prices
Over the past decade, we've been told that inflation has been tame — actually below the target the Federal Reserve would like to see. But if that's true, then why does the average household find it harder and harder to get by?
The ugly reality is that the true annual cost of living is far outpacing the government's reported inflation rate. By nearly 10x in many parts of the country.
This week, we welcome Ed Butowsky, developer of the Chapwood Index, to the program. His index is a 'real world' measure of how prices are increasing much faster than the wages of the 99% can afford.
Ed Butowsky: Calculating The True Cost of Living Increase
by Adam TaggartOver the past decade, we've been told that inflation has been tame — actually below the target the Federal Reserve would like to see. But if that's true, then why does the average household find it harder and harder to get by?
The ugly reality is that the true annual cost of living is far outpacing the government's reported inflation rate. By nearly 10x in many parts of the country.
This week, we welcome Ed Butowsky, developer of the Chapwood Index, to the program. His index is a 'real world' measure of how prices are increasing much faster than the wages of the 99% can afford.
Executive Summary
- The math explaining why Ukraine was a predictable flashpoint
- Why the IMF's "help" is about to make the Ukranian situation a lot worse
- Implications for those considering relocating inside or outside of the US
- Chris' "must have" ingredients that make a potential relocation destination worth considering
If you have not yet read Rising Resource Costs Escalate Odds of Global Unrest, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.
Ukraine
Now back to Dave’s original series of questions. I think that Ukraine was primed and ready for a shove into instability.
There’s a well known psychology experiment where two male rats can be placed in a cage where they will live somewhat happily as long as they have sufficient food. However, if painful electric shocks are applied to the floor of the cage in such a way that the rats cannot escape, the two males will begin fighting.
Keep up the shocks long enough and the fighting will be severe, even to the death.
What’s happening? The rats lack the context to know that the shocks are coming from outside somewhere. The only thing they can project their discomfort onto is the only other living thing in their sight – the other rat.
So they fight.
Similarly, the people of Ukraine lack the context to know just who is to blame for the unpleasant conditions in which they live and seemingly cannot escape. So they blame each other and fight each other. They blame the President and so he’s gone. But the next one, and the ones following, will be just as bad; and eventually they will each be in turn ousted, too.
The problem is the shocks are not being caused by players they can see and blame. We’ll get to more on that in a minute.
By the numbers, the …:
What To Avoid When Relocating
PREVIEW by Chris MartensonExecutive Summary
- The math explaining why Ukraine was a predictable flashpoint
- Why the IMF's "help" is about to make the Ukranian situation a lot worse
- Implications for those considering relocating inside or outside of the US
- Chris' "must have" ingredients that make a potential relocation destination worth considering
If you have not yet read Rising Resource Costs Escalate Odds of Global Unrest, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.
Ukraine
Now back to Dave’s original series of questions. I think that Ukraine was primed and ready for a shove into instability.
There’s a well known psychology experiment where two male rats can be placed in a cage where they will live somewhat happily as long as they have sufficient food. However, if painful electric shocks are applied to the floor of the cage in such a way that the rats cannot escape, the two males will begin fighting.
Keep up the shocks long enough and the fighting will be severe, even to the death.
What’s happening? The rats lack the context to know that the shocks are coming from outside somewhere. The only thing they can project their discomfort onto is the only other living thing in their sight – the other rat.
So they fight.
Similarly, the people of Ukraine lack the context to know just who is to blame for the unpleasant conditions in which they live and seemingly cannot escape. So they blame each other and fight each other. They blame the President and so he’s gone. But the next one, and the ones following, will be just as bad; and eventually they will each be in turn ousted, too.
The problem is the shocks are not being caused by players they can see and blame. We’ll get to more on that in a minute.
By the numbers, the …:
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