My latest piece, “Time to Run”, at Lew Rockwell:
“Is it time to run?
That’s what I’ve been asking myself for three years now.
Before that, I thought it was simply a matter of finding a better place to live. A place that was quieter and cheaper. Where flippers and developers hadn’t taken over the neighborhood. Somewhere safe I could park my car on the street and not worry about it.
But by the time I found it, I also found that the thieves were inside the house, not on the street. There’s really no hiding from them. And no hiding from what they can do.
Our mene, mene, tekel upharsin is on the wall.
It’s time to run, not hide.
I mean that. We’re in the throes of an economic collapse of a kind last seen in the 1930s. The government is intent on grabbing control of whatever it can. American firms are dropping like flies. Unemployment is soaring. Debt is soaring. The money supply is soaring. Our foreign policy is a wreck – we have more enemies than we can count. We have a drug war on the borders, we have gang war in the ghettos, we have culture wars in the academy and media.
We have criminals in government.
The future isn’t any brighter. Subprime is only the first leg down. We still have a second wave of housing trouble in store, centering around commercial real estate and option ARM loans.
Gerald Celente, the CEO of Trends Research, wrote a piece last year predicting that by 2012 there would be food riots, tax rebellion, and revolution across the country. Celente has a good track record in the forecasting business.
Experts predict a 100% rise in prices across the board. In the best-case scenario, it will happen over ten years. In the worst case, it might happen within months….”
Read the rest at Lew Rockwell
No. It’s not easy. And it wasn’t advice for the average person in the average situation. I do say so.
Also – it’s not about emigration. It’s about living abroad.
Yes, you will have to start a business. Many foreign countries are hungering for businesses.
As I said, those who have good jobs here, will have no reason to leave.
It’s for those who have reached a dead end, are discouraged by the political developments, or can’t manage on their incomes.
Please reread.
No where have I addressed to this the suburban joe – who doesn’t need my help, isn’t mentally prepared for it, and wouldn’t like foreign countries…
I have researched these matters for several years.
You have to go prepared to start over and do what it takes. It’s only for those really feel strongly, as I do, about the country.
Subject: Time to Run article on LRC (UNCLASSIFIED)
From: Anonymous CPT MIL USA MEDCOM DELETED
Date: Mon, June 8, 2009 6:36 am
To: lilarajiva@mindbodypolitic.com
Priority: Normal
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE
Hello, I read your article over the weekend on LRC. A couple of
questions, if you don’t mind:
1. What was the response to the article? Were there a lot of
folks who responded positively, or had serious inquiries about following
what you wrote?
2. By my email address, you can probably tell that I’m stuck
(until my liberation early next year). My wife and I are looking at
Chile for the future. Where are your “top 5” places you’ve
considered/would recommend looking into?
Thanks!
Anonymous
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE
Subject: re: Time to Run?
From: “Patricia Z
Date: Mon, June 8, 2009 7:46 am
To: lilarajiva@mindbodypolitic.com
Priority: Normal
Options: View Full Header | View Printable Version | Download this as a file
Hi Lila – I just wanted to say that this question has been on my mind for
days. Thanks for taking on the topic so
boldly. I’ve been troubled by the sudden renewal of the Emergency Broadcast
System testing on television.
I heard it on the SF classic music station for the first time last week.
This, coupled with their January ’09 law
about emergency camps, and all their other fascist laws and camps, bodes
ill for the future, even short-term.
A visa to somewhere else does seem to be the best solution. I realized some
time ago that my foreign-born
friends are far less troubled by the situation than I am precisely because
they have dual loyalties and a back door
exit plan. Underneath it all, they feel immune to this government. I
cannot rest here anymore. Best wishes
for your successful planning to secure an alternate home! Patricia
Z
Subject: Why run?
From: “Darren Z”
Date: Mon, June 8, 2009 8:36 am
To: lilarajiva@mindbodypolitic.com
Priority: Normal
Options: View Full Header | View Printable Version | Download this as a file
Dear Lila,
Just had the pleasure of reading your “Economic Collapse…” article on the Market
Oracle (http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article11155.html). I am a former Vet and
have found it interesting that you highlighted all the new coming police state
regulations but forgot to include that some one in the government has already
significantly reduced your options to leave the country. All the vets that tried to
escape persecution for illegal wars went to Canada and were denied citizenship.
