http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/27/renewableenergy-energy

http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/877/1/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jivb7lupDNU

I learned from my teacher there are several situations where you shy away from giving advice

First, whether two individuals should get married or not. The divorce rate today is over 50%, nearly 60+% and beyond, and of course every couple will have marital problems from time to time. When things go wrong, many people look for someone else to blame rather than take personal responsibility. I’ve seen this happen let’s say about a million times or so (exaggeration).

Marriage is a person’s own personal decision, and yet when things go wrong they will blame YOU for their difficulties (as if it’s your fault) if you had given even the slightest encouragement as a teacher. “YOU told us we should get married” – how many times have I heard that tossed at bystanders? Who said all marriages are necessarily good? Such big decisions are 100% your responsibility, not even your parents’. Why are you listening to anyone other than your own commonsense and avoiding full responsibility for what is supposed to be an important life decision you make on your own?

Whether a person should become a monk or not. This is another personal decision that has nothing to do with you once again, and yet people will somehow try to twist this one into your responsibility as well. It’s usually someone who just wants to drop out from the world and is also looking for someone to pin the blame on. It’s their decision 100% once again. Anything goes wrong, they don’t like the lifestyle, etc. etc. and you’re the first one to blame if you said anything. What’s their karma is their karma, what they choose to do is what they choose to do, and yet they WILL find some way to blame you. I’ve seen it happen….not just once, so my teacher is wise. A good rule my teacher established is to refrain from commenting at all. Why are you seeking approval anyway if that’s your fervent desire in your deepest mind? That’s what it should be if you want to do this. Don’t pull other people into your decision, especially people who aren’t nuns or monks in the first place.

When you see that someone will be reborn an animal because of bad deeds, never tell them this either. They won’t change their behavior that has produced such a fate.

I’d also add answering questions about health supplements. If you have a question, call the manufacturer, read the label, read other websites on the product, or go to a doctor or naturopath or nutritionist who will personally see you and your condition. They are paid to do that – they’ll give you a questionnaire that helps determine contraindications. Yeah, you PAY them to give you advice that after careful consideration of all the factors in your case, are right for you.

Your health, what you consume, and what you do is your responsibility, especially if you want to experiment. Do your own due diligence, just like when you want to get married. Like anyone else, I never diagnose or advise anyone. I simply tell people what’s available that they should research as a kindness. Do your own research as to dosages and whether it’s right for you or go and pay someone to SEE you to determine if something matches. How can you expect anyone to help you who doesn’t physically see you and your physical condition or get your history? And most of all, don’t write asking where you can buy something when there’s something called the “internet” right in front of you. As if I’m supposed to do a google search for you and then send you the results. Sure enough, people ask … and then they don’t buy anyway. So our job in life, I suppose, is to waste our time for such people? As for myself, I try to be very respectful of other people’s time and the efforts they make on my behalf, including monies they spend.

Never give an interview. The reporter is sure to misrepresent you and get things wrong. You have nothing to sell, so why be interviewed? They’re the ones looking for an angle, and look at the movies — too often it’s something called “sabotage” or misrepresentation. No, you cannot control the press. If they want to make a monster a saint, they will, and if they want to make a saint the devil, they will again. People think the press is trustworthy. Sorry, people have agendas. Honest, they do.

Never debate. You’re just here to offer. Who’s qualified to debate you anyway? It’s usually some individual who has their own little book or tiny viewpoint and wants to become famous through opposition. They know one school, if at all. They neither have cultivation gong-fu nor vast learning in many spheres of cultivation (the two things that would make them qualified for a conversation) nor prajna wisdom — they simply hold on to their one book claiming, “But my Book says this” and “The Book says that.” It’s all self-reflexive — they’re not debating, they’re insisting that what they read, in the way they read it, is right over everything else in the world. No gong-fu, no wisdom, no wide learning but they think they are right as to the tradition/viewpoint they’ve been born into or become attracted/attached to, and that they’re even qualified to debate in their own self-reflexive way. They proceed from the viewpoint that their tiny one book is right in the first place. That being the case, what debate? It’s a sham from the start, and those who “want a debate” are just looking for argumentative entertainment. If they were seekers they’d read, ponder, cultivate, attain and then compare. So ignore such nonsense seekers. You’re just here to offer.

