that the biggest challenge as I see it for many is to be able to "see" the wealth as you define it - gardens and energy plus skill set to be self-sufficient and resilient.We have been brainwashed ad nauseum with the idea of what wealth is. Judging from my personal observations of the consumer landscape, it would seem that the general perception is that wealth = "money". Is it any wonder then that people are reluctant to invest in soils & seeds, tools & implements, skills & knowledge? They do not perceive this as "wealth". I have been struggling greatly with this myself - getting over the idea that money in the bank makes me feel safe. As time goes on, and my uneasiness with the financial system grows, that feeling of safety is greatly diminished. The positive side of that is that it changes my thinking on what wealth is.
I had a wonderful "aha" moment last weekend that has helped to solidify my thinking and erase some of the doubts. On that Saturday this beginner fly-fisherwoman had the good fortune to land my second rainbow trout of the season. That evening, my dinner consisted of the trout I caught, salad and vegetables I grew, and dessert I baked from scratch. The feeling of satisfaction and contentment was worth its weight in gold. Later, over drinks with a neighbor, who monetarily speaking is far ahead of me, she commented "I like how you are living your life". And in that moment I knew I was more wealthy than she was.
Richness is a state of mind.
Jan
Bravo, Wendy! I absolutely agree. Not all of us have enough cash to buy gold or even silver. But those of us who are lucky enough to own even a small plot of land, in my case 99' x 199' have the ability to raise some of our own food. In addition to a vegetable and herb garden, we have planted raspberries, a peach tree (which produced 50 peaches this summer) and two pear trees. Yes, it would be nice to own some gold/silver, but I would rather put my limited resources into improving the soil around my home.
[quote=blackeagle]Arthur,
What is the source of the graph?
Thanks
JM
[/quote]
Hi JM,
The image that Arthur posted above is from the Club of Rome's original 1972 report, Limits to Growth.
I first becames acquainted with that image in the paper Revisiting the Limits to Growth after Peak Oil by Charles Hall and John Day.
Cheers,
Hugh
An excellent analysis when comes to the global markets and their interdependent dynamics. I agree with the assesment that the domination of the USA currency, Petro $ might be challenged in next decade, which will crush terribly on people's back–it's already crushing with the "usery type" of taxation for a medium income, health care expences, and food prices. Ricards is great talking about the global markets, helpful to people who focused their lives on business profession, but not sure that any of his advices could help common people, limited in their retirement investments thrugh the work place to only invest on the stock market, or, at best, in paper gold. Ricards says: "If you have a million dollar,… you should have a hundred thousand in gold (I guess not paper gold?), if you have ten thousand dollars you should buy one American Eagle." I can just right poetry about the dragons holding in their caves the heaps of gold or about the Chinese housewife buying 300 tons of gold http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2013/05/02/chinese-housewives-buy-300-tons-of-gold/, but I cannot seriously play this gold game. The gold game is not for a common people in the USA.
