“The only thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve is the fear of failure.” [Paulo Coelho]. “Failing is not falling over, it’s not getting back up again.” [Xerox Inc.]
- “Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?” [T.S. Eliot – “The Rock” 1934]
- “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” [Albert Einstein]
HAVING PREPARED a resilient mental attitude by finding the courage to change the pattern of our life management, it is now appropriate to examine how our modified attitudes can help us learn from some real-life experiences to be found in the ‘New Normal’ economic and social system extant today. Here is a real-life illustration of the New Emergent Economy told by a wise individual in America who reflects my aspirations.
“When I didn’t feel like Massachusetts was conducive to my idea of freedom I moved. It wasn’t just the politics of the state, but also the climate. I hated being cold and miserable for half the year, so I did something about it.
I moved to Florida where the growing season was longer, and the winter was much shorter and milder. I negotiated a non-monetary exchange for my rent and food. I created garden beds, tended the crops, built structures, raised chickens, and milked goats. This arrangement is not for everyone but for me it is perfect. I feel free and close to nature and I know what I am eating is not poisoning me and I also know that I am not contributing to corrupt food industries. I am concurrently reducing what I have to pay the government for the crime of being productive.
And even though I live out in the country and had to play around with various hotspots to get proper internet, I was able to set myself up to use the internet to earn what money I needed.
Please forgive me for feeling that individuals do have the power to shape their lives for the better. However, as I wake up every morning and feel the benefits of this liberating philosophy it is hard for me to see the future as dark and dreary. Please don’t mistake my optimism for ignorance. I realize that there are plenty of bad people out there trying to ruin my future and control my life. But letting them get the better of me would only help them achieve their goals. I don’t ignore the evils they are doing, but I do ignore what I cannot control.
You must always have a backup plan, and I don’t think of where I am now as a final destination, far from it. There are so many options; I may move out of the United States altogether; I may start a company and I will write more books and see where that takes me. Never have individuals had more power than they do now.
The government cannot keep up. Individuals are freeing themselves faster than they can be oppressed. And I will continue to free myself and promote my optimistic vision of the future because I honestly believe and feel in my daily life that it is the truth.”
It is not expected that everyone would relish a lifestyle, as described here, as many will prefer to remain in cities. Nevertheless, the principles of being, in part, ‘off-grid’ will apply wherever one chooses to rest a weary head.
The Fourth Turning by Strauss & Howe is a description of the cycles of history and that generations to come will be influenced in the way they design their lifestyles by the generations before them. We are moving rapidly to a crisis that will cause significant changes in the way we live our lives.
Since Donald Trump’s victory in 2016 much of the press has made note of Steve Bannon’s interest in an influential book published in 1997 called, “The Fourth Turning: “What Cycles of History Tell Us About America’s Next Rendezvous With Destiny.”
In this book, authors William Strauss and Neil Howe, make the argument that our ideas about the nature of history, linear time, and progress are illusory and that if we want a more accurate concept about the way that history unfolds we would do well to study the ancient Greek concept of cyclical time.
This concept views national and global historical phenomena, not as random occurring events, or the linear march of historical ‘progress,’ but instead sees them as recurring archetypes placed into a larger tapestry of a greater repeating historical cycle. According to Strauss and Howe, the relative geographic and historical isolation of the United States provides a unique opportunity to view this cycle unfolding regularly and predictably every 80 years or so. This 80-year cycle can be divided into four stages or seasons, each lasting approximately twenty years:
- High: The initial stage occurs immediately following a period of crisis. The high is characterised by strong institutions, a sense of collective destiny, and a weakness of individuality. The most recent example of this would be the period of prosperity and conformity in America immediately following the conclusion of World War II.
- Awakening: The second stage, or turning, is a period of questioning established values and asserting one’s independence from established norms and morals be they spiritual or political. This stage may be seen as a rebellion against the previous era’s emphasis on material wealth and conformity. The 1960’s, with the psychedelic revolution, anti-war protests, Civil Rights marches, and New Age spiritual movements can be seen as recent characteristics of this second stage as well as Reaganomics and the mid-1980s Wall Street ethos.
