Posts Tagged ‘economic-collapse’

Sovereign Country S&P Rating and equivalent FICO Credit Score

Here is a speculative comparison of the common credit score of the individual person (FICO) and the S&P rated countries (sovereigns) of the world.

As one can see, the United States, with it’s ‘world-reserve-currency’ is now below 19 other Sovereigns in credit security.

Used Standard and Poors data, and Wikipedia credit rating for help with the chart and a portion of the countries’ rating.

Prime
Extremely strong capacity to meet financial commitments

AAA (800+) Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Isle of Man, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, Sweden, United Kingdom
——————————————————————————-
High grade
Very strong capacity to meet financial commitments

AA+ (750-799) Belgium, New Zealand, United States

AA Abu Dhab, Bermuda, Chile, Kuwait, Qatar, Slovenia, Spain

AA- China, Israel, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan
——————————————————————————
Upper medium grade
Strong capacity to meet financial commitments

A+ (700-749) Czech Republic, Italy, Korea, Slovak Republic

A Andorra, Botswana, Estonia, Malaysia, Malta, Oman, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago

A- Aruba, Mexico
——————————————————————————-
Lower medium grade
Adequate capacity to meet financial commitments

BBB+ (650-699) Bahamas, Brazil, Colombia, Cyprus, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Peru, Russia

BBB Bahrain, Lithuania, Morocco, Tunisia

BBB- Barbados, Croatia, Hungary, Iceland, India, Montserrat, Panama, Portugal, Romania,
——————————————————————————-
Non-investment grade speculative
Less vulnerable in the near-term but faces major ongoing uncertainties

BB+ (600-649) Azerbaijan, Costa Rica, Egypt, Guatemala, Indonesia, Jordan, Latvia, Macedonia, Philippines, Turkey, Uruguay

BB Montenegro, Serbi, Vietnam

BB- Angola, Bangladesh, Cook Islands, El Salvador, Gabonese Republic, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Ukraine, Venezuela
——————————————————————————-
Highly speculative
More vulnerable to adverse business, financial and economic conditions

B+ (550-599) Albania, Bolivia, Bosnia, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Dominican Republic, Georgia, Nigeria, Paraguay, Senegal, Uganda, Zambia

B Argentina, Benin, Fiji Islands, Ghana, Honduras, Lebanon

B- Belize, Jamaica, Pakistan
——————————————————————————–
Substantial risks
Currently vulnerable and dependent on favorable economic conditions

CCC+ (500-549) No Countries

CCC No Countries

CCC- No Countries
——————————————————————————–
Extremely speculative
Currently highly vulnerable

CC (499 or less) Hellenic Republic, Greece

——————————————————————————–
In default with little prospect for recovery
Currently highly vulnerable obligations

C No Countries
——————————————————————————–
In default
Payment default on financial commitments

D No Countries

Credit to: ‘Be informed’ for data collection

If you enjoyed this, or topics of survival preparedness or current events risk awareness,
check out our current homepage articles…

Could Germany Tip The First Domino?

‘The Telegraph’ is reporting an astounding statement from the chief of HSBC Bank, “We are heading towards fiscal union or break-up”. They go on to say that Europe’s leaders have finally run out of time. If they fail to agree on some form of debt pooling and shared fiscal destiny at Thursday’s emergency summit, they risk a full-fledged run on South Europe’s bond markets and a disorderly collapse of monetary union.

A statement from the central bank of Germany says it all, “nothing would destroy the incentives for a solid budget policy more quickly and more permanently than joint liability for national debts. European and especially German taxpayers would have to answer for the entire state debt of Greece. That would be a step toward a transfer union.”

Who could blame them? Why should they have to pay for the apparent irresponsible spending of another country, or countries, and assist in their bailout? What happened to sovereignty and sovereign responsibility of one’s own nation?

There is only so much support that a rational person or entity can provide for some other who has continued on their own irresponsible course of action. At some point you just have to say, no more.

The powers-that-be will continue to do whatever it takes to keep the EU stitched together, but it appears that the wheels may be about to come off the bus… so to speak.

There is a disastrous domino effect waiting in the wings, which could bring it all down over there. The thing is, it wouldn’t stop there. Imagine the losses of all banks and funds that are invested in various bonds that would be hard hit. This is not just a European problem, it is a world problem that could chain react badly.

The very fact that this is all integrated is the very reason that all the stops will be pulled to prevent a first domino from toppling over. However, the powers-that-be, may not be all powerful.

We are in precarious times for sure.

If you enjoyed this, or topics of survival preparedness or current events risk awareness,
check out our current homepage articles…

World’s Biggest Hedge Fund Founder Says…

…watch out for economic collapse during the end of 2012.

The exact words were, “There hasn’t been a case in history where they haven’t eventually printed money and devalued their currency,” “People concentrate on the particular thing of the moment, and they forget the larger underlying forces,” he said. “That’s what got us into the debt crisis. It’s just today, today.”

According to an interview between ‘The New Yorker’ and Ray Dalio of Bridgewater, Dalio believes that some heavily indebted countries, including the United States, will eventually opt for printing money as a way to deal with their debts, which will lead to a collapse in their currency and in their bond markets.

When asked by ‘The New Yorker’ when all this would start to come together. “I think late 2012 or early 2013 is going to be another very difficult period,” he said.

Reference: Mastering The Machine

So, when the world’s biggest hedge fund manager / founder says we’re in for collapse, as well as countless other experts who are pounding the drum and not being reported in the main stream media, I believe it’s time to make contingency plans to keep your head above water come a year from now.

