Google Groups
Join To Get Blog Update Notices
Email:
Visit the Hickory Hound Group

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Newsletter about the City Council meeting of May 20, 2014

I began video recording the City Council in 2012, because of my desire that the City do it on their own as any modern 21st century community began doing long ago. I had people tell me that they couldn't make it to the meetings, but they would like to see what is going on. I was also told by some council members that my summaries did not truly reflect the record, so having a video/audio recording cannot be misinterpreted.

So below is the City Council meeting. With each agenda item, you can click on the links and it will take you to that specific point in the meeting. You can always drag the marker on the video display to the point in the broadcast that you are interested in seeing.

Agenda about the City Council meeting of May 20, 2014

Inspiring Spaces Committee Final Report 

Thoughts about last night's Hickory City Council meeting - May 20, 2014




 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 The Hound's Notes: 


There are a couple of things about the Inspiring Spaces presentation that took place before the City Council meeting. First, Meg Locke went right to the point when she articulated her unrequited trust of Hickory Inc. Ms. Locke is a Hickory insider and Hickory Inc. has done more for her than they haven't. There aren't many people in this community that can say that. We'd like to live in Ms. Locke's world for a day. That doesn't mean that we are jealous. We'd like to trade shoes for perspective.

Some of the Inspiring Spaces projects might be ok, but I'm not so sure I'm as trusting as she is based upon Hickory Inc.'s track record. City Manager Berry made it clear that the bonds would be for a list and not specific projects and timetables. Hickory Inc. will be setting the priorities and the objectives. Just remember "the Sails" and the Farmer's market sit outside Ms. Locke's business on Union Square and now we are supposed to build a $27 million sidewalk to her other business at Hollar Mill. That is where her perspective lies. How many of us are on committees that can make decisions where community interests can be entangled with our own?

Look at what we see with this committee, lots of connections to one another and the City Council. Also, lots of wealth on this committee compared to most Hickory citizens. Can these people relate to your average Hickory citizen? What a few hundred dollars means to them is completely different from what it means to most.

Another point, I don't see how they can claim that the widening of LR Blvd led to the private investment at Hollar Mill or Moretz Mill. Yes, Hollar Hosiery was redeveloped, but no one ever said that they were waiting for that road to open before moving forward with its renovation.  Let us also remember that with the "Economic Incentives" that the city has outlayed to these projects, it will be a few years before they "increase the tax base." Two properties, Piedmont Wagon and Lyerly Mill will be paying no City of Hickory Property Tax for seven years, so they are definitely not increasing the tax base. If our overall tax receipts don't rise, how can it be claimed that this was an increase as opposed any normal remodeling/developing that occurs?

Yes, we are glad to see these properties renovated and yes, we hope for their success; but we should not focus city dollars in one small part of the city, while continuing to ignore the others. I'm all for this Wingfoot area continuing to move forward in association with a redefined Downtown. That is the reason why I think a Business Improvement District Tax for the newly redefined Downtown is the way to go to raise the monies necessary to do what the property and business owners of that area want to do in that area.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------





Invocation, Susan Smith, Exodus Homes

Special Presentations
A. Business Well Crafted Award to Mark Romeo, Cox Manufacturing

Persons Requesting to Be Heard
A. Dan Green, In House Counsel for Meridian Senior Living, Information Regarding a Golf Tournament for National Alzheimer’s Awareness. - (per Hickory Inc.) - Mr. Dan Green presented information to City Council regarding “A Round to Remember”, a golf tournament, which is a grassroots program that works to educate people about Alzheimer’s and to raise awareness for those facing the disease. Over five million Americans have Alzheimer’s, and there are 15 million people acting as their caregivers. The golf tournament is being sponsored to benefit Alzheimer’s, jointly sponsored by Conde Nast Media Corporation. The tournament will be held at the Ole Still Golf Club in Oliver’s Landing Section on June 19, 2014 at 9:00 a.m. There are other opportunities for other individuals and entities to be sponsors and donate to the tournament for the benefit of Alzheimer’s. Mr. Green can be contacted for information regarding entry fees and registration.

