Diogenes Shrugged
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Regarding that ancient Babylonian trig table, they didn’t mention what might have been its most important application: astronomy. Also, there was no mention of how they dated that object. I can’t help but wonder if it might have been a hand-down going all the way back to the Younger Dryas (12,800 – 11,600 years ago). The whole topic of advanced, ancient civilizations prior to the end of the last ice age is one of the deepest rabbit holes I’ve ever explored, but boy has it been worth it. If you haven’t already cut your teeth on the topic, here’s an easy way to get a taste:
And if that wet your whistle:
Trivium —
Hat’s off to you for your comments. My moratorium on watching cable television news began when Bush took the credit for Cheney’s (and his dual-citizenship cohorts’) invasion of Iraq on behalf of Zionist Israel and the international banking cartels. That’s a mouthful, but shortening that sentence always makes it misleading. To be completely accurate, that sentence should be considerably longer.
But my primary reason for logging in was to recommend the following article. Your comments regarding government sponsored science really hit a nerve.
Dr. Diablo,
You wrote, “They could get inflation by handing money directly to the people, but which the people would use to pay off their debts (shrinking the money supply), a contradiction.”
But then, once debts were paid off, people could borrow to the sky again and re-inflate the money supply.
With helicopter money, I’m never sure who “they” are supposed to be. If “they” are government, the money comes from sale of bonds, increasing the national debt. That means that free money handouts are encumbrances on future taxpayers, a socialist sort of scheme where “the needy” being redistributed to include anybody with onerous debts (including the rich).
If “they” refers to the Federal Reserve, then I have a question. Can the Fed create money out of thin air and never require any of it, including interest, to ever be repaid? If so, then hyperinflation could come by way of a ledger entry literally overnight. If not, then the Fed would only be increasing the overall debt level, and would be lending into an environment of suddenly increased credit risk.
I’m just not getting why the dollar is thought to be on the doorstep of failure. If anything is on the doorstep of failure, it’s un-repayable debts.
Ilargi,
Yes, the dollar is the cleanest dirty shirt, and sinking currencies will have to be exchanged for rising dollars (relatively speaking) to service dollar-denominated international debts. But default and deflation make the dollar stronger, so I’m still not clear as to why the dollar is thought to be “under pressure.” It looks to me like the Fed’s efforts to apply “pressure” are running out of steam (ha!). What mechanism, specifically, will finally cause the dollar to finally fail?
I could be completely misguided, but from where I sit, the dollar serving as the international reserve currency is as close to the “Globalism” dream as the New World Order freaks will ever get. I expect the dollar’s reign in that regard to remain intact going forward. We could introduce SDR’s and Bitcoin into the discussion, but for the time being, let’s please leave those Pandora’s boxes shut.
Ilargi –
The voices seem to be rising to a crescendo, warning that “the dollar will soon be worthless.” There are myriad versions of this claim, including warnings of imminent hyperinflation and analyses of currencies being subject to historical cycles, with the dollar getting long in the tooth.
My own view of the dollar is considerably different, having been shaped by TAE through the years. I expect government bond auctions to start failing at some point, un-repayable debt to be defaulted, and a shrinking money supply (and shrinking velocity) to cause the dollar to become increasingly valuable, not increasingly worthless.
I need to know. Is there any room for the “dollar is dying” mantra anywhere in the TAE outlook? If so, how? Aren’t inflation and extreme measures to avoid deflation pretty much behind us by now? Thanks much for any comments you can provide.
On the other hand, if WWIII results in an American nuclear “victory” over Russia and China, then we already know what happens after that. As in Kiev, the U.S. will put Nazis in charge. Which makes WWIII a continuation of WWII, but with the twist that the Nazis win. Nazis with names like Nuland, Kagan and Soros (Schwartz György). Which makes me think. With all the brouhaha over Confederate flags and monuments, are Americans still fighting the Civil War, too?
With respect to the Pilger article, consider this. We’re accustomed to thinking of world wars as conflicts between nations, not wars between civilian populations. The common man in Russia or China isn’t chomping at the bit to kill Americans, and vice-versa. Wars between superpowers begin as wars between governments.