With the 2012 elections in play, there is no doubt that the powers-that-be will do whatever it takes to keep things patched together as best they can until then, that is, print more money, whatever it takes. But all bets are off after that. Who’s to say though, things could come apart even sooner.

What can you do to protect yourself? Plan for inflation, more specifically, staglfation. A stagnant economy with inflation. A double-whammy. Your dollar will buy less and less as time goes on while things like commodities rise and rise – energy, gold, silver, food…

Buy supplies now rather than later. Don’t buy things that put you further in debt. Plan for some possible level of economic chaos, which could lead to some level of physical chaos if things get bad enough – probably geographically and socioeconomically dependent.

Hope for the best, but be ready to adapt. Treat the possibility of economic collapse the same as you would for buying homeowners insurance, car insurance, etc… except this really is a form of ‘life’ insurance.

If you enjoyed this, or topics of survival preparedness or current events risk awareness,
check out our current homepage articles…

Houston – We Have a Problem

Set the stage:

The ‘S’ has hit the fan. The dollar has collapsed and is now worth just 30% of what it could purchase just 6 months ago. The reasons for the collapse are not relevant any more. Most people don’t understand why it happened, and are now truly in dire straights. They are just trying to survive.

The DOW has dropped to 5,000 and gold is now $5,000 an ounce. Unemployment has soared to 35%, and those that are still working are sinking fast while food and energy prices skyrocket. Nearly all traditional investments have gone bust. Most people are in despair having lost what savings they had along with the value of their 401K retirement plans. The crash of 2008 is miniscule in comparison to what has just happened.

Many major cities have fallen into chaos. There aren’t enough police to hold back the rioting and roving gangs of desperate humans – many of whom were just ordinary blue collar working folks just 6 months ago. Now they are congregating in numbers in search of food, fuel, and supplies – just to stay alive and survive. Even some of those working in law enforcement within these large population centers are not showing up for work, being more concerned to secure their own families safety.

The government in a desperate attempt to thwart off the raging populace has begun rationing food supplies and are attempting to re-establish food supply distribution channels (most drivers have stopped hauling due to extraordinary fuel prices and the risk of being attacked for their haul). What supply chains remain into the city regions, are being attacked by organized groups and gangs, while the supplies themselves mostly do not make it to their destination.

You live within the urban sprawl of a major city region, and although not located within city limits, you are surrounded by many thousands of others who themselves are hurting badly while trying to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads.

Burglary is now blatant, even during the daytime. Groups of 5 or more will surge their way through an area or neighborhood and break through homes mostly without resistance, while residents fear for their lives and freely give up what supplies that they have.

As the various groups of thugs and gangs slice their way through the chaos and desperation, they organize and grow in numbers to larger and more sophisticated forces. The government has underestimated the threshold at which desperate people will do what they must to get what they need. It is out of control.

You are caught in an unimaginable horror. A horror not even conceivable in your mind just 6 months ago.

Does this sound like something that could only come from a novel? Do you think it is ridiculous to consider something like this actually occurring where you live?

Think again.

Yes, this is a doom-and-gloom scenario, purposely to make you think. It is human nature to be set in your ways and to assume that things will remain as they are now, at least within some reasonable variation, plus-or-minus…

While it is true that often times ‘things’ remain in a similar state (more or less), there are also times when abrupt change will occur after having reached a tipping point or threshold of some kind. If caught unaware or unprepared, these abrupt changes can hit you like a train.

Many people know in their gut that the economic situation within the US and some other countries of the world are teetering at their limits of debt service, having borrowed extraordinary sums to keep their systems going. Having read quite a lot of information from many different sources on this general topic during the past several years, and although I am not a financial or economic expert, I do know that despite what we hear from the mainstream, we are definitely at risk for some economic hardships beyond which we’ve ever experienced in our lives.

Things may not come to this, but then again, they may. Are you the type of person to stick your head in the sand? Or are you the type of person to take precautions and learn to adapt to an extreme situation.

This article offers no solutions, but instead is purposed with the hope of having you consider that things ‘could’ change, and change for the worse. The first step to recovery is admitting that there is a problem. And as heard from the crew of Apollo 13, ‘Houston, we have a problem…’

If you enjoyed this, or topics of preparedness or current events risk awareness, consider our survival blog RSS feed, new posts by E-mail, or bookmark us at Modern Survival Blog

55-Percent of U.S. say we’re in a Depression or Recession

According to a new Gallup pole, nearly the same percentage of Americans (29%) believe that we are currently in a depression as those that were polled shortly after the September crash of 2008 (33%).

A whopping 55% of all Americans believe that we are currently in a recession or a depression.

52% of upper-income Americans say the economy is in a recession or depression.
65% of of lower-income Americans say the economy is in a recession or depression.

Although economists announced that the recession ended in mid-2009, more than half of Americans still don’t agree.

Are the American people losing faith in the U.S. economy?

From the Economic Collapse Blog – Losing Faith in the U.S. Economy
According to official government figures, the U.S. economy is growing right now and virtually nobody in the mainstream media or the government has used the term “depression” to describe the economic downturn that we went through recently.

There is clear evidence that the American people are losing faith in U.S. government economic statistics and instead they are basing their opinions on what they see in their own communities.

Despite the pablum about an “economic recovery” constantly being spewed by Ben Bernanke and Barack Obama, faith in our economic system continues to decline. The truth is that the American people are not stupid. They can see what is happening to the economy.

GALLUP – More Than Half Say U.S. Is in Recession or Depression

If you enjoyed this, or topics of preparedness or current events risk awareness, consider our survival blog RSS feed, new posts by E-mail, or bookmark us at Modern Survival Blog