Trend forecaster says food riots, tax rebellions by 2012

[cosmicalstorm]

Is this guy just doomsday-wanking or is he really on to something?

The man who predicted the 1987 stock market crash and the fall of the Soviet Union is now forecasting revolution in America, food riots and tax rebellions - all within four years, while cautioning that putting food on the table will be a more pressing concern than buying Christmas gifts by 2012.

Gerald Celente, the CEO of Trends Research Institute, is renowned for his accuracy in predicting fut More..ure world and economic events, which will send a chill down your spine considering what he told Fox News this week.

Celente says that by 2012 America will become an undeveloped nation, that there will be a revolution marked by food riots, squatter rebellions, tax revolts and job marches, and that holidays will be more about obtaining food, not gifts.

"We're going to see the end of the retail Christmas....we're going to see a fundamental shift take place....putting food on the table is going to be more important that putting gifts under the Christmas tree," said Celente, adding that the situation would be "worse than the great depression".

"America's going to go through a transition the likes of which no one is prepared for," said Celente, noting that people's refusal to acknowledge that America was even in a recession highlights how big a problem denial is in being ready for the true scale of the crisis.

Celente, who successfully predicted the 1997 Asian Currency Crisis, the subprime mortgage collapse and the massive devaluation of the U.S. dollar, told UPI in November last year that the following year would be known as "The Panic of 2008," adding that "giants (would) tumble to their deaths," which is exactly what we have witnessed with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and others. He also said that the dollar would eventually be devalued by as much as 90 per cent.

The consequence of what we have seen unfold this year would lead to a lowering in living standards, Celente predicted a year ago, which is also being borne out by plummeting retail sales figures.

The prospect of revolution was a concept echoed by a British Ministry of Defence report last year, which predicted that within 30 years, the growing gap between the super rich and the middle class, along with an urban underclass threatening social order would mean, "The world's middle classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own class interest," and that, "The middle classes could become a revolutionary class."

In a separate recent interview, Celente went further on the subject of revolution in America.

"There will be a revolution in this country," he said. "It’s not going to come yet, but it’s going to come down the line and we’re going to see a third party and this was the catalyst for it: the takeover of Washington, D. C., in broad daylight by Wall Street in this bloodless coup. And it will happen as conditions continue to worsen."

"The first thing to do is organize with tax revolts. That’s going to be the big one because people can’t afford to pay more school tax, property tax, any kind of tax. You’re going to start seeing those kinds of protests start to develop."

"It’s going to be very bleak. Very sad. And there is going to be a lot of homeless, the likes of which we have never seen before. Tent cities are already sprouting up around the country and we’re going to see many more."

"We’re going to start seeing huge areas of vacant real estate and squatters living in them as well. It’s going to be a picture the likes of which Americans are not going to be used to. It’s going to come as a shock and with it, there’s going to be a lot of crime. And the crime is going to be a lot worse than it was before because in the last 1929 Depression, people’s minds weren’t wrecked on all these modern drugs – over-the-counter drugs, or crystal meth or whatever it might be. So, you have a huge underclass of very desperate people with their minds chemically blown beyond anybody’s comprehension."

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1ad_1226630673

[Samuel]

We found Duchess day job! Wait- Duchess isn't that pessemistic.

For those who worry, remember- past performance is no guarentee of futue performance. It is probable he just got lucky recently.

As for take over and the like, that is assuming the government wouldn't respond and trends will continue. The current election has shown that to be false.

[Silver Jedi]

I'd really like to see his "predictions" that came true and, even more, his predictions that didn't. If you constantly say that things are going to be bad in the future, of course you're going to be right sometimes. I would bet that he's predicted doom and gloom every few years for the last few decades, and has just happened to be right the times that are mentioned; meanwhile, the years where nothing major has happened have gone by and he's slipped under the radar.

