QE and low interest rates have not created the prosperity desired. A solution being considered is to create “negative interest rates.”

Hyperinflation occurs in the people of a country. It is their reaction to a fear of the government and its depreciating currency.

In the not-too-distant future, sociopolitical and economic conditions in the US will be changing dramatically, affecting tens of millions of Americans.

If we wish to know what is coming politically, socially, and economically in jurisdictions such as the EU and US, we might have a look at countries like Argentina and Venezuela, as they are in a similar state of near-collapse (for the very same reasons as the EU and US) but are a bit further along in the historical pattern. Such a bellwether was seen in Argentina recently.

We should examine smaller states and those that are emerging. Some, like Hong Kong, Andorra, and the Cayman Islands, are well-established. Others, like Venice, bear watching, for they may provide the future of free-market self-determination.

When a currency crashes, people turn to whatever is the next best thing, and they do it quickly, because they need to buy groceries and gasoline and pay the electric bill.

The very idea that the individual has a natural-born right to his privacy and basic freedoms flies in the face of the collectivist ideal.

Over time, both wealth in general and the control over it will move inexorably into the hands of the banks and the political leaders. As this unfolds, we shall see numerous trial balloons, such as this one by HSBC and others. (The Cyprus bail-in was a similar but more successful trial balloon.)

I believe we will almost certainly see both deflation and inflation.

The bank robbers of a century ago have been replaced by the robber banks. And their partners, the governments, have unquestionably rolled out the red carpet for them to steal your wealth with impunity.

If we recognize that the sword of Damocles is indeed hovering above our own heads, we would be unwise to continue to sit below it and ponder whether the horse hair may break.

It is left to the reader to decide whether he will fall victim to coming events, or will use them as an opportunity to internationalize himself.