*
To make loans, I propose banks would have to attract investment money instead of lending money into existence. They would do so by offering higher than market interest rates on term deposits, but those deposits would not be guaranteed.
As an added benefit, this setup would end fractional reserve lending.
https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/charting-three-decades-worlds-working-poor
***** MONEY https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/3-things-most-people-dont-know-about-gold-bitcoin-and-money
ource: FRED (“Balance Sheet: Total Assets: Securities: U.S. Treasury Securities” [QBPBSTASSCUSTRSC], Federal Deposit Insurance Commission [FDIC], last modified December 2, 2022).
It’s also helpful to keep in mind that US Treasurys are a huge portion of the debt markets overall. For example, corporate debt in the US totals around $11 trillion. Even if we add this to the US Treasury debt, we still find that the Fed holds more than 10 percent of debt assets.
Of course, it would be absurd to call this situation anything resembling even “mostly” laissez-faire, let alone a free market. Imagine if a federal government agency—which is all the Fed is—owned 10 percent of all supermarkets or 10 percent of all Wal-Marts or 10 percent of all stocks. We would say that the agency in question possessed an enormous amount of power to move and manipulate markets as it willed.
That is where we are with these debt markets, and it’s become increasingly so since 2008.
Fannie and Freddie Do It Too
Nor is the Fed the only federal agency involved. We might also point to how the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) have come to dominate the secondary markets in mortgages. For example, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae have been going on annual mortgage debt shopping sprees:
From 2009 to 2020, Fannie and Freddie’s annual share of the total MBS market averaged 70 percent. If we include Ginnie Mae securities, those that are backed by FHA [Federal Housing Administration] mortgages, the federal share of the MBS market averaged 92 percent per year.
Much of these MBSs, naturally, have ended up in the hands of the Fed.
So, now would be a great time to stop pretending that the financial sectors are “free market” or that price inflation and cost-of-living surges are somehow all the fault of “capitalism.” Federal agencies are the biggest players here, and their role is to manipulate markets to achieve centrally planned government goals. Private markets are growing more irrelevant every day.
https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/demographic-cliff-let-it-rot-collapse-global-growth
Demographic Cliff + Let It Rot = Collapse Of Global Growth
BY TYLER DURDEN
WEDNESDAY, NOV 23, 2022 – 09:45 AM
Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,
As workforces shrink and opting out becomes increasingly attractive, Global Growth implodes on both the production and consumption sides.
A funny thing happened on the way to permanent global growth. Actually, three funny things happened. One is the cheap, easy-to-access materials that enabled a vast expansion of consumption have been pulled out of the ground and what’s left will cost more going forward, meaning there will be less to squander on consumption.
True Believers are confident that some Savior Technology will emerge and scale up globally to save us from any nasty reduction in consumption, but they overlook the inconvenient fact that all the proposed Savior Technologies need vast quantities of the same materials that we’ve already consumed.
Two other funny things will also impact global growth: the sharp decline in birth rates in most developed and many developing nations–the Demographic Cliff–and the collapse of young workers’ willingness to sacrifice themselves on the altar of Global Growth (i.e. systemic inequality) via working in miserable conditions for low pay–wages that will never enable the purchase of a home or support a family.
Since it’s hopeless to secure “the good life,” why bother sacrificing one’s life? Why not enjoy life on a much more modest level?
This rejection of self-exploitation in service of further enriching the already-rich is global: The most descriptive terms are from China–laying flat and let it rot–but they apply to youth around the world.
Unfortunately for the already-rich benefiting from Global Growth, this puts upward pressure on global wages as employers have to offer higher wages to entice reluctant young workers: Younger Chinese are spurning factory jobs that power the economy (Reuters.com)
Higher wages might have some effect on the margins, but the real problem is vast wealth-income inequality created by hyper-financialization and hyper-globalization. Increasing wages by 10% isn’t going to fix what’s broken. Doubling wages and eliminating all taxes on labor would be a start. (Taxes on capital and financialization’s churn would have to rise significantly to offset the elimination of taxes on labor.)
As the charts below indicate, the population of elderly living off the labor of the younger generations will soar, putting increasing financial pressure on governments and pension plans. Scrape away the hype and obfuscations and all pension/healthcare for the retired cohort are pay as you go, i.e. funded by taxes on the current workforce.
As that workforce shrinks, the burden will quickly become unbearable. Promises made when there were four workers for each retire break down when there’s only 1.5 workers per retiree.
Wages’ share of the economy has a long way to climb to reach previous levels. As wages rise, capital’s share of the economy will have to shrink. The already-rich will become less rich.
Many commentators are confident young workers will be forced by need to take miserable jobs at miserable rates of pay. I suspect these commentators don’t understand the immense spectrum of options to opt out. In developing economies, young people can return to villages with family homes and grandparents. Young people in both developed and developing economies can take informal gig jobs that earn just enough to get by, or find ways to produce real goods and services on a modest scale.
As I’ve often discussed here over the years, opting out is the best strategy when things fall apart. Trying to maximize your self-exploitation leads to burnout. The decision to abandon self-exploitation in service of increasing the wealth of the already-rich opens the door to Self-Reliance in the 21st Century.
As workforces shrink and opting out becomes increasingly attractive, Global Growth implodes on both the production and consumption sides. Toss in higher costs due to the depletion of the easy-to-exploit materials and the foundations of Permanent Global Growth crumble into dust.
Plan accordingly.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/2-quadrillion-debt-precariously-resting-2-trillion-gold
GLOBAL DEBT $300 TRILLION PLUS $2.2 TRILLION OF DERIVATIVES & LIAB.
Just look at the last 50 years since 1971. Globally governments and central banks have contributed to the creation of almost $300 trillion of new money plus quasi money in the form of unfunded liabilities and derivatives of $2.2 quadrillion making £2.5 trillion in total.
As debt explodes, the world could easily face a debt burden of $3 quadrillion by 2025-2030 as the derivatives and unfunded liabilities become debt.
DERIVATIVES – THE MOST DANGEROUS FINANCIAL WEAPON CREATED
Derivatives is not a new instrument. For example during the Tulipomania bubble in Holland in the 17th century, it was possible to trade options on tulip bulbs.
Today the financial system has developed derivatives to become such a sophisticated instrument that virtually no financial transaction can take place without involving some form of derivatives.
But the biggest problem with derivatives is that the quants that create them don’t understand the consequences of their actions. And senior management, including boards of directors, haven’t got a clue of the massive risk derivatives represent.
The collapse in 1998 of LTCM (Long Term Capital Management), set up by Nobel Prize winners and the 2007-9 Sub-Prime crisis is a clear proof of the ignorance of the risk of derivatives.
As an aside, it seems that anyone can receive a Nobel Prize today. Just take Bernanke, he has been awarded the Nobel Prize in economics. Remember that Bernanke, when he was Head of the Fed, printed more money than anyone in history!
What we have to understand is that the committee which chooses the winner of the Nobel economy prize is the Swedish Riksbank (central bank), filled with Keynesian money printers!
Need I say more?
Derivatives have been a massive profit earner for all banks involved. They were initially created as defensive hedge instruments but today they are the most dangerous and aggressive financial instrument of destruction.
Just over 10 years ago, global derivatives were $1.2 quadrillion. Then the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) in Basel decided to halve the values to $600 trillion overnight by changing the basis of calculation. But the $1.2Q risk was still remained at the time.
Since then Over The Counter (OTC) derivatives have seen an explosive growth just like all financial assets. The beauty of OTC derivatives, from the issuers point of view, is that they don’t need to be declared like derivatives traded on exchanges.
And today there are not just interest rate and forex derivatives. No, these instruments are involved in virtually every single financial transaction. Every stock and bond fund involves derivatives. And today most of these funds consist of only synthetic instruments and contain none of the virtual stocks or bonds they represent.
how to measure work performed
Skill – Proficiency in following, or enhancing, the given ways of doing things
Effort – The will to work, persistence
Conditions – The general surroundings could be a factor for some work
Consistency – of performance
Social interaction – with other humans
Continuous learning and training as required
other option piecework
another option is work performance and output verified and checked by an immediate superior who is very familiar with the job being done
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/how-empires-die
Here’s some perspective…
One million seconds is about 11 days ago.
One billion seconds ago was 1988.
One trillion seconds ago was 30,000 BC.
A trillion square miles would cover the surface of 5,000 planet Earths.
Suppose you had a job that paid you $1 per second, or $3,600 per hour.
That amounts to $86,400 per day and about $32 million per year.
With that job, it would take you nearly 31,700 years to earn a trillion dollars.
Suppose you earned $50,000 a year, the typical household income in the US. It would take you more than 20 million years to make a trillion dollars.
If you had a trillion one-dollar bills, you could cover the surface area of the state of Delaware twice over.
If you stacked a trillion one-dollar bills on top of each other, it would reach 67,866 miles high, about one-fourth of the distance from Earth to the moon.
If you took that same trillion one-dollar bills and instead stacked them end-to-end, the length would exceed the distance between the Earth and the sun.
The picture below shows a trillion dollars in $100 bills, double stacked on pallets.
On the lower-left side is a barely visible human for scale.
So, that’s how big one trillion is.
When any government starts carelessly spending and printing trillions, it’s a sure sign that you’re entering dangerous territory.
When it’s all said and done… the money printing going on right now could reach into the tens or even hundreds of trillions of dollars.