Rating another teacher. People always ask for an opinion on this or that cultivation teacher and their method(s). Who you study with is your business, not mine, and is of no interest to me. My teacher doesn’t care either. Why would my opinion change anything anyway and why would I be interested ? I’m a publisher, not a teacher, nor a competitor. If another teacher is “okay” it changes nothing, and if “not kosher” then all you end up doing with my words, which are supposed to be private anyway, is point trouble my way because you’d blab out, “Bill said this.” Why would you want to give me trouble if you respect the work I’m doing?

Because of my teacher’s example, I’ve never commented on another teacher and won’t. It’s none of my business what they do, just as it’s none of my business what anyone does. What do I care what you’re doing inside your house … it has nothing to do with me. So I’ve avoided the fate I’ve seen happen to others where a private comment was leaked to a whole community of ardent followers who now made it a campaign to go after that speaker. Such folks, rather than ignore comments, want to justify themselves to themselves, as if some third party’s opinion mattered, had to be defeated, and by doing so they were vindicated in the whole wide world. They wouldn’t dare enter a crowded Jewish synagogue and say “you fellows are all wrong,” or announce themselves in a crowded Church that way, or go inside a mosque and say “you’re all mistaken” but sure enough they’ll start pestering some poor guy who innocently offered just their own personal opinion privately, opinions which are a dime a dozen.

Go ahead and laugh because this happens. Yes it does. Six billion people in the world and people believe one certain individual’s opinion has to be changed, but not opinions of the other six billion minus one folks, and like you’re going to be able to change that guy’s opinion anyway? So my teacher never comments on other teachers, and neither do I. It does not lead to edification.

“Everyone needs to make money to live. I don’t want to destroy someone’s livelihood,” is what he jokingly says when we talk about cheaters. (As if it was HIS responsibility to do something, and as if he could do something about it.) You should just laugh. It’s true, it’s true….try it and you’ll see you cannot change anything anyway except get yourself embroiled in an argument and then impede all the other good work you’re trying to do in the world. You cannot save people from their own bad karma; they have to save themselves. Cheaters are much smarter than you, have more energy than you do and more time on their hands, and protect their livelihood fiercely because that’s all they can do. So don’t ask for my opinion and get me embroiled with cheaters. Do your own thinking according to the non-denominational principles of the path. I’ve done enough typing for you already.

So who your teacher is and what you believe as to a proper meditation method and what you practice or do is your own karma and has nothing to do with me. If you cannot read the site articles, understand the non-denominational principles of cultivation and then form your own educated opinion – which is what the site is supposed to do for you — then no one’s opinion can help you understand, so why are you asking? At best you’re just trying to give me trouble.

The culture of my country is so low that people always want to give trouble to people who have tried to help them. They want others to get into a fight so that they can sit back and watch and get entertained, like on Jerry Springer. Form your own opinions and seek your own counsel if you’re that way. You have to take 100% responsibility for your own cultivation in the world, including the mistakes you make, and you have to discover them for yourself because you WANT to know and search out the right answers. If you don’t work hard enough or read enough or study enough or mantra enough or meditate enough or hang out with the wrong crowd or lose money or one of a million other things it has nothing to do with me. Lucky for me I don’t look at all these teachers and gurus and masters to know what they’re doing, so I can say “I don’t know.” I have plenty of other things to keep me busy.

These are just a few of the circumstances where you learn to say nothing. I’m sure you can think of more situations in life where wisdom has taught you to remain silent. That being the case, why wouldn’t the field of cultivation have such moments of silence as well.

Look about you — there are several billion people you cannot save, lost you cannot wake up, whom you cannot do this or that for. All you can do is offer. If they come, let them come. If they don’t come, that’s their business. If you offer the pure dharma, be kind and friendly and generous and welcome everyone. If you offer them a quick tantric means that can shave off aeons, scare them away, put up barriers, create obstacles, look mean, be hard to find, remind them they’re not qualified (because they aren’t), make them not like you so they run … but offer it nonetheless out of mercy. That’s skillful means, and the non-smart ones won’t know it but will leave, proving they don’t have the merit for it. They’ll just turn away because they don’t know you’re using skillful means. You must create some way that they turn away of their own accord because you cannot offer the gems so freely — they have to prove they want it. Choose your own way to so offer. Create your own way to establish the tension. It’s all up to you in the end. You can keep silent, which is what 100% of the teachers do, and teach nothing, or you can show compassion but then must adopt a means where there is a barrier. Speaking honestly, it’s better not to teach anything at all, which is why you won’t find anything in Taoism, the Esoteric school, Vajrayana, and tantric yoga, etc. I’m too kind like an old grandmother, so I better make myself look like witch! ha ha ha. You choose your own route. It all depends on your wisdom and mercy.

