Recession welcomes 2009

[Stela Irwin]

hi all.......

 

I'm new to this forum and can see that recession is all set to grip in the next year. will 2009 be a lucky year for the global economy or will get along some hard hitting days full of depression. Do post what you expect of it?

 

 

Stela Irwin,

Financial Reviewer,

Economynews.in

[AncientMariner]

 

hi all.......

 

I'm new to this forum and can see that recession is all set to grip in the next year. will 2009 be a lucky year for the global economy or will get along some hard hitting days full of depression. Do post what you expect of it?

 

 

Stela Irwin,<?xml:namespace prefix = o />

Financial Reviewer,

Economynews.in

 

 

Don't know what will happen in this year or that but I expect at some point in next few years things to get so bad that there are military troops all over the place. You know the citizens are in deep doo-doo once the global elitists start bringing in foreign troops, that is when the eugenics programs will begin in full. All in my opinion only.

[AncientMariner]

A Ponzi Scheme Within A Ponzi Scheme

 

 

Bob Chapman

Infowars

December 30, 2008

Dwarfing the Madoff Ponzi scheme, which in the end may turn out to be, at least in part, a scam to feign investment losses for purposes of ripping off insurance companies with invalid claims for fraud while bilking taxpayers out their hard-earned money with deceitful requests for government bailouts and tax breaks, is the Social Security Ponzi scheme. While the Madoff Ponzi scheme, so-called, may be measured in the tens of billions, the Social Security Ponzi scheme can be measured in the tens of trillions, making it a thousand times worse. The Social Security system is truly a Ponzi scheme in the classic sense, where the first contributors to the fund are paid benefits mainly out of the funds received from the contributions of later participants.

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=416 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD height=16></TD><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD width=16></TD><TD width=400></TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD width=16></TD><TD class=photo-caption vAlign=top align=left width=400>The Ponzi aspects of the Social Security scam were enhanced by one of the main conspirators in this scheme, the Federal Reserve.</TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The Social Security system we are familiar with was originally enacted in 1935 by an incredibly corrupt Congress (much like the current one), and signed into law by FDR, a corrupt and ardent Illuminist who did as he was told to do by his Illuminist Puppet Masters (principally John Rockefeller, Jr. and J P Morgan, Jr.). At that time, the Social Security system was known as the Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program. The OASDI was not implemented until 1937 due to Constitutional challenges, but suffice it to say, the Illuminist puppets in the Supreme Court of that day, who were every bit as corrupt as FDR and the Congress, made sure the Socialist agenda went forward.

The Ponzi aspects of this Social Security scam were enhanced by one of the main conspirators in this scheme, the Federal Reserve. Shortly after the Social Security system was implemented in 1937, our central bank inflated our currency by increasing the supply of money and credit in order to boost prices and incomes and take us out of depression. This process accelerated in 1941 in order to fund the war effort as WWII got underway following the 911 event of that time, namely, the attack on Pearl Harbor, which our government knew was coming way before it happened, but then turned a blind eye to the upcoming attack so we could be dragged kicking and screaming into the next Illuminist war for profit. Incomes and prices rose as Americans went to work to power the war effort, thus causing incoming Social Security contributions to burgeon, while simultaneously debasing the value of the benefits being distributed, thus further enabling the Ponzi scheme to be perpetuated.

Note how in 1933, just prior to the enactment of the OASDI in 1935, bankster-buddy FDR took us off the gold standard domestically, leaving only dollars and dollar-denominated accounts held by foreigners backed by gold. That meant we had a domestic fiat currency, which allowed the Fed to do as it pleased with the supply of money and credit in the US, and as you may have guessed, the Fed chose to increase the supply quite dramatically to fund WWII so the military-industrial complex could grow filthy rich. This tied in perfectly with the Social Security Ponzi scheme as we became an economic powerhouse in the aftermath of WWII, with a peak in the late 1960s, by filling the Social Security fund with fresh infusions of inflated cash to keep the Ponzi scheme going, while debasing the fixed benefits being paid out to retirees.

Next came the Vietnam War, and more debt, especially to foreign nations, and more inflation from an increase in the supply of money and credit to fund the latest war for profit. This brought about the final debasement of our currency after the London Gold Pool failed to cap the price of gold, resulting in a bank holiday in Britain during the Johnson Administration. President Nixon, also an ardent Illuminist, at the request of his Puppet Masters, in order to stop the outflow of our national gold to foreigners due to war debt and to enhance the Fed’s ability to increase money and credit to fund Johnson’s Great Society welfare programs, took us completely off the gold standard in 1971. As a result, inflation went out of control as our currency became purely fiat in nature, with double-digit inflation peaking in the early 1980s. Once again, the resulting inflation furthered the Social Security Ponzi scheme, which was an integral part of Johnson’s Great Society program.

In order to placate complaints about the effects of inflation on the purchasing power of benefits, which grew quite pronounced with the passage of time, an attempt was made to counteract the impact of inflation by providing for cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) based on official inflation rates. Not to be daunted, the elitists made sure that the Bureau of Lying (Labor) Statistics (BLS), which they totally control with their puppets at the BLS, put out greatly understated official inflation statistics, usually at one half to one third of actual inflation, a process known as hedonics, which they use to screw Social Security recipients out of their proper COLA increases. As you can see, Inflation is the best tool available to perpetuate the Social Security Ponzi scheme, by burgeoning incoming money at the full rate of inflation while benefits are increased by only a fraction of the actual rate of inflation. This has changed recently, because wages have stagnated, and this has put stupendous pressure on our already bankrupt Social Security system, a huge, gargantuan Ponzi scheme that is about to unravel.

