by Jeff Nielson, Sprott Money:

There is going to be a massive economic cataclysm across (at least) the Western world, and it will include horrific crashes in a number of bubble markets. Not only has this been explained often to regular readers, but astute individuals will have easily drawn this conclusion on their own.

The fundamental reasons for this upcoming Crash are as numerous as they are troubling:

1. Our economies are bankrupt. Our governments are only able to pretend not to be bankrupt thanks to the fraudulent manipulation of Western interest rates to near-zero levels. This (temporarily) minimizes interest payments on our gigantic debts.

1. Permanent, long-term unemployment is at an historic high across the Western world with more than 100 million people across the West no longer allowed to work. Tens of millions more are under-employed, working in jobs far below their qualifications/skill level. Tens of millions more are forced to accept part-time work when they need full-time employment. Tens of millions more have simply seen their wages fall – often dramatically. Homelessness is now rampant across the “prosperous” West .


2. Massive asset bubbles. Permanently freezing Western interest rates near zero has had the predictable effect: the biggest asset bubbles in history, especially in real estate markets, bond markets, and U.S. equities markets. These horrendous bubbles are already overdue for detonation. It isn’t even supposed to be possible to have a stock market bubble and a bond market bubblesimultaneously.

Along with the fundamental reasons why an economic Armageddon is both inevitable and imminent, we have the practical reasons for reaching this conclusion:

Profit.

Above the obedient stooges in Western governments is the financial crime syndicate known as the One Bank . While the focus of its “business” are the criminal operations of Western Big Banks, some of its other more prominent tentacles include the Corporate Media, Big Oil, Big Pharma, and Big Agriculture. This is just a portion of the 40% of the global economy which it currently controls .

Why do we have bubble-and-crash cycles? With its manipulative Trading Algorithm (so-called “HFT trading”), the One Bank can now march all markets to ludicrous extremes beyond the imagination of most of us – at least temporarily. Why not keep pumping these bubble markets higher and higher?

Profit.

The further that the One Bank pushes/pulls prices away from rational levels, the more financial and criminal energy that is required to both make that move and then maintain it. The Law of Diminishing Returns is clearly at play.

Far more profitable to march markets higher relatively quickly and relatively briefly, crash them back down, and then reset the cycle of crime. This is true because as the creator of these “cycles” the One Bank is always able to place its own (crooked) bets first.

It is therefore a simple matter of profit that dictates that the Next Crash must be an imminent event . However, readers have heard this before. The Next Crash was originally held out as an event likely to occur in the late spring of 2016 – as replicating the pattern of the previous two bubble-and-crash cycles.

Now here we are marching through the spring of 2017, and readers are once again hearing the word “imminent”. Why heed this warning? Signs and portents.

Different readers will attach differing degrees of importance to these factors, so they are presented in no particular order – except for the first.

The Donald

What can we say about Donald Trump? He’s the least-qualified person to sit in the Oval Office in the modern history of the United States. He’s an egomaniac. He often speaks and acts without thinking. He’s a boorish, bigoted, opinionated bully.

He has spent roughly half of his first four months in office threatening trade wars with the U.S.’s “friends” (for lack of a better word), and the other half of the time threatening military conflict with rivaling nations. Syria, North Korea, even Russia and China: none have been spared the potential Wrath of The Donald.

Recent bubble-and-crash cycles have been timed to blame an outgoing U.S. regime as the principal culprit for the Crash, allowing the other half of the U.S.’s Two-Party Dictatorship to retain a Teflon coating in its first term in office. However, The Donald has just been elected, meaning the old pattern is no longer operative.

This suggests that (unlike the last two bubble-and-crash cycles) the Corporate Media will not have the excuse of calling this Crash an economic event. Three more years of Donald the Economy-Killer would not bode well for Trump, the Republican Party, or its Masters in the One Bank.

How about a war? Think that The Donald might be able to do a good job of creating a nice, big war, pushed and pulled by the “advisors” who guide all of his presidential actions? Assuming he doesn’t blow up the world first (literally), who better to blow up the U.S. economy – and much of the global economy along with it?

U.S. Markets

Anyone looking for “signs and portents” need look no further than U.S. equities markets. The Dow just broke 20,000. After crossing and re-crossing the 10,000 barrier on numerous occasions, the (much-substituted) Dow finally has its “double”.

The NASDAQ just broke 6,000. Finally, more than 15 years after the bursting of the dot-com bubble, the NASDAQ can actually boast of a higher milestone under its belt – temporarily. There is nothing left to accomplish in U.S. equity markets before the raping-and-pillaging begins.

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