7 Real & Present Dangers Facing the United States
Written by Jimmie Burroughs
Americans have always been confident that nothing could happen to the United States. After all, the United States is the greatest super power in the world. The United States has always been able to protect freedom and preserve social and political stability, guided by a genius constitution with all the checks and balances necessary to guarantee freedom, justice, and liberty for all. No doubt, the United States is an exceptionally great nation. Nevertheless, it is not exempt from all dangers.
In the past, because of over confidence, it has been easy to ignore warnings that might otherwise be worth our attention. As early as the 1980s, Paul Kennedy, a Yale scholar, warned that America was on track to succumb to the same fate as ancient Rome [1]. His warning was scary at the time, but it carries a bit more weight today when you consider the dangerous world of 2020 and the obvious moral regression of the United States for the past several decades. There are many dangers, but there are some that are alarming that could produce the perfect storm.
It isn’t necessary to invent scenarios for what the dangers might be; the precursors for danger is already in place. Here are 6 Real & Present Dangers Facing the United States right now:
1. Danger of financial collapse: In 2018, an analysis by the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget reported: “Recent tax and spending legislation, passed by Congress under President Donald Trump, was on track to push the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio to highs not seen since immediately after World War II. If the temporary spending increases and tax cuts are made permanent, the national debt would reach $33 trillion, or 113 percent of GDP, by 2028, and could be twice the size of the U.S. economy in about 25 years” [2]. The United States has a $26 trillion national debt. From August 2011, the national debt has gone from 14.7 trillion to 26 trillion in 2020 [3]. When you put the math to it, the United States total income, in recent years, falls near a trillion dollars a year short of funding the national budget. Because of Covid-19, that amount is even higher in 2020. Even more alarming, the unfunded liability now stands at $122 trillion (growing exponentially by the second). Unfunded liabilities include Medicare (leading the list at nearly 80 trillion dollars), Medicaid, Social Security, student loans, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA [4].
In order to keep the present lifestyle of America afloat, the Federal Government must continue to borrow upward of a trillion dollars a year. Obviously, we are living beyond our means, which is unsustainable for the long haul. According to the law of exponential growth, without drastic changes, which seems unlikely with the present conclave in Washington, financial collapse is unavoidable and could happen in the not too far away future.
America faces a financial dilemma because of years of bad leadership, mismanagement, and shortsightedness in Washington D.C. At this point, the Feds are locked into a seemingly hopeless predicament. With Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Military occupying two thirds of the budget, what do you cut first? Can you cut out Social Security, or drastically reduce it, and leave millions of retirees homeless and starving, or do you cut Medicare and Medicaid and let the old die, or maybe cut the military and grow weak and defenseless.
2. Danger of the loss of the dollar as the world currency: The loss of the dollar as the world currency could cause the collapse of the US currency. Contrary to what some may think, the real threat to America goes beyond the terrorists, which is the primary focus of Washington and the military these days. The loss of the dollar status as the world reserve currency is the greatest threat because it could render America powerless to defeat not only terrorists but defend against any military enemy. In his book “Currency Wars,” James Rickards (financial lawyer and consultant for the U.S. government) wrote:“If the currency collapses, everything else goes with it… stocks, bonds, commodities, derivatives and other investments are all priced in a nation’s currency. If you destroy the currency, you destroy all markets and the nation.”
It is scary when you consider that country after country is already rapidly moving away from the dollar, countries like China, Russia, and Japan. Compounding the issue is that America has gone from being one of the most loved countries, after World War II, to one of the most hated; so there will be no allegiance to restrain countries from dropping the dollar.
How can we estimate the impact of the loss of the dollar as the world currency? The British Empire experienced the impact when the dollar replaced the pound as the global reserve currency, post-World War II, which reduced Great Britton to a sub-world power and elevated the United States to a super power. No one knows for sure what the total impact on America would be. Obviously, it would be severe.
