Danger Boils Up, but Not Just in the Mideast

[Turns out the Middle East is not the only place on earth where trouble has heated to a  dangerous boil. Superhot gases have recently caused miles of ground to swell dramatically beneath Yellowstone, reminding us that Nature could end life on this planet far more swiftly than any man-made conflict. Even a hydrogen bomb would be a firecracker in comparison to an eruption of the Yellowstone caldera. Which brings us to the essay below, written by a friend of ours with a keen interest in prophets and seers. At least one of them predicted long ago that 2012 would see a spectacular increase in seismic activity, potentially affecting hundreds of millions of lives.

This essay originally ran in May, but with Yellowstone’s supervolcano unusually active, we thought it would be a good time to repeat it. Our friend also notes that “the drumbeat of prophecies clicking over is also picking up pace – watch England for potential violence involving the Royal family in the lead-up to this April’s royal wedding; Tunisia is only the first North African country to experience destabilizing revolution and Algeria and Morocco could well follow in the year ahead; and watch the Catholic Church as a schism may unfold there as well.

“On the economic front, the next leg down in the economy is also due to start this year, and the worst of what will turn out to be this Millennium Depression is still ahead of us. Yes, we have begun the second decade of the new Millennium. 2011 may well be the last year the world at large will not be at a state of world war – for decades to come. I hope the prophecies are wrong, or maybe my interpretation of them is flawed – but that is what my studies of prophecies over the last 40+ years are pointing towards. All the best to you and yours – carpe diem.”

If you would like to sample the eclectic range of  Rick’s Picks commentary, you can get a free seven-day trial, including daily stock and futures recommendations and access to the 24/7 chat room, by clicking here.  RA]     

***

Rick has asked me to outline the impact of potential future geological events on the U.S. economy. I am not a geologist or an economist,(although I do have an eclectic university education background) – my own personal studies for the last several decades have  included amongst other things various prophecies about future events from multiple sources around the world. I write this anonymously, and am writing it at Rick’s request. I am just putting it out there for your consideration – what you choose to do with this prophetic scenario, if anything, is up to you. 

Seismic Tempo Increasing 

Even the least observant amongst us is slowly becoming aware of a building “drumbeat” of seismic events on our planet – that seem to be increasing in both frequency and magnitude and occurring in areas where we find significant populations. Recent large scale destructive events include the Indonesian tsunami; central China, Haiti, Chile and last week’s western China earthquakes and also the recent eruption of an Icelandic volcano. Combined, these major seismic events have cost hundreds of thousands of lives and billions in damages. The Icelandic volcano has so far just disrupted intercontinental air traffic, and so is negatively impacting the western developed economies. We can all see though, that significant seismic events can have potential relevance to us as investors.

According to several prophetic sources, seismic activity is building towards an impending planetary event (worldwide) – the shifting of the axis of rotation of the Earth, which some sources indicate is forecast to occur in the 4th quarter of 2012. The U.S. will obviously not be immune to this massive disaster. Ancient Hindu texts suggest this is a regular cyclical planetary event that has occurred roughly every 14,000 years. The pole shift may be triggered by a rogue celestial object that enters our solar system as part of a 14,000 year orbit. If this happens, prophecy suggests that a celestial object should first appear visible to us in the sky on a future June 21st (2012?) of that fateful year. Mayan prophetic sources also seem to suggest the 4th quarter of 2012 (December 21-23) is the likely timing (however triggered) for the actual pole shift. 

‘Ring of Fire’ 

There is forecast to be increasing seismic activity in the buildup to this worldwide cataclysm, both around the ring-of-fire region and also laterally along a seismic zone that includes Japan, China, India, the eastern Mediterranean basin, the Caribbean basin and the west coast of North America. Obviously the entire world will be effected if the seismic tempo picks up in frequency and intensity, let us for brevity’s sake focus on the potential effects in the U.S. 

For the U.S. there are several areas of future seismic concern. The west coast of North America is on the ‘ring-of-fire’ which rings the Pacific Ocean where several tectonic ‘plates’ interact actively, so the west coast is under seismic threat. The Yellowstone area is another area with massive seismic potential, the Mississippi river valley is yet another seismic zone and finally so is the eastern coast of the U.S. We have already entered an especially active seismic period for the next few years. 

If we focus in on early this decade specifically, the sequence of events prophesied should include: another major seismic event still lies ahead in eastern Asia, this will be followed by a major seismic event in the eastern Mediterranean basin region (potentially Italy’s Mt. Vesuvius erupting?) foreseen to occur in winter in a future 1st quarter (2012?,possibly followed soon afterwards by another Caribbean seismic event).This specific series of events will immediately precede the first mega earthquake long feared for the west coast – that long predicted event is prophesied for a future April/May in this very decade  2012?). That horrific west coast seismic event is said to be followed by a U.S. east coast counter balancing seismic event within roughly 90 days. (one disturbing vision was from a young man recorded in 1937, in his vision he says the California quake starts at 3:55 PM and runs continuously until 4:29 PM and completely destroys the California coastal region. Earthquakes are intense but brief, an extended earthquake would produce massive destructive power and a loss of life that could number into eight figures). 

Ignorant Ignore Prophecy 

Prophecy is not a science, so having sufficient specific facts in a scientifically acceptable format are unfortunately rarely received – however to dismiss and ignore prophecy totally is ignorance writ large. What this article attempts to do is to red flag a potential future danger that prophetic writings (from many sources and different locations and times) are seemingly pointing directly to – major seismic dangers for the U.S. and the world, coming early in this very decade. 

If you do give any credence to any of this, it would be wise to be careful for yourself and any of your investments on either U.S. coast early this decade (2012?). You have been given a prophesied sequence of seismic events to watch for, even if you choose to wait to act – this scenario could amount to giving you a few days/weeks warning should any of the events begin unfolding (use it to make both yourselves and your investments safe). Major U.S. investments of concern would include such west coast industry stalwarts as computer technology, aerospace, defense, entertainment and food production. Personally I continue to seek safety in precious metals and their stocks and in cash. In 2012 I am planning to largely forgo investing in any stocks anywhere – the events prophecy foresees will also generate far more trouble for all of us than even the earth changes. We are now living in interesting times – and that is a curse, not a blessing. 

