Erik, how about nominating Chris for a TED (http://www.ted.com/index.php/nominate/speaker) appearance? It would seem to be an ideal forum for Chris. Incidentally, notice how TED has a few major sponsors? Maybe that would be a possible revenue model for the Crash Course?
Also on fund-raising, how about an Amazon.com book link area? Like many I am put off by advertising, but book suggestions are ok in my book (sorry - bad pun).
Erik,
Its really too bad. Your intro letter reads like a MLM marketer.
I am not often at a loss for words… however, I find myself speechless on how to comment on your "joining forces with Chris".
Gee, if I "donate" say $10K to Chris’ cause, can I have unfettered access to him and help him decide on which direction to take his site? That would be twice the investment you have admittedly made.
Now I look at the site and its content as just another internet money making scheme.
Sadly submitted - C.
Sorry Erik, this thing has gone global! I know I’m not the only Aussie here (I live near the Perth Mint!), and there are several who have stated they’re in Europe or wherever, so please keep us all in mind!
Erik,
I want to thank you for your tremendous contribution of $5,000 to Chris’ effort and for volunteering
I’ve been surprised by some of the commentary and questions regarding your purposes and motives. Seems to me you laid them out clearly in your introductory letter, which, by the way, I thought was very nice; I really appreciated it.
In case readers haven’t seen your note yet, here are your answers to some of those key questions:
I’m delighted you’re volunteering. What a gift! With your background and skills, Chris’ aspirations are bound to be advanced. For those who are new to the website, those aspirations are essentially to help more people (hopefully a LOT more people):
understand key forces that are driving massive changes that will profoundly affect us all, and
take appropriate actions to, as he puts it, secure our future.
As another reader wrote, it’s understandable that some people might have some concerns for the integrity of the site as new people such as yourself get involved, but I feel we can be confident in Chris’ judgement about the people he invites to assist him.
I’ve been a friend and "fan" of Chris’ since 2005. I’ve attended several of his workshops, participated in local community meetings he initiated, worked with him briefly in researching relocalizing economies, and avidly followed the development of his Crash Course and website. Why such enthusiasm? Because Chris does something precious few do: he explains crucially important but complex economic factors and dynamics in crisp, down-to-earth, eminently understandable terms. Then he connects the dots so that ordinary people can easily see the implications for their lives. And he does so in a way that is pretty much free of ideological bias, and hyperbole. His analysis is data driven. He’s a scientist. As he says, he lets the data tell the story. And then he makes it so much fun to read because he’s got such a great sense of humor! Even with the scariest stuff!
Chris has worked incredibly hard for years with unrelenting devotion to the truth, to illuminate, educate and empower ordinary people. He’s tried numerous avenues to get the knowledge into more people’s hands (minds), at considerable financial cost to himself; always wrestling with the issue of putting a price on his products (workshops, reports, etc.); not wanting to exclude those with little means.
A lot of folks have expressed their appreciation here (throughout the website) for Chris’ generosity in providing the Crash Course and other materials on this site for free. Indeed he has earned our gratitude and deserves our support as well, financially, from those for whom that is possible.
There are some really good ideas here for ways of supporting Chris’ work --which is for all of us-- financially. The discussion regarding whether and how to advertise is an important one. While I have absolutely no doubt that Chris could and would maintain reporting and editorial independence from advertising interests, as has been pointed out by a reader, the mere appearance of possibly compromised objectivity is an important concern. I trust that the financing issues will be worked out.
We’re already seeing positive changes to the site! Within a short time of suggestions that discussion threads be better organized, that was accomplished with the Forum containing separate topic folders. Great!
Let’s applaud the good, respectfully propose improvements and express concerns, and work together to learn, teach and disseminate this great information and analysis!
Regards,
Wendy Thomson
P.S. I’ve been a registered reader since the site was launched, but recently changed email addresses; hence the "Joined: 2008-09." At present my income doesn’t cover my very modest expenses, so I’m not a paying member, although I’d like to be. I’m happy to be able to read all that is available for free!
If my candor offended you. I believe you. what can I do to help?
I was nearly surprised that anyone would bother to critisize or object in any way for support that comes towards this site. I say "nearly" because I have personally been involved in a few altruistic ventures in which funding for time, energy and expenditure became contentious issues. It was as though that the idea of getting funding abused some sacred trust or authenticity - well it certainly does for people who are unable to understand that people need to eat…
You have provided a wonderful service and obvously worked like a maniac to provide it and to top it off you’ve allowed free access for so many people.
Ignore all criticism (except constructive) and take compliments with a grain of salt. Your site deserves to succeed and you deserve to be rewarded for providing a valuable educational service - the likes of which I have not seen elsewhere.
