"Here are the most significant challenges we must address to put our federal fiscal house in order. Each includes a brief description. Click on the link that follows for more discussion of the particular challenge, including examples and stories from my experience as well as other recommended references." Continue reading →
"Less than 1% of the world’s gold is mined in India. The rest comes from somewhere else. Still, India can’t get enough. It is the largest consumer of gold in the world, buying nearly a third of production in recent years. Some estimates say that 10% of all gold is held in India. Indians save roughly 30% of their income, as opposed Americans, who save 5%. Plus, Indians are getting richer all the time. Once a very poor country, the rich and middle classes now outnumber the poor in this nation of 1.2 billion. The country has the sixth-largest economy in the world." Continue reading →
"I think time is growing short, as the economy emerges from the eye of the current hurricane. After which it will encounter several more even bigger ones. There you have it. But don't look at this as idle information. I suggest you allocate some time, call your travel agent, and get going." Continue reading →
"I'm an optimist on the future of technology. But the way a lot of it is going to be applied by people in government is a different question. The current developments are quite disturbing, especially the emerging capability of police to use cameras and computers to scan millions and millions of people and identify individuals in seconds. They say it's to track sex offenders or catch terrorists, but what's clearly at stake here is the universal monitoring of everyone all the time – just like in 1984. The bad news is that it's here now, and spreading around the world." Continue reading →
"When an industry is only profitable with government backing it means that the industry uses resources — labor, energy, raw materials — and turns them into finished products that are worth less than the inputs required to make them. The more of these zombie industries the government supports, the poorer the society becomes. 'Rentier' is a French word that has leaked into English. It describes people who have found a way to exploit the system for their own benefit — people who have legal entitlements to income streams. In other words, 'Rentier' describes a class of folks who contribute absolutely nothing to national prosperity — zombies." Continue reading →
"Other than a small percentage of the population who have managed to build enough wealth to break the cycle through diversified investment and income sources, the vast majority of the population lives pretty much hand to mouth. Of the money you earn, close to a majority is now returned to the state in the form of taxes of all description (payroll, property, sales, income, etc., ad infinitum). Then, because it's a rigged game, just like the company store, the money you do manage is steadily debased. And while the situation is bad, it hasn't yet gotten desperate." Continue reading →
"You can’t make money without selling something real. You can’t make something real without first imagination manifesting itself in your head. You can’t have imagination without surrendering yourself to an idea that you want to create something of value to other human beings. And now it’s too late. Now the course of history has finally written it’s next chapter. There’s no more bullshit. I’m going to tell you why you have to quit your job. Why you need to get the ideas moving. Why you need to build a foundation for your life or soon you will have no roof." Continue reading →
"Our economy is under the control of a drunk driver, who is now making decisions based on broken metrics. I’m talking about the Fed. It has announced its newest plan to boost the economy. And the plan is based on two key, terribly flawed numbers. This is likely to end in disaster. The Fed has recently announced it will print $85 billion every single month until inflation rises above 2.5% or unemployment drops to 6.5%. Printing money in itself is a dangerous activity. When you decide how much you print based on two flawed metrics, then it almost ensures disaster. The numbers the Fed uses to measure inflation and unemployment are useless." Continue reading →
"Statolatry has become the principal form of worship in contemporary America. People erroneously talk about 'separation of Church and State' when 'the State' has replaced 'the Church' as the idolatrous venue for worship. As the Church had its calendar of Holy Days of Obligation and sacraments, so too the State has its own sacred holidays, icons, protocols and rituals. Each day in rote, millions of captive children in government schools recite the Pledge of Allegiance, their solemn oath to this sacred creed, without giving it cursory reflection or thought." Continue reading →
"Over the past few years, I’ve shared a handful of images that capture the essence of government. Now I have something new to add to the list – an image showing the evolution of government. The clear message throughout is that government means coercion. And that coercion doesn’t become legitimate merely because 51 percent of the population decides to plunder 49 percent of the population. Which is perfectly shown by the final image, which accurately portrays today’s system of government and the IRS." Continue reading →