Even some that were married to Canadian citizens. All were returned to the US.
Someone is tracking those that try to leave. Besides it is amazing that this
attitude is so prevalent.
What is coming is going to soon level all in it’s path. With how interconnected the
world is with telecommunications, I don’t believe that you could truly escape.
However, if it is such that you wish to run, then I hope your trip is safe and worth
it. This attitude of running is rather sad. Some of us did the right thing and
served for the stars and bars only to read an inciteful article like yours but with
a theme of fleeing and hiding. You should not run. There are two basic instincts:
fight or flight. You might reconsider your position considering you’ll have even
less rights to whichever country you choose to enter.
Sincerely,
Darren
Subject: Where to go?
From: Kris P.
Date: Mon, June 8, 2009 12:48 pm
To: lilarajiva@mindbodypolitic.com
Priority: Normal
Options: View Full Header | View Printable Version | Download this as a file
Hi,
I just read your article on Lew Rockwell called ‘Time to Run.’ Where do you live
and where would you recommend running to? My husband and family and I are ready to
run! I’ve heard there’s a community in Ecuador – recommended by Mike Adams, the
“health ranger.” Have you heard of this place? Are there better places or other
places you have heard of?
Thanks so much for any advice you can give me!
Sincerely,
Kris Paape
(I am presently reading your book Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets, and am enjoying it
immensely!)
Subject: time to run
From: Peter Wood
Date: Mon, June 8, 2009 4:31 pm
To: lilarajiva@mindbodypolitic.com
Priority: Normal
Options: View Full Header | View Printable Version | Download this as a file
Dear Ms Jiva,
while I agree that with you that the US will soon descend into chaos and revolution I don’t think that running away will help you.
The collapse of the US will mean the collapse of the dollar, the world’s
reserve currency, and this will unleash global economic mayhem as world
producers demand to be paid in gold. Governments in countries which import the
majority of their food will not have the resources to buy it. All food aid
will stop as nations stockpile whatever they have, which is bad news for
Africa, parts of Asia and the Russian Federation. Wars and ethnic conflicts
will increase and intensify with the probability of nuclear war in the Mid
East (Israel – Iran, Syria et al), South Asia (India – Pakistan) and the
Korean Peninsular. Countries with oil and other resources will find themselves
invaded by militarily stronger ones.
I shouldn’t bother collecting gold as a hedge against bad times either
because as in WW2 governments will make it illegal for citizens to own and
trade the stuff.
In your article you quote a line from the prophet Daniel but perhaps you
should read Isaiah chapter13 in which he describes the end times and the
multi-cultural societies of today:
“And in those days every man shall turn to his own people and everyone
shall try to flee to his own land but all who are caught on the way shall be
thrust through and all who are joined to them shall perish by the sword.”
I wouldn’t advise anyone to emigrate unless it’s back to the country they
came from, it could be their death warrant. What the Nazis did in the
1930’s and 1940’s was a mere dress rehearsal for what is about to take place on
a global scale. Foreigners who are seen as taking jobs and food from the
mouths of the indigenous are going to be massacred.
Peter Wood (Prof. of Strategic Studies.)
Dear Peter Wood –
Honestly, I am not afraid that there is any food shortage except what’s man made.
Nor is there anything but induced shortages in other areas.
I also think that religious prophecies are being invoked by governments and their hirelings in order to frighten people and make them think things are inevitably heading toward disaster…
There has been a long standing goal in us foreign policy to control world resources…from Kennan onward… if need be, this might involve reducing the populations and deplete the resources of the third world, so called.
I do think confrontation between Pakistan and India is being fomented….by the us government and its proxies.
While it is better to leave the US if one is an immigrant, it is also wise for Asians to have a foot in some other country but their own, as I am quite sure, as always, the brunt of any disaster will fall on the masses in Asia.
However, I have had some access to south Asian prophetic traditions that also point out that much of this literature is intentionally deceptive – the aim being to paralyze people with fear or make them strike out against each other, rather than act reasonably and justly.
Things are very much up in the air.
It is a matter of enough people of good will of any religion banding together and refusing to be bamboozled by what is essentially a manmade disaster.
The world is running out of nothing but of good will..