Which reminds me. Don’t try to please people. The more you try to please people, the less you can say or do that’s useful, and then you end up saying and doing nothing useful at all. Witness the politicians. Their income depends on pleasing people so nothing substantial is said, promises are made but not kept, issues are not handled in a statesmenlike way, and everyone suffers. Salesmen please to get the sale, and then they walk away leaving you with the problems and no service. No, your job is not to please people. Be pleasing and palatable and attractive – YES – but your job is not to please people who are looking for cultivation guidance and the true cultivation path. It’s hard, not easy. Offer honesty and expect respect. If respect is not granted, it is usually not a place to teach. People reveal themselves by their own acts of merit, and their own actions and behavior.

When I look at the data, I firmly believe stocks will look better in mid 2009 than they do now, even though we may not  have a full bottom in yet. We could have a tsunami or earthquake hit California or some other unexpected catastrophe, even something economic like GM declaring bankruptcy (which might actually be the way for it to turn around) and then see stocks much lower. (What would be more hurt piled on top during an emergency like Katrina again would be the absence of the National Guard and Reserve since they are deployed overseas fighting whereas their job is to serve at home). Today it drops because people are TOLD they’re in a recession? You mean, people didn’t know it?

The problem is there are no jobs, and no way to stimulate them. Traditional remedies are unlikely to succeed regardless as to what Obama tried. Frankly, he needs some luck. Consumer debt expansion fueled the US market and consumers are overburdened with debt, in what they now realize are shaky jobs, and in what they now realize is a bad economic environment. They will now be saving, no spending. We are at our debt capacity limit.

Which is not to mention the fact that traditional Keynesian stimulus — building roads, bridges, etc. — will only create make-work. (Who will pay for that as well?) There are no new jobs being created. What we outsourced WILL NOT come back because it’s still cheaper over there than here. The Reichs and other economists and “top thinkers” were wrong to believe you can have a strong economy based on services. So they listened to big multinationals and outsourced jobs. They are gone, not coming back. Every time Congress signed a free trade agreement to help some big boy sell more in a foreign country, in return it flooded our markets with products that shut our little guys out of jobs. So we lost employment, the big boys made more money, and then they shielded it from US taxes because they know how! And Congress keeps saying yes to them because ….. “it’s good for the consumer”? Go check my past blog posts — a low price doesn’t matter if everyone’s out of work, because no one can afford it. 

The problem is not a liquidity problem. It is a structural problem now. We need to rebuild the economy from the ground up. Small farming, which employs people, needs to be encouraged. The alternative medicine field, which is powered by disposal income and employs millions, should no longer be persecuted — it HAS to be performed in country, provides a vital alternative to the orthodox way when it doesn’t work, leads to real breakthroughs, and cannot be outsourced. Small manufacturing will not come back because of lower costs, but it may come back if liability laws are dramatically changed. You have a choice — let people sue for anything and have less jobs in the nation, or  sue less and have more jobs and manufacturing. It will come down to that.

Another possibility is incentives (taxwise) for corporations to be taxed according to valued added performed in the United States. 

I still predict the government within the next one or two decades will start to tax the large tax exempt foundations (Ford, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Harvard Trust Funds,…) because historically I’ve seen it in China, France, ….

The bottom line is, a nation cannot survive as a service economy. It needs manufacturing, it needs small shop keepers, it needs small farming dotted everywhere. The best bank is to sotre the money amongst the people. But those at the top thought that a nation based on finance could win the day. No. Just as history has shown over and over that a small country that is the center of a trading route quickly declines when another route is discovered that circumvents it, we’ll find out that you need to innovate, create and manufacture to stay strong and healthy. They goofed, and they goofed big time in their thinking that unguided capitalism would provided perennial profits.

R&D tax incentives by the government are what we also need now, or an Apollo-like initiative for a different source of energy or transportation or something that will totally rewire the economy and will require replacement of the old base in order for people to reap the economies, and that will mobilize the nation’s economy. In the study of Kondratieff waves and Schumpeter economics, that’s the only thing that does.

What really worries me over the next two decades is agriculture.

We have far too few seed banks.

We let our seeds and ag policy be controlled by just a few large interests that only have profit motives in mind. Witness what happened to the banking community when that happened — solely acting as profit maximizers, they did not concern themselves with the risk to the whole system.

