2019 From A Fourth Turning Perspective
Politics / US Politics Jan 01, 2019 - 03:52 PM GMTBy: James_Quinn
“An impasse over the federal budget reaches a stalemate. The president and Congress both refuse to back down, triggering a near-total government shutdown. The president declares emergency powers. Congress rescinds his authority. Dollar and bond prices plummet. The president threatens to stop Social Security checks. Congress refuses to raise the debt ceiling. Default looms. Wall Street panics.” – The Fourth Turning – Strauss & Howe
“An impasse over the federal budget reaches a stalemate. The president and Congress both refuse to back down, triggering a near-total government shutdown. The president declares emergency powers. Congress rescinds his authority. Dollar and bond prices plummet. The president threatens to stop Social Security checks. Congress refuses to raise the debt ceiling. Default looms. Wall Street panics.” – The Fourth Turning – Strauss & Howe
Strauss and Howe wrote their book in 1996. They were not trying to be prophets of doom, but observers of history able to connect events through human life cycles of 80 or so years. Using critical thinking skills and identifying the most likely triggers for crisis: debt, civic decay, and global disorder, they were able to anticipate scenarios which could drive the next crisis, which they warned would arrive in the mid-2000 decade. The scenario described above is fairly close to the current situation, driven by the showdown between Trump and the Democrats regarding the border wall.
It has not reached the stage where all hell breaks loose, but if it extends until the end of January and food stamp money is not distributed to 40 million people (mostly in urban ghettos) all bets are off. The likelihood of this scenario is small, but there are numerous potential triggers which could still make 2019 go down in history as a year to remember.
As we enter the eleventh year of this Fourth Turning, the fourth Crisis period in U.S. history, the mood of U.S. citizens and citizens around the globe continues to darken. Fourth Turnings are driven by generational configuration and the emotional reaction to events by the Prophet generation leaders, Nomad generation spearheads, and Hero generation cannon fodder.
As we close out this year, stock markets are gyrating wildly, central bankers are trying to reverse their nine years of interventionist strategies to sustain the establishment, civil chaos spreads across the European continent, saber rattling between the U.S., Russia and China increases, the animosity between political parties reaches new heights, the Deep State relentlessly pursues their Mueller led coup against Trump, mega-social media corporations tighten their grip on free speech by silencing conservatives, leftists push their socialist, open borders, normalizing degeneracy agenda, and global recession gains momentum as trade declines and global debt reaches unserviceable levels.
Examining the three prior Fourth Turnings may give us a window into where we stand and what may happen in the coming year. We are in the tenth year of this Crisis, with the eleven-year anniversary slated for September 2019. The American Revolution Crisis was catalyzed in 1773 when the Boston Tea Party forever changed the colonial mood towards revolution. After eight years of struggle and desperate measures, the climax was reached with the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1781.
But there was still thirteen more years of crisis as the new states forged a Constitution, elected Washington its first president, and he withstood the Jacobins, put down the Whiskey Rebellion and finalized a treaty with England. In year ten of the crisis, two years past the climax, the Treaty of Paris was signed, British troops left the continent, and Washington resigned as commander of American troops. The Articles of Confederation had been ratified in 1781 and remained in place until succeeded by the U.S. Constitution in 1789.
There was no tenth or eleventh year of the Civil War Crisis. Lincoln’s election with only 40% of the popular vote, prompting the attack on Fort Sumpter, and subsequent secession of Southern states, triggered the bloodiest conflict in world history, with 8% of all white men aged 13 to 43 killed in the war, including 6% in the North and 18% in the South. The acceleration of this Fourth Turning into a five-year window from 1860 to 1865 was not a positive development.
The extreme intensity of the conflict resulted in 700,000 tragic deaths. The catalyst occurred five years too soon and the resolution a generation too soon. A more extended crisis may have allowed tempers to moderate and the conflict to end in a more constructive manner. Instead, with the surrender at Appomattox and assassination of Lincoln, the resolution felt more like a defeat than a victory. Turmoil continued for at least a decade after the resolution.
The Great Depression/World War II Crisis saw its tenth and eleventh years as the most ominous, dangerous and destructive for Great Britain, as they bore the brunt of the German onslaught. 1939 saw the Nazi invasion of Poland and the official start of World War II. In May of 1940 Germany launched its blitzkrieg offensive through Holland and Belgium, defeating the French and British forces in a matter of weeks. Chamberlain resigned as Prime Minister, replaced by Churchill, as France surrendered in late June.