Make no mistake about it; this was an Illuminist scheme to impoverish the middle class, not to provide for people’s security. Ask Social Security recipients how many of them feel secure based on the miniscule benefits they are receiving. This was a Communistic spreading of wealth from the middle class to the poor, not from the wealthy to the poor, since FICA contributions have always been cut off at a level of income associated with the middle class, leaving the wealthy free of FICA liability on most of their income because Social Security benefits are capped, presumably making FICA deductions, above the designated maximum level of income, unfair. In the end, the poor are still poor, the middle class has now joined the ranks of the poor, and the wealthy are now fabulously wealthy, which results are characteristic of any Communistic or Fascistic form of governance. Between the Social Security system, the Income Tax system and the Federal Reserve System, they will spend, tax and inflate, respectively, the American sheople into oblivion.

Their Communistic, Fascistic mantra has been: Give us your money and we will take care of you from the cradle to the grave. They will take care of you all right — in a Halliburton-built, slave-labor internment camp, complete with disinformation centers where they will brainwash your children to make them into good, quiet, dumb, cooperative sheople-serfs. This mantra has in fact been used to help fund all their plans for world government by extorting a myriad of taxes out of you, and one of the main taxes which has been used to fund their plans has been the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA), which funds their Social Security Ponzi scheme, which, as a result, has actually become a Ponzi scheme within a Ponzi scheme.

So how has our Social Security system become a Ponzi scheme within a Ponzi scheme? We’ll tell you how. Our reprobates and sociopaths in Congress have regularly, over many decades, overspent money to fund their pork projects and social welfare programs to win votes, and to grease the wheels of the Illuminist wars for profit which power the military-industrial complex. This has resulted in massive budgetary current account deficits.

Adding to our woes are the trade deficits, which we have to fund by borrowing from foreign nations, thus increasing our national debt. These trade deficits have been caused by the gutting of our manufacturing sector through free trade, globalization, off-shoring, outsourcing, and both legal and illegal immigration. Illegal currency manipulations by exporting nations like China, Japan, Russia and EU nations have also contributed to the trade imbalance by giving these nations unfair trade advantages via debasement of their currencies, which makes their exports cheaper in our country, and which makes our exports more expensive in their countries. These nations also provide subsidies to their domestic industries, thus decreasing their cost of goods and increasing their bottom lines. All these currency manipulations and subsidies make a mockery out of the concept of free trade. We need fair trade, not free trade.

 

[url="http://www.efoodsdirect.com/products.html"]

And now we have trillions in bailout money being given to the so-called too-big-to-fail banks and transnational conglomerates to make sure that their executives keep getting their salaries, bonuses, dividends, stock options and golden parachutes while we get hyper-inflated into oblivion by throwing good money after bad.

Now mind you, these are the same executives who, on orders from their Illuminist masters, have burned their once prosperous companies to the ground to screw non-insider shareholders and bondholders, to bust unions, to ship our good-paying jobs and our once huge manufacturing infrastructure overseas where they can take advantage of slave labor, to repudiate their obligations under pension plans, to cut off employee benefits, to hamstring our economy, to consolidate with and to eliminate their competition and to ultimately become nationalized by our government to form a fascist police state while we undergo hyper-stagflation, recession and then depression from the deleterious effects of all the bailout money being bandied about like booze at a wild party.

What has happened to our once dynamic auto industry is a perfect example of this intentional waylaying of some of our major corporations in the manufacturing sector while the insolvency of our major investment banks, commercial banks and insurance companies are a perfect example of this procedure in the financial sector. The ultimate objective behind this intentional decimation of our leading companies and destruction of our economy is to bring us to our knees so we will accept a corporatist, fascist, feudal, Orwellian police state in lieu of our Constitutional republic.

Due to all these deficits and psychotic overspending on moronic bailouts, in order to help plug the gaps, our morons and village idiots in Congress invade the Social Security reserves, handing back a worthless IOU that will never be repaid. So they are using current Social Security benefits to fund both current and past deficits in the general budget, thus creating a Ponzi scheme within a Ponzi scheme. They have promised you security in return for the tax contributions they have extorted from you to help fund your retirement and the retirements of others in the system, and have then turned around and spent your hard-earned money on their projects to implement world government, leaving the Social Security fund totally bankrupt. So not only are they robbing Peter to pay Paul, they are using the funds robbed from Peter to pay Judas as well.

Now let’s examine why the Social Security Ponzi scheme is about to unravel. The first reason is the use of Social Security reserves to help fund the general budget, which by and large is used to fund the Illuminist scheme for world government. This money will never be repaid. Where could such gargantuan repayments possibly come from, the printing press? Well, if that’s the plan, get ready for a reenactment of the Weimar Republic, or if you prefer, put on your Mugabe costume and get ready to have a Zimbabwe experience you’ll never forget. This bankrupting of the system has been intentional. The old and poor are now at the mercy of the Illuminati, while the rest of us slave away to keep our heads above water and to keep the Social Security Ponzi system from collapsing and impoverishing our parents.

