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  • in reply to: Nicole Foss : Where the Rubber Meets the Road in America #9542
    scandia
    Participant

    Hi Nicole…love the new site. Cheque in the mail to-day!
    Especially appreciate your defense of Merideth Whitney and the head’s up to all of us to pay attention to our local conditions, financial and otherwise.
    ahem…my local council( Cdn ) is surprised to learn returns on investment are not as promised.No problemo, Up the taxes.

    in reply to: Something's Gotta Give #4496
    scandia
    Participant

    @Patrick, Your comment about Germany selling hardware to Greece resonates big time. Germany is also selling tanks to the loathsome Wahabi gov’t in Saudi AND raking in fees for the training. One does wonder if the sovereign debt crisis is a MIC creation.That’s one way to create a market.

    in reply to: Cuckoo in the Coal Mine #4388
    scandia
    Participant

    @skipbreakfast…I can feel your heart ache. I,too, have stopped talking about the ” cesspool ” of finance, the terror I feel when I imagine broken supply lines etc…Just this week a smart, well off friend expressed her relief that she was fully invested in Canada’s CIBC bank, that CIBC bank is the most solvent bank in the world.she fels safe. I almost began a discussion of what solvency means to her but sighed instead and congratulated her on her smart investing. Oh such duplicity on my part.
    These days I recall a wise persaon reminding me that one can be right or one can be in relationship.
    To be fair TAE, lots of sites and people, have been warning of system risk for over four years and the system keeps on rolling, the can gets kicked forward again and again. Even I have folded my cards and left the table so to speak. After 4 years it is not unreasonable to conclude we either either wrong or mad fools.
    The current complacency is a sign, I think, of being ” at the top “?

    in reply to: Spanish Cook Books #4217
    scandia
    Participant

    Spain is short the new gold- WATER. Who is going to invest in RE when there is a water shortage?
    Financial analysis should be pricing in water supply or lack of it.

    in reply to: The Orkin Man: Which Side Are You On? #4206
    scandia
    Participant

    These days to oppose government by corporation is to be labelled a terrorist. Bt not opposing the pillage, the torture,the mercanaries,the environmental degradation,the confiscation of national treasures/assets one could be labelled a collaborator.
    As I read of the growing hunger and homelessness in many parts of the world I think of the intentional policies of both Russia and Germany to eliminate millions by starvation.
    Deciding where I stand is not easy when the enemy is now within.There is blood on my hands if I resist, there is blood on my hands if I comply.

    in reply to: Capital Flight, Capital Controls, Capital Panic #4126
    scandia
    Participant

    Duh, I am embarassed to reveal I don’t know what an offshore account is. I hear lots of people have them. Are they purely electronic? In any case if one has one how will it be able to function under capital controls? How can money from an offshore account be transferred to a bank in the system where one lives?

    in reply to: The Orkin Man: Which Side Are You On? #4125
    scandia
    Participant

    This ” thought experiment ” transported me back in time to a day in high school when my history teacher arrived wearing a black armband. It was when Russia invaded and occupied Hungary. He uttered the phrase ” Better eed than dead “. Quite a problem for my teen-age mind to contemplate. I’ve been a world watcher since that day and am still uncertain as to what I will do. I do see myself working for the resistance but in what role?

    in reply to: Planet Earth – F.U.B.A.R. #3300
    scandia
    Participant

    Oh Ash, I love it when you talk like that:)

    in reply to: Thoughts on the Suicide in Greece #2367
    scandia
    Participant

    Thoughts on suicide…I have ’em from time to time. I have ’em when I prepare myself psychologically for the future, the possible collapse of the world I have learned to live in. I have ’em when I think of scarcity, when I think of the needs of the young. Suicide is an option. Perhaps a viable option in our ” predicament “.
    I also like the possible of putting ” the final indignation “, death, in my own hands. I am terribly curious to see how events play out so don’t plan to check out any time soon:)

    Re the comments about Ash, I surely don’t see him as arrogant. Quite the contrary. His efforts to educate and illluminate are an act of service. I, for one, don’t want him to be like Ilargi or Stoneleigh. I am uncomfortable with the intellectual stretch he offers me and feel lucky as hell to have this TAE encounter with him.

    in reply to: $270 Billion In US Student Loans Are Delinquent #2084
    scandia
    Participant

    Hey vk, good to see your post. Been wondering how you are etc…

    in reply to: $270 Billion In US Student Loans Are Delinquent #2046
    scandia
    Participant

