The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum – even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there’s free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.
– Noam Chomsky
Nobel awards are merely a honorary award in groupthink, presented to anyone who perpetuates the status quo with little regard for actual merit-based contribution.
– Tyler Durden of Zerohedge
A Brief History
I am particularly untalented at a lot of things. It can be frustrating sometimes, the way my mind works. Some parts of it just seem to be overly stimulated and powerful, while others appear depressingly average. I have always been of the belief that everyone has some personality trait that is particularly strong relative to the others and if they are able to identify that strength and focus on it they can ultimately reach their highest potential. Early on in life it was pointed out to me by family and friends that I had an uncanny ability to process current information and extrapolate that into future likely trends. To me the observations I made seemed so obvious I didn’t even contemplate that it could be a unique talent. I didn’t realize it was until I came to Wall Street.
From 2000-2005 I toiled anonymously at Lehman Brothers as one of the junior people on the oil analyst’s research team. Sometime around 2003, I started looking into the growth trends of China, India and other nations combined with recent oil supply growth trends and a light bulb went off. Oil was about to explode higher. It was around this time I also realized that research was too slow and painfully tedious for my personality. Some of the most senior people in research thought I should look into being a trading desk analyst for energy. Thus began a process where I would go down to the trading desk every few days and attempt to kiss ass. I am the worst ass kisser on planet earth. In fact, I am really actually incapable of it. I also went through some one on one interviews with the guys on the desk. We would talk oil and I was often asked where I thought it was going. I would reply with “much higher” and that I thought it would need to get to at least $70/b in the next few years to ration demand. I was literally laughed at or looked at as if I was insane. Oil was trading at $30/b or so at the time. I didn’t get the position.
I also interviewed for a job on the new “prop desk” at Lehman about a year later. The guy that ran that thing exemplified exactly why Wall Street crashed and will crash again. The middle management at Lehman was full of these types. I should have known to short the stock as soon as I left. This guy started asking me about MBAs and CFAs. He asked why I didn’t have any of those. I told him I didn’t think you needed either to be a good investor or trader and I would prove it to him. In a very condescending manner he asked me if he stuttered and he repeated that he thought I should get a CFA. I got up, shook his hand, laughed and walked out. I didn’t get that job either. The sell-side of Wall Street is full of “yes” men. There are of course many, many exceptions (less and less as they are leaving) but in general you get ahead by being a world class kiss ass.
So, interestingly enough I ended up getting a job at Sanford Bernstein doing exactly what Lehman denied me. Generally, I found Bernstein to be another world from Lehman. The person who hired me was an amazing manager. Not only did he give me a shot but he mentored me and never micromanaged me, which is always the huge mistake managers make with people that should never be micromanaged. Thanks Dave! As much as I bash Wall Street, my first three years at Bernstein were great times. We just did research and traded stocks for clients on commission. There was no prop trading desk and we didn’t make complex derivatives and stuff European pensions with them. We came up with ideas and hustled. It was intellectually stimulating, fun and I learned a lot.
There is a point to this story I promise! Ok, so sometime around 2007 I started seeing what was happening and it was the response of the “authorities” that scared the living daylights out of me. Whether we are talking about that tyrant George W writing checks to people, or the Bernank slashing rates, ,clearly something was very wrong. So I took the red pill and started figuring out how the financial and monetary system really worked. It became abundantly clear that it was a gigantic ponzi scheme that over time would inevitably collapse, but it also inherently presented the perfect system in which to transfer wealth from the middle class and rich to the super rich. As things progressed and the responses became worse and more desperate I could see where it was all heading and I warned people.
The UN Power Grab
The main reason I write these pieces is because over the past eleven years of my life I have time and time again realized that I have a talent for foreseeing the big macro trends. All along the way I have also noticed that most people continue to always think I am exaggerating no matter how many right predictions I have made in the past. Normalcy bias is a powerful force. For the last few years I have focused on getting people financially ready because a broke population is vulnerable to lies and demagoguery and such societies tend to fall victim to authoritarian dictatorships. Gold, silver and other assets have been and continue to be absolutely crucial to making it through the times ahead. That said, at this point there are even greater threats I see on the horizon.