The next reason is that the Social Security system is not just a pension system; it is an insurance and social welfare system, meaning that benefits are often payable to those who have contributed little or nothing to the system. This is a thinly disguised form of Communism. You are supposed to reap what you sow. They should have had segregated accounts, and let voluntary contributions to charitable organizations, churches and hospitals take care of the poor and the sick as was done in the past. Without taxes dragging us down, we could all take care of the poor quite well, thank you. Instead, we now have an ingrained welfare mentality in a large cross section of our population. Fraud and abuse is out of control.

Another reason is the population control agenda, spearheaded by Planned Parenthood and people like Commie Comrade Obama. Thanks to their efforts, we now have a stagnant population that can no longer keep the Social Security Ponzi scheme going. Soon there will not be enough new participants to contribute sufficient funds to pay current entitlements of the soon-to-retire Baby-Boomers, much less to fund future entitlements as well.

Also, as you might expect, Big Pharma and Big Medicine have gotten their digs in on the huge pot of extorted taxpayer money in the Social Security fund. Doctor, hospital and prescription drug programs are spiraling out of control as healthcare costs push into the ozone. The government is too loose with our money, unlike private insurers, who try to contain costs. Our government is too busy flooding Big Pharma and Big Medicine with tons of cash as payola for the big campaign contributions they make via their powerful lobbies. Many in our government have sat on the boards of Big Pharma companies. And of course, our allopathic system of medicine is not meant to heal people but to treat their symptoms, keeping them alive and very sick so they continue to make office visits and buy tons of drugs which often hurt more than they help, necessitating the need for ever more drugs to fight the side effects. People need to lose weight, get exercise and take supplements. That would solve at least half of all the outstanding medical problems in society today and reduce Social Security medical, hospital and prescription pay-outs by hundreds of billions each year. But of course we couldn’t have that. That would be too easy and make too much sense, and it would drain money away from these allopathic parasites.

We already mentioned the fact that wages have stagnated, not even keeping up with official inflation, and that has put a crimp in the Ponzi scheme by preventing contributions from increasing at a rate faster than the rate at which benefit pay-outs are being increased by COLA adjustments. This is a huge problem.

Last, but not least is the destruction of our economy. Unemployed people contribute little in the way of FICA taxes. And as more and more become unemployed, FICA contributions will diminish at frightening rates. You are about to see one out of every three Americans recently unemployed, unemployed long term and no longer looking for work, or only partly employed in part-time positions. And as businesses go under and their employees hit the unemployment lines, their matching contributions to FICA will diminish as well, giving the Social Security Ponzi fund a double whammy. Just imagine FICA tax contributions being cut by a third from where they are now. The government does not even have enough money to keep Social Security going for more than a few years as it is. What will happen when contributions are cut by a third? We shudder to think.

Based on all the above, all we can say is don’t retire, and buy as much gold and silver as you can afford and lay your hands on after getting out of debt, buying freeze-dried food, purchasing a water filter and obtaining a weapon for self-defense. IS ANYONE AS OUTRAGED AS WE ARE ABOUT THIS SOCIAL SECURITY PONZI SCHEME?! Look at all the hubris about the Madoff scandal, and we have a Ponzi scheme greater by three orders of magnitude that is about to unravel while everyone goes ho-hum. It is nothing less than surreal.

You have to love some of life’s coincidences. It certainly looks like Mr. Madoff had the perfect name, as he “made-off” with everyone’s money. You just can’t make this stuff up.

[AncientMariner]

When the Man Comes Around - Johnny Cash

 

And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder: One of the four beasts saying: "Come and see." And I saw. And behold, a white horse.

There's a man goin' 'round takin' names. An' he decides who to free and who to blame. Everybody won't be treated all the same. There'll be a golden ladder reaching down. When the man comes around.

The hairs on your arm will stand up. At the terror in each sip and in each sup. For you partake of that last offered cup, Or disappear into the potter's ground. When the man comes around.

Hear the trumpets, hear the pipers. One hundred million angels singin'. Multitudes are marching to the big kettle drum. Voices callin', voices cryin'. Some are born an' some are dyin'. It's Alpha's and Omega's Kingdom come.

And the whirlwind is in the thorn tree. The virgins are all trimming their wicks. The whirlwind is in the thorn tree. It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

Till Armageddon, no Shalam, no Shalom. Then the father hen will call his chickens home. The wise men will bow down before the throne. And at his feet they'll cast their golden crown. When the man comes around.

Whoever is unjust, let him be unjust still. Whoever is righteous, let him be righteous still. Whoever is filthy, let him be filthy still. Listen to the words long written down, When the man comes around.

Hear the trumpets, hear the pipers. One hundred million angels singin'. Multitudes are marchin' to the big kettle drum. Voices callin', voices cryin'. Some are born an' some are dyin'. It's Alpha's and Omega's Kingdom come.

And the whirlwind is in the thorn tree. The virgins are all trimming their wicks. The whirlwind is in the thorn tree. It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

In measured hundredweight and penny pound. When the man comes around.

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts, And I looked and behold: a pale horse. And his name, that sat on him, was Death. And Hell followed with him.

[suchandra]

 

hi all.......

