Aug 162015
 
 August 16, 2015  Posted by at 1:11 pm Finance Tagged with: , , , , , ,


Gustave Doré Dante and Virgil among the late penitents 1868

We’re doing something a little different. Nicole wrote another very long article and I suggested publishing it in chapters; this time she said yes. Over five days we will post five different chapters of the article, one on each day, and then on day six the whole thing. Just so there’s no confusion: the article, all five chapters of it, was written by Nicole Foss. Not by Ilargi.

This is part 2. Part 1 is here: Global Financial Crisis – Liquidity Crunch and Economic Depression


The Psychological Driver of Deflation and the Collapse of the Trust Horizon

The collective mood shifts rapidly from optimism and greed to pessimism and fear as the bubble bursts, and as it does so, the financial system moves from expansion to contraction. Financial contraction involves the breaking of promises right left and centre, with credit instruments drastically revalued downwards in the process. As the promises that back them cease to be credible, value disappears extremely rapidly. This is deflation and the elimination of excess claims to underlying real wealth.

Instruments once regarded as money equivalents will lose that status through the loss of confidence in them, causing the supply of what retains sufficient confidence to still be regarded as money to collapse. The more instruments lose the confidence that confers value upon them, the smaller the effective money supply will be, and the more confidence will become a rare ‘commodity’. Being grounded in psychology is the primary reason that deflation cannot be overcome through policy adaptations which are inherently too little and too late. Nothing moves as quickly as a collective loss of confidence in human promises, and nothing destroys value as comprehensively.

The same abrupt change in collective mood will also drive contraction in the real economy, but more slowly, since the time constant for change in the real world is much slower than in the virtual world of finance. This process will also result in broken promises as structural dependencies fracture when there is no longer enough to go around. There will be wage and benefit cuts, layoffs, strikes, strike-breaking, breaches of contract, business failures and more on a huge scale, and these will fuel further fear, anger and the destruction of trust.

In the political realm, trust, such as it is, will be an early casualty. Political promises have been regarded as highly suspect for a long time in any case, but considering that the electorate tends consistently to vote for whomever tells them the largest number of comforting lies, this is not particularly surprising. Our political system selects for mendaciousness by design, since no party is normally elected by telling the truth, yet we have still collectively retained some faith in the concept of democracy until relatively recently. In recent years, however, it has become increasingly clear that the political institutions in supposedly democratic nations have largely been bought by big capital. More often than not, and more blatantly than ever, the political machinery has come to serve those special interests, not the public interest.

The public is increasingly realizing that ‘representative democracy’ leaves them unrepresented, as they see more and more examples of austerity for the masses combined with enormous bailouts guaranteeing that the large scale gamblers of casino capitalism will not take losses on the reckless bets they made gambling with other people’s money. In the countries subjected to austerity, where the contrast is the most stark, a wave of public anger is is already depriving national governments, or supranational governance institutions where applicable (ie Europe), of political legitimacy. As more and more states slide into the austerity trap as a result of their unsustainable debt burdens, this polarization process will continue, driving wedges between the governors and the governed which will make governance far more difficult.

Governments struggling with the loss of political legitimacy are going to find that people will no longer follow rules once they feel that the social contract has been violated, and that rules no longer represent the public interest. When the governed broadly accept that society functions under the rule of law, in other words that all are equally subject to the same rules, then they tend to internalize those rules and follow them without the need for negative incentives or outright enforcement. However, once the dominant perception becomes that rules are imposed only on the powerless, to their detriment and for the benefit of the powerful, while the well connected can do as they please, then general compliance can cease very quickly.

Without compliance, force would become necessary, and we are indeed likely to see this occur as a transitional phase as social polarization increases in a climate of increasing anger. The transitional element arises from the fact that force, especially as exercised technologically at large scale, requires substantial resources which are unlikely to remain available. Force produces reaction, straining the fabric of society, quite possibly to breaking point.

As contagion propagates the impact of financial and economic contraction, we will rapidly be moving from a long era of high trust in the value of promises to one of low trust. The trust horizon will contract sharply, leaving supranational and national governments lying beyond its reach, as stranded assets from a trust perspective. Trust determines effective organizational scale, so when the trust horizon draws in, withdrawing political legitimacy in its wake, larger scale entities, whether public or private, are going to find it extremely difficult to function. Effective organizational scale had been increasing for the duration of our long economic expansion, forcing an across the board scaling up of all manner of organizations by increasing the competitiveness accruing to large scale. As we scaled up, we formed structural dependencies on these larger scale entities’ ability to function.