The Top 10 Creepiest & Most Dystopian Things Pushed By The World Economic Forum
BY TYLER DURDEN
FRIDAY, JUN 03, 2022 – 08:40 PM
When one talks about the “global elite”, one usually refers to a small group of wealthy and powerful individuals who operate beyond national borders. Through various organizations, these non-elected individuals gather in semi-secrecy to decide policies they want to see applied on a global level.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is smack dab in the middle of it all. Indeed, through its annual Davos meetings, the WEF attempts to legitimize and normalize its influence on the world’s democratic nations by having a panel of world leaders attending and speaking at the event.
A simple look at the list of attendees at these meetings reveals the organization’s incredible reach and influence. The biggest names in media, politics, business, science, technology, and finance are represented at the WEF.
According to mass media, the Davos meetings gather people to discuss issues such as “inequality, climate change, and international cooperation”. This simplistic description appears to be custom-made to cause the average citizen to yawn in boredom. But topics at the WEF go much further than “inequality”.
Throughout the years, people at the WEF have said some highly disturbing things, none of which garnered proper media attention. In fact, when one pieces together the topics championed by the WEF, an overarching theme emerges: The total control of humanity using media, science, and technology while reshaping democracies to form a global government.
If this sounds like a far-fetched conspiracy theory, keep reading. Here are the 10 most dystopian things that are being pushed by the WEF right now. This list sorted is in no particular order. Because they’re all equally crazy.
#10 Penetrating Governments
The least one can say is that Klaus Schwab, the founder and the head of the WEF is not a fan of democracy. In fact, he perceives it as an obstacle to a fully globalized world.
In the 2010 WEF report titled “Global Redesign”, Schwab postulates that a globalized world is best managed by a “self-selected coalition of multinational corporations, governments (including through the UN system), and select civil society organizations (CSOs)”. This is the exact opposite of a democracy.
He argued that governments are no longer “the overwhelmingly dominant actors on the world stage” and that “the time has come for a new stakeholder paradigm of international governance”. For this reason, the Transnational Institute (TNI) described the WEF as “a silent global coup d’état” to capture governance.
In 2017, at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, Schwab blatantly admitted what is continually dismissed as a “conspiracy theory” by mass media: The WEF is “penetrating” governments around the world.
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Schwab said:
“I have to say, when I mention now names, like Mrs. (Angela) Merkel and even Vladimir Putin, and so on, they all have been Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum. But what we are very proud of now is the young generation, like Prime Minister [Justin] Trudeau, the President of Argentina and so on.
We penetrate the cabinets. So yesterday I was at a reception for Prime Minister Trudeau and I know that half of his cabinet, or even more than half of his cabinet, are actually Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum. (…) It’s true in Argentina and it’s true in France, with the President – a Young Global Leader.”
In this outstanding talk, Schwab blatantly stated that Angela Merkel of Germany, Vladimir Putin of Russia, Justin Trudeau of Canada, and Emmanuel Macron of France were “groomed” by the WEF. He even adds that at least half of Canada’s cabinet consists of representatives sold to the WEF’s agenda. This is not a conspiracy theory. This is the absolute truth, confirmed by the head of the WEF himself.
#9 Controlling Minds Using Sound Waves
In 2018, one of the topics of discussion at the WEF was “Mind Control Using Sound Waves” (read my full article about it here). I did not alter this title for sensationalism, those are exactly the words used by the WEF.
In the article, the technology is touted as a possible treatment for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. However, the article also states that “it can cure you, it can get you addicted, and it can kill you”. It can also be used to completely control a person’s mind, remotely. The article states:
“I can see the day coming where a scientist will be able to control what a person sees in their mind’s eye, by sending the right waves to the right place in their brain. My guess is that most objections will be similar to those we hear today about subliminal messages in advertisements, only much more vehement.
This technology is not without its risks of misuse. It could be a revolutionary healthcare technology for the sick, or a perfect controlling tool with which the ruthless control the weak. This time though, the control would be literal.”
The conclusion of the article: Nobody can stop scientists from developing this technology. To prevent misuse, it should be regulated by organizations such as … the WEF. That’s convenient because some companies developing this technology are part of the WEF. Do you see where this is going?
#8 Pills That Contain Microchips
Once again, this title sounds like a far-fetched conspiracy theory cleverly worded for sensationalism. It is not. Here’s a video from the WEF’s 2018 meeting where Albert Bourla, the CEO of Pfizer, talks about pills that contain microchips.
Bourla says:
“FDA approved the first ‘electronic pill’, if I can call it like that. It is basically a biological chip that is in the tablet and, once you take the tablet, and it disolves into your stomach, it sends a signal that you took the tablet. So imagine the applications of that, the compliance. The insurance companies would know that the medicines that patients should take, they do take them. It is fascinating what happens in this field.”
Is this field truly fascinating? Or utterly dystopian? As Bourla himself said: Imagine the compliance. This kind of technology could easily open the door to all kinds of nefarious applications. Since then, COVID put Pfizer in a position of power never seen before for a pharmaceutical company.
Like Pfizer, the WEF is also using COVID to further its agenda.
#7 Praising Massive Lockdowns
In 2020 and 2021, cities around the world were subjected to massive and drastic lockdowns, causing job losses, suicides, drug overdoses, isolation, mental health issues, domestic abuse, bankruptcies, and homelessness. During this horrific period, children could not attend school for months and were essentially barred from interacting with other children. A slew of small and medium businesses was destroyed while large corporations strived.
Despite all of this, the WEF could not hide its love of drastic, life-destroying lockdowns. In fact, it released a video surrealistically called “Lockdowns are quietly improving cities around the world”. Here’s this piece of complete insanity.
The video states “Lockdowns significantly reduced human activity … leading to Earth’s quietest period in decades,” while showing dystopian images of empty cities and planes stuck on the ground.
Completely ignoring the immense human suffering caused by these lockdowns, the WEF considered it was all worth it because “carbon emissions were down 7% in 2020”.
When this thing was first posted, it garnered intense backlash. So the WEF deleted the video above and posted this tweet.
As you can see, despite deleting the video, the WEF kept praising lockdowns. That’s because the WEF would love to see “covidian” life become permanent.
#6 “Take a Peek at the Future”
Judging by comments on YouTube and social media, people absolutely hate videos created by the WEF. But they keep coming. Because they don’t care what you think. They just want to plant their seed of insanity into your mind. In a video titled “How our lives could soon look” (read my full article about it here), the WEF invites viewers to “take a peek at the future”. And it is BLEAK. It is all about making COVID life permanent.
https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3JlZnNyY19zZXNzaW9uIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9mZiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0Zndfc2Vuc2l0aXZlX21lZGlhX2ludGVyc3RpdGlhbF8xMzk2MyI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJpbnRlcnN0aXRpYWwiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3R3ZWV0X3Jlc3VsdF9taWdyYXRpb25fMTM5NzkiOnsiYnVja2V0IjoidHdlZXRfcmVzdWx0IiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1427721919483326470&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Ftop-10-creepiest-and-most-dystopian-things-pushed-world-economic-forum-wef&sessionId=b157b72faaf09b7866e1c999b9a55c4030932e01&siteScreenName=zerohedge&theme=light&widgetsVersion=b45a03c79d4c1%3A1654150928467&width=550px
The video is filled with masked people, purell dispensers, and QR codes. This is the future they want. Then, there’s this nugget of insanity.
The video proudly says:
“NASA has invented a system that can ID you from your heartbeat using a laser.”
As if that wasn’t enough, the video shows children stuck at home and being schooled through screens. The video ends by showing people wearing masks outside, like crazy people.
#5 Pushing For a Great Reset
As stated above, the WEF perceives the pandemic as an “opportunity”. It is not only an opportunity to reshape our personal existence but to restructure the entire world structure according to its principles. The WEF calls it “the Great Reset”. To promote this Reset (that absolutely nobody wants) the WEF released a propaganda video (it really fits the definition of “propaganda”). Here it is in all of its insanity.
When I posted an article about this video in 2021, the comments were not yet turned off. And I took a screenshot of the top ones.
This short video manages to contain an incredible amount of subversive messages. It even ridiculizes “conspiracy theories” while, astoundingly, confirming these theories.
The video also announced the “death of capitalism”.
While capitalism is based on a self-regulating system of offer and demand, the Great Reset looks to redefine the way businesses are evaluated through new parameters. The main one: Compliance with the elite’s social and political agendas.
Towards the end, the narrator utters this enigmatic sentence:
“And that’s all about getting the right people in the right place at the right time”.
While the video doesn’t quite explain what this sentence actually means in real-life situations, its implications are rather chilling. Instead of allowing successful individuals and businesses to grow organically, the elite’s system would interfere to “get the right people at the right place at the right time”, in accordance with its agenda. In other words, the system would be rigged and compliance with a wider agenda would be mandatory in a new economy.
The video ends with a call to viewers to get involved. However, of course, you’re not actually invited to the WEF. In fact, they’re actually looking to “recalibrate” your freedom of speech.