We pushed for an agricultural system of a few large farmers based on “economy of scale” concerns. Well, if there is global warming, large producers cannot react fast. They are also at the mercy of large buyers, such as McDonalds. They do not offer a diversified product, so if blight comes, all the same dominos tend to topple together. Small farmers are more responsive to the local community and if a blight or worse came, ONE off them, motivated beyond measure to protect his livelihood (like no corporate executive would), would figure out what to do, other small independent operators would also innovate and quickly follow (not the big boys, who always lag!) and communities would be saved. There are strategic, community and survival benefits to samll rather than large economies of scale.

“Terminator” seeds should be outlawed because of the risks they represent and entail; it’s just so plain stupid to allow this that I won’t go into it. “Patenting life” should be declared void.

GMO, from the research, has not produced the yield gains promised … but HAS produced a greater need for fertilizers and pesticides than before and help fund PR firms who are told to push it. Yes, continue the research, but remember that for now this is just a way to try to create a monopoly product, that’s all. THAT is the concern hidden beneath everything. Not the only one, but a major one.

Pesticide usage from foreign ag products is not policed; we allow a banned pesticide here to be used over there and then import it. Why?

Water will become scare EVERYWHERE. Only the small farmer will then survive because they can adapt. That will save communities paritally. So why are we placing our bets in just a few big boys? Yes there are economies of scale there and you need them, but there must also be a balance of many smaller players in the mix due to strategic security risks. It helps with local employment and community cohesion as well, and many other unmeasurable intangibles that make for just plain good old sound living. Local communities need to develop tax laws to promote, protect tthe local farmer (and not underlying real estate deals that the laws would be jury rigged to set up).

And more and more and more.

Statesmen should THINK about these things and then create policies that will protect us. God forbid should a drought or disease (ex. irish potato blight) run rampant after which time all the people will be arguing “How come you didn’t think of this, it was so obvious?” Do you really think other countires will sell their food, exporting it, if emergencies will happen.

Just witness what happened when wheat prices and rice priices rose…many countires enacted IMMEDIATE laws to prohibit export. Now think ahead … in this new world of global warming and droughts (Australia lost 90% of its wheat crop last year) and increasing third world population … and ponder what’s a SECURE, STABLE solution. It’s not what the profit maximizers designed, which is a solution designed to create powerful monopolies.

And as to many smaller nations who sign on to globalization and then immediately see huge amounts of low cost foods dumped into their markets, ruining the local famrers, who then go bankrupt overnight (and have to emigrate to the cities, putting an ever bigger strain and burden on them) and sell their land to larger players, who then come under the control of the big players in order to sell in bulk … and who tell them to only produce for export rather than the local market … this is not the best way to keep up employment, communities and guarantee a nation’s food supply sufficiency. You have to rethink “say yes” if you are truly concerned about your country. Frankly, from what I see were the ag laws passed in India recently, which has resulted in the bankruptcy and suicides of hundreds if not thousands of small farmers, I think some people in high positions were on the take and accepted bribes because the policies are so bad and favor non-national interests so much. It gives you cause to wonder the power of the multinationals when they want profits. The government is supposed to protect the people, not pander to those with the biggest wallets. As I always say, the profit motive has no concern for community or humanity or social outcome or even good policy. It’s just ruthless about doing what’s necessary for ever more, secure profits for itself. And then it shields those profits from taxes in ways the littel guys who were eliminated never could, and there is no trickle down effect to the nation or employees. Just the rich owenrs. Think about that.

How many more agricultural issues should I bring up that worry the heck out of me, besides the bees, of course? Weather instability is now here, seed risk is now here, water risk is now here, and population demand is climbing and we recently SAW what happened when wheat, milk, ice and corn prices doubled …. NOW is the time this is perfectly clear. The risks are no longer theoretical that we should do nothing until it’s too late, and then complain. The regulation, as with the banking crisis, must begin NOW and restore the food care to the people in a distributed system that ensures its safety. That IS a national security concern and imperative. Otherwise, one new agricultural anthrax type bug out of nowhere and the whole system can collapse. Only DIVERSITY protects you from that, just as a DIVERSITY of medical approaches (homeopathic, chinese medicine, nutritional, altenrative medicine, bodywork, etc.) protects the population even though the medical establishment may desipise it.

