I read in IOUSA that Ron Paul got Greenspan to autogrpah this article.
http://www.321gold.com/fed/greenspan/1966.html
Here are some highlights:
…gold and economic freedom are inseparable…
It was limited gold reserves that stopped the unbalanced expansions of business activity, before they could develop into the post-World War I type of disaster. The readjustment periods were short and the economies quickly reestablished a sound basis to resume expansion.
But the process of cure was misdiagnosed as the disease: if shortage of bank reserves was causing a business decline-argued economic interventionists-why not find a way of supplying increased reserves to the banks so they never need be short! If banks can continue to loan money indefinitely-it was claimed-there need never be any slumps in business. And so the Federal Reserve System was organized in 1913.
When business in the United States underwent a mild contraction in 1927, the Federal Reserve created more paper reserves in the hope of forestalling any possible bank reserve shortage.
The "Fed" succeeded; it stopped the gold loss, but it nearly destroyed the economies of the world, [my own note here, I’m sure this time Ben will succeed!] in the process.
In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value.
This is the shabby secret of the welfare statists’ tirades against gold. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process.
The questions I have after reading this are:
- If he knew this then why did he partake in creating this chaos?
- What order will arrise from the choas this will create?
- How could he let Ben think that the gold backed dollar was a cause of the depression when he says, "But the process of cure was misdiagnosed as the disease"?
What are the chances that a new currency called the "Amero" would be issued to replace the dollar? It is mentioned on a number of "alternative" news sites, but I have no reference to it in mainstream media. I heard a friend reference a news article stating that the US recently sent $800 billion "Ameros" to China because China refused to accept USD in payment. I did a yahoo search on "amero" and "China" and found the same article (http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3f5_1223308293) posted on a number of websites. I am interested in any response that can verifiy this article is fact OR fiction.
DS, It’s not scorn we feel for our friends and family who won’t listen, it is great concern. There is a huge difference between the two emotions.
Two old sayings came to mind here.
1) You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.
2) Better safe than sorry.
Back in August after taking the crash course, I begged my husband to sell his stocks and buy gold. He refused. He insisted there was nothing wrong with the economy. He didn’t want to pay capital gains tax on the sale of his stocks. Gold was too expensive. He insisted the market always goes up. He also asked me where I was hiding my tinfoil hat. When I told my mother to get debt free and stock a pantry, she insisted I was over-reacting. Oh yes, smile and be happy, after all, my health was at stake.
Three months later, our market losses are huge and physical gold coins are difficult to come by. Let me tell you, watching that kind of money vaporize was not happy. Nor is it good for my health. Nor is it good for long term survival. But of course, smile and be happy – appreciate the loss – wish it back into existence. After all, the market always goes up, right?
My husband now kicks himself daily for not listening to me back in August. My mother now has a fully stocked pantry. The friends who still won’t listen fall into category one. Despite my falling level of popularity, I continue to ‘lead them to water.’ It’s not about scorn or who’s right or wrong. I’m deeply concerned for their future well being.
And if the S doesn’t hit the fan, there’s nothing wrong with having been prepared. I would much rather eat a huge dish of crow in front of my optimistic friends, than have nothing to eat in the midst of an economic meltdown.
Which would you rather your friends be; safe or sorry?
My guess is that Greenspan had to tow the "fiat is king" line to get promoted.
Gold backed money isn’t popular with governments. It forces fiscal responsibility.
Nicely put, Eclectic Dilettante!
I also like your comment re your husband asking where you were hiding the tinfoil hat! -That’s precious, and boy can I relate! That’s the other aspect of trying to help make people you care about aware of the potential situation: getting treated like you are a "perma bear" or an eccentric fear-monger. It would be nice to be treated with a little respect for caring enough to try to be aware of the situation and to practice prudent risk management, but oh well! I still agree with you that it is "better to be safe than sorry"!
-C
[quote=ds][quote=hewittr]
I know I have been almost paralised by fear and have panicked most days until recently. This is behaviour that is very hard for other people to deal with.
I’m sorry to say I see this all around me in family, friends and co-workers. No matter how I try to get their interest, they either change the topic or their minds go blank. On the few occassions I’tve tried to keep the topic going, they get more resistant. There is a defense mechanism at work here. It’s frustrating and sad to see so many people refuse to take the time and effort to know what they are dealing with and how to protect themseves. This is a financial holocaust in the making. [/quote]
[My reply is not directed at any one person. It is as much a reminder to myself about priorities as it is a response to the comments above.]
There is another perspective. You cannot absolutely know for sure that this will end in a financial holocaust. None of us know for sure how this will turn out. However, by creating an environment of resistance, frustration and sadness, maybe you are damaging something real and something far more important than money – your relationships and your health.