    How much debt are Cdn students carrying? I don’t know how to get that number. Does anybody know?
    I know many young people carrying far more that $10 grand in student debt. More like $40,$70, even $100 depending on how long they stay in the system to get an Masters or Phd…
    There is still an unassailable belief in ” higher ” education to secure one’s future.The concept is simple. A degree can be traded for a well paying,secure career and an extra dash of glowing social status. The realities on the ground are ignored. Trades are generally considered ” dirty work “. So what’s wrong with a little sweat and dirt I wonder? Particularly when a pay cheque pays for soap and a shower stall.
    As on other issues I have capitulated, stopped issuing warnings. Canada is still fast asleep and snarly at any attempts to disturb the slumber.

    in reply to: Becoming the Bank #1998
    scandia
    Participant

    Ash,Just this week friends and I have been discussing war and armament manufacturing…No public discourse mind. Just private chat.
    I was wondering how many people are employed making instruments of death, how many towns would be bankrupt without these industries? Does anyone know what percentage of Cdn GDP depends on weapons manufacturing,even lowly items such as bullet proof vests? Never mind old fashioned vests. One can now buy a well tailored bullet proof sports jacket or suit.And are the workers at these sites even bothered ? Just glad to have a job I expect. Proud to be serving their country, proud to have earned security clearance…And what about the ” women and children “? How many of them now work in these industries? Equal opportunity legislation in play ( snarc on ).
    I think it was Voltaire who said behind every great fortune there is a crime. We could say behind every successful economy there is war.

    in reply to: An Introduction to Agent-Based Modeling #1854
    scandia
    Participant

    Thanks Jerry. I ,whoops, forgot about scale:) Stoneleigh has written about scale in the past .
    Speaking of hierarchies self organizing I read to-day that Cameron says Britain needs a larger airport. Does it? Or does the ” the powerful centre ” need one?

    in reply to: An Introduction to Agent-Based Modeling #1847
    scandia
    Participant

    Jerry, I continue to think about your essay…Perhaps I misunderstand ” globalization ” as our leaders would have it with a world bank, a one world order. Your essay seems to fly in the face of that ambition in that systems will naturally segregate into like or comfort zones. It takes force to keep all cultures playing by the same rules and I doubt, in the end, that that strategy will work. Is it possible that media/propagadanda can create homogeny, can override systems behaviour?

    in reply to: An Introduction to Agent-Based Modeling #1842
    scandia
    Participant

    Thank you Jerry Mcmanus for this submission. I now see with new eyes.
    I don’t know where you live but in Canada there is a woman’s social organization who wear purple hats on their outings. Some of the hats are quite elebaorate.
    The ” peer effect ‘ brings to mind ” no man is an island “.

    in reply to: The Official Thread for Open Comments #1688
    scandia
    Participant

    El G, Love your Goldman response letter to Smith’s resignation!!!One has to wonder if bird’s of a feather flock together in the sense that the client may prefer a sociopathic advisor, someone who understands their needs and goals:)

    in reply to: The Official Thread for Open Comments #1606
    scandia
    Participant

    Perhaps you or others on the board might contribute to an enquiry? I am now wondering how to discriminate between a role model and a psychopath? It is increasingly important to know the difference, especially for the young. I really don’t know where to start.

    in reply to: The Official Thread for Open Comments #1605
    scandia
    Participant

    @ El G…on further thought I realized that Koutoulis, in his letter, reveals the response of all victims of psychopaths. He once so admired Dimon. Psychopaths are good at creating a following, admiration. I have been stung by a psychopath once. I hope only once. I feel for Koutoulis’s awakening.

    in reply to: The Official Thread for Open Comments #1596
    scandia
    Participant

    There is an open letter to Jamie Dimon penned by James Koutoulis making the rounds on the web. Read it here:
    https://prudent-speculation.blogspot.com/2012/03/but-of-course-its-not=one-giant-cess.html
    Koutoulis asks Dimon why he operates the way he does. I can answer that why. Dimon’s behaviour is classic psychopathy.

    in reply to: Greece is now on its way to a real disaster #1548
    scandia
    Participant

    For the people I know Greece is not even on the radar. And how will the young people of Greece recreate without energy? Will a Greece in default have access to the world’s oil supplies? I did note that some of the bailout money was spent on military gear not on paying the outstanding pharmaceutical bills.
    Hope is a tenacious emotion. I confess that I harboured hopium in that the regulators may grow a pair and set the ships of state aright. However on reading the latest at London Banker ” Complexity Costs “,
    https://londonbanker.blogspot.com,
    my hopes are dashed yet again. I just can’t seem to kick the habitual search for sane,intelligent leaders who can ” fix ” the system. Silly of me when ” the fix is in “.