[quote=davefairtex]
At one point during my work history, I was a mid-level manager in a company that was acquired by a larger company. After a particularly unpleasant meeting with the big guys from the acquiring company, we got together and asked my boss, "are they deliberately setting us up to fail here?" He sat back a moment and thought. And then said this: "You see a duck gliding across the lake. How is he moving? Is he paddling furiously underneath the water, is the wind blowing him across, or is it some current that is the motive force? How can we tell from here?" To this day, I have no idea if it was all some grand plot, or if they were just idiots, but seeing the other mistakes that the acquiring company made, my money is on "idiots." Martin Armstrong does not believe that "they" are in charge. He claims to have seen behind the curtain, sat in meetings with central bankers and finance ministers and politicians and big money, and he has found only general cluelessness and short-range and self-interested thinking. He would seem to prefer that someone really did have a plan, but he hasn't encountered it yet. http://armstrongeconomics.com As for me - that's above my pay grade. I'm not invited to the meetings! Regardless of what moves the duck across the water, all I am concerned with is - is that duck moving or not, and what direction is it going. Whether it is obliviously gliding with the current or paddling furiously beneath the water to move towards its objective - for the life of me, I can't tell from where I am. And the outcome for me is identical so...I just watch and see where the duck is headed and save my energy for stuff I can control. I am also reminded of the axiom: no battle plan survives contact with the enemy. If they exist, and they do have a plan, most likely it won't survive contact with reality either. So why worry? [/quote] Well Dave, with all due respect, I question the wisdom and/or observation powers of your boss. An observant, aware individual can tell what is moving the duck. If there's no wind or the wind is blowing in a different direction from how the duck is moving, it ain't the wind. Most lakes don't have any noticeable current unless one is near a water inflow or outflow and if the duck's movement doesn't match those, it ain't the current. Muscular action requires congruent whole body organization and the duck's moving feet will leave clues in the duck's neuromuscular organization that tell whether it is paddling furiously or not. The point is, you can tell, if you want to. Something about the "do I care" statement seems strangely akin to Hillary's "what does it matter" statement. Given that you're a highly intelligent fellow, this post evokes my "spidey sense". Also, the high click number on this post make me realize one of two things: (1) either a certain number of folks on this forum aren't as savvy as I thought or (2) someone's pumping the clicks (which has happened before and I'm sure, will happen again). Most definitely, it has all been planned out. That doesn't mean that there aren't competing and infighting factions. That doesn't mean that their every strategy will always be successful. But there is an inexorable and undeniable long term trend and there is an enormous and continually growing volume of evidence which suggests that it is indeed all planned and connected. And it is indeed surviving "contact with the enemy" because (1) it is flexible and (2) even more importantly, it is patient ...very patient (although it is accelerating). Personally, understanding that trend has been a godsend to me. YMMV. P.S. You may recall that Martin Armstrong spent 5 years in the pen so his ability to discern the veracity of certain non-economic strategic situations may be in question. P.P.S. To those it may concern, check the PMs I sent on Mar. 27 of this year to understand this post better.
…does anyone really believe that they dont know exactly what their doing? give me a break. Its all planned out. Been that way for a very long time. No expirimentation, all lies and manipulation.
Wendy,
I couldn't agree with you more. Apropos to this statement, there have been repeated highly destructive hail storms in the Dakotas this year of unprecedented frequency and severity, with hail the size of baseballs at times. Interestingly, these storms have, in the national news, essentially been a non-event … kind of like Ron Paul's campaign was.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ThinkOutsideTheTV?feature=watch
For those who care to do the research, there is indeed a "unified field theory" behind all this.
absolutely shameful.
although i cant say much, up here in Canada we have our own version of evil running the show. Im actually ashamed to be a Canadian, At least im still a Newfoundlander.
Except for the communication problem to other galaxies. So though it looks like we build complexity in the face of entropy in the end the earth is destroyed by an exploding Sun and all is lost to entropy.
FreeNL said:
although i cant say much, up here in Canada we have our own version of evil running the show. Im actually ashamed to be a Canadian, At least im still a Newfoundlander.I agree with you regarding who is running the show up here, however, irrespective of that, we live in one of the greatest countries in the world, blessed with an abundance of natural resources that are the envy of many countries. Given our large size and small population relative to that size, there are (understandably) pronounced regional disparities. That being said, I am a proud Canadian, and always will be, regardless of who is running the show - they do not form or reflect my identity.
I find your statement that you are ashamed to be a Canadian and that "at least I am still a Newfoundlander" a bit rich, given that historically speaking Newfoundland has been a basket-case provincial economy, a "have-not" province, as the saying goes. The province only rose out of its perenniel need for hand-outs from the rest of the country via transfer payments in the last couple of decades as the Hibernia oilfield came into play. It is of course a total irony that it is now a "have" province contributing to the up-keep of former have provinces such as Ontario, which is floundering on the rocks.
