The Shape of Things

By Jagabandhu das

What’s Dead? (Short Answer: All Of It)

By Karl Denninger

Just so you have a short list of what’s at stake, if Washington DC doesn’t change policy here and now (which means before the collapse in equities comes, which could start as soon as today, if the indicators I watch have any validity at all. For what it’s worth, those indicators are painting a picture of the Apocalypse that I simply can’t believe, and they’re showing it as an imminent event – like perhaps today imminent.

* All pension funds, private and public, are done. If you are receiving one, you won’t be. If you think you will in the future, you won’t be. PBGC will fail as well. Pension funds will be forced to start eating their “seed corn” within the next 12 months and once that begins, there is no way to recover.

* All annuities will be defaulted to the state insurance protection (if any) on them. The state insurance funds will be bankrupted and unable to be replenished. Essentially, all annuities are toast. Expect zero, be ecstatic if you do better. All insurance companies with material exposure to these obligations will go bankrupt, without exception. Some of these firms are dangerously close to this happening right here and now; the rest will die within the next 6-12 months. If you have other insured interests with these firms, be prepared to pay a LOT more with a new company that can’t earn anything off investments, and if you have a claim in process at the time it happens, it won’t get paid. The probability of you getting “boned” on any transaction with an insurance company is extremely high – I rate this risk in excess of 90%.

* The FDIC will be unable to cover bank failure obligations. They will attempt to do more of what they’re doing now (raising insurance rates and doing special assessments) but will fail; the current path has no chance of success. Congress will backstop them (because they must, lest shotguns come out) with disastrous results. In short, FDIC backstops will take precedence even over Social Security and Medicare.

* Government debt costs will ramp. This warning has already been issued and is being ignored by President Obama. When (not if) it happens, debt-based Federal Funding will disappear. This leads to….

* Tax receipts are cratering and will continue to. I expect total tax receipts to fall to under $1 trillion within the next 12 months. Combined with the impossibility of continued debt issue (rollover will only remain possible at the short duration Treasury has committed to over the last ten years if they cease new issue) a 66% cut in the Federal Budget will become necessary. This will require a complete repudiation of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, a 50% cut in the military budget and a 50% across-the-board cut in all other federal programs. That will likely get close.

* Tax-deferred accounts will be seized to fund rollovers of Treasury debt at essentially zero coupon (interest). If you have a 401k, or what’s left of it, or an IRA, consider it locked up in Treasuries; it’s not yours any more. Count on this happening – it is essentially a certainty.

* Any firm with debt outstanding is currently presumed dead as the street presumption is that they have lied in some way. Expect at least 20% of the S&P 500 to fail within 12 months as a consequence of the complete and total lockup of all credit markets which The Fed will be unable to unlock or backstop. This will in turn lead to….

* The unemployed will have 5-10 million in direct layoffs added within the next 12 months. Collateral damage (suppliers, customers, etc) will add at least another 5-10 million workers to that, perhaps double that many. U-3 (official unemployment rate) will go beyond 15%, U-6 (broad form) will reach 30%.

* Civil unrest will break out before the end of the year. The Military and Guard will be called up to try to stop it. They won’t be able to. Big cities are at risk of becoming a free-fire death zone. If you live in one, figure out how you can get out and live somewhere else if you detect signs that yours is starting to go “feral”; witness New Orleans after Katrina for how fast, and how bad, it can get.

The good news is that this process will clear The Bezzle out of the system.

The bad news is that you won’t have a job, pension, annuity, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and, quite possibly, your life.

It really is that bleak folks, and it all goes back to Washington DC being unwilling to lock up the crooks, putting the market in the role it has always played – that of truth-finder, no matter how destructive that process is.

