George Soros on the Coming U.S. Class War

[gateley]

'The situation is about as serious and difficult as I've experienced in my career.'

/snip

Soros doesn’t make small bets on anything. Beyond the markets, he has plowed billions of dollars of his own money into promoting political freedom in Eastern Europe and other causes. He bet against the Bush White House, becoming a hate magnet for the right that persists to this day. So, as Soros and the world’s movers once again converge on Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum this week, what is one of the world’s highest-stakes economic gamblers betting on now?

He’s not. For the first time in his 60-year career, Soros, now 81, admits he is not sure what to do. “It’s very hard to know how you can be right, given the damage that was done during the boom years,” Soros says. He won’t discuss his portfolio, lest anyone think he’s talking things down to make a buck. But people who know him well say he advocates making long-term stock picks with solid companies, avoiding gold—“the ultimate bubble”—and, mainly, holding cash.

He’s not even doing the one thing that you would expect from a man who knows a crippled currency when he sees one: shorting the euro, and perhaps even the U.S. dollar, to hell. Quite the reverse. He backs the beleaguered euro, publicly urging European leaders to do whatever it takes to ensure its survival. “The euro must survive because the alternative—a breakup—would cause a meltdown that Europe, the world, can’t afford.” He has bought about $2 billion in European bonds, mainly Italian, from MF Global Holdings Ltd., the securities firm run by former Goldman Sachs head Jon Corzine that filed for bankruptcy protection last October.

Has the great short seller gone soft? Well, yes. Sitting in his 33rd-floor corner office high above Seventh Avenue in New York, preparing for his trip to Davos, he is more concerned with surviving than staying rich. “At times like these, survival is the most important thing,” he says, peering through his owlish glasses and brushing wisps of gray hair off his forehead. He doesn’t just mean it’s time to protect your assets. He means it’s time to stave off disaster. As he sees it, the world faces one of the most dangerous periods of modern history—a period of “evil.” Europe is confronting a descent into chaos and conflict. In America he predicts riots on the streets that will lead to a brutal clampdown that will dramatically curtail civil liberties. The global economic system could even collapse altogether. /snip

More at http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/01/22/george-soros-on-the-coming-u-s-class-war.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_afternoon&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_afternoon&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet

[rhett o rick]

1. What civil liberties are left to "curtail"? nm

[Curmudgeoness]

2. Don't ask. We don't want to find out.

But if Soros is right, we will find out. I look at other countries, and I realize there is a lot farther we can fall.

[rhett o rick]

4. I think that "lot farther" can happen pretty quick. nm

[Curmudgeoness]

8. Sadly, so do I. nt

[gateley]

3. Don't know. I'll ask George next time we have lunch. nt

[rhett o rick]

5. Bet he goes Dutch. nm

[gateley]

9. Haha! I'll let you know!! nt

[southernyankeebelle]

6. Well I have Italian relatives and my cousin was telling my sister that he can't find a full time

job. He has been working part time. People are struggling. If government can't help people with unemployement and food stamps I just don't know what will happen. All these republicans will lose their jobs and you watch how all of a sudden they will become democrats. Republicans have no heart.

[gateley]

10. Randi Rhodes always cites Greece and Germany. Greece, as a result of the

Austerity Program, is in worse shape than ever, while Germany gave everyone unemployment to compensate for hours lost working to keep the people spending and supporting the economy. Makes sense to me.

[southernyankeebelle]

11. Yes I know Greece is worse off. It is so bad that some people are leaving the little children on

the streets. I hope and pray to god that doesn't happen here. I can't fathom that happening here. It is so scary.

[gateley]

13. If it can happen there, it can happen here. I shouldn't have to happen ANYWHERE. :(

[southernyankeebelle]

17. Damn scary gateley damn scary

[SammyWinstonJack]

7. If billionaires are worried about financial survival, what chance do the rest of us stand?

[southernyankeebelle]

12. You know I wonder will paper money even count? I am scared because the majority of people

in this country can't afford to stock up. We are making it from payday to payday. I just don't know. God help us. We have one party who could careless wheter people live or not.

[gateley]

14. I've even thought beyond gold (which we can't afford) to knowing how to grow our own

food, etc. I think community is more important now than ever, yet it's lacking more than ever.

[southernyankeebelle]

16. Yes, I remember my mother-in-law telling me when she live in PA as a child during the

depresssion that they lived on a farm. She said they grew their own food. They never went without. She did say every so often strangers would come by and ask for something to eat. Their parents never turned any away. Yes I think your right about that community is going to be important. I'll tell you we have 12 acres and I wish we could afford a tractor to grow veggies. I would love to make sure to help out people who will need food. I have a neighbor who is renting a piece of my land. I think he wants to put goats back there. I think next year I am not going to take his money. I am going to ask if he could give us money veggies. I'm old and my husband can't do it either anymore. It is sad I would let people use my land free to plant in return for some beef or veggies. I think as things get harder we will see some bartering.

[leveymg]

15. And, the trigger that sets off the collapse, chaos and martial law will be another "optional war"

Make no mistake about it. The next one will cost the U.S. and certain misled European countries many multiples of the waste, squander, debt and imperial over-extension of the last one. The next will be the last of the American Imperial era. It's been engineered that way by those who are shorting America, and want to pick over the pieces of what's left.

Last Rogue Superpower, acting as predicted. Bye, bye.

[just1voice]

18. "A period of evil" describes today's world perfectly

Religious wars that have no basis in religion, entire countries full of people being ripped off, massive propaganda networks fueling worldwide lies, non-stop pollution, 1000s of criminal corporations, rampant criminal global speculation by politically connected banks, huge slave labor countries like China, an extremely large and murderous military/industrial complex in the U.S., worldwide financial collapses, rioting on national levels, food and water hoarding companies, curtailment and removal of civil rights worldwide, election fixing everywhere: this is most definitely a period of evil.