Financial Isolation: Your Way Forward |
Friday, 21 April 2023 — Albert Park  | By Brian Chu | Editor, The Daily Reckoning Australia |
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[6 min read] Quick summary: Many people’s woes come from putting themselves in a predicament where they feel helpless about their lives. But often, the solution is to take a step back and find ways to gain back control. It’s often easier said than done, especially if you’re entrenched in the trappings of convenience and familiarity. How can we get into the right mindset? Try taking a few days’ trip out of the big city by going to stay at a rural property. You might start to appreciate a simpler life… |
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Dear Reader, Earlier this week, my wife, my three-year-old son, and I headed to Barwite in the north-eastern part of Victoria to spend a few days living in a farm cottage. It was a short stay, but we experienced quite a bit. The heavy rain on the first two days of our stay prevented us from checking out the property. However, as the rain cleared and the Sun came out, we walked around the fields and checked out the poultry shed, the greenhouse vegetable garden, and the small orchard that belonged to our host. They generously gave us some of their produce, including organic free-range eggs, ox-heart tomatoes, pears, apples, lemons, and cucumbers. While the four days we stayed weren’t adequate for us to immerse into the life of a self-sufficient farmer, we observed how the couple who hosted us seemed quite detached from the worries and fears that many living in a big city face or worry over. Perhaps I’m exaggerating a bit in saying that they were completely aloof to the world, but my conversations with them led me to believe that their interest was closer to home, and they seemed to like it that way. For those of us who live in the big city, we’re constantly trying to keep up with the pace of society and our peers — is our job secure, can we pay the rent or mortgage, what do people think about the house we live in or the car we drive, what’s the latest gadget or fashion to pursue, and when will we see that slimeball political party get voted out of power? Out in a rural setting, the key concerns are the weather and what’s happening in the field — what crops to plant, are there any animals giving birth/sick/threatened/dying, when should we rotate our fields and crops, and what do we need to build/repair around the place? I’m sure they may share some interests with the city folk, but they’re likely to have more pressing issues to attend to. And those who run a farm are likely to have more direct control over their food supply and hence their livelihood. So, why am I talking about this? Am I advocating that we all pack up our bags, put our belongings into boxes, buy a rural property, and be a farmer? Not at all. But I want to take the chance to talk about how you can regain independence, and thereby control of your lives. Isolationist thinking and financial independence Our desire for convenience could cause us to become dependent on society and the system. Of course, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. After all, not everyone is born to be able to plant crops and raise animals to feed oneself, or to be able to make every tool or item necessary for our living. It’s through mutual cooperation that societies were formed, and humankind developed to become civilised, allowing subsequent generations to thrive. However, we’ve reached a point where we’re seeing the accumulated flaws of humankind become an existential threat to us all. Financially, the world’s facing an insurmountable debt problem. Thus far, those in charge have been continually deferring it by using band aid fixes to cover for market bubbles bursting and causing widespread business and household ruin. But delaying the pain simply means it’s worse when it finally hits. Societally, the world’s divided by ethnicity, ideology, socioeconomic classes, and spirituality. Affirmative action, censoring, mind control, and propaganda is making it worse. Blanket solutions from poorly conceived strategies have simply led to further resentment that could spark violent confrontations, which are already breaking out in various parts of the world. However, not everyone is able or willing or wanting to be confrontational. In this case, it’s important to adopt an isolationist policy…at least in the financial sense. How do you do that? Firstly, minimise your debt liability. If you’re living beyond your means, cut down on your luxury spending. If you own many assets via mortgage debt, ask yourself whether you need to stretch so thin. Remember that you’re really making the banks richer and faster — rather than yourself — when you rely on what they lend you. Secondly, ringfence some of your assets by taking some out of the rat race of the financial markets. What you own outright is yours — be it land, property, equipment, precious metals, etc. The prices can fluctuate but it doesn’t affect your day-to-day living. Thirdly, reduce your reliance on the government. This may be from receiving direct handouts or leaning on regulations that are passed by these bodies. Government officials speak well about working for their constituents to solve problems. However, governments merely act as redistributors of resources and power, and there’s never a solution that pleases everyone. In addition, it’s almost always one side gains to the detriment of another. Don’t get sucked into the rat race In the unstable time that we live in now, our sanity rests on making the right decisions to take ourselves out of the rat race as much as we can. The reason why there’s so much resentment in society is that there aren’t enough resources to go around for everyone. And those who’re responsible for distribution are pathetically incompetent in delivering on their promises. That or they’re sociopaths purposefully seeking to sow anger and push for chaos by pitting people against each other. By finding your own financial independence, you’ve made your first crucial step in not helping tip society over. A clear mind, coming from not having to engage in groupthink to stay afloat, will help you make better decisions to keep you out of trouble. If you want to take on the globalists and the corrupt elements of society, you still can. But at least have a firm base financially so you can retreat to safer ground if need be. It could help you sleep more soundly at night. So how do I attempt to isolate my family financially? I like precious metals. Gold and silver can come in small, affordable denominations, so you don’t have to borrow to build your wealth. It also doesn’t have counterparty risk in that gold and silver can’t go broke and leave you with nothing (though they are prone to theft so store them safely). You can do it your way — land, crypto, equipment, or your own business. Make sure you’re ready because the clock is ticking for society to go through a pretty dramatic shift in life as we know it… Get yourself in good order in the meanwhile! And all the best! God bless,