While the scaling-up process was reasonable smooth and seamless, the scaling-down process will not be, as the lower rungs of the figurative ladder we climbed to reach this pinnacle have been kicked out as we ascended. Structural dependencies are going to fail very painfully as large scale ceases to be effective and competitive, leading to abrupt dislocations with ricocheting impacts.

Proposed solutions to our predicament that depend on the functioning of large-scale organizations operating in a top-down manner do not lie within viable solution space.


Instability and the ‘Discount Rate’

The pessimism-and-fear-driven psychology of contraction differs dramatically from the optimism-and-greed-driven psychology of expansion. The extreme complacency as to systemic risk of recent years will be replaced by an equally extreme risk aversion, as we move from overshoot in one direction to undershoot in the other. The perception of economic visibility is gong to change substantially, as we move from a period where people thought they knew where things were headed into an era where fear and confusion reign, and the sense of predictability evaporates abruptly.

This is an important psychological shift, as it affects an aspect known as the ‘discount rate’, which reflects the extent to which we think in the short term rather than the long term, or the extent to which we value the present over the future. The perceived rate of change is an important factor in determining the discount rate, and fear, being a very sharp emotion, causes the rate of change to accelerate markedly, driving the discount rate sharply higher in contractionary times.

True long term thinking is relatively rare. We manage an approximation of it at times when all immediate needs, along with many mere ‘wants’, are met and we are not concerned about this condition changing, in other words at times when we take a comfortable situation for granted. At such times, the longer term view is a luxury we can afford, and we find it relatively simple to summon the presence of mind to think abstractly and constructively, and to ponder circumstances which are are neither personal nor immediate. Even at such times, however, it is not particularly common for humans to transcend mere contemplation and actually act in the interests of the long term, especially if it involves aspects beyond the personal, or perhaps familial.

As the financial bubble bursts, and we rapidly begin to pick up on the fear of others and feel the consequences of contagion in our own lives, our collective discount rates are going to sky-rocket. In a relatively short period of time, a large percentage of the population is going to begin worry about immediate needs, let alone wants, not being met. A short time later those worries are likely to transition into reality, as has already happened in the countries, like Greece, in the forefront of the bursting bubble. As discount rates go through the roof, the luxury of the longer term view, which is always quite ephemeral, is likely to disappear altogether.

Where people have no supply cushions and find themselves abruptly penniless, cold, thirsty, hungry or homeless, the likelihood of them considering anything much beyond the needs of the day at hand is very low. Under such circumstances, the present becomes the only reality that matters, and societies are abruptly pitched into a panicked state of short term crisis management. This of course underlines the need to develop supply cushions and contingency plans in advance of a bubble bursting, so that a greater percentage of people might be able to retain a clear head and the ability to plan more than one day at a time. Unfortunately, few are likely to heed advance warnings and we can expect society to shift rapidly into a state of short-termism.

Given the coming rise in collective discount rates, if proposed solutions depend on the ability for societies to engage in rational planning for longer term goals, then those solutions are not part of solution space.


The Psychology of Contraction and Social Context

Expansionary times are times of relative peace and prosperity. If those conditions persist for a relatively long time, trust builds slowly and societies become more inclusive and cooperative, tending to perceive common humanity and focus on similarities rather than differences. In such times we reach out and interact with distant people, even if we have no relationship of personal trust with them, as we have, over time, vested our trust in stable institutional frameworks for managing our affairs. This institutional trust replaces the need for trust at a personal level and is a key factor in our ability to scale up our economies and their governance structures. Individuals raised in such an environment tend to show a presumption of trust towards others, and their inclination is generally to act cooperatively.

There is a sharp contrast between this stable state of affairs and the circumstances which pertain when suddenly the pie is shrinking and there is not enough to go around. As difficult as it can be share gains in a way perceived to be fair, it is infinitely more difficult to share losses in a way that is not extremely divisive. As elucidated above, a deflationary credit implosion involved the wholesale destruction of excess claims to underlying real wealth, meaning that a majority of people who thought they had a valid claim to something of tangible value are going to find that they do not. The losses will be very widespread, but uneven, and the perception of unfairness will be almost universal.

