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Zero Hedge: What Should We Do?
Zero Hedge has the smartest readers of just about any site in the world ...
Most of us know that just about every government in the world is thoroughly corrupt, and that all of the economic indicators are wholly manipulated ...
And that the big insiders skew the playing field through high frequency trading, quote stuffing, insider dealing, central bank shenaningans, etc. ad nauseum ...
Most of us are just trying to protect our assets and our families ...
And we know that the big reset is coming, because the Matrix can only suppress reality for so long ...
So what's this about?
All of us together are smarter than any one of us individually. (I learn as much from reading your comments as I do from my own research and writing).
Here's the question: How do we build a sane, free world out of the ashes of the fallen system?
It's easy to point out the problems. But I want to hear from wiser souls as to SOLUTIONS.
How do we build local NETWORKS of mature, freedom-loving individuals so we can hit the ground running? After all, we can all go into our own caves to weather out the storm. But - at some point - we have to rebuild community and civilization.
Empires have collapsed one after another for thousands of years ... and then the people have seemingly started over at zero.
How do we build networks of trust, strenth and prosperity to weather the hurricane of change?
I'm not even pretending to have all of the answers. I'm just humbly trying to start the conversation ...
What do you think?
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Given up already, have we? There are always 'dismally few Catos.' Always.
The Old Republic is dead, dead, dead. Deal with it.
The question is: WHAT DO WE DO NOW?
Work on overcoming one's attachment to earthly possessions.
Remember when some control room guy 'goofed' and most of Arizona saw a few minutes of porn during the superbowl?
Could of been WTC7 instead of pron.
Or just the other day in China same thing happened, and the whole town watched graphic footage for 10 mins on the public Times Square style tv screens.
Could of been truth unapproved by the gov.
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To all the doomsayers: i hear ya, and see all the crap u see... but don't forget that during this (r)evolution, we have on thing none other have had- the internet. Sure it's censored, but it's still possible that certain truths could spread worldwide within 24hrs...
Could be that humanity is saved, not by Rambos with guns, but by nerdy teenagers that can hack the networks.
Yes people are sheep, but when the curtain is pulled back and they see what these banksters and their puppets have done to the world, then the sheep will all get pissed together and we'll see everyone, even the cops, turn on the evil overlords.
I am late to the party.
Rapture is like trinity. It is not in the Bible either, so what. Rapture is a older term to describe an event in which Christ returns for the Church universal not just a denomination but the body of Christ. In that the Holy Spirit is removed up from the earth and each believer is indwelt by the Spirit so they are also drawn up. Resurrection bodies (Spiritual) are given to each and Christ leads the way to heaven. The dead believers are taken up out of paradise first for their resurrection bodies. Those alive are next and last to go. The Tribulation follows on earth.
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There must be the reason Cato the Younger is still remembered: the one williing to open his guts with his own hands rather than to submit the Republican ideals to the whim of Cesar. The problem was/is that both his generation and ours have dismally few Catos.
@"Zero Hedge: What Should We Do?"
.
do it all(everything) or nothing,
where might the difference be evident?
that is my question,
nothing or everything.
.
principles, ethics, morality; where
the root, glorious soul oriented poverty,
surly and always.
.
specifically, at 15:40.
barret's privateers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o13djDCLa7g
The answer lies with honest recognition of the real problem, which is the problem all of us have individually and collectively which manifests itself to various degrees based primarily on power and influence; it is morality or lack thereof based on out very core/nature. We are an immoral people from the only perspective that will ever really matter; heaven's perspective. We can only expect CONTINUED judgment because we have grossly offended our Creator and do so more and more with each passing day, week, month, year decade etc. Till we recognize the root of the real issues & repent or turn away from gross immralities; there is nothing anyone can do to stop history that was written before time began.
I read a few books by a guy named Zecharia Sitchin.
He interpreted Sumerian cuniform tablets literally.
He tells the story that makes the most sense.
Recognize the Root.
Human are what we are.
Stack On
god cannot be offended.
Hitler had a plan a few years ago, but the goyim fell under the spell of Godz chosen ones yet again.... here we are today!
Actually his plan was only to protect the German Nation from the Parasites.
