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The Golden End Game – A Thought Experiment - Part One
The Golden End Game – A Thought Experiment
Part One of Two
By
Cognitive Dissonance
With limericks by The Limerick King
This is part one of a two part exploration (part two found here) into what the world might look like after a total or partial collapse of the currency/economic system from the perspective of holding Gold. As the title explains this is a thought experiment, not a dissertation filled with footnotes and references. Consider it one man’s flight of fancy, so take what you need and leave the rest. Anyone who claims they know what will actually happen is a fool greater than me.
As markets are starting to sink
The end could be here in a wink
So should I prepare?
Should I even care?
My PMs will save me!!! (I think......)
(The Limerick King)
When I first entered the business 20 plus years ago the firm I started with had a mentoring program that paired the fresh faced rookie with a veteran for the first 6 months. The idea was that for a piece of the action paid to the veteran from the rookie’s commissions, the veteran would offer hands-on review, insight and support. While some on both sides of the office divide groused over this arrangement, from management’s point of view it made all the sense in the world because now the office was raising the rookie, not just one or two managers.
I found the mentoring system to be beneficial simply because I was coming in quite a bit older than the younger shark chum fresh from the diploma mills. Most of them felt they had the world by the balls, thus as long as they showed up the (fiat) spice would flow. But I knew these financial chop shops had a tendency to chew up the rookies, and then spit them out once they’d been used and abused. Since I didn’t want any part of the rookie churn and burn I relished the chance to work with a veteran and develop good habits early rather than be left with trying to break many bad habits later.
Luckily I was paired with an old pro who quickly took a shine to me and showed me the ropes, spending far more time with me then he was ever compensated for. In fact the experience re-invigorated him and he went on to become the top producer of the office two years running. The more I learned the harder he pushed, reasoning that since I knew this, I damn well better know that. So he took most of his compensation in the form of my spilled blood and an inner satisfaction that he was making his mark. For me, the processes, morals and methods he taught me are still paying sweet dividends two decades later.
One of his demands was the weekly ritual of a portfolio review of each holding in every client account. When Friday came round he insisted I justify why this or that position was in a client’s account and quite frankly it drove me crazy. I would complain that we had done the same damn thing every week for months and not much had changed. So why was he still asking me the same questions again and again. And every time I complained he would respond with a question of his own, often dramatizing it by looking out the window or throwing the Wall Street Journal on his desk. Prove to him that the world was the same one that existed when we reviewed the accounts the last time.
And of course he was right; the world was not the same and often quite different from week to week. This trial by fire is something I still force myself to go through every Friday afternoon. Knowing the client and the world situation, if I can’t justify the position, why the hell is it still in the account? But of equal or greater value to me were my mentor’s questions each time I tried to add a new position to an account. I hated his probing and poking and often I took it personally. And that bastard knew where all my buttons were and delighted in pressing every single one until I finally wised up and stopped letting him goad me.
After we had discussed why I was adding the position, and well before I was allowed to call the client and make the pitch, he always had one final question for me. How was I going to dispose of it if things went wrong in a hurry? Or in his words, “What’s the end game on that?” At first I felt his question was downright stupid and my rote answer was always that I would cross that bridge when I got there. But he never let me get away with my intellectual laziness and he’d ask the same question 6 different ways until I saw all the possible pitfalls based upon the knowledge I had at the time.
I can still hear him today. “Don’t ever take on a new position until you have thoroughly considered how you will dispose of it under the worst of conditions.” It forced me to look beyond my nose and consider how circumstances change, and with those changes the ability to sell something that, while saleable today, might not be tomorrow. Liquidity and desirability can dry up quickly and always when it is least convenient to you and your client. This perspective broadening exercise was extremely useful beyond my business world because it can and should be applied at all (not just major) life decision points.
As this Keynesian game nears an end
And the Banksters can no longer lend
What will we all treasure?
Will gold be our measure?
Or the love of our family and friends?
(The Limerick King)
So……what’s the end game here folks? Regardless of whether we are USA centric or more globally focused, the fact is that we ‘own’ a political, economic and social portfolio that is the foundational basis not only of our wealth and investments, but of our very lives and those of our family, friends and neighbors. So have we done a fearless and thorough portfolio review or are we simply buying Gold and other precious metals, along with guns and various food stuffs, and hunkering down to wait out the storm?