Under such circumstances a sense of common humanity is much less prevalent, and the focus shifts from similarities to the differences upon which social divisions are founded and then inflamed. An ‘us versus them’ dynamic is prone to take hold, where ‘us’ becomes ever more tightly defined and ‘them’ becomes an ever more pejorative term. People build literal and figurative walls and peer suspiciously at each other over them. Rather than working together in the attempt to address concerns common to all, division shifts the focus from cooperation to competition. A collectively constructive mindset can easily morph into something far more motivated by negative emotions such as jealousy and revenge and therefore far more destructive of perceived commonality.

The kind of initiatives which capture the public imagination in expansionary times are not at all the type which get traction once a contractionary dynamic takes hold. Attempts to build cooperative projects are going to be facing a rising tide of negative social mood, and will struggle to get off the ground. Sadly, negative ideas are far more likely to go viral than positive ones. Novel movements grounded in anger and fear may arise to feed on this new emotional context and thereby be empowered to wreak havoc on the fabric of society, notably through providing a political mandate to extremists with an agenda of focusing blame on to some identifiable, and marginalizable, social group.

While it will not be the case that cooperative endeavours will be impossible to achieve, they will require additional effort, and are likely to succeed only at a much smaller scale in a newly fractured society than might previously have been expected. It is very much a worthwhile effort, and will be far simpler if begun prior to the end of the period of cooperative presumption. All the more reason to adapt to a major trend change adapt in advance. There is nothing so dangerous as collectively dashed expectations.

If proposed solutions depend on a cooperative social context at large scale, they will not be part of solution space.

Part 1 is here: Global Financial Crisis – Liquidity Crunch and Economic Depression

Tune back in tomorrow for part 3: Declining Energy Profit Ratio and Socioeconomic Complexity

Home Forums The Boundaries and Future of Solution Space – Part 2

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  • #23223

    Gustave Doré Dante and Virgil among the late penitents 1868 We’re doing something a little different. Nicole wrote another very long article and I sug
    [See the full post at: The Boundaries and Future of Solution Space – Part 2]

    #23224
    Ishkabibble
    Participant

    Nicole, your article is even more exceptional than usual. This is another ‘must print.’ I eagerly await you next post.

    Canada faired well in the 2008 crash due to our resource based economy. I don’t see that helping us so much this time. Perhaps it is time for old school Amish wisdom to make a comeback. Make what you use and consume what you make. Sell only the surplus and limit trade. The globalization that was to be our strength seems to give this pending deleveraging most of its punch. On a personal level, it seems we can right our own ships before the gail arrives.

    #23227
    TheTrivium4TW
    Participant

    Professor LnL,
    “The greatest barrier to discover is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”
    ~Daniel Boorstin
    You think governments always hyperinflate, but it is an illusion that governments control the money supply. The private international banking cartel I’ve dubbed The Debt Money Monopoly actually controls money. Government has NO SAY!

    Alan Greenspan ~ The Federal Reserve Is Above The Law

    Now, you will argue that it exists like that because government allows it. While that is correct, you have not thought deeply enough into the issue. THERE IS A REASON WHY GOVERNMENT ALLOWS THIS SITUATION AND THAT REASON, ONCE COMPREHENDED, WILL NOT CHANGE GOING FORWARD!
    So, government doesn’t control money and there is no reason to believe they will going forward (if you don’t comprehend why, ask and I’ll address it in detail).
    The relevant question then becomes, when has the Debt-Money Monopoly, the true controllers of debt based currency and credit, ever hyperinflated themselves out of their own trillions in debt paper and trillions in cash.
    The answer is NEVER!
    But, but but, Weimar was a hyperinflation. It was a deflation to the Debt-Money Monopoly of that era. The Debt-Money Monopoly bought up German industry for pennies on the dollar.
    But, but, but, Argentia was a hyperinflation. It was a deflation to the Debt-Money Monopoly would could go into Argentina with their dollars and euros and buy up the country for pennies on the dollar.
    You perception is an illusions. Its foundation is a fallacy. Garbage in / garbage out.
    The argument is NOT whether the Debt-Money Monopoly could or could not hyperinflate right away. Of course they could. But that’s not the issue.
    The issue is whether WIPING OUT THEIR TRILLIONS IN DEBT PAPER AND TRILLIONS IN CASH BY CAUSING A HYPERINFLATION IS **IN THEIR BEST INTERESTS**.

