I’m a big fan of the guest, Mr smith. He once published one of my essays on inflation work-arounds in his column at Zero Hedge. That was the first time my writing reached a national audience. Fascinating conversation. Tx.
I think that there's pretty broad nostalgia-tinged agreement that simplicity and trust are better goods than the processed insanity we are wallowing in.
Those who are profiting from the bamboozle will fight tooth and nail.
Time for a New American Revolution? Nostalgia ain't gonna be enough to drive it.
Revolutions are frightful things. Almost all devolved into something even worse than what they were against. The American Revolution stands in contrast. And I wonder if that wasn't because the men who carried it out were god-fearing?
I was sitting here at my venerable desk, listening to this podcast on a cool, sunny Monday afternoon, here in the Pacific Northwest of America. Far from any madding crowd. Considering the thoughts being expressed by Jim and Charles. And the final thoughts, after almost an hour of conversation, found their focus upon Morality.
In fact all of the recent ills that were cited about American life (if not the West in general), found their origins in a lack of morality. I believe that Bill Strauss and his sidekick made this a feature of their Fourth Turning Crisis era. So, for them the erosion of morality in America, or what they call the Anglo-American sphere, was a cyclical thing.
If this is so, then it has a fateful quality. There is no avoiding it. It is a natural function. That is a sobering thought. But regardless, as I sat here listening to the conversation between these two intelligent, well read men, I began to see myself moving out away from " the trees, to the forest itself". A shift of focus if you will.
And from that viewpoint I believe I saw the faint outlines of our reality in this time. And that reality was not good. In fact it seemed to me that nothing now can be done to get out of this slough of despair. That we went past a certain point in the history of the United States of America when we had that massive invasion of illegal migrants during that short window of time presided over by the Biden Administration.
That was the death knell for this country, this society, this res publica. The die has now been cast. And all that can happen now is for this catastrophe to play itself out. The morality which we want probably resides on the other side of this terrible apocalypse. It seems that societies must periodically and inevitably face the results of their folly and turpitude. And it is just, this outcome. Actions have consequences.
Money is not the same as wealth any more than a claim ticket for an automobile left in a parking garage is the same as the car itself. The claim ticket is information, not wealth.
This is why an economy does not magically produce more wealth simply because you print up "claim tickets" on actual wealth or falsify interest rates in order to make more "claim tickets" available. The number of cars in the garage will not increase.
Real claim tickets are valuable information. Illusory ones are misleading, fraudulent, and dangerous "information." Made inescapably visible when two or more of them are presented for the same item(s) they are said to represent!
Oracle is currently vastly over valued, when Mr. Market finally comes to his senses and realizes AI is artificial but in no-way intelligent, not to mention offers NO serious monetization strategy, valuations of the Mag7 et. all will return to earth. Ellison is a smart investor and has held most of the stock for Oracle for decades.
I hold nothing against Larry, but his day in the sun will come to an end.
If you want to be upset about wealth creation, maybe focus on Financial businesses, or Gambling businesses, both of which add NOTHING of value where as Oracle (and other Tech companies) are merely vastly over valued.
In the mean time, James, your books are wonderful. Please consider doing another series, i enjoyed every single word. Bought both hard copies and audio.
I don't wish to nitpick our favorite guest on this podcast, Charles Hugh Smith, but his remark "Once you moved from just loaning out savings deposits" to fractional reserve is not entirely valid. The purpose of savings deposits was to cover any cash withdrawals made by check bearers. Loans were entirely made by check, created out of thin air back then just as today. Before 1861, banks could print their own currency to cover any cash withdrawals. But after that, they needed a stock of greenbacks in case a recalcitrant fuddy-duddy customer demanded cash instead of a bank check. And so they invented the depositor to supply the cash. That continues to this day. Banks need depositors like they need a migraine. But laws are laws. And cash remains king. Anyway, back to the pocast, which I haven't even listened to beyond 03:47.
This question, it seems to me, goes to the heart of money lending. Usury. I believe a good case can be made for laying all of our problems at the feet of charging interest - at least compound interest.
For me, this convo was damned near a singularity for my favorite content creators. Thank you, JHK and CHS!!! I want to see you two together again discussing the future of human enterprise and entrepreneurship in the material world. Cheers!
Jack Lalanne once said 'If man made it, don't eat it.' We're consuming a lot of stuff that isn't good for us and it's not only food.
Humankind's greatest shortcoming is its failure to understand the exponential function.