Rick asked me to make this a brief article, as that is all that I could commit to do. It would take a major thesis length paper to provide all the necessary background research to present it in a more academically sound manner (duly footnoted, with all the relevant research reading). I have neither the time nor the inclination to even begin that process. So basically this article Rick requested I write for his readers just gives you the ‘executive summary’ for your consideration. Carpe diem

(If you’d like to have Rick’s Picks commentary delivered free each day to your e-mail box, click here.)

  • Amir Murtaza February 2, 2011, 10:08 am

    I totally agreed with MR Carpe diem that is why i have withdraw all my money from stock market and even banks and buying gold since June 2007.
    Bye

  • Glenn H February 2, 2011, 7:48 am

    Is it this Yellowstone the article is talking about? Open your eyes, crunch your own numbers, use your brain.

    http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/

    YELLOWSTONE VOLCANO OBSERVATORY MONTHLY UPDATE
    Tuesday, February 1, 2011 10:07 AM MST (Tuesday, February 1, 2011 17:07 UTC)

    YELLOWSTONE VOLCANO (CAVW #1205-01-)
    44°25’48” N 110°40’12” W, Summit Elevation 9203 ft (2805 m)
    Current Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL
    Current Aviation Color Code: GREEN

    No earthquake swarms were noted in January 2011

    The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) was created as a partnership among the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Yellowstone National Park, and University of Utah to strengthen the long-term monitoring of volcanic and earthquake unrest in the Yellowstone National Park region. Yellowstone is the site of the largest and most diverse collection of natural thermal features in the world and the first National Park. YVO is one of the five USGS Volcano Observatories that monitor volcanoes within the United States for science and public safety.

  • Mercurious February 2, 2011, 6:46 am

    Interesting topic, and I am pleased that Rick is open-minded enough not to either pooh-pooh it or ignore it to avoid controversy. Since today is “Anyone can be and/or quote a prophet day”, here’s mine.

    SHOULD some of these events begin to unfold, many of us who hold enviable amounts of precious metals THEN will find ourselves in the same position that those without metals do NOW. By that I mean, many will wake up to the fact the gold/silver/cash should have been traded for functionally significant goods while the getting was …well, good. Holding on to my silver too long would be just as dumb, IMHO, as holding on to my cash now. Think of it as Mr. Market in Grim Reaper drag.

    As far as specific predictions, channeled messages, cryptic prophecies from the past, anxious waiting for children to tell us they’ve been told the end is near: All of that MAY be true but so far has not shown itself to be so. I BELIEVE, along with Isaac Newton, in the fundamental validity of astrological prediction in the abstract…but who’s doing the interpreting?

    One hundred people looking at a scene through frosted glass will give one hundred interpretations of the scene. Will some be more accurate? Yes. The question is, how will I know which those are?

    There’s an old saying in the Far East that if you knew enough to be able to pick a real sage for a teacher, you wouldn’t need a real sage for a teacher. In other words, we are picked. Perhaps we get the prophetic interpretation we need/want/deserve to believe in. That would certainly jibe with the idea of a fundamentally subjectively-experienced universe.

    May I suggest reading Seneca or M. Aurelius? Both were living at the top of the heap and ready to give it all back to the Cosmos at a moment’s notice. If we can do that, anytime is a great time to prosper…or to leave the world.

  • Henry Benjamin February 2, 2011, 1:09 am

    Need some info on a company called Hindsight Trading in Utah. My buddy is thinking on joining it and I think it is a scam does anyone have any info on it as I told him he is better off learning the hidden pivot method. Please help with some info. Send your response to diamondman129@yahoo.com. Thanks

  • Anthony F February 2, 2011, 12:41 am

    I often wonder how the great USA lost its bearings in the last few years.
    There are stories of the Illuminati’s, Masons, Trilateral Commission, Bilderbergs, wanting a new world order under their control
    I know of a fellow, Ned Dougherty, who after a near death experience sold his profitable South Hampton discotheque, restaurant, etc and became a pious man.
    He claims receives monthly spiritual messages, he also got some recognized celebrity because he wrote a book, where he told about an upcoming terrorist attack in NYC, prior to this event unfolding
    I have part of his message, where he hints at the above conspiracy theories.

    http://www.fastlanetoheaven.com/
    Also, some prophesies , it may be Nostradamus, tell of the Pope moving to Avignon, under attack of the Muslim world.
    If you follow the current events, it may not be too farfetched to envision a total control of the Middle East by Muslims now on the beginning stage.

    Message from St. Michael the Archangel (Dec 1th, 2010)
    Lo and Behold! Devilish behavior on the part of the proponents of the new world order is about to send the economies of the world into a tailspin. This has been the plan of this sinister entity for many years now.
    Out of a sense of desperation and because they have not seen their plans come to fruition as per their own timetable, they are now going about a suicidal plan of destroying the world economies for their own selfish benefit and to assume even more evil power and control over all of humanity.
    This desperate attempt on their part will only succeed in their own minds temporarily, because many of you have become enlightened and recognize the evil that they are perpetrating upon humanity. It is up to you the knowledgeable and to those of you who are the visionaries according to God’s plan to bring about a higher level of awareness of the activities of these fearmongers.
    They are attempting to manipulate all of the resources of the world including your drinking water, your food sources, your energies, all of the resources that the Father has planned for the sustenance of all of humanity, not to be used as the tools of those who are greedy and corrupt and who have taken up their allegiance with the evil one to subjugate all of mankind into an earthly slavery.
    You must understand that these new world order proponents will not succeed in their plans because of the awareness that many of you are conveying to your brothers and sisters, but most of all, because the Father in Heaven is guiding His children through this new period of time when the transition will take place that will purge all of the greediness and corruption from planet Earth so that a new era, the Era of Peace and Love, will be ushered in for all of humanity to take benefit from the graces that the Lord has always intended for His children.
    In the meantime, it is necessary for you to be ever vigilant of the plans of the evil one and his minions here on Earth, who are attempting to enslave all of you through economic hardship and by limiting the resources of the world to place many of you in extreme hardship, so they can go about their plans to further dominate and control the world.