 

I'm new to this forum and can see that recession is all set to grip in the next year. will 2009 be a lucky year for the global economy or will get along some hard hitting days full of depression. Do post what you expect of it?

 

 

Stela Irwin,

Financial Reviewer,

Economynews.in

Although we live in the age of disagreement (kali-yuga) our governments decided unanimously that globalization of the economies is the only solution for all the problems. Now, a couple of years later we find people ask this question about the impact that globalization in general and offshoring in particular have on US employment and income.

 

In fact the impact that globalization has, and will have, on the US economy continues to be one of the most debated economic issues of our time.

 

Economists, generally speaking, view such globalization as highly beneficial, based on the international benefits of free trade. At the opposite extreme, globalization is commonly opposed by workers in industries and at firms whose jobs are being transferred to foreign locations.

 

When the globalization movement started, the global players somehow expected that all of them would profit, people could buy things cheaper etc. However, it seems that this understanding is now gradually being scrutinized.

 

Job losses have become the primary metric in press and public discussions of offshoring. Economists, in contrast, generally believe that labor markets equilibrate rapidly, and that most workers who lose jobs to offshoring are soon re-employed, new kind of jobs are being invented.

 

For example, John F. Kennedy used jobs lost to automation as a major campaign issue in 1960, which led to legislation creating the Manpower Training Act.

 

Even now, as the offshoring of jobs to Asia continues, Asian entrepreneurs still indicate the US is a highly favored location to develop their newest ideas.

 

My personal assumption is that presently the dynamics of globalization has gotten out of control and the New Trade Theory NTT couldn't explain all these side effects of offshoring high tec and low tec as well. It's like a domino effect: more unemployed means less consumer spending, and it just keeps going. A gradual downward spiral of our economy in the long term.

 

From vedic culture point of view it seems, vedic culture strongly opposes to any kind of centralization, but always to keep things individual and self sufficient. But this is just what globalization seems to be the opposite, globalization is a kind of centralization in that sense that a few dozens super rich control the world market.

 

Wikipedia:

New Trade Theory (NTT) is the economic critique of international free trade from the perspective of increasing returns to scale and the network effect. Some economists have asked whether it might be effective for a nation to shelter infant industries until they had grown to a sufficient size large enough to compete internationally.

New Trade theorists challenge the assumption of diminishing returns to scale, and some argue that using protectionist measures to build up a huge industrial base in certain industries will then allow those sectors to dominate the world market (via a Network effect).

They wondered whether free trade would have prevented the development of the Japanese auto industries in the 1950s, when quotas and regulations prevented import competition. Japanese companies were encouraged to import foreign production technology but were required to produce 90 percent of parts domestically within five years. It is said that the short-term hardship of Japanese consumers (who were unable to buy the superior vehicles produced by the world market) was more than compensated for by the long-term benefits to producers, who gained time to out-compete their international rivals<sup id="Footnote_1">1</sup>.

Less quantitative forms of this "infant industry" argument against totally free trade have been advanced by trade theorists since at least 1848 (see: History of free trade.)

[AncientMariner]

Hence the battle to end all battles coming?

 

 

The jobs Obama is going to create are going to be centered around defending the global elitists interests from the angry mobs and informing on people that will be resistant to the tyranny.

 

 

The pussy footed preachers from all religions will tell the people to lye down and don't fight the tyranny.

[suchandra]

 

Hence the battle to end all battles coming?

 

 

The jobs Obama is going to create are going to be centered around defending the global elitists interests from the angry mobs and informing on people that will be resistant to the tyranny.

 

 

The pussy footed preachers from all religions will tell the people to lye down and don't fight the tyranny.

Seems like what Prabhupada said about simple living is coming by default, although it seems that the non-Vaishnavas are more determined to take up the challenge.

 

Voluntary Creative Simplicity

by: Dravinaksa dasa

Jan 02, 2008 — As the following article shows, there is a movement toward "Voluntary Creative Simplicity." Srila Prabhupada talked about this in 1970. Are devotees ready to take the plunge? Read on:

<center> How we went from $42,000 to $6,500 and lived to tell about it! By L. Kevin & Donna Philippe-Johnson

</center> As a middle class American, it's been difficult for me to understand how we are supposed to make a living when there are so many things working against us. How can we go on day after day with the rising cost of food, fuel, utilities, car insurance, taxes and health care, while dealing with the insecurity of unemployment? In the past, whenever I considered these things, I felt a hopeless sense of impending doom in the pit of my stomach. There is so much talk about how to solve these issues, but nothing ever seems to stop the downward spiral of struggle and stress that millions of folks are experiencing.

Like many working people, my life went along fine during the 1980s. I had a good paying job ($42,000 a year) and though I didn't enjoy the kind of work I was doing as an industrial draftsman, receiving a steady paycheck every week kept me going without much complaint. But then came the Gulf War in the 1990s and after that point I faced nine layoffs over the span of 10 years. By the time September 11 happened, I hadn't been able to maintain steady employment in the petrochemical industry for over a decade. I would work about three or four months, then back again to the unemployment line.

It was at this point that I realized that something was wrong. The life strategy I had grown up to believe in was no longer working and there didn't seem to be any answers. Obviously no one was going to get me out of this, so I decided I needed to take matters into my own hands and figure out a way to redefine my basic approach to living.

