FINANCEHYPE: Bank Holidays, FDR Style

A respected investor who publishes a regular newsletter - which received an award for Letter of the Year in 2008 because it accurately predicted what it rightly called a coming "financial tsunami" - has opined on possible events to come.

In its current issue, The Harry Schultz Letter (HSL) reports these rumors:

"Some U.S. embassies worldwide are being advised to purchase massive amounts of local currencies; enough to last them a year. Some embassies are being sent enormous amounts of U.S. cash to purchase currencies from those governments, quietly. But not [British] pound sterling. Inside the State Department, there is a sense of sadness and foreboding that 'something' is about to happen within 180 days, but could be 120-150 days."

Mr. Schultz goes on to suspect:

"Another FDR-style 'bank holiday' of indefinite length, perhaps soon, to let the insiders sort out the bank mess, which (despite their rosy propaganda campaign) is getting more out of their control every day. Insiders want to impose new bank rules. Widespread nationalization could result, already underway. It could also lead to a formal U.S. dollar devaluation, as FDR did by revaluing gold (and then confiscating it)."

No, 'Bank Holiday' in this sense doesn't mean you get to stay home from work. It means you get to stay home from your money. And there'll be no cheating - you won't be able to get at it online or by writing checks either. You'll sit and wait until you're told how much you have left and when you can get it, and you'll like it, or you'll probably get some good firsthand knowledge of the equipment riot police use.

It ought to be pretty clear to intelligent people that what you hear in most of the corporate media these days, especially in America, is at best only one angle on the story, and at worst a bunch of managed news garbage. Think about it: how much have you heard about Michael Jackson lately? News flash - he's still dead, and besides, what the hell did he ever do for you anyway? Isn't the US in the middle of at least 2 wars and an economic catastrophe at the moment?

The government's 'official' economic information isn't much better. We've done a piece on the real economic numbers before (Shadow Government Statistics). We've also done related pieces on your real share of the US government debt (The Debt Clock), on what Uncle Sam wants you to do today (Pay My Debts!), and on Finance Hype in general.

Another angle on this story is available from Peter Brimelow at MarketWatch. Think this couldn't happen today? It already has, several times - and at IndyMac in 2008 it looked the same as it did about a hundred years ago. Here's 2007's run on Northern Rock in the United Kingdom:


Mr. Schultz believes we're heading for a 10-year downturn. Do what you will with that advice, but it may be time to clean and oil the shotgun you've got in your closet and make sure your powder's dry.

What's that you say? You don't have a shotgun?