Why does it make any difference whether the dollar is the world reserve currency or not? Michael Payne, in a recent article, outlines the difference it would make and some of the potential effects: “The demise of the dollar will also bring radical changes to the American lifestyle. When this economic tsunami hits America, it will make the 2008 recession and its aftermath look like no more than a slight bump in the road. It will bring very undesirable changes to the American lifestyle through massive inflation, high interest rates on mortgages and cars, and substantial increases in the cost of food, clothing and gasoline; it will have a detrimental effect on every aspect of our lives.” [5]
Venezuela experienced runaway inflation a few years ago; at that time, before they devalued their currency, a McDonald’s Big Mac cost $16.27[7]. Devaluating currency has its bad effects also. How would you feel if you awakened some morning and learned you were half as rich as you were twenty-four hours earlier; that, and even more, is what devaluation of currency could do to your finances. Devaluation is one of the first steps governments, in the past, have taken when their currency is in danger of collapsing.
Some believe the dollar will remain because there is no other alternative, but they are wrong. There is already a ten-year documented plan in progress to replace the dollar as the global reserve currency. The IMF (International Monetary Fund) reported that “The Dollar Reigns Supreme by Default.” Way back in 2011, they issued a report on a possible replacement for the dollar as the world’s reserve currency[6]. The IMF is a likely candidate for a new world currency (they are not the only contender), because they have a clean balance sheet, liquidity, and are far less leveraged than the U.S. and other countries. Presently, they are best suited to provide the world’s financial needs. Far from being a nice group, they are unelected and unaccountable kings, dictators, and communists, probably with a few terrorists to boot. So, what will the new currency be called? Calling the new currency “world Money” might be too edgy, but that is what it would be. That could be a precursor to a one-world government, which is a feature of the end-time.
What meaningful steps can you take to protect yourselves against the unstable dollar, massive federal debt, and the irresponsibility of the politicians? Here are some practical suggestions (Keep in mind, they are only suggestions. You are responsible for the decisions you make):
- Look to yourself instead of the Federal Government to protect your wealth and general well-being.
- Invest in tangible things such as precious metals.
- Have a reasonable store of food and water on hand. Extra can-goods are fine but they must be rotated since they have a relative short shelf life. Freeze-dried and dehydrated food has up to fifteen-year shelf life and is an excellent choice for emergency food. Moderation is always important. I feel safe with a few months’ supply.
- Be careful of which stocks you own. Some stocks continue to grow even in a downturn where others tend to bottom out.
- Choose your bank carefully. Some banks are far more likely to fail than others. Some smaller local banks are much safer than the “too-big-to-fail banks.”
- Have a reasonable supply of every day necessities on hand: Paper towels, toilet tissue, tooth paste, soap, etc.
- Have an extra month or two supply of prescription medication.
- Have a well-stocked first aid kit, flashlight and batteries, and a battery-operated radio.
- Avoid bank lockboxes for storing back-up money or precious metals, since they are accessible to the Federal Government and would be inaccessible to you if the bank closed.
- Avoid living in large cities, if possible, where anarchy and violence are far more likely during a time of emergency.
- Have a simple water purification system, which is available on the Internet but would quickly sell out during a time of emergency.
- Pay your debts off as soon as possible, and save money for emergencies, enough to tide you through a downturn, like the one in 2008.
3. Danger of the collapse of the stock market: Has the stock market reached a super-critical stage? Unfortunately, the answer to that question is yes. The value of the stock market is supposed to equal the economy, or the GDP. When stocks outgrow their value, it creates a bubble much like the housing bubble of 2007. A bubble can only stand so much inflation until it burst. Before Covid-19, the stock market was way over valued, and highly inflated; even now it is still holding its own. The difference in the ratio between the economy, or the GDP, and the stock market, in ordinary times, is greater today than it was before the last recession and even greater than before the Great Depression. Before the Great Depression, the ratio stood at 87%; today, it stands at 203%. (This before Covid-19) [8]. Even worse than that, the global derivatives are ten times greater than the global GDP.
