If death of the dollar stranglehold frees up markets as you say, and hopefully unleashes creativity too, then projects like exploring the solar system might help mankind to rally and refocus. We've been so indoctrinated by the Malthusians that it is difficult to even contemplate what the world would be like without the ghouls who run it now. I literally jumped for joy when Kissinger died, and will do so again when George Soros goes to meet his Maker.
My generation, I'm about 7 years younger than you, was raised on Star Trek among other things. And it was from that corny scripwriting that many of us clamped on to a hopeful future, dreaming of a day when mankind could somehow get along with each other, warp to other planets, and stop our obsession with money. Dialing up dinner on a food replicator or sleeping with sexy aliens were just a bonus. One thing I would miss though, is the cars. Then again, the transport pods we have now don't do much for me so maybe i'm just being nostalgic.
I am still celebrating the demise of Kissinger! We stand together in the world of Star Trek, though TOS is still the only series that hits the exact right tone. So many of our current toys were inspired by that show -- tablets, bluetooth devices, handheld communicators, automatic doors. Now if we could just get the warp thing together.
I do think the end of the Petrodollar signals a coming explosion in global growth. Merkins will pay a price for the past 50 years, but all things pass. I also think most of the nastiness in the world right now is the cabal desperately clinging to their regime. However, I think anyone sufficiently prepared for the head winds will do quite well, and I for one, am excited to see how things develop.
In 1974, I was 22 and hauling garbage on my shoulder for Joey Filiberto Sanitation in Northern, New Jersey. I remember the oil embargo that winter and Americans scrambling to find gasoline for their cars. Long lines and rationing at the gas stations in New Jersey.
The 1970s were a terrible time of high inflation and stagflation in the economy. And at the end was the depression of 1981-82 with 20% interest rates. There was no work at the seaplane base for us mechanics. Airplane sales ended with a thud. No one was even flying or maintaining their planes.
Ah yes, odd-even days at the pumps and prices spiking from 45 cents/gallon to over a dollar, with station owners trying to figure out how to make the old analog pumps register 3 digits. That was the demise of the pump monkeys, who checked your oil and air pressure, and cleaned your windshield while they filled your tank I was a pump monkey at my cousin's Sinclair station at that very moment in time.
Chocolate bars leaping from a nickel to 50 cents. We were a family of 8, and it was a crushing time that followed on the heels of the boundless optimism of the 50s and 60s. Talk about social whiplash. However, my guess is that experience left us better able to cope with such major changes. Imagine how the privileged pink hairs with their facial piercings will do with no life skills and never knowing a world of deprivation.
The trick is to not waste time wishing for the old days, but to confront the reality head on.
Rufus: What a dollar in the USA could buy in 1970 now takes 8 dollars to buy. The people with money and savings got rich on those high interest rates on savings and bonds.
It was social whiplash. One more lie.
I watched "Falling Down" (1993) again last night. That movie is now more true than ever.
After Nixon allowed the sale of gold bullion again, I spent a month's salary to buy an ounce at $88. I still have it. As I like to point out, in 1900, you could go into a top tailor and buy a fine suit with all the trimmings for an ounce of gold. You still can. Only the price has changed, but the value remains the same (Led Zepplin anyone?).
"Falling Down" is a great movie, and talk about catharsis. Some beautiful twists in it and the viewer pukes from all the built-up tension and angst. I dust it off every couple of years to remind me why I fled the US 16 years ago.
OMG...brings back so many memories of life in the 50's. You guys did just that same thing for us in Portland, Oregon! Beefy and buff Italians that hauled our garbage up and down TWO flights of stairs every week. I am in awe. And, they were all so very polite! We knew everyone's name, too. I can't remember when they actually switched to curb--side, but it was way after I left (80's).
I was told that the MAFIA controlled all the garbage hauling here in US (maybe in Italy, too?), plus the olive oil business and all that lovely citrus growing on the Amalfi coast.
In a sensible world, those who are inheriting this new world would be looking to us geezers for navigational experience.. We may not know what's coming, but we have some experience avoiding the rocks and reefs. I suspect that having all the rules yanked out from under them will push the younger generations back to the natural order of treasuring the experience of their elders. We shall see how all this shakes out, but it's high time we had a little excitement to wake folks up.
We can partially blame the materialist world. Old folks are not considered profitable economic units, and are thus disposable. There is a day in every generation when they realize the only way forward is to look back, and without old folks, that ability will vanish.
Since the first time I read that chines quote ' in chaos there is opportunity' I was a believer.
I also am convinced of these facts; Those who are too lazy and comfortable to think for themselves and to be their own judges obey the laws.
Others sense their own laws within them; things are forbidden to them that every honorable man will do any day in the year and other things are allowed to them that are generally despised.
The law is a tricky thing. When it harmonizes with the natural order, there is no need for enforcement. We must be forced when we know - consciously or not - that the law is wrong and favors a ruling class. The secret to prospering from chaos is to not waste time pining for the old ways, but adjust quickly to the new situation and recognize opportunities before anyone else can see them. Normalcy bias is a killer and paranoia is a survival instinct (as long as it's not pathological).