I hope that you get more and more funding that wil enable you to continue.
Warm regards, Christopher
I want to echo the mini-membership idea. My experience was this: I needed to see the Crash Course for free and without registering in order to decide whether there was any value here. (I’m still half-wondering whether Chapter 20 will be some crazy conspiracy theory, "come and join our cult", or similar.) Having seen the value, I was prepared to register and contribute, but the full subscription of $300/pa was too much. It’s not that I’m poor, it’s just more than I’m willing to send to a website. People are very sceptical, paranoid even, about sending money.
I would definitely like to see a way for people to contribute cash, and hopefully gain benefits, at a lower level (more like $30/pa or less). You might even find you made more money by pitching the full subscription at that level.
As I sit here and read through all of these comments, I can only think to myself, "What a sad development." The coming-out of Chris’ new partner/helper, Erik Townsend, and the reaction by the site’s readers sound like a discussion more fit for a high school cafeteria than one taking place on the website I’ve visited for the last couple of months. And the fact that his introduction is one of the most read articles of the last several by a factor of many and that this introduction has elicited far more reader comments than most substantive posts is the sad part. Gossip and melodrama on www.PeakProsperity.com? I guess so.
Without taking sides, though I must admit that I’m inclined to be reflexively leery of someone like Mr. Townsend, I proffer the following questions:
Many readers of this site appear to be capitalists/investors, so why the uproar over advertisements or any other money-making aspect of the site?
Why didn’t Chris Martenson introduce or inform his readers of this new development himself?
Was this coming-out, as I’ve called it, by Erik Townsend really even necessary? Why not simply do it behind the scenes in the way that most administrative procedures would take place. I don’t need to know who he is, how much money he donates, and/or speculate about his ulterior motives. After all, I have absolutely no idea who Chris Martenson is beyond a biographical blurb. There seems to be more than an even generous pinch of ego in all of this for Mr. Townsend. But quite a forgivable transgression I must add.
(Never forget that one reads and grows to trust someone/some source not because they are inherently trustworthy but because they make sense and/or compare favorably to other people and sources that analyze the same topic over time. I don’t like Chris’ work or think that he’s insightful because he’s a PhD. or because he lives in New England or because he looks like my brother. In fact many of the world’s leading apologists and advocates for wrong-headed economic and military policies are Ph.D’s. If Mr. Townsend somehow ends up corrupting the site and Chris’ purpose, I trust that most of us will be able to see this quite readily.)
Do people really believe that the material gathered and presented here is new or original or truly groundbreaking? Contoversial thoughts, I know, but even Chris points this out in the Crash Course. He’s simply the information’s assimilator and arranger. I don’t mean to appear flippant here but to only sound a very fundamental truth, which leads to question 5.
Is the information here really valuable enough to be paid for, as Mr. Townsend is positing? He says at one point that "everyone has enjoyed a free ride thus far." This is one of two unfortunate comments he makes. FIrst, his choice of cliches is poor. I’m sure for most readers that Chris Martenson’s work is just one arrow in an informational quiver packed with a diverse array of sources. If this website were to suddenly not exist, I’m sure every reader would be disappointed but that we’d all make it through the night. We wouldn’t shrivel up and die in a day or two because our "free ride" was now over.
Regarding Mr. Townsend’s second unfortunate statement: "Not having to work full-time isn’t as glamorous as it probably sounds." Maybe if he volunteered/worked at Taco Bell or hung drywall for fifty hours a week for the next year or so his current position would be a bit more appealing instead of not "as glamorous as it probably sounds." Such a work stint may serve to reinvigorate the great appreciation he should have for his current standing.
I’ve been fortunate enough in my own life to have periods of months off at a time due to the fact that I’m a builder and am often paid in large sums of money and experience slow periods in between larger projects. For me these periods have always been revelatory. I read more, write more, hobby more, exercise more, hike more, spend more time with my family, and in general enjoy life more.
As far as photographs go, Mr. Townsend looks like an amicable enough fellow, and I invite him to transform this superficial reaction into a substantive one.
To answer by numbers
1 Because change is scary… ( actually I
just hate the distraction and never click on them anyway )
2 Covered In earlier posts in this section.
3 Necessary ? Well that comes down to opinion. Chris likes to be very
clear between facts, beliefs and opinions. 
Looks to me like a declaration
of having no secrets to me than negative connotations, but that as they say is
just my opinion. You cant please everyone all the time.
