The Real Solution:
Every member of congress needs to be voted out. Every one of them.
Then we can start with whatever is left of America.
Peter Schiff has 15,000 volunteers for his campaign already. What if we had 15,000 in every state across America; each one of those volunteers was standing on a prominent corner with a sign and a bullhorn: “Re-elect No one! Re-elect No one! Re-elect No-one!”
I’d call it “Revolution 538.”
Sigh…
Aaron, I’ve seen those ‘debunking’ sites. Amazing isn’t it? The authors manage to debunk EVERYTHING! Trouble is, they give only their opinion. No facts, no references, no educated responses, just juvenile posts, strangely repetitive no matter what it is they’re objecting to. I encourage everyone to check out both the debunking AND the original zeitgeist information and THINK FOR THEMSELVES. Can millions of people be wrong? Sure. They are now, look around. But throwing out something new because it disagrees with your sense of the world might possibly be an error. Methinks Peter Joseph stepped on your religious feelings; he gets that a lot. Or is it his take on 9-11 that you find unsettling? Sorry, but if prayers worked, we would not be in the situation we are now, and if the government would stop lying to us about EVERYTHING, we wouldn’t have to wonder what happened on 9-11 either.
The truth takes time to discover. You won’t find it ready made on a ‘debunking’ site.
Ma’am, I’m going to politely ask that you stop slandering me.
Before you ask, here are the references:
-If the best Chris' followers can do is suggest an informercial or a 'best seller' I'm sorry but that has already been done ad infinitum.-Aaron, your post smacks of the kind of thing Karl Rove is famous for...Or are you a disinfo plant for the 'anti Zeitgeist' crowd (there's always a few...)-Aaron is young and foolish.-I DON'T rely for my 'opinions' on a Wikipedia-like article slamming something new. Geebers, we're in big trouble here and bumpersticker slogans aren't gonna fix things.-And Aaron, just for your info, I'm not a 'he'; I'm a 56-year-old gramma and I've been watching this crap going down now for many more decades than you have been alive, if your picture is correct. I get my info from hundreds of sources, not a few here and there and I've learned to be VERY leery of other's unfounded opinions stated as fact.-Contrary to Aaron's take on things, I am not trying to sell anyone on any particular idea or course of action. Just putting it out there for everyone to consider.-Figured based on that fascinating tidbit that many more have not heard of it and would like to look into it. Hopefully, with a more open mind than Aaron has.
Aaron
Ma’am, did you read the information, or simply dismiss it because it wasn’t what you wanted to hear?
Please review your comment and ask yourself: "Is this rude/insulting/true?" Especially with regards to facts presented. The first paragraph of the site I linked to specifically addresses the topic you say they do not.Sigh..
Aaron, I've seen those 'debunking' sites. Amazing isn't it?
-No facts, no references, no educated responses, just juvenile posts, strangely repetitive no matter what it is they're objecting to. I encourage everyone to check out both the debunking AND the original zeitgeist information and THINK FOR THEMSELVES. -Can millions of people be wrong? Sure. They are now, look around. -But throwing out something new because it disagrees with your sense of the world might possibly be an error.
-Methinks Peter Joseph stepped on your religious feelings; he gets that a lot. Or is it his take on 9-11 that you find unsettling? Sorry, but if prayers worked, we would not be in the situation we are now,
The truth takes time to discover. You won't find it ready made on a 'debunking' site.
Headless,
I agree 100%. With a fresh start in congress, we could really made some headway.
That said, do not overlook the importance of acting on the local level!
Ask tough questions of your elected officials. Be active. Find out if they believe in/understand seperation of the Judicial and Executive branches of the government. Ask if they understand the concepts of exponential growth, and the depletion of arible land in favor for development.
The recovery will start on a local level, so that’s where I choose to devote my time. The Federal problem is, as Signalfire says, bigger than any one of us.
Cheers,
Aaron
We would prefer that blog comments be limited to the subject matter of the blog. No more comments relating to Zeitgeist please.
If either Aaron or signalfire would care to create a new thread for debate and discussion of the Zeitgeist movement, please do so and I will move all the relevant comments to the new thread. Otherwise they will be removed. Remember that if you intend to discuss global conspiracy theories, the new thread must be located in the Controversial Topics folder.
On a different note, I want to emphasize that this website encourages civil discussion of all topics relating to the 3 E’s. We always welcome new users, and whatever new ideas they bring with them. We will not tolerate intellectual bullying - we expect kindness, civility, and respectfulness from everybody.
Hey Jason,
I’m a all for having every post I’ve made save the ones relevant to the topic at hand removed.
There isn’t much reason to deviate from this topic, which was my original point. Sorry to have dragged it out.
Cheers,
Aaron
“Today’s Wall Street Journal discusses a 2002 paper declaring that “on the basis of historical experience, the risk to the government from a potential default on GSE debt is effectively zero.” It’s authors were Jonathan Orzag, Peter Orszag and Joseph Stiglitz, who had won the Nobel prize in economics the year before.”
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-joseph-stiglitz-blew-it-on-fannie-and-freddie-2009-12
Removed after realising moderator intervention
Yep… I totally agree, nothing short of a revolution is required, the Matrix is broken well beyond repair.