B. Cliff Moone once again spoke regarding his support of Inspiring Spaces and the City Council. - (per Hickory Inc.) - addressed Council on his support, and encouragement of Inspiring Spaces. He was concerned that Council was in a contemplative mood about this. He stated that the Inspiring Spaces report was an excellent report, very interesting, and very well presented by Mr. Shuford. Mr. Moone commented that when he came to Hickory in 1988, Hickory was really taking off and doing a lot of wonderful things,a lot of growth, and a lot of excitement. In 2002, he had a very mild heart attack and ended up having surgery at Frye Hospital. While he was in the hospital his heart stopped for 15-30 seconds. He was awakened by a nurse slapping him in the face, saying not on my watch you don’t. It reminded him that we have gone through 10 to 12 years of not being dead, for certainly, no this City. But being a City that has been in some ways on life support. He stated that the comment was made not on your watch let this happen, we have an opportunity here. He wants Council to have the May 20, 2014 enthusiasm that Ms. Locke has, moving this thing forward. Because it is up to Council, the leaders of the community, and others to go out and let the folks know the information about how much it is going to cost. He is one of those people that has a house that is just a little over that $150,000 dollar range that is the average home in Hickory. For Council to raise his taxes over that period of ten years, $120 isn’t fearful for him at all. It is something that says I am going to invest in this City for the next 30, 40, 50 years, and after I am gone planting those shades. He read that the fastest growing area in Catawba County is Sherrills Ford. He doesn’t want to see his City left behind. He doesn’t want us to be on this side of 40 falling behind when we can be moving ahead. He asked Council to aggressively go forth, and support the Inspiring Spaces initiative as he will as well.

Consent Agenda

Informational Item
A. Report of Mayor Wright’s travel to Raleigh, North Carolina


New Business - Public Hearings:
1. Consideration of Amending Chapter 2, Article 8, Youth Council, of the Hickory City Code of Ordinance of the City of Hickory by Amending Sections 2-240, 2-242(a)(c), and 2-245.


2. Voluntary Contiguous Annexation of 1515 Cloninger Mill Road NE, Hickory.

New Business - Departmental Reports:
1. Call for Public Hearing on the City Manager’s FY2014-2015 Recommended Annual Budget. 


 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Hound's Notes:
As I stated earlier this budget was Mick Berry and Hickory Inc.'s finest hour during his tenure. By all indications, Hickory Inc. was looking to increase property taxes to help pay for Inspiring Spaces, but somewhere along the way, they changed their mind about how and when to finance it. In my opinion, that was the wisest decision until the public gives it a nod of approval.

The budget City Manager Berry put forth does have a 2¢ increase in the tax rate. Anyone should accept the additional penny for roads and the additional penny for operational costs due to the loss in revenue of the hold harmless monies that have been coming from the State Government. I can't emphasize enough that the action taken on this night is fiscally sound.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

General Comments - (per Hickory Inc.)

Mayor Wright commented that he heard Taste of Hickory was great.
Alderwoman Patton confirmed it was. 
Mayor Wright commented record crowds maybe.
Alderwoman Patton stated they did a great job.
Mayor Wright commented that is a good venue for it.
Alderwoman Patton stated that the weather cooperated. They were so afraid that it was going to rain, and the sun came out,and it was beautiful. They did a great job.
Alderman Seaver commented it was a beautiful day.

Friday, May 23, 2014

Economic Relevance - Inflation in commodities + Deflation in property = the Great Reset

Devaluation in the value of the dollar is/will lead to a rise in the cost of living through a rise in the cost of necessary commodities (Food and Fuel) and a deflationary cycle with the value of property and discretionary spending (Housing, Personal Property, Electronics, Personal Assets, Items for Resell). You are going to need money to live, but as the economy slows, you aren't going to want to have anything you don't need to survive and you are going to want to sell things to have additional money to survive, but since most people will be in the same boat, then through excess in suplly and reduction in demand the value of non-necessities will plummet in real value. Anything related to fuel will increase in price. Assets to a great extent can become a burden. A lot of times they will cost more to maintain than they are worth. We have seen that already and will continue to see that with more rapidity.

The Federal Reserve is stuck. If the Fed continues with Quantitative Easing, then the value of the dollar continues to fall until we enter a Hyperinflationary cycle. If the Fed pulls back on Quantitative Easing, then the dollar strengthens, interests rates rise, and we enter a deflationary cycle, which will slow the economy by seizing the credit markets. It will also cost more to service governmental debt and necessitate a debt jubilee (forgiveness), which will lead to the banks in the United States becoming insolvent. The excesses of properties that the banks have on the banks will will devalue, many becoming worthless, which will lead to their insolvency. Their liabilities (debt) versus their assets (properties, loan portfolios and other investments) will grow to such an extent that they will be forced into default. There will be no way to get back to profitability. This was the road we were headed down in 2008.

