My sense these days is that nobody except me and maybe a few others work on fridays in America, especially on a cold and icy day like today. It is a slow day. So...let's talk disintermediation.
dis·in·ter·me·di·a·tion
noun. reduction in the use of intermediaries between producers and consumers, for example by investing directly in the securities market rather than through a bank.
Here is a recent illustration of the benefit of traditional intermediation, such as investing through a bank. [3] Some other traditional intermediaries are Catholic priests, corporate farms, and your local police. Together, these represent four areas that I find particularly interesting when it comes to thinking about disintermediation:
- Wealth/Capital (gold, bitchezzz!!!)
- Relationship with a higher power (God, bitchezzz!!!)
- Food (garden, bitchezzz!!!)
- Security (guns, bitchezzz!!!)
Over the years, I have found many ways to practice disintermediation in each of these areas. I have written articles [4] and comments and posted photos [5] on Zerohedge about some of these efforts. Today, I invite you to discuss with me our successes, failures, and hopes in the comments section below. I am thinking this will be similar to an open thread, except I would like us to keep to the topic of practicing disintermediation as much as possible.
Here are a few examples to get us started:
- A great way to safely store a little gold is by placing 1/10th ounce krugerrands [6] in an L.L. Bean money belt [7], and hanging it in the closet with a bunch of other belts. Hiding in plain sight, and readily portable.
- I found it helpful to write a Gratitude List of the things I am most thankful for, and placing it in a place where I see it every day, not just in the church on Sundays. In my experience, Veggie Tales is right...a thankful heart is a happy heart [8].
- Most places in America still have a county agriculture extension office [8] where one can get a list of the plants that grow well locally, when to plant them, when to harvest them, how to protect them from pests, and how to fertilize them, etc.
- For home security, it is hard to beat a 12 gauge shotgun, loaded with 00 buck, and a weapon mounted light [9]. However, familiarity with a shotgun gained by target shooting or hunting is highly unlikely to provide one with the ability to effectively use the weapon for defensive purposes, and When you are Suddenly Surrounded by Violence and Killing It's Too Late to Train [10], so take a Tactical Shotgun Course. It is a load of fun, and you will be suprised to learn that getting the hit on big-slow badguys, when it counts, is often much more difficult than hitting little-fast birdies.
Health and education [11] are two other areas that come to mind where disintermediation can serve us well.
This may be a disaster, but let's see how it goes...
