Thursday, May 24, 2018

Economic Transition

Full Grown,

Exponential growth on a finite planet is the economic problem with our current financial system. Our money is based on debt-at-interest, which has to grow or collapse. There is a school that says we CAN have infinite growth, as long as it is not physical stuff, just more expensive iPhones, more expensive information, more expensive cardboard boxes to live in, more expensive Cheerios to eat... That'll work. Just adjust the definition to fit it.
Alternatively, we can have a world without perpetual compound interest transferring ownership of all things to Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo.
In nature, things are born, grow, wither and die. Corporations had mortal lives until quite recently. For thousands of years, throughout the ancient world, there was real investment in real projects, for a finite time. There was debt slavery and unpayable debt, and there was widespread "jubilee" debt forgiveness. This worked easiest when all debt was to King and Temple. King and temple wanted society to continue, not crash. Private debt taking over changed all that. Private creditors ALWAYS want somebody else to take the losses, and they bribe politicians, and crucify guys like Jesus who call for reviving the jubilee.
We may foresee a transfer of most debts up the food chain to governments and central banks. That could have happened in 2008, but instead governments and central banks just gave a tsunami of debt money, with our promise to pay, to all the bankers everywhere, who we still have to pay every month, too.
I'm putting on my Cassandra-wig and predicting that in the financial reset to come, only central banks will retain the right to create money at interest. If the interest is very low, the problem of compound interest can go away, without having to redefine money. We will get postal banking and maybe we can keep our credit unions. 
Alternatives banking systems will probably flourish when there is permanent, low central-bank-only interest. It's not very different from Islamic finance, where an investor takes risk, in search of financial return from a profitable venture. Christian finance was this way, too, until it wasn't. Greek/Russian Orthodox Christianity still teach the sinfulness of usury. It led to slavery and prostitution through most of recorded history, after all...
What is happening with Iranian banking? China has several plans-B, we may presume. China knows the problems with fiat-money and has for thousands of years. Russia has had a lot of opportunity to deeply investigate banking and financial alternatives in the past century, especially recently.
We will need to pay personal attention to productive, high-yield, local ventures, like kitchen gardens. Fuel will keep getting dearer and rarer this time. It's better to be a year early than a day late on these things. Global retirements are predicated upon perpetual economic growth, averaging 7% per year. That, and so much more, will fall to the political realm to deliver by teaspoonfuls, to keep chaos away, to keep society intact. 
It looks like the top tier of financial elites always keep their places, but everything below the top 0.5% will get rudely awakened. Some of those folks are bright and talented, and can help in the new economy, though there will be a lot of role-changing.
The new economy will need to be more efficient, without being controlled for the benefit of parasites, because there won't be extra for the parasites. Partial-parasites can get by with less and keep working. Complete parasites might get a little pension and a dorm room. I'm guessing... Economy will be more local, with less fruit flown to Phoenix from Argentina.
Trade between nations and regions will need to balance again. No more printing unlimited dollars to spend into the global economy.
I also think we'll have to stop making disposable things.
All of this was the way things were until we struck oil and international banking...

Peace talks are off again. John Bolton's success. Trump and Kim won't talk. You've probably heard. North and South Korea should get their unification show going quickly and just do it and tell the US military to leave. (When the world does not take dollars, the imperial military will be unaffordable.)

This article about playing for peace on the Korean peninsula was written before today's Trump announcement, and remains pertinent. It's the strategic view.

Eleni sent this article about Trump showing Europeans for fools, with IRan sanctions. The main point is that the EU is structured to be subservient to NATO, and NATO is always commanded by a US General. Individual European countries have to leave the EU to defy NATO orders.

The M5 highway is Syria's main artery. It is getting cleared of rif-raff about now.

Restoring Circulation

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