In reality if civilization is to ever thrive and be free then we will have to proactively deal w/ the Parasites. All other talk is just pure BS! How many Goddamn Nations must the maggots destroy before people understand?
ZH readers are smart, but the "sheeple" you hold in such contempt understand a lot more than you think and are angrier about it than you imagine. The word "a terrible resolve" comes to mind. They are breaking for Sanders now, wherever the corporate media's wall of silence (which ZH participates in) is broken. They are starting to bring union leadership along with them. It will soon become apparent that Bernie's campaign, based on an offer to lead the millions in a fight with the billionaire class over the use of their profits, is a winner. The billionaires are not going to take this lying down As the economic collapse accelerates and becomes apparent for all to see, this clash between the rulers and ruled will first get really nasty and then the billionaires will do what they always do, let it start to go chaotic.
ZH readers, no matter how hard you try to evade it by inventing "third ways", you will have to choose between make common cause with the billionaires or with the working people, the "sheeple". I would dearly love to have you side with us, but I see no sign that more than a handful of you get this. You share a passion for using money to make money, which is at the heart of the system you deplore, and your livelihoods could lose pretty heavily during a Sanders Administration. Your tragedy, I fear, is that unable to face this, unable to overcome your fear of the people, you will end up backing some stooge of the billionaires, and when the final lines are drawn, for all your deep insights, y'all will find yourselves on the wrong side of the barricades.
Thank y'all for teaching me what I need to know about how the economy really works. And thank you George Washington, you're the best!
I dont know much about the sanders thing of course the liberals are going to align with something like that automatically.
I dont see any connection to anything regarding billionaries.
I dont know enough to write consicely on it but with each investigation all the liberals greivances are already answered
by constitutional law. The constitution for the United states of America, not the corporation charter of the UNITED
STATES, in ALLCAPS. No one in the liberal mind will research any fact of law, natural law, constitutional law which is gods
law, universal truth.
And I dont know enough to write an oversimplied buzzword pharaseology treatise suitable for the liberal mind 7 hertz
chant and I
mean that because I came from a family of cult superstition wackos. Anyone and whole populations that chant superstition
to their death can be classified and nothing else than a cult. I think that is the beauty of LAW, it is so oversimple
the masses that cant and will never get a body of human universal truth capable of understanding Law can still
follow just a short list of
simple rules of human life and coexist in a functioning society until they may get it with age or experience. It is actually,
the age and experience of the soul if they are born with knowledge or not. From there it can only be learned by a
functioning society that expouses it in practice and Law.
So the millionaires are varied. Some are the lieber code revolving door inside traders and fees for friends federalis,
some are of lawful commerce.
So the constitutional law and other things like antitrust statute handles the first, the second are the creators who are
one in millions. In constitutional law their money is either in the system creating growth, or in the bank financing growth.
They are essential and virtuous. In constitutional law taxation of the means of production or labor are forbidden.
Taxation of their passive income is lawful however. The millionaires billionaires what have you, is what the liberals want,
taxation.
That is like the liberals, shooting their own foot. The millionaires may either invest in non taxable production and wages
and grow the whole because they are apparently the only small numbers of brains and talent that are capable, or pay
taxes on passive income on unused deposits.
Everthing I have studies is already
proven by consitutional law,
It is just a matter of returning to and enforcing constitutional law which means cancelling all satanic statute back to
the uncivil war. There are many more points and arguments along these lines such as constitutional decentralization to the
sovereign states, 10th ammendment, which automatically erradicates terror like irs. Its all there in Constitution.
I dont know for sure but I doubt sanders has a clue.
These aren't the grievances of the liberals, they're the grievances of the suffering people! Who are done with all the messages that anything they do will just make things worse, resistance is futile. They've been doing nothing very much and things keep getting worse anyway! BTW Sanders, like Kucinich before him, has been a warrior for saving the Constitution and on that issue an ally of Ron Paul.
The entire debate is framed improperly.
The question is not whether or not to feed the poor, but at which level of government to make such decisions.
The corrupting influence is money. Rigt now, the US federal gov't has so much money tat it can bend states to their will.
The power and money needs to be kept as close to home as possible. Tax at the school district level. A portion of that levy then goes to the city level where economies of scale can be leveraged for such functions as storm sewage, water works, trash collection, local roads, local courts, etc..
