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Page added on September 26, 2018
Preparing for Collapse, A Few Rants
For a while now I been promising that when I got some other things out of the way, I’d actually talk about preparing for collapse. And that is just what I’m going to be doing in this and the next few posts.
Unfortunately, my crystal ball isn’t any better than anybody else’s, probably worse than some. What I’ll be recommending will reflect my own biases and weaknesses. But even so, I think I do have some insights that will be of value to many people.
Among these insights are a few things that I feel the need to rant about. Let’s get that out of the way first.
Rant 1: A Fast and Hard Collapse, NOT
I should admit that by using the phrase “preparing for collapse” I am really being somewhat misleading. As I see it, collapse is not a single event that will occur at some point in the future, but a process that has already been going on for several decades, since the oil shocks of the 70s. Progress has been coasting slowly to a stop while collapse gains momentum. This will continue.
I certainly don’t buy into the whole idea of a hard, fast, apocalyptic collapse. That is a fantasy that allows us to imagine getting rid of many of the less pleasant aspects of modern life all at once. Get it over with and start fresh, so to speak. In particular, I think many people see the complete and final collapse of the financial system as freeing them from oppressive debts and jobs they hate. A pretty drastic way to solve those problems….
And of course many of us have been influenced by apocalyptic fiction. A sudden and cataclysmic event certainly sets the stage for a dramatic story. But let’s try to keep reality and fiction clearly separated in our thinking here.
At any rate, what I want to talk about is how to survive the slow and unsteady collapse that I believe we are experiencing, so that is what I’m going to do. There is much less to be said about surviving hard, fast, widespread collapse because it is much harder to do and there are fewer strategies that are likely to succeed. Still, much of what I have to say would apply to some extent, should I turn out to be wrong and things all fall apart all at once.
As I have said before this that collapse has been and will continue to be uneven geographical, unsteady chronologically, and unequal socially. Certainly there will occasionally be sudden downward bumps, but in some locations more than others and effecting various social strata differently. And then there will be a partial recovery and things will carry on for a while, somewhat worse than they were before.
This will continue on for quite a few more decades before we finally reach the bottom and the dust begins to settle. At that point, in a few lucky locations, there will still be people arguing that nothing much has really changed. For most of us, though, it will be clear that a great deal has changed and not for the better. Already the world is significantly different than it was when I was young and the strategies that served well in those days are not something I would recommend now.
Perhaps most importantly, we’ll need to recognize that collapse is happening and act appropriately rather than carrying on doing the same old thing, trying to fine tune a system that is fundamentally broken and wondering why things don’t improve.
Rant 2: Lifeboats and Eco-Villages, NOT
For quite a while yet it will not be feasible for most of us to completely sever our ties with BAU (Business as Usual). We’ll find ourselves going in two directions at once, trying to prepare for collapse while still being dependent for many of the necessities of life on the very system that is collapsing. Of course, part of our preparation will consist of reducing key dependencies. But it is challenging to reduce those dependencies when BAU can supply our needs for less than they can be produced locally. This makes it hard to earn much of living as a local, sustainable producer—the prices you have to charge mean that only those who are well off can afford to indulge themselves with your products.
Many have suggested setting up a lifeboat community or an eco-village in a remote location and waving BAU goodbye. Some days it is tempting, but there’s a long list of problems with that approach. It’s hard to find a group of people who are both interested, willing to sever their ties with BAU and competent. It costs a lot of money to set up such a project. There are getting to be fewer and fewer remote areas that BAU has not claimed and/or spoiled, and where the locals would welcome you. Those that are left are less than ideal (to cold, too hot, too dry, too wet, poor soil, etc.). In any area where farming is feasible, there are likely to be property taxes and building codes. So you can’t completely withdraw from the money based economy if you are going to pay your taxes, and it may be difficult to build the way you’d like to without running afoul of the building code.
Better to reconcile ourselves to having a foot in both worlds for now, and whole heartedly become a part of the communities in which we find ourselves living. We can quietly prepare for the day when BAU is more obviously faltering and local production can compete successfully. Of course some communities are more suitable for this than others.