The Battle of Britain raged from July through October as Hitler relentlessly bombed England, trying to force their surrender. Germany, Italy and Japan signed the Tripartite pact in September, setting the stage for the U.S. eventual participation in the war. Einstein informed FDR of the potential for an atomic bomb during 1939 and the Manhattan Project was born. The climax of the crisis occurred with the successful D-Day invasion. The dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan and successful demobilization of military forces marked the end of the crisis.
History may not repeat, but human nature never changes, so the 80-year cycles of manmade crisis will repeat. The length of time from the American Revolution climax in 1781 until the Civil War climax in 1863 was 82 years. The next climax in 1944 was 81 years after the Civil War climax. Therefore, we can expect a climax to this current Crisis sometime in the 2025 range. The question is what events will transpire between 2019 and 2025 before a climax is reached.
Based upon history, the resolution will not be based on compromise, civility, reason, or peaceful means. The combustible combination of unpayable debt, civic anarchy, and global chaos are set to detonate, creating an era of maximum darkness, death, destruction, and decisions. Making America Great Again will require personal sacrifice, dreadful choices, survival skills, intelligent decisions, and the courage to win at all costs.
The first ten years of this Crisis were the early Winter solstice period when public order began to pass its nadir. The coldest days of Winter beckon with the harshest years of the Crisis ahead. Many melancholy days lie ahead, as bitter winter winds and blizzard like conditions sweep the bleak landscape, testing the mettle of even the bravest souls. The catalyst for the Crisis was the Wall Street created global financial meltdown in 2008. The election of Trump marked the beginning of the regeneracy, with Trump as the Gray Champion.
The last two years have certainly marked a new more volatile phase of this Crisis, setting the stage for the fireworks to come. The regeneracy is less like FDR’s New Deal initiated unification of the country and more like the Lincoln regeneracy after the First Battle of Bull Run when he ordered the enlistment of a half million men to fight a like number of fellow American men. Both American factions were unified in their cause. The chain reaction of emergencies and unyielding responses will continue unabated until a final resolution is achieved.
“In retrospect, the spark might seem as ominous as a financial crash, as ordinary as a national election, or as trivial as a Tea Party. The catalyst will unfold according to a basic Crisis dynamic that underlies all of these scenarios: An initial spark will trigger a chain reaction of unyielding responses and further emergencies.
The core elements of these scenarios (debt, civic decay, global disorder) will matter more than the details, which the catalyst will juxtapose and connect in some unknowable way. If foreign societies are also entering a Fourth Turning, this could accelerate the chain reaction. At home and abroad, these events will reflect the tearing of the civic fabric at points of extreme vulnerability – problem areas where America will have neglected, denied, or delayed needed action.” – The Fourth Turning– Strauss & Howe
Strauss and Howe foresaw the core elements which would surely propel the next Fourth Turning. They were plain to see for people who chose to see the world with eyes wide open. Debt, civic decay and global disorder are on center stage as we enter the fateful year of 2019. A madness seems to be gripping the nation, a melancholy realization all is not right. Everything has a chaotic feel, as financial markets are falling, politicians threaten and attack each other, government dysfunction is laid bare for all to see, Deep State snakes slither behind the scenes trying to bring down Trump, racial tensions grow, foreign governments topple, Russia and China challenge U.S. hegemony, and the global debt Ponzi scheme is entering its collapse phase.
There are no moderates, only pro-Trump and anti-Trump factions. Compromise and workable solutions to our deep-seated problems are off the table. The mood of the populace ranges from frustrated and angry to depressed and stressed. The aroma of conflict wafts through the air as battle lines are being drawn.
The initial spark of a global financial meltdown created by greedy Wall Street banks, the feckless Fed, and corrupt government officials was driven by bad debt, outright control fraud by the financial industry, captured rating agencies, easy money provided by the Wall Street owned Fed, and utter contempt for properly regulating the Wall Street cabal by the Fed and SEC.
This emergency was met by an unyielding response from the establishment, with the easiest money policies in world history, bailing out criminal bankers with taxpayer funds, increasing global debt by $80 trillion to $250 trillion (318% of global GDP), running fiscal deficits exceeding $1 trillion per year, and pretending all that debt will be repaid. Pretend and extend has been the solution.
The Deep State has taken extraordinary measures to try and retain their stranglehold on the wealth of the nation and control of the political, financial, social and media levers of society. They have utilized a combination of propaganda disguised as news, social media distractions, technological surveillance, misinformation campaigns, welfare to keep the poor sedated, and the continued issuance of debt to keep the masses satiated with consumer goods as their wealth dissipates. But the teetering edifice of debt, delusion and deception is poised to topple in 2019.
