Suddenly Fear Of Social Unrest Is Everywhere

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In a year that has experienced a global pandemic, Depression-level job losses, a bevy of large-scale natural disasters from wildfires to Cat 4 hurricanes to derechos, the #1 current concern we’re now hearing from our readers isn’t any of these.

Instead, it’s the danger of social unrest breaking out in their local community.

Anyone with eyes can see that the mercury is rising across America. The riots that follow the deaths of folks like George Floyd and now Jacob Blake, the current violence in Kenosha, Seattle’s lawless autonomous zone, the movement to ‘defund the police’, the anger behind the surge of ‘cancel culture’ – the nation’s social fabric is suddenly stretched taut and starting to tear at the seams.

Is it any surprise that gun sales are up 72%(!) vs last year, with first-time buyers driving a material percentage of that increase:

According to a report by the Washington Post, the National Sports Shooting Foundation says that first-time gun buyers played a heavy role in the increase. Women and black Americans have also shown interest in arming themselves this year.

“Nearly 5 million Americans purchased a firearm for the very first time in 2020. NSSF surveyed firearm retailers which reported that 40% of sales were conducted to purchasers who have never previously owned a firearm,” the organization said in its analysis, which tracked background checks associated with the sale of a firearm reported by the FBI’s National Instant Background Check System.

“This is a tectonic shift in the firearm and ammunition industry marketplace and complete transformation of today’s gun-owning community,” said Lawrence G. Keane, a senior vice president at the foundation. “These first-time buyers represent a group of people who, until now, were agnostic regarding firearm ownership. That’s rapidly changing…

(Source)


This rise in public ire is something we’ve been warning of for years here at PeakProsperity.com. While there are many serious injustices that exist in today’s society, we believe the root cause for the majority of them lies in the misguided and frequently immoral policies perpetrated by the Federal Reserve and Congress – policies that reward the already-rich at the expense of the general public.

2020 has revealed this truth clearly in the response to the covid-19 pandemic. With the $5+ trillion unleashed between the monetary and fiscal “rescue” stimulus efforts, the battle cry from our “leaders” has been: Defend the rich!

Despite an unprecedented decline in economic activity, asset prices have more than recovered their losses and many are now back at all-time-highs in what has been the shortest-lived bear market history:

<img class=“aligncenter size-medium” src=“https://peakprosperity.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Ega62PnXgAACk0b-1.jpeg” alt="“Bear market comparison chart” width=“1108” height=“869” />

We have been referring to these detrimental policies as the Leave No Billionaire Behind (#LNBB) program, as they’ve resulted in a massive boom for the uber-wealthy, while the rest of America has lost tens of millions of jobs and received meager to no assistance.

To get a sense of the gargantuan disparity between the haves and the have-nots, watch this 2-minute video:

And these policies aren't going away. In fact, as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell stated yesterday, our leaders are doubling- and tripling-down on them.

In my recent interview with former Fed insider Danielle DiMartino-Booth, she interprets Powell’s comments yesterday as nothing less than a public commitment to “do even more” of what the Fed has been doing since 2009.

So if you think creating a zombie economy that enriches the elites while screwing the rest of us has been bad, boy, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet…

This is why my fellow co-founder Chris Martenson and I share this quote by Plutarch so often. If we continue the status quo trajectory, history is extremely clear on what will follow:

<img class=“aligncenter size-medium” src=“https://peakprosperity.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/859831a904f842d4c490a96ee68ad047-1.jpg” alt="“Plutarch quote” width=“850” height=“400” />

There is a line of intolerance that, once crossed, will turn the desperate masses against the small few benefitting so vastly from today’s system.

Skeptical it could happen? History begs to differ. Its list of social revolutions, uprisings and rebellions is so long it makes your head spin. Even the number that have happened just within the past decade is staggeringly large

And with an upcoming US Presidential election as divisive as this one? Not only will a large part of America be angry at the outcome, whomever wins, imagine what would happen should the results be contested in a protracted dispute (as has already been hinted at by both parties)? It would be the equivalent of tossing a grenade into the already-overstuffed powder keg.

