Thank you for the opportunity to teach economics at the University of Michigan. The questions were insightful and thoughtful. We sincerely welcome you to further our discussion on this blog.

Attached is the Pluranomics Film that we presented to you at the close of the lecture. Thanks again.

Go Blue!

Doug & Genna Wolkon

A New Local Investment and Credit System designed to grow renewable energy and strengthen local economies.

How Does the Solar Currency Work? Investors within the community fund the purchase of solar panels or windmills for Stores like farms and coffee shops to use, and in return receive goods and services from the Stores in the amount of their solar electricity used.

The Stores issue their Store credit, like a gift certificate, to be redeemed for goods and services. The Store credit is converted and transferred via a currency, Solar Currency.

So in essence, the Stores have bartered their goods and services, in the form of Store credit, in direct exchange for electricity savings. The Stores’ credit is pooled into a Community Investment Fund (The Fund) with other Stores. The Fund then converts the diversified pool of Store credit into a currency and issues it to the Community.

How Does the Solar Currency Circulate? The Solar Currency is circulated to Investors within the community through their return on investment, sold to Patrons in exchange for cash dollars, and Tradesman by trading for their services with Patrons and Investors. The Solar Currency may be redeemed at the Store during regular business hours.

* Click on image to enlarge

What If I Don’t Have Any Money to Invest or Exchange? As circulation increases, Tradesman may trade their individual labor skills with Patrons and Investors within the community in exchange for the Solar Currency.

How Does the Solar Currency Grow? Once the Solar Currency is redeemed for purchase at the Store, the Solar Currency is retired. However, an equal amount is always being produced by the solar power and used by the Stores, increasing the Solar Currency in circulation.

In addition, The Community Investment Fund reinvests all cash dollars from the sale of Solar Currency to Patrons in more renewable energy; and may always remain open to future Investors within the community.

What Is the Purpose Of The Community Investment Fund? The Fund pools the diversified Store credit and issues a common community currency to more easily trade goods and services in a diverse marketplace.

What Is the Investment Strategy? The Solar Currency initially seeks to invest in the renewable energy for a diverse group of local food producers (i.e. farms and fisheries) and complimentary retail Stores (i.e. farmers’ markets and fruit stands). This strategy is the most bang for the Solar Currency.

What Is the Initial Investment? On this island, a minimum of $500,000 of initial investment is estimated to get the Solar Currency into circulation. This assumes an average investment of $25,000 across 20 Stores. The $500,000 investment should produce approximately $40,000 in annual Solar Currency, $3,300 of monthly or $110 of daily Solar Currency (that’s a lot of lettuce!).

That being said, the more renewable energy the better. So all Investors, big and small are welcome, which will take advantage of the power in numbers. The Investors within the community will be attracted to the diversified and locally-backed credit, long-term dividends, and collateral of the renewable energy assets.

Why Will the Community Use the Solar Currency? The Stores that receive the generous gift of solar power in exchange for their retail priced goods are those that offer the greatest value to the Solar Currency Community. As a result, Stores are likely to offer creative discounts and sales to the Solar Currency Community (think Kamaaina rates and then some).

The Community Investment Fund is also naturally motivated to provide value to the Solar Currency Community in any way it can (i.e. information, education), since such value-added increases the value of the Solar Currency. The possibilities are endless as it is a win-win-win situation across the community. The Solar Currency Community, including Patrons, Investors, Tradesman and Stores are in essence working together to increase the value of the Solar Currency by generating more and more renewable energy to produce valuable Store Credit.

What If the Price Of Electricity Goes Up? Then the amount of credit the Store pays will also rise. However, Stores may negotiate fixed retail prices in exchange for fixed electricity costs. In other words, because price increases for electricity often inflate prices for retail goods and services, a fixed exchange rate could be mutually beneficial. Such stable pricing agreements will eventually stabilize inflation for the entire Community.

Why Is the Solar Currency Valuable? The Solar Currency is secured by valuable solar systems and windmills; and their use is backed by the credit of the Stores. This is in contrast to today’s paper currencies. So as more traditional paper currencies increase their supply, like in the case of the U.S. Dollar, the value of the Solar Currency should rise in relation to them.

Can The Solar Power Be Taken Away From the Store? Yes. If the Store is not providing value to the Solar Currency, then the Store will not get the benefit of the electricity savings. This is supposed to keep the Store honest and motivated to offer a strong value to Patrons. To be fair, the Store also reserves the right to return the renewable energy to The Fund at a future date.