    in reply to: TAE is coming to New Zealand! #1506
    scandia
    Participant

    Ilargi, I’ve been dying for news of the tour. Thanks for the update.As for ” generous to a fault ” I am so glad you are being cared for. It lifts my spirits to hear about kindness and generosity in the current global cycle of police state legislations, austerity,Cdn election fraud,mafia type fiscal fraud and even rumours of assassination.
    Heart to heart feels so-o good.

    in reply to: The Comment Forum #1505
    scandia
    Participant

    @gezelle…I am smiling as I imagine the gezelle ( young and graceful ) in conversation with me, the gezette ( old and stiff ):)
    Re ” the learning curve ” I couldn’t agree more! As one who missed out on formal education this curve has been steep and exciting.And Ash’s recent articles cause me to stretch yet again. I truly feel I have blossomed as a personality because of TAE and many on the board who took the time to teach.

    in reply to: The Comment Forum #1469
    scandia
    Participant

    There are 2 reasons I support TAE. Hard to put one before the other.
    The analysis is smart,bold, practical, entertaining with a huge dose of compassion and love for the 99%. The former Blogger board , over time, became a community. The former board was for me scintillating, a cornucopia of knowledge,links,anecdotes,hand holding,patient teaching…
    This new format elevates data over community. I so-o-o miss the old board , the personal sharings, a drop in centre when I felt like I was losing it.
    People I don’t know are posting now. This is a good thing in the sense the message /cautionary tale needs to spread far and wide.
    When I learned of the plan for a new format other than Blogger I thought the purpose was a better security mechanism to weed out trolls. Oh well, times they are a changin as they say 🙂

    in reply to: Modern Myths that Destroy Humanity #1220
    scandia
    Participant

    Ash,
    Bageant must be delighted to see you pick up the gauntlet dropped with his mortal coil.
    On Christianity, in my recent efforts to reestabish separation of Church and State, I have thought that joining an organized religion dims the spirit that Jesus said he left within each of us as the comforter. I have met a rare few who I perceive as true Christians who don’t know the Bible nor any cant at all.
    Also I am fed up to the gills with people smugly describing themselves as ” a person of faith “. Oh such self righteous exclusivity! I don’t care what you believe, I care what you do.
    If Jesus does come back he’s going to need a BIG bulldozer.
    Enough temples already!!!

    in reply to: Democracy Rears It's Ugly Head… Again #1092
    scandia
    Participant

    Speaking of growing food I was shredded in a tenants meeting in my building this aft. We have a courtyard flower garden. I proposed turning some of it into a vegetable garden. We are all seniors who would benefit by eating healthy food, reducing food costs and the horticultural therapy aspect. Those who created the flower garden were threatened in the extreme. I fled from the meeting. Change is so hard.

    in reply to: Our Depraved Future of Debt Slavery (Part III) #1090
    scandia
    Participant

    Often one hears the phrase ” work it off “. In other words labour pays off a monetary loan.
    This aft I was listening to a CBC program on migrant farm workers who have been travelling north to harvest our food for generations. I was wondering if and when Cdns will want that work? To date EI entitles one to payments while searching for work in one’s field. No fields for me masta:)

    in reply to: Then and Now : Sunshine and Eclipse #1068
    scandia
    Participant

    ahem…it’s another jubilee year. Celebrations planned, calls for names of those to honour, the monarchy elevated, confidence on the rise with the most cars sold in January since 2008.
    On the other side of the coin discussion in gov’t to tax food. I came across an article on Yahoo finance that such tax would raise $358 billion.
    Alas the article disappeared. Might be best to have ” A Secret Garden “.

    in reply to: The Asymptotes of Power #1035
    scandia
    Participant

    And this concept of asymptotic illuminates the cause of deceit and fraud in gov’t, desperate acts to maintain control. Current examples in Canada are calling citizens pornographers and the evidence that the Conservative Party used robocalls to misdirect voters from their pollling stations thereby stealing their majority in the House.
    Needed my dictionary on this one. ” The shadow of the asymptote” …Can’t wait to drop that phrase into a conversation. The shadow knows…:)

    in reply to: Our Depraved Future of Debt Slavery (Part III) #1023
    scandia
    Participant

    Ash, I wonder if you are losing sleep thinking about slavery. A dark consideration.
    I hope other blogs pick up your 3 part series. Nothing like this, to my knowledge, is being written anywhere.
    Thank you for your work here.

    in reply to: The Official Thread for Open Comments #972
    scandia
    Participant

    A friend just e-mailed me an RT article that says Anonymous hacked GEO, a firm that manages private for profit prisons, on Friday. It shows that GEO lobbied the gov’t to make stiffer laws so they can increase the prison population. Good on Anonymous.
    I haven’t come across the story anywhere else yet. Hope it’s true.

    in reply to: Peak Energy Animinated – "There's No Tomorrow" #963
    scandia
    Participant