So, are there steps you can today to reduce your vulnerability should unrest and the threat of violence/looting come to your community?

The answer is fortunately: yes.

In Part 2: Protecting Yourself, Your Loved Ones, Your Home & Your Money From Social Unrest, we’ve compiled the most effective, practical actions and best practices for you to consider taking now to safeguard your loved ones, your home, and your wealth from “mob threat”.

If you’re as concerned about social unrest as many of our readers, you need to assess your biggest areas of vulnerability and actively decide which are worth taking action on today.

Because only those preparations you’ve already put in place are the ones available once crisis hits.

Click here to read Part 2 of this report (free executive summary, enrollment required for full access).

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://peakprosperity.com/suddenly-fear-of-social-unrest-is-everywhere/

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This isn’t about the divide between the rich and the poor, this is about total control by Marxists. Either continue to appease them in hopes that they will eventually be satisfied, rather than emboldened, or bring the hammer down on them.
We are not China or Russia, in which the populace was unarmed. We are armed. One way or another, the hammer will fall down upon these wicked communists.
These riots only stand where there is appeasement. Such appeasement is only in Democrat run cities and states. The voters are taking note. Expect a seriously red wave this fall. Whether they are merely sympathetic to the supposed racial justice cause of the rioters, or whether they are willing disciples of communism, these false leaders are being noted.
As has been said, it didn’t have to be this way.

3

The powers that be have done a perfect job in causing divide. Thrown in some mass wealth disparity, mix it with a bit civil or criminal injustice, stir and kaboom. Pretty simple formula.

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Nasty people for sure, but not Marxists or even left wing.
Anything sponsored by the likes of Soros cannot be left wing (even if they think so themselves), because per definition, billionaires cannot be, neither the causes they support.
Sure, plenty of fake left identity politics around, but pushed only to distract the people from real issues, like endless wars, increasing inequality and universal health care, but instead putting them against each other.
 
 

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were arrested after filling multiple gas cans. Helmets, gas masks, protective vests, illegal fireworks" were found inside their vehicles.
https://nypost.com/2020/08/28/activists-arrested-in-kenosha-after-filling-up-gas-cans-police/
Should the FBI be investigating terrorist organizations that travel out of state to commit arson and criminal battery crimes? Should they investigate the claims of Senator Rand Paul claims that some organization was financing protestors in DC, paying their air travel, lodging and food. Oh wait a minute the FBI is still busy trying to plant a spy in the white house to frame Trump for Russia collusion. And they still can’t figure out what the heck happened at that darned Mandalay Bay massacre. They don’t have time to investigate domestic terrorists except for those pesky white supremacists.

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I can’t find it, but, thc0655 posted and article several months ago about the multiple groups that come together in a protest/riot/arson/looting event. (Can you find that again thc0655?)

  1. The idealistic people who seek fairness and truly want justice for everyone. This group is the most important as it is the public face of the event and the positive idealogical faction that allows normal people to tolerate the protests. They are kind and have friends of all races, and are empathetic to those who are downtrodden. Many are white.
  2. Those bursting with rage. They long to burn, smash and destroy. Treated badly for so long that there is no way forward but to destroy. Maybe slavery, maybe the growing gap between the rich and the poor–but they completely understanding that there is no way to get ahead for them.
  3. Those that want free stuff. “Protests” Providence, RI were fueled by social media advertisements that they were going to break into Macys, and other high end department stores at a certain time and to “be there and get shit.”
  4. Organizers, whose goals are to reshape society using violence as a tool. Have scouts, radios, deliver bricks and gasoline ahead of time. Direct the flow of the riots to unguarded streets. Order the buses to bring in protestors from OOT. Helps to have insiders in the city government who can direct police to stand down for a bit while the fires catch and spread.
    It is no wonder that our understanding of what is happening is so cloudy and our responses so disjointed.
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There are less than 1 tenth of 1 percent of the population involved in this.
Media is really good at making it seem that this is bigger than it is.
If Biden were to win this will all go away in a heart beat. It’s all about politics and control.