I’m a big fan of the guest, Mr smith. He once published one of my essays on inflation work-arounds in his column at Zero Hedge. That was the first time my writing reached a national audience. Fascinating conversation. Tx.
I think I remember that article!
I think that there's pretty broad nostalgia-tinged agreement that simplicity and trust are better goods than the processed insanity we are wallowing in.
Those who are profiting from the bamboozle will fight tooth and nail.
Time for a New American Revolution? Nostalgia ain't gonna be enough to drive it.
Revolutions are frightful things. Almost all devolved into something even worse than what they were against. The American Revolution stands in contrast. And I wonder if that wasn't because the men who carried it out were god-fearing?
I was sitting here at my venerable desk, listening to this podcast on a cool, sunny Monday afternoon, here in the Pacific Northwest of America. Far from any madding crowd. Considering the thoughts being expressed by Jim and Charles. And the final thoughts, after almost an hour of conversation, found their focus upon Morality.
In fact all of the recent ills that were cited about American life (if not the West in general), found their origins in a lack of morality. I believe that Bill Strauss and his sidekick made this a feature of their Fourth Turning Crisis era. So, for them the erosion of morality in America, or what they call the Anglo-American sphere, was a cyclical thing.
If this is so, then it has a fateful quality. There is no avoiding it. It is a natural function. That is a sobering thought. But regardless, as I sat here listening to the conversation between these two intelligent, well read men, I began to see myself moving out away from " the trees, to the forest itself". A shift of focus if you will.
And from that viewpoint I believe I saw the faint outlines of our reality in this time. And that reality was not good. In fact it seemed to me that nothing now can be done to get out of this slough of despair. That we went past a certain point in the history of the United States of America when we had that massive invasion of illegal migrants during that short window of time presided over by the Biden Administration.
That was the death knell for this country, this society, this res publica. The die has now been cast. And all that can happen now is for this catastrophe to play itself out. The morality which we want probably resides on the other side of this terrible apocalypse. It seems that societies must periodically and inevitably face the results of their folly and turpitude. And it is just, this outcome. Actions have consequences.
Money is not the same as wealth any more than a claim ticket for an automobile left in a parking garage is the same as the car itself. The claim ticket is information, not wealth.
This is why an economy does not magically produce more wealth simply because you print up "claim tickets" on actual wealth or falsify interest rates in order to make more "claim tickets" available. The number of cars in the garage will not increase.
Real claim tickets are valuable information. Illusory ones are misleading, fraudulent, and dangerous "information." Made inescapably visible when two or more of them are presented for the same item(s) they are said to represent!
Oracle is currently vastly over valued, when Mr. Market finally comes to his senses and realizes AI is artificial but in no-way intelligent, not to mention offers NO serious monetization strategy, valuations of the Mag7 et. all will return to earth. Ellison is a smart investor and has held most of the stock for Oracle for decades.
I hold nothing against Larry, but his day in the sun will come to an end.
If you want to be upset about wealth creation, maybe focus on Financial businesses, or Gambling businesses, both of which add NOTHING of value where as Oracle (and other Tech companies) are merely vastly over valued.
In the mean time, James, your books are wonderful. Please consider doing another series, i enjoyed every single word. Bought both hard copies and audio.
This is profound and true. I just wish you guys had more definite solutions, lol.
If they said they did, they would be charlatans. No, I believe we are well and truly fucked.
I don't wish to nitpick our favorite guest on this podcast, Charles Hugh Smith, but his remark "Once you moved from just loaning out savings deposits" to fractional reserve is not entirely valid. The purpose of savings deposits was to cover any cash withdrawals made by check bearers. Loans were entirely made by check, created out of thin air back then just as today. Before 1861, banks could print their own currency to cover any cash withdrawals. But after that, they needed a stock of greenbacks in case a recalcitrant fuddy-duddy customer demanded cash instead of a bank check. And so they invented the depositor to supply the cash. That continues to this day. Banks need depositors like they need a migraine. But laws are laws. And cash remains king. Anyway, back to the pocast, which I haven't even listened to beyond 03:47.
I have no answer to that. I will not stop trying, and there are a few signs of hope, but the odds remain very steep.
Why do the loan losses have to be recovered. Did the loan represent real money?
This question, it seems to me, goes to the heart of money lending. Usury. I believe a good case can be made for laying all of our problems at the feet of charging interest - at least compound interest.
For me, this convo was damned near a singularity for my favorite content creators. Thank you, JHK and CHS!!! I want to see you two together again discussing the future of human enterprise and entrepreneurship in the material world. Cheers!