Economists, stock pickers and financial analysts are eager to play the forecast game.

 

Clients of these erudite soothsayers would like you to believe that their study of trends and markets are founded on empirical maxims. What they carefully avoid admitting is that predicting the political climate is even more important than knowing the direction that monitory central banking will follow. 2016 promises to be a pivotal year.

 

Depend upon the overactive drive of a lame duck President to complete his task of ruining the economy before he leaves office.

 

Add into this environment, the distractions from party campaigns that will gravitate towards non economic issues as much as possible, in face of factions pushing foreign policy fears to the top of the agenda.

 

Terror at home will become the mainstay of the mass media.

 

Why? The easy answer is that the continued deterioration in our standard of living could rally and become the central concern in the next election.

 

Corporatism will benefit that the spotlight will shine away from their consolidation and advancement in their monopolistic organization. In order to know what to expect, look to the success or failure of the "Free Trade" agreements that are moving forward and gaining ground for the globalist.

 

TPP and TTIP if approved and implemented will seal the doom on any domestic prosperity.

 

Even in the EU, opposition to the TTIP is growing.

 

"Caving into Corporatism - Endgame for Secret 'Trade' Pact Negotiations" states:

"The submission of governments to corporate interests is hardly a new phenomenon, but it is accelerating - particularly in Brussels, now home to almost as many lobbying groups as DC.

 

Meanwhile, at Europe's local level, opposition to TTIP continues to grow, and with good reason: while some parts of some countries might benefit handsomely, others stand to lose out enormously, resulting in widening economic imbalances across Europe's regions."

Remember, the European populace has never been able to block the dictates of the EU, especially on trade issues.

 

The Corporatist will strengthen their strangle hold on international trade, which has become a function of favored political subsidy, more than competitive efficiency and superior product performance.

 

This relationship in transnational mercantilism does not enrich the population of producing countries or the consumers of imported goods, but does supercharge global conglomerates that operate under the special treatment from New World Order governments.

 

Thomas E. Woods Jr., makes the following argument and writes in, 'The Cultural Costs of Corporatism - How Government-Business Collusion Denigrates the Entrepreneur and Rewards the Sycophant'.

"Through corporatism, ironically, government creates an economy that looks just like the socialist's caricature of capitalism.

 

The big get bigger while the small guys are frozen out. People with money make sure to buy off the powerful. It is a zero-sum game, and the game is rigged, with the rules constantly changing. And the incentives are all bad.

 

In a free market, commerce fosters virtue. A free economic exchange involves two parties voluntarily trading for their mutual benefit. Commerce doesn't simply enrich a society; it also fosters community and trust. Diligence, reliability, friendliness, and honesty are all rewarded in the long run in a free market.

 

Under corporatism, commerce erodes virtue. Sycophancy is rewarded instead of insight. Cleverness is more valuable than innovation. Businessmen get the message: stay small, or be prepared to play ball with politicians.

 

Everyone becomes a welfare recipient or sharecropper for government or big business."

The conditions that create this unbalanced playing field are not likely to change for the better.

 

What has a high probability is that the deflationary impact of a continuing retraction in world-wide activity will accelerate. Couple this with a pronounced slowing in the velocity of money, trade will decline.

 

Many economic gurus are warning of a major financial collapse in 2016. However, the balance sheets of companies have not accrued such high reserves in living memory.

 

Low interest rates are still available, so as reported in, Business Mergers Soar in 2015, should maintain their pace in this coming year.

 

The clearest expectation is that unemployment will spike. Global unrest and the flood of migration into the EU cannot boost their economies. China is a shell of their engine of growth and Japan is still trying to keep their head above water.

 

Where will economic expansion come from?

 

The prospect of war looks like the segment that has all factors pointing in their direction. Many Corporatists gravitate into becoming munitions industrialists. Governments always seem to make money available when global depressions are on the horizon.

 

So look for international tensions to translate into corporate contracts. In a world economy based upon a diminished need for labor, the inevitable contraction in consumer spending follows.

 

As government's schemes amplify to maintain a minimum social network, companies will vie to become even more effective lobbyists. When escalation expenditures place additional demands on state budgets, the pressure to sell off public assets to crony companies will intensify.

 

Corporatism will streamline and become more far reaching at the same time. Reducing bureaucracy while increasing areas of profit centers will become the new corporate culture.

 

The demands to step up their power grab can be gauged in their multiplicity to organize even bigger cartels.

 

Alliances, partnerships and joint ventures will become more common as the appearance of competition is discarded. A new definition of insider trading will emerge, which places a public relations spin that companies can collude for the betterment of the economy.

 

The natural backlash that comes when the struggling middle class continues to be devastated has less relevance as responsive electoral support for the political class diminishes.

 

2016 will prove to even the most establishment cheerleader and supporter, that the economy is locked into a downward spiral.

 

"Make America Great Again" will not be fostered in corporate board rooms. Only an alternative Main Street marketplace based upon a merchant economy of small businesses can offer hope to a plummeting society.

 

Domestic independence is the key to restoring a prosperous future.