You believe you are right about the financial holocaust and you believe anyone who doesn’t listen to you deserves your scorn. I suggest that you consider the possibility that a financial holocaust may not occur in our lifetimes.
Also consider that inner peace and happiness mean more than money to a lot of people (as they rightly should). Therefore, when you attempt to force your view on others and your view makes them feel a lack of inner peace and happiness, they will tune you out. That doesn’t make them wrong. They simply value the present moment more than they value a future that may or may not materialize the way you think it will.
The present moment is all we ever have. If you waste it in a state of sadness or frustration, then something nearly as bad as a financial holocaust has already befallen you. If you don’t believe this, simply go to your doctor for a very detailed physical exam. Bring along your friends or relatives who refuse to buy into the fear of a financial holocaust. Have the doctor check levels of stress hormones, heart rate variability, brain wave patterns, key measures of oxidative stress and many other measures. (Some of this is called "allostatic load".) You will find that your obsession with the financial holocaust, which may or may not ever happen, is already damaging your physical health along with your relationships.The people who choose to be happy and who refuse to buy into the worst scenarios about possible future outcomes will show more healthy measures on many key health biomarkers.
I think CM needs to list "A New Earth" on the recommended reading list.
[/quote]
DS:
You seem to think that making basic or complex assumptions about our future is necessarily always negative. I beg to differ with you. I don’t think CM "needs to list ‘A New Earth’ as required reading material. I have read the book and it has some profound messages in it. I do not, however, believe that everyone needs to read this book to have a sense of reality whether that reality is positive or negative. In fact I believe if we are not careful we can take this book, litterally, and accept everything that comes our way as "good". Clearly there are some very wrong things going on, in this world, that directly affects us today. I hope that, by reading this book, you haven’t started to delude yourself into thinking that our current crisis, whatever that may be, is "good". If you believe everything is good, at face value, then good things are things we shouldn’t be worried about. Basic logic tells me that if all things are good, or they bring about goodness, then it follows that it is not necessary to improve anything! That surely cannot be the case right now. The issues surrounding this may not directly affect us this week, but it will, for our lives are integrated with the lives of the riches CEOs of the world. After reading this book, I do not believe Eckhart Tolle would condemn Chris for his action of informing the masses about current events or future predictions. One of the greatest abilities we have, as humans, is the ability to communicate. Communication allows everyone the opportunity to make decisions, themselves, with the information they have been given. We can either accept/reject or decide to be apathic towards this information. If Chris decides to put up information that is 100% "negative (if that is what you call it), does this diminish the factual information that has everything to do with our livelyhoods?
The reason I ask this is due to the nature of the information Chris provides. It is only positive or negative according to the person, reading this material, who makes that decision. There are many responses people may have, to this information, such as:
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This is all new to me!? How does this affect me? I did I not know this before? (neutral)
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This is horrible! I have to prepare for the worst! (negative)
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This is horrible! What can I do now that will prepare me? (positive)
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This is all B.S.! We have the strongest military, the most power, and pretty much run the world! (negative)
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How can I protect my savings? What are some steps I could take so as to prevent losing my house? (positive)
and on and on and on…
DS:
You are presenting a false dichotomy argument. It is clearly not the case that one either increases his risks of health due to negative mindsets about our present/future lives or that our health risks will remain unaffected by the current "infatuation" with the crisis.
It is surely plausible that we can remain informed about the current crisis through Chris’ work AND be healthy and portray a positive image of what our future entails. We may all know, in the back of our minds, that we will experience a lower standard of living, BUT that does not necessarily mean we reject this standard of living as good. I, for one, believe a lower standard of living IS good. It does some good, I think, for people to get a heads-up on what seems inevitable. I think allowing people to ponder on ideas, such as these, are healthy. If you had to make the choice between these scenarios, which would you choose?:
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informed now about the present & future outcomes and 75% ended up being accurate, and because of this information you receieved now, you have stored away some food, learned how to garden and preserve food, learned about currency, learned about "systems" and worked on proposing new systems of monetary governance or policies that might be better than our current one, better educated your children about values…even if the worst-case-scenario never happened, you still learned invaluable lessons and information that you could hand down.
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not informed now-- always remain positive, i.e., believe the market will do just fine and found that you had no back-up plan, needed to rely on friends and neighbors which imposed upon their own resources-- always remain positive, didn’t know the history (which also includes economic history) which ultimately got us here…
If you’re in camp #2, AND I knew you had the opportunity and time to obtain this information, and condemned it, then I would be very reluctant to help you out in dire situations.