I don’t pretend to have all the answers, let alone the proper questions. So don’t look to me for instructions when the T-1000 HFT bots crest the ridge and cream our asses. But a little proactive introspection is well warranted here considering we are now entering uncharted territory. And it is uncharted territory; at least for plebs such as you and me, even though there have been fiat currency collapses throughout history. This time really is different (as were all the other times for each generation caught in the middle) if for no other reason than the massive use of financial leverage combined with the humongous explosion in global population over the last 100 years.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m basically a hard asset guy at this point in the great unwind. But as I have said in the Zero Hedge comment section several times before, it’s one thing to grow and/or protect your assets and wealth in Precious Metals (PMs) (and other hard assets) and another thing entirely to move those assets to the next game board when this one is reset, replaced or recreated.
I see and hear a great deal of cognitive dissonance in many of the articles and comments discussing PMs as the best vehicle to use when moving to dry land……….that is, when dry land finally does rises from the ocean floor to form the new capitalist capital called Atlantis Redux. I find that many are kind of fuzzy on how the actual transition/transaction will go down and nearly all just sort of insert “and then a miracle occurs” at some point in the discussion when they recite the precious metals (PM) mantra.
Let’s just say for a moment that our Gold, Silver, Platinum and Gold-plated Tungsten have all quintupled in price (as measured in whatever fiat is the favorite at the end) and we are now all sitting pretty. Do we really honest-to-God no-fingers-crossed cherry-on-top believe that the powers-that-be will simply allow us to mosey up to the cashiers cage and redeem or convert it all for whatever monetary unit reigns supreme? Really? Because from my point of view it’s just crazy talk to assume that the enemy of the state (Gold and other PM’s) will be welcomed home with a warm welcoming embrace.
Now before you bite my head off (remember boys and girls, this is just a thought experiment) understand who this essay is directed towards. Or rather isn’t directed towards. If you are capable of purchasing several LBMA Gold bars and are able to store them overseas and you can easily relocate yourself to where your Gold is, then this rant really isn’t directed towards you. While you may not be a power-that-be, you are in a class above the middle class regardless of your protestations to the contrary. I’m not saying you don’t share many of the problems others are facing, only that you have a great deal more flexibility to deal with them.
In the same respect, if you own several Gold Eagles and a couple hundred ounces of Silver, then you are also not to whom I’m speaking. Most likely you will run under the radar because your small amount of Gold and Silver is being held in the form of the U.S Eagle coin which, while not exactly produced as a numismatic, is a US Mint produced Gold and Silver coin that is considered US legal tender. So from my point of view, if Gold and Silver Eagles are held in small quantities, they will not be considered an investment, but rather savings or collectibles.
The people I am talking to are those who are converting a substantial portion of their investable assets into physical Gold. Or who are selling other assets or breaking qualified retirement accounts (IRAs, 401(k)s etc) in order to purchase relatively large amounts of physical Gold and Silver, though the focus of this essay is Gold. Their intent is not only to grow their PM assets, but to carry the bulk of their wealth over to the Promised Land when the current Ponzi Empire crashes and burns.
You know who you are and unfortunately so do the government goons if you have ever bought any quantity of Gold from an established dealer with a check, a cashier’s check, wire, electronic funds transfer or other traceable method. And because of Check 21 everything is traceable nowadays (even cash within a few degrees of separation) if you used one of these instruments to gather the cash.
The End Game is here so I'm told
Will the last valued asset be gold?
If so, keep it tight
From the thieves in the night
For they know every ounce that you hold
(The Limerick King)
Where I have a problem with the logic used by some is this. There seems to be a general consensus that Gold is the arch enemy, the Kryptonite if you will, of the out of control fiat creation by central authorities in order to extend and pretend while looting the executive bathrooms of the Gold faucets and monogrammed bathrobes. This understanding, along with a host of others, is always proffered when explaining the reason behind PM manipulation and the entire PM paper racket. And I don’t necessarily disagree with this general supposition.
What I don’t get is the idea that if Gold has been considered ‘contrary’ or ‘dangerous’ to the unfettered debasement of fiat in the past and present, thus the reason for the manipulation, then why would this suppression and resistance to the ‘Golden enemy’ by the powers-that-be suddenly disappear precisely when the powers (or more accurately their agents and puppets) are desperate and have the most to lose? It is clear to me, and judging by the comments clear to many others here on Zero Hedge, that these guys and gals play for keeps, consistently pushing nearly all their chips to the center of the table in an endless game of bluff and intimidation.