    It.
    Is.
    Not.

    Busting the economy and buying it up for pennies on the dollar, JUST LIKE THEY DID IN WEIMAR, JUST LIKE THEY DID IN ARGENTINA, IS THE REAL BATTLE PLAN THAT SERVES THEIR INTERESTS.
    The truth is hidden in plain site… but the illusion of knowledge is too big a barrier for many to overcome – even with facts.
    This former Bain Capital economist is worth a listen:

    #23228
    Professorlocknload
    Participant

    Triv,
    The Fed could be dismantled in a heartbeat by Congress. Central Bank cartels have been broken throughout history. The question is, what will force Congress (Government) to finally file for divorce from it’s marriage of convenience. For that matter, even the EU will ultimately be disassembled, given sharp enough pitchforks and volatile enough Molotov cocktails.

    The problem here is not so much the Fed being immune from the law as it is Congress protecting it from the law. While I don’t see another Andrew Jackson riding into town anytime soon, as ill advised as he was in most matters of State, when enough pressure is exerted upon the electorate to make it miserable enough, it will likely demand change.

    That said, the dollar’s value being eroded by 98 odd percent since 1913, I don’t see any revelation coming up to protect that remaining 2% of it’s purchasing power. And no, when Bernanke suggested helicopter money as being an ultimate perceived panacea on the Fed’s part for the Black Plague of deflation, I do not think he was joking.

    Nicole,
    Greece, having handed over it’s sovereignty to Northern and Central Europe, in joining their cartel, is not a good example of what’s going to be for dinner in the U.S., Canada etc. They still have control over their currencies. Knowing the debt cannot be paid, and understanding how uncomfortable mass protest by fire and polls can be, I see the .gov’s opting out through the expedience of devaluation, making the prols feel richer in the process of pushing the ultimate solution off onto future generations of prols and their selected governments.

    Weimar, Argentina, The Roman Empire, The Spanish Empire, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, the list goes on,,,hell, to bring it local, the Continental Dollar, seem more appropriate examples.
    Not talking necessarily Weimar type blitz’s here, just consistent, incremental, slow burn devaluation as deemed “needed” to preserve the status quo. At least until it finally goes ballistic, and crashes the whole dog and pony show.

    Venezuela being a micro, as well as present example, I look more to the Euro mess to provide the convincing grand finale that will cause tremors in the Eccles Building. At that point, dollars, Continental or otherwise, will be the last place I would want to be, Exter’s Pyramid not withstanding.

    Not being a conspiracy theorist, but if I was one, even I understand CFR castles could be burned out as easily as Rome was,,,likely from the inside.

    #23229
    fuzzykoala
    Participant

    Hi Nicole and Ilargi,
    I’ve had the good fortune to connect with some people interested in starting a Permaculture-focused research institute/organization in the Canadian prairies. My question for you is whether such a project would be possible and worth pursuing in the medium/longer term, and if so, how could you structure it to endure through the coming contraction?
    Thanks! (also thanks for the awesome articles!)
    Calvin

    #23230
    Professorlocknload
    Participant

    Or,
    Hi, let me introduce myself. I’m Upchuck D. Gladhander. I used to be a Subprime Mortgage Broker, helping ‘Muricans achieve the American Dream, but I’ve decided to run for POTUS, on a platform of cutting your Social Security, Medicare, Schools, interest deductions and all other forms of .gov handouts,,,for the children, mind you. Can I count on your support in the fall? Crickets.

    Political Solution? Only under extreme duress.

    #23234
    Diogenes Shrugged
    Participant

    A little less than halfway through the article, “difficult to function” is highlighted in red and links to another of Nicole’s articles from January 2012. In the final paragraph of that article, she observes that:

    “In this instance, we need to emulate the herd animals and cross the river all at once. This is our best hope of achieving a simpler, decentralized future that might be workable, unlike our current industrial paradigm.”

    While this is certainly true, I have doubts that the herd in the U.S. is capable of acting in any sort of unison. Many will see the crocodiles in the water and refuse to cross, but most will see no reason to cross in the first place. Most of those attempting to cross will not be able to swim. Worst of all, nearly the entire herd either depends on the croc’s for their existence or thinks the croc’s are necessary somehow for the herd’s wellbeing!