The local school district would send one of their own to the city council level of legislature.
This leads to representative republic.
The cities would in turn fund the state gov't, which would fund state roads, state courts, state militia, etc.
Citl level of legislature sends representative to state level legislature.
States feed up to regional level.
Regional feeds up to weak national level.
National feeds up to Continental level.
Continental feeds to global.
School board level service would be subject to term limits, to be determined locally, perhaps five years.
Anybody employed by the government or receiving government assistance would NOT be allowed to vote, much as anybody with skin in the game must recuse himself/herself from acting as an impartial judge in a dispute.
It is resonable that voters might be able to make a reasonable assessment of school board level candidates. Beyond that expertise on the part of the voters diminishes with each level you move away from home.
All governmental communications would be subject to full disclosure, at least to the next legislative level closer to home.
Regional feeds to national.
National feeds to Continental.
Continental feeds to global.
Each legislature becomes its very own experiment in democracy. Those bodies politic who decide to pursue collective goals can compete with those who depend on individual inginuity and initiative to generate economically productive activity.
The unsustainable will eventually self destruct and the sustainable will thrive.
Here is an essay I was writing that may be some different things to predict or anticipate the elite plans.
The interest is negative because the money is no good.
There is absolutely nothing useful or productive that can be
done with money. Print all they want no one can use it outside
district bloodline insider trading and fees for friends
debt-poverty federal welfare contracts. The only thing they can do with
it now is buy gold.
The research revolves around the corporation charter, act of 1871, lots can be found on Utube and 1215.org.
Alot of those guys are in public tax municipal political prison by now.
Actually that history already connects all the dots for 100 years of depopulation war financing.
Rinse repeat the fdr pig harvest. Remember the boy bush declared the 100 year war on "terra", to stay in the Lincoln Lieber code admiralty law state of emergency permanently. Do you think they make orwellian slips by accident.
So they dont even actually take the "qualified" pension yet, they just accrued it on paper, christmas eve pension heist. At whim they can leverage it up on demand for global genocide. Rerun of british coup uncivil war and wwII.
a) Civil war british coup engineered the collateralization of hamarrabi primal debt by taking public lands.
b) FDR pig genocide, collateralizing the ALLCAP birth certificate bonded slave corporation, private property(liscensing, titling, registration) and labor(irs).
c) Satanic cult obamacide 2008 scam was for collateralizing the "qualified" pensions, christmas eve cronybus pension heist, and euthenizing the useless eaters (obamacare).
I only add to 401k now for tax deferal and match because it can be moved to 3rd party private mutual annuity in 2-1/2 years.
Therefore it will be short time to lever up to global genocide. Just a matter of running the obamacare euthenasia genocide first to thin the herd before they are prepped for global war. They have to engineer devastating debt poverty to force them into conscription, piggies dont fight until they are hungry and need lots of foreign enemy scapegoats lined up over staged false flags. This will take a few years culling the piggies to line that up.
The creditism pig model still benefits them to create as much poverty as possible to print white trash tax debt for fees for friends welfare contracts, perpetual pig harvest machine, poverty-tax-debt-credit, poverty-tax-debt-credit like that. They arent necesarilly in any hurry to change the debt explosion.
Now they have unlimited credit to lever up the stolen pension 100 to 1.
Obviously they already know they only
need 3% employed by SP500 to sustain the mercenary hegemony. How many municipal tax debt de-educated federalis made it into empire, or did they fall off the federali bus?
The piggies never wonder how 200k is taxed over 60% is 80k net current value. 80k net devided by 5 is $16k purchasing power basis 1980 dollar value or purchasing power, how many "progressives" run employee liabilities and payroll tax from $16k net income, spectating off the porch?
The satanist know the plantation is only as good as keeping the slaves chasing the pig tax currency, the elitecurrency is gold, the iraq, libya, syria, ukraine, germany, mali, texas dotconnector.
They ignorant americans are all walking dead zombies chanting slave ignorance, which is the plan, depopulation.
Federali tax receipts, parabolic acceleration coincident with exponential poverty acceleration, correlation or causation?
This is what the satanists meant by "escape velocity"?