I think you are conflating things. What we call dollars are really IOUs from a corporation called the Federal Reserve created out of thin air. They are the thing that is to become worthless. Not U.S. Treasury Bonds. Those bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S.
When the Federal Reserve loses it's authority to print Dollars all of their assets and liabilites are turned back over to the U.S. Treasury. The treasury bonds they had held then cancelled. The outstanding obligations will then be currency in circulation.
The U. S. Supreme court has just ruled that each state may issue it's own currency backed by specie... ie gold and silver. That will be the future of banking. The Money Center banks dependent on the Fed will be discovered to be worthless.
I did conflate a bit for brevity's sake, but I did mention that the dollar had become a debt instrument. US Treasuries based on dollars and the "full faith and credit" of a dying institution are hardly safe havens. The Fed usually buys most of them to inject "dollars" into the system. If/when the Fed does collapse, those Treasuries will remit back to the the US gov't, but there's still trillions in Treasuries floating around as reserves in other countries, and when they dump them to diversify, Treasuries won't be worth the paper they use.
Most of the dollar-denominated debt with roll over into other currencies, which will kill M2, but not do much damage otherwise. The tricky part is Congress will either have to stop spending, or inflation will hit the top of Mount Everest. My bet is they won't stop spending like drunken sailors on shore leave, because that's the only thing that keeps anyone paying attention to them at all.
The new court ruling is interesting, and a number of states are ready to go. That's a wild card and we'll have to see how it plays out.
This post, while excellent, was a bit of a downer. Until I came to this gem: "Certainly the Bumbledicks will no longer have any carrots with which to entice compliance." Thank you--for everything!
Thank you for reading! I try to offer a payoff for readers who bear with me. I hope that I made the point that things will get messy, but no storm lasts forever and those who are prepared will find new ways to think and act that can actually change the world for the better. There used to be a comic book about a hippie named Oat Willie, and his tag line was, "Onward through the fog!" It has been my motto for decades.
If death of the dollar stranglehold frees up markets as you say, and hopefully unleashes creativity too, then projects like exploring the solar system might help mankind to rally and refocus. We've been so indoctrinated by the Malthusians that it is difficult to even contemplate what the world would be like without the ghouls who run it now. I literally jumped for joy when Kissinger died, and will do so again when George Soros goes to meet his Maker.
My generation, I'm about 7 years younger than you, was raised on Star Trek among other things. And it was from that corny scripwriting that many of us clamped on to a hopeful future, dreaming of a day when mankind could somehow get along with each other, warp to other planets, and stop our obsession with money. Dialing up dinner on a food replicator or sleeping with sexy aliens were just a bonus. One thing I would miss though, is the cars. Then again, the transport pods we have now don't do much for me so maybe i'm just being nostalgic.
I am still celebrating the demise of Kissinger! We stand together in the world of Star Trek, though TOS is still the only series that hits the exact right tone. So many of our current toys were inspired by that show -- tablets, bluetooth devices, handheld communicators, automatic doors. Now if we could just get the warp thing together.
I do think the end of the Petrodollar signals a coming explosion in global growth. Merkins will pay a price for the past 50 years, but all things pass. I also think most of the nastiness in the world right now is the cabal desperately clinging to their regime. However, I think anyone sufficiently prepared for the head winds will do quite well, and I for one, am excited to see how things develop.
In 1974, I was 22 and hauling garbage on my shoulder for Joey Filiberto Sanitation in Northern, New Jersey. I remember the oil embargo that winter and Americans scrambling to find gasoline for their cars. Long lines and rationing at the gas stations in New Jersey.
The 1970s were a terrible time of high inflation and stagflation in the economy. And at the end was the depression of 1981-82 with 20% interest rates. There was no work at the seaplane base for us mechanics. Airplane sales ended with a thud. No one was even flying or maintaining their planes.
I don't want to go through that again.
Ah yes, odd-even days at the pumps and prices spiking from 45 cents/gallon to over a dollar, with station owners trying to figure out how to make the old analog pumps register 3 digits. That was the demise of the pump monkeys, who checked your oil and air pressure, and cleaned your windshield while they filled your tank I was a pump monkey at my cousin's Sinclair station at that very moment in time.
Chocolate bars leaping from a nickel to 50 cents. We were a family of 8, and it was a crushing time that followed on the heels of the boundless optimism of the 50s and 60s. Talk about social whiplash. However, my guess is that experience left us better able to cope with such major changes. Imagine how the privileged pink hairs with their facial piercings will do with no life skills and never knowing a world of deprivation.
The trick is to not waste time wishing for the old days, but to confront the reality head on.
Rufus: What a dollar in the USA could buy in 1970 now takes 8 dollars to buy. The people with money and savings got rich on those high interest rates on savings and bonds.
It was social whiplash. One more lie.
I watched "Falling Down" (1993) again last night. That movie is now more true than ever.
After Nixon allowed the sale of gold bullion again, I spent a month's salary to buy an ounce at $88. I still have it. As I like to point out, in 1900, you could go into a top tailor and buy a fine suit with all the trimmings for an ounce of gold. You still can. Only the price has changed, but the value remains the same (Led Zepplin anyone?).
