As the Dow managed to close out the week near the 20,550 level, today the top trends forecaster in the world spoke with King World News about the incredible desperation he saw on his travels in the United States.

Eric King:  “Gerald, I know you want to share about your travels across the country.  What’s really going on out there right now?”

Gerald Celente:  “The numbers just came out on existing home sales and they rose to levels not seen since 2007.  2007?  Oh yeah, right before the Panic of 2008.  And when you take a trip across the country as I’ve been doing, you go into one city after another that looks like it’s been depleted of any kind of life and any kind of growth.  This is not only in the ‘Rust Belt,’ but in areas where you would expect things to be quite prosperous

Gerald Celente continues:  “For example, I was up near Smith College in Northampton in Massachusetts as well as Amherst, Smith, a rich area with one of the top schools in the nation.  It’s a very expensive place to visit and it has a very high rate of students coming from families that are very well-to-do.  And when I was in Northampton I was shocked, not only by the number of buildings for lease — storefronts — but by the amount of homeless and beggars and people on the streets dealing drugs.  We couldn’t even find a high-end restaurant where we could eat.”

Eric King:  “For people around the world who aren’t familiar with the United States, this is where two of the top colleges in the country are located. And you are saying there were panhandlers everywhere, people selling drugs, for lease signs all over the place, and you couldn’t even find a nice restaurant.  Gerald, were you shocked when you saw that?”…..More Here