- Unravelling: The emphasis on autonomy and the questioning of spiritual, political, and individual authority in the Awakening Stage eventually destabilises society, leading to the Third Turning, in which institutions are weak and suffer the loss of trust while the subjective experience of the individual is emphasised. This stage can be thought of as the inverse of the initial high stage, where collective destiny is replaced by atomisation. A recent symptom of this stage would be the culture wars, corporate malfeasance, and lack of faith in government, social justice movements, and political correctness.
- Crisis: The Fourth Turning, a destabilising event, usually involving warfare, leads to the destruction and reconstruction of Institutions of Power. In the face of destruction, Americans are forced to unite and forge a vision to restructure a disrupted society. This fourth stage can be seen as the inverse of the Awakening stage, and the authors cite World War II as the defining event of the most recent period of crisis following 2008.
Strauss and Howe predicted that the next Crisis period that the US would face would happen sometime around 2005 and end around 2025. Anyone who has been paying attention over the last decade would have a difficult time refuting this thesis. The 2008 Financial Crisis threw the planet into discord and we are now just beginning to see some of the political and economic ramifications.
We may have reached the apex of this crisis in 2019/20, or at least we witnessed a significant acceleration. The institutions that once defined American stability are rapidly crumbling. Mounting debt, unsustainable consumerism, landfill economy, and illegal immigration are chipping away at the once sturdy foundation of America and the Collective West.
The robust civil discourse needed to solve these problems has been interrupted by advocates of social justice and Woke cultural infection, sometimes violently. Recent small skirmishes between the two sides may be headed toward larger eruptions. Emboldened by a mainstream media apparatus, which functions as a mouthpiece of Deep State interests, activists are determined to overturn democratically elected officials and disrupt law and order because they disagree with the silent majority.
This shattering of social norms seems to be the apex, or perhaps the precursor to a major crisis event described by Strauss and Howe in the ‘Fourth Turning’ and it is proving to be a global movement. In The Financial Jigsaw – Part 1, all the reasons why a crisis will be upon us were projected in Chapter 13 and Straus & Howe merely reinforce the belief that major social and economic changes are on our doorstep.
Here is a wonderful video from the Suspicious Observer provided to me, (hat tip AK John at The Burning Platform)
What model will the New Economy adopt as the crisis evolves? In the 2016 American presidential election, Bernie Sanders refused to answer questions about Venezuela during an interview with Univision. He claimed to not want to talk about it because he was, “focused on my campaign.”
Many suggested a more plausible reason: Venezuela’s economy is an example of what happens when a state implements ‘Bernie Sanders-style’ social democracy or in the UK a Jeremy Corbyn-style leadership. Similarly, Pope Francis, who has denounced pro-market ideologies for allegedly driving millions into poverty, seems uninterested in talking about the impoverishment of Venezuela in recent years.
Pope Francis is not known as someone who holds back in the face of what he regards as gross injustices. On issues like refugees, immigration, poverty, and the environment, Francis speaks forcibly and uses vivid language in doing so.
Yet despite the daily violence being inflicted on protestors in Venezuela, a steadily increasing death toll, an explosion of crime, rampant corruption, galloping inflation, the naked politicisation of the judiciary, and the disappearance of basic food and medical supplies, the first Latin American Pope’s comments about the crisis tearing apart an overwhelming catholic Latin American country have been curiously restrained.
This virtual silence comes even though the catholic bishops who live in Venezuela have denounced the regime as yet another illustration of the “utter failure” of “socialism in every country in which this regime has been installed.”
As with Sanders, it may very well be that Francis has nothing to say about Venezuela precisely because the Venezuelan regime has pursued exactly the sorts of policies favoured by Bernie Sanders, Pope Francis, and the usual opponents of market economics. It is an economic program marked by price controls, government expropriation of private property, an enormous welfare state, central planning, and endless rhetoric about equality, poverty relief, and fighting the so-called ‘neoliberals.’
As Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has helpfully explained, “There are two models, the neoliberal model which destroys everything, and the Chavista model which is centred on people.” The Chavista model is simply a mixture of social democracy and environmentalism which is easily recognisable as the Venezuelan version of the hard-left ideology espoused by many global political elites and misguided ‘celebrities’ both in the United States and Europe.
