How should such a facility be organized, funded, and managed?
As the market hasn’t hit bottom, now is likely not a good time to invest, if you have the money. And I apologize if I gave the impression that I think anybody trying to improve their situation a bit is a ruthless, money obsessed creep.
But you have to ask yourself-- If we live on a finite planet, maybe the virus has just delivered a strong message. Investing is based on expansion and Mother Nature appears to be rebelling against that mindset. Maybe ethical funds are the way to go.
Gold and silver seem to make sense but they are also environmentally toxic, so will that perhaps backfire? Is it part of the larger script written by the true hidden hand?
Psychology has long accepted the stylized fact that we attribute success to our skill and failure to bad luck
but it’s probably the case that both are involved in all outcomes.
i think Jonathan Haidt (I’m not 100% certain) identified correlation between belief in “just deserts” thinking and political orientation
Government should provide public goods
We have a system that allows private companies to collect rents from public monopolies. We probably have a future of neo-feudalism. It’s bleak. Or revolution. Which has many downsides.
It’s here now and has been for some time.
With regards to fundamental attribution error, I think it was Sam Goldwyn who said, “The harder I work, the luckier I get”. I don’t think that’s entirely correct. I would amend that to say the harder and smarter I work, the luckier I get.
A lot (but not all) of what people attribute to luck, however, can be attributed to such things as cultivating wisdom and tacit knowledge. I don’t know too many wise people who are unlucky but I do know many foolish people who are unlucky. That being said, I have a former colleague and a friend who is a fine person who has made good life decisions throughout her entire life but, in recent years, has experienced some of the worst luck I’ve ever seen through absolutely no fault of her own. That’s scary but also, quite rare in my experience. Most “bad luck” comes about from bad decisions.
Long time writer of Dow Theory newsletter. At the end of his life , said that above all, the most valuable thing is peace of mind.
Millions upon millions of people worldwide will be dying of this, from those living in the richest countries to the most remote tribes deep in the Amazon forest, and this thread has been hijacked about people bickering about their philosophical differences regarding finances assets & who has what!!!I
If people have financial assets via retirement accounts or other, then it’s great PP is providing some guidance. Btw, the game of financialization is going away if you ask me. There will likely be helicopter money directly to people as well as companies which provides a monetary method of socialism without people realizing it. Chris and Adam have long espoused that primary wealth is real wealth, and that one day there would be a crumbling of secondary and tertiary wealth.
So, what if one does not have much in the way of financial assets currently? Be your primary source of food. Grow a garden. In my neck of the woods the hardware stores are still delivering. Buy seeds, soil, planters, books, etc. A garden is probably the most profitable, secure, and most important investment anyone can make. Same thing goes for chickens if one lives someplace that would allow it, or they could go into it with family or friends who might have a suitable location. Learn how to kill squirrels via a slingshot, 0.22, etc. Seriously. Many lessons can be learned from the Great Depression. People ate whatever was available.
Having a job is not a God given right. Times are going to be extremely tough in the future. Few people are going to have jobs for a while. The problem with America is that she is one the wealthiest countries on the planet from top to bottom, and the shock of going to second/third world status in such a short timeframe is not going to be a pretty sight. Don’t ever lose sight of the fact that there are many billions of people on this planet before all this happened who lived in condition that many would define as being “dirt poor”. A poor person can adapt to most situations. A wealthy person who loses that wealth tends to become a depressed, angry, self-wallowing, blaming malcontent.
Seriously people, it’s time to come together, and help each other as much as possible. Rich, poor, or indifferent we all facing an adversary unlike anything else we’ll ever see in our lifetimes.
Lastly, PP presents a tremendous amount of topics. If a topic isn’t going to help your situation or you don’t have helpful commentary regarding the topic, then I suggest you move about your way and not clutter up a thread for those who are interested in the topic and are looking for meaningful on-topic discussion…
Dryam2000, you said,
“Seriously people, it’s time to come together, and help each other as much as possible. Rich, poor, or indifferent we all facing an adversary unlike anything else we’ll ever see in our lifetimes.”
