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Chris Martenson

Adam Werbach: The Future of Sustainable Business

Adam Werbach has been at the vanguard of the sustainability movement since high school when he founded a national organization of over 30,000 student volunteers who mobilized around environmental projects. A few years later, at the age of 23, he was elected the national President of the Sierra Club – the youngest in its 100+ year history.

In 2004, Adam turned the environmentalism movement on its head by publicly decrying its outdated thinking and lack of progress, given the scope of its mission. He challenged its followers to link their goals to other broad social and economic ones in order to have more impact.

He led the way, controversially, by working with Wal-Mart in 2006 to help them integrate sustainable practices into their supply chain and operations – a model he subsequently brought to many of the world's largest multinational corporations in over 80 countries.

In this interview, Chris and Adam discuss the "sustainable business" movement and its future prospects, including such questions as What does sustainability really mean? What are the key success requirements? What models show the most promise today?

Adam Werbach: The Future of Sustainable Business

Off the Cuff: Disturbing Data

PREVIEW

In this week's Off the Cuff podcast, Chris and Adam discuss:

A classic symptom of Peak Oil

The 4 largest oil majors report production declines for 2012

Rampant insider selling

The selling-to-buying ratio is at an abnormally high 9-to-1

Gold's flight to China

The West-to-East bullion transfer accelerates

Scarce platinum

Mine shutdowns and growing demand sends prices higher

The upcoming Peak Prosperity Seminar at Rowe, MA
- Now's the time for those interested to register

Off the Cuff: Disturbing Data

PREVIEW

In this week's Off the Cuff podcast, Chris and Adam discuss:

A classic symptom of Peak Oil

The 4 largest oil majors report production declines for 2012

Rampant insider selling

The selling-to-buying ratio is at an abnormally high 9-to-1

Gold's flight to China

The West-to-East bullion transfer accelerates

Scarce platinum

Mine shutdowns and growing demand sends prices higher

The upcoming Peak Prosperity Seminar at Rowe, MA
- Now's the time for those interested to register

Why You Really, Really Need to Care About the Implications of QE

PREVIEW

Executive Summary The Fed's money-printing actions are simply creating new unsustainable bubbles in certain assets, like stocks QE-created huge excess reserves on banks' balance sheets are the rocket fuel that can –and like will – trigger explosive inflation The Fed is extremely unlikely to be able to unwind its QE efforts in a controlled way…

Why You Really, Really Need to Care About the Implications of QE

PREVIEW

QE for Dummies

A PeakProsperity.com reader recently lamented:

I have been trying to get my head around the mechanism of QE. Not being an economist or experienced investor I don't really understand a lot of the jargon. The usual simple definition of QE as "thin air money printing" does not satisfy my need for understanding either. Have hunted for a description of QE for dummies that leaves me feeling like I get it, but with no luck. My difficulty is in understanding how thin air money gets into circulation.

So I'm going to do my best to answer this plea in as intuitive and straightforward a manner as I can. I, too, share the need to understand the mechanism of a process in order to feel like I have a grasp of it. And I think it's critically important to understand QE (also known by its full name, "quantitative easing") and what it really represents. Because it is, without a doubt, one of the largest market-shaping forces of our times.

QE for Dummies

A PeakProsperity.com reader recently lamented:

I have been trying to get my head around the mechanism of QE. Not being an economist or experienced investor I don't really understand a lot of the jargon. The usual simple definition of QE as "thin air money printing" does not satisfy my need for understanding either. Have hunted for a description of QE for dummies that leaves me feeling like I get it, but with no luck. My difficulty is in understanding how thin air money gets into circulation.

Mark Sisson: The Importance, and Achievability, of Being Fit

For years, Mark Sisson competed as a professional runner and triathlete. He trained hard and conventionally, but realized that the "better" shape he was in, the more problems his body had: joint pain, digestive issues, tendonitis, etc.

Eventually he retired from competition and set out to find a way to remain fit, but healthy. His reseach led him to focus on the evolutionary path the human body has followed; How our physiology is designed and how our genes are wired.

Mark Sisson: The Importance, and Achievability, of Being Fit

Running on Fumes

PREVIEW

The stock market blasted higher, with the Dow crossing the 14,000 mark because the jobs report came in well under expectations. In today's world, one follows the other.

In yesterday's world, the one where logic and reason ruled the day, that first sentence would not have been written. Economic weakness would not have been rewarded with a big surge in stocks.

But this all makes perfect sense in today's world, once you tilt your view to the "new normal" and get with the program.

I titled this piece 'running on fumes' because, in one very real sense, that's exactly what this current market is doing. The fumes in this case happen to be thin-air money that the Fed is injecting into the financial markets to the tune of $85 billion per month, or roughly $4 billion per working day.

When an engine finally runs out of gas and turns to fumes, the last act of that engine is to run really hot – to race for a while – before finally quitting.

Running on Fumes

PREVIEW

The stock market blasted higher, with the Dow crossing the 14,000 mark because the jobs report came in well under expectations. In today's world, one follows the other.