Neoliberalism, on the other hand, as has been noted before, is a vague term that most of the time just means a system of relatively free markets and moderate laissez-faire. Indeed, no other regime in the world, save Cuba and North Korea, has been as explicit in fighting the ‘alleged menace’ that is neoliberalism. As Venezuela descends into chaos, we are hearing a deafening silence from most of the celebrity left, as even some principled leftists have noticed.
Venezuela was news for so long when it was good news and while Chávez could be used as a banner for the left and his antics providing comic relief. But as soon as the country began to spiral towards ruination, and Chavismo began to resemble another Latin American authoritarian regime, it was better to turn a blind eye.
Nevertheless, as a dedicated leftist, Lange-Chrion unfortunately still mistakenly thinks that the Venezuelan problem is political and not an economic one. For him, it’s merely an unfortunate coincidence that the implementation of the ‘Chavismo’ economic agenda just happened to coincide with the destruction of the nation’s political and economic institutions.
It is a textbook case of a country electing a left-wing populist who reverses years of pro-market reforms and ends up destroying the economy. This has been going on for decades in Latin America where, as explained by Rudiger Dornbusch and Sebastián Edwards, the cycle repeats itself again and again.
It has happened in Argentina and Brazil most recently, and it unfolds along these lines. At first, a relatively neoliberal regime comes to power, moderately reduces government spending, somewhat restrains government power, and ushers in a period of growth. But, even with growth, middle-income countries like those of Latin America remain poor compared to the rich countries of the world and large inequalities remain.
Eventually, populist social democrats convince voters that if only the regime would redistribute more wealth, punish greedy capitalists, and regulate markets to make them more ‘humane,’ then everyone would get richer even faster.
Yet, even better, the evil capitalists would be punished for exploiting the poor. Eventually, the economy collapses under the weight of the new social democratic regime and a neoliberal regime is again elected to clean up the mess. The history of the UK political agenda in the twentieth century follows this pattern perfectly.
Venezuela is in the midst of this cycle right now. After decades of relatively restrained government intervention, Venezuela became one of the wealthiest nations in Latin America. During the last twenty years, the Chavistas were able to take that wealth and redistribute it, regulate it, and expropriate it for the sake of “equality” and undermine capitalist ‘evil’.
However, you can only redistribute, tax, regulate, and expropriate so much before the productive classes give up and the wealth runs out. A social-democratic model will fail in the coming New Emergent Economy. What could emerge is a cooperative, market-based economy based on a sovereign money system supported by free trade because this is the natural order of the human condition.
Reasons for a feeling of disempowerment during the emergence of the New Economy. Many people will be feeling depressed during the recent political upheavals and uncertainty surrounding Brexit outcomes. It might be worth considering some aspects of these low feelings and what we can do to transform them into something empowering.
Psychoanalysis teaches that one cause of depression is repressed anger due to a sense of powerlessness. The rising tide of collective anger is visible in many areas such as road rage, violent street clashes between groups seething for a fight, and the destruction of friendships associated with holding ‘incorrect’ ideological views promoted by social media forever emphasising ‘political correctness’.
One source of resentment may be our failure to obtain the expected rewards of ‘doing the right thing’’, such as getting a university degree or working hard, which breeds negative feelings and often despair and loss of hope. There is a belief that the system should deliver the financial rewards and security we had been led to expect, and when this fails, it erodes our confidence when assessing the performance of our leaders and politicians.
The rising generations need to recognise that the troubles of today are not their fault but should be laid at the door of generations past. There has been a constant battle between the socialists on the one hand and the conservative, capitalist promoters on the other, ever since World War II ended. The result has not been pretty. Worse, we neglected to maintain our freedoms or provide our young people with the tools necessary to survive, let alone succeed, in the impersonal jungle that is modern Western culture.