We need a blank slate. I still maintain that as the debts incurred can never ever be repaid, they should simply be canceled. We’re already seeing debt destruction, cancelation is merely total destruction, I see no point in stretching the process painfully more than necessary!
A campaign to bring people together to stop servicing their debts would bring TPTB to their knees, the whole thing could be unwound within a week quite likely… I really don’t know why there is so much reluctance on the part of everyone here to get this…
Which part of “the debts incurred can never ever be repaid” don’t you understand?
Mike
Aaron,
Completely agree with “the recovery will start on a local level,” but I think the “targets” are other than whom you suggest: I think it’s the People that we need to shake up, stir up and get pissed off—they’re 90% along that road . The local politicians are, for the most part, the zygotes (term used intentionally) that await a more sinister birth, an emergence to be All That They Can See! And what can they “see?” That crime pays! It pays big! And thus, the cute little cuddly local pols will surely evolve as desired, achieving their ultimate Alien-like forms; life forms so foreign to My and your family values, that they will not even recognize Us as being of their world once they’re in. Example: 90+% of Americans Say No! to Bailout. Result?
Need I even mention that for congress to ignore 90% of Americans (on the bailout) there has to be an extraordinarily good reason? What might that reason be? I say that a reasonable hypothesis (testable with a new congress) is that nearly every Washington politician has such frightening skeletons in his/her closet, that he/she could do none other than was demanded of them by their masters? They, the DC politicians, are, in all probability compromised in multiple ways. They are almost all, with the probability approaching 1, criminals. If we elect an entirely new 538, we can go after them! We can go after Bush, Cheney, Rice, Paulson, Geithner, Bernanke, All of Wall Street, The SEC, and we can END THE FED in a heartbeat.
Revolution 538! The way to save what’s left of America. At a minimum, could it be a bad thing to discover the Truth, to remove all doubt in the mind of a confused nation, to at least discover whether we are the victims of our own imaginations? Would it be an insurmountable tragedy to start over with the Ideals of The Founders of the Republic , via insuring that honest men and women assume positions of power?
What, I ask, is the cost of such a proposal? The jobs of 538 highly suspect individuals–as opposed to the future quality of life of a Nation of Families and a World of Could-be Friends.
Is there even a choice as to what need s to be done?
Revolution 538.
H.
We the people, even those of us that aren’t as astute as you Chris, can see the blatant theft taking place by our government. If I were an incumbant, I’d start worring about a lot more than keeping my job if I wasn’t speaking out against this madness. People will only stand for so much dishonesty and being lied to and stolen from.
Chris,
I don’t post often, but I read all the time. We are running out of time, and fast. Robert Kiyosaki wrote a great little blurb that sums up exactly what should happen this year;
(whether you like him or not, his paraphrasing on the housing bubble is spot on.)
Maybe we need to publicize solutions to start reaching more of a critical mass. That’s always appealing to read.
-Doug
If you want to make an effective stand, you will need to marshall power, arguably that is closer than you think. The following link (link) sketches out such a plan, (basis):
“And what, we asked ourselves, would happen if lots of people around America decided to do the same thing? Our money has been used to make the system worse – what ifwe used it to make the system better?”. I’ve come across several similar ideas over the past week, the implications to reserve requirements can be debated. However, the practicality can be estimated by polling the users/subscribers of this site and backing into estimations.
The problem with the current composition of our society, for better or worse is we are a plural people. To act effectively you need to find a common abstraction, central to all groups, that is appropriate for the task. The simple process of moving ones bank account may be such an abstraction.
Judging from the tone of the article and various comments, time is a factor. Given the latency of the political process, that option seems distant. Education on the issue, while mandatory tends to find political solutions that evolve plans of action over time. Again the the simple notion of relocating ones deposits seems worth discussion and some time spent with a spreadsheet.
un-lurking… There are rational solutions, but I just do not see The Powers That Be actually using them. They have too much invested in the system as it is now. Short of a Jubilee, I don’t see how the debt issue can be resolved. From what I have read, there is more debt outstanding in the derivatives market than there is world GDP. (I think I got that right, I am a musician, not an economist.)
We have military bases all over the globe, some 700+ according to Chalmers Johnson’s books, which are sucking out masive amounts of money. Add to that two, maybe three impossible-to-win “conflicts”. We have have military overextension and internal corruption; this sounds altogether too much like Rome in its final years.
I have tried to get the word about the Crash Course out. I burned two DVDs and gave them as holiday gifts to a friend. Chris, you will be happy to know that one disc will be passed on to a sustainable living group in Davis, CA., and they will probably be showing it (in sections) there. If we all give two DVDs to a friend, one for them to watch, and the other to be passed on, this will at least help. I wish I could donate, but have been in one of the families to declare medical bankruptcy, there is nothing left now.
Lastly, my homemade bumper sticker is blunt. It reads, “Torches and Pitchforks.”
Any other large-scale ideas?I think contacting many of those who are likely to challenge the incumbants. Get them to include the Crash Course in their message to help spread the word.
