Yes, Kathy. Marteson for President in 2012. Or, even BETTER, Martenson for Treasury Secretary NOW…and then on to President in 2012.
Do any of you have a way, directly or indirectly, to get a copy of The Crash Course into Obama’s hands. (How about slipping one to his girls, to take home to Daddy one night soon?) I’d be more than happy to donate another 30+ of them, if someone can figure out how to get the whole "Transition Team" exposed to it quickly.
I’m not kidding !!! We’ve gotta think BIG.
Look, if we want 5 to 10 million to be exposed to it, why wouldn’t it be good if Obama were one of the early ones? Hey, here’s an idea. How about getting Oprah excited about it…like how about getting our man Chris on the Oprah show? That ought to get it to Obama fairly quickly. She is big on wanting to "educate" people to new and better ideas.
How about it?
Ben,
The only problem is that the MSM won’t touch this subject in terms of Peak Oil. It is NEVER mentioned. They will talk about alternative energy, but never Peak Oil. Too much reality for the sheeple to handle.
like milton friedman has said before and other economists have noted, "a tax cut without a decrease in government spending is (eventually) a tax increase", and to delve a little deeper, the only way this ‘tax cut’ would be sustainable without a tax increase would be if your economy happens to have growth large enough to increase the tax base by the amount less received by the ‘tax cut’. tough chance of that happening for obama. in other words, a tax cut is actually a future tax increase.
alot of people on this site predict a financial collpase and frankly the possibility of that is low. i, on the otherhand, predict a very large tax increase, maybe to the point of 50-60% of household income… but not in the predictable sort of tax increase kind of way. maybe a european style VAT tax, fuel taxes, additional surcharges levied to all forms of business, new licenses and fees for internet sites, i could go on and on but i won’t.
time to start applying for citizenship in a country with a low tax rate, clean water, plenty of farmland, and a sustainable economy. suggestions?
Yeah, I truly have considered some options in terms of moving out. I have the greatest respect for those like Chris that continue on in the hopes of making things better. Personally, though, I would feel much better knowing that I had a safe haven outside the country if things got really bad.
In what countries can you even get citizenship without having lived there for many years??? My guess would be that the types of countries that grant citizenship easily are probably the types of countries people generally are not flooding with immigration. Any thoughts on this??
Mike
Hello Mike:
I read that Switzerland will take you, I think it was for $125,000.00, the book was old. Some countries don’t allow you to own real estate.
I think the Casey Group was saying Argentina, I suppose they feel they are on the mend now.
Interesting topic none the less. Take care
You don’t need a citizenship to live in another country. All you need is a work visa. Canada has plenty of farm land, a balanced fical budget with total public debt around 25% GDP, solid banking system, a fully funded Social Security and Medicare system and one of the few countries that aren’t suffering a housing problem right now. And it’s just a car ride or short plane trip away.
The easiest way would be if you have a university education and you accept a job with a Canadian company. They would get the work visa for you. I can’t comment anymore than that. I am a Canadian who Immigrated to the USA via the employment route.
Thanks Davos for all you’re doing, and particularly this info on Switzerland & Argentina.
Like Mike and others, I’ve been seeking info on the subject of long term legal residency / citizenship requirements for American citizens without family ties in other countries to little or no avail.
If anyone has any knowledge on the subject, (beyond, "marry a local"), I’d love to hear it.
Thanks in advance,
- Love my country, but my kids more.
Arthur,
I agree. Local stimulus rewarding innovation is our only faintest chance this late in the game. More business as usual will be no help at all. Shortages in fuel and food will mark the beginning of the end. I expect that the energy consumptive solutions as regards employment and infrastructure improvements will run up against peak oil quickly. Duck and run as we will be competing directly with China and the rest of the world for what is able to be extracted and for that I don’t think we have long to wait.
Coop
Thanks for the insightful comments, Chris. There is something I believe we need to keep in mind when analyzing this…
Forgive the analogy, but as a pilot it is what comes to mind-
The aircraft is overloaded and out of fuel. We are going to have to ditch at sea in bad weather. The original flight crew who got us into this mess is in the aft lavatories losing their lunch or donning parachutes and it is up to a relief crew - selected mainly on the basis that they have flown small single engine airplanes in the past - to get us through. So what does the new captain say to the passengers?
Of course, it is things like, "fasten your seat belts, remove all sharp objects from your pockets, take off your shoes, hold a pillow on your lap, don your life vest, etc. etc.". He/She will give cursory information about the plan for ditching, exits, rafts, rescue ships in the area, and an outline what to do after - all in as a calm and authoritative voice as possible. He/She may even go further and, like John Wayne in "The High and the Mighty" tell them how some airplanes have remained afloat after ditching so long that they became hazards of navigation. The Captain knows that if he keeps people calm and maintains some order on board, some of them may survive the impending crash.
In the current circumstances, I don’t expect any president or president-elect to be totally frank. To do so would in fact be irresponsible as it could lead to total chaos.