Given the predicitions and certainty of peak oil, you might want to engage in a little strategic thinking vis a vis being a part of this great country. When the oil runs out, where will Newfoundland be? Back to jigging for cod? Good luck with that…
Jan
ao-
Ok, I'm not your go-to guy. And I am beginning to recognize that spidey sense. It appears to be common to a group of people. From what I gather, I am disturbing to this group because I write well and appear to be intelligent, rational, mostly calm, and I put up with a lot of silly stuff. This makes me even more likely to be part of the conspiracy. Why would someone put up with such a large ration of crap for so long without going completely nuts?! From my point of view, you guys are taking exactly the wrong approach. I'm an expert about me. When you accuse me of being a bad guy, you (may) forget that I know the truth. Consider for a moment the possibility that I'm just someone who disagrees with you and in a really modest way. What must I think? Well I'll tell you: from my perspective, each time you jump to conclusions about who I am and my motivations, your credibility about everything else just drains away. If you are this willing to jump to conclusions about a subject (namely me) that you know little about, and you are this wrong about me, how likely is it that you have used that same research methodology on your conspiracy subject matter? The really funny thing is, I'm pre-disposed to believe in these conspiracies. Perhaps its reading too much fantasy as a teenager, but I tend to see them everywhere too. I could go through the list, but I'm probably on board (at a "true more likely than not" level) with about 50-60% of the standard conspiracy storyline. The difference is, I don't put my energy behind into the effort, nor do I feel that my opinions have the force of Truth behind them. I have other fish I want to fry. If the gold market is completely controlled, and the price drops - or there simply aren't any buyers, and the price drops, what then is the difference? The price has dropped. Let's focus on that, avoid being angry and/or scapegoating and pointing fingers and other energy-sapping and self-distracting emotional outbursts, and learn to take advantage of it. It turns out, price movements often happen in recognizeable patterns. What does it matter to us, the small fish, if its a Deus Ex Machina or it has some other explanation? It Simply Is. I'm not trying to distract the masses and keep them asleep. I just recognize the limits to my own power. If I were in the DOJ, or SEC, or the CFTC, or some other organization where my efforts and energy would lead to possibly useful outcomes, I'd act differently. But that's not where I am. It sounds a bit like heresy I suspect. I leave it to someone else to sort out those issues. You, for instance. But I have chosen the battleground for my own revolution, and it is intensely personal - internal, rather than external. Even the current US government cannot find anything seditious in getting out of debt, becoming more resilient, physical fitness, taking personal responsibility for one's situation, and attempts at spiritual advancement. Time and energy spent being angry at "the manipulators" (who most definitely exist in their various forms) is energy taken from more important parts of my life. There will come a time when they will fall. To all things there comes a time. Until that time arrives, I will stick to my knitting. That's not everyone's path, or even the right path. But it is the one I've chosen. Lastly, I want to agree with you regarding the flaws you noticed in my boss's duck story. And yet even with those flaws, I still find valuable insight. The next time you and I are together, and we watch a duck crossing a lake, you can explain how you know that it is paddling, or going with the current, or whatever. I still haven't been able to figure it out - although I must confess, I haven't really put the effort into solving the mystery. I am more focused on the duck's speed and direction than on the mechanism of travel. Which I think was the point of the story. PS. I don't judge Martin Armstrong (or Nelson Mandela) for his prison experience. I judge him by the consistency of the story he tells, and how well it seems to explain the world. Some stuff Armstrong says is ... a bit out there. But other stuff makes a great deal of sense. So I take the stuff that makes sense, and I put question marks around the rest and leave it at that.
not my go-to-guy
Something about the "do I care" statement seems strangely akin to Hillary's "what does it matter" statement. Given that you're a highly intelligent fellow, this post evokes my "spidey sense".
when oil runs out our whole civilization grinds to a halt. It doesnt matter where you live. You know that. I probabally will go cod fishing though.
Newfoundlanders have a long history of being robbed. Only recently have we had leadership that was able to stand up to Canada, stand up to the oil companies and make sure that Newfoundlanders were actually benifiting from the resources here. Voilla! have province! We werent poor because of lack of resources, we were poor because we were being robbed. I am proud of Newfoundland for doing that. Hell im proud of iceland for putting the shiv to the banksters and other places that have resisted being bullied and abused.
Nothing Canada has done makes me proud. Jean Chretien when he stood up to the yanks over Iraq. Downhill since then. We support Al-queda terrorists in Syria, genocide of the palestinians. That says it all for me.