Who Decides Who Gets the Solar Systems? The Community Investment Fund operating team will execute a strategic investment plan focussed on the local production and distribution economy. The operating team will also administer the accounting and legal responsibilities of The Fund. The Team will receive an equitable percentage of the Solar Currency it helps create.

What If There Is Too Much Demand For a Particular Store’s Goods and Services? A Store is only responsible to redeem their credit owed to the Fund. However, in theory, if demand outweighs supply for a Store’s goods and services, the Community Investment Fund should provide additional renewable energy to the Store or its competitors to increase the supply in the marketplace. In other words, The Solar Currency will finance the energy demands of businesses as they grow to meet demand.

What Standard is the Solar Currency On? Originally, the U.S. Dollar and other paper currencies relied on “The Gold Standard”, a monetary system that used paper notes convertible into gold. However, The Gold Standard is not currently used by any government. Our money or currencies are “declared” valuable because a government accepts them as a payment for taxes, not because they represent a valuable resource or credit.

In contrast, Solar Currency can only be issued if renewable energy has produced the valuable electricity and useful Store credit to back it.

What causes the prices to go up and real value to go down? To understand what causes inflation, visualize using only one economic variable - LAND; because ALL material things we buy or use originate from the land.

The land may change form, but the wooden floor you stand on (trees), the fork you hold (metals), the road you drive on (asphalt, derived from oil), the T-shirt you wear (cotton plant), the boat you sail (fiberglass, from sand or silica), and the food you eat are all originally derived from the land.

And the cost of this single economic variable, land, is RENT. Because Mother Nature isn’t making any more land (supply is limited), all land use is valued preciously through its cost of rent.

Rent dominates our entire economy. For example, the production and distribution of a cotton T-shirt pays costly rent every step of the way. The cotton farmer begins the production process by paying land rent as well as rent for his tractors. Rent is also often disguised in words like “interest” and “price”. The T-shirt manufacturer pays “interest” on his mortgage or business loan, otherwise known as rent on money; and then pays to rent space on a truck to ship it (they are not buying the truck space, so they must be renting it for a period of time).

So the consumer eventually pays for the farmer’s, manufacturer’s, shipper’s, and retailer’s costly rent in the “price” of the T-shirt. Also hidden in the “price” is typically all the office rent for accountants, lawyers, marketing, healthcare and insurance services that may be involved in the process. And the consumer so often uses a credit card, which typically charges “interest” or rent on the money it lends. Finally, the consumer rents their own house to store the T-shirt. 

Labor wages are also derived from land rents, as wages and rents are mirror images of one another. The amount of labor wages we receive are directly proportional to the land rent we pay. For example, NYC has high rents and therefore high labor wages. As the rents rise or fall, so to do the labor wages, which we are clearly seeing today. The same is true in China, India and Mexico, as it is NOT their low labor wages that produce such cheap goods, it is their low land rents. Said differently, if land rents in China were high, labor wages must also be inflated proportionately to pay for them, not the other way around.

So what do land rents have to do with inflation? Everything. As our population grows and/or we desire more ways to use our limited land, the land becomes more precious and our rents rise, causing inflation. In other words, as we demand more and more things from our limited supply of land, land rents go up and up, which in turn inflate prices of everything, resulting in a decline in the real value of things.

So what causes inflation? Rising land rents.

According to the National Association of Realtors total housing inventory at the end of April rose 8.8 percent to almost 3.97 million existing homes available for sale. So how do these inventory numbers equate to price? Well, even if you didn’t major in economics, at some point you were taught that supply must meet demand to establish a true market price; or a price where the product will sell. For example, in the stock market, a stock price is continuously reset up or down in order for supply (sellers) to meet demand (buyers) for a stock.

In contrast, sellers of houses are asking one price (we are assuming they are truly sellers) and buyers are demanding another; so supply is increasing without regards to demand, and thus true price remains undetermined. However, we can definitively determine that as large inventories remain, home prices must go lower for supply to meet demand. So how much lower? 