Due to this fact, as well as the fact that Obama has to deal with huge pressures from established power blocks, trying to devine how good or bad his reaction will be, or even what it will entail, is going to be a very difficult task.
I live around Detroit. Our road ways have been falling apart for years to the point that concrete is falling down from under bridges as well as a long list of other infrastructure problems.
With reference to the road way bridges, the general solution was to sand blast under the bridge, repaint metal I-beams and put plywood reinforced with 2X4’s between the metal I-beams so when more concrete falls it will not hit cars going under them.
Another great solution is to black top roads with half the required materials each year than once the pot holes come back during winter patch it with a tar and rock mixture. When an offical was asked why the roads are not fixed properly he stated “We can cover twice the road doing it this way.”
This is the mentality we are dealing with in our elected officials.
Social Security has good tidings to share with Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries: they will receive a 5.8 percent increase in benefit payments beginning with the January payments!
I’m confused. How and why does this happen? Any ideas?
Bill
fustrated by the seemingly one-sidedness but I’m glad I came back. This post was not only informative and non-political, but it came with fantastic suggestions on what to do, and how to do it. This paved the way for other responses to add on to the suggestion list or to critique the suggestions given. It’s fantastic! As a phsyical natgas storage operator, I know a thing or two about the energy markets and alternatives… your idea on cogens is one we’ve been pitching for a long time and I was just looking at putting in solar panels but was surprised to see that there was no tax break or incentive to do it and the payback was still too long. One thing I would throw in there is legislation on packaging recognizing how useless and wasteful packaging really is. A marketing company would be wary being the first to be socially responsible and cut down on the packaging fearing the competitors would have an edge but if it was mandated, everyone would just get used to less packaging.
Hello Pandamonium:
Great analogy, but I’d go much further: The flight called Economy 13 was run by an airline that hired Lorenzo who subsequently contracted the maintenance out to Enron whose accountants fixed the EGT, fuel and oil gauges and even programmed the FMS and even trained the new crew, a bunch of abinitios who paid the airline to sit right seat until they had enough hours to get their ATP. We are now out of fuel, our engines melted off the wing because the gauge was in the green when it should have been in the red and we are going to turn into the mountainess terrain because the FMS is jacked. I thought the FAA were AH’s but I have to hand it to them, one govt. agency that doesn’t cook the data, can you imagine if the BEA or BLS spit out the ATIS?
I thought this was an interesting opinion/prediction from a fellow blogger. Your take?
"I see several similarities to how Obama is doing things, adding all of the fun new acronyms to out financial system just how FDR did. FDR also called a "bank holiday" which I see coming from Obama shortly after his inauguration. I think he will freeze trading and also transactional accounts until his economic team can "figure it out"
His "so called" solution will be to have Hank Paulsen call a Force Meajure eventually when the Dow hits 4,000 or less basically saying that the economy is a "force beyond their control" at which point the IMF will step forward and offer to sell gold to the US in exchange for the dollar in order to back a new gold backed currency.
This is the reason the IMF has been secretly BOOSTING the price of gold over the past 5 years IN MY OPINION, because they knew they would end up selling it back at some point, and they are also "IN SELLING", within member countries at only $54 dollars an ounce so they are stockpiling gold taken OUT of the US only to sell it back to us shortly at a 600% return. That is the reason they boosted the price so high, to encourage people to sell so they would have the ability to re-sell to the USA during this upcoming period of time. I am a firm believer that when the World Bank or the IMF place up new FAQ’s, it means they are DOING IT ALREADY, and they have that FAQ up about in-selling already.
OK two bad things will come from this. First of all we will have the new currency eventually and it will be backed by gold (well somewhat), but in order for there to be enough gold to back a new currency 2 things must happen. The currency will basically be introduced at half the value of the dollar or less,so all accounts holding retirement, etc will drop in value by half or more over night. Values of homes, anything dollar based etc…all drop by 50% at least.
The second bad thing is that gold value will have to match currency outstanding since they will pseudo back the currency with gold, so gold will go from $800 an ounce, down to about $60 an ounce. So there will be HUGE backlash by all of the people who have been hoarding gold thinking it is a "safe investment", I feel otherwise.
I want to express to you these are only my opinions and I can’t make time frame predictions, but I can tell you that one huge trigger will when you see a SINGLE country pull a significant amout out of the US economy, that is your tag sign for downfall in my opinion, that is when the plunge to a 4,000 DOW or less begins."
bearing01 As someone who is married to a Canadian citizen, I have been visiting Canada – and talking with in-laws – for 20 plus years. I – and my wife – are always struck by how Canadians think that they are immune to U. S. trends. Up until about 2 months ago Canadians thought that their housing prices were not going to drop. They have just begun to realize that prices will drop dramatically. As the US goes, so goes Canada. Canada does have more resources per capita than the US and are not in an overshoot situation per se. However, as we know, the US will not let a little thing like sovereignty get in the way of "acquiring" resources.
Hi Davos:
I agree that my analogy didn’t go far enough.