  • ricecake February 2, 2011, 12:04 am

    Ha ha ha how pathatic they all become. Time such as this you worry about your investment?

    Yah like the most safe investment is Gold canned food and bottled water right?

    You dig a only-you-know-where hole in it you hide your gold. But then after the earth sake up so much I doubt you will be able to locate your Golden hole again. LOL.

    In such end-of-the-world scenario, the most safe investment is in yourself personally and your time. To live the fullest and the best you can each day. Party as hard as you can. Borrow as much as you can and spend as much as you can. Forget about anything else.

    The world is the debtors’ cuz after the doom, your creditors may be all dead. Even if they are still alive, they will be fall apart and will not able to chase after you to pay them back. Besides, there won’t be anything left to pay them back anyway.

    Or your debtors are all dead so they can’t pay you back. lol

    p.s. for the gold in the world, if most of service people, farmers workers are dead, no one grow food and work, what’s use of your precious metal? It’ll be just metal but not precious anymore cuz you can’t use it to buy anything since there nothing for you to buy. You will have do everything by yourself be the farmer, the worker, the miner, the servant, the maid should you be the last of the survivor.

  • andequip February 1, 2011, 11:35 pm

    After reading the article and the responses, I have a few points:
    – No new ice age, anytime soon, but poleshift, when it happens, will displace the N pole to 5 degrees S and 29 degrees W, so it will make some portions of Earth colder, and some places warmer. BTW, new S pole location will be 10 degrees N and 78 degrees E.
    -Events that happen, in advance of the pole shift will be as follows:
    1. The Indo-Austrailian tectonic plate under the southern portion of Indonesia will begin sinking into the sea, along with the western portion of Austrailia.
    2. The Pacific plate will fold, allowing South America to roll.
    3. The South Atlantic rift will tear, rolling Africa and causing the Mediterranean sea to drop.
    4. Almost back-to-back, Japan will be rocked with massive earthquakes, along with an adjustment of the new Madrid Fault. Resulting in a huge trench, where the Mississippi runs.
    5. The North Atlantic Rift will tear, following the new Madrid adjustment and send a huge tsunami towards Europe, resulting in massive flooding, destruction and casualties.
    6. The Caldera of Yellowstone WILL NOT erupt, as has been mentioned here.

    Today’s news mentioned Indonesia flooding caused by “heavy rains” (sinking of the Indo-Austr. plate) and active volcano, Mt. Bromo erupted last Thursday; an earthquake (Mt. Shinmoedaki and Kyushu erupting) in Japan (more great quakes to come), and flooding in Austrailia (also from the sinking Indo-Austr. plate).

    So, it appears the ball is rolling and it will pick up steam, as these events unfold, the countdown to pole shift will start and complete in 7 weeks. During the 7 week period a severe wobble in the Earth’s rotation will occur, lasting 9 days; a static lean of Earth to the left for about a week; 3 days of darkness in the N hemisphere; 6 days of the sun rising in the West. After the rising Western sun, Earth’s rotation will slow for 18 days, then rotation will stop, for 6 days. The Pole Shift will immediately follow. During the Pole Shift you will see more tectonic plate shifting and the oceans will rise 350′ above current sea level. Two years later, as a result of the melting polar caps, sea level will rise an additional 500′.
    Safest places in the US: Salt Lake, Utah; Denver, CO. Incidently, I cannot beleive noone hasn’t noticed the HUGE US Gov’t move to the Denver area. It is now becoming Washington, DC West.
    All the gold and silver owned will need to be protected, as a means of re-building, in the after times.
    Gather your resources, kiss your loved ones frequently, and do not be afraid, because God loaths a coward.
    Good luck!

    • Robert February 2, 2011, 5:43 pm

      Sounds like fun…

      Hmmm… Sea levels rising 850 feet means that my current location would be about 150 miles closer to the beach, and all those inundated cities would become pretty awesome artificial reefs.

      And here I thought the future was gonna be bleak… 🙂

  • Rich February 1, 2011, 10:13 pm
  • Robert February 1, 2011, 10:05 pm

    Steve: “Please tell me what you have because I have been trained by the government to take it from you! ”

    Bah- you have only been trained to take from me what I am willing to surrender. 🙂

    Ok, Let’s take this a little further down the “Twilight Zone” path, because it is really weird that RA chose today to run prophesy as the topic du jour.

    Yesterday I just happened to research one of Nostradamus’ quatrains that I had stumbled upon.

    Now, Nostradamus fails my litmus test as a prophet (as do most) since he did not parlay exactly WHEN his visions would come to pass… however, this one is very interesting when applied to the context of the present-time:

    Century 8, Quatrain 28:

    Les simulachres d’or & d’argent enflez,
    Qu’apres le rapt lac au feu furent iettez
    Au descouuert estaincts tous & troublez.
    Au marbre escripts, perscripts interiettez.

    The copies of gold & silver inflated,
    which after the theft were thrown into the lake
    at the discovery that all is exhausted & dissipated by debt.
    All scrips and bonds will be wiped out.

    http://www.crystalinks.com/quatrainscentury8.html

    I looked it up on a myriad of Nostradamus research sites- the French verse seems authentic, as do the common English translations.

    And, on top of that, in my fortune cookie last night at dinner, my fortune read:

    “The Rainbow’s treasure will soon be yours”

    Truth be told- I am glad that I bought the dip over the past couple weeks. 🙂

    Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some tomatos that need canning and some ammo that needs stock-piling.

