Journal of a Wayward Philosopher Archives - Page 32 of 33

Shedding the Institutional Mindset

submitted by jwithrow.

Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
Shedding the Institutional Mindset

November 19, 2014
Hot Springs, VA

The S&P opened the day at $2,047. Gold is up to $1,197. Oil bounced back above $75. Bitcoin is still hanging around $379, and the 10-year Treasury rate is 2.36% today.

Yesterday we examined some of the prominent macroeconomic trends and we reasoned that, from the American perspective, the world will be a much different place eighteen years from now. We pondered: how can we help prepare a child growing up today for adulthood in a world that will not resemble the one that currently exists?

To answer this question we must first examine the script as it exists for the average American child coming up today. For this I will defer to one of my favorite analysts, Paul Rosenberg over at Casey Research, who summed it up rather succinctly:

Do well in school (an institution).

Rebel with music from the entertainment corps (institutions).

Wear the new shoes/jeans/etc. with the best corporate logos (institutions).

Get a university degree (from an institution).

Take student loans to do so (from an institution).

Take a job at a big firm with great benefits (interacting institutions).

Get a home loan (from an institution).

Build a 401(k) (more institutions).

Believe in democracy (a multilayered institution).

Be a good citizen and vote (same as above).

Send your children to daycare, then school (institutions).

Buy brand-named goods (from other mega-corp institutions).

Watch the best in entertainment (corporate institutions).

Conduct your relationships on Facebook (a vampire institution).

Trust in Social Security and Medicare (Ponzi institutions).

I read this list and have to nod my head in agreement – this is pretty much the script that has been sold to every individual in American society for quite some time now. The script has worked out fairly well for people over the past seventy years but I must ask the question: is it still viable? After all, past success is not indicative of future results.

I am skeptical. To be frank, I am not so sure this script will even work out well for the Baby Boomer generation (though it has up to this point). Time will tell.

So, getting back to the original question from yesterday, how best to prepare Madison for a changing world? Logically the first step would be to change the script. Maybe even set fire to it.

But to change the script first requires a change in mindset.

The current script represents the institutional model which operates under the assumption that individuals are inferior, weak, and ignorant; that they are objects to be molded and formed in the institutionalized image. The institutional model suggests that each individual should spend most of their time working as a “productive” member of the institution. While rarely stated explicitly, the institutional model implies that each individual is subordinate to the institution. Those who subscribe to the institutional model tend to develop the mindset that everyone must participate. Everyone must play.

To walk away from this institutional mindset requires courage but a beautiful thing happens when you do – the world opens up and becomes more free. Then you discover your boundless potential and begin to trust yourself implicitly. And then you can start to envision a better way to prepare little Maddie for adulthood.

Instead of treating birth as an emergency and rushing off to the hospital you can do a homebirth. Instead of rushing her off to school to have indoctrination forced on her by the collectivists and bureaucrats you can develop a comprehensive, practical, and liberating homeschool curriculum. Instead of exposing her to mindless entertainment you can find wholesome hobbies that the entire family can do together. Instead of pushing her to mindlessly rush off to college you can capitalize an IBC insurance policy for her and, when the time comes, tell her to follow her passion. Instead of telling her she must get a corporate job with good benefits to be successful you can help her devise a plan to build a career pursuing her own interests. Instead of telling her she must be a good citizen and vote within a corrupt system you can tell her to “be the change you would like to see”. Instead of ignoring financial education and hoping Social Security will be there for her in the year 2079 you can teach her the merits of asset allocation so she will be financially independent forever. Instead of instilling within her the institutional mindset you can help her remember that she is a sacred individual and nothing less than an eternal spirit of humanity.

The possibilities are endless!

Then it doesn’t matter what the world looks like in the future because she will be prepared to thrive physically, financially, emotionally, and spiritually no matter what.

More to come,

Joe Withrow
Wayward Philosopher

For more of Joe’s thoughts on the “Great Reset” and regaining individual sovereignty please read “The Individual is Rising” which is available at http://www.theindividualisrising.com/. The book is also available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle editions.

Macroeconomic Trends

submitted by jwithrow.

Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
Macroeconomic Trends

November 18, 2014
Hot Springs, VA

The S&P opened the day at $2,040. Gold is up to $1,193. Oil dipped just below $75. Bitcoin fell slightly to $379, and the 10-year Treasury rate is 2.32% today. All seems to be calm in the financial world for the moment…

In other news: little Madison is one month old this week!

I have spent many of the past twenty-nine evenings contemplating the intricacies of the infant experience. Maddie’s infant mind is as mysterious to me as this crazy world must be to her.

What does she see as she gazes out from those blue-grey eyes? Why does her attention seem to be drawn to the top corner of the room? How does she interpret all of the data received by her sensory organs? What can she possibly be dreaming of while in the throes of R.E.M. sleep? How can she tolerate her mother’s off-tune singing all day long?

Some evenings, when especially sleep-deprived, I can imagine an older Madison filling her father in on all the details. “I tried to tell mom to stop singing those ridiculous songs to me but I just couldn’t find the words”, future Madison would say. But then I come-to and accept that I will never have the definitive answers to my reckonings.