So the satanists could be cut off the knees overnight, at one fell swoop, closing the fdr bonded slave pig harvest irs.
That is why all the chanting ignorant "progressives" are walking dead,
its what they chant for, more centralizaiton, more entropy
The Senate, Dick Army, had locked up a deal to replace income tax in 1990's with VAT tax, but fell through because the satanic war hegemony
tax and terror fetal cannibal demonic party refused a constitutional ammendment forgidding any future statute of unconstitional direct taxation, because they knew the pig harvest demons could take the consumption tax for just a few years (70 years usually because occult works generationally and piggies cant remember history yesterday) until the older generation died off and recreate the british cult uncivil war satanist 16th ammendment.
You may even remember satanic newstainment legs covering up that story at the time.
Pigs to the slaughter.
This is what the satanists meant by "escape velocity"?
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/2672414000000-federal-taxes-set-record-through-july-spending-hits
Solution? .308 of course!
Other than that, hope that the remnant setup is still in place: https://mises.org/library/isaiahs-job
On the most fundamental level, though, identify the root cause: https://marucha.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/eustace-mullins-the-biologic... and assemble in (not so small) groups equipped with the a/m .308 if Cyclone B is not available.
Simple; repeal the 16th and 17th Amendments.
Every single problem/issue stems from too much money sloshing around Washington, D.C. This will keep the money in the States, allowing for apportionment of taxes among the States, not taxing the people directly. Senators then, as true ambassadors from the States, will not vote to send money to D.C., only to have it returned with dicta attached.
Bingo. Beauty in.cogent simplicity.
This pig is going down. I have heard of short term periodic ebt disruptions, maybe getting the people ready for
it. Here is what I have done.
Concentrate on work to be indespensible
Alot of metals accumulated.
Get anticipated medical needs taken care of, like the routines like colonoscopy etc. I got my heart check out thoroughly.
Use the farmers mkt and get to know the people, support these people.
I'm not sure about debt, I have some. Does it get wiped out, or repriced up with currency devaluation.
What I have is covered with metals many times.
Plan to use chapter 7 every eight years, get real familiar with form 433a and chapter 7 means test, you cannot
believe federali statute and this is an undertaking to comprehend these things, it will all be law of opposites takes a
long time for it to sink in. Like you have to know that your housing expense has to come in under average/median federal
housing allowance to keep it in chapter 7. Average is comparing me to 40k average household income for the county.
Have a car that will work of ten years when credit is locked up, I actually want to get another one as mine is 7 yr old
but doubt I will take that contract. Have a car maintenance warranty. The good used cash cars are crushed, cash for
klunkers.
Keep 25 gallons get to work gas stored.
I am probably going to buy a Ducati, investment, they never depreciate. Transportation to work if gas is tight my climate
is suitable. Is stored tangible wealth that really wont depreciate.
I dont think I will have time but hope to get a whole house nat gas generator and it could be suplemented with a propane
tank.
Stock food and water, consumables that will use anyway that store forever.
I have built up a few months positive balance in the utility accounts.
I have removed alot of money from wallstreet accounts, keep a little in there to speculate with options at market extremes only.
I am going to short this market this week, Sep and Oct puts, if I made some good money I would want to pay this
house off but some may do better squatting in a default mortgage, who knows what will happen to debt. Or I should take
the money and buy gold that will be there if a time came it was essential to pay the house off. I think real estate will
crash a good 50%. This place may do ok on military population. I am real lucky at good income in one of the lowest
housing to income ratio locations. Alot of things worked out for me, maybe because I prayed on it. We have a tight family
at work that will probably come
together and I imagine the company will be there like if it came down to providing food to families.
Just some thoughts
The ELF is far superior to a car. http://organictransit.com/
It is a comfortable enclosed (weather-protected) 3 wheel bike (2 in front one in back) that can go 20 mph on battery power alone. It accelerates as fast as cars at an intersection (any cyclist knows what a huge advantage this is). In 30 to 35 mph traffic, you can easily ride WITH traffic.
It costs under 6K. It has a solar panel on the roof. You'll never pay for gas again. It is legally a bicycle. You can haul 300 pounds in it.
My next car will be an ELF.