Well imagine if all 3.9 million homes currently for sale were forced to sell in real time, like in the stock market or any other fluid or liquid market. Imagine if home supply met demand and a real price in real time was actually established. Yes, every home for sale in Florida, Southern California, Arizona and Nevada and every luxury condo with a “For Sale” sign (again, we are assuming they are truly sellers) scattered across America had ONE DAY to sell regardless of the price. Imagine…

That price, determined in that one day, is where supply meets demand. How low would the sellers have to go to meet the prices demanded of buyers in order to liquidate all 3.9 million homes? Whatever that number is, it represents the real market value and thus real market price of our homes. 

So as you can imagine, prices still have a long way to fall before supply meets demand.

by Genna Wolkon

Huh? Can someone please explain to me what all this gibberish means?

How does this explain where my food and energy comes from?

Economics today is based on a language very foreign to the average person’s dialect, myself included. The top Economists in the U.S. aren’t even speaking English. They are so smart that they have discovered an intellectual logarithmic formula to ascertain how you and I will live in this monopoly game we call life, and yet none of us understand what the heck it all means. The more confusing the logarithm, the more medals and Nobel Peace Prizes we hand out to its creator, the more we trust in their economic direction. Then we continue our lives believing that because they understand this gibberish and speak this language that the majority of us don’t ever care to dissect, that they must know something about Economics that we don’t. Therefore we put our blind faith and trust in them to directly operate the purse strings of America and indirectly our pocketbook and lifestyle as well.

Since these so-called Economists have complicated matters to the point of illegibility for most of us, I thought that I would give it a shot and create my own Economic formula.

It’s time to take out our erasers and start re-thinking what Economics really looks like.

That doesn’t sound so bad now does it? I can assure you that just like there are certainly benefits to drinking raw green vegetables, an Economic Detox strengthens community, drives innovation, stabilizes trade and employment, provides essential economic education and slows down time, all out of economic necessity. However, a detox also requires discipline and some level of sacrifice in order to come out the other end leaner and meaner than before. 

So what does that mean for the economy? Well, the same virus that has exposed the inefficient nature of our financial sector will soon inflict itself on our obese corporations with a domino like effect. These corporations were built to scale-up while increasing their fixed costs such as lease payments and debt levels every step of the way; without regard to ever having to scale down. Walmart, Monsanto and McKesson, to name a few, all operate on super risky 1-5% profit margins after consuming billions of dollars of revenues. In contrast to their more nimble Mom and Pop competitors, they can not get smaller, make less widgets or afford to take a strategic vacation. 

And for better or for worse, these “so-called” monopolistic communities, symbiotically rise and fall together. For example, the recent failures of Linen N’ Things and Circuit City will negatively impact the buying and manufacturing power as well as the retail foot traffic of their closely tied corporate brethren, and one by one their big box retail neighbors (think struggling regional malls) and related raw produce suppliers (i.e. Dole and Tyson), transporters (i.e. Fedex) and manufacturers (think China) will also suffer losses and eventually fall as well. 

As the deadly combination of lower sale prices and less volume eat their highly sensitive income statements alive, they will collectively lose their ability to buy and operate the only way they know how - on mass production scale. Land and labor prices will continue to deflate, yet the obese corporations will be unable to do anything about their huge fixed costs (that’s why they call them “fixed”); and with it the erosion of their slim profit margins (did I mention they were only 1-5%) will force them to close. In summary, the death of the corporate monopolies and birth of The New Game is coming soon to a small local theater near you (For now, I invite you to read the book).

So what are the politicians to do? Nothing. They will be quick to bow to the dominating powers of the free markets as their hugely inefficient, bureaucratic, and socialistic operations, which have grown to be the largest employer and lender in the U.S., as well as the largest borrower in the world, will also prove too fat for the economy to digest. The deadly combination of falling income taxes (revenues) and rising interest payments (expenses) will erode the “non-profit” income statement of the big business of big government. The smartest politicians will wisely support the mom and pops by being ones themselves. 

On that note, don’t be ashamed to go bankrupt since basically every country in the world that borrowed money internationally while ignoring their asset collateral (i.e. gold standard) will soon be unable to pay their global debts on a current basis (except maybe countries that are exclusively food exporters like some Caribbean Islands which may see the value of their asset collateral rise). 

