download/Play the Podcast
Read the Transcript of the Podcast
Report a Problem Playing the Podcast
In this podcast, Addison expounds on:
- His shock, despite releasing numerous works in advance that predicted it, at how quickly our political and financial leadership panicked and abandoned fiscal sanity during the crisis of 2008.
- Why it may very well be too late to avoid a collapse of our economy. Forget how painful or unpopular the corrective steps we need to take are – we simply cannot afford them in our current national condition.
- How the bond market will be the battleground upon which the collapse will be waged. The trigger point will be the moment at which the government is forced to raise interest rates above what it can afford to finance continued obligations.
- Why the Fed is between a rock and hard place trying to stave off this endgame, which Addison sees as inevitable. Recommencement of quantitative easing (or any such QE3 variant) will likely serve as the match to the bond market powder keg.
- Despite the risks and the growing certainty of the outcome, many average Americans still put substantial blind faith in their leadership. Those who see with a critical lens are at a distinct advantage at this point in the timeline if they take informed action to position themselves against currency debasement. Hard assets and energy are obvious choices.
- How Addison sees the major thrust of our current trajectory ending the US dollar's position as the center of the world economy – likely evolving to a shared structure with the major Asian players. During this transition, living standards to which Americans are accustomed will fall – especially as the reality of Peak Oil arrives in full force on the world stage.
- Why investment opportunities in this next century will be best seized by smaller nimble players vs. the large corporations and institutions of the past. Life sciences and energy innovation are particular areas of promise.
Addison Wiggin is executive publisher of Agora Financial LLC, the independent economic forecasting and financial research firm he runs with Bill Bonner. Agora's wide-ranging operations include the influential econoblog The Daily Reckoning, best-selling publications such as Financial Reckoning Day Fallout and The New Empire of Debt (both of which Addison co-authored with Bill) and the highly-acclaimed documentary I.O.U.S.A (on which Addison was executive producer and co-writer). He kindly wrote the forward to Chris' new book The Crash Course: The Unsustainable Future of Our Economy, Energy and Environment.
Our series of podcast interviews with notable minds includes:
by arthur-robey-2