Of course its different when we do it. Right?
[quote=davefairtex]ao-
not my go-to-guy Something about the "do I care" statement seems strangely akin to Hillary's "what does it matter" statement. Given that you're a highly intelligent fellow, this post evokes my "spidey sense".Ok, I'm not your go-to guy. And I am beginning to recognize that spidey sense. It appears to be common to a group of people. From what I gather, I am disturbing to this group because I write well and appear to be intelligent, rational, mostly calm, and I put up with a lot of silly stuff. This makes me even more likely to be part of the conspiracy. Why would someone put up with such a large ration of crap for so long without going completely nuts?! From my point of view, you guys are taking exactly the wrong approach. I'm an expert about me. When you accuse me of being a bad guy, you (may) forget that I know the truth. Consider for a moment the possibility that I'm just someone who disagrees with you and in a really modest way. What must I think? Well I'll tell you: from my perspective, each time you jump to conclusions about who I am and my motivations, your credibility about everything else just drains away. If you are this willing to jump to conclusions about a subject (namely me) that you know little about, and you are this wrong about me, how likely is it that you have used that same research methodology on your conspiracy subject matter? The really funny thing is, I'm pre-disposed to believe in these conspiracies. Perhaps its reading too much fantasy as a teenager, but I tend to see them everywhere too. I could go through the list, but I'm probably on board (at a "true more likely than not" level) with about 50-60% of the standard conspiracy storyline. The difference is, I don't put my energy behind into the effort, nor do I feel that my opinions have the force of Truth behind them. I have other fish I want to fry. If the gold market is completely controlled, and the price drops - or there simply aren't any buyers, and the price drops, what then is the difference? The price has dropped. Let's focus on that, avoid being angry and/or scapegoating and pointing fingers and other energy-sapping and self-distracting emotional outbursts, and learn to take advantage of it. It turns out, price movements often happen in recognizeable patterns. What does it matter to us, the small fish, if its a Deus Ex Machina or it has some other explanation? It Simply Is. I'm not trying to distract the masses and keep them asleep. I just recognize the limits to my own power. If I were in the DOJ, or SEC, or the CFTC, or some other organization where my efforts and energy would lead to possibly useful outcomes, I'd act differently. But that's not where I am. It sounds a bit like heresy I suspect. I leave it to someone else to sort out those issues. You, for instance. But I have chosen the battleground for my own revolution, and it is intensely personal - internal, rather than external. Even the current US government cannot find anything seditious in getting out of debt, becoming more resilient, physical fitness, taking personal responsibility for one's situation, and attempts at spiritual advancement. Time and energy spent being angry at "the manipulators" (who most definitely exist in their various forms) is energy taken from more important parts of my life. There will come a time when they will fall. To all things there comes a time. Until that time arrives, I will stick to my knitting. That's not everyone's path, or even the right path. But it is the one I've chosen. Lastly, I want to agree with you regarding the flaws you noticed in my boss's duck story. And yet even with those flaws, I still find valuable insight. The next time you and I are together, and we watch a duck crossing a lake, you can explain how you know that it is paddling, or going with the current, or whatever. I still haven't been able to figure it out - although I must confess, I haven't really put the effort into solving the mystery. I am more focused on the duck's speed and direction than on the mechanism of travel. Which I think was the point of the story. PS. I don't judge Martin Armstrong (or Nelson Mandela) for his prison experience. I judge him by the consistency of the story he tells, and how well it seems to explain the world. Some stuff Armstrong says is ... a bit out there. But other stuff makes a great deal of sense. So I take the stuff that makes sense, and I put question marks around the rest and leave it at that. [/quote] Dave, Perhaps thou dost protest too much. The "not my go-to-guy" comment referenced Armstrong, not you. But your lengthy answer was revealing. In terms of your projections regarding "emotional outburts", it seems like there was a lot more emotion in your post than in mine but maybe that's just my perspective. Could you point out an example of an emotional outburst in my post above for me? Believe it or not, I'm actually a pretty Zen guy in person. Mind/body studies (and that included meditation and combat arts as well as other disciplines) were my thing for many years so there's much less wasted emotion there than you might expect. But also remember that human beings were given emotions for a reason. The tendency of some here towards a blanket denigration of emotions belies their value in certain contexts. Also, I think you're mistaken about something else as well in that the US government does indeed find something seditious in your actions. Seeking resiliency (for example, if you are growing your own food or storing food) puts you in the profile category of a potential domestic terrorist. That's not me saying that. That's our government. The same one that says ex-military, freedom speaking, firearm owning, gold owning, food storing, food growing, and prepping individuals meet multiple profile criteria for domestic terrorists. Because of the excellent quality of your posts, I just found it unusual that you seemed to dismiss any plan behind much of what we see in the world. I think you're too intelligent and knowledgeable not to see what becomes patently obvious the more one studies and learns. As I frequently tell folks, it's all about the big A ... Awareness ... awareness on a physical, psychological and spiritual level and any other level you may choose to focus upon, either to help yourself or to help others.
