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IPFS News Link • Politics

Doug Casey: A Civil War Could Be in the Cards After the Election

• https://www.lewrockwell.com

Nick Giambruno: The US presidential election is only days away. What are the country's greatest problems right now?

Doug Casey: Domestically, I'd say the continual and accelerating loss of freedom, compounded by the prospect of what I suspect will be the biggest financial/economic crisis of modern times. What might that crisis be like? That's unpredictable, although the odds are it will be unlike any others that are still fresh in people's memories, simply because people tend to be most prepared for the things that have most recently scared them. The big problems usually come from an unexpected quarter, and/or at an unexpected time. Like the monetary crisis of 1998, that materialized in Thailand.

That said, the question remains of where to look. It could come from outside American borders, in the form of war. War is perhaps the worst thing that can happen, not only for the destruction it will cause in itself, but because it will immensely exacerbate America's domestic problems. As Bourne famously said, "War is the health of the State." Certainly, the US government is actively provoking other governments in a score of places around the world. The next war could be serious, not just a sports war, like those in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Nick Giambruno: In 2000, the federal government's debt was just over $5 trillion. Now, it's about $20 trillion. It doesn't matter who's in power. The debt continues to grow exponentially. Unless the government makes radical cuts to welfare and the military—which won't happen no matter who is elected—it will grow indefinitely.

If Americans are destined to be indebted serfs no matter who's in power, do the elections even matter?

Doug Casey: If the economy goes off of the deep end over the next year—and I think it will—the US government is going to be running much bigger deficits. Spending is going to go up for welfare. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security—that's already about two-thirds of the US government's budget. Military spending is also going up. All that is going to go up, regardless of who wins the election on November 8.

We could easily see a trillion dollar deficit, perhaps much more. Now, where are they going to get all that money? The Chinese aren't going to lend it to the US anymore. They're basically going to finance the deficit by selling the debt to the Federal Reserve. And that means creating more currency units out of thin air.

But, on the other hand, the average guy—and for that matter, most businesses—aren't borrowing money now. They're too afraid. They don't want to be in debt. The question is: As this comes to a real climax, are we going to have something resembling a runaway inflation in the dollar? Or are we going to have a massive credit collapse, which could be caused by defaults on bonds, house mortgages, student loans, or auto loans? I'm not sure which is going to happen. I mean, you buy a car now in the US, it costs you what a house did a couple generations ago. It all floats on a sea of debt. I'm just betting on financial chaos. That is the safe bet.

No matter which way this election goes, it's going to be ugly.

Both candidates, Trump and Clinton, are disastrous. To me, it's a sign of how degraded the US has become. About a year ago, they gave us a choice between Hillary, the wife of a previous president, pretty much playing the role of Argentina's Evita, Juan Peron's brassy wife. And Jeb Bush, the brother of one previous president and the son of another. The US has gone so far downhill that we can only choose which family dynasty we prefer to rule. If only a Kennedy, a Roosevelt, or a Rockefeller could be thrown into the mix as well… Maybe next time. Although I think we're due for a general or two.

Elections are, quite frankly, meaningless. These two corrupt parties, the Republicrats, and the Demopublicans, run by political hacks and funded by interest groups, simply appoint the people that they want and then present the American people with the illusion of a choice. The people who run these parties have become increasingly bold and arrogant. They're absolutely horrible creatures, the same types that used to thrive in the Soviet Union. Americans should be ashamed of themselves for treating them with any respect at all.

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