Rant 3: Renewable Energy and Eco-Modernism, NOT
There are some people who recognize problems like peak oil and climate change but think they can be solved by switching over to high tech, low-carbon renewables (mainly wind and solar) and re-organizing things to be more efficient, allowing us to go right on with a green washed version of BAU, and keep the economy growing. These folks don’t understand the economic problems with the low EROEI of renewable energy sources, or the degree to which those energy sources are dependent on fossil fuels for their manufacture, installation, operation and maintenance.
Eco-modernism is a particularly egregious example of a plan to fix our problems using technology. It relies on the idea of absolute decoupling. That is, being able to reduce our impact on the resource base and environment while still improving our standard of living and allowing the economy and our population to grow. So far, our best efforts have only achieved a small amount of relative decoupling. That is, at best, increases in population and standard of living have led to slightly less than proportional increases in impact, but nothing approaching decreases in impact.
Looking realistically at what technology can do, I find it hard to see how it could be otherwise and expect that collapse will force us to reduce both our population and level of consumption. At such lower levels of consumption, energy use and technology, renewable energy sources such as biomass, wind, moving water and passive solar will no doubt supply essentially all of the energy we use. But nowhere near enough to support the sort of high tech industrial civilization we have today.
Rant 4: Violence, NOT
Violence is another area where ideas based on apocalyptic fiction are likely to lead you astray. Conflict is necessary to make a story move along, and a long tradition of collapse porn saturated with interpersonal and inter-group violence has lead many people to see that as the only way things can unfold. Food becomes short, the “have-nots” go after the “haves” and mayhem ensures. This may make good reading, but it’s not so much fun in reality, and certainly not something I’m interested in.
So, I am not a survivalist, and you won’t find me talking much here about security and defense. There are lots of other sources of that sort of information, if it interests you. I’m more interested in not being where the fighting is likely to break out and setting things up in the community where I am so that co-operation is a more likely outcome than serious conflict. Like giving people better alternatives than violence, meeting them with food rather than guns. The trick is being able to do so.
Rant 5: Back to the Good Old Days, NOT
A number of well known voices in the “collapse sphere” have claimed that recent advances in social justice such as feminism and equal rights for LGBTQ people are likely to be rolled back during collapse. The argument is that these freedoms are possible only in a society with lots of surplus resources. These guys are men who are obviously uncomfortable with what they see as disadvantageous changes to the power structure of our society. They have a socially conservative fantasy of collapse putting them back in charge. But really, that is not the way it works.
First of all, while we will be returning to levels of energy use and material consumption that were common one or two or even more centuries in the past, it isn’t really possible to go back to the way things were then. We are starting from a different place, we know a lot of things now that we didn’t back then, and formerly oppressed people who have been given a chance at equality aren’t going to give it up so easily.
Second, if you look across the world and throughout history, the patriarchy is far from universal and many societies working at very much lower levels of consumption than ours have functioned quite well as matriarchies or anarchies. A patriarchy is neither the most natural way to organize human societies nor the most efficient.
I am an old white guy too, if I can accept social changes, so can you.
Rant 6: Saving the World, NOT
Some have accused me of being out to save the world. It’s pretty clear that by the world, they mean “Business As Usual” and in my opinion that world needs not to be saved, but to be shut down as quickly as possible. Sadly, this isn’t going to happen voluntarily. Too many powerful people and institutions have a vested interest in keeping things going as they are. Heading straight toward collapse, in other words. A collapse that will see a drastic reduction in human population and consumption of resources per capita. This isn’t going to be much fun to live through and many of us won’t. The only good thing about it is that it will be the undoing of the very system that caused it. And when it is over it may be possible to continue on in a more modest, less destructive way.
Rant 7: Crunchies and Woo
I’ve noticed lately that posts on this blog often draw positive comments from people who go on to make it clear that they are “Crunchies” who believe in one sort or another of idea that isn’t supported by the evidence, that isn’t reality based—what I call “woo”. After they’ve said such nice things to me, I always feel bad having to break it to them that I don’t agree. Most of these folks are organic farmers or gardeners, who have bought into the “naturalistic fallacy” and think that everything that’s natural must be good for you. In fact the products of organic farming and conventional farming about equal in terms of safety these days. That’s good news for the many people who can’t afford pricey organic food and don’t have a garden to grow their own. The bad news is that both conventional and organic farming are also about equally unsustainable, mainly due to their reliance on energy from fossil fuels. We need to develop a “sustainable farming” that’s based on science, not woo.
