Gerald Celente’s TRENDSJOURNAL.COM | FORECASTING WORLDWIDE SINCE 1980 | FALL 2013 HISTORY BEFORE IT HAPPENS Empire America is fading fast ➤ Time to jump on bitcoin’s bandwagon? ➤ No need for NATO IN THIS ISSUE HISTORY BEFORE IT HAPPENS Editor and Publisher Gerald Celente Senior Editor Alex Silberman Contributing Editors Dr. Paul Craig Roberts Bennett Daviss Eldad Benary Subscriptions Manager Emily Arter Illustrations ZUMAPRESS.com Anthony Freda Design COVER STORY Creative Circle Media Solutions, East Providence, RI Empire America is fading fast The country has become a social and cultural bantamweight, from the Cover Image: The abandoned Fisher Body Plant posturing over Syria and government shutdown, to the Obamacare website 21 in Detroit, Michigan. debacle. 16 Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg via Getty Images. All rights reserved. For permission to reproduce or translate material from The Trends Journal®, con- tact The Trends Research Institute. contributors The Trends Journal (ISSN 1065- 2094) is published quarterly by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts (“No need Anthony Freda (Illustrations in The Trends Research Institute. for NATO,” p. 26). Former associate editor “Confronting the truth is facing the ©2013. Globalnomic, Trends Journal, Trend Alert, Trends in of the Wall Street Journal and columnist enemy,” p. 2; “No need for NATO,” p. The News and History Before for Business Week, Dr. Roberts served on 31; “Healthy fast food brings fat profits,” p. it Happens are registered trademarks of the Trends personal and committee staffs in the House and 37; and “Drawing Points,” p. 38) has created award- Research Institute. Senate, and served as Assistant Secretary of the winning illustrations and paintings for numerous The Trends Research Institute Treasury for Economic Policy during the Reagan publications including the New Yorker, Time, P.O. Box 3476 Administration. Roberts was Senior Research Rolling Stone, and the New York Times. He has been Kingston, NY 12402 Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, selected to be part of The Society of Illustrators 845 331-3500 and was appointed to the William E. Simon and American Illustration annual competitions. www.trendsresearch.com Chair in Political Economy, Center for Strategic Freda considers himself an information warrior, and International Studies, Georgetown and his politically charged imagery currently graces University. He is recipient of the U.S. millions of computer screens via a wide spectrum Treasury’s Silver Medal and of the of mainstream and alternative websites and Legion of Honor conveyed by the magazines including Trends Journal. His artwork French government. often re-purposes vintage American ephemera into ironic, darkly humorous takes on the issues burning in the zeitgeist. THE TRENDS JOURNAL | FALL 2013 FEATURES WHAT IN THE WORLD IS Confronting the truth GOING ON? is facing the enemy Nothing new Each new day seems The martial art of trend forecasting 2 about social media... to bring with it a new geopolitical crisis, one Political craziness: ...except that your personal data now more political debacle, belongs to everyone 32 more dire economic Your money and your life warnings, increased social A conversation with Gerald Celente Healthy fast food disturbances, another about the state of the global economy 4 brings fat profits environmental threat. What does it all mean? What can A trend that’s picking up steam 34 The bitcoin bubble be done? How will it end? Gerald Celente’s Trends Spike, crash, what’s next? 8 We’ve only Journal® is the only just begun magazine in the world No need for NATO to play that pinpoints how today’s current events form future Stop spreading war, and keep the money Gaming, from Pong at home 26 trends and how they to smartphone 40 will affect your business, career, family and future … your life. DEPARTMENTS Founded by a political atheist, agenda- and Epiphany Globalnomics Drawing Another View Scorecard advertising-free, and Gerald’s brush Unemployment points Evictions Hits and beholden to no one, with history among youth Media circus everywhere misses Trends Journal provides unbiased insights, analysis 12 24 38 44 48 and forecasts of critical socioeconomic, finance, political, economic, business, consumer/retail, entertainment, technology, science and other trends Alex Silberman (“The Lisa Ramirez (“Healthy fast that are fact-based, data- bitcoin bubble,” p. 8) has been an food brings fat profits,” p. 34) has driven and on the cutting editor at the Trends Journal for been living and writing in New edge. nearly twenty years. He has also York’s Hudson Valley for more Gerald Celente’s track record speaks for itself. worked at the Wall Street Journal, than 20 years. She began her