Lila Rajiva
I don’t know what you know about Henry David Thoreau, but I found this link to be completely relevant to this post, especially considering your very last comment.
Please consider the ideas of this man from many decades ago if you haven’t already. It applies to the rich as well as the common person. I think the teachings of this man more than any other were what guided me to having the ideals as found on LRC, long before the internet existed.
“Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.”
– Henry David Thoreau
http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/civildisobedience/section2.rhtml
I may be staying put.
Dear Lila Rajiva,
first please accept my apologies for misspelling your name in my previous missal.
You seem to miss my point in your reply. Food shortages will be caused by the collapse of the dollar which must necessarily be followed by deflation in all countries as money supply dries up and credit completely stops. In such a situation only those with precious metals or something to barter with will have anything to eat. Farmers in food exporting nations like the US will find themselves unable to pay for what they need to produce and therefore unable to produce enough for themselves let alone surplusses to feed the world.
I must have misread your article because you seemed to be suggesting that the situation was beyond rescue at least in the US, good will or no good will.
I was merely pointing out that running off to a foreign land in a time of global economic collapse might not be the best idea especially if you are an American citizen because they will be seen as the perpetrators of the disaster and the cause of everything bad.
Peter Wood (Professor of Strategic Studies)
Hi –
Sorry. I might have read too much into your post.
I wasn’t trying to panic the general population into fleeing en masse.
I was trying to suggest that people who are at a dead end (can’t find work), can’t make ends meet (trying to live on fixed income) or depressed (politically active and unable to make headway), might consider going abroad. I don’t suggest that people should emigrate unless it works for them…it’s not that easy to begin with.
I suggest that they should travel; get a world view; get their papers in order: maybe rent or buy a second house and try living there for a while.
I think for young Americans, this is very good advice. So too for retirees.
I think people who are doing reasonably well here may prefer to remain.
I doubt that American citizens will be massacred for food anywhere. What will happen most likely is that the poorest in Asia and Africa will die in greater numbers; the lower middle class in those countries will begin to struggle more or get crushed; the middle class will either make the transition to upper middle class/rich or go down with the poor.
American citizenship has a privileged status among citizenships. I doubt an American would be killed for food anywhere without some hue and cry and retribution.
Large landholdings of American corporations – especially those that lie fallow – will probably attract government attention and redistribution in some countries with large numbers of landless peasants and great poverty. That’s to be expected.
An ordinary person who intends to live in a middle class house in most countries even in Asia or Latin America isn’t going to be at great risk, and if he were to be, he would probably have ample notice and warning to return.
Just my thoughts.
I’d be very interested to have you post more on why you’re that pessimistic about the world economic outlook. I am pessimistic about American politics and therefore about the American economy but my fears are less about the economy as they are about the government’s ongoing efforts to reward the failing part of the economy with ordinary people’s savings.
Ergo, if you’re a hardworking person who’s trying to live off your own savings (retiree) or someone on whom the wrong doing of past generations is being dropped (young people), you should try to avoid being stuck with the bill for the orgy of criminality and extravagance that was the late great housing/credit bubble.
“Farmers in food exporting nations like the US…”
I don’t have a link nearby, but isn’t it a fact that the US recently become a net importer of food?
Doesn’t that change things just a bit?
When the US was a world creditor, And a net food exporter, the above posts make perfect sense, i.e. the middle class would be ok, food won’t be a problem. From what I’ve read, there’s a class war going on – the result- destroying the middle class and the independent productive members of our society, turning everyone who is not at the top into a helot.
Not to mention the fallout from people (or their bodies) rejecting GMO.
“Governments in countries which import the majority of their food will not have the resources to buy it.” What percentage is majority?
Perhaps this statement should read this way:
“What will happen most likely is that the poorest … will die in greater numbers; the lower middle class … will begin to struggle more [and] get crushed; the middle class will either make the transition to … rich or go down with the poor.”
In addition to currency devaluation, what other result could there be from increasing restrictions and taxes on business and productive individuals, combined with other effects from implementing fascists policies? Are there any historical examples to say otherwise will occur?
“American citizenship has a privileged status among citizenships.”
Why is that? Are those reasons disappearing or about too?