    • Steve February 2, 2011, 1:52 am

      “Bah- you have only been trained to take from me what I am willing to surrender.”

      This statement is not worthy of response Robert. Yet, respond I will should it become necessary and you have what I want in a time of domestic terror and economic breakdown. I will never make the mistake of underestimating what thirst, hunger, cold, and fear generate in humanity. I will never underestimate the skills of some people I know, their training, or what they have done. They are not virgins Robert.

    • Benjamin February 2, 2011, 3:40 am

      “I will never underestimate the skills of some people I know, their training, or what they have done.”

      If they see you, and you’re not starving, sick, or dehydrating, they know what you have and how to get you to reveal that stash to them. The Bushman still use a certain trick on monkeys in the Kalahari, but I’m sure it can be adapted to make humans talk as well. Worse, it’s not even violent but having it employed on you would most definitely… Well, suck, as you’d lose your stash of goodies to some other hunter/survivor.

      And even if you are on your last legs, and have nothing, or just won’t break, never think yourself useless to another…

      http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_you_eat_vulture_meat_or_is_it_poisonous

      Well, what do you know about that? Maybe it would be better to raise carrion bird, instead of chickens? And hey, it sure beats necrophagy and the risk of kuru…

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuru_(disease)

      I only put this here as a point of mature discussion, and because I’m curious as to how much currently civilized people have thought about this kind of stuff. That and, despite these things being brought up, I can’t help but feel this is on the lighter/virgin side of what Steve is talking about. I’m curious to know if I’m right or not!

  • laurent February 1, 2011, 9:11 pm

    A preliminary guide to survival list: First 100 items to disappear in time of social breakdown. My recommendation is to take care of this list or whatever way you dress it up to fit your situation, and then add to this 500 silver maples or equivalent.
    Make real friends with family and neighbours, only then will you wake up rested and ready to rock .
    http://www.survival-spot.com/survival-blog/100-itemsnational-emergency/

    • Cam Fitzgerald February 2, 2011, 5:17 pm

      There is one thing that I notice is missing from every good survival list Laurent. Nobody talks much about being prepared by preserving your physical health while times are still good nor about ensuring your dental health is up to date on the assumption you might have to go a long period of time with no dental facility available.

      Eating right, not smoking and drinking, staying fit are all part of a regime that any good survivalist needs to always keep in mind. We do not expect our diabetic heart-attack prone overweigh neighbors to really be a great success in a crisis.

      If it is survival of the fittest we are really contemplating then we need to keep in mind that staying fit is an essential ingredient in that process.

  • willio February 1, 2011, 9:06 pm

    The number of 7.0 (and larger) earthquakes is decreasing, they mostly occur out at sea, they are just being reported more and/or they happen to be occuring more frequently near populated areas.

    The axis of rotation is not going to change, the magnetic poles are going to flip.

  • Steve February 1, 2011, 8:34 pm

    Peace be with you brother. Want not, eat, be merry. Have faith in others.

  • F. Beard February 1, 2011, 8:08 pm

    The Jews were facing a major catastrophe, the Babylonian Captivity. The Northern Kingdom was long gone to the Assyrians and most of the Southern Kingdom, Judah, had been captured by the Babylonians. So King Zedekiah decided to impress God by freeing all the illegally held Hebrew debt slaves. It worked! The Babylonians lifted their siege of Jerusalem and headed off to Egypt. But alas, the Jews reneged on their pledge and re-enslaved their fellow Jews:

    Jeremiah 34:8-22

    My point? Maybe we are being warned that we should practice some debt forgiveness ourselves?

  • Anthony F February 1, 2011, 7:44 pm

    Catholic REAL prophesies…
    1) Saint Malachy… about 600 years ago he prepared a list of popes to succeed the pope at the time (by his request). Very accurate so far…
    Check out the site-history (there are multiple links in the internet)
    So far we know there is only ONE pope remaining… PETRUS Romanus.
    http://www.catholic-pages.com/grabbag/malachy.asp
    2) Medjugorje, Years ago Marian apparitions were witnessed by a some young seers.
    10 Secretes of things to come (in theirs and ours lifetime) were given.
    Once events will start to unfold the secrets will be sent by a local priest to the Pope.
    http://www.medjugorjeusa.org/warningsetc.htm
    Others
    Native Americans
    White Buffalo
    http://www.adishakti.org/prophecies/25_the_eagle_has_landed.htm
    + The seventh generation after the White race came to America will witness
    a reconciliation between the two races (accurate in so far) and the advent of their Messiah.
    Mayan prophesies
    Multiple sites, here is one
    http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message302652/pg1
    I am not totally sure about the exact date, since the calculation from the Mayan to the Gregorian calendar may have some years of distortion… plus I don’t really believe in dates.

    Bottom line, better be prepared
    and I follow
    This website… since it is reliable and explains things realistically, + Michael Brown researches and stays in touch with the real Seers.
    http://spiritdaily.com/
    I love sea weeds , fish and mussels, I can fish, find water, and grow stuff…

  • 2012 Consciousness Shift Resources (is a link) February 1, 2011, 6:45 pm

    Greetings;

    Climate changes due to energy field out of balance, much more ahead;

    Do you not find it to be rather ironic that when a corporately controlled democracy receives a wink and a nod from the corporately controlled UN to evade a free society in order to incorporate a countries resources it’s called a Liberator, yet, when the peoples of the invaded country set out to form a resistance in order to protect their resources, it is deemed a terrorist organization by the corporately owned medias?

    “9-11 was a Ritual Human Sacrifice. That, and the obvious catalyst for the so called “War on Terror”. Behind the scenes, there is only One Party. Our Party. ‘Democracy’ is an illusion which is created to uphold your slavery. Whichever side ‘wins’; the Family wins.” – Hidden_Hand

    “Q: (L) What are the blasphemous titles on the heads of the beast?
    A: In God we trust.