No,I can’t. That’s a good analogy too (though if the altimeter setting and wind speed/direction were way off, it would be pretty obvious while still on the ground). But time and again the FAA has failed to follow safety recommendations from the NTSB (not that they always should) and we also have had companies that routinely cooked the books on maintenance they failed to perform or did improperly, weight and balance fudging, overworked crews and so on, sometimes with catastrophic results.
You’re right - the situation is more dire than my analogy. All the more reason that we cannot expect candor from Obama, or pin any hopes on the new administration taking corrective action. There is no easy way out at this point. Chris’s analysis is as good as it gets here. My point was just that it is a difficult area to explore due to the lack of openness.
On the other hand we are not quite in the same situation as passengers on a plane. Those of us who look for it do have sources (like this website) for good information and the ability to take some action on our own and with our local communities to greatly improve our chances.
Cheers.
Peter Schiff Interview about the US Treasury bubble and Obama’s Plan.
http://watch.bnn.ca/clip127416#clip127416
The USA is one of the "good guy’s" and we don’t go occupying other countries for their resources. The USA would have to invade Canada with military force to occupy it. But why bother? Canada already exports everything it can (includinging all resources/commodities) to the USA. This is why/how Canada has a trade surplus and has been paying down its national debt! The reason Canada is in recession right now is because 40% of Canadian GDP is its exports to the USA. Therefore, USA’s recession creates a Canadian recession. Canada now has to find a new customer (hint, Asia)
Because Canada is in recession, yes, the prices of houses are now falling in some cities. It is not even close to being a similar problem as in the USA or Europe. Europe adopted the USA’s policy of having the investment banks underwrite all the mortgage loans out as investment bonds to investors. This took the mortgage liability off the banks balance sheet and off the hook for making bad mortgages. Because banks didn’t own the mortgage debt they were willing to sell mortgages to people that didn’t have jobs! Then G.Bush passes a bill in 12/07 to forgive Americans of the capital gains tax if a bank short sells the house at a price lower than the the mortgage principal and forgives the difference. Because Americans bought houses with no money down and can walk away without financial penalty there is no incentive for Americans to keep paying the mortgages on their over priced houses. Canadians however did not have a credit bubble and therefore a housing bubble from relaxed lending standards. If a Canadian stops paying their mortgage they are still liable for the entire mortgage principle unless they claim bankrupcy. Therefore, people are not walking away from their houses in Canada like in the USA, because those who qualified for mortgages could actually afford them. The Canadian housing market has come down a few percent in certain Cities like Edmonton, Calgary and Toronto. In Edmonton and Calgary it was Oil money driving up the house prices and now with those workers laid off there are no buyers. In Toronto, the industrial center that exports much to the USA, the market has softened as well but some particular areas (like down town) People can still sell for more than they bought 2 years ago. It is projected that the Cdn housing market will decline somewhere around 3 to 5% in 2009.
Not that Canadians think they’re Immune… they just don’t pay attention to USA too much. I’ve been telling my wife’s parents for over a year now that the USA will enter a deep recession and Canada will likely have recession also. They’re retired and on good pensions. They were living in their own little world and because they weren’t seeing or feeling any recession in Canada they weren’t looking for it.
Besides, today we’re in a World recession and it’s all because of our Federal Reserve and the Inflation & Credit bubble it has created!
I don’t believe the IMF has been boosting the price of gold. That would be deliberately weakening the US dollar. GATA has found that gold has actually been held down to make the dollar appear stronger with all the Inflation the Fed has been creating. This gives false confidence in the superiority of the US dollar! Also, if we were to go back to a gold standard it can’t be an overnight process. If the dollar isn’t valued properly according to gold then the new standard will fail. They won’t be valuing gold at $60/oz because that would make the dollar 14 times stronger than it is today. When FDR revalued gold he did it to devalue the dollar by 40% (to hault inflation). If the US were to go on a gold standard then gold would probably become $1500/oz or more like maybe even $5000/oz considering all the money printing that Obama will require to buy bonds to keep interest rates low and to fund his $750,000,000,000 stimulus package next month. That $750 Billion by the way is not included in the more than $1.2 trillion budget deficit for 2008.
I also don’t think we will have a banking holiday. When FDR did that they shortly after passed the Glass-Steagall act (1933) where they introduced the the creation of the FDIC to insure banking deposits to prevent future bank runs. They also reformed the banking system to separate investment banking from commercial banking. You’d only see another holiday if there was fear of another bank run or they were to restructure the banking system.
This only serves to confirm my belief that real change has to come from outside the beltway and be resolutely placed in the center of the bargaining table.That’s where you come in.
Chris and his followers have no idea what they are dealing with. Politics is about money and power.The powers-that-be won’t give it up if they have to destroy this country. You have no political influence; you’re a tiny fringe group and and going nowhere. You’ll be frustrated all your lives waiting for doomsday scenarios to come true. Only one is going to happen, the mother of all Depressions. My advice is to give more thought to personal survival. You’re not going to save the human race. Christians have been wasting their time on that one for 2,000 years. That’s my opinion.