charles hugh smith-The Number of the Beast Is 1667

The Devil, of course, always claims to be "doing God's work." Satan's job, as it were, is to deceive, and if claiming to be "doing God's work" deceives the credulous, then by golly, Satan will do so with the utmost sincerity.

If mixing in a bit of truth to a slurry of lies deceives the credulous, then Satan will happily mix up a batch of misdirection and deception with a dollop of truth.

The Devil is also a jokester, and so He loves dropping little hints about His influence, for example, stopping the meltdown of the S&P 500 in early 2009 right at 666, the Number of the Beast.

He also likes to toy with those sensing His presence, for example, pushing the S&P 500 (SPX) from 1,666--all too obvious!--to 1,667 in the waning seconds of trading on May 17, 2013. (The Devil is in the details.)

It turns out the Number of the Beast (traditionally 666, but 616 in some texts) refers to the Roman Emperor Nero. Though his reign mixed tyranny and extravagance in equal measure, his primary financial legacy was the devaluation of the Roman currency as a means of increasing Imperial spending.

He was also known for reducing the power of the Senate: "By 65 A.D., senators complained that they had no power left."

Who are the unelected rulers of monetary policy? The Federal Reserve, of course, and their bankster buddies like Jamie Dimon, who Bloomberg Businessweek just declared as "Wall Street's indispensable man."

The only difference between 65 A.D. and 2013 A.D. is our senators are too clueless to even grasp they have no real power left.

The very fact that 1,667 is a single digit above Satan's trademark number suggests that Satan has played a little joke on us, and that makes 1,667 the new Number of the Beast that holds Imperial power over finance and money and seeks to devalue the Empire's currency to fund both tyranny and extravagance.

Things are falling apart--that is obvious. But why are they falling apart? The reasons are complex and global. Our economy and society have structural problems that cannot be solved by adding debt to debt. We are becoming poorer, not just from financial over-reach, but from fundamental forces that are not easy to identify or understand. We will cover the five core reasons why things are falling apart:

1. Debt and financialization
2. Crony capitalism and the elimination of accountability
3. Diminishing returns
4. Centralization
5. Technological, financial and demographic changes in our economy
Complex systems weakened by diminishing returns collapse under their own weight and are replaced by systems that are simpler, faster and affordable. If we cling to the old ways, our system will disintegrate. If we want sustainable prosperity rather than collapse, we must embrace a new model that is Decentralized, Adaptive, Transparent and Accountable (DATA).
We are not powerless. Not accepting responsibility and being powerless are two sides of the same coin: once we accept responsibility, we become powerful.

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