What are derivatives? “In finance, a derivative is a contract that derives its value from the performance of an underlying entity. This underlying entity can be an asset, index, or interest rate, and is often called the ‘underlying’” [9]. More commonly, they include forwards, futures, options, and swaps. Unlike stocks, they do not represent investments in anything. Even though derivatives are incredibly complex and hard to understand, a simplistic way of explaining them is that they are wagers or guesses on what may happen in the future, somewhat like betting on the outcome of the Super Bowl. In other words, they are a big gamble. Big gambles can either be lost or won. Why would big banks take such a risk, considering that five of the largest banks hold 40 trillion dollars in derivatives? The short answer is greed. Derivatives can pay off big. The problem is that the total holdings in derivatives are ten times larger than the total global GDP. As is the stock market, they are overvalued. Like the present stock market bubble, the derivatives bubble will eventually burst (and as sure as the sun is bright, it will happen). When it does, the impact on the global economy will be beyond description. The domino effect of the collapse of the stock market will result in the collapse of the overvalued global derivatives, and the depression will extend worldwide. The loss of wealth could be twice that of the recent recession because there is much more wealth involved.
We need banks. It certainly would be dangerous to keep our money at home, but is your money safe in a bank? Doesn’t the Federal Government insure deposits? Yes, the Federal Government insures deposits through the FDIC for up to $250,000 in most institutions. The problem is the FDIC currently has far more insured deposits than money in its fund to back up those deposits. It has about $41 billion in reserve against $6 trillion in insured deposits. That would be adequate in moderate bank failures, but what if there were massive bank failures? In that case, we would be in danger of losing our deposits.
4. Danger of a long-term depression: Events often have markers before they happen. For example, you know a storm is intimate when you observe certain markers like a darkening sky, distant thunder, lightning, and wind. Depressions have markers also. Some of the same markers are present today that preceded the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Great Depression lasted from 1929 until 1940 and brought hardships on Americans that scarcely register on the minds of the present generation. According to some of today’s economists, including Jim Rickard, who outlines it in his bestselling book “The death of the dollar,” the coming depression could last 25 years. You may find that hard to believe, but if you know your history, you know that there was a 30-year depression from 1870 to 1900.
America is past the marker stage. The fact is that depression has already begun. In the thirties, they had soup kitchen to feed the hungry. Today 20% of American households are on food stamps or 47.7 million people [10]. In 1933, unemployment peaked at 24.9%. Today the unemployment rate is actually more than what is reported according to the true calculation, which the Feds do not use. The present unemployment is not counted because it is powered by the shut-down caused of Covid-19, but there is a question on whether it will recover, or if it does, how long will it take; it could take years.
When the economy grows, so does employment; when the economy decreases, so does employment, which results in recession. Presently, we have no way of knowing the outcome of the economy because of the pandemic, but we do know that we are presently in a recession. How long will it last? No one knows. The primary way the economy grows is when people spend money, which is hard to predict at the present. The year ahead could be a dismal year as far as private spending, because there will need be a catch-up time on debts, which were incurred or deferred. Part of the future economy problem may be that people do not have as much money to spend as they did in the past. Even before the pandemic, according to a survey by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, or NFCC, “A majority, or 64%, of Americans did have enough cash on hand to handle a $1,000 emergency expense” [11]. The reason given was many spent their savings in order to remain solvent during the last recession. That may also be the case now. The rate in which people spend money is called the velocity of money. Today, before the pandemic, the velocity of money was lower than it was before the Great Depression of 1929.
The Trump administration, before the pandemic, said that the economy was at a historical high. Do you agree when about 75% of Americans have no saving and are living paycheck to paycheck? Those receiving food stamps has doubled over the years. It is estimated that half of the children born today will be on food stamps sometime during their lifetime. Every month around 49% of Americans are now receiving some sort of assistance from some government program.
Another prevalent marker is The Misery Index, which is the combination of the Real Inflation Rate plus the Real Unemployment Rate. If you compare today’s Misery Index to the Great Depression, it is higher; of course, some of that is due to Covid-19. The Misery Index during the Great Depression was 27; today it is 32.89.