    Q: (L) “And the beast that I saw resembled a leopard…”
    A: New World Order. U.S. is in sinister plot. Don’t trust. Don’t ignore.” – 6D STO

    The very best to you on your journey of discovery,

    Travis @ http://www.focusonrecovery.net

  • lsd February 1, 2011, 6:44 pm

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1030536695965417017

    &&&&&&

    Note: This YouTube video is entitled “Secrets of the Mayan Calendar”. It is a videotaped lecture on the subject. RA

  • Pete Giovine February 1, 2011, 6:02 pm

    Am thinking of camping out at the Geezer, err Geyser.
    Looks nice and warm.
    Hup, hup.
    Time to pitch the tent.
    If the Maya were any good at predictions,
    They might still be around. Instead of down and out
    By the Long Count.

    Pete

    • Cam Fitzgerald February 2, 2011, 5:07 pm

      Robert,

      I don’t know if this will help but I have been following the Egyptian revolt on Al-Jazeera-English who seem to be giving the situation some of the better coverage.

      Give it a try at http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/

      It really is unfortunate what has transpired this morning. The country went from a peaceful uprising to the makings of civil war within just hours of Mubaraks speech.

      This is not a surprise though. The vague leaders of the uprising had demanded nothing less than the ouster of Mubarak immediately. They painted themselves into a corner with a demand that was sure not to be met.

      When Mubarak susequently stated that he would stay for nine more months AND seek to arrest some of those that were responsible for the instability, arson of buildings and vehicles etcetera, Egyptian everywhere just knew the seeds were sown for an explosive outcome.

      He said exactly the words that what would make the protesters as uncomfortable as possible. Their worst fears materialized instantly. The much hated leader basically told them he would stick around to pay back those who stood up against him. His words were a clear threat and a recipe for disaster as every Egyptian heard exactly what was really encoded in that message.

      I just shook my head as I listened to the analysis of the moment by one of the media talking heads as she spun the speech in a positive way to leave the impression that Mubarak was an honorable leader who had worked hard to serve his country. Indeed, Mr Mubarak himself said that he had “exhausted his life” in his work on behalf of the country.

      What he meant to say was “exhausted the treasury” but that would have been too blunt.

      Actually I burst out laughing because some of these media people are so out to lunch. Perhaps they don’t know that Hosni Mubarak’s personal fortune is somewhere in the range of 40 billion dollars. Does anyone out there think he made all that money with a string of falafel and hotdog stands in downtown Cairo?

      What that 40 billion represents from the perspective of Egyptians is plain old vanilla flavored theft. Of course, over here in North America we know better. The US bought Hosni’s loyaty and bought 30 years of peace in the Middle East. His wealth represents almost half of all the US dollar contributions to Egypt over that time.

      Naturally this leaves a bit a bad taste in some peoples mouths. Just the idea that he might now secure that wealth and position and be enabled to shift his money out of the country over the remaining months of his term is poison to Egyptians. The fact that he will try to exact revenge on his opponents at the same time is untenable to the protesters. Riots were the only outcome.

      The country is in turmoil with protesters now turning on one another. This is the expected outcome though and it takes pressure off the president for the moment.

      Here we have a classic divide and conquer strategy. Chaos and anarchy are breaking out now and the very focused energy of the revolt has instead been diffused into neighborhood feuds and personal conflicts as pro and anti government supporters unleash all their anger against one another instead of against the president.

      Don’t ever think Mubarak is not a good strategist and a warrior at heart. This was scripted beatifully from his perspective and the 90% of his populace that never participated in the uprising will now be calling for the military to crush the revolt before the nation is totally destroyed.

      It is unlikely that this will end in anything other than bloodshed and riots as the military is finally forced to intervene. As it is, Egyptians already blame the US administration for not having been more supportive of the protesters and not having taken a firmer stand against Hosni and demanding he step down.

      How much more resentful will they become as their cities turn to smoking ruins while Mubarak continues to cling to power and to his ill gotten billions.

      As Mubarak, in his speech, told his people that he would “die in the land of land of Egypt” I heard that one of the protestors immediately quipped that the people were going to give him his wish.

      The real price that country is now paying is not the humiliation of the theft from its treasury by an oppressive and arrogant dictator but the sudden realization the country is now on the path to civil war. A very big price indeed.

      The Pharohs must be turning in thier graves.

  • JimK February 1, 2011, 6:01 pm

    I will make a prophecy here. Right about the time when the PTB are having trouble shutting the gate on the big corral due to the skittishness of the sheeple, there will be ‘evidence’ of extra-terrestrials, which will be perceived by many to corroborate the other BS and inspire a few more to fall into line. Then there will be a Y2K moment, where everybody wakes up and dusts themselves off and asks “Who sold us this nonsense? – Let’s git’em!” – OR – we’ll go for five hundred years sacrificing a boy each morning to keep the sun-god coming up before having a Y2.5K moment and asking “Who sold us this nonsense? …”

    We have simultaneous Global: climate, terrorist, pandemic, and financial emergencies – guess which of the four is real. This prophecy stuff is a distraction, a sleight of hand. If I were planning to bamboozle the whole world, I would be a fool not to exploit every tradition and fable – you can’t enslave a people without their cooperation. I predict the failure of that effort – after we all go through a lot of pain.

    So, plant a vegetable garden and encourage your neighbors to do the same – it’s good insurance against self-fulfilling prophecies.

    • Robert February 1, 2011, 6:44 pm

      This morning on CNBS there were videos of the seemingly peaceful (so far) marches going on in Eqypt and Amman Jordan…

      I was really quite encouraged by what I saw- People of Arab blood not going insane? no flag burning? no chanting?

      The CNBS tagline under the image read “Crisis in the Middle East” and I thought “Since when does people marching peacefully constitute a crisis?”