We have raised our young people in homes fractured by divorce, distracted by mindless entertainment, and obsessed with the pursuit of materialism and debt. We have institutionalised them in day-care centres and after-school programs, substituting their time with teachers and childcare workers for direct parental involvement and responsibility. We have turned our children into ‘test-takers’ instead of thinkers and ‘automatons’ instead of achievers.
We have allowed them to languish in schools that not only look like prisons but function like prisons, where conformity is the rule, and freedom is the exception. We have made them easy prey for our corporate overlords, whilst instilling in them the values of a celebrity-obsessed, technology-driven culture devoid of any true spirituality.
We have taught them to believe that the pursuit of their selfish ends and personal happiness trumps all other virtues including empathy for their fellow human beings. Some things can be done to overcome these negative feelings and instil positive thoughts, as a preparation for the coming Chapters, where many ideas will be presented to build belief and faith to Protect your sanity and Survive the challenges of the coming years.
This is what you can do to overcome a sense of powerlessness and mild depression and be confident in your dealings with people in general, authorities, and government in particular. Speak your truth to power and challenge those in positions of authority. As James Madison, who wrote the American Bill of Rights, observed: “All men having power ought to be distrusted.”
We should learn the lessons of history because people in power, more often than not, abuse that power. When challenging anyone and having a rejection, merely ask if you can have their response in writing. You will be amazed at how often these authoritarians crumble when their response is required to be recorded forever.
To maintain our freedoms will mean challenging government officials whenever they exceed the bounds of their office. Our world is both complex and mind-numbing and it is all too easy to cast aside problems, allowing them to fester and grow. I always recommend addressing problems by approaching the Citizens Advice Bureau, either online or by visiting a local office, for here you will know your rights and be empowered to action with knowledgeable help if needed.
Try not to measure your worth by what you own or earn or become mindless consumers unaware of the trickery to be found in the world around you. Those in power, who establish the rules and laws that govern society’s actions, desire compliant subjects who pursue their lives thoughtlessly.
As George Orwell warned, “Until they become conscious, they will never rebel, and until after they rebelled, they cannot become conscious.” It is these conscious individuals who will change the world for the better; recognise them and support them for this is how as a society we will progress.
Technology is a double-edged sword; it can turn you into a zombie. The internet and social media are powerful sources of information and knowledge but they can anesthetise against the tragedies that surround us every day across the globe. Techno-gadgets can be merely distractions from what’s going on in the world; a way to escape unpleasant feelings of angst and fear. If you want to make a difference in this world, you will need to cast aside those earphones, turn off the iPhone, and spend much less time viewing screens.
Cultivate an awareness of values other than materialism by putting people’s needs first and changing an incubated belief system to reflect something more meaningful than technology, materialism, and politics. Standing at the pulpit of the Riverside Church in New York City in April 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. urged his listeners:
“[W]e as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a “thing-oriented” society to a “person-oriented” society. When machines and computers, profit motive, and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” And as Gandhi urged: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
Prepare now for what is likely ahead. The demons of our age, some of whom disguise themselves as politicians, delight in fomenting violence, sowing distrust and prejudice, and persuading the public to support tyranny disguised as patriotism. Overcoming the evils of our age will require more than intellect and activism. It will require decency, morality, goodness, truth, and toughness. Rodman Edward “Rod” Serling concluded in his remarks to the graduating class of 1968:
“Toughness is the singular quality most required of you. We have left you a world far more botched than the one that was left to us. Part of your challenge is to seek out truth, to come up with a point of view not dictated to you by anyone, be he a congressman, even a minister. Are you tough enough to take the divisiveness of this land of ours, the fact that everything is polarized, black and white, this or that, absolutely right or wrong? This is one of the challenges.
Be prepared to seek out the middle ground; that wondrous and very difficult-to-find Valhalla where man can look to both sides and see the errant truths that exist on both sides. If you must swing left or you must swing right respect the other side. Honour the motives that come from the other side; argue and debate or rebut but do not close those wondrous minds of yours to opposition. In their eyes, you are the opposition. And ultimately … ultimately …. you end divisiveness by compromise. And so long as men walk and breathe there must be compromise.”