It's about a particular mindset. One that has devolved in an age of incredible advancements and increasing personal demands. They called my generation (Gen X) the ME GENERATION... Whatever. Sure, one could argue that this is a repeating pattern throughout history, but on how many occasions have a substantial number of people become aware enough of the surrounding physical, financial and moral decay that a tipping point is finally reached? Anybody here believe we're close??
Times were not necessarily better back in the day, but it's a fact that humans have become more and more selfish and self centered as time has gone on. Our rights are less enforceable, opinions less tolerated, and property less respected.
In just two generations we've gone from a society of general personal responsibilty to THIS. A wise man once told me
"We are a society of misplaced emphases and inverted priorities", and that's IT in a nutshell.
History shows a selfish, self centered, demanding and gluttonous population will slowly but eventually sense the devolution (and yes, it will be too late for most to react) and the skin of the snake is then shed.
The unfortunate reality is that until enough citizens are forced to go without (add your luxuries and necessities here) nothing will change. There will be no overthrow of the banking class, our elected officials will never become any more enlightened or less corrupt, and the selfish will continue to take until there is no more.
What should we do?
I expect the enlightened and educated who frequent this site are already doing all that is possible, and that is to make wise decisions regarding desires and debt, be positive and forward thinking, extend kindness to others and concentrate on ensuring your heirs are in a better position to succeed. The devolution will continue for much longer than any of us anticipated.
And yes to beans, bullets and bullion.
Be well Brothers and Sisters
It is a normal outcome for living organisms to grow until they crash the system on which they depend. This is the way evolution works. Sometimes a balance is found and a new ecosystem is built. This happens but it is not the norm.
We would like to believe that this does not apply to us and our civilizations although history proves the contrary. A potential solution would be to create Artificial Intelligence which could control the complex systems we have created. It may or may not happen.
The alternative is a crash of our system which I think is very likely. The good news is that the bottom is always higher than the last one so no return to the middle ages. The bad news is that the new system always rely on the rejection of the values of the old one. The Roman Empire survived in a way through the monasteries and the Vatican which rejected the material values of the old world. Expect something as drastic. And therefore that the old system linger on for as long as possible. People alive today would not "enjoy" the new values!
Problem with Armstrong's solution is you run out of limbs to amputate in endless debt cycles, that is new public assets converted to monetary instruments to restart the economy. Dr Fekete suggests that real bills can be started in a private model. Problem is that the manufacturer recieves fiat for their wares that cannot be converted to gold as under a govt gold standard, which could be problematac in returning gold as payment! The US constitution was made for a moral people. I am from Australia, but a moral people we are not when we consider the divorce rate, abortion and infidelity. The only abiding solution is found in this website I came across: www.ExploreChristianity.com
Problem with Armstrong's solution is you run out of limbs to amputate in endless debt cycles, that is new public assets converted to monetary instruments to restart the economy. Dr Fekete suggests that real bills can be started in a private model. Problem is that the manufacturer recieves fiat for their wares that cannot be converted to gold as under a govt gold standard, which could be problematac in returning gold as payment! The US constitution was made for a moral people. I am from Australia, but a moral people we are not when we consider the divorce rate, abortion and infidelity. The only abiding solution is found in this website I came across: www.ExploreChristianity.com
Problem with Armstrong's solution is you run out of limbs to amputate in endless debt cycles, that is new public assets converted to monetary instruments to restart the economy. Dr Fekete suggests that real bills can be started in a private model. Problem is that the manufacturer recieves fiat for their wares that cannot be converted to gold as under a govt gold standard, which could be problematac in returning gold as payment! The US constitution was made for a moral people. I am from Australia, but a moral people we are not when we consider the divorce rate, abortion and infidelity. The only abiding solution is found in this website I came across: www.ExploreChristianity.com
You had to get your religious point over three times?
of course, lies are best believed when repeated often enough
#1 - Keep your sanity.
I've been waiting too long for the "reset". It's hard to maintain sanity while waiting for something that will never come.
There will be no "collapse", only increasing levels of the chaos along the continuum that we are already experencing, and eventually, increasing clarity about the way(s) forward.
#2 - Hide in plain sight.
I know people moving to outer mongolia, not me. But if you are going to stay where you are, don't be an idiot. The solution is not going to be some kind of violent revolution. So don't act like you are looking to join one.