“An ordinary person who intends to live in a middle class house in most countries even in Asia or Latin America isn’t going to be at great risk, and if he were to be, he would probably have ample notice and warning to return.”
When in history has there been fair warning given? That was part of the point of Mike’s 2005 LRC article, I thought anyway.
Hi Clark –
Since your first quotes were from Peter, I’ll leave him to respond to them.
I’ll respond to your other quotes.
quote (1) about the middle class being crushed – obviously, you agree..so it doesn’t need my response
quote (2) about US citizenship being privileged –
Obviously, the country is relatively rich, still has better civil rights and property laws than many other countries, has tremendous universities, libraries etc.
It’s still one of the best places in the world to start a business, despite all the bureaucracy and taxation. Whether it will be in the future, I don’t know. Plus, a US passport allows you easy entry into scores of countries without a visa. It is a symbol of being part (and at the top) of the global pecking order…etc. etc. – a US citizen will get deferential treatment in a lot of ways when he travels.
Ask anyone who’s traveled with, say, an Asian, Middle Eastern, or African passport versus a US passport, and see who has more trouble traveling.
The US embassy, in my experience, responds promptly and efficiently to traveler issues (like renewing a passport). Try some other embassies and see how much red tape is involved.
I may be mistaken, and I’m speaking only from anecdotal evidence. I haven’t studied the issue.
quote (3). I don’t know about other times in history, but everything that has happened in the US in the past 15 years has been explicitly laid out by some part of the government before it happened. When not stated explicitly, it’s been put out in the public realm as a “trial balloon” or has been laid out in a public policy statement or think-tank paper.
Why that is, I don’t know and I won’t speculate. But that’s the way it seems to be.
Kennan’s memo on world resources and the US interest in retaining control of them is from more than half a century ago.
Clark,
The USA is a net exporter of cereal products.
What constitutes a majority? More than 50%.
Peter Wood (Prof. of Strategic Studies)
“…still has better civil rights and property laws than many other countries, has tremendous universities, libraries etc.”
Still, is the key word. Are civil rights backsliding in America? Have you been reading Will Grigg’s articles on LRC highlighting the increase use and expanded application of tasers and the implications of this? Do the Asian nations torture? I imagine African and Middle Eastern countries do, but I don’t know.
Is eminent domain a worldwide practice?
The internet is not changing the idea that bricks and mortar universities and libraries are better? Why not (generally speaking)? Don’t most students just go to the library to use the PC?
“It’s still one of the best places in the world to start a business, despite all the bureaucracy and taxation.”
Wasn’t it Bill Gates who was quoted as saying the red tape is less in China than here? I think both he and Jim Rogers said it’s easier to open a business in China than here. So, I’m not sure about that, but I don’t know for a fact.
From the farmers accounts I read about, if the animal ID program is implemented farming costs would be prohibitive for most and the balance of competitiveness would swing. Not so in places like Argentina. Or so I’ve read.
A US passport is a symbol, like being a senior or a platinum member? What does that depend on, goodwill, and superior military – therefore influence? What happens if that is greatly reduced?
“- a US citizen will get deferential treatment in a lot of ways when he travels.”
That isn’t the idea I got after reading the accounts by that (British?) guy who wrote on LRC about teaching in China. Nor when I read about Jim Rogers traveling in India. A trend?
“Ask anyone who’s traveled with, say, an Asian, Middle Eastern, or African passport versus a US passport, and see who has more trouble traveling.”
That would be great, but I don’t know of any. I take it you do and have. But like you said, it’s just anecdotal evidence.
“The US embassy, in my experience, responds promptly and efficiently to traveler issues (like renewing a passport). Try some other embassies and see how much red tape is involved.”
This would change with financing difficulties. Throw numerous over-paid employees at a problem and you usually get good service. Lower the pay and lower the number and the service lowers too. Besides, I thought this was about moving and not needing a US passport eventually?
“…but everything that has happened in the US in the past 15 years has been explicitly laid out by some part of the government before it happened. When not stated explicitly, it’s been put out in the public realm as a “trial balloon” or has been laid out in a public policy statement or think-tank paper.”
April G. – (Ambassador?) from U.S. to Saddam, “Go ahead and drill in Kuwait, we won’t do anything.”
Grenada, Panama… I don’t think there was a heads-up notice.