More important to me, at least for the purposes of this essay, is that those lovable sociopaths would rather burn to the ground than play to lose or walk away. This, by the way, is precisely why they rarely lose. They play for keeps and they’ve been doing so for thousands of years. They not only have the power, but they know how to use the power they have. Meaning they are ruthless cutthroat bastards who see you and me as cattle to be consumed or beasts of burden to be used. And I’m being kind for the sake of the weak stomachs among us.
As best as I can tell the general assumption is that when the partial or total collapse comes (not if because we are talking worst case scenario here) the failed powers that be, perhaps inspired by some public hangings and decapitations, will pack up their lawn chairs and vacate the levers of power, allowing more responsible adults and even some advanced children to take over and save the day. Or at the very least, the expectation is that the new kids on the block will clean up the mess left behind by those traitorous bastards and that they will do so in a reasonably fair, open and egalitarian manner. Let me take a moment to collect my thoughts before rendering my opinion on this matter.
I DON’T THINK SO!
Why am I so confident of this? Well, from studying history of course. And by history I mean good old fashioned world history dictated and approved by the Empire for high school or college textbooks. You see, from the perspective of long term history, while we may have a new production company and support system for the global Ponzi screenplay, as well as fresh faces to fill the role of puppets, enablers and useful idiots, and even a (relatively) new political system to emotionally and culturally unify us all as we labor away in our hamster cages, the Ponzi is at its central core the oldest con in the books.
Essentially we are all experiencing plantation living at its highest and most efficient evolution to date, where the sole purpose of our existence is to serve our immediate masters who then serve their masters who then serve their masters in an ever narrowing pyramidal hierarchy. This goes on until it reaches the point where at the top we find several hundred to a thousand elite scattered across a number of blood-line families that share the power and spoils. And there is serious evidence available to be examined by the determined researcher that there might even be another level (or two) above that.
BTW for the most part, but with certain exceptions, you will not find these elite of the elite on any list of richest people in the world. I personally suspect that many of those who you do see listed are in fact the public caretakers of the wealth of others and who are paid handsomely to play the role and weather the slings and arrows of public scorn in exchange for growing the assets and guarding the anonymity of the real owners of Mother Ship Earth.
The Powers That Be are concealed
Their identities won't be revealed
They will hide from the light
And continue their fight
Until all of our fates have been sealed
(The Limerick King)
History is full of examples of crumbling empires and nearly all of them seem to share several characteristics. First and foremost in my mind is that regardless of how dire things may seem to be, the collapse progresses much slower than expected. It always seems like today’s bad news signals the end of the world as we know it….until tomorrow’s even worse news hits the ticker.
Grab Mr. Peabody and fire up the WABAC (pronounced ‘wayback’) machine to travel a few years into the past, say to 2007, and consider some of the headlines we saw and the reactions they provoked. What were considered Earth shaking events back then are nearly routine today, no big deal really. This is a severely misunderstood and underappreciated, and thus under weighted, counter balancing force to the general insanity level. The (normalcy bias) force is strong in you young Skywalker.
I suspect this isn’t so much because the powers that be are holding it all up, but rather it is the common folk living on the ground floor of this insanity that are doing the heavy lifting. Never underestimate the desperate desire of those who are chained to the plantation to preserve that plantation even when it would be easier and saner just to walk away. This Stockholm syndrome conditioned mind is of course exploited by the masters to rape and pillage long past the normal or even expected expiration date of the Empire.
Also, collapse (partial or total) is a relative term. For the financial elite, politically powerful and top tier business people, collapse is just another word for a really severe business cycle downturn. When conditions become harsh, the script is always the same. Shed useless eaters, strip all usable assets and sell the estate to the last of the greater fools, then move on to a more favorable business location. So by the time the barbarians are at the gate, the rich and powerful are long gone and have stripped most of the wealth from the kingdom.
In the modern era this means that the rape and pillage of the middle class is the purpose and eventual outcome of any severe recession/depression. So of course it is the purpose of the ongoing collapse. See ‘The Great Depression’ of the 1930’s for the Cliff Notes on the coming fun and games…exponentially escalated by $708 Trillion (notional value) in derivatives. But always remember that the explosive firepower released back in the 1930’s is nothing compared to the massive potential energy that is about to be released. The real purpose of can kicking is to try to slowly release that energy rather than to allow it to go BOOM all at once. Consider it a form of extended game play for the elite.