But don’t worry about credit, because if everyone has bad credit, its like no one has bad credit, right? The dollar as well as other closely related paper currencies will be much less valuable on an international trading level as an over supply of dollars flood the market to create the perfect inflationary storm. China, Russia, and the Middle East among other large holders of U.S. currency reserves will soon be forced to spend their large dollar savings to defend their own buckling economies at the same time that the U.S. is seeking to borrow trillions of dollars of new money to fund our ever growing socialistic activities. In other words, as supply of dollars will be increasing, demand for dollars will be decreasing. The net result is that interest rates will soar to 20%+ as the useless paper currencies will be worth less and less in relation to economic essentials such as food and electricity.

You are probably asking, so where do I put my money during all of this change? Gold should be a stable currency due to its scarce nature; which is in direct contrast to easily manufactured paper currencies. However, this will be a short-term phenomenon as even gold will yield in value to more truly useful currencies such as electricity and food. In terms of prices, such essential items as food and electricity will rise dramatically; and luxury items (i.e. big homes and flat screen TVs) will surely be discounted again and again. 

The real cost to transmit electricity over long distances will veer its ugly head as the central power plants (i.e coal) will also lose their ability to operate on scale and thus their costs per unit (i.e. kilowatt of electricity) will rise perpetually. We are already witnessing this. For as electricity demand is starting to falter, the utilities are being forced to raise rates to cover their huge fixed costs such as long distance transmission and maintenance thereof; which again were built to scale up, without regard to ever having to scale down.

So now we come to the raw green vegetable part of the Economic Detox. For there must be something we can do to gain our economic balance back, right?

First, Mom and Pop entrepreneurs must keep their heads down to weather the storm. For as the monopolies get taken out at the knees, the Mom and Pops should flourish (assuming they have minimum debts and relatively low rent in energy efficient locations) from less and less global competition and more and more local symbiotic competition. Yes, the local hardware store, suburban dairy farm and local fruit and vegetable stands are back; and with it a bit of pricing power over their landlords as well as their customers; and true sustainable communities built together from the bottom-up will emerge once again.

But there must be another silver lining in the death of the monopoly. You know, a way for investors to ride the coat tails of the rising entrepreneurial communities, recent technological innovations, and most current economic education. Well, the combination of increases in electricity prices (numerator) and lower prices for renewable energy technology (denominator) make investing in renewable energy technology and its labor force the greatest returns for the lowest risk in The New Game.  

“Decentralized Power” or “Distributed Generation” of renewable energy feeds our most competitive Mom and Pop entrepreneurs. And in return for the renewable energy utilities, these entrepreneurs provide stable and secure dividend payments to our starving retirement and pension funds, which naturally gravitate the majority of their investments towards the most conservative and “hottest” risk-free rate of the local sun. 

Such an investment in renewable energy would not only be seeking relatively high returns, but also to lower our cost of living by stabilizing our future cost of energy; a strategy that our current economic system is so obviously missing. For what is a financial return without attacking the other half of the equation: the future cost of living? Our retirement funds are unfortunately finding out the answer: irrelevant.

No longer are such branded terms like “Treasury” or “Money Market” enough to convince the new generation of savers to invest their hard earned money with people (i.e. banks) they never met in exchange for an “IOU” and no collateral. Due to our most recent hard financial lessons, we are now seasoned and experienced economists that are aware that the true risk-free rate of our new economic system, by definition, must be renewable (i.e. The Sun), and must be locally asset secured (i.e. solar panel), with a proven and trustworthy yield (i.e. 4 hours of sunshine a day). Yes, whatever the cost, which is decreasing, and whatever the yield, which is increasing, renewable energy is the the only true risk-free rate of any economy. 

That being said, the auto industry must make a 90 degree turn towards the energy efficient consumer of tomorrow. Trains and renewable energy technology will be what’s popular in the future, not cars. I really hope I didn’t have to tell you that. With estimates of 1.2 cars per U.S. licensed driver and unused car inventories increasing every day, why in the world would we want to make any more cars? So if Detroit and other want-to-be manufacturing cities of tomorrow have any chance for survival, they will jump into these industries head first. The same goes for Wall Street, as renewable energy mortgages will be sure to revive Wall Street and what’s left of their ailing mortgage industry. The construction and steel industries among others must also follow suit; and we can all thank Silicon Valley for already being there ready to innovate. With skyrocketing electricity prices and lower renewable energy technology prices upon us, I am as psyched as you should be to be alive during what promises to be a renewable energy revolution (is there any other kind?).