My son goes to W. Bloomfield Elementary schools (he’s 5) and the school sends out fliers regularly to prepare for the worst. It gives us a list of materials we should have stored, or on hand, in case of an emergency. I do NOT take him to school every day thinking "today’s the day". I stay positive, informed, and live my life the best way I can. It doesn’t mean I have to send him to school with a gas mask.
Lastly, you’re right! Stay postive but also stay informed. One CAN do both!! Thank you CHRIS MARTENSON!!
caroline_culbert - I think you greatly misunderstood my comment. You said, "You seem to think that making basic or complex assumptions about our future is necessarily always negative." That isn’t true. I had trouble reading most of the rest of your comment after that. Sorry, I tried to read it all, but the way you twisted my comment made me lose interest in reading yours. Maybe I’ll come back to it later because parts of it looked interesting.
I finally skipped down to the end. I see we do agree about staying informed and staying positive. But postive thinking is only one very small (and unimportant) part of being present. My next recommendation – for you – is to read "Loving What Is" by Byron Katie.
DS,
I can actually appreciate a lot of what you’re saying, but I think it’s only the mirror image of the gloom & doom that you’re reacting against.
Yes, I fully agree that how we experience the present moment is of the utmost importance. One of my favorite spiritual teachers, Cheri Huber, has a saying: "the focus of our attention determines the quality of our experience". If we are exclusively focused on a financial holocaust that may occur at a future time, then our experience is likely to be defined by fear, anxiety and despair.
On the other hand, if we simply put our heads in the sand and ignore the very real indicators that we are heading for economic and environmental collapse, we are virtually ensuring that the "present moments" we will experience in the "future" will be more painful and difficult than they would have been if we had planned accordingly.
I think there is a middle path here, and that is to fully accept the reality of our circumstances (which includes the possibility of financial holocaust) without being consumed by it. Acceptance of the situation allows us to take meaningful steps to protect ourselves and the ones we love. It leads us to individual and hopefully social and political action that directly addresses the challenges we face and seeks to find lasting solutions. It inspires us to connect with our local communities, to work together with our friends, families and neighbors to become more energy and food independent, to create networks of support and cooperation, and to raise national and global awareness of the "three Es".
In my experience, getting involved on these levels has actually reduced my stress levels and contributed to my physical and emotional health and well-being. The danger you point to - getting stuck in fear - is only one possible response to accepting the real possibility of a financial holocaust. But there are many other responses, including those I’ve listed above, that can move us beyond fear to a greater sense of meaning, purpose and connection to those around us. In my opinion, this is the "silver lining" of peak oil and the economic and environmental challenges we face. Yes, they will likely cause tremendous hardship and pain, but I think in the end many people will actually find more satisfaction and reward in a localized, less energy-dense way of life.
I do not agree with you that people who refuse to acknowledge the problems we’re facing right now do so because they value the present more than the future. I think they do so because they seek to avoid the pain and fear that inevitably comes with recognizing the reality of our current situation. So they choose denial instead, which is the predictable response of most humans when confronted with potentially life-threatening news. This is not a healthy response, however, because it prevents us from taking action that could not only protect ourselves and our loved ones but also contribute to finding solutions to these problems on a national and global scale.
I believe it is imperative for those of us who have moved through the denial stage to help others to do the same. That is ultimately the most compassionate action we can take on their behalf and on behalf of human civilization as a whole. People like Chris M. are well aware of this and have dedicated their lives to the task. Others, like myself and other participants on this site, are playing whatever role they can. I suggest you join the team!
DS,
One more thing: I suspect I have read many of the books you are suggesting we read. I’ve read all of Eckhart Tolle’s books and listed to all of his CDs. I enjoy him tremendously and think he has a lot of wisdom to offer us during these challenging times. I’ve also read Byron Katie’s work. I’m a practicing Zen Buddhist and I prior to that, I was involved in the Advaita Vedanta tradition (which is the core spiritual philosophy that Tolle and Kate’s teachings is based on).
I feel compelled to point out a fundamental misunderstanding I have witnessed in these spiritual communities. Many people, when they first learn about "acceptance", confuse it with "submission". Acceptance is simply the recognition of what is. Acceptance doesn’t imply action or inaction, approval or disapproval. For example, I accept the reality that there is a war going on in Iraq. Yet at the same time, I can strongly disapprove of the war and take every possible action to stop it from continuing.
Submission, on the other hand, means "giving up" or "submitting" to something. This is closely connected to the "depression" phase on Kubler-Ross/CM’s "stages of awareness".