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You said…”There are less than 1 tenth of 1 percent of the population involved in this.”
Would that mean there are 328,200 people active in trying to destroy my country? That seems like a lot.
okay …less than 328,200…so maybe 328,199? Now I feel better.

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Sorry Rootman but being sponsored by a billionaire or billionaires or anyone with great wealth, power, and influence does NOT preclude an individual, group, or movement from being Marxist. Did you forget that the Marxists in the Soviet Union were ultimately funded by New York bankers? This isn’t fake identity politics. Identity politics are but one of their tools. Political correctness is another. No, it is exactly what was predicted by people like Yuri Bezmenov and Stanislav Lunev, individuals who knew exactly how things worked from their insider perspectives. But you are correct about them being nasty people. The left has had a long standing monopoly on the nastiest people doing the nastiest things. Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, and Ceaucescu are but a few examples. As bad as the fascists Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco were, in terms of total body count, they didn’t even come close to the Marxists. The Marxists have brought more misery to this world than any other group in history, bar none.
That being said, I fully agree with you that there is plenty of distraction going on. Witness the fact that neither the left nor the right has launched any kind of protest or substantive resistance or opposition to central banking policies, one of the root causes of much evil in the world. The mainstream media, which is almost exclusively left wing at this time, also remains totally silent on the issue. That’s not by accident.
 

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Firearms to defend yourself, your family and your property. Body cams to wear while doing it so some stooge doesn’t show the last 5 seconds only of the encounter to the news making you look like a murderer. Have your own footage to back up your actions. I have cameras outside my house, a dash cam in case I need to drive into a city and am thinking about getting a small body cam. People now are crazy and you don’t want a selectively edited video making you look like a monster… it didn’t have to be like this indeed.

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These are groups of people who have been propagandized by left wing media [ and the far left “education” system ], enabled by left wing leaders, funded and organized by George Soros and company [ those hard line left wing fanatics who believe in an “Open society” aka global world communist regime ].
America is under attack by the left. How do we protect ourselves? We vote against the left, we arm ourselves, we pressure our leaders to maintain law and order, we support police, and we never EVER back down.

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Firearms to defend yourself, your family and your property. Body cams to wear while doing it so some stooge doesn’t show the last 5 seconds only of the encounter to the news making you look like a murderer...
Yes, brilliant. While I don't wear the MAGA hat myself (I don't look very good in red), if Nick Sandman had his own body cam footage, he could have short-circuited the whole affair all on his own. He got lucky other people recorded it for him. And a body cam is a whole lot harder to spot than you holding out your phone in front of your face - practically inviting someone else to rip it out of your hands. The whole recording-things-on-a-phone process seems ... fraught with difficulty.
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https://youtu.be/sb9jRqgDOJ8
This video connects a lot of dots. Davos…Gates…HCQ …vaccines…
Well worth your time.
 
 

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https://hms.harvard.edu/magazine/science-emotion/chill-fear
But it sure “…is good for CBS…” and sadly, paradoxically, PP even though the the mission is to:
Build understanding, encourage small actions, then align with solutions.
The Harvard medicine article is worth a read, say, over some reactionary right-wing sociological sounding “theory” or dystopian novel. It’s your brain do with it what you want. It used to be my favorite organ…until I realized who it was telling me this.

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Why is it that you only qualified number 1?
Right-wing reactionary’s Unite!
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2020/08/20/speech-slavery-west-indies/

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The Occupy movement was a totally peaceful protest against the big banks, the Fed and the oligarchs who own/run this country.
In one weekend the Obomba DOJ shut it down nationwide.
Just an observation

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https://twitter.com/chrismartenson/status/1270669952010334214/photo/1

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https://lawandcrime.com/media/some-lawyers-think-covington-catholics-nick-sandmann-walked-away-from-media-lawsuits-with-peanuts/

