Get a free quote

How it all ended

It used to be that Paul Krugman’s solutions and the economic solutions of other economists sounded reasonable, even doable. Of late it’s become increasingly apparent that there are no solutions, and it matters not whether tackled by Democrats or Republicans, the problem is now unsolvable.

We have gone well beyond the point where we need to act quickly. To escape the financial firestorm and the heat, our only choice is to live the last moments seeking cleaner air with a final view of the great expanse of sunny sky that lies perilously within reach just outside the window. Just how much smoke and heat can we all endure before we make that horrible decision to jump?  Will we land on West St. or Liberty St? Or will the wind guide us to our fate on the spire of the Greek Orthodox Church?

Prices for essential goods and services are heading out of reach of many of us, likely for good. Stock up now, particularly on water and toilet paper. You’re going to need them. Contemplating having an operation you’re going to really need down the road? Schedule it today. If you’re waiting until you’re-employed so your insurance will cover it, that’s a fool’s gamble.

If you are a hopeless optimist on the Left, you’re probably thinking that more deficit spending is the answer. Dad told you that you had to spend money to make money, right? Sadly, that maxim no longer holds water. If you are on the Right thinking that hunkering down, cutting all taxes and gouging away at social programs is the answer, think about the very Zen concept of taking a fine-edged knife and cutting up nothing into ever smaller pieces of nothing.

Neither of these solutions can work anymore. We no longer have a functional economy that might respond to tweaks or pokes from any direction. To quote the great Bill Clinton, who started the ball of financial Armageddon rolling in earnest in 1999, “there is no there there.”  Or wait; was it Nixon who started things off by delinking the dollar from the gold standard? Either way, the U.S. is flailing and falling like a stone, and quantitative easing (QE 1 – Infinity)—also known as printing more money—is a silly proposition since printing more money only devalues the dollar further faster. Does Bernanke think that opening a parasol vis. Mary Poppins actually works in real life?

The smart money is, in fact, not on money at all anymore, but on gold and silver instead. The current fiat system is over, at least until we make a clean slate of all global indebtedness—call the game off, if you will. We cannot begin to build a new system unless and until we can tie currencies inextricably to a common (global) commodity so that the currency has some real value from the ground up. Then a fiat system might begin to work again.

Until that point, learn how to make things others want, and learn how to barter them for things you need. And don’t forget to stock up on water and toilet paper.

Sell Your Settlement