Not one to be discouraged, I then focus my reckonings on slightly more concrete topics.

What will the world look like eighteen years from now when Maddie is ready to go her own way?

Fortunately I don’t need to rely on future Madison to answer this question; I can make an educated guess by projecting current macroeconomic trends out to their logical conclusion. I have been tailing macroeconomic trends for several years now and no matter how close I follow behind, they always seem to lead me to one inevitable conclusion: the debt-fueled, fiat-driven, consumption-oriented, entitlement-laden, militarily-enforced Pax Americana is coming to an end.

Not a very popular thing to say in today’s hyper-sensitive politically correct world, I know. But I say this as a cold observation with no emotion attached. Just look at the prominent trends:

The U.S. government took more than 200 years to run up $1 trillion in debt. The national debt has since exploded to nearly $18 trillion in less than 30 years with $9 trillion of that coming from 2005-present.
The U.S. monetary base was relatively stable from 1781-1971. It has since exploded to the point where the U.S. dollar has lost 98% of its purchasing power.
Consumer debt has skyrocketed right along side public debt since 1971.
When calculated according to GAAP, the U.S. debt is actually north of $200 trillion and growing. This figure is predominantly made up of Social Security and Medicare unfunded liabilities.
Demographics show that roughly 10,000 people with celebrate their 65th birthday every single day for the next ten years. One can safely assume they will all be interested in signing up for Medicare and Social Security benefits.
The 10-year Treasury rate has been steadily declining since the late 1980’s with the help of the Federal Reserve. Despite record-low interest rates, the U.S. government paid out more than $420 billion in interest payments in 2013. Even a slight uptick in interest rates will dramatically impede the Treasury’s ability to service the national debt.
America was founded upon the principle of non-intervention. “Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none”, said Jefferson. The United States has systematically morphed into a military empire with more than 300 military bases in over 170 countries. Militarism puts a measurable strain on the budget and a less measurable strain on the morality of society.

It doesn’t take much analytical skill to see that current macroeconomic trends are not slowing: they are growing exponentially. One only needs to utilize a sliver of common sense to understand that exponentially expanding trends are not sustainable. The trends don’t tell me what the world looks like in eighteen years but they do clue me in on what it doesn’t look like. And what it doesn’t look like is the world of the past seventy years.

Hmm. So, how best to to help Maddie prepare for adult life in a world that does not yet exist?

That’s the problem with philosophical contemplations: rather than answers they tend to lead only to more questions. Fortunately, questioning is the philosopher’s strong suit.

Until the morrow,

Joe Withrow
Wayward Philosopher

Preventative Care

submitted by jwithrow.

Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
Preventative Care

November 12, 2014
Hot Springs, VA

The S&P opened at $2,028. Gold, starting to recover from its recent mugging, is up to $1,165. Oil is down to $77.25 and contemplating testing its support level. Bitcoin is up to $396 per BTC, and the 10-year Treasury rate opened at 2.34%.

Precious metals are still the asset class that most warrants your attention in the financial markets today. The U.S. mint sold 5.8 million ounces of silver in October which was a 40% increase from September sales. The Mint then started the month of November off by selling another 1.3 million ounces.

Then it ran out of silver to sell.

But guess what happened to the price of silver? It dropped from $19.50 per ounce on September 1 to $15.72 per ounce as the closing bell rang yesterday. Concurrently, the gold forward rate has just gone negative for the sixth time in fourteen years which suggests the market is pricing for a physical gold shortage. Despite this, the price of gold has been systematically beaten down in 2014 as well. What was that old saying about supply and demand?

Both gold and silver will probably flop around a bit for a while longer but ten years from now you will look quite wise if you allocate some of your capital to precious metals at the current prices.

Shifting gears to continue with our recent health care theme…

Last week we pondered a new model for health care based on cash payments for personalized service in order to opt out of the big-government/big-insurance/big-pharma cartel. We reckoned such a model would be similar to the free market model of a bygone era where family doctors had the freedom to offer personalized service to patients without having to worry about an avalanche of insurance paperwork needing to be complied with or a legion of attorneys hiding in the bushes outside looking for a malpractice lawsuit. We also reckoned there will be a small but growing number of health care professionals willing to offer personalized service for cash as the health insurance industry in the U.S. continues to spiral down into a sinkhole of bureaucracy.

What we didn’t ponder last week was how to afford a cash-based model and keep the insurance company in the waiting room unless an emergency occurs. The answer is simple: preventative care.

No, not the preventative care where you run to the specialist and sign up for the latest and greatest test or screening every time you think you might have sniffled in your sleep the night before. We mean the preventative care where you actually take responsibility for your own health and wellness.

The general guidelines are really pretty intuitive: get a good night’s sleep, stay active during the day even if you work behind a desk, walk as much as possible, eat real food and avoid the fake food that comes packaged in boxes and bags, drink plenty of water and not much soda, consider natural supplements and stay away from pharmaceutical drugs, reject stress and negativity, and maintain a positive state of mind.

