As usual in these weekly musings, we present items in the news media and the blogosphere that have caught our attention during the previous week…..
• Richard J Maybury: Chaostan and beyond
• Ron Paul and Revolution?
• Resource and Energy Production Peaks
• Gerald Celente – Trends for 2010
Richard J Maybury: Chaostan and beyond
This week I have been reading Richard J Maybury’s account of the Second World War, entitled “World War II – The rest of the story and how it affects you today”. I have to say that I found the book absolutely riveting, and it contains lots of (fully documented) information of which I was unaware.
As a follow-up, I checked out his website and came across an interview of Maybury by Pat Gorman of Resource Consultants.
I am summarizing excerpts from this as our centerpiece this week, for reasons that I hope will become clear.
In 1992, Maybury coined the term Chaostan for the area from the Arctic Ocean to the Indian Ocean, and Poland to the Pacific, plus North Africa. That’s the most important area that never developed political or legal systems based on the two laws that make civilization possible; namely : “Do all you have agreed to do”, which is the basis of contract law, and, “do not encroach on other persons or their property”, which is the basis of tort law and some criminal law. These are the principles on which the Declaration of Independence and Constitution are based, especially the Bill of Rights. After the American Revolution, these ideas began to reach around the world, but their spread was cut short by the rise of socialism in the mid-1800s. Chaostan — the land of the Great Chaos — is the area that never received those principles.
Throughout the ‘90’s, Maybury was warning that Washington had better sever political and military ties with Chaostan, otherwise the US would be sucked into the chaos.
What has all this to do with us as investors? Maybury makes the point that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have had, and are continuing, to be paid for. This financing is being done by the printing of new dollars out of thin air. This has undermined, and will continue to undermine, the value of the dollar worldwide; consequently the dollar value of real assets (gold, silver, platinum and other commodities) has been, and will be, driven up.
At the present time, there is no end in sight to US engagements in Chaostan. Governments there that are enemies of the US there are delighted to see continuing developing US economic weakness, and if the US attempts a withdrawal, are likely to engineer an incident that will draw her back into the conflicts. Therefore, the trend above will continue; once again, the dollar price of real assets will tend to increase over time.
The printing of dollars to cover war spending is of course in addition to the increase in the money supply that has taken place to mitigate the effects of the recession. In addition, at the present the banks are holding approximately ONE TRILLION dollars ready to lend, and at some point this “money” is likely to avalanche into the economy.
As for details of the vast amount of military expenditure, Maybury discusses changes over time in US priorities; the establishment of over 700 bases in 130 countries. The Defense Department isn’t really defending Americans, it’s defending the US empire, meaning thugs abroad that are on the US payroll.
The Defence budget, huge though it is, has to be spread very thinly. Priorities have shifted from maintaining air superiority, which requires state of the art fighter aircraft, to fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and preparing for future flare-ups in Chaostan.
As an investment theme, this implies future dollar weakness as far as the eye can see, and for people who already own gold, this creates a wonderful opportunity. Most Americans have yet to discover the precious metals — they’ve been taught by Keynesians to ignore them — so when they do discover them, look out. He thinks the absolute floor on gold will be $3,000 and would not be surprised to see $5,000 or more. Same for platinum. For silver, he’s looking for $50 at a minimum.
From Jesse’s Café Américain, comes…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vLV4jn8BMU
Ron Paul: “Prepare for Revolutionary Changes in the Not-too-distant Future.”
It certainly sounds as though Representative Paul expects some significant developments.
Change is in the wind.“Could it all be a bad dream, or a nightmare? Is it my imagination, or have we lost our minds? It’s surreal; it’s just not believable. A grand absurdity; a great deception, a delusion of momentous proportions; based on preposterous notions; and on ideas whose time should never have come; simplicity grossly distorted and complicated; insanity passed off as logic; grandiose schemes built on falsehoods with the morality of Ponzi and Madoff; evil described as virtue; ignorance pawned off as wisdom; destruction and impoverishment in the name of humanitarianism; violence, the tool of change; preventive wars used as the road to peace; tolerance delivered by government guns; reactionary views in the guise of progress; an empire replacing the Republic; slavery sold as liberty; excellence and virtue traded for mediocracy; socialism to save capitalism; a government out of control, unrestrained by the Constitution, the rule of law, or morality; bickering over petty politics as we collapse into chaos; the philosophy that destroys us is not even defined.
