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I must just be in the mood for predictions lately. Somehow, though, as I watch the NBC Nightly News, and read the papers, it seems that the people normally “in the know” about such things have just got their heads in the sand. I believe in positive thinking; hell, I even started reading (and not finishing) “The Secret”. (How gay am I?)

But, there is a storm a-brewing, people, and I would suggest that everyone take shelter. Even NBC described it as “the perfect storm”, a combination of sky-rocketing oil prices (a barrel up more than $10 in one day), a spike in the unemployment rate (now at 5.5%), and the stock market plunging (down almost 400 points.) Most believe that gas will be $5.50 a gallon by July 4th.

Several months ago I had a premonition that much more than a recession was on the horizon. I believe that the staggering amount of debt that the typical American has accumulated, the specter of inflation because of oil prices, etc., the terrible weakness of the dollar (also a product of bad trade practice with China et al.) and the bulging national debt (aggravated by the cost of the Iraq War) all together spell a horrible, potential doomsday for us all. I say “us all” because when America sneezes, the rest of the world gets a cold. Although I have, perhaps, been involuntarily pulled into the vortex of European over-confidence, and there is a part of me that hopes that our economy here could weather such a storm, the truth of the matter is that the interconnectivity of the world’s economies is such that this crisis could actually create a domino effect that feeds off of itself, and thus destabilizes the world economy. There is potential tailspin there that is undeniable.

Now would be the time to convert stocks into cash, I my opinion. Or, perhaps I should say, yesterday was the time to convert assets into cash.

I am just short of painting a sign saying, “The end is near” and walking through the streets of Berlin.