Do these things consistently and you probably won’t ever get sick. And if you don’t get sick you won’t feel the need to go to the doctor – not even for checkups if you trust yourself implicitly. Then you could take the money you would have spent on doctor visits and prescription drugs and work on your asset allocation model.

Of course it is still advisable to maintain a wellness network. There are plenty of people and groups out there in cyberspace discussing natural health topics and answering each other’s questions at any given time of day. Though I gave it up years ago, I understand there are plenty of active Facebook groups in this space also.

Wife Rachel and I are big fans of routine chiropractic care as well. Instead of pushing a pill for every ill, chiropractors embrace a more holistic approach to wellness by focusing on musculoskeltal health to ensure optimal functionality of the nervous system. We found chiropractic care to be an especially important part of Rachel’s prenatal and postpartum wellness and it is an excellent tool to monitor the development of little Madison’s nervous system. You know how the pediatrician taps infants on the knee with the little hammer tool? Chiropractors do that too along with numerous other more advanced bio-mechanical and reactionary measurements.

Fortunately for the sake of this journal entry, many chiropractors operate on a cash-only basis. That is, they do not deal with insurance companies (they will accept credit cards). This eliminates the extra costs associated with insurance paperwork and compliance which means lower prices for clients. Some insurance policies may cover chiropractic care but it would be up to the client to file for reimbursement in that case. Ask the chiropractor whether or not his services are covered by insurance and he will probably say “I don’t know” and explain that your insurance policy is a private contract between you and the insurance company and has nothing to do with him (or her). How refreshing to know there is still a sliver of honesty and respectability left in the health care field!

With the proper mindset, preventative care is really quite easy so why do most people ignore it? One cannot know for certain but I suspect propagated fear has a lot to do with it. We’ll save that for a later entry…

More to come,

Joe Withrow
Wayward Philosopher

A New Healthcare Model?

submitted by jwithrow.

Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
A New Healthcare Model?

November 5, 2014
Hot Springs, VA

The S&P opened higher at $2,019 this morning, gold has been hammered down to $1,143, oil is hanging around $77, bitcoin is up to $341, and the 10-year Treasury rate is coming in at 2.36% today.

Gold continues its decline despite this philosopher’s staunch support. Nothing has changed with gold’s fundamental role within the financial system; gold’s price decline is directly due to the U.S. dollar temporarily rising in strength. In fact, thinking of gold in terms of its dollar price tends to be misleading – the dollar fluctuates up and down depending on which way the breeze is blowing while the yellow metal continues to plug steadily along much like the fabled tortoise against the hare. Slow and steady wins the race.

Last week I shared with you wife Rachel and my childbirth experience. The focus of my previous entry was on the actual birth experience itself and I described the fantastic healthcare service we received from our midwife and doula.

What I failed to emphasize was that our healthcare team provided so much more value than simply helping us through the birth process. They provided sound counseling, education, support, and wellness monitoring throughout the entire nine month period leading up to the birth. They offer these same comprehensive services for an entire six week period post-birth as well. Additionally, our midwife has been a reliable resource for us at all hours of the day – wife Rachel has sent her many questions via text message both before and after birth to which she received a prompt answer. Further, our midwife has offered to answer any questions we may have at any time going forward, even beyond the six weeks of post-partum services we paid for.

And speaking of payment – we paid for these services in cash without having to deal with any insurance companies. The entire experience harkens me back to a by-gone era of relative freedom in which small-town family doctors made house calls and actually cared more about their patients than their pharmaceutical sales rep.

What seems to be forgotten is that health insurance was designed to mitigate major catastrophes; it was not designed to pay for every dime of medical care and every new drug that rolls off the production line. Of course the entire health insurance industry has been corrupted, twisted, convoluted, and mangled into some form of a socio-fascist system that seeks to govern and dictate all manners of health care to individuals. Oh, and in exchange for such a tyrannical system individuals get to pay skyrocketing prices for their insurance policies. I read that employer open-enrollment periods were pushed back this year until after the midterm elections – presumably so voters wouldn’t know how high their premiums were planning to jump prior to the election.

The only possible result of the cartelization of the healthcare industry by the big-government/big-insurance/big-pharma alliance is a drastic reduction in the quality of care available and a drastic increase in the price of this care. I don’t know what the solution is for the poor Baby Boomer generation that will see their healthcare costs skyrocket at the exact point in time they need care most. I suppose they can continue trying to vote the system away and I wish them the best of luck in that endeavor. But I don’t think there are political solutions to political problems.

There may be a little more hope for the younger generations: they may be able to “opt” out of the system as it gets worse by avoiding insurance and paying cash for medical care. I suspect we will see certain doctors offer contractual services similar to how our midwife runs her practice. Instead of going through the insurance company, people could pay monthly installments to their doctor in exchange for personalized service. This service could include an open line for phone calls and text messages, house visits as needed, or maybe even after-hour office visits with no waiting room to sit in.