#4 “Recalibrating” freedom of speech
An easy way to identify world leaders who are groomed by the WEF is through their incessant railing against free speech. They absolutely hate it and they’re constantly calling for the internet to be censored and highly regulated. At the 2022 Davos meeting, Australian “eSafety commissioner” Julie Inman Grant stated that we need a “recalibration of free speech”.
https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-2&features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3JlZnNyY19zZXNzaW9uIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9mZiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0Zndfc2Vuc2l0aXZlX21lZGlhX2ludGVyc3RpdGlhbF8xMzk2MyI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJpbnRlcnN0aXRpYWwiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3R3ZWV0X3Jlc3VsdF9taWdyYXRpb25fMTM5NzkiOnsiYnVja2V0IjoidHdlZXRfcmVzdWx0IiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1528779966644731906&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Ftop-10-creepiest-and-most-dystopian-things-pushed-world-economic-forum-wef&sessionId=b157b72faaf09b7866e1c999b9a55c4030932e01&siteScreenName=zerohedge&theme=light&widgetsVersion=b45a03c79d4c1%3A1654150928467&width=550px
Grant said:
“We are finding ourselves in a place where we have increasing polarization everywhere and everything feels binary when it doesn’t need to be. So I think we’re going to have to think about a recalibration of a whole range of human rights that are playing out online. You know, from freedom of speech to the freedom to be free from online violence.”
Here, Grant essentially calls for censorship. She even believes that freedom of speech as a human right should be “recalibrated” using “online violence” as an excuse. There is no such thing as “online violence”. They love to equate speech with violence. It is an extremely manipulative way of justifying China-style censorship.
Free speech is, in fact, binary. Either it exists or it doesn’t. And they clearly don’t want it to exist.
#3 Tracking Your Clothes
The WEF wants to control your clothes. And they’ve made a video about it. Did I mention that people absolutely hate WEF videos? Here’s another one that got people’s blood boiling.
Using the environment as an excuse (as usual), the WEF announced the coming of clothing laced with “digital passports” that can be traced at all times. Backed by Microsoft (of course), these garments will apparently flood the market by 2025.
According to the WEF, these chips will allow fashion brands to resell their clothes. I have no idea how that would work. The video makes sure NOT to mention that this technology would be a great way of tracking those who ditched their smartphones.
But ditching your smartphone might become … impossible.
#2 “Smartphones will be in your body by 2030”
At the 2022 Davos meeting, Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark claimed that, by 2030, “smartphones will be implanted directly into the body.” This would coincide with the coming of 6G technology, which is expected to be launched by the end of the decade.
For years, this site has been documenting the elite’s incessant push for transhumanism, which is the merging of humans with machines. They’re looking to accelerate this transition by making things people cannot live without (such as smartphones) available in transhumanist form.
Are you noticing their creepy eagerness to insert things inside our bodies?
#1 “You’ll Own Nothing. And You’ll Be Happy.”
This is probably the most dystopian moment in WEF history. In 2016, Ida Auken, a Member of Parliament in Denmark said:
“Welcome to 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better”.
The WEF loved that quote so much that it tweeted about it.
The WEF also created a video (that everybody absolutely hated) titled “8 Predictions for the World in 2030”. Here’s a screenshot.
An article on the WEF’s website explains:
“I don’t own anything. I don’t own a car. I don’t own a house. I don’t own any appliances or any clothes,” writes Danish MP Ida Auken. Shopping is a distant memory in the city of 2030, whose inhabitants have cracked clean energy and borrow what they need on demand. It sounds utopian, until she mentions that her every move is tracked and outside the city live swathes of discontents, the ultimate vision of a society split in two.
In this dystopian future, there are no products you can own. Only “services” that are rented and delivered using drones. This system would make all humans completely dependent on WEF-controlled corporations for every single basic need. There would be absolutely no autonomy, no freedom, and no privacy. And you’ll be happy.
Honorable Mention: Individual carbon footprint tracker
At the 2022 Davos meeting, Alibaba Group president J. Michael Evans announced the development of an “individual carbon tracker”.
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Once again, the WEF uses the environment to promote the micro-management of human behavior. Evans says that the tracker can monitor “where they’re traveling, how they’re traveling, what are they’re eating and what are they consuming on the platform”.
Notice that he used the pronoun “they” and not “we” because there is no way in hell he’s going to use that thing. Me neither.
In Conclusion
Upon reviewing this list, two common themes become obvious. The first theme is “penetration”. The WEF wants to penetrate governments using “Global Leaders” (aka Manchurian candidates). It also wants to penetrate our bodies through pills, microchips, and vaccines. It also wants to penetrate our minds using soundwaves, censorship, and propaganda.
The other theme is “control”. They want to control what we think, where we go, what we say, what we eat, and what we wear.
Do you know who agrees with the WEF? China. Censorship is widespread, a social credit system controls people’s behaviors and COVID is still used as an excuse for massive lockdowns and total population control. Not to mention the literal concentration camps. Despite all of this, Chinese officials are constantly present at WEF meetings. Why? Because China is basically a laboratory for the WEF’s policies.
With all of that being said, how can we counteract the WEF’s insanity? How can we vote them out if they were never voted in? A first step would be to elect – at all levels of government – representatives that want nothing to do with the WEF. If our elected officials treated the WEF as the rogue, illegitimate organization that it is, its influence would be greatly reduced.
Second, we can boycott every company that is part of the WEF. I realize this is easier said than done because many of these companies are virtual monopolies. However, if we stop giving them our money, they’ll stop using our money to poison our lives.
Then, they’ll own nothing. And we’ll all be happy.
The ‘Great Reset’: A Blueprint For Destroying Freedom, Innovation, & Prosperity
BY TYLER DURDEN
SATURDAY, AUG 27, 2022 – 05:30 PM
Authored by J.B.Shurk via The Gatestone Institute,
- Notice that no nation has managed merely to print money and tax its citizens on the path to prosperity. Real wealth cannot simply be conjured from thin air. There must be recognized value in what a nation and its citizens possess.
- More than any other source for national wealth, however, one towers above the rest: innovation. The ability of the human mind to create something new and valuable provides society with endless wealth creation…. Innovation is the magic sauce for generating wealth.
- Humans struggling merely to survive in the world do not waste time, labor, or resources on projects that offer no prospect for future reward. Humans working as servants to the state under centrally controlled economies have no incentive to innovate. Only when private ownership and personal liberty combine can human innovation flourish. Freedom is the secret ingredient to innovation’s magic sauce for increasing wealth.
- A country whose institutions do not respect property rights or whose customs do not value freedom will remain a barren desert for human innovation. In this way, nations have a great incentive to liberalize over time. Should they not, they quickly become financially and militarily vulnerable to more innovative and wealthier nations. Observing this simple truth, classical liberals have always understood free markets as the gateway to human emancipation. Economic self-interest, in other words, ultimately leads to expansive human rights and liberties across the planet.
- Nothing about Western politicians’ embrace of the World Economic Forum’s “Great Reset” or “Build Back Better” paradigms protects property rights or liberty in the slightest. The WEF’s agenda promotes radically anti-liberal programs… [that] will smother human innovation by first depriving Westerners of their freedoms.
- Wealthy free nations are a threat to the WEF’s New World Order. If censorship must be embraced to control the “narrative,” then so be it. If citizens must be denied freedom of movement under the guise of a “health emergency,” no big deal. If private bank accounts must be seized to intimidate protesters, then such threats are the price for ensuring compliance. In this way, the WEF’s plans for a controlled economy intentionally reverse centuries of liberal progress. Political leaders today are dragging the West into the past.
- First, individual liberties will continue disappearing. Then, the greatest economic engine of all, innovation, will dry up. Finally, wealth will return solely to the hands of a small “ruling class” minority. This is the future the World Economic Forum hails as “progress.” It is not. It is a recipe for human bondage.
How do nations become wealthy? Many are blessed with abundant natural resources. Others conquer foreign lands. Some specialize in unique trade skills and crafts. Timber, mining, fishing, sugar, rum, narcotics, cotton, silk, agriculture, conquest, human slavery, manufacturing, oil, industry, banking, and so on — depending on the century and the region, nations have attained tremendous wealth in myriad ways. Notice that no nation has managed merely to print money and tax its citizens on the path to prosperity. Real wealth cannot simply be conjured from thin air. There must be recognized value in what a nation and its citizens possess.
More than any other source for national wealth, however, one towers above the rest: innovation. The ability of the human mind to create something new and valuable provides society with endless wealth creation. Unlike central bank quantitative easing and other monetary tools (or tricks?), the brain really is a money-printing machine. Whether an innovator alters existing farming, mining, or manufacturing techniques to make production cheaper and more efficient, or an inventor designs something entirely unique, value that did not exist yesterday materializes the next. Innovation is the magic sauce for generating wealth.
If innovation produces wealth, why aren’t all nations wealthy? Because too many nations fail to value innovators or encourage innovation. Without fundamental property rights, strong social institutions, and a dependable legal system, potential inventors have few incentives to build anything new. Humans struggling merely to survive in the world do not waste time, labor, or resources on projects that offer no prospect for future reward. Humans working as servants to the state under centrally controlled economies have no incentive to innovate. Only when private ownership and personal liberty combine can human innovation flourish. Freedom is the secret ingredient to innovation’s magic sauce for increasing wealth.
When economists crunch gross domestic product numbers to see whether a nation’s economy is rising or sinking, a measure of innovation becomes quantifiable. Embedded within that number is something that encapsulates human ingenuity, personal freedom, and property ownership. In this way, economic innovation directly reflects the human condition at any point in time. It provides a measurement of a nation’s freedom.
Now “liberalism” as it is classically understood — as a political philosophy embracing natural rights, limited government, free markets, political and religious freedoms, and freedom of speech, all promoted and protected by an impartial and just rule of law — has always grasped this fundamental truth. Liberty and property rights spawn creativity. Where both are soundly valued, great writers, artists, and inventors produce novelties that would not otherwise exist. It is why medieval Florence birthed at once both modern-day banking and the European Renaissance. The personal freedom to create, build, invest, and own property generates tremendous innovation and national wealth.
