The Russian invasion of Ukraine – and the West’s response to it – have increased the chances of a major economic dislocation, possibly a financial collapse.
Why?
Because of the often severely under-appreciated role of energy in making everything else possible.
In this episode – one of the more important ones I’ve ever made – I provide the same level of early warning to the world that I did on Jan. 23, 2020 when I publicly alerted everyone to the Coronavirus predicament in China.
As always, I will do my best to give you the context you need to understand what’s happening in the world so you can take effective action in response.
ALSO – and this is big – with the new website comes new membership options that go as low as $7.50/month, which is well within everyone’s budget.
A bit off topic but regarding power, Mike Pompeo is visiting Taiwan today (March 3rd, 2022 Taiwan time). https://www.reuters.com/world/us-former-top-diplomat-pompeo-arrives-taiwan-calls-it-great-nation-2022-03-02/
A call with a manufacturer in Taiwan was cancelled today because of a large scale power outage in Taipei and Hsinchu. It could be in other places, too. It could be that mainland China launched a cyber attack on the power grid. No one has said this. It is my speculation.
Five out of fifteen people were able to connect to the call. Household power and 5G service are affected. Country-wide power output is down about 25%. https://www.taipower.com.tw/en/
P.S. I like the new look. We’ll see how these images and links show up with the new site.
You use a mortgage as an example of why “debt is a claim on future money.” Fine. You pay off your debt (to society?) and in 30-years you own your house.
But you really don’t. There still are property taxes. Try not paying your property taxes and see just how long you own your house.
What are property taxes? If money is a claim on real things then how come our ownership of the house (or practically everything), only lasts as long as you keep paying property taxes? Get rid of money, then all that’s left is “full faith and credit.” Currency. Fiat currency.
“If taxes are the price you pay for civilization” then how civilized is living in a place like Canada with their emergency powers, where the state can take it all if they are not happy with you? Or here in the United States. How soon before you are banned from even paying property taxes? “But property taxes are my right!”
You really don’t own anything. We already live in a country where you own nothing. Happy yet?
Chris does that give me access to Part 2? Is this just an introductory price? All i’m seeing is $10 p/m
Edit: Hmm, I tried to update my message after I realized I overlooked that it’s $7.50 p/m with a yearly subscription. The commenting portion is rather slooowwww to post.
Thank you Chris. I would like to signup. We need more of these types of well thought out and easy to understand energy, environment and economic analysis. I am more interested in this kind of stuff than Covid.
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4460942
“After a power plant shut down in southern Taiwan due to an equipment malfunction Thursday (March 3), video has surfaced showing plumes of steam spewing out of its power generators.
At 9:07 a.m. whole districts of Tainan and Kaohsiung began suffering power outages, and rolling blackouts also occurred in central and northern parts of the country. Areas known to have been affected include Taipei, Taichung, Taoyuan, Kaohsiung, New Taipei, Hualien City, Keelung, and Tainan.
According to Taipower officials, an equipment malfunction at a switchyard in the Hsinta Power Plant in Kaohsiung’s Yong’an District caused an imbalance in the southern power grid. This initially triggered the Longci Extra High Voltage Substation’s self-protection mechanism to disconnect from the grid.
This caused an instant loss of 10.5 million kilowatts, tripping the self-protection mechanism of power plants across the country, causing them to disconnect from the grid and resulting in the loss of one-third of the country’s power supply. Taipower President Chung Bin-li (鍾炳利) said 5.49 million households were affected by the power outage.”
“You really don’t own anything.” I don’t remember where I read the following but it said something similar. “You don’t own anything, you only pay to use stuff”.
A personal anecdote, where I rent an apartment, a neighbor across the street from my apartment building owned a House on a VERY large piece of property. He was in his 50’s and lived alone. He became sick and died. Within a couple of weeks, friends of his came by and put all his belongings on the side of the curb for the trash collectors to haul away.
His nice car was towed away. In a few months, his modest home was demolished. Within 6 months, there was a sign for sale on his properties. In 18 months three homes were built on his property.
The moral of the story? It’s as if he never existed.
Literally based on the last few months we’ve felt the need to buy anything not nailed down just put in a 30k solar system and just last week bought spare components for everything.
Yes…we’re not quite at “cruising altitude” yet, but transcripts will be a normal part of operations. We’ve been focused on other things the past 24 hours…
Having worked in the commercial nuclear power industry for decades, the explanation in the article that this is from an equipment failure seems reasonable to me. The steam in the video appears to me to be expected in a powerplant that was immediately shutdown due to lack of a distribution system. There will be a lot of latent heat in the steam system that needs to be distributed out. Some of that heat could possible be removed via steam leakage, depending on what other issues might exist due to the electrical power issues. The fact that workers are standing next to the steam indicates it is not a particularly dangerous situation.
Hey pretty slick new site! Definitely did not disappoint, I have not seen this particular style of layout before.
As far as energy goes, this past fall I bought a 300gallon fuel storage tank [ photo attached ] and filled it with diesel. I wouldnt say I necessarily knew this was coming but it was one of my concerns, as I depend heavily on my tractors to do my haying to maintain my livestock.
My wife thought I was crazy for spending the money but now she admits I was right. Even though diesel is very expensive, Im still buying to keep the tank topped off. My concern now is a shortage where the diesel simply cant be had at any price.
You’re right Blame, the property tax is the most egregious tax in existence. Its also the oldest tax and it was implemented almost immediately when Europeans landed in America. Its a hold-over from the feudal era.
That being said, good land should pay its own tax. The problem is, most people dont think this way. They look at the market value of real estate and just disregard the tax as inevitable. Because of that there are parcels of land with alot of “true value”, that is to say “primary value” that most people are unable to recognize.
When I bought my new farm the first thing I did was walk through the timber lot to get a general sense of the value. I assessed the hay fields and pasture next. I know about what the place can sustainably net me per year. I count that against the property tax and make my decision. If the numbers dont add up, the place has no value for me.
Most people don’t even think about those things, and most realtors have no idea. Most people only calculate what they perceive as the market value, but I suspect the market is going to change radically in the coming months. That market value will not hold up. Its based on debt, perceptions, the wealth effect, and artifice.
Land with true primary wealth…gas deposits, timber, hay, pasture, soils, good water, etc, etc will never lose its value and will pay the tax and then some.