What policy paper or trial balloon have you seen about the purpose of all the chemtrails laid all across the country in the face of a total media blackout?
Perhaps that is the change Obama was talking about?
Why stop at 15 yrs ago? History is a guide.
Reagan in the 1980’s (I know it was a joke, but…) “the bombing starts in ten minutes.”
“I will not lead this nation to war” – Woodrow Wilson?
Didn’t FDR imply the same thing about WWII? The US had to be goaded or enticed by a false flag of the sinking of a ship.
The Gulf of Tonkin incident?
“Kennan’s memo on world resources and the US interest in retaining control of them is from more than half a century ago.”
Similar to, “we have conquered the business cycle” from the 1990’s, is letting go of control the new strategy of the U.S.?
This has been interesting. I look forward to reading more. I hope you don’t mind my questions and thoughts.
Hi Clark –
Very briefly –
1. I take everything I read in the press cautiously, even commentary from people whom I know, approve of, admire, like, understand etc. etc.
But the only person I can/am willing to vouch for is myself, frankly. That’s true of Rogers, as well.
2. I have written about the use of torture lite in my first book, and in several pieces from 2004 onward (please google “Lila Rajiva” and “alpizar” for example, among many posts and pieces)
I read Grigg’s stuff and have personally been on the receiving end of police mishandling/authoritarianism.
3. Asian countries torture with different methods from the US. The US learned many of its torture techniques from the Chinese and the Koreans.
4. Many Asian, African, and Latin countries (including India) are rated high or moderate risk for property ownership, because of tenant favorable laws including squatter rights, and because of corrupt courts, title problems and so on.
5. Please do not be naive and assume that you (a middle class person) will be treated in foreign countries the same way as Bill Gates or Rogers, when you set up a business. In the case of Gates, he works hand in glove with local governments and police to enforce Microsoft’s monopolistic practices (see my piece “License to Bill”)
6. Singapore is a very strictly run city and quite authoritarian in some respects. But it has a great deal of economic freedom, from what I’m told.
7. I don’t believe I said anything about giving up your US passport. The US has dual citizen programs with many countries.
8. Heads up on matters concerning the public – I believe that is true. In any case, it’s quite easy, if you follow foreign policy briefings, to figure out which areas are of concern to the US or to other countries.
8. I don’t follow or know anything about chem trails.
Lila
Subject: Maybe all the rich people should just vacation somewhere conspicously
From:
Date: Tue, June 9, 2009 4:01 pm
To: lilarajiva@mindbodypolitic.com
Priority: Normal
Options: View Full Header | View Printable Version | Download this as a file
and have ambivalent feelings about coming back
Hi Mike –
Not sure what that’s supposed to mean.
Re conspicuous consumption:
Flying abroad is a luxury in third world countries, yes (although a very necessary luxury, since most middle-class parents want their children educated abroad and kill themselves to do it) but it’s not at all a luxury in the US, where even students fly abroad.
You’ll find that doctors in foreign countries make less than most “middle-class” families here. Many graduate students here live better than professionals abroad.
A round-trip plane flight to Central America can be had for under 200 dollars, which is less than some people spend on an outfit, partying, going to the beach for a day, or in some cases, hair and beauty treatments. You’d make up that cost in the lower living living expenses abroad, in most places except Europe.
God forbid that the poor should actually pull themselves out of their poverty and flourish without government intervention, or all of the people who make their livings peddling poverty and poverty programs would be out of their jobs.
I’ll refer you to Dr. Mises
If you really want to be aware check out any one of these three websites. There is something strange going on, sinister even. I am not kidding you. From one Austrian economist leaning person to another, I give you these links. You probably shouldn’t post this on your blog, there is a media blackout about this at the moment. Why? Who knows why.
http://www.holmestead.ca/chemtrails/spreading.html
http://foundingfather1776.wordpress.com/2009/05/02/what-the-hell-are-they-spraying-on-us/
http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2007/03/10/chemtrails_what_they_are_and.htm
If you do check it out, welcome to being aware.
So long as you have contributors like Clark I shouldn’t worry about middle class opinion.
Peter Wood
I really don’t mind anyone contributing. I find I learn from everyone.
Even the middle class.