    In evolutionary terms, our debt money systems worldwide have set this species up to face a most terrifying set of selective pressures. In many ways, those pressures will favor the rich and powerful, but in other ways, favor those living closest to the land (e.g. “primitives” like the Amazon’s Yanomami). I’m afraid some billions of us are about to try to fit through a keyhole. Hopefully the relative few that make it through will figure out a way to peacefully coexist. If not, may the primitives prevail.

    #23236
    laodan
    Participant

    Your analysis of the patterns at work in Late-Modernity is spot on but your conclusions don’t go far enough. Let me try to explain myself by first summing your argument.

    Your observation is spot on:
    1. political institutions in supposedly democratic nations have largely been bought by big capital.
    2. the political machinery has come to serve those special interests, not the public interest.

    What you see being the consequences of such a reality is spot on too:
    1. a wave of public anger is already depriving governments of political legitimacy
    2. people will no longer follow rules
    3. without compliance force becomes necessary

    and I agree with your conclusions:
    1. where people have no supply cushions the local present becomes the only reality that matters
    2. force requires substantial resources which are unlikely to remain available
    ====>
    if proposed solutions depend on the functioning of large-scale organizations they will not be part of solution space
    if proposed solutions depend on rational planning for longer term goals they will not be part of solution space space.
    If proposed solutions depend on a cooperative social context at large scale they will not be part of solution space
    _______________

    Your “if proposed solutions…” falls short. This is because you omitted one parameter in your initial observation:
    1. political institutions in supposedly democratic nations have largely been bought by big capital.
    2. the political machinery has come to serve those special interests, not the public interest.
    3. a class war is being waged by big capital and, as Buffet was saying, big capital is winning this war

    Historical experience shows that the winner of war takes all…
    What does this imply in our present circumstances?

    Here is my take:
    1. the holders of big capital know very well the predicament the human specie is facing
    2. I think they would agree with your 3 “if proposed solutions…”
    3. so… let’s summarize what possibly comes our way in the next paragraph
    _______________

    The disturbing facts:
    1. the earth’s renewable resources can carry no more than 1 to 2 billion people
    2. the holders of big capital believe that nature will take care, one way or another, of population overshoot.
    3. big capital as the winner of the war only cares about the survival of its own class
    4. the holders of big capital believe that the few surviving peasants will complement a Robotics and AI infrastructure
    5. in the future national state expanses shall exclusively concentrate on the institutions of force (policing and military) to protect the interests of big capital. This will drastically reduce state expanses…. and bring them in line with the financially feasible.

    Conclusions:
    1. Internally state expanses are limited to the protection of the interests of big capital while the peasants are left to starve.
    2. externally big capital has the ambition to control the whole world. But it is confronted with the resistance of a powerful group of nations (BRICS, SCO but more to the point Russia and China) that has the means to defend against the military might of the West.
    3. in such a context how should we individuals position ourselves ?
    – in term of the external conflict of Western big capital holders
    – in term of the internal survival or we the peasants

    #23237
    TheTrivium4TW
    Participant

    >>Triv,
    The Fed could be dismantled in a heartbeat by Congress. Central Bank cartels have been broken throughout history.<<
    Not in the last 100 years – and I think you need to think long and hard about the implications of this fact. At least not for the Rothschild, European Royalty, Rockefeller, et al. Central Bank.

    >>The question is, what will force Congress (Government) to finally file for divorce from it’s marriage of convenience.<<
    That’s the wrong question. The correct question is why would a sovereign allow a foreign entity to control its money AND THERE IS NO ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION BECAUSE A SOVEREIGN NEVER WOULD UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. Therefore, the US government can’t be sovereign! It must be controlled by… The Debt-Money Monopoly. How? WHO finances the media? The DMM. WHO finances the campaigns of the politicians? The DMM. WHO finances the military? The DMM. WHO finances the FBI? The DMM. WHO finances the CIA? The DMM. WHO finances the drug cartels? The DMM. Who finances the mob? The DMM. WHO finances the government bureaucracy? The DMM.
    Politicians are individuals with no inherent power in themselves. One politicians can do nothing much. when it takes $40 million every two to six years to win a Congressional seat, the DMM controls WHO gets into office as they are THE HIGHEST BIDDER (TM) by definition. Will they put someone in power who will turn against their agenda? Not on purpose. If someone unexpectedly does turn against them, do they have means of mitigating the damage? Ask Jackie Kennedy.
    The hand that gives is greater than the hand that takes. The borrower (government) is SERVANT to the lender (The Debt-Money Monopoly). Napoleon recognized this fact a couple hundred years ago…