Quantitative Easing (Artificial Lower of interest rates through Monetary Expansion) helped the banks remain solvent, but did nothing to help the average person maintain their personal wealth, because they did not have access to the increased money supply. The banks have maintained an artificial market, but you can't have a real market without people being able to participate in the marketplace. There hasn't been any velocity to the real marketplace. We have seen a stagnation of the real marketplace since 2008.

The current economic structure in unsustainable. What is necessary is a Great Reset. We will either do so voluntarily or we will be volunteered through natural economic forces, which will be much worse. What the government should have done is helped the public write down the artificial value of equity built into their homes caused by the housing bubble, basically a debt jubilee, which would have given homeowners a 20% reduction in the value of their homes over a specified period (say 10 years), then we would basically have been nearly out of this debt glut caused by the irrational exuberance caused by the excessive marketing, sales, and speculation and artificially low interest rates that occurred in the housing market in the late 1990s and early to mid 2000s. Instead, we are going to have to deal with these issues through the greatest disruption of the American Economic System of a lifetime.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Published on May 18, 2014
http://usawatchdog.com/dollar-on-the-... John Williams of Shadowstats.com predicts an explosion of U.S. debt. He says, "All the projections on the budget deficit are based on positive economic growth going forward. With the ongoing contraction, you'll see a much worse budget deficit. It's going to do bad things to the banking system. The Fed is going to be easing, and they'll say they are easing to stimulate the economy; but in reality, they'll be doing this to prop up the banking system. The rest of the world sees this and they don't want to hold the dollar, and they will sell off the dollar. The Fed is going to have to come in and prop up the system until it falls apart."




Published on May 20, 2014
http://usawatchdog.com/dollar-collaps... - On the U.S. dollar, renowned financial analyst Charles Nenner predicts, "Timing is our business, and we've always said the dollar is going to collapse in end of 2014.

There are different reasons for this. The government has loans outstanding that are very short term. If interest rates only go up a half a percent, they are already in trouble. Also, the United States doesn't have the power to force a lot (of Treasury bonds) on other countries because the United States has decided not to be a power anymore. So, of course, the dollar goes with it.

Oil is going to be much higher, and inflation is going to start moving its tail. This is the start of inflation. Five years from now, you will see inflation started in 2014. It's not that everything happens in 2014 it's just the beginning. I still do cycles of war and I have been predicting a big war is in the making in 2013. And, when they ask me does it start with a bang, I say no, it starts slowly without us noticing. In ten years, you will look back and see it started in 2013. . . . I still think the big war will come from the Middle East."




Thursday, May 22, 2014

20140520 - Inspiring Spaces Committee Final Report



Stephen Shuford presented the information through a Power Point Presentation. 6 of the 15 members of the Committee were present including Mr. Shuford, Paul Kerchner, Don Norwood, Meg Locke, Scott Mitchell, and Nancy Zagaroli.

Mr. Shuford spoke of the notion of "The Charm of Hickory". Talks about Innovate Catawba Initiative and the idea of "Inspiring" and "Reinventing".

Talks about the Waterfront on Lake Hickory and creating a Riverwalk... about the support of that idea... connecting Geitner Park, the Lackey Conservancy, and the Baseball Stadium. Talks about the cities that Hickory Inc. visited over the last few years.

Talks about Downtown Redefined. Union Square Improvements. Main Avenue Linear Park. Talks about linking pedestrian, bikes, and possibly trolley trails to Downtown, the Riverwalk, and LP Frans Stadium. How do you rout people into the city by directing them through the primary Gateways (I-40 at LR Blvd, I-40 at Hwy 321) and secondary Gateways (Hwy 321 at Old Lenoir Road and Hwy 321 at Hwy 70). He got into Street scapes at LR Blvd, Hwy 70, Hwy 127, 4th Street SW extension, and Old Lenoir Road.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

20140520 - Hickory City Manager's Proposed Budget 2014-15





City Manager Mick Berry proposed a $95.8 million budget for the upcoming fis­cal year. This is a 5.75% increase over last year’s $90.3 million bud­get. A 2¢ property tax rate increase is proposed bringing the rate to 52¢ per $100 assessment. This is the first tax rate increase in 19 years. The rate increase is attributable to road resurfacing issues and operational increase due to loss of "Hold Harmless" ($255,000) revenues coming from the State government.