If he's really so good at predicting which years will be good and which will be bad, why hasn't he used this information to play the stock market? Why is he still, after two decades of predictions, not rolling in the dough? Any one of the things he supposedly predicted could have earned him enourmous returns if he put his money wher his mouth was. I'm going to call bullshit on this one.

[Admiral Valdemar]

I guess the MoD are also bullshit here, yes?

I'll address this more later, but I can easily see this happening in the UK for a variety of reasons.

[Ariphaos]

I'm trying to find substantiations for these predictions over other ones? Or that he made any stunningly non-obvious predictions at all.

I'll put Warren Buffet's predictions ahead of someone I've never heard of before now: America is going to have a very tough six months to four years, but we're not going to see the end of America.

[DaveJB]

This sounds like a worst-case scenario, albeit a fairly plausible one. Problem is though, he doesn't really give any justification for it - it reads like a massive appeal to his own authority, kind of like he came up with a horrible prediction for the future and he's saying "I successfully predicted X in the past, therefore it means this new prediction of mine will come true!"

I don't doubt that he has some backing logic behind this prediction, but it's not really very useful unless we know what it is.

[Admiral Valdemar]

I would gather he's going by the way the deleveraging is unfolding, the energy crisis we're walking into, the fact that China is going to still grow exacerbating these issues and the knock on effects to society after a while.

[aerius]

The one way I can see it happening is a complete currency collapse like what happened to Iceland, but worse. The US can't import oil, or it can only import a very limited amount and the whole transportation network crashes. At the same time, farmers can't get loans & credit to operate their farms and a bunch of them go bankrupt, plus the food can't be transported to your local grocery store thanks to the fuel shortage.

The currency collapse is possible if China & some other key countries dumped their holdings of T-bills, whether that'll happen is another question. My magic 8 ball doesn't work too well, unfortunately, cause if it did I'd own my own country by now.

[B5B7]

Is this guy just doomsday-wanking or is he really on to something?

The man who predicted the 1987 stock market crash and the fall of the Soviet Union is now forecasting revolution in America, food riots and tax rebellions - all within four years, while cautioning that putting food on the table will be a more pressing concern than buying Christmas gifts by 2012.

Gerald Celente, the CEO of Trends Research Institute, is renowned for his accuracy in predicting fut More..ure world and economic events, which will send a chill down your spine considering what he told Fox News this week.

Celente says that by 2012 America will become an undeveloped nation, that there will be a revolution marked by food riots, squatter rebellions, tax revolts and job marches, and that holidays will be more about obtaining food, not gifts.

"We're going to see the end of the retail Christmas....we're going to see a fundamental shift take place....putting food on the table is going to be more important that putting gifts under the Christmas tree," said Celente, adding that the situation would be "worse than the great depression".

"America's going to go through a transition the likes of which no one is prepared for," said Celente, noting that people's refusal to acknowledge that America was even in a recession highlights how big a problem denial is in being ready for the true scale of the crisis.

Celente, who successfully predicted the 1997 Asian Currency Crisis, the subprime mortgage collapse and the massive devaluation of the U.S. dollar, told UPI in November last year that the following year would be known as "The Panic of 2008," adding that "giants (would) tumble to their deaths," which is exactly what we have witnessed with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and others. He also said that the dollar would eventually be devalued by as much as 90 per cent.

The consequence of what we have seen unfold this year would lead to a lowering in living standards, Celente predicted a year ago, which is also being borne out by plummeting retail sales figures.

The prospect of revolution was a concept echoed by a British Ministry of Defence report last year, which predicted that within 30 years, the growing gap between the super rich and the middle class, along with an urban underclass threatening social order would mean, "The world's middle classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own class interest," and that, "The middle classes could become a revolutionary class."

In a separate recent interview, Celente went further on the subject of revolution in America.

"There will be a revolution in this country," he said. "It’s not going to come yet, but it’s going to come down the line and we’re going to see a third party and this was the catalyst for it: the takeover of Washington, D. C., in broad daylight by Wall Street in this bloodless coup. And it will happen as conditions continue to worsen."