The tagline for this blog is “A reality based approach to life in the age of scarcity.” When I use the terms “evidence based” or “reality based”, I mean ideas that are supported by the scientific consensus. Many people today unfortunately believe that the scientific consensus supports BAU, and that’s no wonder since BAU does its best to encourage that view. Fortunately, it’s not true. The scientific consensus support some things on the Crunchy side and some things on the BAU side, because those things happen to be true. The scientific method is an excellent tool for filtering out biases, political or otherwise. There really isn’t any good reason for ignoring its results.
But to be clear, comments from Crunchies of every sort are welcome here, just be aware of what the project of this blog really is and, that if you are pedlling woo, you’ll get a gentle but firmly negative response.
But enough ranting for now. Time to talk about what we can do to prepare for the continuing process of collapse. We need to anticipate where current trends are taking us, and harder still, when things as likely to reach a tipping point and changing more drastically.
First off, I’d say that if you are new to this, give it a year or so to sink in before making any big decisions, and don’t do anything rash in the meantime. Then you may want to consider some changes in the way you are living. What those changes might be will be the subject of my next few posts.
We’ll be considering the following subjects, and probably a few more:
- where you want to be—where bad things are less likely to happen
- who you want to be with—people you know, trust and can work with
- what you are doing—something that can support you, and allow you to develop the skills and accumulate the resources you will need
While waiting for my next post (these things often take a while), here are a few links to articles which may be of help:
On this blog:
- What the heck do we do next?
- Emergency Preparation, Part 1
- Emergency Preparation, Part 2,
- Deliberate Descent, a series of posts
- the last post in my BAU, Crunchiness and Woo series, on life in the age of scarcity
- the last post in my Limits to Growth series, where I discuss NIcole Foss’s Boundaries of Solution Space
Sharon Astyk hasn’t been very active as a writer lately, but her earlier writings are a great source of practical advice on “Adapting in Place”, which is exactly the sort of preparation I’d advise you to do.
30 Comments on "Preparing for Collapse, A Few Rants"
Davy on Wed, 26th Sep 2018 8:14 am
If you read my comments from today you will see we have many ideas in common maybe that is saying something for old men that have been living this way of life for years. I have been seriously exploring these issues now since 2000. I have had successes and failures along with surprises. I have remained true to my beliefs because they are proving true based on science and events. I have really been at this thinking since my college days in 85 when I was exposed to Peak Oil and climate change but at that time I though globalism and sustainable development was the answer. Globalism is a failure and sustainable development is a hoax that has been hijacked by those seeking profit with a fake green and social message of change without sacrifice.
One point this guy makes in his article that I feel somewhat differently about is:
“Rant 2: Lifeboats and Eco-Villages, NOT”
Let’s be clear there is no happy endings just some endings better than others. I believe if society really cared about lower emissions and adaptation to a declining planet and civilization then they would invest in lifeboats and eco-villages. They would invest in these instead of grandiose technology that is supposed to be green development and sustainable development. What this really is, is a smokescreen from more techno-optimistic development with a happy ending and generally with a high price tag. This price tag is more debt and projects that may just be the malinvestment of stranded assets. It is more development to support more development which is actually just what we have been doing but with a green veneer. We can promote zero emissions and low impact development by moving people back to the land and promoting a different urbanism based upon localism and community. That said this requires different thinking than capitalism is capable of. It smacks on socialism and welfare but it is cheaper than the techno alternative of more grandiose development and it addresses the most important part of low emissions and low impact development and that is behavior.
I AM THE MOB on Wed, 26th Sep 2018 8:27 am
Saudi Arabia’s untested claims of spare capacity may be put to the test
https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/oil/092618-analysis-saudi-arabias-untested-claims-of-spare-capacity-may-be-put-to-the-test
dave thompson on Wed, 26th Sep 2018 8:42 am
Davy, “Let’s be clear there is no happy endings just some endings better than others.” Very well put. Over 7 billion people on this planet doing anything at scale will eventually end poorly.
