Insider
by
Chris Martenson
Executive Summary
- There is not nearly enough net energy to meet our growth expectations in our lifetime
- We are past the "tipping point". A hard rendezvous with limits to growth will arrive in the next 2 decades
- What you can do to avoid that pain that the majority undoutedly will face
- Prepare for the current "mother of all bubbles" to burst soon
If you have not yet read, In Denial: We Pursue Endless Growth At Our Peril available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.
Energy Denial
It is said that you cannot explain water to a fish and I have nearly as difficult time trying to explain energy to people today. We are surrounded by it so completely it is difficult to properly appreciate.
But it is in every particle of food you eat, every piece of furniture in your house, every item you wear, and every trip you take — are all 100% dependent on energy that came from somewhere and subsidizes every single item and action.
Fossil fuels are the vast majority of all the energy we use and, it cannot be repeated enough, they visibly and invisibly subsidize the so-called renewables, too. By that I mean solar and wind power cannot be generated until and unless the components are first manufactured and installed. And those activities are nearly 100% driven by fossil fuels today.
To grasp this more fully, watch this time-lapse video of a wind tower being installed and, while marveling at the ingenuity and speed of the team involved, think about where all of the components came from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84BeVq2Jm88
How were the cranes, bulldozers and trucks built? What fuels do they run on? How did all those workers get there? Who grew their food and how did they come to eat it? How are the roads they drove on built and maintained? How is concrete made and how did it all get to the job site? What do the factories and foundries run on that built the windmill? How far did each windmill component have to travel before arriving at the site?
The answer to all of those questions is…
Life Beyond The Tipping Point
PREVIEW by Chris MartensonExecutive Summary
- There is not nearly enough net energy to meet our growth expectations in our lifetime
- We are past the "tipping point". A hard rendezvous with limits to growth will arrive in the next 2 decades
- What you can do to avoid that pain that the majority undoutedly will face
- Prepare for the current "mother of all bubbles" to burst soon
If you have not yet read, In Denial: We Pursue Endless Growth At Our Peril available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.
Energy Denial
It is said that you cannot explain water to a fish and I have nearly as difficult time trying to explain energy to people today. We are surrounded by it so completely it is difficult to properly appreciate.
But it is in every particle of food you eat, every piece of furniture in your house, every item you wear, and every trip you take — are all 100% dependent on energy that came from somewhere and subsidizes every single item and action.
Fossil fuels are the vast majority of all the energy we use and, it cannot be repeated enough, they visibly and invisibly subsidize the so-called renewables, too. By that I mean solar and wind power cannot be generated until and unless the components are first manufactured and installed. And those activities are nearly 100% driven by fossil fuels today.
To grasp this more fully, watch this time-lapse video of a wind tower being installed and, while marveling at the ingenuity and speed of the team involved, think about where all of the components came from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84BeVq2Jm88
How were the cranes, bulldozers and trucks built? What fuels do they run on? How did all those workers get there? Who grew their food and how did they come to eat it? How are the roads they drove on built and maintained? How is concrete made and how did it all get to the job site? What do the factories and foundries run on that built the windmill? How far did each windmill component have to travel before arriving at the site?
The answer to all of those questions is…
by
Chris Martenson
In the recent podcast with Paul and Elizabeth Kaiser, the owners of Singing Frogs farm, they told a tale of success that begins and in many ways ends with their soil.
It's a model we need to pay close attention, to as I think it’s safe to say that the vast majority of farming across the world right now is based on the practice of plowing up fields and is therefore based on the practice of slowly but surely ruining the very bottom of the food pyramid.
It’s Time to Stop Treating Our Soil Like Dirt
PREVIEW by Chris MartensonIn the recent podcast with Paul and Elizabeth Kaiser, the owners of Singing Frogs farm, they told a tale of success that begins and in many ways ends with their soil.
It's a model we need to pay close attention, to as I think it’s safe to say that the vast majority of farming across the world right now is based on the practice of plowing up fields and is therefore based on the practice of slowly but surely ruining the very bottom of the food pyramid.
by
Nomi Prins
Executive Summary
- Central planners are showing increasing signs of insecurity in their ability to maintain control
- Credit default risk is on the rise
- So are geo-political and economic risks
- Manipulation continues to muddy price discovery
- Crime & fraud have rotted the core our financial system
- How to tread carefully in these markets
If you have not yet read Part 1: 4 Factors Signaling Volatility Will Return With A Vengeance available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.
When stock markets keep racking up records, it’s hard to imagine steep downturns. Yet that’s precisely when caution is required, particularly when volatility is rising and risk factors are not subsiding. What I’m about to say is not to scare, but to help prepare, you.
Recall that two years after achieving a then historic high on October 9, 2007 of 14,164.53, the Dow plunged by more than half to a March 2009 12-year low of 6,547. The value of US stocks dropped from $22 trillion to $9 trillion. Why? Because of a confluence of risk-laden events pelting people and markets. From the housing market drop, to the failure of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, to the unraveling of CDOs, to the obscene amounts of leverage and fraud everywhere, volatility escalated and liquidity and confidence dove. Banks entered self-defense mode, turning to governments and central banks for lifelines.