Conversely, when today’s central planners argue for socialized control over markets and the substitution of “collective rights” in place of “individual rights” while calling their agenda “progressive liberalism,” they co-opt and subvert liberalism’s historic meaning.
From this recognition that a nation’s freedom directly affects a nation’s wealth arises an even more remarkable truth: any nation that fails to embrace and protect human liberty will be the poorer for it. A country whose institutions do not respect property rights or whose customs do not value freedom will remain a barren desert for human innovation. In this way, nations have a great incentive to liberalize over time. Should they not, they quickly become financially and militarily vulnerable to more innovative and wealthier nations. Observing this simple truth, classical liberals have always understood free markets as the gateway to human emancipation. Economic self-interest, in other words, ultimately leads to expansive human rights and liberties across the planet.
Now with all that as a bit of rudimentary background, how is it that today we have entities such as the World Economic Forum (WEF) pushing for a radical “Great Reset” of Western society that promises to handcuff free markets with economic regulation while concentrating power into the hands of a small international coalition of central economic planners — most notably their own? How could promising a future where people will “own nothing and be happy” possibly be conducive to a free and productive society — or even a happy one? How can a future in which all energy is controlled by international governing bodies and multinational corporations possibly provide individuals with the institutional building blocks for endless innovation? How can farmers sustain larger and more prosperous populations when Western governments continue to stifle agricultural production through regulation and eminent domain?
The questions answer themselves. The WEF’s agenda promotes radically anti-liberal programs such as the use of artificial intelligence to censor dissent, regulate free speech, and even erase ideas from the Internet. Its repressive efforts to control all hydrocarbon energy and cattle and crop farm production will smother human innovation by first depriving Westerners of their ability to create, invent, and grow food. Its policies betray millennia of Western civilizational advancement by replacing respect for individual choice and free will with top-down management of human activity through the blunt instruments of force and coercion. Its motivations are indisputably anti-human at their core because each individual human life is treated as nothing more than a cog or input that can be manipulated as part of a centrally-controlled social machine. When Westerners are reduced to ones and zeroes that are sorted and shifted by the WEF’s social programming codes for a “better future,” builders obey but no longer create.
Whereas personal liberty has unleashed the human mind and generated tremendous Western prosperity, the World Economic Forum’s push for a centrally controlled economic system will crush rights, stifle creativity, and mass-produce poverty and servitude. Its proponents, in fact, seem mostly committed to using a combination of pandemic, famine, and fear to centralize dominance for themselves.
In order to persuade Westerners to give up more and make do with less, the WEF and its globalist allies promise Westerners a future Utopia. As with every similar lie ever told to justify the extraordinary acquisition of power, though, they will fail to deliver. No society, after all, was ever promised more than in Stalin’s 1936 Constitution of the USSR — or subsequently treated more abysmally. Despite its claims to the contrary, the WEF’s mission directives intentionally reverse Western trends toward greater human freedom, social mobility, and more broadly obtainable wealth — or what, in another era, would have been rightly regarded as true, liberal progress.
Although the WEF and its sister organizations claim to be “saving the planet,” their efforts seem primarily an ignoble design to control the planet. “Clean” energy, after all, is controlled energy; and the more that energy is controlled by centralized governments, the more completely once-free markets become centrally controlled. If every potential entrepreneur must first receive permission to use electricity before producing anything new, then no entrepreneur can thrive without the central authorities’ blessing. If all manufacturing is viewed as a “threat to the planet,” then no independent upstart can innovate or build wealth without first seeking and obtaining government approval. If consumers are forbidden from buying anything unless it is first pre-approved, then free markets are transformed into controlled markets.
Taking this trend to its logical yet communist conclusion, private property becomes antithetical to the state’s goals. We already see the ominous subversion of private ownership today with so-called ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) standards used to strong-arm industry goals and manipulate free markets. Because control over information makes control over markets more manageable, the more economic uncertainty that results from market manipulation, the more censorship we’ll continue to see. Recently, even a senior economist who correctly stated that the American economy had entered into a recession found his research “fact checked” and “corrected” by the U.S. government’s friends at Facebook. Where free markets are under attack, free speech is inevitably under attack, too. The individual blessings of liberalism are not easily dissected from the body politic without inevitably rendering liberalism’s death, as a whole.
The issue today may be “climate change” or COVID-19 or “sustainable food supplies,” but the stated issue never seems anything more than a public relations campaign for fooling the masses. It always appears to be merely a disposable excuse designed to seduce Westerners into handing a small cabal of “elites” power and control over everyone else. Convincing mankind to believe that free markets will inevitably lead to some kind of apocalypse increasingly looks like the only policy goal that matters. It may well be the most diabolical trick those with power have ever played against those with no power at all. Fear is used expertly as a torturer’s tool to convince Westerners to forsake willingly their own freedom. The innocent mantra whispered into their ears is simple: Trust us, humanity, we will save you. The implication, however, is far more sinister: For your own good, you must be made to enjoy your new chains.
Notice that for the World Economic Forum to succeed in its mission to control all human activity, it must first destroy the sovereignty of nation states. Why? Because, as noted above, liberal nations that embrace freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and free market entrepreneurship foster innovation and great wealth. Any nation not encumbered by the WEF’s market proscriptions will most likely continue to prosper, while those shackled to the “Great Reset” will most likely languish. This is why Western politicians have worked so hard together to push their “Build Back Better” proposals irrespective of the wishes of any one nation’s voting citizens.
Wealthy free nations are a threat to the WEF’s New World Order. If censorship must be embraced to control the “narrative,” then so be it. If citizens must be denied freedom of movement under the guise of a “health emergency,” no big deal. If private bank accounts must be seized to intimidate protesters, then such threats are the price for ensuring compliance. In this way, the WEF’s plans for a controlled economy intentionally reverse centuries of liberal progress. Political leaders today are dragging the West into the past.
First, individual liberties will continue disappearing. Then, the greatest economic engine of all, innovation, will dry up. Finally, wealth will return solely to the hands of a small “ruling class” minority. This is the future the World Economic Forum hails as “progress.” It is not. It is a recipe for human bondage.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/thanos-was-wrong-currency-resets-limiting-infinite-growth
Thanos Was Wrong: From Currency Resets To Limiting Infinite Growth
BY TYLER DURDENSATURDAY, MAY 21, 2022 – 04:00 AM
Authored by Tom Luongo via Gold, Goats, ‘n Guns blog,
A couple of weeks ago, RT ran a story purporting to explain the mystery behind the rise in exchange rate of the Russian ruble. It touched on a concept I’ve talked about vis a vis Russia for years: the disparity between nominal GDP which yields a number roughly the size of Canada and Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) GDP which puts Russia on par with Germany.
While everything quoted here I feel is worth considering seriously, that GDP disparity that is what is important.
… the West had defaulted on its obligations to Russia when it froze the assets of the country’s central bank. “This is the abolition (something like cancel culture) of the rules of international financial relations based on global total return swaps, redistribution of risk, guarantees of property rights and distribution of seigniorage.”
It was these rules that determined the old ruble exchange rate and the approaches to its establishment that we are accustomed to, the expert said, adding that those rules “no longer apply.”
Kopylov explained that the strengthening of the ruble is due to the fact that it is now based purely on exports and imports, and its value is determined by its purchasing power parity (PPP). The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated the Russian currency’s PPP at the end of 2021 at 29.127 rubles per one dollar. According to the Big Mac Index, that rate stood at 23.24 rubles to the dollar.
I have pointed out for years that all discussions of the Russian economy in terms of nominal GDP are bogus. Nominal GDP is spending within the Russian economy converted through the RUB/USD exchange rate.
But that metric is irrelevant. It doesn’t say anything about what that spending buys the average Russian.
GDP is a stupid metric. It should be called GNS, Gross National Spending. It is a dumb way to measure the ‘output’ of a society. It’s at best a very gross approximation but it is, again, just aggregated spending.
This is the fundamental fallacy of Keynesian demand-side economics and all theories about which economies are expanding or contracting based on spending are literally bogus.
But we have all been trained to believe in GDP as some all-powerful measure of growth and power. It’s not anything of the sort. When you have the ability to print money at will to bid up the cost of the goods purchased with that money, how is that telling you anything about the health of the country, the people… or frankly anything at all?
What it’s telling you is that spent money, but did you take that money from the pool of real savings and deploy it into sustainable economic projects? Or did you print the money out of thin air, issue debt that borrows against the future labor of the country’s citizens (or their kids…. or their grandkids) and pay someone to fulfill a ‘shovel-ready’ job of digging a hole and filling it back in?
GDP, in statistical terms, is NOT an independent variable because of this. It’s value is dependent completely on the people controlling the inputs to it. Therefore, as data, it is worthless. As a scientist, I would throw it out of any discussion because it can’t be controlled for.
This is why the discrepancy between the ruble’s purchasing power internally is so much higher than its purchasing power externally. Pre-war the ruble traded at 75 or so versus the dollar. But it’s PPP value was less than 30? This means Russian GDP is at least (by this flawed metric) 2.5 higher than the nominal value. This is how the Russian economy in PPP terms is actually larger than Germany’s.
But even then, PPP GDP is still a terminally flawed metric as a measure of output. It gets us closer to fair comparisons between country’s but it still says nothing about the economic value of the things the country spent their money on.