So how is this relevant? When Eckhart Tolle and Byron Katie speak about the importance of acceptance and of living in the present moment, that does not mean they are suggesting that we sit on our hands and do nothing. It doesn’t mean that we don’t recognize challenges we might face in the future and avoid taking action to address them. After all, any action that is taken is taken in the present moment! How could it be otherwise?
I’ve heard Tolle speak in person and have been reading and listening to him for years. I happen to know that he is very concerned about the state of the world and urges people to take action to address the problems we face. Acceptance is what actually allows us to begin taking that action. Acceptance isn’t denial, it isn’t submission, it isn’t repressing what you call "negative" emotions and it isn’t even cultivating inner peace and happiness. Inner peace and happiness come from acceptance of what is; not the other way around.
[quote=hewittr]
I know I have been almost paralised by fear and have panicked most days until recently. This is behaviour that is very hard for other people to deal with.
I’m sorry to say I see this all around me in family, friends and co-workers. No matter how I try to get their interest, they either change the topic or their minds go blank. On the few occassions I’tve tried to keep the topic going, they get more resistant. There is a defense mechanism at work here. It’s frustrating and sad to see so many people refuse to take the time and effort to know what they are dealing with and how to protect themseves. This is a financial holocaust in the making. [/quote]
I agree, hewittr. I’m having the same problem, but think about the number of days and and years this apathy has mired itself into. Think about the number of commecials america watches on a daily basis. Worsely, think about how many children do the same. Children under the age of eight, according to the APA, should not watch TV/movies. I feel if they have to they should be educational. Television, and thus commercials, geared towards consumer growth has a profound affect on us. It has even a bigger affect on children, under the age of 8, who believe what they see on tv live in their tubes. They think, somehow, the people and "things" flow into their tv by way of the chord. It’s deceiving, to me, to see a commercial about a toy that can do amazing things but when a parent purchases this toy, for their child, the child thinks this toy can do the same as what they saw on tv. They are disappointed that it doesn’t but AT LEAST they got the toy nevertheless-- which is sad since this seems like false advertising (the marketers integrating products with creative animation)!
We, as adults, do the same. Rather than research product ourselves, we tend to purchase things depending on our familiarity with this item. If we see a great commerical involving this product 1000 times we somehow get the notion that we are now familiar with the product and therefore will more likely purchse this product over others similar in nature. This is also strange.
Adults and children, alike, have deluded themselves, with the help of the advertising industry, by giving us information we cannot remove from our brains without surgery. Psychologist know this. The advertising industry probably knows more about psychological affect on humans. They have the highest paid scientists working on experimental trials which only aims at one thing: What can they do, within a commericial, that will glue you to it. As long as they’ve successfully gotten you to watch it-- they succeeded. T.V. shows and sitcoms were invented soley for the purpose of gathering as many people to the tv TO GET THE AUDIENCE TO WATCH COMMERCIALS. In order for us to sit down and watch commercials, they must keep our attention by attracting us with sitcoms!
Most people, especially in this country, live in a fantasy world. Take a look at what they wear. Then take a look at the BRAND they wear. Take a look at all the women with purses. Then take a look at the BRAND. Branding and logos are so important to our country. Without them, some of us would think ourselves worthless. Those are the sick people we are dealing with. They don’t see themselves as "sick" if everyone around them are the same. They will think it’s the norm. How did we get ourselves into this mess of CONSUMERISM. The advertising industry has done such a good job of tying together our sense of worthiness and pride with that of what we wear and have. We forget about the values, ethics, and morals we should stress upon each other and our children. Most of us feel bad if we can’t get those new and popular tennis shoes for our kids! We should be thinking the other way around. Be a friend to your child and educate them about how wonderful it is not to be enslaved by the consumer pressures surround us!
Above is, what I think, the root problem to this apathy and rejection to information contrary to our current way of living. We still have to keep trying to educate those who are resisting the information that may help their lives for the better. Keep trying!! And again, thanks to Chris Martenson who has done so much to help us help ourselves and others!!
DS:
If I responded to your thoughts wrongly, please clarify them so I can better understand. I apologize for this misunderstanding. It may be that we ARE on the same page with minor disagreements. Maybe I don’t clarify my thoughts well. If you have the time and/or interest please give me your feedback. I would really appreciate it. Thank you.
caroline_culbert
The amero dollars references in that article were struck by a private individual, not any representative of any government anywhere.
http://www.dc-coin.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=8
A currency union, similar to the European Union "Euro" has been proposed for North America. The name of the new currency is the "Amero". The Wikipedia encyclopedia article has additional details about the "Amero" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amero). This has been the source for many conspiracy theories tied in with other proposals such as the Canamex Corridoor (http://www.canamex.org/)
…
My goal with these coins is not to endorse a Union of North America or a common "Amero" currency. … I expect that these coins will help make more people aware of the issue and the possible ramifications.
