A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.  Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all.  A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it. Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honor and life. Proverbs 22:1-4

According to Scripture, a prudent man sees the dangers ahead and takes refuge.  Each week in the Global Perspectives Update we seek to draw your attention to possible dangers down the road.  It is our desire to keep you informed…in order that you can be prepared.  Please feel free to pass on information that you feel would be of interest to our readers by emailing us at info@globalperspectives.com.

We need each other!  Remember, “Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honor and life.”

Punching their fists into the air and shouting "Let's crush them!" some 100,000 North Koreans packed Pyongyang's main square Thursday for an anti-U.S. rally as the communist regime promised a "fire shower of nuclear retaliation" for any American-led attack.

North Korean troops will respond to any sanctions or U.S. provocations with "an annihilating blow," one senior official vowed—a pointed threat as an American destroyer shadowed a North Korean freighter sailing off China's coast, possibly with banned goods on board.

North Korea's "armed forces will deal an annihilating blow that is unpredictable and unavoidable, to any 'sanctions' or provocations by the US," Pak Pyong Jong, first vice chairman of the Pyongyang City People's Committee, told the crowd gathered for the Korean War anniversary rally.¹

U.S. voters are becoming increasingly concerned about North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and its long-range missile capabilities. In the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey, 38% think North Korea is the biggest threat to U.S. national security, surpassing Iran by a more than two-to-one margin on voters' worry list.²

Health officials estimate that as many as 1 million Americans now have the new swine flu. Lyn Finelli, a flu surveillance official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, voiced the estimate at a vaccine advisory meeting Thursday in Atlanta. The estimate is based on mathematical modeling.

Nearly 28,000 U.S. cases have been reported to the CDC, accounting for roughly half the world's cases. The U.S. count includes 3,065 hospitalizations and 127 deaths. The average age of swine flu patients is 12, the average age for hospitalized patients is 20, and for people who died, it was 37.³

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has put cap-and-trade legislation on a forced march through the House, and the bill may get a full vote as early as Friday. It looks as if the Democrats will have to destroy the discipline of economics to get it done.

Under a cap-and-trade system, government sets a cap on the total amount of carbon that can be emitted nationally; companies then buy or sell permits to emit CO2. The cap gets cranked down over time to reduce total carbon emissions.

The hit to GDP is the real threat in this bill. The whole point of cap and trade is to hike the price of electricity and gas so that Americans will use less. These higher prices will show up not just in electricity bills or at the gas station but in every manufactured good, from food to cars. Consumers will cut back on spending, which in turn will cut back on production, which results in fewer jobs created or higher unemployment. Some companies will instead move their operations overseas, with the same result.⁴

Cap and Trade is a disaster waiting to happen.

The top-performing letter that predicted the Crash of 2008 now predicts a confiscatory Franklin D. Roosevelt-style "bank holiday."

In its current issue, HSL (The Harry Schultz Letter) reports rumors that "Some U.S. embassies worldwide are being advised to purchase massive amounts of local currencies; enough to last them a year. Some embassies are being sent enormous amounts of U.S. cash to purchase currencies from those governments, quietly. But not pound sterling. Inside the State Dept., there is a sense of sadness and foreboding that 'something' is about to happen ... within 180 days, but could be 120-150 days."

HSL says: "The world is staggering today between stagflation and net deflation right now; it varies widely around globe. Net deflation is a maybe 35% risk, due to toxics and/or deepening depression. Bit more likely, we'll slowly creep up to a dangerous 4.5% inflation on average, medium-term. But the wild card is the currency risk, which has a 50% (?) chance of boiling over and causing literally overnight (i.e. 24 hours) mega inflation in the asset markets."⁵

I have no way of validating this assertion…but it has been reported by more than one source. I encourage you to read the article and do you own due diligence. If the HSL is right, have you considered how this might affect you?

And once again world leaders are calling for a new reserve currency. Isn’t it amazing how quickly the stage has been set for a “one-world currency?” This was almost unthinkable one year ago…now it’s only a matter of time. China and Russia once again lead the call to bring down the dollar:

“To avoid the inherent deficiencies of using sovereign currencies for reserves, there’s a need to create an international reserve currency that’s delinked from sovereign nations,” the People’s Bank of China said in its 2008 review released today. The IMF should expand the functions of its unit of account, Special Drawing Rights, the report said.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called for a “more diversified” monetary system to reduce dependency on the greenback at a June 16 meeting in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg. In May, China and Brazil began studying a proposal to move away from the dollar and use yuan and reais to settle trade instead.⁶

“Is this the beginning of a prolonged economic recovery or a false dawn? There are credible arguments on both sides of the issue,” according to Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. Mr. Greenspan weighs in with his view of the coming inflation problem and his believe that it will be “private market forces” (not more government nationalization) that will bring about worldwide economic growth. Read his entire article here.

Remember the words of the Apostle Paul when he said, “¹⁷Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” 1 Timothy 6:17

Our hope is not in the almighty dollar…our hope is in the Almighty God!

The stock market continues to be range bound as an early week sell off once again led to a bounce late in the week. We are at the end of a quarter, which is prime time for window dressing. That is for big players to book some profits and goose other markets to make performance look as good as possible.

Goldman Sachs is paying out record bonuses to all their employees. Hooray! There is joy in Mudville! Or is there? The government has funneled all this money to the big banks (like Goldman Sachs) and they are expected to make loans to get the economy moving. The problem is Goldman Sachs is not loaning money but taking those funds and running up certain stocks and commodities. With all the government money behind them, they can take quiet markets and manipulate them to make a tidy profit. Goldman was a major factor in the crude oil run up last year and again this year. So they get bailed out by us taxpayers and then thank us by running energy costs up and then throw it back in our face as they pay themselves record bonuses. The government is littered with Goldman Sachs alumni so don't expect any changes. Nauseating isn't it?

The economy is not recovering as most of the stimulus money has been offset by higher energy costs and, up until recently, higher mortgage rates. The market remains extremely vulnerable this fall.

Treasuries caught a solid bid this week as the government stepped up its purchases as a record treasury auction had to go well. Rates had gone up to where it was choking off any demand for housing. Early weakness in the stock market was also a supportive short-term factor. Over the longer term rates are expected to go much higher.

The dollar spent another week consolidating…which is now the third week in a row. We are due for a large move soon. The dollar surged as stocks sold off early then sold off hard as more calls for a new Super Reserve Currency were in the news.

Also, persistent rumors of a so called bank holiday and subsequent devaluation of the dollar were floated by a reputable newsletter weighed down the buck. If the rumors prove true, the dollar would lose significant purchasing power and would be highly inflationary. Commodities and commodity currencies would do very well. Protect yourself!

Gold and silver rebounded this week as both markets had retraced to support levels and buyers were waiting. Gold is essentially a currency at this point and will be in strong demand until the $ finally makes its plunge down. Silver and gold look very bullish on a 3-4 year time horizon.

Shawn Hannity aired an excellent segment on “urban survivalists” that reiterated the message the GPUpdate has been sharing for over three months: Live Prepared. The video shows that living prepared isn’t just for crazy survivalists…it’s for everyone. Watch here.