Replies

I remember talking to someone in 2008 about the demise of the economy and the dollar, and this person--of course--thought I was a conspiracy nut.

It turned out this same person had most of his retirement invested in Wachovia stock. He has lost it. He also has lots of really expensive toys that he has to make payments on, and at least he owns his home outright. I hope he didn't use home equity to buy that huge RV...now he's getting too old to work, and his business was dependent on a lot of real estate transactions.

But he doesn't necessarily regard me as having any sense, experience, brains or judgement for warning him about banks and corruption. And we'll continue to downplay Beck as a nut, even as he made enough buying gold to buy himself a whole network...

And we’ll continue to downplay Beck as a nut, even as he made enough buying gold to buy himself a whole network...

Personally, I don’t think Beck is a liar. He repeatedly tells his audience that his network is pay as you go, plus, he has at least one partner and the number of his sponsors/advertisers keep growing. He has said quite recently, that he has had to slow down his plans for expansion due to lack of funds or, rather, to too many demands on the income.

I don’t know how many subscribers he has, but at $10/month, that alone must be a fair amount of revenue. And he will make his documentaries available for free, after the first broadcast. He puts out books, like a chicken laying eggs and they all go to the top of the best seller lists. He backs other authors and they do very well because of it. And then his other enterprises: clothing, concerts, special events all seem to at least pay for themselves. He also has a popular radio show which has spun off another show, all with advertisers and contracts with broadcasters. He is earning his money, IMO, the old-fashioned way: by working for it.

Buying gold does not pay the bills. Selling gold might.

FWIW, I don’t see him as a nut. I think no one can time the end of a collapse. I also think we are in a collapse. It is simply just too slow and includes too many elements, some of which vacillate, to perceive. Half the population is in the work force, but there is a vast number of pensioners, retirees with adequate income, educational and medical workers of all levels who are keeping the economy going. In my rural area, the manufacturing is going at a fast clip, with overtime and marginal land with several detriments (pipeline/floodplain) is selling at nearly $3k/acre. New boutiques, creative enterprises and restaurants keep opening and most stay in business and some expand. Still, everyone admits to being anxious and feeling insecure. It is cognitive dissonance writ large.

Nothing continues in a straight line extrapolation, in either direction, forever. Right now, people seem to feel we are muddling through, even though the trend is frightening. We all need to straddle the line of we will continue to survive, economically, on one side, and we will crash and burn on the other. It is exhausting. It takes awareness and patience. But, basically, I don’t think anyone has a real clue as to what is actually going happen and when.