I sent an e-mail to the Campaign for Liberty people last year suggesting a combined marketing effort - Crash Course DVD in a Campaign for Liberty mailer. But no one responded. Next time I’m in Alexandria I think I will wander down to their offices and bring it up again. Perhaps there are other organizations with similar goals that would be open to a combined message.
For me, I give DVDs to everyone. I also carry business cards with the crash course web site on them to hand out when I don’t have DVDs. I take time out to talk to business owners of places I frequent and many are pretty savy about the economic problems but most have not thought about the other 2 E’s.
Hello
Great article and I love the part about using a calculator to estimate the 500-750 billion. Most likely the number will top 2 or 3 trillion all said and done. I personally think the government will eventually confiscate all mortgages and in a sense “forgive” them with “strings and conditions” attached.
I am a new member as of 20 minutes ago.
Someone recommended this site in the blogs following a zerohedge.com article. I get really good sourcing in these blogs.
I have shared the crash course with 5 people thus far and it has left most of them in a bit of a fog. For me the crash course solidified my current sentiment about the future. I thought the section about energy was fantastic in fact it completely changed my thinking about the value of natural resources.
I think my biggest realization, over the weekend, is that our cash holdings are likely to be set to zero in the next few years or so - maybe sooner. I’m now strongly convicted that I’ll need to convert everything to tradeable/barterable assets. I’m struggling with the level of necessary paranoia at the moment.
I just want to thank Chris for his crash course and I’ll be checking in everyday for the articles.
Thanks for the link Doug.
It was good to be reminded of the upcoming mortgage adjustments.
I thought you might enjoy sharing the - usdebtclock.org - with others as well. Young folks like it because it has lots of motion. Scares the crap out of everyone else.
Paul
Would you tell a lie to save the world?
After all governments and reporters tell lies too, sometimes unintentional due to incomplete or skewed data.
This is how it goes: by publishing data showing that the world is how you would like it to be. Example: tell people that more and more people are aware about a certain problem, or are acting towards a certain goal. The lie doesn’t have to be big. Because most of the people don’t care about or cannot grasp numbers it is enough to use vague and powerful words like “fastest growing”. Fore example an increase from 1 person to 3 persons means that the number tripled or is a 200% increase 
There are several reasons why people will follow this trends:
- The well known fact that social scientists encounter when they publish a study. The study will influence society and future studies will show different data.
- Most of the people want to be part of the group. If they are told that their group has certain beliefs, they will have them too.
- Identity is an important factor in Western culture and psychology. If people are told for example, that most of their fellows think that consumption is bad for you and the planet, they will identify themselves as anti-consumerists too. A trivial example would be fashion.
- At the personal level, identity works pretty much the same. If you tell somebody repeatedly that he or she is in a certain way (good or bad), eventually they will become like that.
- Studies showed that at least 17% of the people will believe anything you tell them
Also, it seems that people in a crowd or group tend to not react to emergencies unless they are appointed to. Another significant fact is that if the other people in the group look calm, individuals react less to emergencies. In our case, because the emergency is not easy to spot and understand, panic is not useful. Instead, you could use the image of a forecaster of the future. People are very interested in knowing their future as long as it is not very dark.
Most people are not necessarily rational, especially in a world full of information. The brain is more and more busy coping with the ocean of information rather than processing it properly. Therefore, for a message to get through, it has to be short, simple and powerful, like commercials.
I truly respect and admire the work of Dr. Martenson but his message targets rational people like us, his readers. In my opinion the easiest target is the young generation. They have a tendency toward idealism and change and after all, they are the near future. To influence them, one has to speak their language. Maybe a good song with good lyrics and video will do it. Youtube is a powerful tool.
What would be the message? It is a hard question that I’ve been trying to answer for the last couple of years. I don’t think exponential function is catchy for the vast majority. The message has to involve feelings (most people have them and they are harder to resist than to rational thoughts). It shouldn’t suggest survivalist type of living. It should give precise tasks for precise categories of people.
A good start for finding solutions are materials about sustainability. An eye opening book is “Limits to Growth: 30 years update” and also has good solutions. Another useful reading is “Sustainable Urbanism” by Douglas Farr. It gives you an idea where our cities are, some frightening statistics, and what has to be done.
Unfortunately I am not very good at details, I am more of a big picture type of person. So I can come up only with general messages. Hope this helps and you will find efficient messages to save the world.
Xan
What would you do if you received a message from the future? I have seen the future. Humans were technologically enhanced and they could reach the stars. They told me they want to be saved.
Welcome paul.
I'm struggling with the level of necessary paranoia at the moment.
At some point Chris put something out there like this; chances of a complete collapse in the next week are very small, < 1%. But over time, that gets bigger…how big, I don’t know. There are some steps you can take immediately that will help in a collapse that won’t totally turn your life upside down. But to be really prepared, it could take a few months. Don’t worry about a collapse so quickly, but start making the preparations. Even if a total collapse never happens, many of the things you can do to prepare will not make you that worse off; sort of like house insurance. You pay a little bit each month for the fire that would wipe you out. You’re not that paranoid then about a fire; as long as you can get out alive you’ll be a little worse off but not terribly.
I believe you.
Is this the truth?