The funny thing is Russia’s economy shouldn’t be larger than Germany’s in real terms, since most of Russia’s output is base commodities, which have the lowest value-added component of any good in a market. The whole point of a sophisticated division of labor and economic system is to build up value through each stage in the production chain.
Cars, for example, should have more ‘value’ associated with them than the iron ore that went into making the frame.
This tells you how out of whack the world is in terms of the diversion of capital to unsustainable activity it actually is if a commodity producer is leading a manufacturing giant in wealth generation. This is exactly why the currency shift from debt-based to commodity-based money is going to be so painful.
And why the debt issuers are willing to risk nuclear war over it occurring. To them this is the end state of their power.
From Finite World to Infinite Growth
In a recent article on this blog, I did a quick and dirty takedown of the globalist talking point about infinite growth in a finite world.
That gaslighting was at the core of the conflict in the big story of the Marvel Cinematic Universe of films, which centered on Thanos coming to bring balance by destroying half of the life in the Universe.
Davos has gaslit two entire generations of westerners in the Malthusian talking point that you can’t have infinite growth in a finite world. All of their economic dogma is predicated on this.
It doesn’t matter that this talking point is predicated on an inane premise, truth is, after all treason, at this point in the economic and cultural cycle. But, to try and explain quickly for the slow-witted. GDP growth is not necessarily real growth. It’s just spending. It says nothing for the quality of the spending or whether, in real terms, the people spending the money are materially better off than they were at a previous point in time.
What isn’t measured by GDP is VALUE. Value is what we crave, the ability to plan further into the future, using our ingenuity to find better mousetraps to build and more efficient, and yes sustainable, ways of deploying scarce capital and time.
When you have a monetary system and regulatory regime designed to thwart that to stop growth then you have the world we live in today. That infinite growth is a subjective, not objective, measure…. not in GDP terms but in the ‘alleviation of human misery’ terms.
Davos absolutely doesn’t want this because a world where everyone gets maximal value for their time is a world without our need for them.
But in order for us to have a discussion about this, I need to lay out some base assumptions.
First, that we have owners who agree with Julian Huxley that growth will lead to destruction of the planet, therefore we should not have any more meaningful growth.
Second, only those who are currently with power have the will, intelligence and expertise to guide us to this next phase of humanity’s existence.
In service of these controlling ideas:
- They have erected systems and barricades to real growth for decades in real terms, i.e. energy usage per unit ‘wealth’ … some call this EROEI = Energy Returned over Energy Invested.
- They have stymied more efficient use of human capital by running us around in mazes which are dead ends — Light Water Nuclear Reactors vs. oil, replacing both with Solar, Wind, Electric Vehicles, etc.
- They foment wars to divert capital to useless weapons rather than applying it things which make our lives better, more predictable. They specifically divert spending (GDP) to humans building systems which increase chaos and unpredictability rather than decrease it.
- They empower and expand bureaucracy to keep otherwise ‘useless people’ employed with meaningless jobs
- They have supported cultural degradation which undermined the nuclear family and local culture by promoting women into the workforce, divorcing them from their core strength as mothers and caregivers and putting them effectively on welfare, UBI.
These are all the basic distractions which force us to waste most of our productive time running around on a hamster wheel of arbitrary obstacles in order to eke out some small measure of comfort.
The basic reason for Human Action, as defined by Mises, is to alleviate future uncertainty. Man acts purposefully towards that end, otherwise he wouldn’t act or he would act differently.
That said, we can have our rationality diverted to purposes which do not serve our better interests because of the perverse incentives placed in front of us through artificial barriers to capital formation.
Therefore, if we were acting with purpose towards our most efficient and creative ends to a more predictable future, infinite GDP growth would be a no-brainer. This isn’t to say infinite GDP growth is infinite resource utilization.
Because as you travel up the production chain to higher order goods, you produce more value relative to the input commodities… if you didn’t, then you wouldn’t do it. You would do something that did.
What’s more valuable a tree growing on your property or the lumber you turn it into and then use to build a shelter?
For an even more idiotic example, is there really $10,000 difference between a BMW 230i starting at $37.5k and a Ford Mustang in terms of raw input commodities, especially when, in the real world we’re talking more like $15,000? No. Both are roughly 3500 lbs of aluminum, steel, leather and plastic.
So, where’s the value difference? In the materials? Again, not really. It’s in the intellectual property of the engineering, the final driving experience and the perception of value by the consumer.
But in terms of them being a tool for potential wealth creation, the two care are, really fungible. They can transport up to 3 people (realistically) and a little bit of cargo somewhere to do whatever it is that they do.
Is that reflected in the purchasing price of these cars? No. Not at all. But, if we sell more BMW’s as a percentage of Mustangs sold, are we expected to impute a higher capability of sustaining wealth production because of higher overall spending as measured by GDP?
Sadly yes.
And that’s where the disconnect is.
This is why, fundamentally, GDP is a poor measure of ‘growth.’
That said, absent the diversion of capital to the unsustainable as practiced by Davos you can have constant ‘growth’ in value terms. It is better stated that ‘growth’ is the alleviation of human suffering and/or uncertainty, which is what value is.
This is true because if we’re driving costs down to utilize natural resources ever more efficiently thanks to proper pricing of the money used to procure the input commodities, then we can move more of our spending out of base commodities into higher order goods with higher returns of perceived value.
Moreover, the Malthusian/Huxleyian argument presupposes somehow that the Universe isn’t governed by the Laws of Conservation. Iron isn’t destroyed when a car is trashed, we just store it in a junkyard. The same goes for landfills and plastic.
The problem we have today is that we act within a system which skims all the wealth created by our actions to the betterment of the people who produce nothing at all. All they produce is money and bad ideas, the former of which is based on your future labor and the latter sustained by it.
Then they dupe you into selling your future labor back to you at a vig while trying to take all the intellectual property rights for your innovation and skill. We call these people Venture Capitalists.
No wonder the Marxists see this system as exploitative. It is! But it’s also not the only way things can and/or should be organized. This isn’t a fault of capitalism and property but of our not properly pricing the cost of the State and all of its enforcement of our ‘rights.’
This is what leads to the concentration of power in the hands of rent-seeking douchebags and vandals.
Sustainable growth where all factors of production are properly priced up the value-adding chain is the first step. That will lead to the rewards being shared more equitably by all involved.
That model is not only possible, it’s the only system that is inevitable.
Davos decided if we were not controlled and forced onto low-margin hamster wheels we would strip-mine the planet and destroy it. That’s why it needs to be controlled and real growth curtailed.
What we have now is a system of maximal wastage of natural resources with minimal returns: cheap money begetting conspicuous consumption of resources while erecting barriers to new, competitive technologies at the expense of the producers of those input commodities.
Thanos in the Marvel films makes the same mistake Davos and Huxley made, deciding in their hubris and arrogance that because they couldn’t see a solution to a problem they’d defined, that solution did not exist. This justified their acquisition of power unlimited to re-make the world in their image.
The truly despicable nature of the Marvel films is that they spend so much time trying to make Thanos’ quest a noble one, a sympathetic one, rather than the rantings of a small-minded homunculus.
I wonder who ordered that rewrite of the script to Infinity War?
The Return of the Commodity King
This is why the ruble is so undervalued, up until recently commodities had been driven below their cost of production through the corruption of all of us into the land of cheap money. It is why now, with the changes coming to the monetary architecture of the world, the ruble’s real purchasing power will finally be expressed, forcing commodity inflation in real terms on those whose currencies are overvalued.
Gresham’s Law has never been wrong.
Overvalued money circulates to procure unearned goods in the real world.
Undervalued money is hoarded because savings is the pre-requisite of capital deployment.
We are at the end of the cycle where the pile of real wealth has built up for decades unable to express itself while the ultimate psy-op fuels the biggest Ponzi scheme in history.
When the confidence in the overvalued money (debt) falls, inflation rises rapidly as people demand goods and eschew money. This will raise the prospect of the undervalued money (commodities) entering into circulation as its true value is finally expressed in the market.
At that point you will then see what the real growth rate of the world is. Gary North used to say that prior to the early 1800’s the real rate at which wealth compounded was ~1% annually. Then something changed and it doubled to 2% and that scared the bejeesus out of the elites because too many people were getting rich too quickly to need them to look out for their interests.
Now you know why the Club of Rome began in the 1850’s, why central banking was so bitterly fought over here in the US then. It’s why Marx’s insane ideas were adopted by those with generational power. It was to STOP our growth as a species, not keep it from destroying the planet, but their system of unearned privilege.
The inherent risks of today’s paper money standard—the very ability of expanding the stock of money and credit at will by actually any amount at any time—are no longer paid proper attention: Putting a limit on the expansion of money and credit does not rank among the essential ingredients for “modern” monetary policy making. The discretionary handling of paper money thus increases the potential for a costly failure substantially. A first step for moving back towards the sound money principle—which is doing justice to the ideal of a free society—would be to make monetary policy limiting—e.g., stopping altogether—money supply growth.
* * *
https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/strip-mining-middle-class-neoliberalism-comes-home-roost
Strip-Mining The Middle Class: Neoliberalism Comes Home To Roost
BY TYLER DURDENSATURDAY, AUG 07, 2021 – 12:00 PM
Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,
But once this last pool of wealth – America’s middle class – has been siphoned dry, then who’s left to stripmine and exploit?