There is very little natural growth in Hickory City Revenues, which is sales tax revenue and property tax base. This will cost the average homeowner ($151,000) a little over an extra $2.50 per month. May have to utilize the General Fund Balance for Operating Expenses in the upcoming year. $1.4 million General Fund balance has $900,000 designated for capital replacement. You may need the $500,000 left over for operational expenditures.

The Inspiring Spaces initiative was not included in the budget.




Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Thoughts about last night's Hickory City Council meeting - May 20, 2014

In the Chambers

This meeting (the Inspiring Spaces meeting) is all about Union Square. How do we direct traffic to Union Square?
Union Square Union Square Union Square yada yada yada

Wayfinding to Union Square

Who profits?
End of the great Kabuki part 1. Now on to part 2.
Let's  see how this rolls.

2 cent property tax increase does not include Inspiring Spaces.
I repeat Inspiring Spaces not included.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Honestly, this budget was Mick Berry and Hickory Inc.'s finest hour during his tenure. The budget he put forth is fiscally responsible. Anyone should accept the additional penny for roads and the additional penny for operational costs due to the loss in revenue of the hold harmless monies that have been coming from the State Government. I can't emphasize enough that the action taken on this night is fiscally sound.

The talk that should be had with the Inspiring Spaces group comes back to a proposal from, I believe, 2004 -- The Business Improvement District (BID) tax. Businesses in the Downtown area balked on this proposal and so it fell on its face back in 2004. It is understandable why it did, when they (Downtown Business and Property Owners) have constantly gotten monies from the General Fund.  The revenue that would be raised from the "Redefined Downtown" properties BID tax would go directly back into that area and the other areas of Hickory would not be paying for their area. Other BID tax areas could start in the other quadrants should the property owners choose. I also think the Downtown Development Association should be created as a Department with the city. If the City is going to pay monies, and with a BID tax structure, then City Hall should have complete oversight.

The presentation by City Manager Berry was rather short and directly to the point. Inspiring Spaces as a part of the 2014-15 budget was not mentioned. This was very surprising and my sources were wrong, so that makes me wrong about what was going to happen on this night.  I wasn't wrong about what was presented by the Inspiring Spaces group, but I was very surprised when the follow through did not occur.

I was wrong, but happy with the result that no tax would be increased in the name of Inspiring Spaces... and this won't happen until a referendum takes place that will establish whether or not the public wants it. The City needs to come forward with specifics on how to raise the revenues and what the projects will cost. That is all that is being asked for... nothing more, nothing less.

Heading to Kabuki Theater tonight

Opening act begins at 5:30pm at City Hall in Council Chambers. The Inspiring Spaces Committee is meeting together with the City Council.  The purpose of this Special Joint Meeting is the presentation of the Advisory Committee's Final Report for the Inspiring Spaces Project.

The goal here is to make it look like Hickory Inc. has a plan. Last year Mayor Wright, Alderman Guess, and Alder Patton said they were not in favor of raising property taxes for 2013-14, because "we don't have a plan." The real reason was because they were facing re-election in a few months. So here we come to the night when the City Manager will present the upcoming budget for fiscal year 2014-15.. Everybody knows what is going on here. The truth is that they have no more of a plan here than what they had last year.



In my opinion, the Inspiring Spaces presentation is to set up what will take place during the second act, which is the regularly scheduled second meeting of the Hickory City Council for the month of May, in which the City Manager will present the proposed property tax increase for the upcoming year. The Inspiring Spaces meeting is to give you the reasoning for the tax increase and the City Manager is going to reemphasize that reasoning. Truth be told, the City Manager is the one behind, and fully vested in, the reasoning.

I have presumed, based upon information I was given and information provided involving this committee, that the City Manager will be requesting a significant property tax increase for City of Hickory associated properties. The majority of these revenues will be devoted to the Inspiring Spaces initiative.

My cynical side envisions the City Manager asking for a 15¢ property tax increase to 65¢ per $100 and the Mayor and other Council members saying that is too much and pulling back to 10¢, or 60¢ per $100, under the guise that they are protecting residents they know will have a difficult time with such an increase.