FreeNL,
I am glad that Danny Williams came along and got things going for Nfld as things were so dire for a while there. Chretien is a different ball of wax, but I am not going to go there as Canadian politics is not what this thread is about, so let's not hijack it ok.
Going back to the subject of the podcast, if the dollar does collapse, your beloved province will take a big hit on oil revenue, since oil is priced in US dollars. My own province (BC) has take a huge revenue hit from far too optimistic projections on natural gas prices/sales, which is the reason they are trying to pursue LNG so aggressively. Alberta has been taking a big revenue hit from the discount they have to take on their gooey, land-locked oil. The lesson for all of us is that too much emphasis on fossil fuel related revenue is a risky bet, all the more so if that revenue is connected to the value of the US dollar.
If the US dollar tanks, a whole bunch of people may very well be joining you for some cod fishing.
Jan
Wendy and Jan. I was going to post thoughts along a similar line, but did get the chance earlier today. Thanks for your posts.
The more you have the less your are. The less you have, the more you are.Possession is not a one way street, however you choose to store your "wealth", it has a drag on your existance, it is a trade off we must make thoughtfully, carefully and consciously. Investment in skills, whether they be intellectual, spiritual or physical are the things that bring true security and peace of mind. It seems that we have taken the materialist paradigm for granted, which is surely the disease of the rich. It's why there is never enough, why once you travel down that road, it leads to the misery that it does and the madness that we live with.
Relationships with each other and the world around us leave us grounded and secure.
Speaking the truth and acting with free will are not things that are granted by others, nor are they choices we can make in a moment. They are powers that we can achieve with focus and hard work. What ever power we assign to the political and corporate elite and their impact on the global economy and national economy, the power we have both personally and collectively to transform our selves and our world is ours for the asking.
Certainly we need to be concious of what is going on in the world, but we must not give up our power to it. We will become what we hate. And there in lies the trick, to be aware without being pulled off our own centers. ao and Dave have broached a difficult subject, one that will take great focus, much discussion for us all to navigate successfully.
ao-
Excellent! Consider my overprotest ended! I am overjoyed to find out that it was Martin Armstrong rather than me whom you were responding to. My work here is done. :-) I agree with you about emotions, we were born with them for a reason. I find them extremely useful in understanding what is going on inside myself. Then I try to release them. However, its the acting on emotion prior to its release that I almost always end up regretting. If I am mistaken about the government finding me seditious, I suppose I'll have to live with the burden of being on a list for not being a good little consumer. But once again I feel that if the whole country decided to reject debt-funded consumerism, became more fit, and started to become conscious of their own food supply, that alone would peacefully bring about massive change without a shot being fired. Many if not most of the plans you find so patently obvious would most likely be for naught. My latest act of rebellion: installing more memory and a flash drive ($400) into my mostly-serviceable 2010 macbook pro rather than buying a new one for $1600 whose memory is soldered onto the motherboard and can't be upgraded. I probably get another 2 years of life out of a tool I use every day. Plus now I have the skill to do this for others in my friends & family if they need it. ifixit.com, an awesome site.