Depression creates a domino effect, which is amplified by the pandemic: People quit spending money; businesses do not have enough income to survive and pay bills and loans; as a result, banks fail. Today banks have an estimated 60 trillion dollars-worth of debt on their balance sheets. Banks fail when people and businesses cannot repay loans. If you remember, this happened in 2008, and the Feds had to bail the banks out. What happens if the Feds are no longer able to come to the aid of the banks? The Federal Reserve is at the point of insolvency. The only way the Feds keep their head above the water presently is by printing a trillion new dollars each year, which, actually, is as bogus as counterfeit money. Some believe that the American banking system is on the verge of imploding.
5. Danger of world war III: The next Great War, World War III, will be fought on three fronts, financial, cyber, and militarily. The financial war has already begun. Months before Russia invaded Crimea, Putin was dumping American treasuries to offset the Sanctions he knew America would impose. China has joined Russia in dumping American treasuries. If they can dampen the American economy, it will give them far more advantage in a future military confrontation.
The first major act of the cyber war took place in recent history when North Korea hacked Sony Pictures, which cost Sony 15 million dollars. Cyber-attack is even a greater threat than terrorism, according James Clapper, former Director of National Intelligence [12]. Past Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, warned of a cyber Pearl Harbor[13]. A cyber war would affect each of us since the cyber world is connected to nearly every facet of life from health to finances.
A Third World War, involving the military, is already seeded in the Ukraine by arming the right-wing regime in the Ukraine with billions of dollars in advanced weaponry. This seems like a good move to counter Russian aggression, but is it worth the danger of sparking a direct conflict between The United States and Russia that could lead to a Third World War? The direct confrontation between two nuclear-armed powers is a scary situation. The question in the minds of many is, could the present conflict in the Ukraine lead to a nuclear war? According to Mikhail Gorbachev, the former president of the Soviet Union, it could. Some time ago he said, a European war over Ukraine would “inevitably lead to a nuclear war.” The present confrontations with China could also lead to a military showdown.
6. Danger of Socialism: It will be the millennials who will elect presidents in the future. According to national polls, they lean heavily toward socialism. It is hard to understand how anyone could possibly think socialism is best for this county, considering it has failed everywhere it’s been tried. For the first time in the history of this country, Bernie Sanders, avowed socialists, came very close to becoming the democratic nominee as candidate for president.
The prospect for universal health care and free education is very appealing to the young people of this nation. Apparently, they don’t realize the financial burden it would place on this country and the trillions of dollars it would cost tax payers. Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y), has already suggested raising the tax level to 70% to pay for addition free programs. She along with members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) support government ownership of companies deemed essential such as, railroads, coal mines, social media, and other things not mentioned. The DSA’s goal, as stated by a member of the steering committee, “is the democratization of all areas of life, including but not limited to the economy.”
Young people need to wake up and realize, according to Milton Friedman’s famous axiom: “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” Who among the young wants to give up their private property? “The abolition of private property is the first dictum of socialism.” Consider the things required: Socialism leads to communism, which requires giving up free press, denial of free speech, and the right to assemble, with everything under the control of a dictator. People are thrown in prison or even executed over minor infringements. Communism is a world that millennials would choose, if they chose socialism, a world without freedom, without choice, without basic human rights.
It is our responsibility to inform the young, who will still listen, to the dangers of socialism. It is a pseudo philosophy which would nullify the 14th Amendment, which “disallows the government from infringing on the right (s) to pursue ‘Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness’ with regard to any and all citizens of the United States of America – this statute is applicable to all measures of gender, race, religion, and age.”
7. Danger of US protests becoming Antifa-led insurrection: What began as a peaceful protest, following the death of George Floyd, took on a sinister nature. Within a matter of hours, highly coordinated riots took place all across the US, which multiplied rapidly. Over just one weekend there were more than 250 protests and vigils.
