Charlie McGrath argues that we are One Nation Under Duress and makes some excellent points for why our corrupt political system is an enabler for Wall Street, why our economy is going down the tubes, and how the global trade war is getting into full swing:

The only people that win in this current system is Wall Street. Period.

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All you need to do is look at who’s winning right now, who’s winning in this country right now. Are you winning? Are you better off than you were two years ago, four years ago, six, eight years ago. Are you better off in this system that we have now? The answer is absolutely not. Even if you don’t know it. Even if you’re making the exact same amount of money you made last year. Even if you’re making more than you were last year, the value of your money has been eroded. The value of your future potential has been stolen from you in the form of quantitative easing and in the form of bailouts.

We are on the precipice of the world turning their back on the U.S.

If you don’t believe me, read the IMF story. It points out exactly what a lot of people have been saying, which is the Western economies are in depression – plain and simple. There’s no recovery. There’s no “V” shape or “W” shape. There is only despair heading down the road.

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You’ve got to understand. This isn’t for you. This isn’t for your future. It is for corporatocracy’s future. They’re going to pass laws and legislation that benefit them, while on the other hand telling you a pack of lies.

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Consmer spending habits are starting to tick back up because people are buying the lies that we can spend our way out of this…

…Just when you feel safe, just when you think that something is happening good in this economy is when the bottom is going to fall out and reality is going to smack you in the face like a ten pound sledgehammer. And I’m telling you something – it’s coming soon. There’s no more papering it over.

At the risk of sounding like doom and gloomers, we agree with Charlie’s assessment and believe we are now within the greatest depression. This is going to be one for the history books. In the early 1930’s, no one realized they were in a depression, especially since government officials and influential businessmen were telling the populace that everything was o.k. and the economy was in recovery. The same is true today, and we fear that this time is going to be much worse. We’re no longer a creditor nation like we were in the 30’s. We are no longer a producer. We are no longer on the gold standard.

Our world is one that was driven by excessive consumption and leverage. Leverage not just at the highest levels of finance – but down to the individual spender. We leveraged our homes at 100%, our cars, our kitchen appliances, vacations and anything else for which banks would give us credit. Now it’s time to pay the piper.

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