Brian Chu, Editor, The Daily Reckoning Australia Advertisement:
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 | By Bill Bonner | Editor, The Daily Reckoning Australia |
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Dear Reader, We left the question hanging yesterday…like a man dangling at the end of a rope…lynched and gurgling… Why didn’t the Argentines stop the cycle? Spending, borrowing, defaulting, printing…from excess to distress…back and forth, over and over, for the last 70-plus years. Why didn’t they stop it? Why did Zimbabwe, Germany, Venezuela…et al…let inflation go to more than 1,000,000%? One of the ‘basket cases’ we hear little about is Lebanon. Here’s our son, Henry, reporting from Paris: ‘In 2021, the Lebanese pound traded on the black market for 10,000 pounds to the dollar. In February 2023, it dropped to 74,000 to the dollar. Two months later, the rate is 97,000 pounds to the dollar. ‘According to the theory of “stimulation” of an economy by adding money, you’d think Lebanon would be enjoying incredible prosperity. But the theory doesn’t match the reality. Lebanon’s GDP was $55 billion in 2018. It fell to $23 billion in 2021.’ Financial catastrophe? That’s how inflation really works. You increase the supply of currency by 1,000%...and you cut the real economy in half. The harm is so predictable and so grave, it brings us back to our question: How come the authorities don’t stop it? And to answer it, we turn, via CNBC, to no less of an authority (because we can’t think of any less of an authority) than Ms Janet Yellen: ‘The U.S. government risks “economic and financial catastrophe” if the House fails to pass a bill to raise the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said… ‘“America has paid all of its bills on time since 1789, and not to do so would produce an economic and financial catastrophe,” Yellen told ABC’s George Stephanopolous…“And every responsible member of Congress must agree to raise the debt ceiling.”’ And here’s the bond market chiming in. From Business Insider: ‘The bond market sounded the alarm on US default risks as the deadline for reaching a deal on lifting the debt ceiling may come sooner than expected. ‘On Monday, the US sold $57 billion in three-month Treasury bills — which would mature around when the government could run out of money — at a yield of 5.1%, the highest since January 2001. ‘That comes a week after a similar auction of three-month bills also saw lackluster demand.’ Government unfunding You see, bond investors, like Ms Yellen, fear that things might get back to where they should be. Yields are at a 22-year high specifically because investors worry about the ‘debt ceiling’. And Ms Yellen insists that the consequences of not increasing the debt ceiling — which will mean ‘printing’ more money — would be ‘an economic and financial catastrophe’. And in the press, too…alarms are sounding: ‘the government would shut down’…a US default would be a ‘worldwide calamity’…etc. etc. blah, blah… What would really happen if the feds couldn’t borrow more money? Isn’t US$32 trillion enough? Suppose the mighty federal government were forced to live within its means; would that be so terrifying? The Treasury is expecting tax receipts of about US$3.5 trillion for the year. That’s as much as the federal government spent, in 2019, just four years ago. Do you remember a catastrophe in 2019? Did people go hungry? Was the US Army disbanded because we couldn’t pay the soldiers? Did the old folks get their checks? Police? Schools? Hospitals? The SEC? We don’t recall any problems. The feds continued to ‘drive it like they stole it’…which is to say, they spent money like it belonged to someone else — which it did. And today, if the feds had to spend only what they could get from tax receipts, they would have plenty of money to keep the lights on and the scams going. Besides, unfunding is what a lot of the government needs — especially unfunding the ‘transfer payments’ that keep the voters hooked on free stuff. Push and shove The experience of Argentina shows us that once the masses get hooked on free stuff (transfer payments), inflation is almost impossible to stop. Practically everyone comes to believe that whatever terrible damage inflation inflicts…politically, deflation is worse. Push comes to shove; politicians would always rather inflate than deflate. When they inflate, the costs are moved into the future. Deflation, on the other hand, hits hard and fast. It costs them votes. And power. And when more than half the voters rely on free stuff, ‘Stop the Spending’ is not a campaign bumper sticker you are likely to see. And the party that calls for a Balanced Budget is not likely to be the one calling the shots. And so, the US stands on the brink of a fateful decision. More than half the ‘taxpayers’ pay no federal income taxes. According to the Tax Foundation, more than 60% receive more in transfer payments than they pay in taxes. Fighting inflation means pain for them, but also for the rich (whose assets go down), and the whole ‘political’ class itself (whose power gets deflated along with everything else). Can they stand it? Stay tuned… Regards,
Bill Bonner, For The Daily Reckoning Australia Advertisement: CBDCs: Should You Be Worried? Jim Rickards, one of the world’s most qualified financial market analysts, is worried about the rapid development of a new kind of digital money.
A ‘programmable currency’ that The Spectator Australia warns could ‘remove financial independence and autonomy from our lives’.
If this concerns you and you value your freedom and privacy, I urge you to watch this urgent briefing ASAP.
Click here to access. |
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