When the global reset is complete
And the Kleptos are in full retreat
Secure family and friends
For their game never ends
And they'll never accept their defeat
(The Limerick King)
The true powers that be have a long history of backing all sides in nearly every conflict or collapse. So it is not a stretch to assume they are supporting the very barbarians who are beating the door down while also relocating their kin from the collapsing empire. If you spend any time studying the blood lines of the rich and powerful, despite our general indifference to this seemingly inconsequential subject matter, to Earth’s owners the blood lines are carefully massaged, managed and manipulated in order to maintain a balance of power and influence among the bickering kings and queens. Do not underestimate the utmost importance of blue blood hierarchies or of the interconnected web between supposedly bitter enemies and plantations/countries. If it is important to them, then it should be considered life and death to us.
Inside the sprawling plantation the conditioning of the slaves is ongoing and ever changing and relies heavily upon the older, more experienced slaves to indoctrinate and condition the new ‘volunteers’, thus cementing the bond that is often expressed as nation or community…..or more properly ‘misery loves company’. For several thousand years religion was the center of the indoctrination process and controlled by the blue bloods, all of whom had no aversion to donning priest’s robes to spout the all important rites and rituals. A close inspection of history shows that while the vehicles of power shifted and morphed, the methods used and the personalities involved always remained the same.
Closer to the modern era, there was a shift to the sharing of power between religious centers and blue blood families who presided over kingdoms. Again, there really wasn’t a divide, only the public appearance of division. Mom usually decided which son became King and which became a Cardinal or Pope, thus assuring her it all remained in the family.
Over the last several hundred years the center shifted once again to the façade of central governments organized under ideological memes such as democracy, communism, socialism and of course the more traditional blue blood families aka Kings, Queens and royal families, sometimes along with a quasi democratically elected congress designed to create a false sense of self control for the naïve native slaves.
Regardless of the method or ideology used today, they are all simply more sophisticated methods to organize and exploit the plantation and nothing more. In much of the so called ‘free’ world today, giving the slaves the illusion of freedom of (limited) choice has been found to dramatically increase productivity. An intelligent plantation manager will allow any work rules as long as they still maintain order while increasing efficiency because strip mining the human and mineral resources of Earth is the one and only goal of the ruling elite.
Preserving your wealth can be fun
The first thing you'll need is a gun
Trust no one you meet
Each night soak your feet
Just in case it is prudent to run
(The Limerick King)
Regardless of whether the financial elite remain in place or move on during or after the collapse, there will still be some type of procedure set up to exchange the old slave script for the new slave script. Without a doubt there will be different tiers or exchange rates depending upon which social and/or economic class you reside in. And rest assured the transition will not be fair and it will be used to extract whatever remaining wealth the middle class still holds. This is a given, but it will not be readily obvious or even visible since most of the dirty work will occur behind closed doors and well in advance of the general scrum.
There is also no doubt, once again predicated by a careful reading of history, that regardless of the leadership actually holding office, when the gates are busted down (or as is more likely the case pulled down from within, often via false flag attacks), in order to placate the increasingly restless slave population, fresh faces will magically appear from the cloning rooms to offer stirring speeches and heartwarming platitudes about how all the slaves must engage in mutual sacrifice and work even harder to ensure that the elite make a clean getaway before the cleansing fires are set and the system is finally rebooted. I can’t wait for the games to begin because I still have more cognitive room left over for that hope and change thingy.
Every crumbling Empire always reaches into the same bag of tricks when the heat is on and the slave nation becomes restless. After all, the elite must maintain order so that the fleecing can be completed. ‘Order’, especially near the end of the End Game, is usually maintained by a heavy handed police and/or military presence via outright martial law or the stealth version implemented by (executive) decree. Let the head bashing begin. Desperate puppet leaders will most certainly do desperate things, first to maintain their own illusion of power, then just to save their asses. Count on it.
Two tricks of the deception trade that often work hand in hand are scapegoat harvesting combined with war mongering, which usually leads to out-right-war in order to deflect attention and blame those evil elites over there and their supporting band of vicious baby eating enablers, indentured servants and wage slaves. And while it might be an old trick, even the oldest, it still works every single time it is used because we slaves would rather support the devil we know then to take a chance and actually live free. Spend enough time in a locked cage under dehumanizing conditions and the jailer no longer needs to lock the door anymore. We slaves will keep ourselves just fine, thank you very much.
While I could extend this list of common denominators for several more pages, let me cut to the chase and list the one commonality that is near and dear to my heart and the core function of every central government that administers the (crumbling) Empire……..to be a blood sucking parasite. The bottom line is that governments, Kings and religious orders do not ‘produce’ anything nearly equal to their consumption no matter how you measure it, unless you have been drinking their Kool-Aid. These entities will consume from all sources using one or more of the following strategies; regulation, taxation and ultimately confiscation.