Subject: sign on wall
From: “Laszlo Seres”
Date: Wed, June 10, 2009 5:32 am
To: lilarajiva@mindbodypolitic.com
Priority: Normal
Options: View Full Header | View Printable Version | Download this as a file
Dear Ms.Rajiva!
Thanks for the good article. Would you please translate “mene, mene, tekel
upharsin” for me? I’ve learnt several languages in my travels, this ain’t one of
them. The curiosity is killing me!
Regards, Laszlo
Subject: YOUR ARTICLE———TIME TO TUN
From: “Farook Ahmed”
Date: Wed, June 10, 2009 7:22 pm
To: lilarajiva@mindbodypolitic.com
Priority: Normal
Options: View Full Header | View Printable Version | Download this as a file
DEAR LILA,
I IMMENSELY ENJOY READING YOUR INSIGHTFUL ARTICLES AND YOU SEEM TO HAVE THIS
EXCELLENT ART OF FINE AND CREATIVE WRITING.THE ABOVE ARTICLE IS A WONDERFUL
RESOURCE AS IT CONVEYS TO THE READER THE STATE OF AFFAIRS AND PROVIDES
FURTHER USEFUL RESOURCES FOR ADDITIONAL RESEARCH. YOUR TIMELY, THOUGHTFUL
AND BENEFICIAL INFORMATION AND SERVICE MUST BE DEEPLY APPRECIATED.HOPE TO
READ MORE OF YOUR WRITING GOING FORWARD AND BENEFIT FROM THAT KNOWLEDGE.
REGARDS
AHMED
Subject: Time to run… my own personal experience.
From: “H M”
Date: Tue, June 9, 2009 9:40 am
To: lilarajiva@mindbodypolitic.com
Priority: Normal
Options: View Full Header | View Printable Version | Download this as a file
Lila Rajiva,
I found your article on expatriation excelellent. I am a US Citizen, but I now
live in Argentina. Everything you said
in your article reaffirms my own personal experiences. I have found Argentina to be an excellent launching pad for me to explore the rest of South America
from. I have traveled the world, and have found this place to be one of the best
locations to date.
Certainly Argentina has had it’s fair share of problems, but there is a positive
side to these problems. The bank freeze of 2001 taught people to help their
communities and how to set up barter systems. Past political corruption has made the
people more self-reliant and untrusting of the government, and through suceessive
generations this has actually worked its way into gonvernment. There is a massive
aquifer of water under the area. The police might be corrupt, but there are no road
blocks, checkpoints, etc.., and seeing a passenger pulled over is not only rare but
I have only seen it done once, and they were driving the wrong way up a four
lane-single direction street!! The people of Argentina are very diverse and they are
not afraid of their government, in fact for a few months some guys have been camping
out in Plaza de Mayo directly in front of Casa Rosada in protest of the Malvinas
(Falklands) situation (try camping out in front of the White House and see how long
that lasts!). When they tried to raise the taxes on cow products, the farmers
blockaded an entire highway for weeks, but no National Guard came and nobody was
killed, but rather an accord was reached eventually.
Argentina has abundant land, food, water and natural diversity, and most people
never realize that this country is one of the major bread-baskets of the world. My
main concerns with this area area:
1.) Too many North Americans might come here and turn this place into another Costa
Rica.
2.) Nobody eats enough vegetables here, but despite this everyone seems healthy
enough.
I just wanted to write you and share my story with you. I love the USA, but I it is
true that I can maintain my love for my homeland without needing to live there. It
is also true that my main detractors were the people closest to me, and I have been
called everything from paranoid to a coward for “running away” from the problems,
but for me it boiled down to simply no longer being interested in the “North
American Dream” and learning how to live much more simply without all the plastic
and metal accommodations we are so used to in the states. Now I really recycle, and
closed the loop, as every bag, box and container has a new use here where such
things are not so easy to come by and live on in a month what I have spent in a
single weekend in the States.
I would be interested in sharing more of my story with you and hearing more about
your own personal experiences. I hope this email finds its way into your inbox and
sorry for any spelling errors, as my spell checker is in Espanol.
Sincerely,
H. M.
Argentina sure seems like a nice place by the way H.M. describes it. I hope we hear more from that person. No road-blocks, I’m salivating. Probably no camera towers either.
I read your alpizar piece, yeah, you know.