Amen! And thank you.
dryam2000,
I agree with you. It’s being making me sick as well… The suffering, trauma, and tragedy unfolding right now and I think some people haven’t integrated the magnitude to their core, to feel the heartbreak, the vulnerability, to their bones what is happening right now. Bubbles have popped all over the place and continue to be popped. Expectations for the present, the future, our way of life, supply chains have broken, and we will need to continue relocalizing like crazy, globalization has been slowly dying and this current black swan event will just help it along.
Back in 2005-2006 when I read “The Long Emergency” by James Howard Kunstler, I “got” it and went into a funk for 6 weeks, but it helped me to understand so much of what had happened in the last 30-40 years, and what continues to happen… I then started to read many of his other books (both fiction and non-fiction), in addition to “Party’s Over” and “Peak Everything” by Richard Heinberg and his other books too, “Twilight in the Desert” by Matthew Simmons, John Michael Greer’s books, “Overshoot”, etc. etc. In order to be able to “invest”, there has to be an excess of something to generate profit, and it’s impossible to have infinite growth (profit enough to satisfy corporations and stockholders, and other types of investments) on a finite planet (I wish more people had heard of degrowth or steady-state economics and understand the need and imperative for it). Wealth and class inequality have been growing and growing, and divisions are causing quakes in the world around us. In order to be able to have profit and growth, the continual availability of energy and physical natural resources are required. The three “E”'s, energy, environment, and the economy, take one of those legs away, and the tripod collapses. Conventional oil used to have an EROEI (energy returned on energy invested) of 30:1 or 40:1, but it’s way below that now.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_returned_on_energy_invested
We’ve past the global peak of production of conventional oil too, we’ve already picked the low-hanging fruit of energy sources, and we’ve been scraping the bottom of the barrel using more and more unconventional oils.Yes, we need renewable energies, but they are dependent on fossil fuels for the mining, production, and transportation. Most people don’t seem to take that into consideration.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconventional_oil
Without the insane amount of fossil fuels we have become addicted to, combined with the lower EROEI’s of unconventional oils and our collective assumption they will be there forever, which they won’t, for all of our transportation needs, electricity, food production, flying airplanes, cruise ships, etc. and to have growth too? Nope. Nada. Zip. Not going to happen. The planet can’t sustain that, and several of the planetary boundaries have already tipped…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconventional_oil
Our lifestyles will need to be redesigned, expectations and carbon footprints lowered. The scale and scope of our predicament is breathtaking, and we don’t have the money, energy, nor resources (and will apparently) to completely change or build new infrastructures. We seem to want to keep racing to that cliff rather than using the brakes to buy some time. I have read this expression many times “we get to either deal with reality or reality will deal with us”.
I can think of a couple of people that might not like this post, and the message, but this thread (I know, the title is a tipoff) has had so much propaganda in it.
Linda
I have no answer to this comment except that we should all be asking ourselves the same questions. Such a change can only come from within individuals by individual action setting an example to others.
It should not be forgotten that evolution has come about because of competition but it is also arguable that genetic evolution for the human species is now a minor factor compared to cultural evolution. I am no utopian but I do think it should not be outside our ability to find a course that allows for competition (because it is effective) but, like in the natural world, it allows for a large degree of redundancy. That means scaling down rather than scaling up. Monopolies or near monopolies might be efficient and do facilitate constant cost-cutting but are inherently unsafe because there is no redundancy. You only have to look at the ridiculously narrow supply chains to realise that cheap products which exploit cheap labour come at high cost when the wheels fall off the just-in-time conveyor belt. Not to mention the loss of jobs through off-shoring. For all his faults, President Trump put his finger on this before anyone else but I am not entirely convinced that he did it for the right reasons.
The silver lining in the current corona cloud will, I hope, be a worldwide re-assessment of the way we do things. I doubt we will get it right in one go but over several decades and after several more disasters.