4 Kudos to him for making clear he is standing on the shoulders of
others. What I loved about his course is that it presented the
information in a way that others can "get it " I had being
trying friends to ""get it" for a while and only got ridicule, but I show them the crash course they started to get it. That is what
you get from a good teacher.
Cheers
That’s a fantastic idea. I’ve not yet attended TED myself but would love to. You have to sign up a year plus in advance last I heard.
The immediate priorities will be on the site, the completion of the crash course, and a plan to create a grass-roots movement to spread the word about the crash course across America. We’re also looking at PR opportunities, such as cable TV interview opportunities to promote Chris. I’ve put your idea about TED in my notes. The nomination online is only the first step - my guess is we’d have to get to someone at TED and get them to actually watch a chapter of the crash course. Someone on their program committee would need to see it first hand, so the challenge is getting to them and getting them to watch it.
Thanks again for a great suggestion.
Erik
Welcome Erik,
I for one appreciate your involvement, I welcome advertising or any other auxilliary source of income. it is not fair or sustainable to expect this to run entirely on Chris’s dime.
And of course, a deep bow of gratitude to Chris- I can’t express the magnitude of my appreciation. For decades I’ve tried unsuccessfully to understand the economy, I only regret that I didn’t discover this site earlier.
Unfortunately, I am a poor master’s student, can only afford the basic package- no membership until I join the working crowd!
In the meantime, I think there is a lot we can do as participants. As jeanius2 and Susan and others have already mentioned, it is easy and free to get the word out. Tell your friends, if you haven’t already, post it on other boards, your local newspaper, etc:
As suggested by jeanius2, I will repeat the TED address-
http://www.ted.com/index.php/nominate/speaker
and add a few other blog sites with relevant readership-
etc.
I personally cannot believe the gall of some of the criticisms being leveled on this board. Please, everybody, what is the big deal about advertising? Catfink, I agree with Erik, if you don’t like it, ante up.
I read through most of the comments here and found a wide spectrum for you to work with. In sales, ALL respondants are opportunities and IMHO the toughest ones, ie most critical, are the best! One should NEVER argue with a potential paying customer, especially not in on an open blog, it’s just bad form.
As to what someone like me will pay for and not pay for? The Crash Course, as it is (without Chapter 20 posted) provides the type of overview convenient to send along to those less-aquainted with economics. Not knowing yet the quality of the ‘action plan’ part of the presentation would make it difficult to want to invest now, especially without knowing what if any success Mr. Martenson has had with applying the strategy.
With that said- I don’t mind being on the ground floor of a thing, in fact its preferred, but some indication of what’s to come is essential. For instance will there be an actual method of say… trading commodities, looking for mineral or other specific energy investment opportunities, or how about actual honest coin/bullion dealers for group/club investing at discounts or at the very least fair values with clear explanations and terms as to why the spread is what it is?
One has to be very careful about giving personal and financial information on the internet. Trusting the host is a huge part of making that decision. Handling objections is the only way to establish trust and prove ones ability to earn opportunities.
The bottom line- To get the thing moving along I agree that the Paypal donation would be optimal. People give what they think a thing is worth and once that develops, which it will if it’s a good place to be, then more strategic membership packages could be intertwined along with the donation level participants. Let’s face it, young folks who are less-acquainted with economics need this more than anyone and their resources are limited.
JMHO
Hi, Erik,
Two things that would be helpful RIGHT NOW:
Xflies- As someone who does not have kids, I have not given a great deal of thought to how kids would fit into the picture. A few points though… I was lucky growing up – although I didn’t think so at the time – in that my family had a business and I was able to use my hands and build something. Many people have not had this opportunity and therefore can only envision themselves sitting behind a desk. There will probably not be a large demand for desk jockeys in the world to come. Secondly, my father was an out-of-the-box thinker. Possibly the only one in our small community. It would have been helpful if there were a handful of other free thinkers around. Finally, home schooling may produce better individuals in many respects, but it seems to mainly be based on a religious – in some cases fundamentalist – foundation. We have to be honest when we ask how we got in the mess we are in. Some would say that religion enabled the money/growth model that we have today. This is one reason why I believe that the foundation of our communities – big or small – should be the university. (Again, I am talking about the renaissance model or the whole model as opposed to the specialist model of today that trains individuals to fit into the growth model.) It is remarkable that a majority of college students are plugged into a many-book environment for four or more years and then graduate and spend the rest of their lives in a one-book mindset. Part of the problem is that the curriculum does not encourage students to explore.
Young people should have a place to go where all types of ideas are being tossed about – not just doctrine and dogma. My father used to repeatedly say that those who can do and those that can’t teach. We need to create an institution that encompasses doing and teaching.