Jim Rickards Describes Coming Shut Down of US Financial System

Jim Rickards,the chief global strategist at West Shore Group, appeared on Bloomberg Markets to discuss the next financial crisis. Rickards said he sees next US downturn approaching a tipping point soon. However, the Federal Reserve’s response to restoring financial solvency will be much different because there’s no place left to go with monetary policy.

“The next time, they’re not going to print the money because they’re tapped out,” he states. “They’re going to lock down the system.” In a move Rickards refers to at the “bail in, lock down” plan, large sections of the financial sector will be deactivated to avoid bank runs and complete collapse. Rickards describes some of the more likely scenarios:

“Money market funds will suspend redemptions, bank ATMs can be reprogrammed to give you $300 per day for gas and groceries; they can selectively shut down the banks. We saw it in Greece. We saw it in Cyprus; we’re seeing it today in India. The banks are closing. They’re out of cash.”