and I am referring to its economy. South America is known for many things, but when it comes to economics, its most salient feature is high inflation. Currently, Venezuela is the most extreme example, as the end game of its Socialist policies has resulted in dictatorship and hyper-inflation. Though the democratic process remains healthy in Argentina, its economic policies — fiscal and monetary — has resulted in annual inflation levels of 50%. Though Brazil’s inflation is currently around 4%, it was as high as 10% a few years back, and has historically suffered bouts of severe inflation.
America has embarked on it most severe deficit spending binge in history — high deficit spending is one of the hallmarks of high inflation South American economies. At the same time, the Federal Reserve has defined inflation in such a way that it ignores the rising cost of living for most Americans. Based on these “low” inflation numbers, the Federal Reserve has justified a highly stimulative monetary policy, which continues to drive the cost of living beyond the means of many families, and at the same time, enriches the wealthiest of Americans via inflated stock and real estate prices. Just like South America, the chasm between the wealthy and the working class grows year by year by year.
The inequality being created by the Federal Reserve’s intentional inflation of asset prices served as an important driver of Trump’s America First economic polices, as Trump seeks to help the workers of America regain some of their earning power. However, as the Federal Reserve’s policies continue to take from the poor (the high cost of living impacts those who have no assets the most) and gives to the rich (any cost of living increases are more than compensated by the rise in their financial assets — the more they have the more they benefit), it will create a growing popularity for Socialist policies being espoused by many of the Democratic candidates for the 2020 Presidential election.
As the US economy becomes more “Latin-ized”, the probability of a Socialist government increases. From the history of Wiemar Germany and that of many South America nations, we can see that Socialist governments can easily morph into dictatorship (Venezuela being a most recent prime example).
This is very relevant to Revelation, as we have speculated that the agents of the Beast are using the Nazi paradigm in their quest to prepare the way for the rise of the Anti-Christ. The world may seem like a jumble of chaos, but through the right framework of analysis, their is a connected-ness (yes, I know that is not a real word) that can be seen. The signs of the coming prophecies of Revelation fills the news. As Believers, we can rejoice in knowing that Christ’s return is not that far off — the prophecies of Revelation are scary but we can have faith that God will give us the strength to deal with anything that comes our way.