oftwominds-Charles Hugh Smith

The Number of the Beast Is 1667

2013-05-19T17:42:00.001-07:00

The Devil is in the details.

The Devil, of course, always claims to be "doing God's work." Satan's job, as it were, is to deceive, and if claiming to be "doing God's work" deceives the credulous, then by golly, Satan will do so with the utmost sincerity.

If mixing in a bit of truth to a slurry of lies deceives the credulous, then Satan will happily mix up a batch of misdirection and deception with a dollop of truth.

The Devil is also a jokester, and so He loves dropping little hints about His influence, for example, stopping the meltdown of the S&P 500 in early 2009 right at 666, the Number of the Beast.

He also likes to toy with those sensing His presence, for example, pushing the S&P 500 (SPX) from 1,666--all too obvious!--to 1,667 in the waning seconds of trading on May 17, 2013. (The Devil is in the details.)

It turns out the Number of the Beast (traditionally 666, but 616 in some texts) refers to the Roman Emperor Nero.

Though his reign mixed tyranny and extravagance in equal measure, his primary financial legacy was the devaluation of the Roman currency as a means of increasing Imperial spending.

Hmm... does that sound familiar?

He was also known for reducing the power of the Senate: "By 65 A.D., senators complained that they had no power left."

Who are the unelected rulers of monetary policy? The Federal Reserve, of course, and their bankster buddies like Jamie Dimon, who Bloomberg Businessweek just declared as "Wall Street's indispensable man."

The only difference between 65 A.D. and 2013 A.D. is our senators are too clueless to even grasp they have no real power left.

The very fact that 1,667 is a single digit above Satan's trademark number suggests that Satan has played a little joke on us, and that makes 1,667 the new Number of the Beast that holds Imperial power over finance and money and seeks to devalue the Empire's currency to fund both tyranny and extravagance.

Things are falling apart--that is obvious. But why are they falling apart? The reasons are complex and global. Our economy and society have structural problems that cannot be solved by adding debt to debt. We are becoming poorer, not just from financial over-reach, but from fundamental forces that are not easy to identify or understand. We will cover the five core reasons why things are falling apart:

1. Debt and financialization
2. Crony capitalism and the elimination of accountability
3. Diminishing returns
4. Centralization
5. Technological, financial and demographic changes in our economy

Complex systems weakened by diminishing returns collapse under their own weight and are replaced by systems that are simpler, faster and affordable. If we cling to the old ways, our system will disintegrate. If we want sustainable prosperity rather than collapse, we must embrace a new model that is Decentralized, Adaptive, Transparent and Accountable (DATA).

We are not powerless. Not accepting responsibility and being powerless are two sides of the same coin: once we accept responsibility, we become powerful.

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To receive a 20% discount on the print edition: $19.20 (retail $24), follow the link, open a Createspace account and enter discount code SJRGPLAB. (This is the only way I can offer a discount.)

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What's Cooking at Our House: Dosas and Pizza

2013-05-18T06:49:00.000-07:00

On the home menu: dosas and pizza.

There are many kinds of flat breads and crepes in the various world cuisines; we recently made two: pizza and dosas. The pizza crust is a yeast-bread, stretched flat after mixing without being allowed to rise. The pizza sauce is also home-made.

(The roses are from one of our three climbing roses.)

Dosas are a south Indian crepe made with rice flour and ground black lentil (urad dal). The batter is allowed to ferment slightly for a tangy taste. In some regions of South India, the batter is left plain; in the area where my brother has spent time, finely chopped cilantro, onions and grated carrots are added:

It takes time to cook dosas to the ideal crispy texture; patience is required, but amply rewarded. Yum!

"A healthy homecooked family meal and a home garden are revolutionary acts."

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Tune In, Turn On, Opt Out

2013-05-16T20:58:00.003-07:00

Turn on, tune in, drop out was a famous slogan of the 1960s counterculture popularized by Timothy Leary, who stated that slogan was "given to him" by Marshall McLuhan during a lunch in New York City in 1966.

Tune in referred to gaining an awareness of the countercultural spectrum of ideas and values, turn on referred to mind-expansion via psychedelics and drop out meant to drop out of conventional society; Leary later explained that "drop out meant self-reliance, a discovery of one's singularity, a commitment to mobility, choice, and change."

In 1967, Leary modified the slogan thusly: Drop out. Turn on. Drop in.

Here at oftwominds.com, the slogan has been updated to Tune In, Turn On, Opt Out: tune in means to become aware the status quo is unsustainable and deranging; turn on means to become engaged in self-reliance and taking control of one's life and livelihood, and opting out means opting out of supporting our financialized cartel-state Neofeudal Debtocracy by being a compliant debt-serf and tax donkey.

People all over the world are tuning in to alternative narratives, turning on to self-reliance and low-cost/low-impact living and opting out of the status quo culture of consumerism, debt and complicity with a parasitic, exploitive financial-state Aristocracy/Plutocracy/Oligarchy/Kleptocracy (take your pick--it's still the same rapacious Elite whatever name you choose).

The most direct path to an alternative way of living is to opt out of debt and the associated consumerist fantasies of store-bought selfhood: multiple university degrees, brand name clothing, luxury autos, etc. This renunciation of consumerist consumption and debt is called Degrowth (May 9, 2013).

Once you opt out of debt and excess consumption, you need a lot less money to live; that means one can work less and have more time for family, gardening, self-cultivation, entrepreneurial enterprises, etc.

For many, the cash economy and generous state benefits beckon. I am not recommending any particular lifestyle or set of choices here, I am simply stating what can easily be observed in any developed nation should you remove the mainstream media/state propaganda blinders: people are earning their livelihood in the informal cash economy, avoiding VAT and sales taxes, and many are drawing some sort of state benefit for one reason or another: unemployment, disability, early retirement, etc.

Others are occupying housing units without paying rent or the mortgage, i.e. squatting. A tide of squatters spreads in Spain in wake of foreclosures:

A 285-unit apartment complex in Parla, less than half an hour’s drive from Madrid, should be an ideal target for investors seeking cheap property in Spain. Unfortunately, two thirds of the building generates zero revenue because it’s overrun by squatters.“This is happening all over the country,” said Jose Maria Fraile, the town’s mayor, who estimates only 100 apartments in the block built for the council have rental contracts, and not all of those tenants are paying either. “People lost their jobs, they can’t pay mortgages or rent so they lost their homes and this has produced a tide of squatters.”

As I have ceaselessly explained here for years, this is the inevitable result of financialization and state-enforced rentier arrangements in a Neofeudal Debtocracy:

Bernanke's Neofeudal Rentier Economy (May 7, 2013)

The Fatal Disease of the Status Quo: Diminishing Returns (May 1, 2013)

College Grads: It's a Different Economy (May 3, 2013)

Why Krugman and the Keynesians Are Lackeys for the Neofeudal Debtocracy (April 24, 2013)

What happens to everyone in the ruling Elites and those desperately trying to join the ruling Elites when the debt-serfs stop paying and the tax donkeys drift away to lower-cost, lower-income lifestyles? The ruling kleptocratic financiers and the vast political class of toadies, lackeys, apparatchiks and grifters that do their bidding will be like a bloated general staff who finds their malnourished army of conscripts has slipped away into the night; their parasitic empire will implode because nobody is left to do their bidding.

If you think Tune In, Turn On, Opt Out sounds ludicrous, check back in four years (2017) and eight years (2021) and see how many of your fellow debt-serfs and tax donkeys have quietly abandoned the bloated cost-structure, debt and derangement of the Neofeudal Debtocracy's twisted consumerist dream.

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