But WWIII will be different. In effect, the coming world war will be waged by globalists against the civilian populations of the developed world. If you peek in advance at the outcome, it will effectively be a war waged by the .01% against the 99.99%, whether intentionally or not. It will be represented to us as a war between governments, but that might only be a ruse.
The underground bunkers and bomb shelters are already prepared — luxury retreats for the .01% — as are the open-air FEMA camps for American civilians.
Then, after the radioactive dust settles, elites on every continent will emerge from their hideaways victorious. Is that what it’s going to take for people to finally realize that governments -per se- aren’t a good idea in the first place? The biggest genocides of history involved governments killing off their own civilian populations, but with wars, governments kill off each others’.
Please, Lord, be merciful and let me (and mine) be well within the blast radius of the first bombs to drop.
It used to be the case that a merchant would buy widgets for $5 each and put them on the shelf for $10. In an inflationary environment, he was all too happy to raise the price on unsold $5 widgets by a dollar every so often. But in a deflationary environment, he’ll have to reduce the price every so often. Too large an inventory and he’ll someday post a $4 price on unsold $5 widgets. I can only imagine the psychological stresses that would cause.
With bare-bones inventories, it won’t take long for shelves to clear in a panic.
But there will still be places where inventories increase as prices fall. Empty homes, vacant storefronts, used cars, and empty college classrooms come to mind. Gee, I wonder if those things have something in common. Like, maybe they were brought into existence before their time?
Watching an old western on YouTube the other night, I heard an interesting quote. The grizzled old codger remarked to the young whippersnapper, “Your dad was lucky. He died back when life was still worth living.”
Best of luck, everybody.
tabernick,
Thank you for the well-considered response. I’m with you regarding immigration to Europe, but one has to wonder if arresting George Soros years ago might not have nipped that problem in the bud. Or maybe if Americans had exhibited an I.Q. above their age in years and quickly recognized that 9/11 was an inside job, not the work of box cutters. I mean, how stupid do you have to be to believe bin Laden demolished the WTC complex with box cutters? Or that Saddam Hussein had anything at all to do with that?
Anyway, on the topic of overpopulation, I have to admit that I’m conflicted.
“Our” biosphere is faced with an incredibly destructive species that appears to regard resource exhaustion to be a growth industry. We generate staggering quantities of environmental toxins and waste materials, and routinely inflict mass mortality on other species nearly everywhere. Some halfwits claim that the entire human population could fit comfortably in the state of Texas (then please, just go; I won’t stand in your way), arguing that human populations should feel free to double, triple, or even grow by orders of magnitude. These people are daft. So personally, I would love to enjoy the aftermath of complete success with what the so-called Elites are purported to want to achieve: an 80-95% reduction in Earth’s human population.
On the other hand, I’m opposed to so-called Elites attempting to reduce human populations themselves. Do I understand you clearly, that the people we want in charge of population reduction are those who just happen to be rich or powerful enough to enact the means? Why do they get to choose who will live, who will die, who will have kids, and who will be sterilized? Not that you’d celebrate Stalin or Mao and their ilk, but Gates, Rockefeller, and their ilk are better? Does it matter who culls the herd or how they do it? Maybe humanity should vote for its executioners. Or maybe they should be selected by lottery. Are the Bilderberg attendees automatically qualified to do the job? How about the U.N.? Do the ends EVER justify any conceivable means?
Bill Gates, son of a Planned Parenthood board member, stands accused of sterilizing Africans with vaccines — without their knowledge. I’ll not drag out links here, as they’re easily found with an Internet search. But one natural way overpopulation has been neatly handled in all species throughout history is with disease. Bill Gates claims to be saving lives by thwarting disease, which runs counter to natural, time-worn means of population reduction. Okay, we don’t want to die from preventable diseases. But will mankind agree to submit to whatever the rich kids want to do? Yeah, let’s leave genocide to the rich kids.
I don’t trust vaccines, glyphosate, GMOs, wifi saturation, geo-engineering (chemtrails), “safe levels” of radiation (e.g. TSA scanners, breast exams, Pacific Ocean fish), most pharmaceuticals, the food pyramid orthodoxy that makes people obese and diabetic, warmongers in high places, police states, forced geographic blending of mutually hostile races and religions, and financial structures that enrich Elites at the expense of everybody else. All those threats constitute selective pressures, all are enshrined and protected by Elites, and all are damaging to the rest of us. Oh, and honorable mention to the gender bending chemicals in plastics, soy products, and some municipal water supplies; chemicals that render fetal and infant males something other than male.