In Chapter Two we will examine the third method as the end game worst case scenario draws ever near.
11-20-2011
Cognitive Dissonance
Special thanks to The Limerick King for his wonderfully apropos limericks. It is an insult to describe the process of condensing complex subjects into 5 lines of prose as ‘writing’. The term ‘stupid good talent’ just begins to scratch the surface of what The Limerick King has to offer. Thank you TLK.
I also wish to thank Dagny Taggart for the ongoing and wonderfully diverse conversation that always leads to further inspiration. Thank you Dagny.
PS: For those who just can’t get enough of The Limerick King, below please find some more of his work that just couldn’t be fit in. Momma always told me never to waste a single mouthfull of The Limerick King.
To those who think gold is the cure
For everything fake and impure
You may get your wish
If gold catches fish
By making an outstanding lure
As the great global reset draws near
Consider the things you hold dear
Will others agree
With the value you see?
If so you have nothing to fear
My wealth is so precious to me
Without it I just couldn't see
Life would be dour
I'd lose all my power
I'm spawn of The Powers That Be...
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I have found that our 'reality', which is defined as what we believe is real, most often what we see and use on a daily basis, is extremely limited in scope and breadth. We must fire up the imagination in order to expand our mind. Once engaged, all kinds of barriers break down and what was once thought of as impossible suddenly seems merely unlikely.
Our imagination is a reality creator. This is why it is so very important for adults to once again play like kids.
Ouch! After such a wonderful article, too. Bummer.
Reality is reality. If every human being vaporizes tomorrow morning, the entire universe (which is "reality" after all) remains exactly the same... except for an infintesimal blip out in some infintesimal "corner" of the universe. The perception or recognition of reality does not create or control reality. The language you seem to prefer is intellectually deadly.
The most important way to expand our minds is observation... first-hand observation of reality, not observations of words on paper (which is a mixed description of lies, fiction and reality, not the reality itself).
Now, I've been a scientist-engineer-inventor my whole life, so I place an extraordinary emphasis on "imagination", and even "fiction" (since every device is fiction until you build a prototype and make it operate). However, any healthy appreciation for "imagination" and "fiction" must be constantly aware of the difference between "imagination/fiction" versus "reality". The problem is, much of what imagination and fiction can envison, destribe and convey CANNOT EXIST in reality, because it contradicts the fundamental nature of reality in some way. Every honest, healthy lover of imagination and fiction must be constantly and forever aware of this tension and distinction.
Yes, I understand. What you're trying to do is find a technique to fight that terrible problem of human consciousness called "the normalcy bias". Oh yes, it is quite true that most people are in fact raving lunatics because they let "normalcy bias" control and restrict their assumptions and opinions about reality and possibility (that "wild-and-crazy" part of imagination and fiction that CAN be made real). But I encourage you to find and promote devices that are most honest and direct, because all not-fully-honest-and-direct techniques have nasty side effects and negative consequences. And without a doubt, unconstrained imagination and fiction are incredibly nasty consequences, as endless crazed deities, religions, kingdoms and governments prove in spades. Be creative? Yes. Imagine? Yes. Always be totally clear-as-possible about what is real and possible and what is or may be pure fiction/fantasy/imagination? Oh YES.
If every human being vaporised tomorrow, who would be around to observe the outcome?
You have no idea of what would happen, in that instance, as you would be unable to observe the consequences of such an event taking place...
ask anything that does not exist any longer, the world keep turnin round.
nothing would happen. life of universe would go on. just like it had gone on for eternity prior to humans being around. unless, of course, we get into the eden, adam, rib, Eve, creation in seven days (gotta rest on the seventh day, boy) etc fairy tale.
If the universe require human observers to exist and "be real", then humans could never have evolved into existence.
If every human was vaporized tomorrow, no human would be around to observe the outcome. However, depending on how the vaporization happened, perhaps millions of video cameras would observe and record the outcome. And maybe some time in the future aliens would discover and play the recordings and have evidence of the outcome. But the point is, the EXISTENCE of anything does not depend upon having someone around to observe it, or recognize it, or name it, or approve it, or certify it, or anything else.
Yes, when you or I die, we will have no way to know for sure the entire universe didn't vanish in that instant. That is correct. That doesn't mean the universe DID vanish from existence in that instant. I hope you understand the difference! Ouch!