      Then I realized what I was seeing was being presented by the MSM- and I had to ask “is it really happening this way?”

      Also, If the people really ARE maintaining their civility, and if the military really IS not planning to start mowing them down, and if Hosni Mubarak really WILL listen to his people and call a general election…. then why are the Primary ATM switches that carry the Internet into and out of Egypt still offline…?

      Reality for each of us is simply the sum total of what we experience through our 5 senses.

      I hope the reality for those people in the Middle East really IS as it is being protrayed.

    • Benjamin February 1, 2011, 8:44 pm

      ” If I were planning to bamboozle the whole world, I would be a fool not to exploit every tradition and fable”

      Fascinating point, JimK, but there are rhythms in the great forces of nature. However, both can be right…

      At one time, like many, I pondered why so many cultures have dragons as part of their mythos. It’s pretty much a universal, and one no-brainer explanation is that peoples of the world at one time came across dinosaur bones, and surmised from those the great legendary beasts that still “live” today.

      Now, suppose a long time ago a handful of astute minds in some culture realized that something like the Yellowstone caldera was a vast volcanic eruption.
      Or whatever feature. And so they began to work on creating a rhythm of such eruptions, which of course… if people trusted in them, they could forestall the disaster (as their math would clearly show, being ancestors of Al Gore as they surely were!)

      This might also explain why it was important that cheifs/kings/emperors had to bear a son. If they didn’t, then obviously they wouldn’t be reborn in order keep serving the people so well. But even god-like mortals have their limits, so ever so often the earth was going to rumble and roar anyway. This they had to admit because as it turns out, there is a sort of rhythm to it all. But…

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangea
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superocean

      Assuming any accuracy exists, one might then assume that as far as much more powerful monsoons go, there were routine one as well as great big ones out of the ordinary. But no more do we have those kinds of storms, due to the break up of the great land mass interfering with the forces that would otherwise create those kinds of storms. So…

      Might there be points where seismic activity is more awake or at rest? If so, how do the continents as they are moving effect these cycles? For that matter, how would that affect the dormancy of a place like the Yellowstone caldera? After all, what if the position of the plates forbids such an eruption there at such and such a magnitude, but allows it somewhere else at lesser or greater magntitude?

      Point is, the ruling class had no idea how right they were, and so had no idea how potetially wrong their calculations might turn out to be in the future!

      Personally, I think the earth is a different place than 600k years ago, due to increased mass and gravity (accretion, ie), as well as the position of the continents. There’s one guy out there that surmises that the larger dinosaurs are forever a thing of the past, as they would either not be able to move or suffocate/implode due to the greater pull of earth’s gravity on their massive bodies. Might also be true of things like earthquakes and volcanos. For now, but at some point in the future, the continents will be reconnected. The huricanes of great force will return. And all that land mass on one side just might force the earth to start stirring things up again in a big way.

      Or maybe not. If planets really do grow as the result of taking in debris from space, who is to say one great big ocean and continent are even going to occur ever again? And if those super continents/oceans are required to drive the whole cyclical process on which prophecies are at least partly based, then we could very well be heading into uncharted territory in which nothing expected from the norm happens. For example, maybe due to increasing planetary mass, we depend less and less on things like sun-spots to stay warmer, and that accounts for why we aren’t back into the ice age yet.

      It’s mind-boggling stuff!

  • Richard February 1, 2011, 5:23 pm

    I enjoyed the article and was going to add comments but Gary covered them already. Rick, you have neat articles.

    Picking the end of the world is much like picking tops – best left to the amateurs. Professionals tend to look at the odds instead.

    Isn’t it possible that the fellow doing the calendar simply ran out of ink while doodling and for what ever reason, didn’t manage to find a new pen and rock (paper)?

    In 1981, when it looked to me like the end of the world was here, I happened on a wise trader who said some words of wisdom to me. In essence, let’s worry about the incident only when it is here since it is so traumatic that prediction is essentially useless. In a case when California shakes for a half an hour and you live in that state, either leave now for the cave or hope that you are among the first to go! The end of the world isn’t worth the struggle in my view. I have become to used to my creature comforts.

    Ah yes, I knew so much more when I was younger!

  • Mike Bodey February 1, 2011, 2:43 pm

    Re: Gary Liebowitz
    Careful with your logic concerning gold, guns, food, etc. In order to expose your flaw in reasoning — it’s like saying — why worry about having guns and food when a person can only survive a week without water. What are you going to do — offer spaghetti for a bottle of water?

    I really don’t know a single soul who is interested in gold but has not taken care of all the essentials first. Gold signifies a mindset — a whole category of essentials. You need gold and silver to preserve your wealth. You can carry it with you. Everyone on the face of the earth places some value on gold and silver. In the coming year or so — we will see the value of gold double from here and the price of silver quadruple — meanwhile the value of the dollar will plummet. And, certainly you can dismiss me and my thoughts but realize this — I have been invested in gold and silver since 2005 — have your investment decisions yielded 300+%??

    provided as a service not an insult …

  • Dave February 1, 2011, 2:20 pm

    The China prophecy looks accurate:

    Upcoming economic depressions

    WWN covered stories that featured analysis of a coming Great Depression in the immediate future, in which many prominent celebrities, politicians, and icons of business would become penniless. The cover story of the June 6, 2005 issue warned that the second Great Depression was “just weeks away.” Because of this, Texas Oil Tycoons were planning to flee to Luxembourg, the only country to survive this economic crash. The consequences of this depression would include:

    An 80% unemployment rate
    A collapse of all the nation’s banks, causing them to call in all loans and mortgages, leaving a vast majority of Americans homeless
    An inability to afford any military program at all, forcing America to put an end to the War on terror
    A Somalia-like famine
    Hyperinflation, leaving all paper money worthless
    Enormous mobs of looters, ravaging towns and cities who cannot afford to pay police
    A disease epidemic caused by Americans unable to afford health care, including epidemics of cholera, tuberculosis, polio and even the bubonic plague
    The absence of food forcing starving citizens to resort to cannibalism of deceased relatives
    China replacing the United States as the world’s #1 superpower
    Americans overcome with despair will turn their backs on their religion and return to pagan religions, and possibly sell their soul to Satan. Christians who stubbornly continue to adhere to their religion will be burned alive, and have their virgin daughters sacrificed
    The world completely running out of oil.
    A follow up in the August 15, 2005 issue reveals plans by China to buy a controlling interest in all of America’s banks, effectively buying out the nation’s economy. According to the article, China currently owns more than 100 US banks totaling roughly 17 trillion dollars, making them the majority shareholder in America.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weekly_World_News

    • Cam Fitzgerald February 2, 2011, 3:55 pm

      Hmmm, maybe those ghost cities in China have actually been built with a bigger plan in mind.