Is it just me or is the middle class getting slammed a lot?
Deservedly so.
Not a chicken, but a box of cereal in every pot.
I wonder how important farming subsidies figure into that statement and how long a 50% majority in exports (just in cereal alone, forget others?) would last without subsidies, not to mention cheap fuel and plentiful fertilizer?
When I said how much is a majority I said that because 1.) I don’t recall what the percentage is currently for food imports, if it was ten percent v.s. forty, how important is that difference from an almost arbitrary number like fifty? And, 2.) If hoarding took place combined with a currency devaluation, that majority might dry up quickly. For the short term, foreign currencies might soar and US food would look like a bargain in need of scooping up quickly.
The writing is on the wall, many people know a lot but don’t know how to use/google what’s right in front of them. Regardless, there’s a lot of various writing on the walls to sort through.
No, I don’t think I’m naive, and I try never to assume. When I used Jim Rogers or Bill Gates it was to show examples of what successful businessmen who had experience were saying contrary to popular nationalistic sentiment usually expressed in the media. When you say Bill had to work hand in glove with local governments and police in China, I don’t see how that statement is any different than what people experience here. Ranging, for example, from dairy farmers being shut down for selling raw milk to the local bar owner meeting fire codes and serving the cops free drinks after work, etc.. And of course, no one should expect to be treated similar to Jim & Bill by any government anywhere, but, from the way Jim’s travel account in India reads, it didn’t matter who he was or how much money he had.
Me, I’m simply no one who knows something, nothing more, and I’m surely not representative of my peers.
Did you spend your lunch outside today? Too many professionals spend too much of their time indoors and become shut off from their surroundings outside.
I guess, if I’m going to get smited by a sword soon, what’s the point of trying? I wonder if that is why many of my fellow Americans are so apathetic, they have an apocalyptic outlook? And, it’s not hard to do.
Love, Love, and more Love.
Laszlo,
In the book of Daniel,during a drunken feast,King Belshazzar of Babylon takes sacred golden and silver vessels, which had been removed from Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem by his predecessor Nebuchadnezzar. Using these holy items, the King and his court praise ‘the gods of gold and silver, brass, iron, wood, and stone’. Immediately, the disembodied fingers of a human hand appear and write on the wall of the royal palace the words ??? ,???, ???, ?????? (Mene, Mene, Tekel u-Pharsin). Although usually left untranslated in English translations of Daniel, these words are known Aramaic names of measures of currency: MENE, a mina, TEKEL, a spelling of shekel, PERES, half a mina.
Despite various inducements, none of the royal magicians or advisors can interpret the omen. The King sends for Daniel, an exiled Jew taken from Jerusalem, who had served in high office under Nebuchadnezzar. Rejecting offers of reward, Daniel warns the King of the folly of his arrogant blasphemy before reading the text. The meaning that Daniel decrypts from these words is based on passive verbs corresponding to the measure names.
And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN. This is the interpretation of the matter: MENE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; TEKEL, you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting; PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.
PARSIN is additionally a pun on the word for Persians.
That very night King Belshazzar is slain, and Darius the Mede becomes King.
Hi Lila
From: TVLikeAds@aol.com
Date: Thu, June 11, 2009 3:10 pm
To: lilarajiva@mindbodypolitic.com
Priority: Normal
Options: View Full Header | View Printable Version | Download this as a file
Thank you for your article! I agree with you 100%.
It is very DIFFICULT to do when you have a family …
(we have 2 kids, a dog and 3 cats).
We have picked Ecuador .. but .. having as hard time
getting together enough money to actually buy anything
over there. You see, most people are just barely surviving
at this time … not many can just buy land in an foreign
country and have it sit until they are ready to move.
Do you have any suggestions? What is you opinion
of Ecuador? I a lot of people in the US have moved
there already.
Thank you again and have a lovely day!
Tina
**************Download the AOL Classifieds Toolbar
Subject: Economic Collapse, Time to Run?