Cloggie on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 12:40 am
Britain at home at last:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6211841/Theresa-hails-prospect-major-trade-deal-US.html
‘It’s in both our interests to do a deal’: Theresa May hails the prospect of a major Brexit trade agreement with the US as she meets President Trump at the UN
“Addressing a business audience in New York earlier in the day, Mrs May suggested that Britain and the EU could still do a deal despite the acrimonious collapse of talks in Salzburg last week. She said there was much ‘common ground’ between the two sides.”
Apparently, without realizing, May just dumped her dead-in-the-water anyway Chequers plan, a sort of Norway pie with a lot of cherries on top. Because it is not possible to remain part of the common market and have trade deals with thirds.
But the development is a good one as it stimulates a break between imperial, cosmopolitan Anglosphere and continental Europe, so the latter can escape from the West and join the Russian and Chinese identitarians of Eurasia.
boney joe on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 1:46 am
“I have been seriously exploring these issues now since 2000. I have remained true to my beliefs.”
~~~The Turd~~~
MAYBE you have been exploring these ideas in the form of mental flatulence, but you are just as dependent on the BAU economy as ever. You still drive a gas guzzling truck to the local Wal Mart for provisions. Nothing in your life of consequence has changed.
More fantasy BS from the chief Bser.
Simon Rodgers on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 2:14 am
In the words of my hero, Nestor
‘You do not press on to reach a useful conclusion’
Cloggie on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 4:57 am
The self-declared lesbian boney joel is not interested in reaching conclusions, only in yelling, insulting and virtue signaling. Thanks to the internet I have a ringside seat to watch how it all goes down the drain.
Even a natural born libtard like Davy, who accidently had the nerve to vote for the God-Emperor out of pure despair with the way his country is developing, is being harrassed for it by the endless supply of neo-bolshevik trash the US has in store.
Did I already say that continental Europe will take back the Heartland and its willing fashies, after CW2?
https://youtu.be/45uy-TtkD1k
Antius on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 5:21 am
Cloggie, I can’t see a civil war working out well for white, conservative America. Their political power base is lightly populated rural counties. The heathen left control the cities, the media, the internet, the industrial heartlands, etc. This is exactly the reason that the confederacy didn’t stand a chance in the last civil war. And don’t forget that they had European (British) support. A modern day white rebellion would be a largely rural rebellion against the established power base of America. Unless something changes fundamentally, I don’t see how they could win, with or without European help.
Davy on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 5:28 am
“Even a natural born libtard like Davy”
Neder, I am an independent. I also voted republican in the past and not that voting matters much. I live in a very conservative area. I look for the best of both liberal and conservative policy. You being Dutch and European are probably naturally more liberal than I am. I look down upon anyone who is a so called “card carrying” party member. To me it reflects a lack of understanding of issues when one takes a side because of ideology only.
Davy on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 5:31 am
Joe the sock is irrelevant. I have seen maybe one comment out of him that said anything. He wants a response out of me he needs to argue an issue or an idea. I am comfortable with verbal abuse. It happens every day and now for years. In fact in Joe the sock case it show mission accomplished. One more dumbass pissed off and whining.
Davy on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 5:36 am
“A modern day white rebellion would be a largely rural rebellion against the established power base of America.”
Sorry antius, you don’t know us. You and neder are lost in your racist slants without much American understanding except for internet stuff. If there is a civil war it will be regional anyway. There is a soft one going on now in DC and the left is losing. There will likely be no hard one just like Brexit will not turn violent. That said who knows what will happen if the world starts a hard collapse but I imaging WWIII is more in order.
Davy on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 5:51 am
“How The Eurozone Breaks”
https://tinyurl.com/yajkr5us
“The Eurozone is a fragile financial mammoth. While its GDP lacks the US by around $3 trillion, assets of the banking sector are some 240 percent of GDP vs. around 90 percent in the US. It has been kept on standing only through the large-scale asset purchase program (quantitative easing or QE) of the ECB. However, the ECB is about to phase-out its bond buying program, which will affect the debt dynamics and the likelihood of euro survival in a dramatic way.”