I suspect that the long overdue deflationary calamity described here at TAE over the last decade might accomplish more global depopulation reduction than all these factors. The falling EREOI for petroleum hydrocarbons will finish the job (i.e. master resource depletion). We don’t need Bill Gates to destroy lives with reckless abandon in the mean time. I don’t have a good solution to the population problem, but it’s a cinch NOBODY does. In any case, Bill Gates is not the self-appointed hangman we should all be supporting.
Voltaire: “To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.”
But criticism of Jews per se is tragically misplaced:
How can it be I’ve never heard of Marianne Azizi before? Anybody? Voltaire?
From Jim Rickards:
“The science of climate change is a sticky topic, but we don’t have to dive into it for our purposes. It’s enough to know that climate change is a convenient platform for world money and world taxation.
“That’s because climate change does not respect national borders. If you have a global problem, then you can justify global solutions. A global tax plan to pay for global climate change infrastructure with world money is the end game.
“Don’t think that climate change is unrelated to the international monetary system. Christine Lagarde almost never gives a speech on finance without mentioning climate change. The same is true for other monetary elites. They know that climate change is their path to global financial control.”
I’m having a hard time with calls for single payer / universal care on a website predicating itself on the need to downsize, to go local, and to strive for greater measures of self-sufficiency at the community level. I sometimes wonder if TAE finds globalism attractive, but with the very next level of economic and political control reduced to the plantation. No countries, states or counties to challenge our globalist Lords, just us serfs in little communities striving to feed ourselves. Not making an accusation here, but merely hoping for a greater appearance of consistency.
Of course, in a globalist world, we’ll ALL be planting GMO crops. Sooner or later, as part of a five year plan.
” … but this is science?”
Nope. But LOCAL weather anomalies are often cited as evidence for GLOBAL climate trends by proponents of both sides of the debate. Just another example of how public science education has fallen short.
A lot of NON-scientists have strong opinions on climate change because strident carney barkers like Al Gore not only misrepresented the science, but misrepresented the consensus of the scientific community early on. What most people fail to appreciate is that ornithologists, archaeologists and quantum physicists aren’t ordinarily experts on climate, nor are they even well read on the topic. Most scientists don’t know how to predict long-term climate change any better than the average farmer, miner or seamstress. Besides, questions in science are NEVER settled by taking a poll of the “scientific community.” I’ll remind whoever might be reading this that there was a time when nearly 100% of scientists knew for certain that the sun orbited Earth.
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=232224
The carbon tax is very much akin to the Obamacare tax. Both were instituted by ELITES to strip wealth from the masses. Which makes it all the more scandalous that global warming NARCISSISTS regard the absurd notion of “toxic CO2” as dogma. They’re blindly endorsing global tyranny, not a fanciful way to change the climate “back.”
I love that phrase: “informed sense of urgency.” I’m not sure how one instils that sense in neighbors who take SSRIs and watch CNN, who voted for Hillary, who think binLaden collapsed the Twin Towers, who buy stocks on margin to take advantage of the economic recovery, and who think a few ppm of CO2 will boil the oceans and melt Earth’s crust. In other words, MY neighbors.
But let’s just pretend for a moment we all live in communities that are even capable of being informed and motivated. Nicole’s own “informed sense of urgency” is hugely laudable, but with growing populations of have-nots, and increasingly thuggish globalist elites (because tax revenues fall during deflation), how should community gardens be defended? This is a very real problem that I don’t recall AE ever adequately addressing.
Is there a pesticide against human locusts? Human locusts, by the way, carry knives and guns.
Do you appoint a Don Corleone from within the group to “provide protection” in exchange for a cut of your community largesse?
In the U.S., if your remedy involves calling the cops, then prepare for fines and jail time for showing a movie without a permit. And forfeiture of all your civil assets for running an illegal “farm.”