From: “Abbas Bakhtiar”
Date: Fri, June 12, 2009 6:26 am
To: lilarajiva@mindbodypolitic.com
Priority: Normal
Options: View Full Header | View Printable Version | Download this as a file
Dear Ms. Rajiva
I just finished reading your excellent article: “Economic Collapse, Time to Run?” in
the Market Oracle. The article proposes emigration as a solution, which if one is
“wealthy”, can be a way out. However, many of your readers aren’t. In addition, it
is extremely difficult to emigrate. In order for one to emigrate to another country,
one should have a lot of money (investor category) or, have a job offer (labor
category), or have a close family member there (uniting families category), marry a
person from that country or apply for political asylum; all of which are difficult.
There are other solutions out there.
Kind regards
Abbas Bakhtiar
Norway
I have a solution for TVLikeAds@aol.com and the idle Ecuadorian land issue. Landless farmers in the US maintain, and watch over cows as they graze for landowners in exchange for being able to graze other cows on the land. The land owner gets ownership of a number of the cows, the landless farmer gets the rest. I’m interested in doing something like this for a landowner, maybe. It’s quite common, widespread and would be a great way to make extra money for doing nothing but own land. I wonder if I should email that person, I wonder if it could work out for expatriates? I had a link as an example but I can’t find it. If they couldn’t scrounge up the money to buy the land, perhaps they could pool their money together with neighbors and friends? Are you up for being an intermediary to broker the deals? I wonder if there would be a nice arbitrage there to make it worth your while? If not cows, then perhaps chickens, lamas (do they eat lamas?) or what else does well down there?
I’ve thought of something similar
Mail me contact info, cv and references, and if I find something, I’ll pass it on.
Subject: the grass ain’t greener
From: “Peter T”
Date: Sun, June 14, 2009 7:23 am
To: lilarajiva@mindbodypolitic.com
Priority: Normal
Options: View Full Header | View Printable Version | Download this as a file
Dear Miss Lila,
Can’t find fault with your awareness of the situation and general guidelines
for abandonment of USA, albeit a foothold at least.
Sadly these days, the situation is beyond borders and doesn’t bode well in
most parts of the globe these days. If one is not facing the economic
crisis,
facing despots, facing crime, losing rights, losing freedom of speech, being
manipulated by mass media, facing weather hazards, breathing polluted air,
Swine flu, HIV, food shortages etc etc etc…then perhaps you’ve found the
spot. Love to know where this spot exists these days ?
Anyway, perhaps there is a light ?
There is a series of books, the Ringing Cedar series written by Vladimir
Megre
“Basically, these books make all the books that I’ve read to date look like
a complete waste of paper! ”
– Rafal, Australia
Just one of the many thousands of quotes….on this series.
Perhaps it is worthwhile that you read this series and make up your own mind
and add it to your good advice pack if you believe it possible.
May help some of your readers understand just how wrong it has all become
and how we can fix the situation.
In any event I’m sure you will find the read uplifting in these desperate
days.
Kindest regards,
Peter T.
Executive Producer
The Film Factory
Kingdom of Bahrain
Subject: Economic Collapse
From: “Joe N”
Date: Mon, June 15, 2009 10:40 pm
To: lilarajiva@mindbodypolitic.com
Priority: Normal
Options: View Full Header | View Printable Version | Download this as a file
Hello
I just read your article “Economic Collapse-Time to run?”. The quote you have from
Gerald Celente, doesnt surprise me. I have thought for a couple of years at least
that, this would happen. I believe that people will be rounded up and put into
interment camps soon. The problem is convincing people, especially American born
people. They are so brainwashed into believing that it could never happen here, that
they are going to be so unprepared for it. My mother was born in Thessolniki,
Greece. My grandfather was assassinated right after WW11, by Greek partisan
fasicsts. He was accused of being a communist. But, my mom told me when I was a
child(she has Alzheimers now, and no memory), that anyone who complained about being
hungry, was accused of being a communist! You couldnt complain about hunger, for
fear of being targeted by the partisans, right after the war. My grandfather wasnt
afraid, they killed him. Assassonos! Assassins! my grandmother screamed as
they killed him, my mother still remembered all these years. I was born in this
country, my father was American.but my whole life I had adifferent perspective
about things. I dont trust anyone, and I believe in evil, cause I know it exists
and has existed always. I’m afraid of what is going on now in this country, and
wish I had my grandfathers courage. I am thinking of leaving the country, I could
get dual citizenship, because Greece allows this for someone whose parent was born
in Greece, and is of Greek descent. Was just wondering your thought.
Joseph N