Neoliberalism loves markets, because markets enable the wealthy to own everything that produces income and capital gains. Neoliberalism–the superficially attractive notion that opening local markets to global capital generates prosperity for all involved–is all fun and games when it’s stripmining some distant developing-world nation, but since opportunities have dried up globally, the stripmining machine has come home to America and its target is America’s middle class.
I have long called this the Neocolonial-Financialization Model: in essence, Neoliberalism is a new, improved version of the old Colonial Model, in which the capital-rich colonial power grabs the political and economic reins via force or subterfuge and proceeds to strip the colonized nation of its wealth and resources and exploits its labor force to manufacture cheap goods for home markets.
In Neocolonialism, the forces of financialization (debt and leverage controlled by central banks and banking cartels) are used to indenture the local populace to the financial center: the peripheral “colonials” borrow money to buy the finished goods sold by the “core” corporations, doubly enriching the center with:
1) interest and the transactional “skim” of financializing assets such as real estate, and
2) the profits made selling goods to the debtors.
Essential to the appeal of this colonialist model is the broad-based access to credit: everyone and her sister can suddenly afford to speculate in housing, stocks, commodities, etc., and ride this speculative bubble to a lifestyle that was once the exclusive preserve of the upper class.
Credit-poor colonials are suddenly offered generous credit at modest interest rates. It is an offer that’s too good to refuse and the resultant explosion of private credit feeds what appears to be a virtuous cycle of rampant consumption and rapidly rising assets such as equities, land and housing.
But all bubbles pop, and once the asset bubble pops, the credit bubble pops, and all the illusory wealth vanishes, leaving only the debt and the crushing monthly payments. Welcome to the Neocolonial-Financialization Model, neofeudal debt-serfs and tax donkeys!
Having run out of opportunities globally, America’s Financial Elite has come home to stripmine the last available pool of wealth: America’s middle class. You may have been wondering why America’s global corporations have been spending trillions of dollars buying back their own shares.
The answer is two-fold:
1) this reduction in the float (number of shares available for trading) boosts share prices, enriching insiders and super-wealthy owners, and
2) because these global giants can’t find any low-risk, high-return opportunities globally to invest in.
The key to stripmining the middle class is simple: once a market has been de-regulated and opened to global capital, the decisive factor becomes the cost of borrowing money, as those with the lowest borrowing costs can outbid everyone else for income producing assets.
Consider a bidding war for a single family home. Nine of the bidders can borrow money (a home mortgage) at around 4% interest, and one can borrow at 1%. This advantage in the cost of capital enables this party to outbid the other bidders because the cost of an additional $50,000 is trivial at 1%.
The bidder with 1% capital also has lower carrying costs, which means they will reap higher profits from rent than the bidders who must pay higher rates of interest.
This is how the Neocolonial-Financialization Model sluices income-producing assets into the hands of the Financial Elite, who have unlimited credit with central banks. The key to the entire Neocolonial-Financialization Model is the central bank, which gives unlimited nearly free money to banks, financiers and corporations, which then lend out this Federal Reserve-supplied nearly free money to debt-serfs at much higher rates of interest.
This is how financiers can buy 20% of all U.S. single family homes in huge gulps, funded by Federal Reserve-supplied nearly free money. This is how the once-middle class ends up “owning” a rapidly depreciating $55,000 truck (via a monstrous loan to a Fed-funded bank or corporation) while the financiers and top tier end up owning virtually all the nation’s income-producing assets.
Before you rush to quibble, consider the fact that 97% of all income from capital flows to the top 10%, and the vast majority of this flows to the top 0.1%. The bottom 90%, which by definition includes the middle class, earns a near-zero share of the nation’s income from capital.
Monopoly Versus Democracy: How to End a Gilded Age (Foreign Affairs)
“Ten percent of Americans now control 97 percent of all capital income in the country. Nearly half of the new income generated since the global financial crisis of 2008 has gone to the wealthiest one percent of U.S. citizens. The richest three Americans collectively have more wealth than the poorest 160 million Americans.”
Europe’s Financial Elite led the way, loosing the the Neocolonial-Financialization Model on Greece and other European Union peripheral nations. In essence, the “core” nations of the E.U. colonized the “peripheral” nations via the financializing euro, which enabled a massive expansion of debt and consumption in the periphery. The banks and exporters of the “core” countries exacted enormous profits from this expansion of debt and consumption.
This is the perfection of Neofeudalism. The peripheral nations of the E.U. are effectively neocolonial debtors of the Core countries’ banks, and the taxpayers of the Core nations are now feudal serfs whose labor is devoted to making good on any bank loans to the periphery that go bad.
In America, the middle class has been stripped of income-producing assets and saddled with the tax burdens shirked by the billionaires, financiers and global corporations. Having already stripped and exploited America’s working class, now an asset-less class of precariats, America’s Financial Elite are busy mopping up the last of the middle class’s assets.
But once this last pool of wealth–America’s middle class– has been siphoned dry, then who’s left to stripmine and exploit? The Federal Reserve has no answer, and neither does anyone else. So here’s the answer too frightful to say out loud: just like rats dumped in a sealed 55-gallon drum, America’s Financial Elite will have only itself to feed on from now on.
The E.U., Neofeudalism and the Neocolonial-Financialization Model (May 24, 2012)
https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/peter-schiff-do-you-want-buy-bridge-strange-fantasy-world-ntfs
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2021-07-25/infographic-paper-silver-vs-physical-silver
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/psychology-money
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/grimes-just-made-58-million-20-minutes-selling-digital-art
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/von-greyerz-how-will-it-all-end
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/johnstone-real-world-and-narrative-world
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/2021-echo-1641
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/rich-millennials-plot-end-civilization
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/un-announces-biometric-digital-id-wallet
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ccp-imposes-tough-new-social-credit-score-rules-across-china
https://www.weforum.org/events/annual-meeting-of-the-global-future-councils-2019
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/cultural-revolution-brewing-america
the earth provides for all human needs free of cost and all it requires is a touch of human labor to turn raw/natural resources into whatever we want or need and we have been doing that for millions of years so the fact that every baby that is born is actually born into debt because food, shelter and security cost money and the only way to get money is to work and work=debt it’s a huge scam…. You mean to tell me that after spending billions of life spans in human labor we haven’t built of enough collective equity that would allow for our babies to be born debt free by now?
If a man or woman has millions or billions of dollars sitting in their bank account that’s not just money sitting their that’s actually the collective equity of millions of human labor hours that was spent by people somewhere making something. Once a person surpasses the amount of money they need to sustain their life and the lives of their family for generations then really there is no further use in having anymore because its not serving any purpose not even for the owner of it. This is why you see extremely rich people like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates turn to philanthropy but not everyone does. [1]
https://www.weforum.org/communities/global-future-councils/
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/11/8-predictions-for-the-world-in-2030
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/fed-policy-scandalous
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/self-loathing-ruling-class-cannot-endure
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/great-reset-part-ii-corporate-socialism
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/great-reset-part-iii-capitalism-chinese-characteristics
https://www.consensuscanada.ca/how-consensus-government-would-work
To argue that the Silicon valley companies do not want to censor but are being pressured by the legacy corporate media does not make sense. These companies are deeply connected to U.S. intelligence agencies, as are the NY Times, CNN, NBC, etc. They too are part of what was once called Operation Mockingbird, the CIA’s program to control, use, and infiltrate the media. Only the most naïve would think that such a program does not exist today.
In Surveillance Valley, investigative reporter Yasha Levine documents how Silicon Valley tech companies like Facebook, Amazon, and Google are tied to the military-industrial-intelligence-media complex in surveillance and censorship; how the Internet was created by the Pentagon; and even how these shadowy players are deeply involved in the so-called privacy movement that developed after Edward Snowden’s revelations.
Like Valentine, and in very detailed ways, Levine shows how the military-industrial-intelligence-digital-media complex is part of the same criminal conspiracy as is the traditional media with their CIA overlords. It is one club.
Many people, however, might find this hard to believe because it bursts so many bubbles, including the one that claims that these tech companies are pressured into censorship by the likes of The New York Times, etc. The truth is the Internet was a military and intelligence tool from the very beginning and it is not the traditional corporate media that gives it its marching orders.
That being so, it is not the owners of the corporate media or their employees who are the ultimate controllers behind the current vast crackdown on dissent, but the intelligence agencies who control the mainstream media and the Silicon Valley monopolies such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc. All these media companies are but the outer layer of the onion, the means by which messages are sent and people controlled.
But for whom do these intelligence agencies work?
Not for themselves.
They work for their overlords, the super wealthy people, the banks, financial institutions, and corporations that own the United States and always have. In a simple twist of fate, such super wealthy naturally own the media corporations that are essential to their control of the majority of the world’s wealth through the stories they tell.
It is a symbiotic relationship.
As FDR put it bluntly in 1933, this coterie of wealthy forces is the “financial element in the larger centers [that] has owned the Government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson.” Their wealth and power has increased exponentially since then, and their connected tentacles have further spread to create what is an international deep state that involves such entities as the IMF, the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, those who meet yearly at Davos, etc.
They are the international overlords who are pushing hard to move the world toward a global dictatorship.
As is well known, or should be, the CIA was the creation of Wall St. and serves the interests of the wealthy owners. Peter Dale Scott, in “The State, the Deep State, and the Wall Street Overworld,” says of Allen Dulles, the nefarious longest-running Director of the CIA and Wall St. lawyer for Sullivan and Cromwell:
There seems to be little difference in Allen Dulles’s influence whether he was a Wall Street lawyer or a CIA director.”