  • mario cavolo February 1, 2011, 10:41 am

    Great article, fascinating topic with lot of valuable insights based on history and hard to ignore stats and coincidences.

    That said, it is absurd to even consider such matters of infinitesimally small possibility in the daily planning of our comparatively short 80 years on the planet. The odds of getting killed in a plane crash are infinitely higher than the Yellowstone Cauldron blowing when YOU are near it, and the odds of being killed in a plane crash are infinitely less than being killed in a car crash, ergo it is pointless to consider such matters as a matter of daily life; if we’re willing to get behind the wheel of a car then we wouldn’t even thinking twice about living next to the Yellowstone caldera would we? 🙂 Even if the due date is overdue right now, hell that could still be plus or minus a few thousand years and still be called an accurate call after the fact! Like I said, fascinating stuff to consider anyway.

    I’m much more concerned with and affected by how the markets sharply reversed again yesterday with the EUR/USD pair cutting in the opposite direction like a freakin’ knife again, etc…so annoying and costly for this little guppy trying to play in such shark-infested waters…

    Cheers, Mario

    • Steve February 1, 2011, 8:27 pm

      And who plays the lotto my friend, who plays lottery?

      How do you want to play the stats on the plane crash? Miles traveled per passenger, commercial v. private, incident per takeoff, incident per landing, incident with no landings, or number of incidents based on gross population, incidents per flight? Does travel to the airport count and returning count in the lies of liars who count beans? What color are your beans you count under the theory that figures don’t lie, but; liars figure?

      I’ve been dead wrong long term short for 15 years, and am about to switch to the bull. How does that fit statistically? I bet my future, my effort, my life on the belief that someday people would wake up and know the difference between a democracy and a republic.

      There is some great insight today by some people who have great understanding of the cycles contained in the Laws of Nature. What are the percentages of those who understand, and who will teach the cycles to their children, and grandchildren? Is there 1 in 1,000,000, or 1 in 600,000 who think past right now and what I have right now, or lost right now?

      Hope beyond hope that something radical does not happen, because the average Egyptian citizen is 18,000,000 times more likely to survive than the average American.

      I said it before, just in different words. Please tell me what you have because I have been trained by the government to take it from you! Let me see a glint of light from your generator, and it is over. Let me see your clean coat. Let me see your untorn shoes. Let me see anything out of place because I have been trained by the government to take it away from you.

    • Rich February 1, 2011, 9:06 pm

      Steve, please let us know exactly when you become a bull. It may have some predictive value;
      Speaking of predictions, we all would like to know, but the Good Book said we cannot know the exact date, hour or place.
      Having said that, many intuitive people moved to the mountains to get away from the coasts.
      Prices were better.
      (In the end times they will hide in the rocks.)
      My dear father departed at 88, an advanced Electrical Engineer, Freemason and Decorated Military Commander. He passed his last insomniac years entertaining himself with C2C Ed Dames dire remote viewing prophecies trading the markets, particularly natural resources.
      Fortunately, he was better at the latter than Dames was at the former. The natural resource trend seems here again like the 70s.
      Re sunspots, they are as tough to predict as the markets. It was a Class C flare that sparked the Egyptian Revolution and big down market day last week.
      What’s going on in the markets today defies comprehension and appears to approach a Yellowstone seismic volcanic event.
      Trailing stops at the ready…

  • Benjamin February 1, 2011, 8:13 am

    On a much smaller note, my area is about to socked with a blizzard, the likes which hasn’t been seen since the big one back in 1967. 25-30 inches of snow is being predicted. Which brought to mind…

    We’re long over due for an ice age! Heck, that was true even before the Medieval Warming Period, followed by the Mini Ice Age from which we’re still emerging. At least if ice-core samples modeling the past have anything to say about it….

    http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/noaa_gisp2_icecore_anim3.gif

    So according to that, the earth, for the most part, is a colder place. Nobody knows when the next ice age will be here and it’s doubtful that in any one year or even decade anyone will realize we’re on our way back to the mean. Similarly, I doubt that any of the seismic activity in recent years (whether anyone consults the Mayan calander or not) could be reliably indicative of the big one out of Yellowstone. Like the ice age, it’ll be one of those things that can be said to have happened when it actually does, and any signs that foretold will, of course, be just as contestable as any and all signs that said it wouldn’t happen in year XXXX.

    I don’t quite remember where I heard it before, but it goes something like this…

    “You go ahead and do whatever you like, and I’ll do what I must.”

    It is surely discomforting to the human psyche that even cyclical things in nature can’t really be predicted beyond the fact that they are bound to occur at some point. But even if they were, what can be done about them? Should we not just worry about what we can do, and only worry about these other things as they happen?

    On a final albeit unrelated note, something has happened this past weekend where something could’ve been done, but wasn’t. It’s not a world-shaking affair, but it is tragic none the less. A kid I grew up with (not a close friend, mind, just knew him from a long time ago) was found frozen to death in his home last Thursday. He couldn’t afford his utility bill, so they had to let him thaw out a few days before performing the autopsy. Happens every year, though usually it’s among the elderly or other shut-ins, not an otherwise able-bodied 30-something man (and Iraq War vertern, no less). Strange, how you can learn something that shocking even before it’s published in the papers, but not even know that person was still living in your area, much less freezing to death when he had friends and family in the area too. Very strange indeed.

