For the last several decades, our civilization has steadily approached the point of no return. This is the point which, when passed, we can no-longer salvage our lifestyle as we know it. This means that we cannot simply steer ourselves out, as a society; but we must first endure a painful collapse in which millions will be ruined financially and lose everything they have. Indeed many people will be absolutely shocked and dumbfounded when the very fabric of the society they are completely reliant on, comes apart suddenly, in a devastating wave of hyper-inflation.
There is no doubt in my mind that hyper-inflation is headed our way very soon. The unprecedented level of money creation will not be wiped by deflation. In point of fact, the circumstances we are now in are virtually identical to other situations throughout history, which have all resulted in hyper-inflation.
Basically the economy is in a deep slump, while governments are rapidly increasing the money supply with Quantitative Easing (a fancy academic term for creation of large amounts of money). This formula has a long history of causing currency failure.
Indeed, the system has been abused to such an extent that they have little choice at this point; the only way to wipe out the massive public and private debt obligations is to shrink the size of the debt by debasing the currency.
In the process of dropping the value of the dollar, they are also wiping out the savings of many people and governments around the world. Indeed most of the dollars in circulation are actually held overseas. So this debasement of the currency is going to rob the savings of a great many people who trusted in the integrity of the US government. I doubt this mistake will be made again; at least for a few generations.
This is precisely why the wealthiest and most successful families in the history of our civilization, will only hold their money in hard assets or quality companies which produce hard assets. They learned through experience, that hard assets are the only way to preserve their family’s wealth, generation after generation, in situations where the currency has no convertability.
I find it truly interesting to observe the behavior of different types of people, as we head into this period in our history:
- There is a significant segment of our population that doesn’t want to know anything; they prefer to think that their lifestyle is untouchable. They have everything they own in some mutual funds or money markets in their 401(k) or IRA. Anything in regards to money is “better left to the professionals” despite the fact that these “professionals” are the ones who created the terminal situation which has robbed so many people of their life’s savings.
- Another portion of our population wishes to be blindly optimistic. They celebrate the fact that the new President is an well-spoken intellectual who says and does much of what they always wanted their leader to say and do. There seems to be little to no concern, amongst these pseudo-intellectuals, that nothing is being done to address the fundamental problems which plague our society. Instead new bandages are being applied to mask the problems and “keep up appearances.”
- Finally, there is another portion of the population who have become thoroughly disgusted with the dis-ingenuous left-right paradigm. They realize that both political parties are leading us down the primrose path, not into the land of milk and honey; but into the desert to die. It is this segment of the population, which has chosen to rely on their own abilities; to adapt in whatever ways they are able. To this group of individuals, the solutions to our problems are not top-down, as we are accustomed to; instead the solutions are implemented by each of us in our own lives. The basic idea is to reduce and eliminate the dependency on this failed society; instead relying on their selves and the local community. They don’t wish to wait and hope for someone or something outside of themselves to produce “change ™”; instead they fundamentally change the way they live their lives.
I prefer to identify with the third group, because I feel strongly that the first two groups are simply accomplishing nothing of substance. I believe in our power as individuals to produce what we need to live on this planet. Its not like we’re having to live on Mars or something inhospitable like that. This is a very fertile planet which is positively bursting with life and genetic diversity.
I often hear naysayers say that you must have 40 acres and significant financial resources to change your lifestyle; but I have seen examples of urban homesteaders who have been able to produce the majority of their food on small lots (less than 1/4 acre). Sure, they aren’t totally “off the grid” but producing one’s own food is a significant step in cutting costs and achieving sustainability.
We may as well start where we are at. If we are going to strive for something, we must strive for goals that we know we can achieve in a reasonable amount of time. If a significant segment of our population learned to decrease their dependency on this failed system, the benefits would be innumerable.
