When I first began the process of launching the Alternative Market Project, the idea and scope were rooted in analytical papers I had written years before on aspects of centralization versus decentralization, and globalization versus localization. Back then, I saw these conflicting economic systems as mutually generative. That is to say, the further we as a society are pushed towards collectivist or feudalist economic structures, the more we naturally or unconsciously gravitate towards independent and open markets. The problem today is that independent markets have been artificially and quite deliberately removed from the public view. As I have said in the past, centralization is a powerful tool for elitists, because it allows them to remove all choice from a system until the only options left to the people are those that the establishment desires. Though we deeply long for free and vibrant trade unhindered by corporate oligarchy, we are told that such a thing does not exist, and that we must make due with the corrupt ramshackle economy we have been given. I say, this is simply not so…
The great lie that drives the fiat global financial locomotive forward is the assumption that there is no other way of doing things. Many in America believe that the U.S. dollar (a paper time-bomb ready to explode) is the only currency we have at our disposal. Many believe that the corporate trickle down dynamic is the only practical method for creating jobs. Numerous others have adopted the notion that global interdependency is a natural extension of “progress”, and that anyone who dares to contradict this fallacy is an “isolationist” or “extremist”. Much of our culture has been conditioned to support and defend centralization as necessary and inevitable primarily because they have never lived under any other system. Globalism has not made the world smaller; it has made our minds smaller.
By limiting choice, we limit ingenuity and imagination. By narrowing focus, we lose sight of the much bigger picture. This is the very purpose of the feudal framework; to erase individual and sovereign strength, stifle all new or honorable philosophies, and ensure the masses remain completely reliant on the establishment for their survival, forever tied to the rotting umbilical cord of a parasitic parent government.
Perhaps the only ray of sunshine to be seen through the storm clouds of the current economic crisis is the exposure of globalism as an inherently flawed methodology. The ongoing implosion in the EU has reached a tipping point, as far as I am concerned, and the parade of absurdity involved in the unionization and “harmonization” of Europe is now center stage; its full frontal economic nudity under the hot white lights of the unforgiving financial microscope.
With the latest S&P downgrade of multiple EU nations, including France, Italy, Austria, and Spain, there can be no doubt that interdependency has led to ruin. Despite French president Nicholas Sarkozy’s insistence that the S&P downgrade “changes nothing”, the fact is, the EU has just been dealt a death blow. Higher borrowing costs tend to spark a violent cycle of credit decay in countries with extreme debt to GDP ratios. Even if France slides through the barrage relatively unscathed, smaller peripheral countries orbiting the EU will not. Greece, for instance, has just announced that talks surrounding the repayment of treasury bonds held by starry eyed investors have fallen apart:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/world/story/2012-01-13/greek-debt-talks/52530542/1
This means that instead of the 50% “haircut” which buyers of Greek debt were already facing, markets may instead be saddled with a full-on 100% default.
Other smaller EU nations that have been propped up by the flow of funds from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) may soon be in for a surprise as well. S&P has also announced a downgrade of the EFSF itself:
http://www.rferl.org/content/standard_poors_downgrades_eu_bailout_fund/24453842.html
Only AAA rated countries have the ability to support the fund and its guarantees. After the downgrades of France and Austria, the number of AAA rated countries in the EU has dwindled to four, led by Germany. To be clear, Germany does not have the capacity to carry the EFSF and the bailouts of multiple nations upon its shoulders, leaving the fund to flounder, and eventually, self destruct.
The EU experiment is over. It may take some time for the world to recognize it, but it has indeed failed.
Across the ocean, the situation has not improved. The news of the European downgrade came right on the heals of an announcement by Barack Obama that the government must raise the U.S. national debt limit yet again, by no less than $1.2 Trillion! Sadly, the negative effects of America’s own recent credit troubles have only been subdued by the more immediate turmoil in Europe. It is simply a matter of time before attentions turn back to the frail American debt issue:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/13/us-usa-debt-obama-idUSTRE80B20P20120113
This debt limit increase should be viewed with quite a bit of vitriol by the American public, especially when one understands that a considerable amount of taxpayer dollars (the precise amount is still not fully known) went into bailout funds for the EU which are now in jeopardy of being derailed. If American taxpayers are going to foot the bill for the corruption of banks and governments, then we might as well foot the bill here at home, however, because of the sick rationale of globalism and interdependency, we are instead paying for the corruption of banks and governments across the Atlantic while our traitorous president demands even more money to be swiftly misallocated.