Only immediate action from Washington DC, taking the market’s place, can stop this, and as I get ready to hit “send” I see the market rolling over again, now down more than 3% and flashing “crash imminent” warnings. You may be reading this too late for it to matter.
(Karl Denninger March 5th 2009)

I really liked the Karl Denninger’s (available at The Market Ticker, and on his Market Ticker Forums.) excellent short version about what’s dead! Reality check! I could already feel this in the air, but without being able to quantify specific details. I just “knew” it was bad. In spite of the false “recovery” propaganda being spewed at the naive, unassuming public. And it’s way past anything even the most devious human despot could possibly orchestrate. Or reverse. It’s Lord Vishnu (the maintainer) and His servants like Laksmi, Shiva, Durga, Ganesh and Yamaraj that are doing this as the Laws of Nature re-assert themselves to re-create natural balance on the Earth.

After sensing the real shape of things by reading between the lines in the regular media and reading articles like “What’s Dead” it’s made it a little scary to watch the myth of “recovery” being spun by our politicians through the media. Because most people seem to still believe it. In spite of all evidence to the contrary. When I go out in the world now I feel like I’m in the middle of a horror movie filled with thoughtless, zombies like “Night of the Living Dead.” Still consuming like there’s no tomorrow as they drive around in their enormous SUVs and F-250s. The continued official denial about how severe things really are (along with how bad they’re really going to get) only means many more will be ill-prepared to face the unavoidable harsh reality that we must now all face.
Just as it’s helpful to consider Krishna consciousness from all angles of vision, similarly different viewpoints about a particularly dicey situation can facilitate a more comprehensive understanding. Patients are often known to consult with more than one surgeons before undergoing a serious operation. But things look pretty severe at this point. No matter which system of reckoning you might prefer.

Yesterday, my good friend Rohin-suta das (ACBSP) of Krishna Disaster Relief (KDR) from Texas sent me an very interesting link http://www.heyokamagazine.com/heyoka_magazine.27.russellmeans.htm
for a deeply moving video of Native American leader Russell Means giving his own interesting viewpoint about our current state. His beliefs are so like my own about liberty being the Great Spirit’s greatest gift to all souls (which I learned from Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur). Sometimes I feel very tribal/primal in the sense that I feel my life is spent “dancing” with the nature spirits that always surround me everywhere. And trying to learn and flow in harmony with Nature’s laws. Sorry I’m such a poor learner.

A few days ago, my good friend Uttamasloka das (ACBSP) sent my a very intellectual presentation (made me feel like the dummy I really am) of what’s really going on in the present worldwide economic collapse by a man named Chris Martenson at http://www.chrismartenson.com/crashcourse/chapter-1-three-beliefs.
Because Mr. Martenson’s website was down temporarily because of technical difficulties I googled him and found this link to an interview he gave a Mendicino, CA/USA radio station last fall at http:globalpublicmedia.com/transcripts/3359.

Heady stuff about what real money is and banking policies w/derivatives and ‘credit.’ No such thing as ‘sustainable growth’ along with possibly having already reached ‘peak oil” in terms of production/consumption. In the google links I see he also deals w/the environment (i.e. “energy”) and entropy (the uneven distribution of dynamic resources in comparison to potential inertia) in addition to his economic ideas (Energy, Environment and Economy). His “crashcourse” video presentation goes into the necessary details to provide a solid basis for his findings.

Mr. Martenson also mentions that things will probably get weird as the credit-based economy “hopefully” evolves back towards a cash based economy with a “bank holiday” happening in the foreseeable future. He recommended incurring no new debt and taking three months living expenses out of the bank. The government continues to bail out slick high dollar graftsmen (i.e. bankers, stockbrokers, insurance companies, etc.) who have already ‘legally” swindled the consumers worldwide out of untold millions. Lawyers and loan sharks have laid America to waste. Yet the taxpayers will be expected to carry the debt expense for decades afterwards. Meanwhile most of the naive public (especially Americans) are completely unaware of what real unavoidable calamity we must all now face as they blindly believe that our new fearless leader will somehow be able to save them with “stimulus” rhetoric. Won’t they be surprised when he can’t even save himself, what to speak of the America we once knew! It’s gonna get real ugly. I understand wanting to contain and avoid widespread panic (or a stampede to the banks). But in my opinion, the deceit of false hope is much worse when the brutality of reality finally asserts itself.