career He’s been forecasting Life magazine and Motorcycle Weekly. as an obituary writer for a daily tabloid and has since worldwide since 1980. He frequently writes on cyber events and health care worked as a reporter and editor, covering everything No one has been so for numerous publications. from crime to politics to pop culture. She is currently right, on so many issues, a freelancer and lives in Summitville, N.Y. with her so often! If you want to anticipate change, Ric Dragon (“Nothing new about social media...,” husband and daughter. p. 32) is the author of Social Marketology, and the take proactive measures to seize opportunities CEO of DragonSearch, a digital marketing agency. In (“We’ve only just begun to play,” Zeke West and develop profit addition to being a regular speaker at global events p. 40) is director of media relations for the Trends strategies, subscribe to including NMX, SMX Social, Brite Conf, Brands Research Institute. As an avid “gamer” for nearly Trends Journal. Read Conf, and ReThink, Dragon two decades and educated in the science of trends about “History Before It is a contributing columnist and forecasting, West and his team at the Institute Happens” from the world leader in trend forecasting. for Social Media Today and provide a trends-eye view of techno entertainment Marketing Land. trends past, present and future. FALL 2013 | THE TRENDS JOURNAL 1 KEYNOTES Confronting the truth is facing the enemy The martial art of trend forecasting By Gerald Celente PUBLISHER As part of my morning meditation, I thank my ancestors by name for all they blessed me with. I visualize my mother and father, great grandmother (I only have a photo of my mother’s grand- mother), grandparents and aunts and uncles on both sides of the family. It is all the love, kindness and wisdom they gave me that laid the foundation for me to become who I am. How I loved being with each of them. I fondly remember my Uncle Al, “The Dude,” my Aunt Zizi’s husband, who used to often take us to Yankee games on Sunday afternoons (I wrote What Zizi Gave Honeyboy in honor of Zizi — William Mor- row, 2002). This was in the Yankees’ golden years of Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Billy Martin, Whitey Ford, Bill “Moose” Skowron, Elston Howard, Hank Bauer, “Bullet” Bob Turley and Don Larsen, to name just a few. After the game, Uncle Al would say to me: “Who’s your favorite Uncle.” I would look him square in the eye and say: “I don’t have a favorite Uncle. I love all my uncles.” And boy, did I. What a group of men, all cats with their own groove and style. I was the youngest of five until my mom had two “change-of-life” children, as they called them back then. So I spent a good deal of time with her alone while my older brothers and sisters were in school. In those days, as it has been since recorded history, it was common for mothers to stay at home and raise their children. I remember from a young age, for whatever reason, her looking at me and saying more than once, “I hate cowards.” FINDING THE COURAGE “Cowards!” As I see it, that’s what America and so many nations have become. Do you live in a na- tion of cowards? As I write elsewhere in this Trends Journal, before any plans can be developed to create a positive future, what is first required is for a critical mass to find the courage within themselves to stand Anthony Freda up against corrupt political and financial forces. The 2 THE TRENDS JOURNAL | ISSUE DATE keynotes masses must demand policies and practices that will bring societies to higher levels of being. But the view from my trends-eye, cat-bird seat is of a general public that has shown itself too timid to fight against the overt injustices that prevail. Are they cowards? Or do they cower in fear because they don’t know how to fight? Thanks to my upbringing, education and self mo- tivation, I consider my life a success. But had it not been for one person outside my family influence, I could never be operating at the level I am now. While I was always a scrappy kid, Close Combat was the glue that brought it all together. I learned from John Perkins, one of America’s top martial arts masters (www.AttackProof.com). I eventually became a second-degree black belt and even ran my own Close Combat school. Perkins taught me how to fight in battle, fight for my life and not allow anyone to bully or silence me. He also taught me how to fight for my freedom of expression. He taught me how to back up my words Edward Snowden, with action when needed. He taught me how to Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning and Glenn speak my mind without fear. John Perkins taught me Greenwald, clockwise how to fight to defend my dignity and self respect. from top left, hardly He gave me the courage never to be a coward.