Madness? No. This is not madness. This is hardcore fraud, and economic subjugation. This, my friends, is financial warfare, and right now, we are losing…
While some may applaud the fall of the EU as a victory, I would recommend looking a few moves ahead of the game to see where we are really going. Yes, the EU is a perfect example of the feebleness of centralization, but it is also an expendable piece on the grand globalist chess board, just like the U.S. dollar. Already, IMF mascots like Christine Lagarde and MSM pundits have begun suggesting that the EU is failing not because of centralization, but because the union is not centralized ENOUGH! Only a few months ago, Angela Merkel of Germany obstructed the institution of EU Bonds because the move would collectivize the debts of EU members and remove elements of sovereign control. I guarantee that policies of national sovereignty like those in Germany will soon become the scapegoat for collapse of Europe in the near future.
The purpose behind a European disaster is not to break up the EU, but to consolidate power even further. Indeed, plans have already been suggested by centralists which involve a “reformation” of more powerful European nations into a tighter and more totalitarian framework. The Council On Foreign Relations, a globalist think tank and political puppeteer group, of course agrees with this plan, and has promoted the concept on numerous occasions:
The Financial Times' Wolfgang Münchau argues that the split of the eurozone from the larger EU was inevitable and essential. The summit demonstrated that a "monetary union cannot coexist with a group of permanent non-members in a unified legal framework," he writes. For the eurozone to survive, the greater EU must be reconstituted or destroyed, Münchau explains. Indeed, Britain's decision not to take part in the fiscal union is paving the way for a new Europe unhindered by half-hearted British engagement, says Der Spiegel's Roland Nelles. He contends that Europe is "on the path towards becoming a federal country."
http://www.cfr.org/eu/new-fiscal-union-europe/p26731
As we have discussed many times over the years, the subversive and sometimes subtle debasement of the dollar is in fact a deliberate program designed by international financiers to force the American public to accept loss of sovereignty and centralize economic authority into the hands of an elite few. The situation in Europe is no different in this regard. Both cultures are being strong-armed through the removal of options and funneled into a waiting net like so much oblivious trout. So, the question must be asked; how do we fight back?
Could a political groundswell be used to supplant corrupt leadership and stall the coming avalanche? No. Even with a clean sweep of all branches of government and the election of a presidential candidate with considerable economic insight (like Ron Paul), the damage has already been done. Would a complete shutdown of the Federal Reserve and a repudiation of all debts accrued through its underhanded financial practices make a dent? A good start, but still not enough. What about a complete reversal of current spend and borrow practices by our government and a fast track plan for the reconstruction of America’s industrial base? That would be great, but American industry took decades to dismantle, and it will take decades to rebuild, so again, no dice in the short to medium term.
The fact is, the U.S. is going to see some very hard economic years ahead, regardless of any top down political solution. Those who are waiting and hoping for a knight in shining armor to ride into Washington D.C. and save them are going to be sorely disappointed. Those who shrug off the threat of fiscal breakdown as a “long term” affair will likely find time quickly slipping away while they clamor for bureaucracy to finally work in their favor. As a movement keenly aware of the threat at hand and the culprits behind it, the Liberty Movement should be doing far more than it is now to stem the tide, and that work begins with decentralization.
Decentralization is an activist strategy which does not rely on top down intervention, but instead, focuses on concrete bottom up community building and organization without the hindrances of traditional power structures. In terms of economics, it means a complete break with the corrupt system and the institution of our own free markets. This process is only as difficult as we make it for ourselves.
The essentials of an independent life are food, water, shelter, property, trade, and safety. The means to attain these essentials have been relegated to instruments which central banks and other elitist entities administer and control. However, that control is and always has been an illusion, an illusion we could walk away from anytime we wish. This is done through localizing the production of essentials. Changing the way we look at trade is the key. A few simple rules, if followed in a determined fashion, make this change a reality:
1) Provide Essentials For Yourself Whenever Possible: Some essentials can be covered even when you are alone. If you have access to property, can grow your own food, and have water collection capability, then you are far ahead of the average American in many respects. With modern technology, including space and energy saving methods, self sustainability is possible even in urban surroundings. The goal here is to do for yourself whatever you can, whenever you can, making you less vulnerable to mainstream economic chaos. The more insulated you are, the better equipped you will be to help build or participate in an alternative market.
