Holiday sales predicted to shatter $1 TRILLION — yet Glenn Beck warns of history’s first-ever synchronized global collapse

For all of human history, the four-stage debt cycle has remained the same: Discipline leads to economic prosperity; prosperity creates complacency; complacency tees up excessive spending; excessive spending turns into debt, which reaches a breaking point, necessitating discipline and restarting the cycle.

This has been true for every great empire the world has ever seen.

While the rise and fall of nations is nothing new, what is happening right now in global economics, says Glenn Beck, is indeed new — and it should terrify everyone.

“For the very first time in world history … the entire globe is riding the same wheel at the same time,” he warns.

“Right now, America, Europe, China, Japan, and every other major power … have all hit stage four at the same time.”

“The bond markets are shaking. The currencies are all volatile. Politicians are praying that no one notices the numbers. … Stage four is not coming. We are now living inside the opening act,” Glenn warns.

And yet a recent report from the National Retail Federation’s annual holiday forecast estimates that U.S. holiday retail sales will surpass $1 trillion for the first time ever.

Glenn, who says he is floored by the prices of food and goods and often wonders how the average person can afford to live right now, fears that the American people are making the same mistake as these governments on the brink of financial collapse.

“We're spending, spending, spending, and I don't understand it. … We're just spending because we think we can get out of it,” he laments.

But our government and its constituents would be wise to remember what happens when stage four of the debt cycle is complete.

“It’s called the reset,” says Glenn, and it culminates in either crushing inflation, outright default and political chaos, or war.

For this to happen in any one country is terrible, but imagine the unmitigated catastrophe that would unfold if several global superpowers collapsed simultaneously.

“Rome collapsed by itself. France collapsed alone. Weimar collapsed by itself. Britain declined while America rose. It was always one country coming down and another country coming up,” says Glenn, but “this time all countries on both sides — the free world and the not-so-free world — there's no one rising.”

“So what does that mean?” he asks.

While the history books can’t inform us, as this widespread teetering is unprecedented, we can only assume it means that rampant inflation, political upheaval, and war won’t be regional but “global” and “systemic.”

The silver lining is that collapse also “[creates] the conditions for renewal.” But until then, we are faced with a choice: Will we continue to spend ourselves into oblivion, or will we exercise the discipline it takes to create prosperity?

“The next chapter is not written. What happens to us is not written,” says Glenn, “and whether we rise or fall from what's coming depends not on Washington, not on Wall Street, but on us in our homes and our families and our churches and our communities.”

To hear more of Glenn’s commentary, watch the video above.

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.