    “When a government is dependent upon bankers for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation, since the hand that gives is above the hand that takes. Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain.”
    ― Napoléon Bonaparte
    Carroll Quigley also addressed the exact mechanism used to control politicians to do the bidding of the DMM or, as Quigley referred to them, “The Money Power:”
    “The powers of financial capitalism has another far reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole…
    The apex of the system was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world’s central banks [including the US Federal Reserve] which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank… sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence cooperative politicians by subsequent economic rewards….”
    — Quote from Caroll Quigley’s Tragedy and Hope, Chapter
    Quigley discussed the empirically evident reality that “elections” were and are frauds controlled by the Debt-Money Monopoly who finance BOTH parties in a political false dichotomy fashion…
    “The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can ‘throw the rascals out’ at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy”
    ~Georgetown University Professor Carroll Quigley, Tragedy and Hope, 1966.
    Quigley was named by Bill Clinton as his #1 mentor leading up to his Presidency.

    >>For that matter, even the EU will ultimately be disassembled, given sharp enough pitchforks and volatile enough Molotov cocktails.<<

    The purpose of the debt-Euro was to use Debt-Money Monopoly financed government to protect the banking corporate fronts from insolvency and saturate the ordinary European and world citizens (they are stealing money from everyone in bailouts to themselves) with inextinguishable debts that will be used as a pretext to asset stripping them.
    Don’t tell me about the hypothetical overthrow of these people as physicians are, IN REALITY, prostituting themselves to care for their families DUE DIRECTLY TO DEBT-EURO FRAUD. You see how Tsipras set up his country with lies so the Bankster could continue the r*pinig and pillaging. You think Tsipras works for the people? You are a psy-op victim.

    >>The problem here is not so much the Fed being immune from the law as it is Congress protecting it from the law.<<
    There is no difference. Note that when JP Morgan bribed Jefferson County to steal about $1 billion from tax payers, the county government officials went to jail while the bribers at JP Morgan weren’t even charged. In fact, the stolen loot wasn’t even recovered. Government is stuff on serfs like us, but they know when to back off their masters’ operations. Kennedy didn’t know and threatened to spread the CIA to the wind… Kennedy was murdered and the CIA has been in the White House for 30+ years. The Debt-Money Monopoly created and financed CIA that was brought into existence for the purpose of protecting Debt-Money Monopoly foreign business interests.

    >>While I don’t see another Andrew Jackson riding into town anytime soon, as ill advised as he was in most matters of State, when enough pressure is exerted upon the electorate to make it miserable enough, it will likely demand change.<<
    But the public is dumbed down. They literally don’t know their political rear end from their elbow. They think “change” is Democrat or Republican. Heck, Greece and even Ilargi thought Tsipras was “change.” It isn’t change. It is “meet the new boss, financed by the same Debt-Money Monopolists that financed the old boss.” John Taylor Gatto said it best when he said, “There was a Second American Revolution [in the late 1800s]. It was not won through force of arms, but through force of insight into how to MANUFACTURE PUBLIC OPINION.
    Not one it 10 Americans can think outside the media and controlled opposition media Debt-Money Monopoly circumscribed limits. Not one in 100 people comprehends that Rockefeller engineered schooling is operant conditioning to create obeisance to the Debt-Money Monopoly “authorities'” declarations.

    >>That said, the dollar’s value being eroded by 98 odd percent since 1913, I don’t see any revelation coming up to protect that remaining 2% of it’s purchasing power.<<
    Because you don’t comprehend the game. While the numbers would’ve been different, the essence of your argument held true in 1929 as well – the last time the DMM put us into the stratosphere of indebtedness. And, like now, you would’ve been wrong for a looooong time. And people who would’ve leveraged up to gain from this imminent hyperinflation in 1929 would’ve lot everything as the DMM called in the debts on our ancestors that had no idea the money required to pay the debts DIDN’T EXIST IN A WAY THEY COULD ACCESS IT.