#3 - Don't become dependent on the corrupt system.
Get to know your neighbors, doing business with them!? My neighbors are in deep denial. This is a joke. Of course I buy from local farmers and all that, but in general, this advise remindes me of all the talk about "networking" for your career. In my career I have focused on being useful, the networking takes care of itself. You will find the competent people when you need to. Just don't become a dependent zombie. You will get no sympathy from me when the gravy dries up.
#4 - Save capital outside of the corrupt system.
For all the sheep who put their money in the system (stocks, bonds, CDs, bank accounts, real estate) because they can't stand not to go along with the crap and get paid for the privilige, no sympathy. Painful as it is to go outside the system, you have to do it.
Delicacies be damned. They understand only force. Intellectual endeavors eventually, but terrible brutal force first. That is the language they speak and that is the only language they will understand. The forefathers knew this.
The people/entities who run this world assume that humans are too stupid and corruptible to run their own world. At the same time, they do their best to keep us ignorant, stupid and corrupted. They are the corrupting influence that makes us what they say we are.
Just as with the Babylon 5 series (I forget if it is seasons 3 or 4) we seem to be caught between powers that are heavily invested in maintaining their own power and position and until those controllers are moved out of the way, the human race will not be given a chance to grow up. We are being treated as children and the parents are doing everything they can to keep us children.
Mom: gives us Order and teaching
Dad: gives us Chaos and creative destruction
Mom and dad are constantly fighting as to how to raise the kids. So, the kids are neurotic.
We are caught between the two. They keep us divided and fighting each other for a reason that does nor benefit us... only their continued control.
I would like to be able to say, "get out of our galaxy and leave us alone to make our own mistakes ... not yours"
OK, so this was a little far out there. But I do believe that the world as we know it is a lot more complex than people assume. It is not as it appears. There are multigenerational powers controlling things that we never see (or recognize). I think we need to step back every now and then and think: "Is this reality or is this what reality has been created to look like?" ... and "who would do that?"
A show on the history channel recounted documented interactions with so called "Men in Black" who seemingly work closely with the US military. These "Men in Black" were apparently very interested in both the UFOs that people claimed to see and also the people themselves.
An article today on Drudge: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/08/15/apollo-14-astronaut-claims-pea...
Edgar Mitchell claims that so called "aliens" stopped a nuclear war.
Aliens or just other inhabitants of our "however constructed" universe it seems possible that we have more than one influence in what we consider our world. Maybe one or more is good and one or more is evil. Maybe what we perceive as good and evil is meaningless to them, since we tend to think about it in human terms. Maybe they just have different philosophies instead of good/evil intentions.
The Elite have the science of controlling group behavior, be if by fair or foul means, so well developed that no group will ever be able to initiate the change needed. Any group efforts will be subverted or destroyed long before they will be able to create meaningful change.
Creating meaningful change is up to individuals not groups.
First and foremost individuals need to realize that waiting for someone, or some group, else to take the first steps towards solving the problem makes the individual part of the problem.
We have become complacent and dependent on the comforts of modern life. The Elite provide us with those comforts and as long as we are unwilling to give up our lifestyle in order to create a better alternative, we remain part of the problem not part of the solution. Even if the labour we provide to the system in order to subsit is itself a benign and worthwhile endeavor, in the bigger picture the result is still destructive as our labour feeds the elite and helps sustain their power over us.
Until you can say to yourself that, "I will not continue to contribute to society regardless of the personal cost to myself and my dependents", you will remain a slave to the elite.
The first step away from slavery is very scary because it means walking away from any security that you have into an unknown situation in which there is no guarantee that you will survive.
Regardless of how frightening or difficult this step is it must be taken in order to create change. Having taken this step myself about 20 years ago I can say with much assurance that no amount of planning prepares you enough to get this step right on the first try. The reality of being responsible for your own survival is far more complex than any prepper guides can teach you to survive successfully.
I thank my lucky stars I started when I did, while the 'system' was still intact, as I was able to continue to use it as a crutch until I more fully got my act together through real life experiences. The longer you wait to make the transition the more difficult it will become, even if you are well prepared. Having an, "Oh Shit", moment after society has already collapsed probably means your death.