“Thus, the 2008 crisis was a classical ‘asymmetric shock’ in the EMU, and the European debt crisis that followed, was in essence a banking crisis. To save face, the European banking system, and, apparently, to stop the EZ from falling apart, leaders of the Eurozone issued bailout loans to the crisis countries so that they could pay back the money they had borrowed from European banks. Alas, only miniscule fractions of these bailout loans went to help the people of crisis-hit countries. The rescue measures applied during the debt crises was probably the most duplicitous and inefficient bank re-capitalization in history. Scenarios of a breakup. The process that leads to the collapse of the Eurozone is likely to consist of six phases: ECB tapering; Economic/political shock; Economic crisis; Political crisis; Legal crisis; Breakup”
“Thus, when the blanket of ECB support recedes from the sovereign bond markets, the market pricing of risk will return, implying that sovereign yields are likely to become very volatile. It is also uncertain whether the ECB can restart QE, which crucially depends on the decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) of QE. If restarting the program becomes impossible, and if “Eurobonds”, some new common financial structure, or foreign central banks do not take the ECB’s place in the bond markets to buy the increased net issuance of sovereign debt before the next banking crisis or recession hits, the debt crisis will make an epic comeback.”
“In a breakup, we come to a completely uncharted water, because no country has ever exited from the euro. The uncontrolled breakup of the Eurozone would constitute a cataclysmic shock to the global financial system. Countries, banks and corporations would be likely to default en masse. The ECB would declare bankruptcy due to heavy losses from defaulted sovereign bonds. The European financial sector would crumble taking the global financial system with it. A global financial calamity would follow. Other options do exist, however. Eurozone: a dangerous political construct. The EZ was a bold, but fundamentally-flawed experiment. The fact is that politicians are the ones who got us into this predicament by creating a flawed and inherently-unstable currency union despite the warnings of many economists and the overwhelming historical evidence against the success of such initiatives. There can be no other than a political solution to its problems. We’ll know soon enough whether politicians can find one.”
Cloggie on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 5:54 am
Antius, the rural whites would lose big time… without foreign support. Exactly how the 1776 insurgents would have lost without Dutch money and weapons en finally French troops. Or how the Donbass insurgents would have been crushed without Russian support, or Assad.
The point is that this time there are 2 billion Eurasians around, who would not mind too much to see the Benevolent Hegemon fall flat on its face. That is where it gets interesting. Furthermore there are a lot of Mexicans in the US that Mexico will use as a fifth column, certainly when Eurasian powers will hint they will support the reestablishment of 1820 borders. So now there are THREE parties. You smell the Jugoslav scenario just around the corner? I do. But then again I am a heartless Natzi nobody should take seriously.
https://youtu.be/f9xHhbG3wvk
Davy on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 6:12 am
“Asia Development Bank Warns US-China Trade War Could Trigger 2019 Asia Slowdown”
https://tinyurl.com/y9n6rwzo
“The Asian Development Bank (ADB) warned on Wednesday that growth prospects for Asia next year could slow substantially as the US-China trade war disrupts multinational corporations’ supply chains, inflicting damage on the region’s export-reliant economies. Peak quantitative easing policies have been realized; central bank asset purchases $1.6tn in 2016, $2.3tn in 2017, $0.3tn in 2018, and will decline $0.2tn in 2019. It is late-cycle, and the Federal Reserve is tightening, which explains why global stocks are down YTD ex. US tech. Meanwhile, global liquidity is rapidly shrinking, and that has become a significant concern for Asian business activity by pushing up borrowing costs, while capital outflows are also a risk.”
“Additionally, Reuters said ADB’s revised outlook for 2019 had not factored in President Trump’s recently implemented tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods imposed on Monday. The domestic economy in China “seems to be quite robust and supporting 6.6% growth this year”, Sawada told the press. “But admittedly we don’t know (how) the further escalation of the trade dispute may directly affect consumer sentiment.” Beijing fixed its 2018 growth target to 6.5%, similar to 2017, which it beat by expanding at 6.9%. Despite the trade war, Chinese authorities have stayed the course for 2018 growth target, as new easing measures have been introduced to prevent an already cooling economy.”
“In a recent BofA report titled “The Thundering World,” the profit outlook has become more negative for world risk assets. Global EPS has peaked; was 22% in February, now 16%. One leading indicator of global profits is Korean exports, which predicts an imminent global slowdown. ADB said weakness in Southeast Asia is expected: beware moderating export growth, quickening inflation, net capital outflows and a worsening balance of payments, with growth this year projected to slow to 5.1% from the July forecast of 5.2%.”