We have broken from reality–a psychotic Nation. Ignorance with a pretense of knowledge replacing wisdom. Money does not grow on trees, nor does prosperity come from a government printing press or escalating deficits.
We’re now in the midst of unlimited spending of the people’s money, exorbitant taxation, deficits of trillions of dollars–spent on a failed welfare/warfare state; an epidemic of cronyism; unlimited supplies of paper money equated with wealth.
A central bank that deliberately destroys the value of the currency in secrecy, without restraint, without nary a whimper. Yet, cheered on by the pseudo-capitalists of Wall Street, the military industrial complex, and Detroit.
We police our world empire with troops on 700 bases and in 130 countries around the world. A dangerous war now spreads throughout the Middle East and Central Asia. Thousands of innocent people being killed, as we become known as the torturers of the 21st century.
We assume that by keeping the already-known torture pictures from the public’s eye, we will be remembered only as a generous and good people. If our enemies want to attack us only because we are free and rich, proof of torture would be irrelevant.
The sad part of all this is that we have forgotten what made America great, good, and prosperous. We need to quickly refresh our memories and once again reinvigorate our love, understanding, and confidence in liberty. The status quo cannot be maintained, considering the current conditions. Violence and lost liberty will result without some revolutionary thinking.
We must escape from the madness of crowds now gathering. The good news is the reversal is achievable through peaceful and intellectual means and, fortunately, the number of those who care are growing exponentially.
Of course, it could all be a bad dream, a nightmare, and that I’m seriously mistaken, overreacting, and that my worries are unfounded. I hope so. But just in case, we ought to prepare ourselves for revolutionary changes in the not-too-distant future.”
Resource and Energy Production Peaks
On our site we have featured the work of Chris Martenson and others concerned with developing resource shortages. One of the investment gurus in this field is Dr Stephen Leeb, to whom Rice Farmer refers in this piece.
from Rice Farmer
Investment gurus are starting to see the handwriting on the wall regarding the coming (or already here) peaks in production of energy and minerals, which are needed to keep industrial civilization running. A number of minerals have already peaked or are approaching peak extraction rates. In this article an investment expert gives his view on the constraints caused by the inability to keep up with demand. To his credit, he sees the interconnectedness of all these mineral and energy resources, noting that a decline in one affects the others. While energy resources have been in the spotlight for some time, the world public seems to have little awareness of mineral peaks. One class of minerals that has gotten plenty of attention lately is the rare earth elements, and one can now find much information on their importance to technological applications, and China’s virtual monopoly on them. Just as China and Japan are still sparring over marine gas fields, the discussions over the supply of rare earths will become acrimonious as users around the globe feel the pinch.
Trends 2010
Gerald Celente, also known as Dr Doom and the Nostradamus of Modern Times is regarded as one of the foremost trend predictors in the world. This author of Trends 2000 and Trend Tracking, and publisher of The Trends Journal, is frequently a guest on television news and talk show programs. The New York Post said “if Nostradamus were alive today, he’d have a hard time keeping up with Gerald Celente.”
Here are some of Gerald Celente’s health, environmental, social, entertainment, cultural, business and consumer trends for 2010.
• The Crash of 2010: The Bailout Bubble is about to burst. Be prepared for the onset of the Greatest Depression.
• Depression Uplift: The pursuit of elegance and affordable sophistication will raise spirits … and profits.
• Terrorism 2010: Years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq – and now Pakistan – have intensified anti-American sentiment. 2010 will be the year of the lone-wolf, self-radicalized gunman.
• Neo-Survivalism: A new breed of survivalist is devising ingenious stratagems to beat the crumbling system. And, they’re not all heading for the hills with AK-47’s and pork & beans.
• Not Welcome Here: Fueled by fear and resentment, a global anti-immigration trend will gather force and serve as a major plank in building a new political party in the US.
• TB or Not TB: With two-thirds of Americans Too Big (TB) for their own good (and everyone else’s), 2010 will mark the outbreak of a “War on Fat,” providing a ton of business opportunities.
• Mothers of Invention: Taking off with the speed of the Internet revolution, “Technology for the Poor” will be a major trend in 2010, providing products and services for newly downscaled Western consumers and impoverished consumers everywhere.
• Not Made In China: A “Buy Local,” “My Country First” protectionist backlash will deliver a big “No” to unrestrained globalism and open solid niches for local and domestic manufacturers.
• The Next Big Thing: Just as the traditional print media (newspapers/magazines) were scooped by Internet competition, so too will new communication technologies herald the end of the TV networks as we know them.