…
These private-issue fantasy pattern coins [emphasis mine] will be struck as an annual series (until such time as it is no longer legal to do so), starting in the latter part of 2007.
I agree with Caroline comments for a couple of post ago - the bottom of her post she says the problem is apathy -
I have been taking a survey of people as I talk to them about this current problem and the problems our nation faces - I ask them is the biggest problem we face ignorance or apathy and most of the time I get the response - I don’t know and I don’t care -
Case and point!
—I just emailed this, last night, to my friends regarding the Amero & North American Union! Thanks for bringing this up. There are a couple of youtube videos that explain this relatively clearly. I do not like this person in the first video nor do I like his religious messages but I do appreciate his primary message surrounding the Amero. Please Watch.
What was emailed is below:
You may or may not like/understand what you see and hear but:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JILYnJI8TiU
it was also on CNBC:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMheiBvCjqU
The first video has religious quotes that I don’t care for, but I fully agree with the video info. even if he incorporates religion! It’s too important! Watch the first video, then watch the second! I don’t have any advice for you but at least you’re aware… about the "Amero" and the North American Union. Whether that’s good or bad should depend upon the intentions of the people putting forth this law. I don’t know what their intentions are but I cannot imagine they are good if:
- if…We have little to no information prior to this "North American Union"
- if…Our currency will be demonetized
- if…We don’t have a say regarding the merger of our country with Canada and Mexico
- if…Our Constitution becomes worthless due to the merger
- etc.
PLEASE WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! I DID AND IT WAS A CRUDE AWAKENING BUT AT LEAST I KNOW WHERE I’M HEADED!!!
i dont know where i read it but greenspan was ayn rand’s #1 disciple. she was at his side when he was sworn in for his first gov post. somewhere the train left the track.
Such as? What are the essential preps you’ve made?
If I may, I’d like to respond to this question in case hewittr does not show. I don’t know, exactly, how much preparation I have done relative to the what is. I cannot predict the future. I may be wasting my time learning about economics, global warming, overpopulation, peak oil, and etc. if there is no crisis to be met, but I do not believe I am wasting my child’s time when I pass this knowledge onto him. Crises may not happen within my generation but it may happen to the next. Some of the knowledge that I have learned and preparations I have made are as follows:
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learned/learning how to garden efficiently (…also read the book "Collapse" by Jared Diamond regarding the exhaustion of minerals due to excessive gardening…so I’m trying to gather all issues surrounding gardening/crops/and etc.).
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attempting to learn how to can/preserve food (…which my child will also be helping me with)
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learned how to argue/debate successfully to tease out the solutions to our problems (…I also encourage this in children of all ages, especially my five yr. old son, as this elevates critical thinking stills).
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learned many things from authors and/or intellectuals such as: Jared Diamond, Richard Dawkins, Tim Flannery, Derrick Jensen, Sam Harris, Kevin Phillips, Thomas Friedman, and Chris Martenson’s and many other books and articles not mentioned here (…and of course I read just as much non-fiction to my child as fiction)
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trying to gather enough money to store enough fresh, clean water, flashlights, batteries (expensive), dry foods, canned foods, fuel for fire, compost, etc.
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I’m also sending out mass quantities of emails to friends and family advocating the importance of Chris’ website, specific books to read, and videos to see.
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Tonight I’m getting together with my friends to gather more information from them and they will do likewise with me (sharing information is crucial).
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Having fun… especially with my child. U of M 's Student Astronomical Society is offering free observations through their telescopes… and kids can come too! I’m very excited to take him to see how small earth is! "We" have a very skewed notion about our planet home and how we treat is should be with the utmost care since earth is the only home we have!!
Yes Caroline. Just woke up on the other side of the panel (I was already there). I havn’t been able to watch TV for more than a month and have cut out all news sources, after I did this I improved a bit. Listening to music has been great and then I finally got my humour back. Yes consumerism has been our lifeblood. We will be so lost without it. I remember reading that it didn’t matter what we did, work or not, the only thing that mattered to consumerism is that we watched or read the adds.
The biggest fiction is civilisation. We have many others - I call them "fictional aberants" but there is probably a better term. Once most of us were in tribes and our population was controlled by our local resource base. We traded but not for our food and shelter, the things we really needed but for the things that made life easier like special stone that could cut better than any other. Or items of adornment that had beauty. We only traded for what we wanted. To those people (and almost none of us) to trade for what we need would be the most unsafe (foolish) thing anyone could ever do.