“A perfect storm of trade wars and quantitative tightening is brewing in the world, and it could soon lead to a sudden growth shock in the Eastern hemisphere, in 2019. So what happens next? A possible 2019 slowdown in Asia could trigger a repricing event in the US, as the gap between US equities and global stocks is wide.”
Davy on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 6:13 am
A slowdown in Asia will slow down the world. Asia is the center of growth. I posted an article the other day “How Long Before China’s Exports Are Hammered By Trade War” https://tinyurl.com/ybu755yg. In that article it shows how “front running” tariffs has actually lowered their effects and supported growth but this activity will run down in 2019. By front running the article means producers and retailers are scrambling to get stock before the price goes up. I look for 2019 to be a slow down because of the perfect storm of tapering, trade conflict, and possibly higher oil prices. Will we then see another round of quantitative easing, lower rates, and trade compromise? Who knows but one thing is obvious we are cycling into new waters and these water look hostile.
I suspect this will likely impact oil demand far more than supply or political issues. China being a managed economy will likely find a way through a slowdown but it will not be pretty. The US will likely see market repricing that will not be pretty. Europe may see a banking system crisis as the article I posted today hinted at. On the economic front I see nothing to be optimistic about. Yet, we have seen economic issues surface before and the central banks took care of them. How long until their tools run out?
Davy on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 6:15 am
“You smell the Jugoslav scenario just around the corner? I do. But then again I am a heartless Natzi nobody should take seriously.”
I smell a obsessive fantasy anti-American agenda of an individual that has no first hand knowledge of life in the US. His frame of mind is goal seeking extremist anti-American news and ideas. FRAUD
Antius on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 6:33 am
Macron turns out to be a globalist turd. Was anyone seriously in doubt?
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1022712/un-general-assembly-live-emmanuel-macron-news-european-union-trump-news-united-nation
Viva Le Pen!
Cloggie on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 6:37 am
Davy has found a euro-skeptic Fin Tuomas Malinen with an agenda hidden in a “prediction”, Davy likes, namely Europe “collapsing”, so the status quo of his beloved empire can continue a little longer:
https://m.huffpost.com/us/author/tuomas-malinen-393
Types like Malinen exist in every European country. The truth is that it remains to be seen if we even manage to get rid of the British as the latest polls reveal that Remain now has the majority again there. Again, I am pro-Brexit, but only 60-40 confident it will succeed.
Antius on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 6:46 am
“Antius, the rural whites would lose big time… without foreign support. Exactly how the 1776 insurgents would have lost without Dutch money and weapons en finally French troops. Or how the Donbass insurgents would have been crushed without Russian support, or Assad.”
Maybe you are right. One of the benefits of still being in my thirties is that I will likely get to see how it turns out.
I still think secret societies are the best tool for rallying white Europeans against the Heathen Left. In the totalitarian police state known as Britain, it is the only strategy that could work as things stand. Getting it started is difficult. As Davy put it ‘a critical mass’ is needed.
Personally, I no longer care how Brexit turns out. The best way forward for the UK would have been to remain in an EU that is run by the nationalist (populist) right. But that wasn’t on offer at the time that we voted.
My biggest apprehension about leaving is not losing access to the common market, or any economic problems that this might cause. It is losing the court of human rights. Outside of the EU, white Britons will have no protection from the abuses of a kosher government that hates them and has no respect for individual freedom. They are happy to live in an oppressive totalitarian system, so long as it victimises people that they don’t like. The real concerns over immigration that motivated many white Britons to vote leave will not be solved by Brexit, because the kosher government have no interest in stopping it, whether in or out of the EU. Our only hope is some sort of quiet, underground rebellion.
Cloggie on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 6:58 am
Antius, why are you taking Express seriously? Me, as the board’s [cough] Natzi am still cautiously positive about Macron. He is anything but pro-open borders:
https://amp.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/sep/26/education-family-planning-key-africa-future-emmanuel-macron-un-general-assembly
“The French president, who has come under fire over his views on Africa in the past, added that the future for the continent’s young people must be to stay in a revitalised Africa”
Despite all his humanistic talk, he acts like a populist and keeps French borders closed, because he knows if he does not, a populist takeover is guaranteed. And not even I want that because the risk is too great populists would blow up the EU, although they recently proclaimed that they abolished that view and want to inherit the EU. Even Marine le Pen now supports that view:
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/lega-afd-und-ex-front-national-matteo-marine-und-viktor-fuer-europa-a-1228506-amp.html
Not that I trust them, I put my faith in the “Austrian solution”, that is a coalition government of real conservative Christian Democrats, who are pro-EU, keeping in check Euro-skeptic populists. We still need the EU and Russia in order to separate the hillbillies from their kiken owners.