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One goal of Marxists for decades has been undermining the local police as an institution. Local cops are generally very patriotic and less supportive of Big Brother from Washington issuing edicts. If Washington moved for a big power grab (bigger than they have now), in a violent confrontation between Washington and citizens, I’d bet on local cops defending the small towns and cities. This makes them a large obstacle to a fast jump to tyranny. (The gradual course we’ve been on for 100 years is another story, driven by the indirect efforts in psychology, economics, and philosophy rather than overt displays of force.)
Marxists challenge the moral authority of police by generalizing every bad individual cop and incident to entire departments or law enforcement in general (“systemic racism” etc.). They tie up their legal authority with lawsuits, regulations, and rules of engagement. Going after their funding is another strategy that not only undermines their capability but also demoralizes cops to the point that they walk away from their careers.
BLM provides cover for the defunding effort as a “social justice” or anti-racism effort. The casual observer sides with them because the vast majority of people are not racists, and buys into the narrative that those who oppose the Marxists must therefore be racists. It’s convenient and very effective.
Could the police defunding effort be a legitimate strategy for improving police? Hardly. Bad apples get into departments, but better screening of applicants would help diminish that. Longer training, including training in better tactics for handling violent confrontations, would help reduce violence. Better pay and incentives would attract more and better applicants, and encourage better officers to stay on the force.
So the stated goal of better policing is better served by increasing funding to police, not defunding them.
For real reform, I would go after the unions that make it hard to properly punish bad cops. Either disband the unions or reform their rules. (Sidebar: it’s the same argument conservatives make against public school teachers’ unions. Funny how I don’t hear conservatives go after police unions the same way. And the union defense is the same: going after police unions is somehow anti-police and anti-law enforcement, and going after teacher unions is somehow anti-teacher and anti-education. It’s the same bad argument, selectively applied from partisan echo chambers.)
One aim discussed among some is to federalize the police. That’s a dangerous centralization of power. Given the nature of bureaucracy, the economic and psychological/social incentives will gradually encourage cops to become more loyal to Washington than their local constituents.
In sum: the riots are not at root about racism or police reform. That’s the cover for Marxist push for power. The attack on police can further Marxism in many ways, from demoralizing cops to undermining their authority to an outright Federal takeover with institutional reform pushed from Washington on down.
In addition, the “mostly peaceful” riots (what a neologism!) serve as a distraction and create chaos and instability. The distraction allows more subtle actions to take place - such as new laws and regulations in Washington, or action from the Fed, or consumer price volatility, or massive job loss. The chaos and instability undermine confidence in the American system, opening the way for massive change.
I’m sympathetic to the Fourth Turning viewpoint, and see the current period as one of upheaval and dramatic change. Maybe revolution, but at least a big jump. As a libertarian, I see every (yes, literally every) political issue as one: does this promote or infringe on individual liberty? So in the current political chaos, the push for change can be either pro-liberty or anti-liberty. Where is the energy and momentum? Clearly with the leftists pushing for more government control of everything. The libertarian wing of the right is a shadow of what it was in the time of Reagan or the Tea Party; free speech is openly denounced as cover for hate speech; Big Tech silences dissent (even on medical topics); saying “All Lives Matter” is viewed as racist code; CA is seriously looking at a retroactive wealth tax on emigrants; etc.
Despite his significant flaws, Trump has done a few things to liberate the country: lower taxes; “Right to try” laws; tele-medicine; etc. These are good things and not insignificant. In Texas, the governor has pushed and continues to push efforts to reduce regulations and taxes, from loosening building codes to capping increases in property taxes.
So there are some efforts and successes toward liberty, but the bigger energy is strongly against it. As has been said before, in chaos, people surrender liberty for the illusion of security.
So not only do the riots serve to push openly Marxist ideas, but the riots distract from other actions and encourage people to seek the false security of greater government power. The Marxists gain in multiple ways from the riots.
I’ll refrain from discussing the political benefits to the presidential candidates in an election year, other than to note that that is an interesting twist on top of everything else, and may be the one big way in which the Marxists don’t gain from this.

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the occupy movement was not completely without violence but it was not anything close to the cluster F we find ourselves in now… the marxists are getting bolder. If they set off John and Jane Q Public anymore this could get Very Ugly , Very Quickly. I fear for the future of my country.