To my knowledge (and I am certainly no expert) there is nothing illegal about such a model at the current time – the Obamacare mandates apply specifically to insurance-related care. Of course this model would become obsolete if the gun-toting health enforcers start kicking in doors and hauling people off to jail for taking charge of their own healthcare. Until then, why not regain individual sovereignty and opt out of the system to the greatest extent possible?

More to come,

Joe Withrow
Wayward Philosopher

Election Day

submitted by jwithrow.

Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
Election Day

November 4, 2014
Hot Springs, VA

The S&P has risen to $2,009, gold has dropped to $1,167, oil is down around $77, bitcoin is at $328, and the 10-year Treasury rate is checking in at 2.33% today.

Looks like gold is still sitting on the clearance rack begging to be purchased. Gold jewelry would be a great Christmas gift this year! Just be sure to negotiate the price down significantly from whatever the price tag says. Did you know there are still cultures out there that store their wealth in gold jewelry? People in places like India and China must not have gotten their central bank’s memo: gold is barbaric, government paper currency is civilized. (Pay no attention to all of those pointless wars that were financed by government paper currency.)

Speaking of civilization, it is Election Day! Election Day affords every American the opportunity to honor that great tradition known as voting by rushing off to their local polls to support whichever Joe, Bob, or Dick (or Hillary) has promised to fix all that ails us and to move us forward. I am not sure exactly why all of us need to be moved forward but this apparently isn’t open to inquiries. It is every American’s right and responsibility to participate in our fine electoral process else be called a “commie”.

But you know… not everyone is quite so enthusiastic about voting. Let’s give some of the dissenting voices a hearing for a minute:

“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.” – Benjamin Franklin

“If voting made any difference they wouldn’t let us do it.” – Mark Twain

“Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.” – H.L. Mencken

“It makes no difference whom you vote for – the two parties are really one party representing four percent of the people.” – Gore Vidal

“It’s not the voting that’s democracy, it’s the counting.” – Tom Stoppard

“No matter who you vote for, the government always gets in.” – Neil Innes

“The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don’t have to waste your time voting.” – Charles Bukowski

“Perhaps the fact that we have seen millions voting themselves into complete dependence on a tyrant has made our generation understand that to choose one’s government is not necessarily to secure freedom.” – Friedrich Hayek

“In politics we face the choice between warmongering, nation-state loving, big-business agents on one hand; and risk-blind, top-down, epistemic arrogant big servants of large employers on the other. But we have a choice.” – Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Hmmm.

Come to think of it, nothing ever seems to change no matter which bobble head gets elected. No major legislation gets repealed entirely; at best it gets replaced by something equally as draconian with twice as many earmarks in it. At worst even more legislation is dumped on top of the steaming pile that already exists. There’s never a sincere effort made to reduce the size and scope of government or to even curtail spending increases. There’s never a sincere effort made to shore up the run-away welfare state that has bankrupted the government nor is any effort made to reel in the out-of-control warfare state that constantly runs amok in search of dragons to slay.

Side note: Microsoft Word suggests that I correct the previous sentence. It has underlined “has bankrupted” in green and suggests that I change the phrase to “has not bankrupted”. I guess Microsoft thinks I am over-analyzing the severity of the situation and thus will be voting its little heart out today.

As for me, I think I will side with P.J. O’Rourke on this one: “Don’t vote, it just encourages the [jerks].”

I see it as matter of personal responsibility: I am responsible for the well-being of myself and my family – government has no role to play whatsoever.

More to come,

Joe Withrow
Wayward Philosopher

The Majesty of Childbirth

submitted by jwithrow.

Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
The Majesty of Childbirth

October 27, 2014
Hot Springs, VA

The S&P is checking in at $1,964, gold is at $1,228, oil has dipped down to $79, bitcoin is trading hands around $355, and the 10-year Treasury rate is at 2.25% today.

October has been the most volatile month of 2014 for U.S. stocks. The Fed is supposed to end QE3 (quantitative easing) this month which has investors nervous. Does the market tank when QE3 ends as it did with the end of QE1 and QE2? Or is the economy all better and ready to resume some semblance of normalcy?

My guess: get ready for QE4.

Mr. Market tried to clean out the gutters back in 2008 by liquidating unsustainable debt but the Fed intervened. With their quantitative easing chicanery, the Feds not only prevented Mr. Market from liquidating bad debt, they also piled even more rotting debt on-top. Without QE, Mr. Market would be free to begin the healing process which requires clearing out bad debt and insolvent entities. But most of the bad debt lives on the balance sheets of the federal government and now the Federal Reserve (transferred from Wall Street) and liquidating this debt would reveal the fundamental insolvency of these entities.

How best to hide insolvency? Print money to pay the debts! Hence: QE4 coming soon – probably early 2016.

Shifting gears: Madison made her entrance last week!

She was born on October 20 at 9:59 pm right here in Hot Springs, VA.

In our dining room.

Oh don’t worry, we put the dining room table out in the garage and replaced it with an Aqua Doula pool and a queen-size mattress.

The result: a healthy 7 lbs 11 oz baby girl born completely naturally with no invasive interventions or pharmaceutical drugs necessary. Just like childbirth has been done for thousands of years!

Wife Rachel said the homebirth experience has far exceeded her expectations in every aspect.