2) Network Or Die: Some essentials cannot be provided by one’s self. Organization and networking in order to construct mutually beneficial trade groups is not only necessary, but inevitable in the face of economic collapse. One way or another, every American who wishes to survive will one day have to get up off their couches, leave their houses, and begin working with other people. Either they will see the wisdom in preempting collapse and start networking now, or, they will start networking after collapse out of desperation. Better to start now, and save ourselves the heartache…
3) Trade Skills, Not Dollars: Use paper currency while it still has some value, but simultaneously, wean yourself off of it through barter of goods and services. See how many essentials you can fully provide without the use of dollars and without purchases through corporate chains. Think of this as going financially “off-grid”. What systems do you depend on that ultimately harm you? How many of those systems can you decouple from now? Private trade makes independent living attainable by localizing your means of procurement to your own two hands, instead of to a paycheck doled out by a corporation.
4) Use Commodities, Dump Dollars: Precious metals are the only practical currency exchange available for broad use in a decentralized market. Fiat coupons, digital currencies, sticks and shells, etc., will not work. The inherent rarity of PM’s, combined with their tangibility, and inability to be artificially reproduced, makes them the ideal currency alternative to fiat. Digital currencies, reliant on an internet which may not exist in the manner we know it today, are a tremendous waste of time. Any trade dependent on a system outside of local control is not free trade. Metals place true free trade, at a local level, within reach. Even in a highly developed barter market, currency will play an important role, and PM’s should not be discounted.
5) Become Your Own Industry: As decentralization takes root in a local economy, the need for jobs and for goods will not disappear. In fact, it will become a priority. Entrepreneurship will be the engine that drives any legitimate resurgence of the U.S. economy, but this business mindset will have to take on a localized focus. I have heard it argued that America will never be able to rebuild if trade and industry are reduced to local efforts. On the contrary, thousands of cities and counties acting at a local level to reintroduce micro-industrial economies would far surpass the limited and centralized bumblings of the corporate industrial framework. The more insulated and self contained each community becomes, the stronger the whole of the country will be in the long term. The next industrial revolution, if there ever is another, will come about through city, county, and state centric industries designed to feed the prosperity of the residents within those communities, instead of siphoning away wealth and diminishing available essentials as the modern corporate system is engineered to do.
6) Internalize State Commerce: When enough citizens within each state finally wake up to the dangers of municipal default, federal encroachment on state lands and resources, and the weakness of interdependency on federal subsidies, they will begin to look for ways to plug the fiscal leaks they have ignored for so long. Decentralization truly finds its home within the structure of the states, and the powers afforded them through the 10th Amendment. At bottom, states have the ability legally as well as economically to become the ultimate decentralized systems, being that they are Constitutionally mandated to take such measures anyway. Resource rich states will likely be the first to undertake decentralization in the midst of economic collapse. Oil, minerals, farm capacity, timber, coal, etc, should be the solid ground upon which states and their citizens set foundation, and states should utilize these resources with the intent to enrich their citizens FIRST, through increased employment and local independent business incentives. This would be a far cry from the corporate pirate ship plundering that goes on in states today, and far more financially sound.
While there are numerous concerns and great tribulations to be confronted and solved in our age of bedlam, from the rise of police states, to political treason, to expanding wars abroad, first and foremost, we must surmount the problem of economic collapse, or all else will be lost. Economic collapse is the trigger by which all other tyranny is made viable. It is the rationalization that will be used to convince the public that the loss of freedom is a “crucial tradeoff” for increased safety. The more centralized we as a nation become, the more centralized the world becomes, the less likely we will be to weather the tidal wave of collapse. The more decentralized we become, the more localized and independent our communities, the less we will be affected by destabilization, the more successful we will be as a people, the less rationalization the government will have to diminish our freedoms, and the greater leverage we will have if they try to diminish them anyway.
The path is clear; we decentralize, we localize, and we do it now, or, we lose our country, our cultural identity, and our legacy. If all other options have been stolen away from us, then we must have the courage to create our own...
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written by Sophie , January 17, 2012
Great article Brandon!
written by David Stringer , January 17, 2012
As much as I'm behind Ron Paul, his view on nuclear power troubles me.
