from FinancialSurvivalNet
Charles Hugh Smith is a published author who also has the blog, “Of Two Minds“. He has studied economic cycles and his prognosis for the country is not positive. But, he has developed a number of steps that you can take to avoid much of the brunt of the coming economic calamity. His Unconventional Guide to Investing in Troubled Times is a must for those struggling to make it through these trying times. You need to be hopeful and optimistic in your own personal affairs regardless how bad things appear to be.
Charles has new insights into starting a business and how to make it succeed. He’s done it himself, unlike many others, so he has credibility that few others possess. His concept of Social Capital and how to use it to build your global internet presence is very poignant and relevant, especially to the Financial Survival Network. We’ve been doing it for a year now, and it has proven highly effective and valuable.
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“Ranting” Andy Hoffman of 
Some call it a global depression, but Bob Hoye of 
The renowned Dr. Doom also known as Dr. Marc Faber joined FSN today to discuss his latest commentary that it might just be time to start looking at real estate investments in severely distressed markets such as Florida and Arizona. Dr. Faber explained his outlook for the Western Economies, his forecasts for Gold and Silver, and his take on “printing press” economics.
Ty Andros and I wrap-up the week and discuss the serious situation in Europe, especially Spain. A former partner of mine who worked for a large telecom company always used to state, “The situation is hopeless, but never serious.” But for Europe and the US it often appears hopeless and extremely serious. But, perhaps the “geniuses” that reside at the Fed and the European Central Bank will find a way out. That hasn’t happened yet, and we’re extremely skeptical that it will happen now, which means, it’s inflate or die.
Max Yemets was back on talking more about hyper-inflation and how debts get destroyed. He told the story of how his father took out a loan to purchase a bicycle back in post-Soviet controlled Ukraine. It was a large loan by their standards; but when hyper-inflation hit, his father was able to repay the loan for virtually nothing. There’s something instructive about this scenario, and history could very well repeat itself. Imagine having a large mortgage that you get to pay back in greatly depreciated dollars.
Ed Steer, publisher of the 
Danielle Park, the extremely talented host of 
Dr. Marc Faber (
“Ranting” Andy Hoffman of 
Bill Murphy has been fighting the good battle for 13 years. His organization 
Chris Duane has just finished a new video about silver confiscation and why it’s not going to happen. Many people are concerned about the ever-expanding government. We fear that eventually our silver will be confiscated, just like gold was in the 1930’s. This is a highly unlikely occurrence, as there are too many large, attractive confiscation candidates, such as: COMEX, GLD, SLV and the other major dealers. Going house-to-house to seize physical holdings of precious metals is just not practical and could lead to violent backlashes.
Ellen Brown has been studying the government debt problem for years and believes she has a solution. Rather than governments borrowing money from banks and outsiders, they should be borrowing directly from central banks. Thus any interest owed would be paid back to the government, eliminating a large portion of the resulting debt burden. Combine this with borrowing only for projects that will generate sufficient revenues to self-liquidate the loans and you have a prescription for responsible government finance. Canada did this successfully until the 1970’s, when the Bank for International Settlements stepped in and helped end the practice.
Bix Weir of 
Andrew Horowitz of 
Ron Hera of 
Chris and I discussed many alarming events happening around the globe. Like Britney Spears’ sale of her house in California so she could move in with her fiance. Then there was Nicki Minaj’s wardrobe malfunction on American Idol and her beef with JLo. Forget the dollar losing its reserve status or constant and continual manipulation of the gold and silver markets. There are so many other negative events which are occurring just beneath the surface. It is often said that markets determine the headlines, rather than the headlines determining the markets. Or perhaps we are just seeing the pre-holiday calm before what promises to be the mother of all economic storms. Either way, April has always been a consequential month, with both the Revolutionary War and the Civl War starting in the fourth month of the year.