"Falling Down" is a great movie, and talk about catharsis. Some beautiful twists in it and the viewer pukes from all the built-up tension and angst. I dust it off every couple of years to remind me why I fled the US 16 years ago.
Absolutely. WE know it can (and will) happen again. I do believe we are better prepared.
We have been there and done that.
Spam to the rescue!
OMG...brings back so many memories of life in the 50's. You guys did just that same thing for us in Portland, Oregon! Beefy and buff Italians that hauled our garbage up and down TWO flights of stairs every week. I am in awe. And, they were all so very polite! We knew everyone's name, too. I can't remember when they actually switched to curb--side, but it was way after I left (80's).
Bless you! 🙏🙏🥂
http://timmytaes.com/2018/11/22/working-for-joey-filiberto/
Lynnie: Above is the link to my story about working for Joey Filiberto Sanitation in New Jersey.
I was told that the MAFIA controlled all the garbage hauling here in US (maybe in Italy, too?), plus the olive oil business and all that lovely citrus growing on the Amalfi coast.
Your story is great! Thanks for sharing it!
Lynnie: Thanks! Glad you liked the Filiberto story. "Strike Over!"
Thanks! I'll also watch "Falling Down"...don't remember it.
Lynnie: All it takes is one bad day... LA is a lot worse now than it was in 1993.
Everything is a lot worse. 😢
btw... just put that mvoie in my Prime videos watch list.👍👍
I never looked forward to being "old"...until now.
I've never been a quitter, but looking at what's going on now, I'm very glad I'm in my 70's and have had a great and varied life to reflect on.
In a sensible world, those who are inheriting this new world would be looking to us geezers for navigational experience.. We may not know what's coming, but we have some experience avoiding the rocks and reefs. I suspect that having all the rules yanked out from under them will push the younger generations back to the natural order of treasuring the experience of their elders. We shall see how all this shakes out, but it's high time we had a little excitement to wake folks up.
When my husband and I were in business, we hired our elders and valued their experience.
Now, it seems, all the younger folk can do is diss us.
Methinks they will collectively be caught flat-footed. That should shake them up!
Not sure I want to be around....
We can partially blame the materialist world. Old folks are not considered profitable economic units, and are thus disposable. There is a day in every generation when they realize the only way forward is to look back, and without old folks, that ability will vanish.
Since the first time I read that chines quote ' in chaos there is opportunity' I was a believer.
I also am convinced of these facts; Those who are too lazy and comfortable to think for themselves and to be their own judges obey the laws.
Others sense their own laws within them; things are forbidden to them that every honorable man will do any day in the year and other things are allowed to them that are generally despised.
Each person must stand on his own feet.
The law is a tricky thing. When it harmonizes with the natural order, there is no need for enforcement. We must be forced when we know - consciously or not - that the law is wrong and favors a ruling class. The secret to prospering from chaos is to not waste time pining for the old ways, but adjust quickly to the new situation and recognize opportunities before anyone else can see them. Normalcy bias is a killer and paranoia is a survival instinct (as long as it's not pathological).
I think you are conflating things. What we call dollars are really IOUs from a corporation called the Federal Reserve created out of thin air. They are the thing that is to become worthless. Not U.S. Treasury Bonds. Those bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S.
When the Federal Reserve loses it's authority to print Dollars all of their assets and liabilites are turned back over to the U.S. Treasury. The treasury bonds they had held then cancelled. The outstanding obligations will then be currency in circulation.
The U. S. Supreme court has just ruled that each state may issue it's own currency backed by specie... ie gold and silver. That will be the future of banking. The Money Center banks dependent on the Fed will be discovered to be worthless.
I did conflate a bit for brevity's sake, but I did mention that the dollar had become a debt instrument. US Treasuries based on dollars and the "full faith and credit" of a dying institution are hardly safe havens. The Fed usually buys most of them to inject "dollars" into the system. If/when the Fed does collapse, those Treasuries will remit back to the the US gov't, but there's still trillions in Treasuries floating around as reserves in other countries, and when they dump them to diversify, Treasuries won't be worth the paper they use.
Most of the dollar-denominated debt with roll over into other currencies, which will kill M2, but not do much damage otherwise. The tricky part is Congress will either have to stop spending, or inflation will hit the top of Mount Everest. My bet is they won't stop spending like drunken sailors on shore leave, because that's the only thing that keeps anyone paying attention to them at all.
The new court ruling is interesting, and a number of states are ready to go. That's a wild card and we'll have to see how it plays out.
This post, while excellent, was a bit of a downer. Until I came to this gem: "Certainly the Bumbledicks will no longer have any carrots with which to entice compliance." Thank you--for everything!
Thank you for reading! I try to offer a payoff for readers who bear with me. I hope that I made the point that things will get messy, but no storm lasts forever and those who are prepared will find new ways to think and act that can actually change the world for the better. There used to be a comic book about a hippie named Oat Willie, and his tag line was, "Onward through the fog!" It has been my motto for decades.