The fix of subsidized private banking was in. It still is – seven years later. There’s nothing comforting about that. It took another five years, until March 5, 2013 for the Dow to top 2007 levels. If you’re an individual, say with a pension or college tuition to pay, you’ve got to have an iron stomach to deal with that kind of chaos. You’re going to want to protect your money from the possibility of a next time. Now is a good time to start.
Today’s markets have not bubbled on organic or sustainable growth, they have been propped up by unprecedented, globally coordinated central bank policies that flooded the financial system with cheap money and like a giant financial vacuum cleaner hoovered up debt securities from big banks through massive (QE) easing programs.
Market volatility, though low compared to 2008 days, has nonetheless been inching up. It will continue increasing due to…
Navigating Safely In The Coming Era Of Volatility
PREVIEW by Nomi PrinsExecutive Summary
- Central planners are showing increasing signs of insecurity in their ability to maintain control
- Credit default risk is on the rise
- So are geo-political and economic risks
- Manipulation continues to muddy price discovery
- Crime & fraud have rotted the core our financial system
- How to tread carefully in these markets
If you have not yet read Part 1: 4 Factors Signaling Volatility Will Return With A Vengeance available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.
When stock markets keep racking up records, it’s hard to imagine steep downturns. Yet that’s precisely when caution is required, particularly when volatility is rising and risk factors are not subsiding. What I’m about to say is not to scare, but to help prepare, you.
Recall that two years after achieving a then historic high on October 9, 2007 of 14,164.53, the Dow plunged by more than half to a March 2009 12-year low of 6,547. The value of US stocks dropped from $22 trillion to $9 trillion. Why? Because of a confluence of risk-laden events pelting people and markets. From the housing market drop, to the failure of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, to the unraveling of CDOs, to the obscene amounts of leverage and fraud everywhere, volatility escalated and liquidity and confidence dove. Banks entered self-defense mode, turning to governments and central banks for lifelines.
The fix of subsidized private banking was in. It still is – seven years later. There’s nothing comforting about that. It took another five years, until March 5, 2013 for the Dow to top 2007 levels. If you’re an individual, say with a pension or college tuition to pay, you’ve got to have an iron stomach to deal with that kind of chaos. You’re going to want to protect your money from the possibility of a next time. Now is a good time to start.
Today’s markets have not bubbled on organic or sustainable growth, they have been propped up by unprecedented, globally coordinated central bank policies that flooded the financial system with cheap money and like a giant financial vacuum cleaner hoovered up debt securities from big banks through massive (QE) easing programs.
Market volatility, though low compared to 2008 days, has nonetheless been inching up. It will continue increasing due to…
by
charleshughsmith
Executive Summary
- The most common sources of independent income in America
- Independent wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few, but it doesn't have to be that way
- The promise of the Mobile Creative Model for developing independent income
- The importance of beginning to develop multiple streams of income now, before crisis hits
If you have not yet read The Self-Employed Middle Class Hardly Exists Anymore available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.
In Part 1, we looked at a variety of IRS and other data to conclude that about 15% of the workforce of 145 million earns some self-employment income, but only 15% of those earners (4 to 5 million) made enough to support a middle class life. Of these around 3 million are estimated to be self-employed professionals. Punchline: very few Americans are able to afford a middle-class lifestyle without working for corporations or the government.
In this Part 2, we examine the primary sources for developing independent income, defined as income that is not paid directly by the government or Corporate America or their pension funds (public and private).
The Primary Sources of Independent Income
Thanks to the complexities of U.S. tax law, specifically, how the tax code treats various kinds of income, we have a reasonably precise snapshot of earned and unearned income. We can identify the primary sources of independent income as…
A Promising Framework For Developing Independent Income
PREVIEW by charleshughsmithExecutive Summary
- The most common sources of independent income in America
- Independent wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few, but it doesn't have to be that way
- The promise of the Mobile Creative Model for developing independent income
- The importance of beginning to develop multiple streams of income now, before crisis hits
If you have not yet read The Self-Employed Middle Class Hardly Exists Anymore available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.
In Part 1, we looked at a variety of IRS and other data to conclude that about 15% of the workforce of 145 million earns some self-employment income, but only 15% of those earners (4 to 5 million) made enough to support a middle class life. Of these around 3 million are estimated to be self-employed professionals. Punchline: very few Americans are able to afford a middle-class lifestyle without working for corporations or the government.
In this Part 2, we examine the primary sources for developing independent income, defined as income that is not paid directly by the government or Corporate America or their pension funds (public and private).
The Primary Sources of Independent Income
Thanks to the complexities of U.S. tax law, specifically, how the tax code treats various kinds of income, we have a reasonably precise snapshot of earned and unearned income. We can identify the primary sources of independent income as…
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