That is why I call this Kabuki Theater, because these folks are on the same page going into this meeting. This will be a show like so many manufactured plots we have seen before. They already know what is going down. It will still be entertaining to witness, because this has all the makings of a political drama in the coming months that will make the Referendum on Ward Specific Voting and last year's municipal election look like peanuts.

The bottom line, in my opinion, is that no tax should be increased in the name of Inspiring Spaces until a referendum takes place that establishes that it is what the public wants.

The proposed property tax increase coming on Tuesday night - 5/16/2014
Rudy and the City Council want to and will raise your taxes - 11/1/2013
The Complete "Platform for a 21st Century Hickory" - 8/31/2013


Monday, May 19, 2014

Economic Stories of Relevance in Today's World -- May 18, 2014

Gas prices shouldn't be high, but are: What gives? - CNBC through USA Today - Javier E. David - May 18, 2014 - Rumors about the demise of U.S. gasoline demand have been greatly exaggerated.                  Until late 2013, most energy observers forecast the world's most reliably gas-guzzling market to consume less fuel this year. What was once thought to be a structural decline in demand, however, has proven more durable than expected.                    As the summer driving season nears, retail gas remains stubbornly lodged near $4 per gallon. According to the Energy Information Administration, gas prices rose for 12 straight weeks through late April, and were 20 cents a gallon higher than the same point last year.              So what gives?              "The world's not swimming in crude or gasoline yet," said Francisco Blanch, commodities strategist at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, in an interview. "Despite all the crude and gasoline production in the U.S., international markets are not tagging along."                      International developments matter, analysts say, because gas prices are linked to internationally priced Brent crude. Turmoil in Ukraine and spotty supply from the perennially unstable Middle East has conspired to keep oil above $100 per barrel.


Fed Laundering Treasury Purchases to Disguise What’s Happening-Paul Craig Roberts - USA Watchdog - Greg Hunter - May 14, 2014 - In his latest article, former Assistant Treasury Secretary Dr. Paul Craig Roberts says, “The Fed is the great deceiver.”   Why is he making this shocking accusation?   The reason is tiny Belgium’s whopping purchase of $141 billion in Treasury bonds earlier this year.   Dr. Roberts explains, “We know that Belgium didn’t have any money to buy $141 billion worth of bonds over a three month period.  That sum comes to 29% of the Belgium GDP.  So, they don’t have a surplus in their budget that is 29% of their GDP, and they don’t have trade or current account surplus in that amount.  In fact, everything is in the red.  Their budget deficit is in the red, and their trade and current accounts are in the red.  So, Belgium didn’t have the money, and yet, they managed to pick up $141.2 billion in U.S. Treasuries over a three month period.  So, where did they get the money?”  Dr. Roberts, who holds a PhD in economics, goes on to say, “We know their central bank couldn’t have printed euros to buy the bonds with because the Belgium central bank can’t print euros.  Belgium is part of the euro system and has lost the ability to create its own money.  So, the only source for that kind of money would have been the Federal Reserve.  The Federal Reserve thought it needed to hide the fact it was buying $141 billion in bonds over a three month period when it was officially reducing or tapering the quantitative easing down to $65 billion.  It didn’t want to have to admit it was really purchasing $112 billion a month, almost double the announced purchases.”






If Economic Cycle Theorists Are Correct, 2015 To 2020 Will Be Pure Hell For The United States - Michael Snyder - May 12th, 2014 - Does the economy move in predictable waves, cycles or patterns?  There are many economists that believe that it does, and if their projections are correct, the rest of this decade is going to be pure hell for the United States.  Many mainstream economists want nothing to do with economic cycle theorists, but it should be noted that economic cycle theories have enabled some analysts to correctly predict the timing of recessions, stock market peaks and stock market crashes over the past couple of decades.  Of course none of the theories discussed below is perfect, but it is very interesting to note that all of them seem to indicate that the U.S. economy is about to enter a major downturn.  So will the period of 2015 to 2020 turn out to be pure hell for the United States?  We will just have to wait and see.                      One of the most prominent economic cycle theories is known as "the Kondratieff wave".  It was developed by a Russian economist named Nikolai Kondratiev, and as Wikipedia has noted, his economic theories got him into so much trouble with the Russian government that he was eventually executed because of them...



The Demographic Cliff: How to Survive and Prosper During the Great Deflation of 2014-2019 (2014) - Amazon List - Bestselling author and financial guru Harry Dent shows why we’re facing a “great deflation” after five years of desperate stimulus — and what to do about it now.