Lucky for me, I have an adventurous wife. She was on the same page with me and was willing to make some drastic changes in our lifestyle. As a committed team, we decided to figure out another way to survive despite these uncertain, hard economic times. Since we didn't have a lot of money and because it was getting harder to find steady employment, we decided to rethink our basic values in order to create a life for ourselves where we could be independent and free of needing a career or a full-time job.

And for us, that meant first and foremost, moving to the country. If we were going to be poor, we thought, at least it would be better to be poor in the country. That way we could grow our own food and reduce our expenses. Eventually we discovered that there were others who felt the same way we did. Today there is a small, but growing movement in this country towards a lifestyle we call "Voluntary Creative Simplicity."

We decided to start over, to shake loose from all the things holding us down. We got rid of all the stuff we didn't need and worked on paying off debt. Then canceling our credit cards and using cash, we followed an efficient financial plan that taught how to track every penny. By doing this we were able eventually to save a little bit of money. (See the book entitled, Your Money or Your Life, by Joe Dominguez & Vicki Robin.)

Also, we wanted to be strong and healthy to do the work required for this basic lifestyle so we changed our eating habits. We broke away from the standard American fast food, pre-packaged supermarket diet in favor of organically grown whole grains, raw fruits and vegetables, fermented dairy, nuts, seeds and sprouts and eliminated all junk foods and prescription drugs. We started exercising regularly by walking, practicing yoga, and gardening. Since we no longer wanted to pay health insurance premiums, we decided to start a special savings account ($1,000) just for emergency first-aid treatment. And of course we got rid of the cell phone, cable television and Internet bills and greatly minimized our use of air conditioning. The beginning of the path to the simple life was a process of elimination in every aspect of our lives.

Eventually we found 2-1/2 acres of land, 35 miles out of the city. Inspired by our new vision, one summer we said goodbye to the city, permanently moved out to our new place and set up a dome tent to live in. We happily lived in our tent that summer while clearing the land and constructing a rustic 10' by 12' room with a sleeping loft. We did this on a "pay-as-you-go" plan, hauling all the materials in the back of our old pickup truck. Never having built anything before, we worked hard and gained the skill of building our own shelter.

As the tiny outbuilding took shape, next came the installation of an underground cistern for collecting rainwater, and finally, the construction of our three-room (500 square foot) cabin. Since we had to borrow $9,000 to purchase the property, I continued to take whatever jobs I could find (drafting, clerk work, courier, dishwasher, bakery assistant, etc.) while Donna stayed busy working on our organic garden, planting fruit trees and composting. She enjoys learning about native plants and healing herbs that she can grow.

Over the next few years, while working toward our goals of self-reliance and independence, we became stronger, healthier and more confident in our ability to rely on our own skills. It was quite an empowering experience. We learned how to build things, grow our own food, take responsibility for our own health, and best of all, we learned how to laugh and have fun again. The simple joys and true pleasures of fresh, home-grown food, watching everything grow and prosper in harmony, working with our own hands and spending quality time together replaced all of the costly false values that had occupied our time before.

Gradually we paid off the land, finished the cabin and succeeded in minimizing our basic utility costs. We began to notice that our expenses were decreasing as the quality of our life was increasing. As long as we stayed home and didn't travel to a steady job we really didn't need very much money. The lifestyle of voluntary creative simplicity was resulting in compounding efficiency and improvement in every area of our lives. Soon, we saw the proof of the inefficiency of working a full-time job. After figuring in the work-related expenses of one job, I realized that my take home pay was only $3 an hour! At that point I was convinced that it was far more cost effective to stay home, grow our own food, split our own firewood and bake our own bread than it was to travel to a job day after day. Yet we still needed some form of income.

Though we had reduced the amount we needed to around $540 a month (way below the poverty level in America), we still had to find a way to generate that income without relying on full-time employment. Once we had succeeded in drastically reducing the amount of money we needed, I knew it would be easy to earn this income by working odd jobs such as building rustic furniture, playing guitar for tips, simple carpentry, part-time drafting, office work, plumbing, etc. However, there was one thing I really loved to do...bake handmade whole-grain sourdough bread in an outdoor wood-fired clay oven! I had always shared my bread with friends and family, but it never really occurred to me to do it as a way to earn extra money.

We soon discovered that there was no authentic, handmade sourdough bread being produced in our area, and little by little, people began asking if they could trade or buy from us. Within a year we had enough bread customers to generate the supplemental income needed to meet our modest expenses. And now there is even more demand and a waiting list of neighbors and friends who want our bread regularly. They know our bread is special because the organic wheat is freshly hand milled, the loaves are lovingly made entirely by hand and baked in our outdoor clay oven. (See our article, "A Homemade Clay Oven and Naturally Fermented Sourdough Bread," in the July/August 2005 issue of COUNTRYSIDE.)

We want to let others know there is a wide open market for this kind of specialty bread, even in very small towns like ours, because so many people, for various reasons, are unable or unwilling to make it for themselves. In fact, there is such a demand for this unique artisan bread that many people are perfectly willing to pay us $4.50 a loaf! Anyone who wants to earn a little extra cash, say $50-$100 a week or more, should consider learning this valuable skill, then educating and sharing in their local community. We continuously hand out educational material about the health benefits of sourdough bread, offer informative presentations in our local community and give out free bread samples.