Cloggie on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 7:44 am
In Germany it is now open season on Merkel. The conservative newspaper Die Welt pleads for Merkel to be replaced by Friedrich Merz:
https://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/bilanz/article181682312/Merkel-Nachfolge-Einer-der-die-CDU-CSU-retten-kann.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Merz
Not that it matters but I support that idea.
I AM THE MOB on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 10:25 am
Davy
Can’t you share anything from a mainstream site? Why do you always share from the same source ie far right doomer porn zerohedge? You need a safe space, that is why..
You are the lunatic fringe..Just read the comments on any hedge article..Its the scum of society..
You and clogg are the biggest fucking morons on this site..
Davy on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 11:11 am
The wounded millennial racist liberal loser speaks. LOL. I am a loser, debate the article if you have a brain otherwise go JO.
Sissyfuss on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 11:47 am
Davy, where’s the cart and where’s the horse? Are the Central banks reacting to resource depletion or they encouraging it? Maybe both. All fiscal growth is hidden behind financialization. The system is ridden with tumors aka bubbles. How long can they keep bailing the ship out before we all go under?
Davy on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 12:00 pm
I would say central banks are where they are at because their tail has been wagged not the other way around. Yet, since the crisis they have no choice but to do the wagging because the have created a trap that must constantly be managed.
Sissyfuss on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 12:09 pm
Mobbedmind, ZH is both prolific and sensationalist. Their slant is definitely towards the negative but in this world there is plenty of negative to go around. Teach your mind to edit. It will help your mental balance. Go Green!
Cloggie on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 1:22 pm
“Go Green!”
Mobbedmind has no choice but to go red, bloody red.
It’s his Talmudic cerebral operating system. He can’t help it, he is just following his script, like a Dutch street organ:
https://youtu.be/NMDn_Pl-pFU
boney joe on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 5:20 pm
“liberal loser”
But, really, I’m neutral, fair, and balanced.
Hypocrisy and lies a plenty more.
makati1 on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 7:38 pm
Sissyfuss is in the correct neighborhood with thoughts about the Fed. I still maintain that the Federal reserve is deliberately taking down the US economy. It is a main part of the Great Leveling taking place in the so called 1st world. Looking back to 1913 when the Fed was born (for the 2nd time) it has done nothing positive to actually aid the economy’s growth, just move wealth upward.
The ‘One World’ crowd is still in control. Until the USD loses its control of the world’s cash flow, the final One Money System/World Government cannot happen. TPTB see the end of everything coming closer and closer and their time to pull off their dream is soon not going to be possible as climates change and cheap, plentiful energy is dwindling to zero. The world is likely to break up into even smaller “countries”, not unite into one. That’s my view from here.
makati1 on Thu, 27th Sep 2018 9:24 pm
“A common misconception among people new to alternative economics is the idea that central banks only seek to keep the economy afloat, or keep it expanding forever. In reality, these institutions and the money elites behind them artificially inflate financial bubbles only to deliberately implode them at opportunistic moments.”
http://www.alt-market.com/articles/3532-the-everything-bubble-when-will-it-finally-crash
” The Fed in particular has set the U.S. up not just for a financial depression, but for a full spectrum collapse which will include a considerable devaluation (yet again) of our currency’s value…The next phase of this collapse will include the end of the dollar as we know it, making way for a new global currency system that uses the IMF’s SDR basket as a foundation….It is important to understand what the Fed actually is — the Fed is a weapon. It is a weapon used by globalists to destroy the American system at a given point in time in order to clear the way for a new single world economy controlled by a single managerial entity (most likely the IMF or BIS). This is the Fed’s purpose. The central bank is not here to save the U.S. from harm, it is here to make sure the U.S. falls in a particular manner — a controlled demolition of our fiscal structure.”
https://personalliberty.com/federal-reserve-saboteur-experts-oblivious/
The Great Leveling is their plan and it is coming to fruition soon.