The primary trend I see in the markets is the destruction of the purchasing power of all fiat currencies, with the U.S. dollar having the most to lose as the world’s reserve currency. Nothing throws a population into more of a tizzy than a destroyed currency. Similarly, nothing provides a more fertile ground for power hungry control freaks to take over your lives than economic chaos. What has really started getting my attention in the last several months is how the UN seems to be trying to position itself as a “world government” savior of sorts. First, the UN decided it would be a good idea to launch a war in Libya and Obama decided the U.S. would get involved without ever asking Congress for an authorization of force (which according to George Friedman of Stratfor is a first). What is so pathetic is where are the fake liberals in America? Where are the anti-war protests? We are so successfully divided in the fake Republican/Democrat, Red/Blue, Yankees/Mets paradigm of stupidity that the “left” in this country won’t criticize Obama for starting a new war because he is “their guy.” This is pathetic and dangerous because guess what will happen when we get a Republican thug as president that uses the precedents Obama has set to shed even more blood all over the world. Who will protest then and who will care?
Ok, so Obama basically legitimizing that the UN has the right to declare war and send U.S. troops to war was the start. Once they got away with that they have started moving into hyper-drive. Anyone see the report released earlier this week on how the UN thinks commodity speculators should be regulated. It’s true, see it here http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-05/commodity-bubbles-caused-by-speculators-need-intervention-un-agency-says.html. How about this excerpt from the article:
Providing more timely data on fundamentals, information about market participants, especially in Europe, increasing position limits and banning proprietary trading by financial institutions that are involved in making hedging decisions for their clients are ways to solve problems associated with speculative investments in commodities, the UN said. Introducing a tax system that slows financial market activities and more government involvement in trading is needed to ensure traders are considering supply and demand fundamentals when investing, it said.
More “government involvement in trading.” Hmmm, I wonder where this is going. I am just waiting for the UN to launch a treaty to regulate commodities globally in the name of saving starving people. Ah, but there is more. The UN is also trying to subvert the 2nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution via the “Small Arms Treaty.” Read about it here http://blogs.forbes.com/larrybell/2011/06/07/u-n-agreement-should-have-all-gun-owners-up-in-arms/. From the article:
Have no doubt that this plan is very real, with strong Obama administration support. In January 2010 the U.S. joined 152 other countries in endorsing a U.N. Arms Treaty Resolution that will establish a 2012 conference to draft a blueprint for enactment. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has pledged to push for Senate ratification. Former U.N. ambassador John Bolton has cautioned gun owners to take this initiative seriously, stating that the U.N. “is trying to act as though this is really just a treaty about international arms trade between nation states, but there is no doubt that the real agenda here is domestic firearms control.
Look, I am not a gun owner (at the moment) and I can count on my hands the amount of times I have fired one but I would gladly die to support the Constitution of the United States of America (as opposed to dying in the Middle East to support the petro dollar and the status quo, which is all these wars are). At these times when criminals are in charge of the country I am quite glad people are armed and I hope they get more armed. It is a great deterrent. Let’s remember the Swiss are amongst the most armed people on the planet (watch this quick video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B31SUm0nrwc). How many times have they been conquered recently?
So to make a long story short, the very tough times to come will create a power vacuum that some will use as a way to push forward world government. Treaties are VERY powerful documents which is why they are difficult to pass. We should all agree to a total moratorium on treaties right now. Washington D.C. is criminally incompetent and they would easily sell us up the river if things get dicey again (remember TARP and the Pandora’s box that opened up).
Moreover, if anything, I think recent years have proven that things work much better at the local level and we need to start aggressively moving power and sovereignty back to the states and our local communities. The states are very powerful under the Constitution. Remember the 10th Amendment states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” We have the power people, let’s start using it. If we start getting active and independent in our states and communities now, the harder it will be for the Federal or Global thugs to succeed in their power grab when things get really hard.
June 14th Protests
So several things are happening next week. On the one hand, Martin Armstrong’s next “turn date” is on June 13/14th (the last one was April 16th when the SEC announced it was looking into GS and when it and the financial stocks experienced a plunge from which they never really recovered). If I had to take a guess, I think this date will be related to long term rates. I think it will mark the point from which everyone finally realizes long-term treasury rates are not headed any lower. Who knows though, we shall see!
The other thing happening is that my friend and activist David DeGraw is helping to launch protests around the country on that date. Here is a link for more information. http://ampedstatus.org/acts-of-resistance-what-are-you-going-to-do-on-june-14th-to-rebel-against-economic-tyranny/. I would ask people to support this in some way. Whether that means going to a protest, attending a city council meeting, buying silver, or reading a the Constitution the point is please do SOMETHING to exercise your individual sovereignty and resistance to economic and political slavery.
Interview
Finally, I recently did an interview with Dan Ameduri of Future Money Trends. I realize that these emails are increasingly political but that is because I touch on the biggest trends and try to warn people about what I believe is most important. This interview is much more on the economy and financial trends. Here it is http://www.futuremoneytrends.com/Trend_Videos.html (scroll down below Ron Paul). I hope you enjoy!
Peace and wisdom,
Mike
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G
Follow me on Twitter.