Throughout his long career as an economic forecaster, Harry Dent has relied on a not-so-secret weapon: demographics. Studying the predictable things people do as they age is the ultimate tool for understanding trends. For instance, Dent can tell a client exactly when people will spend the most on potato chips. And he can explain why our economy has risen and fallen with the peak spending of generations, and why we now face a growing demographic cliff with the accelerating retirement of the Baby Boomers around the world.                             Dent predicted the impact of the Boomers hitting their highest growth in spending in the 1990s, when most economists saw the United States declining. And he anticipated the decline of Japan in the 1990s, when economists were proclaiming it would overtake the U.S. economy.                          But now, Dent argues, the fundamental demographics have turned against the United States and will hit more countries ahead. Inflation rises when a larger than usual block of younger people enter the workforce, and it wanes when large numbers of older people retire, downsize their homes, and cut their spending. The mass retirement of the Boomers won’t just hold back inflation; it and massive debt deleveraging will actually cause deflation—weakening the economy the most from 2014 into 2019.                  Dent explores the implications of his controversial predictions. He offers advice on retirement planning, health care, real estate, education, investing, and business strategies. For instance . . .
  • BUSINESSES should get lean and mean now. Identify segments that you can clearly dominate and sell off or shut down others. If you don’t, the economy will do it for you, more painfully and less profitably.
  • INVESTORS should sell stocks by mid-January 2014 and look to buy them back in 2015 or later at a Dow as low as 5,800.
  • FAMILIES should wait to buy real estate in areas where home prices have gone back to where the bubble started in early 2000.
  • GOVERNMENTS need to stop the endless stimulus that creates more bubbles and kills the middle class, and should assist in restructuring the unprecedented debt bubble of 1983–2008.

HARRY DENT: America Is Headed Off The 'Demographic Cliff' And Another Crisis Is Near - Business Insider - Steven Perlberg - December 12, 2013
Here are some of his main points:
  • Young people cause inflation because they "cost everything and produce nothing." But young people eventually "begin to pay off when they enter the workforce and become productive new workers (supply) and higher-spending consumers (demand)."
  • Unfortunately, the U.S. reached its demographic "peak spending" from 2003-2007 and is headed for the "demographic cliff." Germany, England, Switzerland are all headed there too. Then China will be the first emerging market to fall off the cliff, albeit in a few decades. The world is getting older.
  • The U.S. stock market will crash. "Our best long-term and intermediate cycles suggest another slowdown and stock crash accelerating between very early 2014 and early 2015, and possibly lasting well into 2015 or even 2016. The worst economic trends due to demographics will hit between 2014 and 2019. The U.S. economy is likely to suffer a minor or major crash by early 2015 and another between late 2017 and late 2019 or early 2020 at the latest."
  • "The everyday consumer never came out of the last recession." The rich are the ones feeling great and spending money, as asset prices (not wages) are aided by monetary stimulus.
  • The U.S. and Europe are headed in the same direction as Japan, a country still in a "coma economy precisely because it never let its debt bubble deleverage," Dent argues. "The only way we will not follow in Japan's footsteps is if the Federal Reserve stops printing new money."
  • "The reality is stark, when dyers start to outweigh buyers, the market changes." It all comes down to an aging population, Dent writes. "Fewer spenders, borrowers, and investors will be around to participate in the next boom."
  • The U.S. has a crazy amount of debt and "economists and politicians have acted like we can just wave a magic wand of endless monetary injections and bailouts and get over what they see as a short-term crisis." But the problem, Dent says, is long-term and structural — demographics.
  • Businesses can "dominate the years to come" by focusing on cash and cash flow, being "lean and mean," deferring major capital expenditures, selling nonstrategic real estate, and firing weak employees now.
  • The big four challenges in the years ahead will be 1) private and public debt 2) health care and retirement entitlements 3) authoritarian governance around the globe and 4) environmental pollution that threatens the global economy.
"You need to prepare for that crisis, which will occur between 2014 and 2023, with the worst likely starting in 2014 and continuing off and on into late 2019," Dent concludes. "You can contribute to the solution by conserving your financial assets and reinvesting them after the crisis." Cheery stuff.


High Frequency Trading And Artificial Bubbles - Harry Dent - May 15, 2014