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Sunday, January 1, 2017

Crisis Watch As We Head Into 2017

As we head into 2017 I would highly recommend readers watch the debate below between Jim Rickards and Ann Pettitfor held in London recently. You can watch it below. Below I have some added comments about this debate/discussion and why it relates to our Crisis Watch here.




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My added comments: This debate/discussion is fascinating not because of the points of disagreement between Jim Rickards and Ann Pettitfor. Instead, it is the many key points on which they AGREE that we need to pay attention to in terms of our Crisis Watch.

In this debate we have two very intelligent and respected individuals who come from very different points of view on many issues. But in this debate, they clearly both agree that the present monetary and financial system is headed towards a major crisis at some point. Neither tries to predict timing but both clearly see a crisis coming. This is why we must continue to stay alert and watch as events unfold. 

There are simply too many very smart and highly respected sources who are concerned about the potential for a future major crisis to ignore it. They may not agree on how the world authorities should deal with a crisis or when it may happen, but they do see one coming eventually. Hopefully, it does not happen, but we are forced to keep a watch out for one and will do that here as best we can. Always keep in mind that it could happen very quickly and without much warning due to the systemic risks that do exist all the time.

We should add that in December, the BIS (Claudio Borio) said that markets seems to be handling things better right now, but investors should stay alert for sudden bursts of volatility. He added that we may get another "flash crash" event at some point, but that he did not expect that to impact the stability of the system in general.

Added note: Jim Rickards goes on record in this article with a prediction that we will see the kind of major crisis he predicts sometime during the Trump term of office and repeats his forecast in this newer article.

Major questions on the minds of many as we head into 2017 (see a few more here): Is Donald Trump setup to head into a situation where a crisis overwhelms him no matter what policies he tries to put in place? If it does happen, would he accept a solution initiated from the IMF where the SDR replaced the US dollar as the global reserve currency? Perhaps two of the most important questions we face going forward that were not discussed in any way during the US election campaign. At this point, I have no idea as to the answer to either question. Trump seems to listen to input from a variety of sources so who knows for sure which view will prevail during a time of major financial crisis?

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