There is something called the observer effect. It is through interpretive frames that "vaporization" happens. It could be thought of as "reconfiguring the energy form" or "reconserving the matter" or "an energy burp" or "a shift in reality" or "mass extinction" or of such lack of consequence that it really does not merit attention, nor the attendant meaning making. It becomes an event when an observer decides to single it out of the whole and label it. Most things out there don't get labeled, objectified, brought into conscious, and externalized as an "isness" or a "being" at all. It is the observer that makes this happen.
Yes, the observer does RECOGNIZE events, but the events happen whether they are recognized or not. That's the point that so many can't seem to understand. Obviously modern educators delight in destroying minds, probably by teaching and extrapolating from blatantly false and literally insane interpretations of Shroedengers Cat scenario. Hint: If you or a cat is in a box and then killed, you are dead the moment you are killed, not 30 years later when somebody opens the box and sees your skeleton. Sheesh!
Is that what St Peter says when he sees you arriving at pearly gates : Ouch!
The elite are still people. They have power and they sure as hell have money and assets, but they are still people and I suspect that - as people - many are incompetent and many would fuck each other over given the slightest excuse.
This makes their "control" quite crude. They can buy politicians, they can control the markets and this is fine for the fairly straightforward goal of "owning more stuff". They're criminals of the worst order, but are they criminal masterminds? Or are they just a bunch of rich (and consequently powerful) scum.
They can be rich and powerful without being competent - that's what cronyism is all about - but societies (especially disintegrating and interconnected societies) are chaotic systems. Do they have the genius to control a chaotic system? Can they effect a more sophisticated plan than "try to own everyone and everything"? Can they be sure of that outcome?
If all this ends in a nuclear war, would they consider that a victory condition? All the "stuff" they accumulated would be fucked. Even if they survived, they would inherit a complete shit-hole.
Bearing in mind that gene sequencers are cheap nowadays and most large religious cults would likely have a couple of graduate biochemists among them (I know they exist 'cos I am one - though not in a cult and not doing biochemistry these days) can the elite be sure that some group won't release a horribly potent plague? Can they control that wildcard? It's getting easier to do that every day. Sooner or later...
It looks certain that there's some kind of shitstorm ahead, but I wonder if the elite who set this in motion will actually be able to control the final outcome once the shit really hits the fan.
This is why I can't get behind thousand year conspiracies. Good post.
but, but...can a thousand year conspiracy get behind you?
You misunderstand the point. Would you agree that scientist benefit-from and build-upon advances made by scientists in generations long dead? Of course you do. And so do the predators-that-be and predator-class of today learn-from and build-upon advances in deceit, control, destruction and enslavement made by predators in generations long dead. And there has been a continuity all the way through, which makes science, tyranny and religion long-term "conspiracies". The point is, a conspiracy to understand reality is an honest, ethical, constructive (and therefore positive) development, while predatory-enslavement and mental-psychosis is dishonest, unethical, destructive (and therefore negative).
For me, this person's point is that even with all that you argue, humans are still just people and they fuck up in many, many ways. The chain of a thousand year conspiracy will not be unbroken, and the advanced techniques of predation and domination can and probably will back fire on those who would seek to employ them. That is my take on the point of the post, which I agree with.
All I can say is... I too hope the predators-that-be seriously screw up somewhere along the line. So far, I don't see any signs of this, precisely because they spend their entire lives learning and practicing the most effective predator techniques, while other people are busy at least most of the time with work, play and production. Also, destruction is inherently vastly more powerful than production, so they inherently have a huge advantage. It takes a lot of people a lot of time, effort, skills, knowledge and resources (money) to build a luxury home. It takes one moron with free matches and $2 worth of gasoline to burn it to the ground. This is just ONE of the many advantages the predators have, and they know it. How many of US know it? Not many. In fact, the predators have been so successful in destroying human minds, a majority of humans actually believe the predators who enslave and destroy them are the "good guys"! How do you beat that?
you make a great point. but you are leaving out one factor when considering thousand year conspiracies. the real power that is behind these human elites.
did you have anyone specific in mind? Just curious....
Very good read CD. The suble hummer had me smiling even while I was aware of the importants of this topic. I'm pleased you have brought it forward for discussion because it will someday move from a topic to an event. Being mentaly prepared is as important as being physically prepared. I'm looking forward to part two as well as reading all the responses.
I try to inject a little humor here and there. As I like to say.......the first laugh I get in the morning is when I look in the mirror. It's all good after that.
I agree that enemies of the system hoarding gold will not be the new oligarchs if our system collapses. If things get really desperate your gold is likely to be heavily regulated, taxed, or confiscated.