Jeff Rense has lately spoken to guests who claim that South African blacks are intent upon, and currently active in, genocidally eliminating whites from the country altogether. As a solution, Rense suggests bringing all the South African whites to the U.S. Ask yourself whether that’s likely to succeed, and whether it provides an enduring solution to the problem. Because, after all, providing white South Africans with the means to actually defend themselves would be a thought crime, wouldn’t it? Besides, American armament sales are better confined to groups like Saudi Arabia, Israel, ISIS, and Mexican cartels.
You’ll either have adequate means to defend your community property or you’ll lose it. Surely you must know that. What does A.E. suggest we do?
Casamurphy: I can’t help being cynical about ANY plan hoping to rein in drug companies. Denninger has been pounding his points for years, points I largely agree with, but to no avail. The power players in the medical / psychiatric / pharmaceutical / insurance industries have vested interests in their criminal status quo, and they purchase politicians who will respect those interests. People are getting fatter and sicker, they fail to acknowledge the connection between diet and health, they take myriad drugs (including psychoactive drugs), and they’re being killed off in huge numbers by the very medical system they’re convinced they can’t live without. The waters are muddied further by Affordable Care Act “taxes,” insurance limits, regulations, restrictions, schedules, exclusions, deductibles, etc. The system defies overhaul. There is no way to fix it. We might get a chance after it collapses, but not if the populations of sick and injured people continue to grow, and continue to demand that everybody else cover their growing medical expenses.
Your story about taking your wife to a hospital emergency room years ago was poignant. If everybody attached similar amendments to hospital in-take forms, we might all see changes to the system in a matter of weeks. But as things stand, patients vainly look to politicians for solutions. We don’t need a legislative plan, we need grassroots movements. I wonder if your attorney might not enjoy creating a standard form we all could make use of.
“Big Pharma…well big pharma would be screwed…”
Oops!
Casamurphy, your plan is DOA.
Here’s a better idea:
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=232164Warren Buffet on single payer:
Don’t miss the comments.
Rampant medical fraud is tolerated in the U.S. With Obamacare, socialization of medical fraud was attempted without success, but single payer would succeed with that objective.
Why not single payer for auto insurance, home insurance, business insurance and liability insurance, too? Aren’t cradle-to-grave insurance policies fundamental human rights? Surely any rich country could afford them.
By the way, Buffett is a globalist. Think, Pooh, think.
I often see quotes from Einstein and Orwell at the websites I frequent. They’re adroit statements of the obvious, but it takes a great intellect to synthesize and distill mountains of information so perceptively. In my humble opinion, quotes from Nicole reflect comparable genius. Though my bulletin board is already plastered with Stoneleigh quotes, I will be finding a special position for this one:
“The touted alternatives are not energy sources for our current society, because low EROEI energy sources cannot sustain a society complex enough to produce them.” Sweet.
Now, a comment or two on the long article.
Quote: “The two hub interdependencies could break down together.” -Davies
TAE has always predicted financial collapse first, and energy collapse later on, but none of us expected the can-kicking to postpone the financial collapse this long. Are we now waiting for the energy collapse to finally trigger the financial collapse? Is TAE prepared to modify its predicted order of collapse yet?
With respect to the “Limits to Growth” study of 1972, here is a quote from “Ann Bressington Exposes Agendy 21, Club of Rome,” 2 Feb 2013:
“The Club of Rome has been described as a crisis think tank which specializes in crisis creation. The main purpose of this think tank was to formulate a crisis that would unite the world, and condition us to the idea of global solutions to local problems. In a document called ‘The First Global Revolution,’ … it’s stated, ‘In searching for new enemies to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine, and the like, would fit the bill. All these dangers, of course, will be caused by human intervention that will require a global response.’ That’s the origin of global warming, ladies and gentlemen.”
Again, “That’s the origin of global warming, ladies and gentlemen.”
In the following video, when Bill Gates includes “doing a great job” with health care as a means of REDUCING the world’s population, is he specifically referring to Obamacare? It’s certainly worthy of contemplation, as Obama was certainly a globalist.
From where I sit, it appears that Nicole has endeavored for many years to prepare people for self-sufficiency in tomorrow’s world. But Agenda 21 is preparing people for a feudal world where Elites dictate living conditions to the survivors of their population reduction programs. Nicole’s approach respects our ability to cooperate with each other as individuals. We keep our humanity. Agenda 21, on the other hand, sacrifices individuality to the global hive. There are even reports that what remains of the 99% will be genetically modified or bred to render us drones: obedient workers incapable of protest.