If you are an individual with very marketable skills it is even harder to break away as the Elite will keep trying to entice, or force, you back into their work force. I could still be very wealthy if only I was willing to continue to play their game. Instead I chose to recreate my life in a different manner. I realized the 'more' you have the more you need to work for the elite in order to 'rent(?)' it from them. I chose to remove everything from my life that wasn't essential and reduce my cost of living to the point where I did not need to work for anyone else in order to survive. My time is now virtually my own to do with as I choose.
I may no longer have the fancy house, car and trophy wife, but I do have a lifestyle I enjoy much more that my wealthy life before.
I own a comfortable, but not fancy home on the ocean, in a spectacular, and safe place. There is an abundance of natural resources where I am including food resources. I grow much of my own food but realize this will likely not remain possible long term once society collapses. I do have the comfort of knowing I can feed myself and a few others for a number of years until my foraging skills of natural resources need to be 100% successful.
I mostly drive an electric vehicle with the abilty to recharge it myself. My cost of living to live very comfortably is approximately $350 a month, including things like property taxes, transportation, communiation, and food. I could pretty much cut my cost to zero without greatly impacting my quality of life.
The only direct taxes I pay are property taxes as they directly fund the very small community I live in. I refuse to file/pay income tax on moral grounds. I refuse to fund the mayhem my government (Canada) is part of. I would rather have them come and take me away and string me up than voluntarily fund their activities. I keep purchases to a minimun in order to not feed the system through consumption taxes or profits.
What I see as a viable alternative which I am striving towards.....
Small networked communities with mostly only local organization. Inter community cooperation only to be done by specific projects so no one group can gain control over all communities. Ie.... A specific group organizes cooperation on transportation issues, another on medical issues and so on. Organization through accountable managers not term elected officials.
The early Greeks determined democratic communities become dysfunctional in groups larger than about 20k individuals so communities need to stay small. Kirkpatrick Sale demostrated in his book "Human Scale" that communities no large than 20k are capable of sustaining even heavy industries such a steel making. Small communities are fully capable of reproducing virtually all the amenties we have come to appreciate as a society.
The major advantage of small communities is people being accountable to their neighbours. In a community of 20k no one would be anonymous enough to get away with the crap our elite do today.
MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL!
The concept of money is what destroyed our civilization. We need to learn to organize our society without resorting to money or even the concept of value as in barter. This is not impossible, we have only been brainwashed to think in terms of money being indespensible.
Money gives the elite the anonanymity to rob people in one location while living as upright citizens in another. If people like the Rothchilds needed to keep their wealthy in a form other than 'funds', say as a crop of apples, it would be useless for them to hoard all the apples as they could never eat them all themselves. If all they could do is give them away, why bother?
The natives in the area I live have for thousands of years successfully lived within a Potlatch (Gifting) Society. The most respected individuals were the ones that gave the most wealth to their neighbors.
A moneyless, non-barter, gifting society would depend on individuals being honest. This is another reason for small communities. No need for police, when neighbors recognize a thief they can stop gifting that individual. Any thief will soon realize they will lose more than they will gain by being dishonest.
A pipe dream? Possibly, but wouldn't it be great if it worked? Even if I, or those who come after me, don't achieve such goals the attempt towards such a future by myself gives me more satisifaction than anything else I have done in my life.
So, is the solution in your mind, decentralization? Is it your contention that everyone should do the best they can to ignore the centralization, the common government, the common production of goods, food, communications, education and technology?
My personal belief is that it is not the systems themselves that cause the problems, but the corrupting influences. And even there, I do believe that people thrive and grow stronger under stress. Lives are more fulfilling when obstacles are conquered. So, in that respect there is purpose to competition and even negative forces in the environment.
Unfortunately in the current environment corruption, from the centers of power, has run rampant and has overwhelmed the systems. IMO, this needs to come into balance before people will accept more centralization. Without the balance the forces of decentralization (like yours) grow. I am not saying that decentralization is bad. I like it and believe it is more stable. Decentralization brings fairness and free markets. I like that ... but while decentralization is more fair and free, it is not as efficient at allocating resources across large populations.