If you own gold to try to save your wealth during the tumultuous passage from the first american republic to the second american republic there could be a thirty year or more period where you simply have to keep your gold hidden, and maybe your progeny can bring it out in the open if liberty returns.
Indians I know simply wear five or so ounces of bullion gold as simple jewelry that prices about five or ten percent above the bullion price.
This way they wear it if they have to flee somewhere, a nifty practical insurance policy. They all know what happened during.the partition..They know havoc may come again.
Thanks for that info. Interesting.
I make it a point to ask those I meet who have fled war, violence etc...in another country how/what they did to survive. I always make it a point to ask about mediums of exchange etc...
The answers are often surprising...and never involves sitting atop monster boxes of silver coins or bags of gold coins.
Kind of off topic, but this last weekend I went to my local coin dealer to pick up some silver eagles. While I was there, I noticed a certificate framed on the wall referring to the dealer being in compliance and/or has completed some sort of training regarding the USA PATRIOT ACT. It caught me off guard and I might have tinkled in my pants a little. Has anyone else seen something similar to this regarding their coin dealer?
In Texas precious metal buying is exempt from sales tax if the purchase amount is over $1000... however, you have to provide your driver's license.
To be a licensed PM dealer you need to register with the department of homeland security through the states licensing board, and all employees need to pass a background check. I just did the research on this myself a few months ago.
Sorry, double post.
..."And while it might be an old trick, even the oldest, it still works every single time it is used because we slaves would rather support the devil we know then to take a chance and actually live free. Spend enough time in a locked cage under dehumanizing conditions and the jailer no longer needs to lock the door anymore. We slaves will keep ourselves just fine, thank you very much."
Made me think of the circus elephant. You know, through conditioning, only a peg is needed for restraint.
@beachdude
This very conditioning was described in the 1933 classic 'The Miseducation of the Negro' by Carter G. Woodson.
Minister Farrakhan speaking live from St. Kitts starting 7pm CDT today Dec 20 - http://www.noi.org/webcast/stkitts/
Big ole serf board...
CD-
You have made something really easy sound so difficult. Just don't be greedy and stay too long in the PM game. The party will get quite loud as it always does near bubble tops when it goes parabolic-just listen to cab drivers and doormen.
I think The Limerick King said is best. If you skipped all my words and just read his work you would have everything you need not only to survive, but to prosper.
Bravo to The Limerick King.
I will go about setting them to memory to recite at my local pub when my friends start waking up. Any day now......
if the fan has it's operation interrupted by waste product everything comes down to the necessities, food, clothing, shelter, personal protection and gold and silver. the nominal value of gold and silver doesn't matter. it's purchasing power does, food will be priceless as will water.
i have begun to hedge my pms with jewelry bought at scrap value now that the threat of a total world economic crash has threatened the properly functioning fan. my wife loves it. she literally owns hand fulls of bling.
Diversity works in end game scenarios as well as the fiat investment world. And that is the point I drive home in Part Two. Saying Gold and Silver (only) will whisk me to the other side of the Red Sea is patently foolish. It is putting all our eggs in one Golden basket and makes us extremely vulnerable to the unknown.
Our most important asset is a flexible and open mind.
A Zimbabwean friend told me of a Jewish man whose family relocated to Africa in the forties had the philosophy 1/3 property, 1/3 paper stocks, 1/3 gold. They lost the property and paper, but the gold bought them a farm in their new homeland.
And we all know
if you try and row
A golden basket,
it will sink.
CD - you have dared to ask the question we all secretly fear. How will the bastrds finally grind us down? What are our PMs worth when they crank up the shit hitting fan?
But hang on a minute....how will TPTB survive when we are all holed up in Sherwood Forest? Given enough of us we can storm Nottingham Castle...then what? Cant wait for Part 2.
Who are "they"? Names and address, please.
"They" are us.....because we let them be so.....
I have been thinking about the transition to the after (financial) life for years and I have been very disappointed to find very few others are doing so after "finding" hard assets. It all sort of stops there. Why? So I decided to put some thoughts down and see what happens.
I think you will enjoy Part Two coming tomorrow. Thank you for adding your comments to the thread.
"...How will the bastrds finally grind us down?" Indeed. Thanks, CD. Anxiety builds waiting for Part Deux.
Merry Xmas.
Hummm ... musing upon the viability of transfering wealth over to the "new Atlantis" is timely, and I think CD is correct in questioning some assumptions in this regard.
