Gerald Celente, forecaster for Trends Research Institute, is interviewed on the Glenn Beck show. Celente discusses politics, economics, financial markets, survival preparedness and the coming depression. (Interview follows comments)

Look at Eastern Europe. Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia and Ukraine – they’ve collapsed. You see riots going on in Spain and France. this is real and people better get real about it, because on the strong are going to survive.

We’re also hearing some rumors that the country of Ireland may be preparing to default on its obligations. This, along with the collapse of Eastern Europe is going to hammer the EU and significantly weaken their currency. America may also be in a tailspin, but it is starting to look like Europe will be just as bad, if not worse.

People are missing this for hopeful reasons, they’re dilluting themselves. A lot of people are losing a lot of money and they want to hope for the best. Other people are watching their coworkers get fired and are hoping that things will turn around. So you know, this whole mantra of hope has a powerful persuasive element to direct people in a false direction.

People don’t want to face the facts.

When we hear people on the street (and in the media) talk about a recovery, they are doing nothing more than clinging to their hope and delusions. The baby boomer generation and those generations that followed have never experienced what the world is going through now, so it is almost impossible to believe that it is as bad as Gerald Celente, Marc Faber and Peter Schiff are forecasting.

Gerald Celente is forecasting that China is going to pull back on loaning money to the US:

They’re going to stop loaning us moneybecause their business is declining as well. They’re trying to get an orderly devolving of the US currency. they know they can’t dump it on the market quickly.

All of the currencies and all of the countries are making the same mistake by printing fake money. Here’s the scary thing: foreign countries are looking to the United States to solve the problem. they don’t realize how bad it is over here.

There will be no safe currency in the near future, except perhaps the Yuan and Khaleeji. According to investor Jim Rogers, when inflation kicks in, it will destroy the purchasing power of every major currency in the world. Perhaps there will be some survivors that don’t inflate as much as the US Dollar, but nonetheless, all currencies will lose value. It’s time to look for strategies to preserve wealth and purchasing power, no matter your country of origin.

When people lose everything, and they have nothing left to lose, they lose it.

People are one job away from losing everything. We’re going to see tax revolts over property taxes, school taxes and all of these hassle taxes that they are dumping on people.

My real fear is of violence from a nation – we have a growing underclass of uneducated people with kids where 50% of kids are not graduating from highschool. That’s what w’ere afraid of and the knee-jerk reaction of ‘let’s get tough on crime’ that will turn this place into a police state.

If things don’t balance, things can go down really hard, really fast.

What concerns us the most is crime.

People are going to have to learn that if they want to survive these terrible times, to be more aware and take self defense measures in anticipation of the worst to come. It may not happen. But at least be prepared. That’s what we’re telling people.

No need to overreact, unless of course you want to. Here is what Celente is doing:

I buy gold. I’ve been buying gold for a long time. And i have guns. And I have dried foods in my house in the event things get really bad. Have cash on hand as well.

Listen to Gerald Celente on Glenn Beck February 19, 2009 (Part 1 of 2):

Listen to Gerald Celente on Glenn Beck February 19, 2009 (Part 2 of 2):