I don’t think I need to scare you, but just in case you think this economic crisis is going to just go away, realize that in a consumption driven economy, which ours’ certainly is, unemployment is contagious. To explain it, every time our number of unemployed increases, which is now happening, our consumption in turn decreases, which in turn forces a further increase in unemployment. And there is no monetary or fiscal “stimulus” to stop such a vicious cycle. 

So are we finished with our Economic Detox? Can we flush the toilet now? Honestly, you can never be sure with such a bad case of diarrhea. And I can assure you that this diarrhea will continue unless we truly acknowledge what is good for us and act on it. For every time we think we are finished or at a “bottom”, we will soon be sprinting back to the toilet preying to make it in time, hoping the seat is down and worrying if there is enough toilet paper. 

In short, let’s be sure to eat our raw green vegetables.

But somehow our freedom of choice that once so clearly encompassed the American Dream changed. Not sure when or how, but it clearly changed. For as I grew older, the American Dream became all about owning a home. What house, in what neighborhood, with how many bedrooms was all that we seemed to dream about. But then suddenly, the dream became a nightmare. 

It has always been kind of a weird dream anyway. These are the biggest assets in our possession by far, yet we don’t really own them. The vast majority of us do not have $20,000 for the car we drive or $300,000 for the house we live in. Instead, we borrow the money to use them. Basically “I’ll pay ya later!” became the status quo.

The nightmare seems to last longer now than it did just a month ago or even a week ago. Houses and cars continue to sit empty while more are still being built and others are being defaulted on. Inventories are still increasing as supply and demand run further away from meeting each other. Commercial real estate is the next big shoe to drop as hyper-deflation kicks in at the asset level across all property types. It will be a falling knife, so I would not try to catch it.

So what happens? Does the nightmare continue or can we get back to dreaming about freedom? Well you remember the old motto, “you’re throwing away money paying rent”. Or, “it’s much better to own a home than to rent one”. Well, that is a fallacy in the face of the “Credit Crisis”; as credit to buy things has gone the way of the absence of trust that once reinforced it. Just like low mortgage rates and appreciating home prices ignited home ownership; now with real mortgage rates on the rise and prices falling, renting is and will be the default currency of choice.

Cash will be king and the ability to pay anything today, as opposed to promise to pay tomorrow, will rule the day. Current “For Sale” signs will convert to “For Rent” signs as previous sellers rationally decide to get what they can by renting. When they will sell again, nobody knows. All we do know is that if you want to make something, anything of that vacant property, you better get somebody to rent it. 

So in a depreciating real estate environment (i.e. falling rents), there are a lot more landlords than “credit”-worthy tenants. As a result, landlords better cozy up to any and all quality renters, because the savviest renters are now in charge.

Waking up from The American Dream will not be easy for everyone. But those that figure out how to take advantage of rents that seem to be in a perpetual free fall will be the next big economic opportunists (hint: renewable energy utilities).

But just as the economic game has changed, so has the dream. Things that used to seem so expensive like education will suddenly seem free (think internet not college); while suddenly other items like food and electricity will get relatively more expensive, but worth it at any cost (like in most other countries where food typically comprises at least 70% of living costs). So when dreaming about what you want to be when you grow up, focus on such essential items that are vital to power the sustainable cities and towns of the future.

I assure you that The American Dream is certainly alive and well, it just may take time to get back to sleep after this nightmare. 

Now let me go back to dreaming about what I want to be when I grow up.

Think about how much trash is being imported into your city everyday, only to be removed and sent to never never land the next day. The inefficiency of such an economic system is soon to be confronted. We have no choice. Our cities and towns can no longer afford to just turn the cheek and waste all that energy.

They say “a penny saved is a penny earned”. And since earnings are deteriorating, its time to save our pennies. Well the same goes for trash. For it is an extremely expensive operation to ship the trash, store the trash in a landfill, employ garbage collectors to move the trash, treat the contaminated trash, provide insurance for the trash operation, and purchase and maintain the garbage truck. Not to mention the whole thing stinks (pew!).

Does our current flat tax for trash pick-up and disposal not lead to excessive trash production; which is to the strategic advantage of business monopolies (i.e. big box retail) that purposely produce and manufacture things in far away places that require packages of trash; and is to the disadvantage of everyone else?

So is it possible to charge each citizen individually for the amount of trash they produce? Is it wise? Yes, and in fact Seattle has been doing it for quite some time now, and Plymouth, MA recently announced such a tax by weight and size; and municipalities all over the country will soon be forced to follow suit.