However, I would say ... what if the Total Collapse is way, way worse than even CD supposes? I am from an Eastern European background, and my family experienced the total collapse of absolutely everything: society, government, banking, the state, the establishment, the very fabric of their world disappeared in a fortnight with no warning ... and what were the things that saved some of their lives? It came down to a few bits of gold jewellery and a pair of second-hand boots.
I know this is the ultimate end of the spectrum of collapse, but it seems to me that certain things have the power to get you out of very sticky situations: namely, diamonds, gold, clothing, tobacco, alcohol, food and soap.
>>>nd what were the things that saved some of their lives? It came down to a few bits of gold jewellery and a pair of second-hand boots.
I know this is the ultimate end of the spectrum of collapse, but it seems to me that certain things have the power to get you out of very sticky situations: namely, diamonds, gold, clothing, tobacco, alcohol, food and soap.<<<
Please relate some specifics if possible. i am a collector of these kinds of stories. I learn something new each time.
What remains a constant throughout is that human behavior is fairly predictable.
QuietCorday, I would like to expand on your post a little...
First, gold got some Jews out of Nazi Germany, despite a (at the time) state-of-the-art police state.
Second, the caption for photos 29 and 31 at this link http://sisamouth.posterous.com/kampuchea-wakens-from-a-nightmare-national-ge demonstrates "the surest medium of exhange" after the total collapse of a nation.
Finally, "on a long enough time line"...While the PTB are popping a woody that pretty much all the moving parts are in place for their high-tech police state, I'm pretty sure it won't be a thousand year reich. The North American grid is the largest and most complex machine that man has ever built, and ever will. Peak Oil, thought through, implies that we will not be able to maintain that particular investment in complexity. Mid-century: no grid, no high-tech police state. Back to the surest medium of exchange...
While I claim to be exploring a worst case scenairo, in fact I am not.....having presumed some level of functionality remains in order to talk about a transition. What you are describing is very much in the realm of possibility.
Who really knows how this will all fall out?
Thank you, CD.
Thoughts that rattled around my head, some incomplete, most unconnected, and you
gathered them all into a work that may be examined, explored.
A very thoughtful Christmas present.
I eagerly await the next episodes.
Thank you kind sir.
There is just one more episode and sadly it only begins to scratch the surface. Like I mentioned elsewhere, I never even explore taxation and regulation in order to keep it down to two parts. Plus I was talking worst case here....of which we can still choose from hundreds of possibilities.
This subject could easily be turned into a book and several authors have already done so.
How about Carbon Taxation. How else can demand be generated for a world management system; ensuring growth and continuity for all, right? Whether fiat or gold doesn't it go back to the 'old-age quest' to obtain more time for one's self? What object, word, or action is there that will guarantee one the ability to buy more time or spend it in the way one wants? Isn't this the the goal of the elite? To have all the time in the world for themselves, eternity? That's not possible of course unless all the humans alive at any given moment exchange their time for an illusion of it (fiat anyone). Most definitely governments are under the illusion that by borrowing money they can buy time when in fact they are giving real time away and more importanly is the transfer mechanism. But if the elite convince the rest of the population that carbon is bad and that it is necessary to limit the supply of carbon by producing less of it than haven't they achieved a greater feat than fiat? Carbon, the consqeunce of breathing, the constitute of life here on earth, the bad guy? Wow, what better transaction is there if you are the 'elite' to have the mass populous believe they have to limit their 'foot-print' by taking less foot-steps? The luxury of time once again is transmuted into an illusion. I wonder what the velocity of carbon credits will be under a cap and trade system? If it were my guess from observation I would say this scenario is thee scenario. All one has to do is look at how the money is being exchanged and what for. I see more and more and more fiat money exchanged for solar, wind, biomass, etc investments. But the bigger happening here is the background purchasing for carbon-credits which is a understated consequence of these investing activities. Slowly but surely a few private investors are collecting and trading carbon credits. I can only imagine what the outcome would be if a governments unilaterally move to legalize a cap-and-trade program. Overnight a new competitor will be borne to compete with the likes of Mr. Fiat and Mr. Gold and of course Mrs. Silver. Imagine that scenario as you fall asleep with your gold to wake up the next morning to hear the news that Congress, Euro Governments, and Asian have legalized a Carbon Cap. A big thought would pop into my mind, "How do I get some Carbon Credits?"
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Unless you live across the street from the mine, what the hell do you want to own shares for?
Heard Jim Willy on a youtube last night. Willy was the first I've heard to understand that mining shares are paper like anything else except physical.
Willy also discussed that the mines can hypothecate their equity by continually issuing new shares. Just about like inflation and fiat money. There is no paper that is safe.