Our system of distribution is arranged like a "bread co-op." There are regular customers who buy a batch of six loaves at a time, which we deliver fresh to them once a month. An added bonus of learning this skill is the inexpensive, incredibly delicious, wholesome bread that we make for ourselves, which helps reduce our food bill. This is just an example of how a valuable skill such as this can be financially supportive when you are living and thinking small.

While the key to the lifestyle of voluntary simplicity, is "thinking small," many people still believe the opposite is true-"bigger is better." For example, people often tell us we should invest in a commercial bakery and produce more sourdough bread. But in order to expand and make a career out of baking and selling bread, we would have to go into debt to purchase commercial mixers, freezers and large ovens, work longer hours and face the mountain of bureaucratic permits, codes, fees and restrictions. As a result, the simple, authentic handmade artisan bread that our customers love would have to be sacrificed in favor of expanding volume and making more money. Everybody loses but the bankers and the bureaucrats. We would fall right back in the same old trap, getting into debt and sacrificing our freedom and quality of life for a job. This is an example of compounding inefficiency.

The downfall of many people who would like to break the bonds of stress and financial enslavement to the system is their tendency to think too big. But we must realize that this has been programmed into us by the industrial society and loan institutions, all attempting to excite and feed our insatiable desires. Friends, it takes a lot of mindful awareness to break free of all these traps. It also requires an ability to improvise and adapt towards an alternative model. The lifestyle of voluntary simplicity is one option and the resulting benefits are transformational.

The point I'm making is this: many of us can no longer think in terms of having a lifetime career anymore. For whatever reason, things are changing in this country. Outsourcing and cheaper labor costs in other countries will continue to eliminate jobs in the United States. And though the opportunity still exists to work, we must understand that it may be only temporary. While continuing to work at a job or career one should be wise and set up a plan to survive without steady employment for certain periods of time if necessary.

This could mean storing some supplies, purchasing a piece of property where a small shelter, tent or tipi can be erected if necessary, or getting out of the city and into the country where one can provide food for themselves. My old Grandpa used to say, "all the troubles in this country began when people stopped growing their own food." And he was right. The younglings of this modern age don't even know what real food is, much less how to grow or prepare it! This has to change. (That's another reason we promote sourdough bread baking. It is time to start a "slow-food" movement).

Thinking small is one of the most intelligent and powerful things one can do. Consciously reducing one's life down to the simple basics is the secret to happiness. And it is so easy. What is the solution? This is our advice, especially to young people:

"Don't get in debt, don't think in terms of a career (work at a job for one reason only, to get paid so you can buy a place to live and grow some food), live in a small shelter, unload unnecessary stuff, reduce monthly expenses, extract yourself from the enslavement of modern technological materialism, stay healthy by exercising, eat a simple, wholesome diet, develop some practical skills, practice your art or trade and serve your local community. Teach your children to value true pleasures. Real wealth is perishable: food, health, trees, flowers, herbs, healthy soil, clean water, fresh air, friends and art. Learn to value and appreciate these above all else."

Of course we realize that everyone has to creatively work out their own unique plan according to their particular circumstances, especially if there are children to raise. (We have six grown children.) But with "small thinking," so many opportunities open up and the more one can release, the more freedom there is to experience with each passing year.

If someone would have suggested to us ten years ago that there was a way for the two of us to live on much less, build our own little hut, buy our freedom, give up steady employment, work fewer hours, become happy, healthy, debt free, self-reliant, and live fearlessly without health insurance, I would have told them they were crazy. This has been an incredible, radical journey for us, but now we know from first hand experience that with vision, patience, self-discipline and courage, it is possible to create such a reality.

Creative voluntary simplicity expands faster than inflation. For those who can do it, instead of thinking too big and chasing after more money to find happiness and security, the answer can truly be summed up in the words of the Greek philosopher, Diogenes: "True freedom is in the minimum of needs."

 

Kevin and Donna have an instructional video (VHS format only) on baking naturally fermented sourdough bread for $30. This includes the video, a set of written instructions, a packet of starter culture and shipping costs. Send check or money order to L. Kevin Johnson, 4402 Gilead Rd., Clinton, LA 70722.

[primate]

 

Although we live in the age of disagreement (kali-yuga) our governments decided unanimously that globalization of the economies is the only solution for all the problems. Now, a couple of years later we find people ask this question about the impact that globalization in general and offshoring in particular have on US employment and income.

A free-market-economy (capitalism) depends on global competition between locally different producers of (basically) the same consumer-goods. The overall idea is that a competitive market will ultimately improve the quality of everything, and all consumers/humanity will benefit.

 

 

Don't know what will happen in this year or that but I expect at some point in next few years things to get so bad that there are military troops all over the place. You know the citizens are in deep doo-doo once the global elitists start bringing in foreign troops, that is when the eugenics programs will begin in full. All in my opinion only.

Why do you think 'eugenetics programs' will be started!?

[suchandra]

 

A free-market-economy (capitalism) depends on global competition between locally different producers of (basically) the same consumer-goods. The overall idea is that a competitive market will ultimately improve the quality of everything, and all consumers/humanity will benefit.

 

 

Why do you think 'eugenetics programs' will be started!?

 

The first duty of a government is to make sure that there's no joblessness.

As a saying goes, an idle mind is the devil's workshop.