    After watching the video a snarky comment from ZH came to mind. The comment was about the Greek economy and how many olives can a person eat. I am now wondering if Greece is in fact the canery in the coalmine. An economy based on growing things will not maintain the lifestyle provided by the industrial fossil fuel dependent age. It certainly won’t produce enough to repay billions of debt. That’s a lot of olives:)
    The demand for growth from Greece will not be met unless Greece gets and uses mega amounts of energy.Is that likely? Not doable in my view and increasingly less doable everywhere else. So how do we get the politicians off the growth mantra?
    This dilemma also explains the draconian cuts and the oppressive new legislations in western societies.
    Against this backdrop the ” energy ” put into campaigning for democracy seems naive at best in the face of starvation. Oh dear, not very politically correct thinking… Our eye may be on the wrong ball.

    in reply to: Our Depraved Future of Debt Slavery (Part II) #962
    scandia
    Participant

    Jal asked ” Is it necessary to be in debt to be considered in Debt Slavery “.
    A brilliant insight, Jal. And a disturbing question.
    I have used your question to help understand why an occasional employer tried to grind me for a fiver last week. My feelings were hurt:)
    @Ash , Your writing about debt and oil have brought me out of ignorance in that I had not made the connection that fossil fuels enabled us to free human beings from slavery. Duh, it has been posssible to take the high road when we had a substitute for human muscle power. Before fossil fuels it was ” normal ” to have a master, hopefully a kind master.

    in reply to: Our Depraved Future of Debt Slavery (Part I) #917
    scandia
    Participant

    Ash, it takes cajones to bring our attention to slavery in our times when most people believe we live in a democracy with freedom and equal opportunity for all. Bageant comes to mind and his words about just pull yourself up by the bootstraps.
    On the week-end a conversation touched on building more prisons in Canada. My neighbour was wondering aloud about it as the crime rate in Canada is going down. ” Why is the gov’t building more prisons?” Excellent question. Why indeed. Privitization of the prison system is an earner.

    in reply to: Reply To: Re: Syria #916
    scandia
    Participant

    Oh the web of deceit…
    I don’t want to start a new thread and not sure where to share a comment just made to me in the grocery store, I ran into a Greek man I know who works as a cook in a local restaurant. I burst forth expressing my compassion for the rape of Greece. He looked perplexed and said, ” But Greece got the money.” ‘Nuff said…

    in reply to: Reply To: Re: Met Stoneleigh and Ilargi in Melbourne #896
    scandia
    Participant

    LOL…After 4 years of showing up every day at TAE I can imagine Ilargi wants/needs a bit of wandering, a wee walk about down under:)

    in reply to: Reply To: Re: Met Stoneleigh and Ilargi in Melbourne #888
    scandia
    Participant

    Nassim, I was wondering if Stoneleigh and Ilargi were visiting with you yet? I saw Ilargi’s photo when I stayed with Stoneleigh. It was love at first sight:) He is so-o-o handsome.

    in reply to: Reply To: Re: Gabor Mate Interviews #887
    scandia
    Participant

    ElG, Glad to see you bring attention to Mate. The workshop with him still bears fruit for me a year later…I keep checking his site hoping he;ll return to my area again. I suspect Mate would consider speaking anywhere if asked. No doubt a speaker fee would be asked. I think he would have a lot to contribute to the discussion of coping with collapse of our institutions. I wrote to him to ask for his thoughts on psychopathy but didn’t hear back.

    in reply to: Reply To: Syria #886
    scandia
    Participant

    I have a question. Canada and the US and probably other gov’ts send people to Syria to be tortured. I would thing these gov’ts wouldn’t want that torture site exposed by a rebel victory? I would caution those Syrians fighting for freedom and justice to take care not to accept assistance from those who have used their country for torture.
    What do folks think about the response from western governments to the Syrian uprising?

    in reply to: Europe's Latest Swiss Cheese Bailout Package #880
    scandia
    Participant

    @draego45…appreciate your comment about kickbacks. It just gets darker and darker. I can’t keep up:)
    And who will the trackers be of the ” profits ” from the bailout?
    Maybe Tony Blair ( snarc on )Ethical considerations won’t get in his way…

    in reply to: It's 4am in Greece, And Still No Deal #871
    scandia
    Participant

    Well, I awoke and looked for the Greek deal BEFORE my morning coffee! First thought was we’ve been ” hoodwinked ” again with the release of the same old same old from July.
    Interesting word, ” hoodwinked “. Any linguists out there who might know the origins of the word? WilliamBanzai7 over at ZH could have a field day with it:)
    The hoods run the game whether in Greece or a neighbourhood near you.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 43 total)