    >>And no, when Bernanke suggested helicopter money as being an ultimate perceived panacea on the Fed’s part for the Black Plague of deflation, I do not think he was joking. <<
    Do you think Bernanke is a truth teller? Now that’s naive to the nth degree. He’s a liar. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t tell the truth sometimes, so the only way to discern truth from lie is to comprehend the system as a whole.
    How many times in the last 100 that the Debt-Money Monopoly has controlled most of the world’s money has the Debt-Money Monopoly hyperinflated their own wealth away?
    None. They aren’t going to do it now.
    If government was truly sovereign, instead of made up of hand picked Debt-Money Monopoly financed and controlled operatives, they would NEVER give THE POWER OF THE PURSE to a foreign entity. Since they did, you can bet that the Debt-Money Monopoly has used their Money Power to finance a cabal of politicians who will do their bidding.
    Just like Tsipras.

    #23257
    Diogenes Shrugged
    Participant

    Trivium, excellent post.

    Various terms are used in the alternate media to refer to the movers and shakers at the top of the heap (e.g. elites, aristocracy, 1%, TPTB). Your term DMM is really the most accurate one of all, IMO. That might be the first hurdle in bringing awareness to the masses – – get them to start using the same term to describe who’s usurped and rigged the system. Otherwise, a lot of innocent wealthy people might eventually be hung from lamp posts.

    You wrote:
    “Not one in 100 people comprehends that Rockefeller engineered schooling is operant conditioning to create obeisance to the Debt-Money Monopoly “authorities’” declarations.”

    Indeed, if I had to name what I thought was the greatest mistake ever made by mankind, it would be allowing the DMM-controlled state to educate our children.

    Just the first minute or so:

    #23260
    John Day
    Participant

    Thanks Nicole,
    Powerful insight. The commentariat is clearly electrified!
    John

    #23265
    Professorlocknload
    Participant

    QE 4 will be massive. And it will be directed at Main Street. Beware of the Deflation Trade!

    https://www.chapwoodindex.com

    #23266
    Professorlocknload
    Participant

    Russo? Alex Jones?

    #23267
    Diogenes Shrugged
    Participant

    I was passing out VHS copies of Aaron Russo’s “Mad as Hell” back in the late 1990s, long before 9/11. His warnings in that video were the same as those in the Jones interview (except for the 9/11 stuff). Russo died in 2007 (some say murdered by the CIA). The clip above is dated 2009 on YouTube, but clearly was produced years before. And yes, that was Alex Jones conducting the interview. If you wish to undermine the credibility of either Russo or Jones, be my guest, but your own credibility also hangs in the balance.

    #23270
    seychelles
    Participant

    Trivium and DS thanks for your posts; you clearly know the score.

    #23271
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    @ DS
    Indeed, if I had to name what I thought was the greatest mistake ever made by mankind, it would be allowing the DMM-controlled state to educate our children.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Absofuckinglutely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Read John Taylor Gatto’s Underground History of American Education and Ivan Illich’s Deschooling Society.
    Audio books here;
    https://www.unwelcomeguests.net/Category:Audiobooks

    #23282
    Chris M
    Participant

    Trivium and Diogenes Shrugged,

    Thank you for the clarity.

    It makes me wonder who Heidi Cruz will give her allegiance to. Goldman Sachs or the people?

    #23351
    Jamesinlondon
    Participant

    OK – so here’s what I am thinking. If you’re right – and there is no way this collapse is not going to happen – do you really think you will be safe in NZ? If the collapse is that bad – do you not think the mobs coming out of the cities will destroy everything in their wake?

    So you moved to Canada yes? And now you’ve moved to NZ. Yes? You think its safe there? Really? How many people live in NZ? 5m? OK so its a big place. So thats your hope? OK. Maybe you will be lucky. But 4.5m people is still a lot of people running through the countryside looking for food and shelter. Even in that amount of land. Are you well hidden? Do you think they won’t find you?

    You may be lucky.

    I hope we all find a way out of this. I am not that hopeful. Come the end I intend to have the ability to end my life before it gets too crazy. So long as you can face that moment (and its coming no matter how safe you think you are) – then I think you can live with some love and humour in your heart. I wish you well.

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