[primate]

 

Don't know what will happen in this year or that but I expect at some point in next few years things to get so bad that there are military troops all over the place. You know the citizens are in deep doo-doo once the global elitists start bringing in foreign troops, that is when the eugenics programs will begin in full. All in my opinion only.

Why do you think 'eugenetics programs' will be started!?

[theist]

 

Why do you think 'eugenetics programs' will be started!?

 

 

It has already started. Now it is almost automatic that the majority of babies with Down syndrome are being aborted. In fact Planned Parenthood was started by a dedicated Eugenicist Margerate Sanger to kill the poor and nonproducers in society. Her first target was the black community.

 

 

Now we have artifical insemination where people can pick the father according to his genetic nature. It will become more prevalent as genetic engineering gets more sophisticated.

 

 

One who controls the birthing of humanity controls the show. And the world leaders are certainly all fighting for control.

 

 

The thing is it is happening piece by piece and we the frogs in the boiling water don't really notice it.

[primate]

 

It has already started. Now it is almost automatic that the majority of babies with Down syndrome are being aborted. In fact Planned Parenthood was started by a dedicated Eugenicist Margerate Sanger to kill the poor and nonproducers in society. Her first target was the black community.

 

Now we have artifical insemination where people can pick the father according to his genetic nature. It will become more prevalent as genetic engineering gets more sophisticated.

 

One who controls the birthing of humanity controls the show. And the world leaders are certainly all fighting for control.

 

The thing is it is happening piece by piece and we the frogs in the boiling water don't really notice it.

Hmm.., you really think so? And isn't that just evolution 'at work'? Anyway, I guarantee that overall genetics (DNA; live; the origin of species; etc.) is far too complex for us (humans) to control. So, don't worry about it..

[suchandra]

 

Hmm.., you really think so? And isn't that just evolution 'at work'? Anyway, I guarantee that overall genetics (DNA; live; the origin of species; etc.) is far too complex for us (humans) to control. So, don't worry about it..

 

Creationist argue that whenever you leave things like a pile of laundry it will never evolve to something better but rather getting worse. And this is fact, out of it is own without the touch of spirit, matter doesn't evolve into a higher quality. So this whole idea of evolution, dead matter evolving out of its own into complex valuable materials, just by giving it enough time, is wrong, not proven, not within our experience. Dead matter rather deteriorates, the opposite direction.

[theist]

 

Hmm.., you really think so? And isn't that just evolution 'at work'? Anyway, I guarantee that overall genetics (DNA; live; the origin of species; etc.) is far too complex for us (humans) to control. So, don't worry about it..

 

 

I don't think you understand the implications. Yes Krishna is ultimately the only controller but he lets us fulfill our dreams (and nightmares) in this mayaic field.

 

 

I don't need to know the mechanics of how a gun shoots a bullit to be able to kill someone, I just need to know how to point and pull the trigger.

 

 

The desire for total control of the planet has long existed in peoples minds, that we know. These people will be the ones to use the knowledge of genetics cloning, artifical insemination to fulfill their desires for control. I believe on up to the point of mixing certain genetic traits to form specific types of living beings. Now I don't know the specifics of any of these sciences but I can imagine a mixing of Gorilla genes with human genes to produce a strong working class Chimera that doesn't question authority or demand a paycheck. A crude example perhaps.

[primate]

 

I don't think you understand the implications. Yes Krishna is ultimately the only controller but he lets us fulfill our dreams (and nightmares) in this mayaic field.

 

I don't need to know the mechanics of how a gun shoots a bullit to be able to kill someone, I just need to know how to point and pull the trigger.

 

The desire for total control of the planet has long existed in peoples minds, that we know. These people will be the ones to use the knowledge of genetics cloning, artifical insemination to fulfill their desires for control. I believe on up to the point of mixing certain genetic traits to form specific types of living beings. Now I don't know the specifics of any of these sciences but I can imagine a mixing of Gorilla genes with human genes to produce a strong working class Chimera that doesn't question authority or demand a paycheck. A crude example perhaps.

 

Crossbreeding gorillas and humans won't work So what exactly is meant by ‘eugenics’? Does it mean the application of Mendel’s laws to the inheritance of human traits through selective breading and/or selective killing? Or does it mean some form of (Lamarckian) gene manipulation (such as ‘gene therapy’, i.e., the insertion of genes into an individual's cells and tissues in order to change its organism and possibly its offspring)? Personally I’m not convinced at all that eugenetic manipulation via this last route is possible. And I’m quite sure that our human genetic makeup cannot be manipulated directly in any useful way because of the sheer complexity of the process of ‘gene expression’ that drives human embryonic development and growth (which is after all the product of 4 billion years of biological evolution). Perhaps medical treatment of some genetic diseases that are coded by a single defective gene may ultimately be possible. But most human traits are encoded in the genome by many genes that interact in a highly complex manner. And yes, Krishna must be the ultimate controller..

[AncientMariner]

 

Why do you think 'eugenetics programs' will be started!?

 

 

According to Alex Jones and others I have heard the globalists have used fiat currencies to get the whole world connected and now they implode the US economy causing that to domino to the world wide econcomy. They then get the taxpayers to bailout out the banks and governments and the banks and governments then use that bailout money to go and buy up all the infastructure and reduce the poplulation to corporate government serfdom.