I absolutely agree with your mild criticism of this website. Prosperity surely has a wider meaning than just net monetary wealth. It certainly does for Granny and others.
Hello Everyone! It’s interesting to read the comments section - especially with all the new members. A little philosophy might help put things in perspective. The same way Chris’ reporting has imparted material knowledge on how to manage the pandemic, it’s really helpful to have some higher/spiritual/philosophical knowledge on how to manage the fallout. So how do all of us end up in such different situations and why is this so unfair?
First, let’s keep things in perspective. Everything is temporary. According to the Indian Holy Scripture, The Shrimad-Bagavatam, Lord Brahma is the first created being in our Universe. His one 12 hour day is equal to 8,600,000 of our human years. If you do the math, that means our life time is way shorter than a mayfly’s. I think the Bible described the length of this lifetime as a “twinkling of an eye.” Purport: Don’t worry folks, it’s almost over, and fortunes can turn on a dime.
Second, it does not matter how little or how much money we have, we will all leave our body and accumulated wealth or debts at the time of death. “For one who takes birth, death is certain. And for one who dies, birth is certain.” See Bhagavad Gita As it Is.
Third, we all are subject to the laws of Karma: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, whether you’re a beggar on the street or the Fed Chair, and if you think the markets are complicated, check out Karma.
During our lifetimes, it does not matter how much or how little money we have, we will ALL be on the Sukha-Dukha see-saw. Happiness-distress, happiness-distress, happiness-distress. That’s why there is no enjoyment in the material world, you cannot enjoy if suffering is right around the corner. All we have is the illusion of enjoyment. The material world is described as a place where one living entity is food for another (mrtalokhas or planets of death). In such a place, how can there be enjoyment?
In regard to our current events, getting whacked by the system per the fake money, manufactured markets, megamonopolies, corrupt officials, poor/no leadership is the “civilized” way of getting preyed upon! It could be a lot worse!
Fourth, we are all embodied souls with the four built-in defects, and an insatiable lust for profit, adoration and distinction. The four built-in defects are: imperfect senses, propensity to cheat, prone to commit mistakes and subject to illusion. We are each a unique combination of the 8 material elements and the three modes of material nature: goodness, passion and ignorance. EACH of us has a unique personality, path, and life lessons! Which explains how each of us are in such unique circumstances in the same pandemic.
Fifth, as embodied souls we have been cycling through the cycle of birth and death since time immemorial, not eternity, but a very long time. This is not our first rodeo. Now that we have reached the human form of life, what are we going to do with it?
Imagine yourself the center of a five mile radius. How many living entities other than humans live in that five mile radius? How many ants, roaches, mosquitoes, gnats, worms, flies, larvae, beetles, bees/wasps, birds, frogs, dragon flies…are in that same 5 mile radius? Can’t count em, right? Now how many humans are in that 5 mile radius?
The purport of this exercise? The Human Form is extremely rare and should not be wasted on the same activities that lower species are engaged in: eating, sleeping, mating and defending. Only in the human form can we aspire for higher/spiritual/transcendental knowledge.
If all we are doing is eating, sleeping, mating and defending, then we are really no better than the animals and other living entities. Only in the human form of life can we ask the big questions. Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going and how do I get there? Where did I come from?
It’s not so easy to get out of the cycle of birth and death, but that’s what human life is meant for… and there are no guarantees of a human form the next cycle around.
Of course we have to do our duties, which include taking care of our families, securing our finances, going to work, cleaning, cooking and all the other mundane activities to keep body and soul together, but it’s not the goal. The goal is to finally break free from the cycle of birth and death and all the misery that goes along with life in the material world.
My authority for spiritual knowledge is His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He translated the Bhagavada-Gita As It Is, the Srimad Bhagavatam, Nectar of Devotion, Nectar of Instruction, and other ancient spiritual texts from Sanskrit to English and ignited the Hare Krsna explosion shortly after his arrival in the US in 1965.