As we enter 2019, year eleven of this ongoing Crisis, you can sense the panic and distress permeating from the pores of the establishment figures and their rich shadowy benefactors trying to maintain their unseen presence behind the curtain as they pull the strings – operating as the invisible government running the show for their own benefit. It seems the unanticipated election of Trump has thrown a monkey wrench into their well- oiled pillage machine, forcing them to reveal themselves as they attempt a not so subtle coup against a sitting president.
Fourth Turnings always sweep away the existing social order in a torrent of violent upheaval and the blood of young men. But that doesn’t mean the existing establishment will give up their wealth, power and control without a fight. And the fight is underway. The volcano has erupted and the molten lava could flow in numerous pathways over the next six or so years.
“Imagine some national (and probably global) volcanic eruption, initially flowing along channels of distress that were created during the Unraveling era and further widened by the catalyst. Trying to foresee where the eruption will go once it bursts free of the channels is like trying to predict the exact fault line of an earthquake. All you know in advance is something about the molten ingredients of the climax, which could include the following:
- Economic distress, with public debt in default, entitlement trust funds in bankruptcy, mounting poverty and unemployment, trade wars, collapsing financial markets, and hyperinflation (or deflation)
- Social distress, with violence fueled by class, race, nativism, or religion and abetted by armed gangs, underground militias, and mercenaries hired by walled communities
- Political distress, with institutional collapse, open tax revolts, one-party hegemony, major constitutional change, secessionism, authoritarianism, and altered national borders
- Military distress, with war against terrorists or foreign regimes equipped with weapons of mass destruction” – The Fourth Turning– Strauss & Howe
The ingredients of distress in the next phase of this Crisis could include any or all of those pondered by Strauss and Howe twenty-two years ago. I can make the case for multiple levels of distress breaking free from their channels, making 2019 as historic a year as 1939 or 1940. My prognosis for 2019 follows:
Economic Distress
Economic distress is mounting, as the machinations of the Fed, Wall Street and the U.S. government prove to be nothing more than debt financed illusions. Once the easy money spigot is turned off and the tide of zero interest debt for Wall Street and mega-corporations recedes, you realize everyone was swimming naked. The national debt grew by $1.4 trillion in 2018 during “the best economy ever”, according to Trump.
We added $12 trillion to the national debt and have generated a historically weak recovery, especially for the working class. We’ve gone nine years without recession and the longest period in U.S. history between recessions was ten years. Without the tax cut stimulus, interest rates higher, corporate profits flagging, global trade waning, and central bankers withdrawing liquidity, recession is likely in 2019 – driving deficits towards $2 trillion.
The number of zombie companies (GE, Sears, JC Penney, Chesapeake, all fracking companies) propped up by cheap junk bond debt is astronomical. National debt default is still a ways off, but a tsunami of corporate debt defaults will inundate the economy once the recession knocks the legs out from beneath this faux recovery. Corporations and consumers have never been more indebted. Stock valuations have never been higher.
An economy that begins to self destruct when interest rates approach 3% proves the “solutions” implemented by those in power did nothing for the average American, while further enriching the parasitical class pulling the strings. At this point, a specific triggering event is unnecessary to provoke the economic conflagration. The unbearable weight of unpayable debt is going to cause the structure to collapse at free fall speed, like the Twin Towers pancaking everyone in the floors below.
With a recession inevitable in 2019, we know the stock market declines 30% to 40% during recessions, on average. When a stock market is this overvalued, based solely on Fed easy money and corporate buybacks (Apple has lost $9 billion on their buybacks this year), the withdrawal of liquidity combined with recession and declining profits will knock 50% to 60% off current prices. I wonder how many middle-class 401k contributors expect this to happen. Well this will be the third time in 18 years, so you would think they’d learn by now.
Recession means job losses, consumer debt defaults, less tax revenue for the government, more wasteful spending by politicians pretending to care, soaring deficits, currency gyrations, and the potential for rising interest rates as no one will be willing or able to buy the newly issued debt. Will we have massive deflation or hyperinflation? Anything is possible in a collapse scenario. What is certain will be millions of angry Americans looking for someone to blame and politicians seeking to distract them with some foreign “threat” to their safety and security. This is when trade wars morph into real wars.