We can all find that we have a calling in life, a mission perhaps, which is what brought us here in the first place. You are here on this planet to help other people. None of us can exist very long without help from others. If we are going to see any positive change for freedom, then we must change our view of what it means to be human and regain a sense of what it means to love and help one another. That will mean gaining “the serenity to accept those things you cannot change, the courage to change those things you can, and finding the wisdom to know the difference” [St Francis of Assisi]
A FINAL THOUGHT – Our consumerist/landfill economy allows bankers to control our world to the detriment of ‘The People’, who are coerced into worshipping money and worldly things (aka meaningless ‘stuff’). It is important to forsake materialism, downsize, and reject secularism in favour of peace and security.
“On this account, I say to you: Stop being anxious about your lives as to what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your bodies as to what you will wear. Does not life mean more than food and the body than clothing? Observe intently the birds of heaven; they do not sow seed or reap or gather into storehouses, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they are? Who of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his life span?” [Matthew 6:25-27]
“Fiat currency has reigned in the last forty years, but every fiat currency that has existed in history has eventually failed. A study of 775 fiat currencies indicates the average life expectancy of fiat currencies is 27 years, with some taking a month to crash and others surviving for centuries” https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fiatmoney.asp
POSTSCRIPT – REAL PERSONAL EMPOWERMENT
COMING NEXT WEEK
- BOOM’s Global Weekly Review – Tuesday, March 19, 2024
- Letter from South Africa – CECIL RHODES – Saturday, March 23, 2024
REFERENCES
- My Book: “The Financial Jigsaw” Parts 1 & 2 Scroll: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/358117070_THE_FINANCIAL_JIGSAW_-_PART_1_-_4th_Edition_2020 including regular updates.
- BOOM Finance and Economics Substack (Subscribe for Free) – also on LinkedIn and WordPress. Covid Medical News Network CMN News BOOM Blog — All Editorials (over 5 years) — BOOM Finance and Economics | Designed for Critical Thinkers — UPDATED WEEKLY (wordpress.com)
Yep.
I can see that I will have to hold my tongue and work with the duped.
“No man is an island”
Good call Peter.
__________
I just can’t help thinking the Pythons were quite prescient in 1983 with this bit in “the meaning of life”:
Love your articles Peter.
You need to include stuff I disagree with so I can take the counterpoint.
Lol.
Just kidding!
Blessings my friend, wherever you are!
I am living in Simons Town my friend – safe at 34 deg south
https://austrianpeter.substack.com/p/easy-living-in-south-africa-icj-ruling?sd=pf
A brilliant clip – thank you. Yes, the comic Messiah was well ahead of us mere mortals: This one made me crease with laughter:
One of the best clips, IMO.
Tells all IMHO Greg, and our little local economy here in SA is almost 90% off-grid now. I can make bread using a “potjiekos” (meaning “small pot food”) is a meal cooked in a cast-iron pot known as a “potjie” (pronounced “poi-kee”), but most South Africans refer to the dish itself as a potjie too. It usually consists of meat and veg and is prepared outdoors and cooked slowly over an open fire. But it can be used to bake bread too.
With 300 days of sun, and living outside mostly, we have a supportive community who come and braai (BBQ) with us most days.
The guys here tell me not to write about our ‘bubble’ of paradise here as everyone will want to come! LOL.
Blessings
AP
Peter. Many thanks and blessings to you. Enlightening, as usual.
Thank you AKJ – I appreciate your wonderful support 🙂
Blessings to you too,
AP
Do not eat any Tyson products.
So, the powers are killing off the failed crop of Americans and replacing them with a special blend of immis.
Who will be fed the new diet based on bugs, along with the vackses which will be forced upon them and their children as son as all the English speaking Americans are dead and buried.
The immis?
Are simply replacement test subject who are too stupid to realize the trap they were just captured by.
Many of these morons left the tropics to come here.
The tropics are where the least amount of effort needs to be applied for food success.
And you never need winter wear.
cold climates with tough winters have a major advantage in separating the wheat from the chaff.
Yep.
Watch as the immis begin to realize they were tricked, and start heading home.
A certainty for many when the free ride ends.
Betcha the exits will be guarded later, with no one allowed to leave.