So, here’s my question. On which side of the fence do you global warming fans find yourselves?
Are carbon credits so dear, or Elite rule so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me Nicole’s way or give me death! (Not trying to be cute — I’m actually dead serious about that.)
“…the government is the only institution in the nation that “owns its own bank,” the Federal Reserve, which can create U.S. dollars at will.” –Steve Keen
That flies in the face of everything I thought I knew. When did the American people (i.e. Federal Government) assume ownership of the Federal Reserve? Didn’t Greenspan flatly state that the Fed operates entirely outside government authority?
The deflationary collapse predicted by TAE for the last decade would at least punish those who acted dishonestly or foolishly with debt. Advocating for inflation is advocating for socialization of accountability. It is, in fact, advocating for criminal theft. As if the ethical score for everyone in a position of influence wasn’t already in the toilet. Steve Keen, there are more important matters in life than discharging the fucking federal debt. Especially when that discharge is predicated on the ends justifying the means.
Is solvency so dear, or growth so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me deflation or give me death! (Not trying to be cute — I’m actually dead serious about that.)
Now, enlighten me. I seem to have missed an important lesson somewhere. Why does the government pay interest on bonds bought by the Fed if the government owns the Fed?
Nassim: You’re not alone in suspecting far more people died in Grenfell Tower than the officials pretend.
FWIW, Jim Stone offered his opinion ( https://82.221.129.208/baaasepagew7.html ):
“I am not going to change my mind on this. Somewhere between 300 and 500 people died. Fewer than 100 people got out. They have a hard number of fewer than 100 that can be accounted for and that means the rest are dead. They did not just magically evaporate and arrive at the space station or some other stupid explanation …
“The government knows how many people are dead, because they know who they called. You won’t get an answer for that EVER, but the survivors will get a bribe, in the form of (at a minimum) a 1.5 million GPB ($2million plus dollar) flat for everyone that made it. This will serve to keep them shut up about their dead friends and prevent them from having neighborly communication that might connect the dots by keeping them separated from each other geographically in their new homes.”
“When we are successful, AND WE WILL BE …”
The most haunting words spoken during my lifetime.” A world where the law of the jungle — NOT the rule of law — governs the conduct of nations.”
There, fixed it for him.“Hey denier –”
“you moronic deniers”
“– so suck on that moron.”
“Well guess what moron –”
“What a bunch of morons this planet holds.”
“And then you get these morons posting”
“– their stupid little study”
“sayonara little snowflakes.”Champuga appears to have all the best global warming arguments down pat.
@Turfkiller: “And regarding Comey, what classified information did he reveal?”
Karl Denninger leaves that question open, as well:
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=232117
All of the Russian election-tampering stuff was nothing more than a Hail Mary to distract attention away from the criminals and crimes surrounding Hillary. It was an eighty-yard, unsuccessful pass to achieve an impeachment touchdown. That would have ended the game, had it succeeded. But now the clock has been set back to half-time. For the half-time show, expect Comey, Lynch, the Clintons, and a cast of dozens more to parade around half-naked, struggling to evade endless wardrobe malfunctions.
Quoting Denninger:
“… at least as serious if not more-so, was that he admitted to interference in the Hillary email investigation by Lynch — and did nothing about it.”
“For the AG to actively interfere in a criminal investigation is about as serious as it gets in terms of corruption and that must not be allowed to stand.”
The first shot in this duel missed its mark. Trump can now take a deep breath and aim carefully.
Take a moment and consider that you’ve been had. Again.
It certainly changes the conversation when you finally do.Thanks, Carolsiriusb.
I found this amusing (watch five minutes or so):
And regarding the Boston Marathon, this entire video is a classic:
Good to encounter another independent thinker. There aren’t enough of us.
One more link:
I can’t get the source article to come up. Maybe they’ve already censored it.
I’m just trying to shake you out of your long-standing coma. If you want to see the real terrorists behind the so-called “terrorism,” stand outside the Westfields Marriot in Chantilly next week.