At the age of 70, he stepped onto American shores with a trunk full of poorly produced and edited books and 7 rupees in his pocket. Although almost everyone has heard of the Hare Krsna’s, almost no one has heard of its founder, Srila Prabhupada - a true testament to his humility.
37 years later, I have yet to find a more sound philosophy or methodology to strive for and obtain real inner peace. However, my life is far from perfect. My personal finances mirror last week’s markets, and have since the 2008 crash. I have NEVER financially recovered. I have so much debt, it might as well be the trillions the US gov is in for. Trust me, it’s a big black cloud constantly over my head! And it would not be thus, but for the fact that I became an attorney! Go figure.
But thanks to this site, I have fruit trees, I have saved in other than fiat currency, I learned how to grow food - lot’s of food, I’ve learned how to can, I’ve learned how to save seeds, I am working in/with community, I learned how to take care of my soil, I diversified my income.
And thanks to His Divine Grace, I pray and serve … a lot.
Several people ask a reasonable question: why are outcomes so different? We do know the answer. Unfortunately, it’s a complex system of interrelated life conditions that influence the outcome and often our political persuasion and our own history cause us to fixate on only one factor. Let’s consider reality of life in the US. What are the primary drivers of where a person ends up?
- An individual's nature: intelligence, talents, "grit" and "gumption" [as my granny would have said], ability to stick the course when things get hard, ability to bail out of a bad situation quickly - in short the innate capacity a person is born with. Unfortunately, we're not all equal.
- An individual's personal nurture: several people have said it in this thread - a caring family in a caring community counts for a lot. So does a good example. My granny used to say, life is hard-so what, you never give up. Sometimes I would have been better to listen to the late Kenny Rogers - Know when to walk away: know when to run. If we were lucky, we had good role models around us that fit both our personalities and our innate abilities. People seek out environments that feel compatible to them. Some are luck enough to find them. Women, people of color, and intelligent ambitious people from the lower classes often have trouble finding compatible people around them. Granny's NOT wrong about bias; people suffer if they don't look and sound like the stereotype of what they want to become.
- A social structure that never gets it quite right: with the Renaissance and the rise of capitalism, the idea grew that merit, not inherited position and granddad's wealth, should determine a much greater part of the outcome. Unfortunately, that doesn't work well when so many people came out of the feudal system with wealth disparities and a social view that somehow people deserved their lot in life. After WW2, the middle class surged and women and people of color were allowed to demonstrate their own merit. Then the war of worldviews started with the "greed is good" of the Wall Street gamblers conflicting with the "everybody should be guaranteed the same outcome" of the politically correct left. Well, guess what - they're both wrong. Most of us don't believe that merit encompasses being a better thief or a more successful con artist or a Wall Street stock manipulator. We want people to be rewarded for producing something of value to lots of main street people, not for creating bubbles and destroying resources our grandchildren will need. And most of us would admit that we don't have the resources to ensure equal outcome -- as Ayn Rand pointed out, Atlas will Shrug. If you have less capacity, you probably won't be as materially comfortable as those with more capacity. And we all realize that some people are born into situations where their circumstances make it very hard to develop their true potential: unfit parents, poor schools, social media propaganda all make it hard for many people to to thrive. And it's also true that being born to the elites gives people a big head start through no merit of their own. Their parent's money and their parent's influential friends open doors that the lower 50 percent have slammed in their faces.
Thank you so much for your post of the allegory of the snake and the serpent as well as the link underneath. I’m not good with charts, but the narrative is most instructive, and dare I say all too true.
I had a phone call with New Harbor, but they can only work with Canadians if they have property in the US. I’m wondering if Peak Prosperity has any recommendations on who I could work with as a Canadian?
Basically, I share many of the concerns of the Peak Prosperity perspective and community, but I don’t consider myself knowledgeable enough to make these financial decisions without some more support. So I’m wondering who I could look to for that, perhaps something similar to New Harbor, but operating in Canada. Please let me know.
yes, I also am interested in Canadian financial advisors who share the peak prosperity world view. any information is appreciated.