 

 

They say the ultimate goal is to widdle down the world population to 500 million or a billion that will be subservient slaves to the global elite. The eugenics are institued through different measures some soft kill and some hard kill. The engineered wars are hardkill and corporate control of the food sources etc. are the softkill techniques. They could use a socialized universal healthcare system as another form of eugenics by requiring people to take vaccines that end up hurting them for example.

[AncientMariner]

Sometimes seeing all this stuff going on is too much for me to take anymore. I find myself praying to Krishna to get me out of this madhouse.

[primate]

 

According to Alex Jones and others I have heard the globalists have used fiat currencies to get the whole world connected and now they implode the US economy causing that to domino to the world wide econcomy. They then get the taxpayers to bailout out the banks and governments and the banks and governments then use that bailout money to go and buy up all the infastructure and reduce the poplulation to corporate government serfdom.

 

They say the ultimate goal is to widdle down the world population to 500 million or a billion that will be subservient slaves to the global elite. The eugenics are institued through different measures some soft kill and some hard kill. The engineered wars are hardkill and corporate control of the food sources etc. are the softkill techniques. They could use a socialized universal healthcare system as another form of eugenics by requiring people to take vaccines that end up hurting them for example.

 

Sometimes seeing all this stuff going on is too much for me to take anymore. I find myself praying to Krishna to get me out of this madhouse.

 

That sounds more like good old survival of the fittest. And, indeed, without our current global infra-structure in place, it seems impossible to maintain a worldwide population of 5 billion+. We may die like rats. However, those who survive will be extremely ‘fit’, which most likely will not be in the best interest of any globalist elite still alive that orchestrated it all.

 

Anyway, you seem convinced that something like this is going on. I don’t know much about Alex Jones and others like him. They appear to present the most ‘insane’ economic scenario imaginable, with planned manipulations and conspiracies starting long before the first world war. Generally people and organizations don’t have such long term goals, but who knows.

 

I guess, however, that this is just the blackest possible version of modern history and I don't take it seriously right now..

[theist]

 

Crossbreeding gorillas and humans won't work So what exactly is meant by ‘eugenics’?

 

As I mentioned I am not knowledgable enough to get into any specifics but you should know that cross breeding is not genetics really but taking a few genes from here and there and placing them into a different orgamism can make greatdifferences in the new "creation" . Consider genetically modified food for example.

[theist]

 

They appear to present the most‘insane’ economic scenario imaginable, with planned manipulations andconspiracies starting long before the first world war. Generally peopleand organizations don’t have such long term goals, but who knows.

 

As I intimated somewhere above it is not essential for any one group to have thought this through long term. All you need are the super rich and influential to take advantage of the latest developments of science and use it to their advantage to refine their control.

 

Besides this is not future talk it is already progressing right now.

[theist]

 

Sometimes seeing all this stuff goingon is too much for me to take anymore. I find myself praying to Krishnato get me out of this madhouse.

 

Me too AM. This frog is starting to feel the heat and notes that it is getting very uncomfortable here.

 

Just more impetus to humble ourselves before the Lord.

 

There are two classes of beings in the material world; the victims and the victimizers. Neither are fit positions for the soul.

[AncientMariner]

 

That sounds more like good old survival of the fittest. And, indeed, without our current global infra-structure in place, it seems impossible to maintain a worldwide population of 5 billion+. We may die like rats. However, those who survive will be extremely ‘fit’, which most likely will not be in the best interest of any globalist elite still alive that orchestrated it all.

 

Anyway, you seem convinced that something like this is going on. I don’t know much about Alex Jones and others like him. They appear to present the most ‘insane’ economic scenario imaginable, with planned manipulations and conspiracies starting long before the first world war. Generally people and organizations don’t have such long term goals, but who knows.

 

I guess, however, that this is just the blackest possible version of modern history and I don't take it seriously right now..

 

 

 

Those are fair points and Alex Jones does sometimes go over the top possibly but I believe he is either a good man or a Cia plant but I think he is a good man.

 

You should read the book The Creature From Jekyll Island to see how our currency is a doomsday mechanism to begin with. Charles Lindbergh said back in 1920's that depressions would be scientifically created from now on. There is a lot of crap that goes on behind the scenes with these powerful families. I am convinced that there is much more to it than meets the eye especially what is dished out by the corporate media but you are free to draw your own conclusions.

[theist]

Conspiracies veiling conspiracies.

One behind the other.

Ever more subtle, more intricate and difficult to discern.

We wonder, "Who could be behind it all and to what end?"

 

Mayadevi serving Her Lord by purifying with fire the false desires of the lost and wayward souls. And so for the devotee, "it's all good."

[AncientMariner]

 

Conspiracies veiling conspiracies.

One behind the other.

Ever more subtle, more intricate and difficult to discern.

We wonder, "Who could be behind it all and to what end?"

 

Mayadevi serving Her Lord by purifying with fire the false desires of the lost and wayward souls. And so for the devotee, "it's all good."

 

 

 

Well said.

[Amlesh]

 

Conspiracies veiling conspiracies.

One behind the other.

Ever more subtle, more intricate and difficult to discern.

We wonder, "Who could be behind it all and to what end?"

 

Mayadevi serving Her Lord by purifying with fire the false desires of the lost and wayward souls. And so for the devotee, "it's all good."

 

Satya vachan.

Your words are enlightening.