More from it being a strongly centralized entity outside of local control than from the potentials of disasters. Though the potentials for disaster is nothing to sneeze at either.
Sorry for being off-topi, just something that came to me while reading your article & I agree totally with you Brandon that decentralization and self-support are the key to beating tyranny.
Thanks for once again shining a light into the darkness.
written by Leonardo Pisano , January 17, 2012
Nice summary, Brandon!
I cannot agree more: centralization is what the PE strives at and what we, the people, should be fight with every fiber in our body! Whether it is the FED (central money control) or the military (brute force under central control), or taxation (monetizing the central control) it is all about removing personal liberties. Unfortunately, many people either still sleep, or, more likely, put their heads in the sand.
I try to raise awareness with my tongue-in-cheek stories, with a tense of humor hopefully making people think of what is going on, or just give them a daily shot of smiling in these dark times on www.leonardopisano.com.
I am thankful for your continuous support and for your admirable energy and efforts to show us all the way.
written by theron , January 17, 2012
This is an awfully good summary of what is likely to transpire, including our likeliest path to recuperation. Very insightful. And the article points people directly to the one thing to do now: HAVE FOOD.
I chose a couple of favorite passages:
"By limiting choice, we limit ingenuity and imagination. By narrowing focus, we lose sight of the much bigger picture. This is the very purpose of the feudal framework; to erase individual and sovereign strength, stifle all new or honorable philosophies, and ensure the masses remain completely reliant on the establishment for their survival, forever tied to the rotting umbilical cord of a parasitic parent government."
This was very pleasant to read because it is better-informed than the usual "dependence is bad" commentary and far more uplifting that the standard "you're all zombies" fare. That is because it says we are not using our inborn ingenuity and imagination, reminding us what we were born with.
When I learned that the means of producing food and fuel, and of creating a currency, is all written down, well, I was very happy to know of it!
Does anyone really think that this many of us, with this much space, under these circumstances, are not going to do what our predecessors did? Take into account that we now know how to live in the North Pole. I have posted what I have found out on my new alt-market blog, and on my Web page. Look at how many people left something useful for me to find, and look how easily I tell others. People who are also trying to find out what to do, as I am.
That brings me to my other favorite passage, the closing:
"The path is clear; we decentralize, we localize, and we do it now, or, we lose our country, our cultural identity, and our legacy. If all other options have been stolen away from us, then we must have the courage to create our own..."
That's as blunt as it needs to be, which is to say, blunt. Yet it is pleasingly expansive in pointing out what we REALLY want. I am 49 years old. I have been working and living on my own since I was 16, here in New York. I was born poor but I could always find work and afford what I wanted.
And I have been looking into opportunities to haul cow plop around in a wheelbarrow. I am raising money to go someplace and do this, because I want to learn to produce food.
And that's not only because I think the cities may be starved out by dollar hyperinflation. It's also because my ancestors were good, honest farmers. I want to do useful work, and what we need done right now is to restore agriculture and industry. I want to be healthy and happy, and that is what I will be if I eat good food and do useful work.
And that's not all I want. I want NORMAL to be NORMAL around here again, like it was decades before I was born. So I am taking back my culture, which is what is in my mind, and what is in my life.
And if all I can leave is a tiny legacy by sharing my observations and information, well, that's not only "better than nothing" it's actually just right. That's because it is nearly everyone's inborn nature and culture to do that. It's NORMAL.
Item 5) is true. Item 6) is true. And it's true that we will have even fewer choices as things deteriorate, so one should not wait. It doesn't matter that it will take decades to restore ourselves, except that we are going to lose some more people in the short term.
Brandon's estimates of what our recovery will look like are true because when it is discovered we must all return to hauling cow plop around in wheelbarrows, there will come the dismissal of those who can no longer offer us faux baubles for their "rotting umbilical cord" of faux law, faux education, numbing debt and a necrotic, false society that requires conformity to a life of living death. And that's what they sold us, with their bad foods and medicines and and schools and media.