In yesterday's world, the one where logic and reason ruled the day, that first sentence would not have been written. Economic weakness would not have been rewarded with a big surge in stocks.

But this all makes perfect sense in today's world, once you tilt your view to the "new normal" and get with the program.

When an engine finally runs out of gas and turns to fumes, the last act of that engine is to run really hot – to race for a while – before finally quitting.

Off the Cuff: Negative Numbers

PREVIEW

In this week's Off the Cuff podcast, Chris and Mish discuss:

The GDP Surprise
- Is the economy stalling?
Housing
- Is there reason for optimism?

Chris and Mish weigh in on the surprising negative GDP growth seen in Q4. Lots of noise in that data – as we've been animatedly discussing here.

Off the Cuff: Negative Numbers

PREVIEW

In this week's Off the Cuff podcast, Chris and Mish discuss:

The GDP Surprise
- Is the economy stalling?
Housing
- Is there reason for optimism?

Chris and Mish weigh in on the surprising negative GDP growth seen in Q4. Lots of noise in that data – as we've been animatedly discussing here.

James Turk: Central Banks are Losing the War to Suppress Gold & Silver Prices

My guess is that 2013 and 2014 are going to be big up year for the precious metals, but we still have to contend with the central planners and the various government policies, which have been actively trying to keep the gold and silver prices from reaching fair value. The central planners are losing the war. They may win an occasional battle or two, but they’re losing the war, and eventually gold and silver are going to go higher.

So predicts James Turk, founder and Chairman of GoldMoney.com.

From James’ perspective, gold is not an investment. It’s a sterile asset, meaning it does not generate income. What it is, is money. Its function is to store wealth.

But money, like investments, can be overvalued or undervalued. And what we’re witnessing on the world stage is a gross mispricing of money as central banks engage in depreciation of their fiat currencies via inflation (i.e., money printing).

The process causes a transfer of wealth from those holding overvalued money to those who hold undervalued money. That’s what’s been going on for the past decade as the price of gold has steadily marched upwards versus fiat currencies.

But this process is not efficient. Mass awareness of this wealth transfer is low, so confidence in paper currencies is still high, supporting their perceived value. Market intervention by central banks and other parties conspires to keep the prices of precious metals artificially low and suspect.

This maintains an arbitrage for individuals to buy gold and silver at a discount to true value, which James believes will be slowly realized in full over the next several years as the bull market in precious metals approaches its third and final phase.

A factor in this rise will be the increasing fragmentation of coordination among the central banks. Increasingly, central banks outside the influence of the U.S. Federal Reserve are treating the precious metals as true money, and becoming net buyers of bullion for their reserves.

Ultimately, Turk predicts the price of gold will move to somewhere between $8,000-10,000/oz and that we'll see even higher price appreciation in silver.

James Turk: Central Banks are Losing the War to Suppress Gold & Silver Prices

My guess is that 2013 and 2014 are going to be big up year for the precious metals, but we still have to contend with the central planners and the various government policies, which have been actively trying to keep the gold and silver prices from reaching fair value. The central planners are losing the war. They may win an occasional battle or two, but they’re losing the war, and eventually gold and silver are going to go higher.

So predicts James Turk, founder and Chairman of GoldMoney.com.

From James’ perspective, gold is not an investment. It’s a sterile asset, meaning it does not generate income. What it is, is money. Its function is to store wealth.

Ultimately, Turk predicts the price of gold will move to somewhere between $8,000-10,000/oz and that we'll see even higher price appreciation in silver.

Off the Cuff: Nonsensical Logic

PREVIEW

In this week's Off the Cuff podcast, Chris and I discuss:

Market Mania
- Our "no worries" financial markets
Nonsensical Logic
- From Japan's monetary strategy to Obama's inaugural speech
The Managed Rise in the Price of Precious Metals
- Intentional, yet unsustainable, manipulation
The Really, Really Big Picture
- Peak "cheap" oil, "net" energy crisis, and flow rates

Off the Cuff: Nonsensical Logic

PREVIEW

In this week's Off the Cuff podcast, Chris and I discuss:

Market Mania
- Our "no worries" financial markets
Nonsensical Logic
- From Japan's monetary strategy to Obama's inaugural speech
The Managed Rise in the Price of Precious Metals
- Intentional, yet unsustainable, manipulation
The Really, Really Big Picture
- Peak "cheap" oil, "net" energy crisis, and flow rates

Gregor Macdonald: What the End of Cheap Oil Means

On the heels of Chris' recent report clarifying the global net energy predicament, he and PeakProsperity.com contributing editor Gregor Macdonald sit down to talk in depth about the broken relationship between energy costs and economic growth.

For much of the twentieth century, the developed world saw a steady march upwards in wages and living standards, due primarily to huge quantities of cheap, high-yielding liquid hydrocarbon. As we find ourselves bumping along the plateau of Peak Oil's apex, suddenly we find "growth" is a lot harder to come by.