"The first thing to do is organize with tax revolts. That’s going to be the big one because people can’t afford to pay more school tax, property tax, any kind of tax. You’re going to start seeing those kinds of protests start to develop."

"It’s going to be very bleak. Very sad. And there is going to be a lot of homeless, the likes of which we have never seen before. Tent cities are already sprouting up around the country and we’re going to see many more."

"We’re going to start seeing huge areas of vacant real estate and squatters living in them as well. It’s going to be a picture the likes of which Americans are not going to be used to. It’s going to come as a shock and with it, there’s going to be a lot of crime. And the crime is going to be a lot worse than it was before because in the last 1929 Depression, people’s minds weren’t wrecked on all these modern drugs – over-the-counter drugs, or crystal meth or whatever it might be. So, you have a huge underclass of very desperate people with their minds chemically blown beyond anybody’s comprehension."

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1ad_1226630673

revolution in America - there would have to be an extremely massive social change in USA BEFORE this could occur.
become undeveloped nation - WTF!!
squatter rebellions - how many squatters are there? the type of people who are squatters are not the politically active type.
holidays will be more about obtaining food, not gifts - sounds as if during the non-holidays food is not a problem
recession is a long way from what he proposes, basically an unprecedented social collapse - he underestimates the ability of nations to absorb economic difficulties.
up to 90% devaluation of the $US - crazy talk.
middle class as revolutionary class - revolutions usually come from an elite.
a third party - this would take quite a while to develop, and doesn't fit with the revolution concept.
the takeover of Washington, D. C., in broad daylight by Wall Street in this bloodless coup - sounds like a conspiracy nutter. I'm for more corporate regulation, but this is ridiculous.
so drugged out zombies are going to be a big danger - bring on World War Z (but only in USA)

This scenario is not realistic. The revolutionary zeal required for the apathetic middle-class to become so active would mean that they would already be politically active enough to fix many of the current problems that are capable of causing crises. Such political awareness would also make them realise that need taxes to keep society running - tax revolts won't create a popular revolution, they would threaten to shutdown the nation and cause a massive military crackdown.
Anyway, the election of a Democratic President to replace Republican fuckwits has created potential to avert this scenario even if it was plausible - the landscape has been changed.

[Coyote]

Look at that, seriously. He's being asked by FOX NEWS for his opinions.

What does he predict?

Years of HIGH TAXES... the END OF CHRISTMAS... CLASS REVOLUTIONS... the DOWNFALL of AMERICA... All culminating when, exactly? 2012.

What do you know? After four years of being ruled by a COMMUNIST MOOOOZLIM.

This whole thing is full of Obama dog whistles I'm surprised no one here is deaf.

[Big Orange]

I guess the MoD are also bullshit here, yes?

I'll address this more later, but I can easily see this happening in the UK for a variety of reasons.

Britain is a much smaller geographical area with a dense population reaching critical mass, millions of educted people have already left, there is not much real economy left after thirty years of greed, callousness, and incompetence, we've got a sizable minority of disgruntled Muslims, the working class have been disgruntled for two decades, the middle class have been growing disgruntled in the last decade, no coherent public transport after fifty years of greed, callousness, and incompetence, most of our youth have been alienated and betrayed on some level, our vital utilities are in the hands of psycho pinhead corporations (including nuclear power), the criminal courts have lost the plot, most of Britain's elite have lost the plot, much of our food needs to be imported, and our politicians are EU bitches.

[RedImperator]

OK, look: this is an unsourced blog post. Not even a story from Fox News. As for the data and assumptions underlying his predictions, well, the only way to get them is to subscribe to his quarterly newsletter. That will cost you $100 a year. For those following along at home, you've probably already figured out that's $25 per issue.

I'm not impressed. If you want gloomy predictions, there are any number of gloom-and-doom economists who actually publish their methods because they make their money as academics, not by selling their predictions. PM J if you want a list; I'm sure she's got them all bookmarked. This thread, I'm locking, because folks, there's no actual information here.