Centralization removes options for individuals in favour of those who control the centralized govt. Yes centralization makes it somewhat easier to distribute goods across a larger population but is that really being done? Isn't it mostly a case of the elite getting most of the distributed pie?
Can local industries and businesses compete with centralized ones? Because many local industries and businesses have been driven out of business by the masive quantity of new rules and regulations put in place by our centralized system (in order to create monopolies?), there are currently no viable options to relying on centralized monopolies. If these monopolies didn't exist could local industry and business again fill the gap? I believe so.
Not just goods get distributed in a centralized system. Jobs also get distributed making it more difficult for individuals to compete within the massive bureaucracy. As seen around the world, including in the USA and Canada, this phenomena tends to be the great leveler of wage rates. Unfortunately it goes in the wrong direction. Centralization of labour drives wages down to the lowest common denominator. Centralization does not raise the wages of the poorest. The poor may have a new sorce of income but with slave wages; however this comes at the expense of formerly viable jobs at better wage rates being lost. Is that a good thing?
If we did not have the phenomena of illegal immigrants and/or workers from outside a country being permitted to work through legislation such H1B visas where would wages be? The statistics show that the majority of jobs created in the USA since 2008 went to foreign workers. Has this driven wages down or up? Is this trend not destructive?
How much accountability do the leaders of centralized systems have to the average person in a local community? With the corrupt system's they have put in place would it be zero? What would the accountability of leaders be if living within the small community they lead be? Could their neighbours easily confront them if they get out of line?
How much damage could a leader of a small community do if they got out of line? Compare this to the damage done by leaders of large centralized systems who control massive armies and police forces along with their less violent control systems. Could small decentralized communities filed massive armies? If a small community got out of line could a few neighboring communities deal with the problem. Is there a way to control our centralized systems?
I am only one man. I am granted only one vote. If yours is a pipe dream, let me say that it's a pipe dream we both share.
George,
To be honest, I find most people so caught up in their own (mostly trivial) struggles that they never even consider that their very existence is being skewered by the trident of debt, taxes and the police state.
How can we, collectively, solve a problem that is ultimately of our own making?
It's kinda like quicksand, I reckon: The harder we fight, the quicker we sink.
Wait! I may have found a sturdy root! Come, grab my hand!
Jimi Hendrix supposedly said, "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace".
Simple as that.
"How can we, collectively, solve a problem that is ultimately of our own making?"
Is it? I truly wonder if that is true.
All readers of ZH need to go on a personal gold and silver standard.
we'll need what the msm has convinced, in one way or another, a majority of Americans that's pc incorrect, conservative family values, and going up the ladder from there, friends, neighborhoods, small areas, districts, cities with similar, " but not lock-step thinking", very few well known representatives with some limited power.
compare it to the old west, there were very few laws but very quick justice, you stole someones horse, cow,"property", or killed un-armed person, or with not justification reason, you were hung.
I guess the one big question is how it breaks down, deflation, inflation, marshal law, in other words will it be quick,or a slow spirial, that gives us already preparing more time.
I live in a relative rural area, and get huranged for my over caution, even though they see at least 6 times a year on the news, the ebt cards fail and wal-marts, grocrery stores and the likes are emptied within hours, usually by force, or a snow-storm.
or will it be the un-thinkable EMP, there will be 10's of millions in big cites,on the move making shermans march to the sea, look tame.
What the fuck is up with this site? I used to visit regularly but this site really drags my computer down. Whether it's the adds or spyware or cookies or whatever, I can barely stay here 10 minutes without wanting to smash this thing up.
What should we do? Fix this shit quickly. I'm sure i'm not the only one complaining about this.
Run a Linux OS. Install Firefox and a few addons (NoScript, AdBlock, and Ghostery) - problem solved.
P.S. It's not just ZH - try loading the weather channel site - it's painful without the aformentioned recommendations!
ZH runs well if you turn Java scripting off. You don't get any of the crap ads. You can still post comments and now you can also look at Banzai's pics (could not up until a couple of weeks ago.
Done thanks. What a difference it makes.
Yes. Thanks for this tip!
Pray and seek the Lord.
Trust in yourself and be dubious of others.
There is no fucking lord.
Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
So, heads on a pike then? Long Vladism