The protests were quickly infiltrated by Antifa agents clad in black, inciting violence against law enforcement officers, instigating looting, property destruction, targeting domestic security forces, burning building, police stations and police vehicles. Their obvious objective was to weaken law and order. By destroying critical infrastructures such as banks, pharmacies and grocery stores during the Covid-19 pandemic, they created chaos among the general population.
Apparently, Antifa is trying to destabilize the US by hijacking protests and inciting a race war. According to an internal document, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security has classified Antifa as “domestic terrorists.” Also, FBI surveillance revealed that some college students in Antifa had ties with ISIS and Al Qaeda. They have access to bombs and chemical weapons, and are trained in tactics for “possible massive disruptive attacks in the U.S.”
The name antifa means “anti-fascist” a loanword from German (We don’t want fascistic government either since it is dominant and socialistic, which some Democrats are leaning toward). The real danger is when a militant, organized group of this nature is able to take over a legitimate civil rights protest and turn it into an illegitimate race war. Instead of helping the black cause for equal rights, it has undermined it and desecrated the memory of George Floyd.
One of the tactics of antifa is to agitate black protesters by inciting them into violence and destruction, therefore setting them up to commit violence and then being criminalized by law enforcement. In recent protest, they passed out bricks for black to throw at windows.
President Trump has been criticized for efforts to put down the lawlessness, and violence, and threatening the use of military force. He has a right to do so. The Insurrection Act became law in 1807 and gives the president authority to deploy military troops within US territory to suppress civil disorder, insurrection, and rebellion. President Bush invoked it during the 1992 LA riots to restore order.
There is another element that may be connected to the protests. According FBI Director, Christopher Asher Wray, who said in an interview with Fox News, “The agency is ‘looking carefully’ into the possibility of foreign influence or interference in the protests. We have certainly seen in the past a variety of foreign adversaries looking to amplify controversy in this country and they use state media, they use social media, some of that is through propaganda, some of that is through disinformation, some that is through just fake information.”
Conclusion: The road ahead for the United States is bound to be stormy. There doesn’t seem to be any redemption for it. However, there is redemption for those who trust in God: “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world,” I John 4:4. God is still in control of His creation, and He alone is in control of the outcome. That does not mean that believers will experience no effects of the coming storm. What it does mean is that regardless of what happens, we are in the protective safety of God’s hands. “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell,” Matthew 10:28. To learn how to claim your redemption from the coming storm: Click Here
Disclaimer: A great deal of effort was made to include the most accurate information in this article at the time of its writing. However, there is no guarantee that it is 100% without error. This article is intended for information only and not as a guide for anyone to go by. It is the reader’s responsibility to weigh the information and to determine if it is applicable to their life. No one can accurately predict the future; we can only observe the present signs and consider how past events came to pass and then determine what could happen. It is my hope and prayer that none of these things will ultimately cause the fall of this nation. However, whether they do or not does not keep me for planning and being prepared. The best way I know to be prepared is by trusting in and depending on God who is in control and knows the outcome.
© 2020 www.Jimmie Burroughs.com All rights reserved.
Endnotes & Credits
[1] Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
[3] http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/11/news/economy/debt-ceiling-reset/index.html
[5] http://www.opednews.com/articles/2/The-Beginning-of-the-End-f-by-michael-payne-120204-694.html
[8] http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/10/markets/dollar/index.htm
[9] http://www.gurufocus.com/stock-market-valuations.php
[10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_%28finance%29
[11] http://www.newsmax.com/US/food-stamps-snap-record-recipients/2014/01/22/id/548419/
[13] http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/12/3492724/leon-pannetta-cyber-pearl-harbor
About the author: Jimmie Burroughs is a motivational speaker and author who has been involved in teaching Christian Personal Development for more than 30 years. He is a dedicated believer in Jesus Christ and considers helping others his calling in life. His websites contain hundreds of articles on preparing yourself for success through Christian personal development and the things that accompany personal development.