    Anyway, nice interlude commentary today, Rick. I didn’t want to give the impression that I’m trashing it. It’s just that it wouldn’t be very Benjamin of me if I didn’t try and put it all in perspective 🙂

    • A. Rand Fan February 1, 2011, 8:49 am

      “We’re long over due for an ice age!” Is this what you’re refering to? http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/09/say-goodbye-to-sunspots.html

    • Benjamin February 1, 2011, 10:04 am

      Rand Fan: Yeah, something like that, too. And speaking of ice ages…

      Maybe there are prophecies about ice ages but to my knowledge there aren’t any. Which is strange because those, I imagine, can be a big disaster as well, what with all the living things that just can’t imagine things getting much colder. And yet, the ancients only commit to prophecy the super-mega volcanic erruptions which occur with less frequency.

      I don’t know, but something isn’t adding up there.

  • Easy Day February 1, 2011, 5:24 am

    Let’s not forget that every generation in the history of the world has thought they would see the end of the world.

    &&&&&

    Because Yellowstone only blows its top once every 600,000 years on average, I suppose we’d have to be pretty unlucky to be around when it happens. However, speaking as someone who lives within the instant-kill radius of 1000 miles, I try not to think too hard about the fact that the last eruption was approximately 620,000 years ago. RA

  • gary leibowitz February 1, 2011, 5:05 am

    And I thought the huge oil spill was going to swallow up all the oceans and cause a contimental rift the size of Canada.

    Oh well.

    His theory on magnetic polar shifts and the consequences are accurate. The actual magnetic reversal has shown to take a very small time, perhaps weeks, once it starts. Yellowstone is one of the largest mega volcano and it has been dormant for over 600,000 years. If it does blow than an estimated 1 million people will die from the initial blast. We also have observed a close encounter with an asteriod that is due to return in the next few years that could hit Earth.

    With all this doom and gloom how do you function with your daily chores? Why bother.

    I do wonder why anyone would be holding Gold if such events were to take place. Can you imagine bartering your gold for food? Guns, food, and shelter would be my main objective.

    &&&&&

    All true. The guy with the bread truck comes to your cul de sac and you offer him a Krugerrand in exchange for a rye loaf. He says, “I can’t eat that,” and then where are you? Do you give him two Krugerrands for the loaf? Three? RA

    • redwilldanaher February 1, 2011, 6:53 am

      Perhaps you didn’t stay abreast of the the developments as they trickled out Gary. The huge oil spill about to do as you state but Ben BerNank sprung into action and filled in the Canada-sized rift and soaked up all the oil with what was thought to be worthless paper. We all lost even more of our sovereignty to the kleptogarchs in the process but the 401k’s are better and CNBC says that it’s magic-hour-ambered Morning in Amerika again. It could be even better too if we’d just turn in all of our firearms, renounce our dwindling rights to privacy, and leave all the decision-making to those that deserve it: The perps, uh preps and Ivy League trained professional swindlers, aka the best and brightest. My only regret after reading this that the caldera doesn’t lie below 40 47 73 58
      or 38 53 77 02 or as a consolation prize, Greenwich, CT.

    • Other Paul February 1, 2011, 5:16 pm

      And the bread seller will much more enjoy eating a roll of clad coins and FRNs instead of Krugerrands?

    • Robert February 1, 2011, 6:04 pm

      Nobody can fathom the utility of Gold if the world goes all “mad max” on us…

      I, however can.

      Gary and Rick make the (correct) observation that seemingly no amount of Gold would serve to secure the things people really need in the immediate aftermath, and they are 100% correct. What they are incorrect about is the liklihood that anybody would willingly EXPOSE the fact that they even had an excess amount of bread, clean water, or other primary valuables in such a scenario.

      So absolutley, Gold will be useless as money in a worse-case doomsday scenario- for a period of time.

      However- nothing lasts forever. Food, not being durable, and only fungible for very short durations, will make terrible capital in the years after such a catastrophic event.

      New Governments would arise (don’t they always?) out of the small co-opted communities, and people will aspire to re-build better shelters, better farms, and better energy sharing infrastructure. That is when barter will once again begin giving way to capital allocation and investment.

      So it has alsways been, so too shall it always be…

      Remember, if all this catastrophe is due to occur during 2012, then we are talking something like 2015-2020 for the post-calamity chaos to give way to the establishment of new community and newly arising social order.

      By 2020, would anyone who is left have forgotten 2008? Would humanity, in those formative years of a “REALLY new normal”, clamor for a neuvo-class of central bankers to begin issuing “credits” to finance such rebuilding activity…? Really?

      Please.

      Gold is nothing but a stable proxy for the value of true capital (and a way to adorn yourself with the image of wealth and status). That is all it is, and that is all it does.

      So it had always been, so too shall it always be…

      If you fear the day that you can not feed yourself because you don’t know how to bake bread, then by all means- you better forget buying krugerrands and instead get outside and figure out how to make a stone oven soon 🙂 because you’re right- those Krugerrands ain’t gonna get you by.

    • Rich February 1, 2011, 9:30 pm

      Re bread, we found a bread machine and emergency generator with yeast and a 50 pound bag of flour from Costco a delicious investment…

    • PhotoRadarScam February 2, 2011, 12:51 am

      So if the guy with a bunch of oil/gas already has a week’s worth of bread, what will you give him besides gold for his oil? Your flat screen TV? At some point oil guy is going to have everything he needs and he’s not going to want yet-another-loaf-of-bread (you can only consume/hoard so many). There’s a good chance he will take gold and silver because chances are the bread guy is going to want something durable and inherently valuable in return for his excess bread and the farmer for his excess corn.