Engineer wrote:dannan14 wrote:Yeah, but i've always been irreverent
To be honest though, i think the recent thread that caused a little stir shows that this community is a very diverse group. A diverse group tied together by a desire to secure our futures against the likelihood of very turbulent times ahead. i have a feeling that we're all adult enough to be able to keep our differences from overshadowing our similarities.
Well put!
This site (although it isn't immune) is one of the few refuges left from the relative sickness our culture has embraced. I can't describe it well enough on my own, so I'll put it in the words of the grand master of science fiction.
Dr. Baldwin: What are the marks of a sick culture?
Friday: It is a bad sign when the people of a country stop identifying themselves with the country and start identifying with a group. A racial group. Or a religion. Or a language. Anything, as long as it isn't the whole population.
Dr. Baldwin: A very bad sign. Particularism. It was once considered a Spanish vice but any country can fall sick with it. Dominance of males over females seems to be one of the symptoms.
Friday: Before a revolution can take place, the population must lose faith in both the police and the courts.
High taxation is important and so is inflation of the currency and the ratio of the productive to those on the public payroll. But that's old hat; everybody knows that a country is on the skids when its income and outgo get out of balance and stay that way - even though there are always endless attempts to wish it way by legislation. But I started looking for little signs and what some call silly-season symptoms.
I want to mention one of the obvious symptoms: Violence. Muggings. Sniping. Arson. Bombing. Terrorism of any sort. Riots of course - but I suspect that little incidents of violence, pecking way at people day after day, damage a culture even more than riots that flare up and then die down. Oh, conscription and slavery and arbitrary compulsion of all sorts and imprisonment without bail and without speedy trial - but those things are obvious; all the histories list them.
Dr. Baldwin: I think you have missed the most alarming symptom of all. This one I shall tell you. But go back and search for it. Examine it. Sick cultures show a complex of symptoms as you have named... But a dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than a riot.
This symptom is especially serious in that an individual displaying it never thinks of it as a sign of ill health but as proof of his/her strength. Look for it. Study it. It is too late to save this culture - this worldwide culture, not just the freak show here in California. Therefore we must now prepare the monasteries for the coming Dark Age. Electronic records are too fragile; we must again have books, of stable inks and resistant paper.
--- Friday and Dr. Baldwin in Friday
man! that is good stuff...."Friday"...did this author Heinlein write that?...spot on.
i been musing about Cu's trading experience's with this elderly gentleman......it tells us a LOT about how barter will work in the future.
think about it, for brevity, let me call the elderly chap "the old man" (not out of disrespect, brevity)
to the old man, who presumamably doesnt follow the comex board, read silver blogs, etc.....what was the value of his silver..TO HIM?
while the board was at 30-31, he jumped all over Cu's 21.42 an oz bid....then the old man calls him back, and says "i got more", and i'm assuming Cu probably (amd rightfully so) told him, "hey, my paper money is running low, i can only give you 10 times face" ($14 an ounce)
"SOLD!!"...so to the old man, silver's valuation is at $14 an ounce, 10 times face.
you could say, the old man "doesnt know", right?...but to him, getting a $100 FRN for a "dinky" roll of silver quarters, was just fine.
Think of it, thru his head, probably doesnt know about Ebay, doesnt know that many people in the market for 90% silver, the Cu'ster was the only bidder, who was THERE with greenbacks in his hand.
But if the Cu'ster saw a solid date of F to EF 1940's washington quarters NOW, on Ebay, a $150 bid would be swept away, and you'd trade them between $270 to $330, maybe more, but THAT MARKET is between the 1% who know silver, hence, there's market compettiton, right?
lets say, some "emergency" happens...bank holiday, grid down...whatever. Now 99% of the people 'know' greenback FRN's...like the old man, the paper money AT THAT TIME is of value...not silver.......yet. you cant get greenbacks out of the bank, so the people that 'know' only greenbackscompete for a dwindling supply......
thats when the value of stacks goes DOWN, and we see people get desperate for WHAT THEY KNOW, you barter greenback FRN's for 5-15 dollars a toz...until the gvt issues, say a "New Dollar"...(i'm just thinking aloud) that would be TEN old paper dollars...or maybe they take $100 benjys and superimpose another zero on them, before they re-issue them, so that the old 100 is a now a thousand "dollars".
do you think such a move would result in great confusion?....people who "know" a $100 bill, suddenly have their minds and world rocked...its like the ground isnt solid anymore, ........this was worth this today, not its not, so whats "it" worth?
that roll of silver quarters bought yesterday with an "old" $100 paper dollar is now worth $1000 "new" dollars.....
but what would the 'new' $100(0) BUY?
i sure would like to find a coherent account of what happpened ON THE GROUND, in lets say, Zimbabwe...or weimar Germany.
its interesting, (and to me, kind of mind bending) how you would trade paper vs. silver vs. tangible goods, in that situation.
Posted: Wed May 02, 2012 10:28 am