Social Distress
The social distress sweeping the country gets the majority of attention on the left-wing corporate media propaganda machines as they purposely fan the flames of divisiveness. Keeping the sheeple angry at each other keeps them distracted from the continued pillaging of the national wealth by the Deep State scum operating in plain sight. The daily war against the normals has reached new heights of hypocrisy and idiocy.
The unceasing mantra of diversity, trying to normalize the lifestyles of the mentally ill, glorifying socialism as Venezuela implodes due to socialism, promoting the climate change agenda to abscond with more taxes, and trying to force left wing agendas down the throats of white traditional family-oriented people, is on the verge of starting civil violence as we are witnessing in France. The ruling class has gone too far in accumulating the wealth of the nation through the capture of regulatory, political, financial, and communication structures. Wealth inequality arisen through fraud, deception and corruption will lead to class warfare – likely after the next financial collapse.
The current government shutdown over funding for a border wall is essentially a showdown over the racial makeup of the country and allowing unfettered access to welfare benefits to illegal invaders who will loyally illegally vote for their Democrat benefactors for eternity. Racial politics is what has kept blacks enslaved on the welfare plantation in decaying urban ghettos run by Democrat politician plantation owners.
A black uprising led by Kanye West has struck fear into the hearts of Democrats, giving them further incentive to keeping the southern border open to new Democrat voters. With gun grabbing liberal politicians attempting to disarm the deplorables in flyover country, while supporting antifa and black lives matter terrorists, and thwarting efforts to keep criminals and terrorists from illegally entering the country, a violent showdown is inevitable.
Political Distress
The political distress since the 2016 election has reached levels not seen since the Civil War Crisis period. The Deep State controllers’ next hand-picked figurehead president – Hillary Clinton – inexplicably lost the election to a NYC reality star real estate mogul who boasted about grabbing pussies and had a weakness for strippers and Playboy bunnies. Clinton’s arrogance and hubris were her downfall as the deplorables she ridiculed and a majority of white women in the country gave Trump a slim victory and drove millions of *****-hat wearing feminazis into a rage.
College students across the land sobbed in their safe spaces and missed their Queer Theory or Pick your Gender classes. But not only were snowflakes across the land melting, but the surveillance state spooks who attempted to rig the election in Clinton’s favor went into a frenzy, as fear of their traitorous machinations being revealed forced them to begin a coup attempt against Trump. The Mueller, Comey, Clapper, Brennan, Obama, Clinton reactive coup attempt is ongoing and will come to a head in 2019.
The outcome of this epic struggle between the Deep State and the non-approved upstart president could create civil war like conditions. How will Trump supporters react if they believe their leader is removed through impeachment, based on false charges? Will they take to the streets in armed insurrection? Will the police and military fire on their fellow citizens? What if Trump refuses to step down, creating a Constitutional crisis? What if he is assassinated?
On the other hand, what if Trump’s allies within the DOJ and Military present evidence of collusion against the Obama administration, Clinton and top officials in the FBI, DOJ and CIA? How would the left wingers react to military tribunals with their beloved leaders in the docket? Even if these earth-shattering events don’t come to fruition, a Democrat controlled House will thwart everything Trump attempts to accomplish as they position themselves for the 2020 presidential election. The anger and disillusionment of the masses will deepen.
Military Distress
The potential for catastrophe on the military front hasn’t been higher in decades. The linear thinking lemmings dismiss the possibility of a global conflict because they are just as obtuse as “experts” before them throughout history. Since World War II we have only experienced proxy wars where the outcomes would not change the course of world history. There have been no “total wars”, where the loser is utterly shattered and complete victory is attained.
Those who practice revisionist history act as if the previous two Fourth Turning total wars were completely predictable before they began. In 1858 no one believed a Civil War taking the lives of 700,000 Americans was just over the horizon. Exactly 80 years later in 1938, few believed a global conflict which would kill 65 million people in six years was imminent. Here we are exactly 80 years later and anyone predicting a global conflagration killing millions is declared a loon.
Every previous Fourth Turning has ended in total war with victory of the “good guys” always in doubt. Every total war has ratcheted up the level of death and destruction, as technological “advancements” enhance our war making abilities. Human nature DOES NOT change. We are not smarter, less war-like, more humanitarian, or less arrogant than our predecessors throughout history. Hubris, power, and miscalculation by egomaniacal leaders leads to war.
We know the climax of this Fourth Turning is slated for around 2025. This infers a high likelihood of a major war involving the U.S. in the foreseeable future. Will it ignite in 2019? All the combustible elements are present. The onset of a global depression, trade wars, China & Russia feeling pushed into a corner and the volatile political situation in the U.S. and EU provide a potential pathway to global conflict.
