Exclusive: Patrice Lewis urges readers to repudiate their Normalcy Bias and prepare for the future
Here in the waning days of 2023, we're seeing a series of dire predictions for 2024. Cheery news to greet the New Year, isn't it?
One such prediction came from economist Harry Dent of the HS Dent Investment Management firm. In an interview with Fox New, he said: "Since 2009, this has been 100% artificial, unprecedented money printing and deficits; $27 trillion over 15 years, to be exact. This is off the charts, 100% artificial, which means we're in a dangerous state. I think 2024 is going to be the biggest single crash year we'll see in our lifetimes."
Dent remains firm that an "everything bubble" will burst in this upcoming year. He further predicts the results will not be an economic recession, but a full-blown depression.
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Dent isn't the only one. "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" author Robert Kiyosaki offers similar warnings on how the Biden administration is sinking the U.S. into unrecoverable debt. "All you do is look at history. Every time they printed money, the empire went down."
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Historian Victor Davis Hanson is calling 2024 "The Year of our Reckoning." "In some sense, the country for recent years has been cruising on the fumes from prior and likely better, wiser generations and institutions," he writes. "In 2024, the tab for our current apathy, toxic politics, and incompetence will come due."
Then there's CBS News investigative reporter Catherine Herridge, who made a dark prediction that 2024 will produce a "Black Swan Event" that will shock the world. Her concerns focus on international affairs and how they will impact America.
And, of course, I hardly need to remind you that 2024 is an election year, with all the political and societal chaos that implies.
Most people are feeling some sort of unease about the future. Many have a nagging feeling in the gut that something wicked this way comes. If the prospect of a third world war doesn't bother you, then rising costs, stagnant wages and urban decay do.
But not everyone agrees. Looking at some of the comments on these articles confirm how many people believe everything is just ducky, thanks. There will always be those people who suffer from the delusion that nothing could ever disrupt the comfortable and dependable world in which we live. As my husband is fond of pointing out, the greatest conceit of mankind is, "It can't happen to me."
This is a typical Normalcy Bias, which Wikipedia defines as a mental state that "causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects." It's sometimes called the "It can't happen here" syndrome. The assumption is that since a particular disaster has never occurred before, it never will. Any disturbing indications that something bad may happen are dismissed or trivialized.
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When we hear the mainstream media assuring us in soothing, condescending tones that we're in an economic "recovery" – despite all evidence to the contrary – we want desperately to believe them. We don't want anything to disrupt our ordinary, comfortable lives. We genuinely believe that if we cling to our normal way of life and habitual methods of doing things – despite overwhelming proof that something dangerous is looming – then everything will be OK. It can't happen here.
But as Ayn Rand so memorably put it, "You can ignore reality, but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring reality."
The fact is, very little happens that doesn't give some sort of advanced warning. All it takes is vigilance and a determination not to depend wholly on the mainstream media, which tend to filter world and national events to support their agenda.
Some say we're already in a Silent Depression. Consider this short video comparing the costs of homes, rent and income between 1930 and 2023.
In 1930, during the Great Depression, the average home in America was $3,900. The average car was $600. The average monthly rent was $18, or $216 a year, and the average salary was $1,300 a year. Fast forward to today. It is $436,000 for the average home, $48,000 for the average car, and the average rent is $2,000 a month or $24,000 a year, and we have a $56,000 income for the average American right now.
"So if you look back to the Great Depression," says the narrator, "the house was only three times the average salary. Now it is eight times the average salary. The car was 46% of the salary. The car today is 85% of the salary. And here's the craziest part. The rent was 16% of the average salary. It is now 42% of the average salary."
So yeah, in light of these numbers, 2024 could be a very interesting year indeed.
So what can be done about all these dire things? Well the first thing to do is strip away your Normalcy Bias and acknowledge that the smoke on the horizon means a fire is coming. Awareness, as they say, is half the battle.
But most people won't. They'll have endless excuses why it's not necessary, at least not yet. They'll remain in denial. They won't do anything. Then they'll be shocked – shocked! – when something happens that affects them personally.
As I see it, it never hurts to lend half an ear to such predictions and take sensible precautions. The Great Depression started with a dramatic bang – the stock market crash – but not every incident of economic turmoil begins like that. Many traumatic events begin with a whisper, which seems to be the case here. Whispers don't make it any less painful for those affected, but it does make it more deniable by those with a political ax to grind.
In short, 2024 is shaping up to be a very interesting year. I don't know if it will be a year of sunshine and roses, or of darkest despair. All I know is a lot of high-ranking national and international people are acting increasingly desperate to control the masses. Where that ends is anyone's guess.
But there is a silver lining: Forewarned is forearmed. Even hard times can be weathered if you're ready for them. Brace yourself.
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