Picture 20 years on, after we got our act together and rebuilt the country anew!
written by Braedalbane , January 17, 2012
5) Become Your Own Industry: As decentralization takes root in a local economy, the need for jobs and for goods will not disappear. In fact, it will become a priority. Entrepreneurship will be the engine that drives any legitimate resurgence of the U.S. economy, but this business mindset will have to take on a localized focus. I have heard it argued that America will never be able to rebuild if trade and industry are reduced to local efforts. On the contrary, thousands of cities and counties acting at a local level to reintroduce micro-industrial economies would far surpass the limited and centralized bumblings of the corporate industrial framework.
Yes. 'On the contrary' indeed! I have for many years had a vision of the World to come and it will be comprised of a multitude of sovereign entities. We don't need less nations all subsumed under "unions", we need MORE nations standing on their own.
I also liked your vision. That of these several united States becoming their own masters. Becoming sovereign States once again. All we need really is one State to show the way. And if that is too much to ask in the nearest term, than a country will be a start.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with one foot.
written by Braedalbane , January 17, 2012
Sorry, meant COUNTY in the last sentence!
written by theron , January 18, 2012
Just getting a stable currency will make all the difference. Then get rid of most taxes. Restore local rule. (I am all for States' rights, but I mostly mean their right to assure the individual is safe in his home.) Use our Big Organizations for things we need to do, without it, um, eating us. When we get that going, and we all know what to get rid of and what to do, we're gonna get fixed up and be on our way.
All the taxes, regulation, the phony educational system and media, can be thought of as one package that limits productive work and wealth. If that makes it seem simpler, I think it should, because it is. I studied this for some years and it is verifiable that subtracting inflation and government overhead would take most of us from a state of being harried to one of security. You can tote it up in calories, stored calories, skills, "sustainability" or however you like.
If you produce and store food, you'll beat any famine. If you accumulate a stock of goods, and there are people to trade with, you are part of a stable economy. If you grow squash, maybe some else grew yams and will trade. If you studied metallurgy, maybe someone else studied medicine. The real activities are people using their abilities to live and becoming increasingly better at it. That includes universities.
Various doctrinaire notions that "the Free Market" can provide anything are generally true. If you have someone to trade with, and something to trade, you can trade. If people agree to maintain a contract, or a custom, over time, and there's an exchange of value or effort to keep it going, it can. We can do that for those who no longer have large families, which were once the retirement plan.
There is no reason we can't have cheap housing for the elderly, and still be a free people. In fact, what we should get back is that we individually are born with natural and territorial rights, and we don't want people bothering us while we set up our retirements.
Nor is it just about the goodies. Another quote from Brandon's highly popular contribution: "... individual and sovereign strength, [...] new or honorable philosophies.".
What is more intimate and valuable than to pass on, personally, individually, or culturally, the means of survival, the accumulated abstract knowledge of our lives and world, across generations? What is the worth of the ruminations of a lifetime? They are worth more than what you can "monetize" them for. They are part of the life process itself.
"The System" snuck in and pretended to be "our culture". Well, now we can see, among other things, what the laws are, what they used to be, what would suit our needs, and what would not. I would think of them not so much as laws, but as what we require of one another and of ourselves, which we determine among ourselves. How long have people done that, prior to our having all these papers to file, and having our privates checked for explosives at the airport?
I think I'm going to stop posting a while. Because after a flurry of posts upon discovering this excellent board, I have reached my final conclusion: Everything we are wanting to get rid of is PROVABLY, INDEFENSIBLY, THE WRONG THING TO DO, AND IS ONLY SUGGESTED TO US BY PEOPLE WHO DO NOT CHOOSE THE RIGHT THINGS TO DO. Among other things, the Constitution says you are under no obligation to destroy yourself, nor another, nor can anyone tell you to.
written by "Edward London" , February 23, 2012
so i finally just read this, despite being directed to some other articles first as well as discussing many of these topics in an exchange on the Agenda 21 page.
Excellent work. I think you're right on in almost everything here. I remember 15 years ago, I wrote a paper in a nationalization class while I was contemplating the EU, and I never forgot that my professor (now at Oxford) gave one of his rare check-pluses for my idea that politics and economics are so intertwined that globalization and nationalism would either live by it or die by it.
I don't think I fully understood the implications of that statement, and I definitely know much more now 15 years later. Obviously, long-term, hyper-centralization cannot last because it is antithetical to nature, which will prevail. But in the short term, it'll be interesting (and scary) to see what happens in their desperate attempts at consolidating currencies and power over the globe.
we do live in interesting times.