It was Dulles, long connected to Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, international corporations, and a friend of Nazi agents and scientists, who was tasked with drawing up proposals for the CIA. He was ably assisted by five Wall St. bankers or investors, including the aforementioned Frank Wisner who later, as a CIA officer, said his “Mighty Wurlitzer” was “capable of playing any propaganda tune he desired.”
This he did by recruiting intellectuals, writers, reporters, labor organizations, and the mainstream corporate media, etc. to propagate the CIA’s messages.
Greenwald, Taibbi, and Hedges are correct up to a point, but they stop short. Their critique of old school journalism à la Edward Herman’s and Noam Chomsky’s Manufacturing of Consent model, while true as far as it goes, fails to pin the tail on the real donkey. Like old school journalists who knew implicitly how far they could go, these guys know it too, as if there is an invisible electronic gate that keeps them from wandering into dangerous territory.
The censorship of Robert Kennedy, Jr. is an exemplary case. His banishment from Instagram and the ridicule the mainstream media have heaped upon him for years is not simply because he raises deeply informed questions about vaccines, Bill Gates, the pharmaceutical companies, etc. His critiques suggest something far more dangerous is afoot: the demise of democracy and the rise of a totalitarian order that involves total surveillance, control, eugenics, etc. by the wealthy led by their intelligence propagandists.
To call him a super spreader of hoaxes and a conspiracy theorist is aimed at not only silencing him on specific medical issues, but to silence his powerful and articulate voice on all issues. To give thoughtful consideration to his deeply informed scientific thinking concerning vaccines, the World Health Organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, etc., is to open a can of worms that the powerful want shut tight.
This is because RFK, Jr. is also a severe critic of the enormous power of the CIA and its propaganda that goes back so many decades and was used to cover up the national security state’s assassination of both his father and his uncle.
It is why his wonderful recent book, American Values: Lessons I Learned from My Family, that contains not one word about vaccines, was shunned by mainstream book reviewers; for the picture he paints fiercely indicts the CIA in multiple ways while also indicting the mass media that have been its mouthpieces.
These worms must be kept in the can, just as the power of the international overlords represented by the World Health Organization and the World Economic Forum with its Great Reset must be. They must be dismissed as crackpot conspiracy theories not worthy of debate or exposure.
Robert Kennedy, Jr., by name and dedication to truth seeking, conjures up his father’s ghost, the last politician who, because of his vast support across racial and class divides, could have united the country and tamed the power of the CIA to control the narrative that has allowed for the plundering of the world and the country for the wealthy overlords.
So they killed him.
There is a reason Noam Chomsky is an exemplar for Hedges, Greenwald, and Taibbi. He controls the can opener for so many. He has set the parameters for what is considered acceptable to be considered a serious journalist or intellectual. The assassinations of the Kennedys, 9/11, or a questioning of the official Covid-19 story are not among them, and so they are eschewed.
The Pope’s Encyclical “Fratelli Tutti” (“Brothers All”) sadly seems more a massive and unwieldy political document than a religious guide to the Catholic faithful. The encyclical’s intended audience appears to be secular world rather than people of faith. The 43,000-word tome contains almost no discussion of Catholic dogmas. Although the Pontiff’s diagnosis of the world’s ills seems accurate enough, unfortunately his proposed antidotes — equality of result rather than equality of opportunity and individual liberty, the bedrocks of Western democracies — would seriously threaten freedom.
The Pope, for instance, implies that the twilight of the planet’s centuries old diplomatic nation-state system has arrived, prompting the need for a more globalist political system. Regrettably, that usually brings with it no transparency, no accountability and no recourse. Think of the United Nations, the UN Human Rights Council, the International Criminal Court or the European Union.
The Pope denigrates the concept of nationalism by referring to it as “local narcissism.” His support for “open borders” would deny nations the right to sovereignty over their national territories. Pope Francis, a lifelong priest of the Jesuit order, appears to be calling for a system of international organizations that would possess the power to override the will of individual states and have the potential to become a global despotism.
The Pope also makes no secret of his opposition to the global capitalist free market economy. He proposes instead that wealthy countries form a seamless bond with the have-not peoples of the global south. He implies that a redistribution of the world’s wealth is a moral obligation, and should replace free economies that promote growth and jobs and have done more to cure poverty than any other historical development. The problem with redistribution, of course, is, as Margaret Thatcher famously said, “Soon you run out of other people’s money.” After everyone has been made equally medium-poor, then where, without incentives for hard work and production, are further disbursements supposed to come from? Think of the former Soviet Union, Cuba or Venezuela.
top 10 cities that are ripping off average people the most
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/thirdworldization-slow-burning-shtf-america
Thirdworldization: The Slow Burning SHTF Of America
BY TYLER DURDENFRIDAY, APR 16, 2021 – 11:00 PM
Authored by Fabian Ommar via The Organic Prepper blog,
The developed world, accustomed to safety, convenience, and comfort, is facing a slow-burning SHTF called Thirdworldization by some. Each time humankind faces some tribulation like the one we’re currently going through, it feels like the world is coming to an end. In many senses, the threat is present: a pandemic is a serious SHTF. It IS the end for many.
But the real SHTF isn’t just the pandemic – it’s the effects on the system that Selco warned us about from the very beginning.
The ramifications of such events as Covid-19 and government responses are real and long-lasting. Despite theories surrounding COVID-19 (conspiratorial or not), the fact is real damage has happened to the economy and our lifestyle. To those who say we’ve been through a lot since March 2020, I’d argue we haven’t yet seen the full range of consequences. Objectively, we’re not even out of the pandemic.
The question remains: how and when will this Thirdworldization play out?
I concede this doom-and-gloom talk is growing old and burning out even among preppers. But we’re not talking probabilities: it’s already happening.
We must face reality and accept things are not going back to normal any time soon (if ever). It may indeed get worse before it starts getting better again. It’s past time to stop waiting for Black Swans and pay attention to subtle changes already underway.
It’s been a different SHTF for each country, each business, each family, and each person. On a more broad scale, there’s no way to tell for sure whether it will be a storm, “the” perfect storm,” or something in between. These things unfold slowly – the proverbial frog in the pot (until they catch up). As always, multiple interests and powerful forces are acting simultaneously in different directions, which means lots of possible ramifications.
Global crises affect countries in different intensities and manners
Global-scale SHTF hit some places faster and worse than others. Good and bad are never evenly distributed. The capacity of a nation and its population to withstand and overcome disaster depend on many factors. These include the size, strength, and resiliency of the economy. Also, how solid, functional, and credible the institutions are, the social fabric’s stability, etc.
Those and others dictate whether a country will suffer more or less the effects of a global economic setback. But as it’s happening with the pandemic, no one will come out unscathed: some will feel the impact of migration, others (eventually) by war. At the same time, some will see internal conflicts, currency devaluation, martial law, coups, political instability, social eruptions, and more. Much of that is already taking place in various places around the globe.
It’s impossible to get the timing right or know what will happen, but trends can be forecast
These and other events are hitting differently even inside the same country: some regions are “normal,” while others suffer badly. That’s one of the factors driving the migrational movements within the U.S. Many people are moving to different states. People go wherever they receive better treatment.
You should already have a grip on your local zeitgeist. If you don’t, maybe it’s a good idea to start paying attention to the social, political, economic, and institutional moods in your piece of land. That will help tell which way things go when SHTF. You don’t want to get caught on the wrong side of the fence if it happens.
And that’s how we get to Thirdworldization
Thirdworldization is a slow-burning SHTF for those living in developed countries, used to comfort, convenience, and security.
Thirdworldization is the gradual and inevitable impoverishment of a rich country. It is the visible effect of major crises hitting square on the population, institutions, corporations, and even the government. It spreads insidiously in every aspect of daily life and our small circles.
Less growth means less wealth, less money circulating for everyone to take care of necessities and obligations. This shrinking economy brings all sorts of declines that affect services, infrastructure, the supply chain, institutions, and changing the population’s lives and routines.
The economy has a direct impact on the structure and foundation of social order. As an engineer, I tend to analyze structures and foundations by force of my work before assessing other factors. If those are in bad shape, the rest can’t be good. That holds true for a family, a company, a city, or a country.
The standard of living is dropping significantly everywhere
Even though the rich are getting richer, they will be affected by the destruction of the middle class and the poor becoming miserable. The wealthy don’t build their own houses, grow their own food, nor collect their own trash. But like rich countries and corporations, they’re much less affected because wealth can soften the blow and pay for a lot during hard times – or should I say, especially during hard times.
For the rest (the great majority of society), there’s SHTF as the unfolding of the economic decline is reflected in various aspects as described below.
Criminality
Crime on the rise is shocking America. Many factors contribute to that: joblessness, homelessness, financial struggle, disillusionment, and anger. Dwindling resources mean a reduction in the capacity of governments and authorities to keep society safe. There’s an overall defunding of not only the police but the entire crime-fighting apparatus: ostensive, preventative, and investigative work, departments of justice, social support, prisons and corrections, everything.
How it plays out: All kinds of crimes jump and tend to become more violent, too. Expect (and prepare for) rises in everything from minor scams to drug traffic (and consumption), bank robberies, kidnappings, arson, home invasions, homicides. Honest citizens may not engage in violent actions, but bribing, corruption, extortions, black market, misappropriations, tax evasion, and others become widespread. Sociopaths and psychopaths feel more emboldened: rapes, killings, vengeance acts, gang wars, fights, and similar also tend to increase.
