While your attention was elsewhere

The economic collapse picks up the pace. German bonds have hit the zero mark. For a brief while they were trading in the negative territory. That's not a sign of a healthy economy.

The immediate fear is that Britain will leave the EU. In the background there are a whole slew of Eurozone banks in difficulty. Right now money is running to Germany as it's considered to be the strongest economy in the zone. However, Germany has problems of its own, the immigration crisis being just one of them. Expect Germany to go through some political turmoil in the near future. Where will the smart money go then?

As I've said before, the collapse is here, it's just not evenly distributed yet. The chaos of Venezuela is what collapse looks like. Goods are in short supply. The power grid is hit or miss. Politics are a mess. Robberies are way up as people keep what money they have at home rather than trust shaky banks.

You don't have to leave the US empire to see collapse in motion. Puerto Ricans hold US citizenship, yet do not have a state. For a while it's status as an almost state had some economic and political advantages. Enough so that statehood never gained enough political traction to get the job done. Now it's in turmoil. The US supreme court has ruled that Puerto Rico cannot restructure its debt. Basically, it's a US colony lacking the sovereignty to solve its own problems. The problem isn't “over there.” Puerto Ricans are US citizens are coming to the mainland in droves. Their island home isn't working and the major problems are political and economic.

When the economy “recovered” new jobs were not created like always happened in the past. Companies have learned they can get by with less people. Machines are cheaper. This is a systemic change. Even the President recognizes that some jobs will never come back. Education is only a partial answer as even computer programmers won't all find work.

Politicians will use people's fear to hide the truth. While we are worried about terrorists the banks will be taking our homes and our jobs are going away.

-Sixbears