In any case, can you imagine the flurry of changes that will be triggered by such inevitable circumstances. To appreciate the domino effect that will occur, it is most important to appreciate that most supermarkets, as well as other retail monopolies that use trash to distribute the economic essentials of food and clothing, operate on a 2-3% profit margin; so it won’t take much to see their little bitty margins eroded by such equitable trash charges. So what else happens? A lot.

Generally, trash imports (packaged goods of all kinds) will dramatically decline, which triggers a wave of new entrepreneurial ideas. It will be the final shoe to drop on the rising costs and deteriorating quality of long-distance imports to America, otherwise known as inflation. So who will be the winners and who will be the losers?

Local fresh produce will be the obvious winner, and deservingly so. Although the superior freshness of local produce has been unconsciously overlooked for quite sometime now, making people pay for their own trash will finally make eating local the overwhelming choice; as alternative food choices are almost all excessively packaged in cardboard and/or plastic.

Of course certain strategic foods, such as Idaho Potatoes, California Avocados, and Florida Oranges that are basically transported in their natural package trash-free, will also benefit from forcing the consumer to pay for their own trash.

In addition, and just as important, retail distribution will change dramatically so. Fast food, which has been synonymous with packaged food (think how much garbage a meal at McDonald’s produces) will be eaten alive. Pizza boxes wil be out the door. Welcome to more slices, less to go meals, more made to order meals, and more raw food.

Local businesses will immediately form to provide canning, bottling and packaging on site; which will allow for true recycling to occur (the package will only be sterilized, but never changes form or place). For example, local milk farms will provide delivery and pick-up service for fresh milk in glass bottles once again. From locally produced tomato sauces, jams, and wholesome baby food, the possibilities of operating in real time are endless.

Or how about a nice corked wine bottle for drinking water. Yes, locally filtered drinking water is another beneficial outcome. It will no longer make sense to import plastic bottled water when you have access to better quality water at a much cheaper price, all the while avoiding the unknown risks of the recently popular petroleum-based plastic bottles (reminds me a lot of the once unknown risks of mercury in tooth fillings - I am still sucking on mine).

Old school mom and pop businesses will organically come back into fashion one after another. Local tailors and seamstresses, as well as repair shops for shoes, autos and electronics will begin to prosper once again.

The hugely wasteful energy system to move all that plastic in and out of the cities will be saved, the pollution avoided, and the landfills topped off. And think about all the new employment opportunities. All from simply charging each individual separately for the trash that they produce (OK, a weak dollar also helps!).

Oh, and the losers? In a nutshell, I would not want to be Walmart.

Do you believe that our banks are lenders, or do you know that they are borrowers?

Do you believe that our money markets are risk-free, or do you know that funds were lent to Lehman Brothers and AIG?

Do you believe that solar energy is more expensive than “alternative” forms, or do you know that silicon, the natural resource used to make Solar Panels, is the second most abundant element on earth after oxygen?

Do you believe that money is scarce or precious (like gold or other land resources), or do you know that our government is printing as much as they want?

Do you believe that GE has been growing by producing engines and household appliances, or do you know that most, if not all, of their last 10 years of growth has been banking related operations?

Do you believe that our Social Security Accounts are safe, or do you know that our government is using it to fund their credit operations?

Do you believe that home values always go up, or do you know that it is a short-term phenomenon fueled by lower interest rates (on greater home expense or price)?

Do you believe that our Fortune 500 Companies are too big to fail, or do you know that such great size also brings unstable profit margins of only 1-5% that require huge minimum revenue levels to stay afloat?

Do you believe the 1st mortgage on your house is owned by the bank, or do you know that local municipalities are in fact the 1st mortgagor through their real estate tax (this will continue to become more and more important)?

Do you believe that health insurance is most important, or do you know that the best insurance of health is nutrition?

Do you believe that our unemployment level is stable, or do you know that unemployment is contagious and dangerously feeds more and more unemployment?

Do you believe that our lenders (i.e. Japan, China and Russia) are stable, or do you know that they must sell their U.S. debt reserves in order to defend their own deteriorating currencies.

Do you believe that investing in solar energy is not worth the “risk”, or do you know that such utility production is the true risk-free rate (i.e. Treasury) of our economy as it is guaranteed by the sun?

They also say that “What You Believe You Know” is always subject to change…