All of this high finance stuff is actually way beyond me (and possibly way past our “genius” politicians as well). Suddenly I feel like I’m in the middle of a disaster movie with a huge tsunami/hurricane about to hit the shore causing unforeseen, untold widespread collateral damage and inconceivable suffering. Fortunately, we don’t live right on the “coast.” In a manner of speakin.’ And I feel that what I need to do most of all is pray/chant like Jesus did in the garden. As never before.

The present global turmoil is indeed much worse than most anticipate and nations will fall in collapse as history is quickly re-written before our eyes, never to be the same ever again. Radical re-structuring of entire economic systems and forms of government will be necessary in order for “civilization” to be prevented from falling into the total chaos of another dark age not unlike the Middle Ages. Expensive/inefficient government bureaucracies fraught with corruption and redundancy will have to go in order survive the new lean mean scheme of things. Along with antiquated systems of formal education that are largely merely superfluous holdovers from the industrialization of the world a hundred years ago. The economic stimulus bill isn’t the only place full of ‘pork.’ And if we’re going to survive this, all the fat (pork) will have to go as we face the growing crisis with all the real resources (and resourcefulness) at our disposal. But our politicians do nothing but continue to feed people false hope for “renewal” and/or “recovery.” As if the previous status quo was ever truly sustainable. And many (if not most) jobs lost will not be replaced. At least not in the same way. As the Earth purges itself of centuries of greed, deceit and chicanery—much falseness will be forced to expire, unfortunately along with a good many of our present human population who are very likely to die of mass starvations (even in America).

It appears the Lord’s Nature wishes to cause a purge of collective evils in order to end a spiritually degenerative time of lapsing religiousness. He promises to descend whenever there is a rise in irreligion. Has this not happened (“I am Death”-Sri Krishna)? This is a necessary prelude to the Golden Age of Mahaprabhu’s Love which is to immediately follow. But it’s only superficially ominous. It’s actually the Divine Will asserting Itself to purge the Earth of artifice and falsity to make room for genuineness in all things harmoniously balanced for mutual benefit. This will cause there to be tremendous opportunity for prasadam distribution and Hari Nam Sankirtan unlike ever before. Which will be very wonderful! Finally! At long last!

While continuing to hear all the ongoing bad news about the total collapse of our economic system, I am inspired to think of Srila Saraswati Thakur’s bold declaration that there is no scarcity of anything in this world but Hari-katha or Krishna Consciousness. With Krishna Consciousness comes the penetrating awareness that what we really have here is a resource management problem. In a God-centered society all resources are considered God’s property to be responsibly distributed with fair consideration of all inhabitants under the beneficent guidance of good leadership. It’s because of rampant greed and exploitation that this historic economic imbalance has occurred resulting in disparity for many (if not most) of the world’s citizens. Proper God conscious/God-centered husbandry of finite resources as demonstrated by Daivi-varnashram is the real solution.

Please discuss all these things with all your friends, family and associates. We all need all the help we get. The fact is that there is no longer time to argue philosophical differences between diverse faiths (we can kill each other later;-). Now we all really need to set aside our personal differences and pull together for the sake of Love. With God’s Mercy as the central theme. Even though I’m not much of one myself, I plan to start talking with all diverse types of “church people” regardless of variation of formal religiosity. After all, are we not all children of the same Supreme Father, Who exists as the fundamental sustaining principle at the heart of all things? And we need a really big team for our humble Relief efforts on God’s behalf. It’s practically already too late to do anything but try our best with all our brave hearts—without attachment to fruition. Immediately dispel any lingering personal illusions about the myth of control caused by false ego. And realize Who the Supreme Controller really is, after all. May He kindly help us all, please help each other!

Humbly with affection,

Jagabandhu das
Fort White, Florida/USA