Instead of laboring on her back underneath fluorescent lights hooked up to an I.V., monitors, pain-killers, and labor-enhancing drugs, Rachel paced back and forth from our Great Room to our kitchen while verbally telling Madison she couldn’t wait to meet her. No one was around to bother her save her husband who valiantly tried to be a breathing exercise leader while also laboring himself to fill up the 170 gallon Aqua Doula pool. Needless to say, Madison did not wait around to test her sea legs and she was born very peacefully on dry land… into her father’s waiting hands.

Upon her birth, there was no one waiting to rush her off to be weighed, measured, poked, prodded, or checked so Madison had to settle for laying in her loving mother’s arms instead. While mother and baby bonded in those first few minutes of life, our midwife and doula worked gently to make sure both parties were in good health as the birthing process neared completion. Once confident in the health of mother and baby, our health care team worked diligently to clean and sanitize the area, provide food and water, do laundry, provide advice, tips, and reassurance, and countless other things that a star-struck father couldn’t possibly pick up on in the most defining moment of his life.

Our midwife and doula monitored the situation and provided sound counsel for roughly four hours post-birth as well. “This is what real health care looks like”, I thought. Our midwife came back out to our house for a 36 hour appointment and then again for a five-day appointment. She also answered several phone calls and text messages at weird hours during the stretch in-between appointments as well.

The result of such wonderful health care service is that both mother and baby are in terrific health despite not having left the comfort of their own home. It will be more than two weeks from birth before mother and baby will need to leave their home for another appointment.

The entire experience has confirmed what we knew all along – that natural childbirth at home is a much healthier and happier alternative to hospital birth for both mother and baby.

Of course few others understood this. Some just shrugged at the eccentricity of such an endeavor. Some turned their nose up in disgust. Some thought us to be ignorant, selfish, and cheap.

What they didn’t see were the countless hours dedicated to learning, study, and research over the course of nine months. They didn’t see the pages turning in the books that were read. They didn’t see the computer screen scrolling as medical studies and articles were mentally consumed. They didn’t drive an hour and a half to natural childbirth classes every Thursday evening for six weeks after a full work-day to increase their knowledge and understanding before driving an hour and a half back home to get ready for the following work-day. They didn’t watch the videos and the documentaries or practice the comfort techniques or study the possible complications and their signs. They didn’t sit up at night discussing emergency plans and precautions. They didn’t give up coffee, tea, and soda (caffeine) or dramatically reduce their intake of processed foods for nine full months. They didn’t eliminate glucose from their diet for a full week in the final week of their pregnancy.

But someone did do all of these things.

Someone put the time, effort, and work in to make sure they were making the best decisions possible and to make sure they were fully prepared for what was to come. Someone decided that she would be responsible for educating herself first rather than being wholly dependent upon the status-quo.

Someone decided she would be Super-Mom.

To her I pledge my eternal love, respect, and service.

More to come,

Joe Withrow
Wayward Philosopher

Real History

submitted by jwithrow.

Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
Real History

October 15, 2014
Hot Springs, VA

The S&P is checking in at $1,851 today, gold is up to $1,236, oil is down to $80.34, bitcoin is around $396, and the 10-year has plummeted to 2.01%. The 10-year Treasury rate must have been afraid of its shadow this week.

Wife Rachel said my entry yesterday about the history of fiat currency bored her so much she fell asleep reading it. Sorry about that.

I see history as quite fascinating. Not the history that comes in Department of Education approved politically correct textbooks, mind you, but real history. Real history isn’t piecemeal highlights with names, places, and dates to remember; it is so much more important than that. Real history doesn’t show up in textbooks or in classrooms.

Real history is friend Wade’s family letters housed on his family farm in South Carolina. The letters were written by the original owners of the farm – his ancestors – and they have been passed down from generation to generation since. Real history is a five-bedroom brick home sitting atop “town hill” in Covington, Virginia built by my great-great-grandfather after emigrating from Lebanon in the late 19th century and opening a restaurant. This house comes complete with a Lebanese-style tiered garden on the side of the mountain. I can only imagine how many other pieces of real history are out there, passed down from generation to generation and discussed over Thanksgiving dinner.

But what is important with real history? Not so much the names, dates, and places as interesting as they may be. Instead, it is the ideas, values, and lessons that come with real history that are really important. These intangibles, if heeded, are what truly shape the future.

The textbook history tells me Napoleon invaded Russia and his army got wiped out. What do I learn from this? Don’t invade Russia? I will be sure not to make that mistake. Real history tells me great-great-grandfather emigrated from Lebanon, opened a restaurant, and worked like crazy to create a better life for his family. I am a part of that legacy. What do I learn from this? Free enterprise has the power to liberate and elevate individuals, families, and communities. This is a real, actionable lesson that is much more valuable to me than learning not to invade Russia.

Real history is mostly ‘private’ information while textbook history is ‘public’ information. What’s taught in the classroom and what comes on the news is also public information. Our society places a very high value on this public information; we love to hang around the water cooler and talk about it. It is to the point now where we seem to think that public information is all there is. We think the school teaches us everything we need to know and we think the news reports all aspects of all events to us every day.