Homelessness
Homelessness exploded in the U.S. and other western countries in 2020. It’s still on the rise with no signs of getting better anytime soon. Some argue it’s not as bad as it would have been (and can become) without the aggressive forbearance and moratorium programs implemented by governments. But this has side effects. What will happen when these suspensions end? And if they extend, what will be the unintended consequences? It is hard to predict, but eviction waves could throw millions into the streets in months and years ahead if the crisis worsens. Homelessness can also get boosted by mass migration, as we’ll see below.
How it plays out: During the 1930’s Great Depression, cities everywhere saw the growth of squatter areas and shantytowns. New York’s Central Park became Hooverville, agiant slum right in the middle of America’s biggest and wealthiest city at the time. Whole areas in L.A., San Francisco, and many other towns across the U.S. have already become tent cities. These are ripe for crime, exploitation, drug trafficking, violence, disease, and political manipulation.
Immigration
Immigration is serious and can turn into major geopolitical issues in some regions. Migration waves can be impossible to contain, as people desperately try to flee conflicted countries searching for better conditions elsewhere, even at great risks. Sudden, large internal movements can create imbalances internally and bring unforeseen consequences. People leave cities for the country or move to other states to avoid the rising taxes and crime, loss of freedom, or other threats.
How it plays out: Countries in better shape could face massive migration waves. The entire network of support put in place to control, minimize impacts, and give immigrants support can weaken. Significant or sudden movements may overwhelm border control. Immigrants in large numbers can cripple social support systems. That makes things harder for the population, sparking crime and violent actions from both sides.
Private Services and Products
Manufacturers and companies across the board are required to cut costs everywhere to stay afloat or keep profits. It reflects directly on the quality and variety of products and services provided to the population.
How it plays out: There will be an overall drop in quality and more inferior ingredients used to manufacture items and produce food. We will experience crowded, inefficient, slow customer support by poorly trained and low-paid workers. Strikes may cause disruptions and delays.
Public Services
I have friends living in wealthy, developed countries. They complain a lot about the quality of public services, the bureaucracy, the inefficiency. Sure enough, it’s (almost always) subpar when compared to private counterparts. But they have no idea how good they have it compared to underdeveloped or even developing places. They don’t know how bad this can get. Is USPS’s announcement that First Class mail will have longer delivery times and will cost more a glimpse of things to come?
How it plays out: Overwhelmed systems, (even more) disincentivized agents. Longer lines, longer waiting, slow or no response, more bureaucracy, squandering, etc. Many welfare programs will go extinct. There will be lower-quality education, transportation, childcare, healthcare, etc. Strikes and corruption are other effects of the Thirdworldization of public services
Infrastructure
Without constant investment in maintenance, expansion, and rebuilding, the entire infrastructure becomes derelict. More than 50 bridges have collapsed worldwide since 2015. Roads will be in dire need of maintenance. Billions of gallons of treated water get lost daily in leakages (estimates talk about one water main break every two minutes in the U.S.). There may be issues in the energy sector. Airports and ports will postpone expansions and modernizations, and so on.
How it plays out: Despite talks of megalomaniac infrastructure programs everywhere to “save the economy and promote growth” (governments love doing this when crises erupt), disruptions, rationing, supply rotations, closings, and more are much more frequent during prolonged recessions.
Sanitation
Trash removal and disposal drains a large portion of city and state budgets. As it happens to other public services, once tax revenue drops, these impacts and effects can drag on for years. Sewage and water treatment systems cease expansion and quality and safety drops. Does anyone remember the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, just five years ago?
“Nearly half a decade has passed since the water crisis in Flint captured the attention of America, during which toxic water was delivered to a city of nearly 100,000 people for 18 months before the state acknowledged the problem.”
How it plays out: Those who watched the movie Joker may remember the streets full of trash, rats, and graffiti. Many 80’s movies have that decadent “look and feel.” Dim cities, with boarded-up storefronts and “for rent” or “sale” signs everywhere. That’s the portrait of slow-burning SHTF. What’s missing in films is the smell, the diseases, the flies, rats, and insects present in real life.
Inflation, Deflation, Taxation, and Confiscations
The inflation vs. deflation debate is raging among the macroeconomic experts right now. It’s a hard bet as there are pressures for both to turn out. And indeed, both could take place at the same time (in different areas). It’s that crazy. Prices are already all over the place, with inflation running hot in some items/sectors and deflation in others. Whatever happens, rest assured the “non-essentials” (that’s you, me, and the 99%) will be called to foot the bill, so get prepared for that.
How it plays out: Price fluctuations, insecurity, bank runs. Rises in fuel affect prices of everything else. Inflation can show in perversely subtle ways: dilutions and reductions in quantity/portions effectively raise products’ price. Shortages and a drastic reduction in product variety are other common effects of highly dysfunctional economies. Taxation will explode – this is already being talk-tested everywhere.
Confiscations can happen, too. One day after taking office in 1990, the newly elected government in Brazil seized money from bank accounts “on grounds to reduce liquidity and fight rampant inflation.” The seizure left citizens without their savings and only 50k in currency. It was a stupid plan that didn’t work (it should’ve caused a revolution, but I digress). Such insanities have happened in other places in recent times. They could happen again because governments can become dictatorial and change laws and rules or do anything if conditions are in place (desperate times).
Some other third-world things that first-world people might not know about (yet)
Just like countries are affected differently, so do the various layers of society. High levels of inequality exacerbate some bizarre distortions people living in rich and developed countries might have only seen in dystopian movies. But the things listed below exist and could become a reality if things keep going south.
Social contract
Large social inequalities are incredibly poisonous: they destroy the social fabric faster than you can say “who messed with my stimulus check?”.
Two very adverse effects are radical divisiveness and a rise in crime and violence. It affects everybody, from top to bottom: trust in other people, institutions, and even in the collective disappears. It becomes impossible to lower the guard, and that is stressful. And even for those fortunate enough to get by okay, it sucks to live in a society where most of the population is struggling so hard (and failing) to live with a minimum of decency. How can someone be genuinely happy surrounded by misery? The answer is, no one can.
High Walls
In unsafe societies, every house and building has high (as in 10ft. tall or higher) protection walls, either masonry or steel bars, lockers, cameras, electrical fences, and barbed wire (concertina). For citizens accustomed to open front yards and unprotected houses, it looks like a bunch of high-security prisons (only it’s in reverse: the ones “locked” are the rich trying to stay safe from the violent mobs).
Slums
The “favelas” (slums) of Rio de Janeiro are worldwide famous, shown as “communities” where everyone is friendly and loves to dance to the samba. It is a vibrant and unique scene in some places, but the reality is that many are unsafe, unhealthy places where drug traffic and militia rule with iron hands. The government and public power have almost no presence and oversight: there’s little to no sanitation and safety, health, education, and other precarious services. If the standard of living drops for long enough, slums may become a lot more common in countries and places where they previously didn’t exist.
Private security
Off-duty cops do double-duty as security agents or consultants for companies, commerce, and individuals, either as private guards, security personnel, or security consultants. It’s not legalized but also not enforced, nonetheless a big thing, an organized multimillion-dollar business with huge companies competing with each other.
Armored vehicles
In 2014 Brazil already had the most extensive fleet of armored cars globally (not an enviable title). I’m not talking about expensive, luxury cars driven by (or for) the ultra-rich, high-profile personalities and figureheads: even the middle-class look for ballistic protection, especially for women and children. It’s a big industry here. Much bigger than in conflicted nations. Criminals are armed and violent, even against the police. When crime soars, the armoring industry booms.
Preparing for the possibility of Thirdworldization
There are no downsides to investing in awareness, creativity, mentality, and determination (and some preparations).
These are not predictions. Perhaps a chronicle of what happens in poorer countries and has happened before in rich ones during crises. We can already see some signs and even developments, and if you believe this kind of SHTF is somehow coming your way, you may want to prepare. Here are few tips that might help:
- Mental strength:accept reality and learn to deal with all sides’ psychological pressures, including ourselves. Even though, at times, it may seem like there’s no option. As Churchill once said, “If you’re going through hell, just keep going.” Everyone is in this together, and no one is special.
- One day and one problem at a time: It’seasier to deal with one issue, focus on what we can control, and live the present than it is to worry about the significant, long-term issues that are out of our control. We usually suffer more in imagination than in reality.
- Independence: Realistically, being independent and living off-grid is for a few. But everyone can benefit from growing more self-reliant wherever that is possible. Grow some food, learn new skills, recycle and reuse, invest in generating part of your power, build situational awareness, etc.
- Financially savvy: Seek economy and finance education as a way to mitigate or defend from inflation (or deflation), to invest and make money grow and last longer. Read about life in times of crises and inflation, like the ’70s and ’80s.
- Economically viable: Invest in alternative income sources. Today there are hundreds of ways to make money without even leaving home. Even a little can make a difference if the belts get tightened further.
- Help others: It will be hard for almost everyone but harder for some. If you are fortunate enough to be in a relatively good situation, look around and try to help others. It doesn’t have to be with money or goods: donate time, teach skills, even listening can bring support and relief. Helping others is a way to help ourselves, too.
Have you noticed a reduced standard of living in your area?
Have you seen a reduced standard of living in your area or a wider disparity between rich and poor? Are you noticing any of the Thirdworldization effects happening near you or are there some things you’ve seen on the news that surprised you when you realized they were happening here?