I Told you About the”C” Word, Now Time for the”F” word!!


Morning Folks!!.........
Last month I wrote about the 'C' word as in CONFIDENCE. Well since I wrote that, confidence has gone nowhere but down. I can't find a soul that thinks otherwise and is fully sober. Now it is even a deeper crisis.

I lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis. We had drills in school and had
to hide in the bomb shelter in the basement under our desks. It was a scary time when you are in grade school. The future always looked better than the present and the past.

I lived through The assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Marin Luther King
and Robert Kennedy. They cried in the streets. The future always looked better than the present and the past.

I lived through the Vietnam War and all the turmoil that went with
it. 58,000 dead in a war that nobody wanted to win. The future always looked better than the present and the past.

I lived through assassinations of leaders around the world. Sadat probably being the one that sticks in my mind. The future always looked better than the present and the past.

I lived Through Watergate. I lived through the impeachment of Richard Nixon.A time where Congress had a moral compass and did the right thing even when it was hard to do. The future always looked better than the present and the past.



I lived through 21% interest rates and 3 hour gas lines when you could get gas which was every other day. The future always looked better than the present and the past.

I paid 22 cents a gallon for gas and I have paid $4.50 a gallon. $5 to fill up and $100 to fill up. The future always looked better than the present and the past.

I lived through Bill Clinton getting impeached. The future always looked better than the present and the past.

I lived to watch Sadaam Hussein lob scuds into Israel. The future always looked better than the present and the past.

I lived through 9/11 and the single darkest day I have ever known. The day the future stopped completely in its' tracks. The first time the future may not look better than the past. Eventually that passed andthe future always looked better than the present and the past.

We lived through the latest wars and attacks and turmoil and all that goes with it and the division it has created. Divide and conquer. Surely we can't be that stupid? Surely we probably are.

We lived through the greatest economic collapse in history. The biggest robbery in history. Some might say it is a robbery in progress. I may be one of them saying that.

I lived through a number of market crashes. More money lost this time than in 1929. More to be lost.

In my years I have seen a lot and gone through a lot. But during each of
these events I knew there was a better day ahead. As you know by now the 'F' word is the FUTURE. At
each point of crisis there was a more hopeful tomorrow. The future always looked better than the present and the past.
That brings me to this
post. This is the FIRST time where the future may not be as bright as the past.
Now don't get me wrong, I am wired to be optimistic and still live my day to day
life the same as usual, but I see darkness ahead. We may avoid it. But I FEAR
for the future that we may have a head on collision.

Have you ever stopped and thought what happens next? We are at a point in
time where certain areas may just collapse. What happens to a town that has a
50% foreclosure rate and no hope of getting employed? What happens to the tax
base of that town? What happens to the Police and Fire Department? What happens
when things spiral our of control and the resources are no longer there to
contain it? Raise property taxes!! The final nail in the coffin. Before or after the riots?

This is the first time in my life where I see the quality of life about to
decline. Possibly crash. Like being on flight #1549, prepare for a very hard
landing. Only difference is we are coming in nose first and accelerating and I don't trust the pilot, the co-pilot nor the crew. This
is the first time in my lifetime that nobody is in control. Nobody has a handle on it. I have never seen it like this. Never,
ever. What scares me the most is we have yet to see even the completion of the
first phase of fallout from all this. It takes TIME to manifest itself. The
manifestation is gonna be one ugly motherf***er. So the future I see is in
jeopardy. The future I see can turn really bad. The future I see has a fork in
the road. One path leads to disaster. The other path flirts with it but barely
skims over it. That is about where we are at.

The very foundation of our economic system is in shambles and the same
PRICKS and CROOKS that got us there are now in charge of getting us out. That is
a near impossibility. Then add the crooks in Congress. Dog and Pony shows. Grandstanding. Then add the government
sure to screw it all up and what we have is a 'Happy moment' followed by many
years of strife.

So the FUTURE is my new 'F' word. You can minimize this all you want, but
you will soon concede as events will override things. We do have about a 25%
chance of missing the worst of it. But only 25% and be on the lookout for a blip
up before the final bombshell and BIG crash.Our economic ship is in a fog. The compasses are all spinning pointing everywhere and nowhere. It's like watching a tragedy in slow motion. The worst, is domainers think things are so good it can't affect them. That is where they are wrong. If you are not ahead of the events to come, the events will swallow you up and spit you out. The pitfalls are so many and so deep that if you don't pay attention every day you are not going to have the tools to thrive and survive.

Sorry folks, I like being upbeat. But reality always trumps everything
else. It is the first time in my life where I see a juncture of a better yesterday than a better tomorrow. It PAINS me to say something like that. It really does. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best and expect something
pretty bad. No matter how good things may be for you personally, when half the houses in your neighborhood are boarded up and 1 out of 8 people you know are unemployed, it will affect you. You could describe it as a hurricane. Even tho you are in a home (or industry) that is safe, has impact windows. will survive the storm does not mean you get away unscathed. When your neighbors are less prepared or have older homes without protection (Income and savings) and you walk outside your home after the storm, your home may be fine, but the neighborhood is destroyed. You can't sit there and tell me it has no affect on the quality of YOUR life. Your future is linked to the fortunes of others .

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz