A current-serving military officer forwarded me this article from Forbes, commenting, "I think it is significant that collapse is being openly discussed."
About a year ago, I spoke at a conference in Europe that attracted a lot of very rich people from all over the continent, as well as a lot of people who manage money for high-net-worth individuals.
What made this conference remarkable was not the presentations, though they were generally quite interesting. The stunning part of the conference was learning – as part of casual conversation during breaks, meals, and other socializing time – how many rich people are planning for the eventual collapse of European society.
Not stagnation. Not gradual decline. Collapse.
As in riots, social disarray, plundering, and chaos. A non-trivial number of these people think the rioting in places such as Greece and England is just the tip of the iceberg, and they have plans – if bad things begin to happen – to escape to jurisdictions ranging from Australia to Costa Rica (several of them remarked that they no longer see the U.S. as a good long-run refuge).
This was rather sobering. I’ve never been an optimist about Europe’s future, as I explain here and here, but is the situation really this bad?
Well, the U.K. government seems to think things will get worse. Here are some excerpts from the Telegraph.
British ministers privately warned that the break-up of the euro, once almost unthinkable, is now increasingly plausible. Diplomats are preparing to help Britons abroad through a banking collapse and even riots arising from the debt crisis. The Treasury confirmed earlier this month that contingency planning for a collapse is now under way. …Recent Foreign and Commonwealth Office instructions to embassies and consulates request contingency planning for extreme scenarios including rioting and social unrest. …Diplomats have also been told to prepare to help tens of thousands of British citizens in eurozone countries with the consequences of a financial collapse that would leave them unable to access bank accounts or even withdraw cash. …Analysts at UBS, an investment bank earlier this year warned that the most extreme consequences of a break-up include risks to basic property rights and the threat of civil disorder. “When the unemployment consequences are factored in, it is virtually impossible to consider a break-up scenario without some serious social consequences,” UBS said.
Got militia?
3 comments:
could we get URL's for the article referenced and the quote?
Dr.D III
Yeah and of course our media can't be bothered to tell anybody, or tell the truth for that matter, even though we know that they know, what is happening. But I bet they will be quick to blame freedom and free markets and the failure of capitalism, if and when this happens and will blame anyone who had nothing to do with creating the problem.
Then of course they will want to try "another way" a "better way" and that way will be Marxist, since they are Marxists, but they will call it something else. Marxists lie in order to win power and lie, cheat and kill to keep it. But you'll never hear about that it the media.
Many years ago, as in more than 20, I predicted the breakup of the United States. I told others -really anyone who would listen, that the US would be balkanized into enclaves of civilization surrounded by lawless regions.
I still believe that is what we will see. The cities will be lost. Travel will be difficult, if not impossible between enclaves. State and federal jurisdiction will not exist since these entities only exist by virtue of the taxes they collect.
Post a Comment