By Mac Slavo, www.SHTFplan.co

Well known economist, trend forecaster and Gloom, Boom
and Doom Report publisher Dr. Marc Faber
joined some of the world’s leading investment minds at the Barron’s
2012 Roundtable to discuss what’s in store for 2012 and beyond with
respect to the economy, inflation, political stability and a host of
other issues.

As is generally the case, Dr. Faber doesn’t mince words and warns
that, despite what happens in the near term, the end game is global
conflict.

Excerpted from Barron’s
2012 Roundtable via SGT Report

Marc Faber: On another optimistic note, World War
III will occur in the next five years. That means the Middle East will
blow up. New regimes there will be less Western-friendly. The West has
also figured out it can’t contain China, which is rising rapidly and
will have more military and naval power in Southeast Asia. The only way
for the West to contain China is to control the oil tap in the Middle
East.

Bill Gross (Founder, Pimco): How does your World
War III hypothesis affect the financial markets? Is it positive for
stocks?

Marc Faber: It is very positive for stocks and
negative for bonds, because debt will grow dramatically. There will be
massive monetization of debt. When the U.S. entered World War II total
credit equaled 140% of GDP, and there were no unfunded liabilities. Now
total credit-market debt is 380% of GDP, and unfunded liabilities make
that 800%.

Brian Rogers (Chairman, T. Rowe Price): How is
World War III good for stocks?

Felix Zulauf (Zulauf Asset Management): Unused
capacity in an economy can be directed to the defense and war industry.
That will be paid for by new government debt, and that keeps the
economy growing.

Scott Black (President, Delphi): Marc, if Israel
strikes Iran’s nuclear facilities, they will use air power. They aren’t
going to commit ground troops. It won’t be the kind of conflagration
you’re thinking.

Bill Gross: War takes place today in cyberspace
and in terrorist space. Whether or not there will be a land war isn’t
the question.

Dr. Faber has also expressed his views on prior occasions,
suggesting that World War III is an inevitable outcome when nations
begin to default on trillions of dollars worth of debt (whether by
refusing to pay or simply easing their monetary supply).

In August
of 2010 Faber urged his subscribers to begin making preparations
for worst case scenarios:

In his latest GBD Report, Faber again advises those with the means
to do it, to leave urban areas and seek safety in rural, country areas,
preferably farms, and to be prepared to defend that land in the event
the worst happens:

Faber has an interesting suggestion for investors if the
plunge comes to pass.

With tongue apparently in cheek, he says buy a farm you can
tend to yourself way out in the boondocks. And protect it with high
voltage fences, barbed wire, booby traps, military weapons and
Dobermans.

While several members of the Roundtable disagree with the idea that
a conventional global war is out of the question, suggesting instead
that conflicts will be dealt with through air superiority and in
cyberspace (in itself a potentially catastrophic battlefield for modern
civilization), they are ignoring the real possibility that an attack on
Iran, or even a rogue attack against Europe or the United States, could
escalate to such a level that China
or Russia
would have no choice but to get involved.

While hard to believe, we’ve seen it before. Twice just in the last
century.

Not many people would have believed it prior to 1914 either. But
within just a few short months of the assassination of Archduke
Ferdinand in late June of that year, millions were dead and the Western
front had extended hundreds of miles across Europe to the North Sea.

Events played out with similar velocity in World War II when Adolf
Hitler’s aptly named Blitzkrieg (Lightning War) overtook entire nations
in a matter of days.

It only takes one country, one sociopathic leader with his finger on
the button, to get the ball rolling. Then there is no stopping it.

Author: Mac Slavo