Economic indicators from China show the slowest economic growth in a quarter century. Their natives are restless. Plunging oil prices will throw the Russian economy into recession. The EU economies, led by Germany, are seizing up with the slowdown in global trade. Japan has essentially been in recession since the 1990s. The U.S. is poised for a recession in 2019.
Immigration chaos in Europe, Brexit, Ukrainian nazis provoking Russia, South China Sea territorial disputes, the Syria, Turkey, Iran, Israel ticking time bomb, Saudi anarchy, socialist South American regimes imploding, and U.S. political pandemonium have created a perfect storm of domestic and international disasters. What do low-life politicians do when faced with terrible domestic issues? They seek to distract their citizens with a foreign threat. See “Blame Russia for Everything” as an example of this tried and true propaganda technique.
Desperate politicians do desperate things to retain power. Desperate Deep State actors care not one wit for their fellow countrymen. They are willing and able to sacrifice the youth of their nation to fight wars which will further enrich themselves and their fellow traitorous benefactors. We are nothing but cannon fodder to this psychopathic scum. Putin and Xi are essentially dictators who have no fear of elections every two years. They are serious men in possession of nuclear missiles, capable of destroying the world.
Blaming them for all the ills in your own country is a fool hardy tactic. The ever- increasing saber rattling, whether in the Ukraine, Syria, South China Sea, or during antagonistic trade negotiations can easily lead to unintended consequences. All leaders have enormous egos and are prone to over-confidence and miscalculation regarding how their opponent will react. Someone is going to do something stupid and then all hell is going to break loose.
No Escape
“The risk of catastrophe will be very high. The nation could erupt into insurrection or civil violence, crack up geographically, or succumb to authoritarian rule. If there is a war, it is likely to be one of maximum risk and effort – in other words, a total war. Every Fourth Turning has registered an upward ratchet in the technology of destruction, and in mankind’s willingness to use it.
History offers no guarantees. Obviously, things could go horribly wrong – the possibilities ranging from a nuclear exchange to incurable plagues, from terrorist anarchy to high-tech dictatorship. We should not assume that Providence will always exempt our nation from the irreversible tragedies that have overtaken so many others: not just temporary hardship, but debasement and total ruin. Losing in the next Fourth Turning could mean something incomparably worse. It could mean a lasting defeat from which our national innocence – perhaps even our nation – might never recover.” – Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning
There is no escape from the Fourth Turning. We are midway through this crisis and the existing social order retains tenuous control over the levers of finance, government and the legacy media. History tells us our society will be reshaped and transformed before this crisis resolves itself sometime between now and 2029. It would be the utmost of arrogance to believe our nation will be protected from destruction by an all-powerful God. We’ve made bad choices, deferred hard decisions, squandered our financial resources, allowed our educational system to be corrupted and valued all the wrong things.
There will be consequences. The overt last- ditch financial debt schemes concocted by the entrenched establishment, to prolong their power and control, are unraveling and a death and rebirth of the social order through a chaotic cleansing is in the offing. I believe the real fireworks will begin during 2019.
I don’t eagerly await the terrible storms headed our way. I wish we didn’t have to withstand the brutal gales of this coming winter, but we have no choice. You have to survive Winter to experience the blossoming Spring. The coming decade will try our souls and force everyone to make choices that will make a difference. The specific events are unknowable, but how we react and who we support during the events will be the decisive factor in whether this Fourth Turning is resolved in a positive way. Having it resolved in negative way could be an unimaginable tragedy.
Patrick Henry made his famous “Give me liberty or give me death” speech during the first American Fourth Turning. His words ring true today. We are already at war. Sides have been drawn. We are going to have to fight whether we like it or not. Our only other choice is chains and slavery. The time to choose has arrived. Welcome to 2019.
“The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” – Patrick Henry – 1775
Join me at www.TheBurningPlatform.com to discuss truth and the future of our country.
By James Quinn
James Quinn is a senior director of strategic planning for a major university. James has held financial positions with a retailer, homebuilder and university in his 22-year career. Those positions included treasurer, controller, and head of strategic planning. He is married with three boys and is writing these articles because he cares about their future. He earned a BS in accounting from Drexel University and an MBA from Villanova University. He is a certified public accountant and a certified cash manager.
These articles reflect the personal views of James Quinn. They do not necessarily represent the views of his employer, and are not sponsored or endorsed by his employer.
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