Earlier in that interview (see my comment above), Dammegard explains the significance of shoes, and in particular, Nike shoes. His explanation obviously preceded today’s revelation about “the terrorist’s” Nike sneakers.
These staged events are so in-your-face that it’s actually become hilarious.
WHY, AT ALL these false flag events, are crisis actors always the first ones on the scene?
It appears, once again, you all quite uncritically fell for it. Hook, line and sinker.
(Find anybody who knows more about these “terrorist events” than Ole Dammegard, and I’ll show you the perpetrators themselves, and they aren’t who you think they are.)
Just like Sandy Hook and ALL the other “terrorist events,” nobody died in this stage play.
Your expressions of outrage are directed at the wrong people. All according to their plan. Better step off the band wagon and wake yourself up soon because as things stand, you’re unwittingly contributing to their nightmare.
No, let me say what I really think. The reason refugees are drowning in the Mediterranean is because so many of YOU fall for their false flag narratives. Your first mistake was falling for “The 9/11 Commission Report.” But then, you probably fell for the Lee Harvey Oswald bullshit, too. If you want to stop the madness, get acquainted with what Dammegard (and the people interviewing him) are telling you. The world isn’t how you suckers for the MSM portray it.
The protesters at Standing Rock are up against a much larger monster than an oil pipeline.
(Watch to the end, if you can.)
Fundamentally, there is much more at stake here than the imposition of an oil pipeline. Standing Rock represents another pivotal opportunity for the human race to challenge its subjugation, but most of humanity will abandon that opportunity in hopes that a handful of Native Americans can manage it all for us.
Having seen it twice, I can’t recommend that entire video highly enough. No other video has ever opened my eyes so wide. An absolute must-see for anybody who remembers the Kennedy assassination, and for those who never felt that psychopathy provided a sufficient explanation for elite behaviors.
Greenpa: Purchase a Fisch library: https://thefisch.com/
For the sake of objectivity, I would very much like to hear Nicole’s views on the epic migrations into Europe and the U.S.
Jim Stone’s September 10 opinion on the drowned kid:
https://82.221.129.208/ae7index.htmlLoss of trust is being caused by more factors than mere deflationary decline.
Supranational,
This might be of interest to you:
Pope’s Chemtrail Depopulation Coin Minted By The Vatican in 1985
It’s a big club, and I suspect that you, too, aren’t in it.
It’s a toss-up as to which is in shorter supply these days: money or time.
Had Nicole’s article been posted in one piece, I’d have skimmed it, or maybe even skipped it. In sections, I read every word. Hopefully the multi-day format gave Ilargi a few hours to relax.Supranational:
Brillant! (sic).
A lot of blather there, but I know where you’re headed:
“Hillary for President.”
You’ll discover I’m right if you resume your med’s.Broadly speaking, I suspect the future will see a vast assortment of epic struggles between two conflicting paradigms: cooperation and compulsion. Current civilization is organized with compulsion from the top and cooperation from below. It’s safe to predict that increasingly compulsive measures will be implemented from the top attempting to manage the chaos and misery resulting from financial collapse, so “peak compulsion” will probably not arrive until well after most of the financial crash has played out, and that will take many years.
So those who rely on using compulsion are likely to increasingly abuse and prey upon those who rely on cooperation because that’s the methodology of survival they’re familiar with. Compulsion is by nature a parasitic strategy based on brute force, and being inimical to trust, is an impediment to cooperation (constructive cooperation, anyway).
What will cause the tide to turn from prevalent compulsion to prevalent cooperation? Again, it probably depends on which location we’re talking about because conditions will vary widely. Nonetheless, the sixty dollar question going forward will be, “how can we persuade the controllers to abandon compulsion and embrace cooperation?” If you don’t want the entire globe to become a galaxy of North Koreas going forward, you have to ask the question.
If you answer, “through rational argument and kindly persuasion,” you’re a nice person, but giddily optimistic, IMO. And if you no longer have sufficient debt-money to bribe your power mad overlords, then only one form of persuasion remains. It’s the same form of persuasion they’ll be using on you.
Of course, we can all just wait passively until the parasites have either completely enslaved or wiped out their hosts. But what would be the lesson at that point, and who would learn it?