Perhaps thou dost protest too much. The "not my go-to-guy" comment referenced Armstrong, not you
[quote=davefairtex]My latest act of rebellion: installing more memory and a flash drive ($400) into my mostly-serviceable 2010 macbook pro rather than buying a new one for $1600 whose memory is soldered onto the motherboard and can't be upgraded. I probably get another 2 years of life out of a tool I use every day. Plus now I have the skill to do this for others in my friends & family if they need it. ifixit.com, an awesome site.
[/quote]
Wow, Dave, I didn't realize that the newer MacBook Pros are not upgradeable. Apparently, they're also not easily repairable or recycleable either. A computer with a three (or at best five) year life span seems crazy, especially when so much aluminum, copper, and even some silver are used to make each one.
Cheers,
Hugh
DaveF,
Eloquent post. And I respect your point of view and your defense of it. Allow me to give you another point of view.
I think what riles up folks like me is that the Hilary "what difference does it make?" approach is that A) it is reductionist, and not intellectually curious, and B) it hides and intentionally obfuscates a deeper, sometimes darker agenda.
I think it is helpful to know the true agenda of folks, and not just because I like conspiracy theories. I think it goes to our (the newly awakened) journey, especially since 2008, that started with "something is not right" and "what the media and the TV folks are saying is not the true story". I say these things also acknowledging that there are often nuances such as manipulation and market forces can co-exist and swirl around together, and interactions between manipulators and the real world are complex and multifactorial.
Without getting into a dissertation, I seek to learn as much as possible (and I suspect others like Chris do- but I leave it to him to defend himself) about the truth behind the data, and the agenda behind the data, because A) I have intellectual curosity and a deep-seeded though hard to express belief (hat tip to Chris' point about belief v data) that it is better to know why and how things work than to not know why. Specifically because one may need to react to them based on a mechanistic understanding in the future, in a currently unknowable way, and B) I believe that understanding the real world (not the fake media one), i.e. how the duck is paddling, helps me to better predict the future, and plan for it, and anticipate the next move of the advisary, and decide what data points to watch as opposed to which ones are likely to be noise.
I am hungry for any time advantage to react earlier and more decisively than the majority, as I have seen in 2008 how fast the world went from perfectly fine to 'the credit markets will collapse if congress doesn't act in one week'. I also believe due to the growing awareness of the dishonesty of the President, congress and big business, the speed of devolution will be even faster than 2008. Perhaps this is unfounded, but for now it's my story and I'm sticking to it.
I guess this betrays my scientific background and innate curiousity. But I also appreciate your point that keeping a big picture view on where the duck is paddling is important as well.
Chris,
I know Jim Rickards has mentioned SDRs as the (a) way out of the credit crisis several times, not just on your excellent interview.
I for one would appreciate a basic explanation of SDRs, from you or a guest. What are they? Who controls their existence and creation? Do they work like fiat money, i.e. printed into thin air?
If yes, how does replacing one debt-based, fiat money with another debt-based fiat money improve our situation?
Could you step through a sequence of events in which SDRs would come to the rescue of the USD?
Thank you in advance,
H
in the end its going to require about a billion of us all waving the same sign "End central banking now" before things will get better.the duck is an illusion. Its actually a great white shark. You just cant see it because its beneath the surface. Doesnt mean its not there though, and certainly everyone can feel its presence in their daily life. Whether they know it or not.
Imagine if it wasnt there?
I can't eat gold, and I couldn't afford any right now anyway. I'm converting my fiat currency into reducing my debt, purchasing goods which might help my family survive a collapse, learning new skills, and planting food we can hopefully eat. That's about as far as I can go with any "gold advice" on this website. I can respect the reasons why Chris and Adam talk about gold so much, but that will only be currency much further down the line if things truly go horribly wrong (or horribly right, depending on your viewpoint). I can't defend my family with bullets of gold, dig in the earth with shovels of gold, nor eat gold.
Now, Vodka? That's a post-collapse currency if I've ever heard of one, which is why I'm hell-bent to learn how to make moonshine/vodka/anything alcoholic.
That last part is my half-hearted attempt to inject humor. Let's all not forget to live and laugh in these trying times!