Our worldview, which determines how we think and act, is shaped by this public information.

The problem is public information is riddled with holes and often less than helpful. “Don’t invade Russia” is sound advice but I was extremely unlikely to do so in the first place. If we value public information then we waste quite a bit of time on things that aren’t very relevant to us at all. Should Ray Rice have been banned? Should I buy Alibaba stock post-IPO? How will the mid-term elections go? Who will run for President in 2016?

Who cares?!

Football is just entertainment and unless you had Ray Rice on your fantasy team his private life probably doesn’t concern you much. Alibaba is the largest e-commerce company in the world and its IPO was welcomed with all manner of press and hoopla. But IPOs are designed for the insiders to get rich by selling their private stock to the public at an inflated valuation. This works best when the media pumps up the IPO story over and over again. You don’t want to be on the public side of an IPO, you want to be on the private side. And the mid-term elections are largely irrelevant as is the presidential election in 2016. No matter who wins the debt will continue to spiral out of control until the U.S. dollar is supplanted from its perch as the international reserve currency… probably by the IMF’s “Special Drawing Rights” (SDR). No amount of campaigning and voting will prepare you for the inevitable; probably best to stop wasting time and start preparing for the Great Reset now.

Public information is similar to the fiat currency we discussed yesterday. Maybe a little bit of it won’t do too much harm but go past that line and you are going to be in a world of financial hurt. So in this humble philosopher’s opinion: focus on real history and private information. The rest is probably just noise.

Hopefully this one doesn’t put wife to sleep. On second thought, maybe it’s for the best.

More to come,

Joe Withrow
Wayward Philosopher

For more of Joe’s thoughts on the Great Reset and regaining individual sovereignty please read “The Individual is Rising” which is available at http://www.theindividualisrising.com. The book is also available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle editions.

Fiat Money Undermines Society

submitted by jwithrow.

Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
Fiat Money Undermines Society

October 14, 2014
Hot Springs, VA

The S&P is checking in at $1,878 today, gold is up to $1,234, oil is down to $85, bitcoin is up to $403, and the 10-year is now down to 2.20%. All in a day’s work, I suppose.

Autumn is truly a beautiful season. There is a gentle, crisp breeze in the air up here in the mountains of Virginia and a myriad of red, orange, and yellow leaves dot the landscape. As we await Maddie’s entrance, wife Rachel and I will spend the day making homemade apple cider to celebrate such a fine season!

Last week I suggested that fiat money always seems to undermine the morality and stability of society throughout history. Let’s examine this a little bit more today.

First, we must be clear about what fiat money is. Fiat money is any currency that derives its value from government law and regulation. The word ‘fiat’ is Latin for “let it be done”. Essentially, fiat money is what the government says is money. Once decreeing something as money, governments usually force people and businesses to use whatever it is through legal tender laws. Fiat money has taken different forms throughout history. Today we primarily use electronic credit-based national currencies (U.S. dollars, Euros, Yen, etc.) as our fiat money. We still use fiat paper currency also but we are gradually transitioning away from this form of money. Here in the United States we use “Federal Reserve Notes” as our paper currency. Take a look at what the bills in your wallet say to confirm this.

Societies, to the extent that you can pinpoint a beginning and end to them, have not started out with fiat money. Historically, society starts out with free-market money – usually gold, silver, or some other valuable commodity – and then unwittingly moves to fiat money as its government becomes more and more corrupt.

Rome was using a pure silver “denarius” at the beginning of the 1st century, A.D. Roman emperors then learned how to ‘print’ money by melting down their silver coins, adding cheap base metal into the mix, then re-minting the denarius with a lower silver content. This enabled them to mint more silver coins than they had melted down, but the denarius was no longer pure silver.

The denarius was 85% silver by the year 100. By 218, the denarius was down to only 43% silver content. And by year 244 the denarius contained only .05% silver. This meant that each Roman denarius coin could purchase 99.95% less than what it could originally purchase! In other words, everyday prices were 99.95% higher for Romans in year 244 than they were in year 1.

So why in the world did the Roman emperors debase their currency so much? Why, for great wars, great public works, and to enrich themselves, of course! You have read all about the Roman Empire in the history textbooks. Maintaining an empire requires soldiers and soldiers require food, water, and payment. Oh, and weapons. This gets more and more expensive as the empire gets bigger and bigger. I bet you have read about the coliseum too – it was very expensive to build and maintain. Who was going to pay for it all?

The emperor certainly wasn’t about to curtail his lavish lifestyle to chip in. Instead he turned to dishonest fiat money: he melted down silver coins and made more of them with a lesser silver content. Then he paid the soldiers and workers and pretended like nothing was different about the money. As the currency was debased, Roman society got poorer and the government became more corrupt. Eventually the Roman Empire became impoverished and collapsed.

Looking farther east, Marco Polo documented the use of fiat money in China:

“You might say that [Kublai] has the secret of alchemy in perfection… the Khan causes every year to be made such a vast quantity of this money, which costs him nothing, that it must equal in amount all the treasure of the world.”

