This morning’s market is more erratic than Claire Danes off her lithium. Gold is soaring, the euro’s plunging, US treasury yields are in free fall, junk bonds are faltering, copper is bouncing, oil has rolled over, the Russell 2000 momos are getting mauled, the swissie has shot the moon, the Dow is knee-jerking down, correlations are failing……and the robo traders are flat-out lost.
Igor Kufayev replies to a question on reclusive way of life versus householder’s in relation to our time: ”…In a day and age we live now, spirituality is no longer a luxury of a few, it’s more of a necessity… You don’t need to call it spiritual practice if you don’t want to. It’s a type of a psychological and mental hygiene, just as you brush your teeth in a morning and take your shower, in the same way people need to practice silence from time to time… ”
FBI agents investigating the Sony Pictures hack were briefed Monday by a security firm that says its research points to laid-off Sony staff, not North Korea, as the perpetrator — another example of the continuing whodunit blame game around the devastating attack.
Even the unprecedented decision to release details of an ongoing FBI investigation and President Barack Obama publicly blaming the hermit authoritarian regime hasn’t quieted a chorus of well-qualified skeptics who say the evidence just doesn’t add up.
This December Tech Up gets in the festive spirit. On this month’s show, Christmas comes early for Russia’s brightest and best. We learn about the history of Russia’s oldest factory and how it built the world’s largest mechanical clock. Wearable tech is continuing to edge its way into our daily lives and the GoBe watch could be the secret weapon in the battle against the holiday bulge. Finally, need some inspiration for presents? Tune in for our gadget wish list.
Here at the penultimate chapter of The Crash Course, everything we’ve learned comes together into a single narrow range of time we’ll call the twenty-teens.
What this chapter offers is a comprehensive view of how all of our problems are actually interrelated and need to be viewed as such, or solutions will continue to elude us.
Each of the many key trends and threats mentioned earlier in The Crash Course will take many years, if not several decades, to address. And yet, we find them all parked directly in front of us without any serious national discussion or planning.
With every passing day we squander precious time while the problems grow larger and more costly, if not thoroughly intractable. Buying time, as the central bankers and politicians the world-over have opted to do, is not a strategy. Simply hoping for better times has a much different probability for success than having a well thought-out plan. The mark of a mature adult is someone who can manage complexity and plan ahead. The same description applies to an entire society. Here at Peak Prosperity, our opinion is that with precious few exceptions, the current political and corporate leadership of this country are not adequately managing the complexity of the situation. And they are not planning ahead.
Simply put: We’ve lived well beyond our economic, energetic and ecological budgets. It’s time to change that.
It is time, to return to living within our means. We need to set priorities, set budgets, and stick to both.
If we do, the next generations following us will have opportunity to pursue, as well as a plan and a narrative that makes sense and into which they fit, and which seems prudent and rational. If we don’t, they simply won’t.
And you? If you haven’t already, you need to begin to embrace the possibility that the road to the future will not be straight and smooth; it may take a few twists and turns and end up somewhere unexpected. You happen to be alive at one of the most interesting points in human history – a time when a great shift will occur. This can be frightening or it can be exhilarating. And that choice is yours.
