Via Simon Black of Sovereign Man blog,

Sometimes the writing on the wall seems painfully obvious. But occasionally it's a good idea to step back and look at the big picture:



1) The Land of the Free is set to impose fresh restrictions on firearm ownership... to include a ban on assault weapons, increased background checks, psychological screenings, and criminalizing ammunition magazine clips with a capacity beyond ten rounds.



And if they can't pass these measures by law, the President is prepared to enforce them by royal decree, i.e. executive order.



It's amazing that people have become so fearful, they are now abdicating one of the most fundamental responsibilities of humanity-- protecting and safeguarding our families.



Instead, many Americans are choosing to outsource this responsibility to the same folks who bathe them in radiation at airports, spy on their phone calls and emails, wage senseless wars in foreign lands... and have a horrible track record of screwing up everything they try to do.



Great idea, seems like a hell of a trade-off.



2) The German central bank has announced that they will begin withdrawing their massive gold holdings from the United States.



In what is likely to be the first move among many other sovereign nations, it's clear that governments no longer trust each other, and that the goodwill of the United States is being viewed with increasing suspicion.



As gold holdings flee the United States, how long will it be before they 'close the window' and ban gold exports? Do you really want to find out first hand?



3) The United States government is just weeks away from defaulting on its mountain of debt. Having already technically breached the debt ceiling, their only temporary fix is to seize federal pensions and engage in fraudulent accounting tricks.



Obviously this forebodes a number of potential consequences-- seizure of private retirement accounts, capital controls, etc. And yet, people in US will merely trust that their government is going to 'fix it', and do absolutely nothing to hedge their bets.



4) European politicians have declared an end to the euro crisis. Notwithstanding the wave of riots across the continent, or the record level of unemployment that was just reached this month, politicians are engaging in self-congratulatory back-slapping for their courageous handling of the crisis.



At this point, Europe has almost become a caricature... its politicians like monocled cartoon villains, twirling their moustaches in dark room.



Absolutely nothing has changed on a fundamental level. Most countries still have massively high debt burdens, pension obgliations, and deficits. And they're still living hand to mouth on the backs of German taxpayers and quantitative easing.



Pretending that the situation has magically resolved itself is either the height of incompetence or intellectual dishonesty.



Curiously, most people seem to know this. Yet they will do absolutely nothing.



They know, for example, that a US default is an entirely feasible option on the table. They understand that the consequences would be disastrous. And yet, most folks will do nothing and simply hope for the best.



The best response is to take steps which make sense in either scenario... no matter what happens.



You won't be worse off for taking control of your retirement account. You won't be worse off for holding some of your hard-earned savings in a strong, stable bank overseas, in a jurisdiction where your politicians can't seize it. You won't be worse off for having some precious metals stashed away overseas... or owning productive land abroad.



All of these steps make sense no matter what. And it's an important strategy to adopt.