He continues:

“Population and trade had greatly increased, but the emissions of paper notes were suffered to largely outrun both… All the beneficial effects of a currency that is allowed to expand with a growth of population and trade were now turned into those evil effects that flow from a currency emitted in excess of such growth. These effects were not slow to develop themselves… The best families in the empire were ruined, a new set of men came into the control of public affairs, and the country became the scene of internecine warfare and confusion.”

The same thing happened in France when John Law introduced fiat paper currency in 1716: the currency was inflated into oblivion and the society was impoverished. And in Weimar Germany in the 1920’s – it got to the point where Germans were using paper marks to heat their furnaces! Argentina has followed suit a couple times in the late 1900’s. Zimbabwe was one of the wealthiest countries in Africa until its government ramped up the printing presses in 2008 and implemented price controls. It wasn’t long before civilized society was wiped out in Zimbabwe and people could no longer get enough food and water for themselves.

Do you notice a trend?

Fast forward to present day: the U.S. dollar has lost 98% of its value since the Federal Reserve was implemented in 1913. Much of this devaluation has occurred since all ties to gold were removed in 1971. What has happened to our cost of living?

Technology has also boomed since 1971 such that the means of production and distribution are much more efficient today than ever before. It seems to me this scenario should have reduced the cost of living for everyone. But has it? It wasn’t that long ago when an average American household consisted of only one wage earner. This one income was enough to provide a high quality of life for the family while the spouse stayed home to raise the kids. Most households now require two incomes just to get by.

The American standard of living is going in the wrong direction and this is largely due to fiat money. Further, the fiat money is used primarily for the same things it has always been used for throughout history – war, public works, and the enrichment of the political class…

I will leave it there for today but I hope my point was made.

Until the morrow,

Joe Withrow
Wayward Philosopher

On the National Debt

submitted by jwithrow.

Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
On the National Debt

October 7, 2014
Hot Springs, VA

The S&P is down to $1,953, gold is up to $1,212, oil is up to $89, bitcoin is up to $330, and the 10-year is down to 2.38%.

Looks like the 10-year Treasury rate is still well-corralled for the moment. And gold is still on sale.

Yesterday we examined a few of the traps cleverly hidden for infants coming into the world at this time – prompted by wife Rachel and my expectations of a little girl named Madison set to begin her journey here on Earth within the next few days or weeks. Today let’s look at the overt trap that boldly claims the right to little Madison’s future earnings: the national debt.

It is popular today for politicians to speak out against the national debt and boldly claim that ‘we’ (they love this ‘we’ business) need to balance the government’s budget and begin to pay the debt down. This sounds great and people will vote for you for making such a statement, but there are two problems this leaves unaddressed – one based in economics and one based in morality.

First, the economic problem: the national debt is not $17.75 trillion as advertised. The national debt is actually closer to $200 trillion if you calculate it according to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) which require you to record all future liabilities on your balance sheet. Most of these future liabilities that are not included in the official debt figure are Social Security and Medicare commitments. These future commitments are completely unfunded which means there exists no underlying revenue support and no asset backing. The only way these future commitments can be met is if enough money comes into the Social Security and Medicare programs versus going out. Demographics tell us that 10,000 Baby Boomers will retire EVERY SINGLE DAY for the next ten years, however, which suggests that a huge number of people are going to move from being contributors to these programs to recipients.

Oh, and both Social Security and Medicare already run annual deficits.

These politicians must be expecting quite a bit from my little Madison if they plan to balance the budget and pay down the debt with her future earnings.

But they don’t actually plan to balance the budget and pay down the debt. The simple fact is it can’t honestly be done without defaulting on the existing commitments in some capacity. There’s just too much debt and not enough production. Which leads us to the moral problem: this system is incredibly, unbelievably immoral.

Why should anyone be taxed and forced to pay for anything against their will? What kind of system assigns debt to infants from the moment they draw their first breath in this world? What kind of system incentivizes debt, dishonesty, consumption, and exploitation while punishing honesty and production?

My answer: a really bad one.

So did the economic problem lead to the moral problem or vice versa? I am not sure but history does suggest that dishonest fiat money seems to always undermine the morality and stability of society.

I will have more thoughts on that in a later entry. In the meantime be sure to order a copy of The Individual is Rising for a more in depth look at these economic problems, some financial strategies to prepare for the Great Reset, and more.

Focusing our attention back on the debt-trap: how best to prepare Maddie for life in a society that plans to confiscate her future earnings to pay for the immorality of earlier generations?

It is a shame that I have to spend any time at all on this question here in what is supposed to be the “Land of the Free”. The more I think about it, the more I become convinced that education is the key to preparing our children for the world that awaits them.

Not education of the public kind, however. It looks to me like the public schools are setting children up to be victims of the immoral System. The public school system fosters a herd mentality and requires students to subordinate themselves to “authority” at all times. Such an environment is not going to stimulate the creativity and self-confidence necessary to thrive in a society that expects the next generation to pay the debts of the previous. Instead, this method of education is going to condition students to happily embrace their servitude to the System as it pillages the fruits of their labor in the name of the “common good”.

Far better to create an individualized educational experience tailored to Madison’s unique skills and interests. Instead of forcing subjects upon her, why not let her guide her own education? Rachel and I will probably need to do most of the guiding in the early years, but I suspect Madison will be plenty capable of determining her own path as she grows and matures. Enabling self-education in this manner will certainly do a better job of preparing her for adult-hood than the government school system that conditions students to always seek guidance and permission from “experts” instead of trusting their own abilities.

Of course this self-education will need to be blended with social activities as well. Fortunately, one can find all manner of groups, clubs, and activities using a simple internet search these days so I don’t see this being much of a problem. What will Madison like to do? Dance? Aikido? Art? Music? Softball? All of the above?

The world will be her oyster…

More to come,

Joe Withrow
Wayward Philosopher

Maddie Coming Soon

submitted by jwithrow.

Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
Maddie Coming Soon

October 6, 2014
Hot Springs, VA

The S&P opened at $1,975, gold is down to $1,190, oil is hanging around $88, bitcoin back up slightly to $327, and the 10-year is checking in at 2.44%. While this wouldn’t be a bad time to pick up an ounce or two of the yellow metal, the 10-year Treasury rate is what’s really worth keeping an eye on. How long can the Fed keep rates suppressed? Some say forever; some say until December. I say “I don’t know”. Assuming the folks who say forever are wrong, what then happens when rates go up? Some say the Fed can manage the increase in a gradual fashion; some say the poor 10-year Treasury has been cooped up for so long that it will blow through the roof once free of its chains. I say “I don’t know” again but I tend to think the latter is probably more likely. And then…

Shifting gears from economic future to family future, wife Rachel is 39.5 weeks pregnant as of today! Coming soon: a little girl. How exciting! We shall call her “Maddie”. With Rachel busy working on her nesting list, I close my eyes and try to catch a glimpse of the future that awaits little Madison.

Look at all those traps.

Heavy metal toxins in infant vaccines? Round-up ready GMO fruits and vegetables? Ouch.

Government-run public school system designed to feed the administrators and instill collectivist ideals in the children? Probably best to steer clear.

Skyrocketing college tuition? Will there even be jobs left in this economy in twenty-some years?

Opening my eyes, I am confident that we have a pretty good plan to help Maddie tackle the college problem: an infinite banking insurance policy paired with a “hands-off” approach. We can fund a life insurance policy for Madison as soon as she turns two weeks old. With an annual premium of $3,000 per year, the policy will have a cash value of at least $60,000 by the time Madison reaches adult-hood. Then we sign the policy over to her and say follow your passion. Want to travel the world? Go for it. Want to start a business? Here’s your working capital. Want to go to college? No need for student loans.

Of course that $60,000 cash value figure is based on today’s purchasing power. I am confident the insurance company will be able to keep up with inflation via long-term investments and sound actuarial pricing on new policies such that Madison’s policy dividends will keep up with inflation also. Or maybe the dollar crashes and the insurance industry has to denominate their policies in gold in order to survive. Wouldn’t that be something! Then we wouldn’t need to worry about inflation because we would be using REAL money again!

Or maybe this strategy blows up in our face… who knows. We examine the Infinite Banking Concept (IBC) in more detail in our book “The Individual is Rising” – you can get it here.

So what is college for anyway? As best I can tell, people go to college to receive a degree that says they went to college. Then they try to get a job where they can sit behind a desk all day. That’s pretty much it. I suspect there was a little more to it years ago (early-to-mid 20th century?) and of course there are some exceptions – especially in the specialized fields like engineering.

Think about it. What is the first thing people say when they go to a job interview? “I have a degree in such and such”. This is supposed to be a strong selling point for the potential employee… but is it really? What does having a degree actually tell you about someone? You can probably safely assume that this person has spent a fair amount of time drinking cheap beer. I don’t know that you can really deduce much else. Doesn’t everybody have a degree these days? Doesn’t the government finance ninety-some percent of those degrees?

Doesn’t sound like much of a selling point to me.

We live in a ‘have’ oriented society – we place a premium on ‘having’ things. A degree, a nice car, a big house, a fancy wardrobe, you name it. We tend to link our own self-worth to what we ‘have’. We shouldn’t do that. Much more important than ‘having’ is ‘doing’. What are you doing to make your life better? What are you doing to make your family’s life better? But wait, there’s something even more important: ‘being’. What is the nature of your character? Are you a kind and strong-willed person? Can others count on you to be honest? Do you understand that your self-worth is derived from what’s within? Do you recognize how powerful and wise you truly are?

Having is nice. Doing is great. Being is essential. Focus on the being and everything else will fall into place. This is the one lesson I hope my daughter learns from me; any other lessons imparted from me to her will be of lesser importance. I also firmly believe it is a two-way street… I can’t wait to find out what she has to teach me also!

Back to the present: looks like I have some tasks assigned to me on wife’s nesting list. It is best not to keep her waiting.

Until the morrow,

Joe Withrow
Wayward Philosopher