Don’t let agricultural giants put us at risk in the same way the financial community did. To lose money is one thing, but to be without food as the result of unwise policy means death. Why would we let our leaders be so calous at the behest of the corporate globalmeisters once again, who can promise agricultural security with beautiful words but when the sh*t actually does hit the fan, will be able to deliver nothing. The whole system needs to be reworked and rethought out NOW … a balance of the bigger, and resurgence of many smaller players for diveristy and safety’s sake and for too many reasons for me to write. Do you part — contact your Senators and Congressman and public officials. They never act unless there is pressure. If you see the results of what the financial sector did, and just consider a FEW of the things I noted and think them through, you have more than enough wisdom to understand the risks right now, especially with the weather changing, water becoming more scare, seed diversity disappearing, …

This is what concerns me!

Okay, so Obama wins. The cabinet picks always reveal what is to come.

Hillary Clinton as the Secretary of State is not a wise choice because there is the large danger she will always have her own agenda and not follow the President’s wishes. Who knows what  secret things she will be up to? Especially due to the past connections of her husband and his administration…who knows what objectives she will working on without anyone’s knowing, including the President.

During the Watergate trial, she was on the prosecution team and the head of the team refused to give her a letter of recommendation — something he refused only 3 times in his life. Why? He said she didn’t follow orders at times and followed her own agenda, sometimes performing acts that were on the cusp of illegality and would certainly get her disbarred as he recalls it. This is on the record, go check. Remember, this is ALL before she became famous… and remember that personalities rarely change.

Next under the Clinton regime she created her OWN health care plan without consulting anyone, always thinking that she’s smarter and following her own plan. Her OWN plan. Then she becomes a Presidential candidate — she wants the top job, she wants to be the boss. Can such a person listen to someone else? It remains to be seen. With such past cases, how can you expect anyone to follow your orders? The risks are too high.  We shall see, we shall see.

It’s take about 2 years before the truth of what I say becomes apparent….someone with their own agenda because of the makeup of their personalityand because of past connections presenting opportunities that they have a hard time saying “no” to. I’m not saying it will definitely happen and I have nothing against Hillary, but am saying it is a risk. I would not put myself in such a position. A very unwise decision from these standpoints.

As to the White House Chief of Staff, once again we have a dual citizen. Now THINK. We have a rule that the President MUST be nation born, for very good reasons – no divided loyalties. We also have a rule that he must be 35 years old to help insure maturity. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

Anyone who understands potential conflicts of interests, which happen more often than not, understands what’s inherently possible when a Dual Citizen reaches a position of power in the government. Sorry, but it should just be outlawed for similar principles. Plain and simple, no matter who it is. That’s why we establish these rules in the first place, because they embody wisdom and prevent the veering into error.

Error that never happens and is never seen is wisdom accomplished. Perhaps Obama was afraid for his life, and through this appointment tried to prove to others that he was not going to be overly helpful to Islamic causes. In any case, it’s not a man of gumption who does this or a man with clear thinking again. And if you say the Chief of Staff “was the best man for the job,” I refer to the wisdom principle once again. I don’t care if the person is a dual citizen of Canada or Britain or anywhere else. The principles I’ve outlined should guide government policy.

As to some of the other picks, some good, some “nothing special.” The problem with Obama is that he has no political capital. He has no one who owes him favors, and that makes it difficult to get things done, so he needs old insiders otherwise the threat is he’d accomplish nothing. The question is what baggae they bring, and what are the real level of their skills as to the RIGHT POLICY. Now the time in the nation should focus on the right policy, not how to administrate well.

You will always know what will happen in an administration by the selection of the cabinet members, and also by the nickname of the president before office. McCain was known as “McNasty” all his life, and that would clearly have shown through in the end. Now we have a presentable great speaker whose polish reminds me of Will Smith. But whether that turns into the wise policies we need and hope for, that remains to be seen.

Oh and by the way….do you remember when oil prices dropped from $140 to $80 almost overnight BEFORE there was any drop in demand? Do you know why? Because most of the fluff was speculation — hedge funds, investment banks, etc. bought massive amounts of oil contracts and had to liquidate because of the declining stock market and bad CMOs (mortgage investmeents). So the demand dried up from these non-users, and the price went down. Just as some wise people said, the extra fluff was all due to speculation, not real industrial demand.  In fact, the MAJORITY of the price is now CLEARLY seen to have been due to speculation sine nearly every hedge fund and brokerage was in on this. The fact that oil is now $50 should give you pause to think –  some of that low price IS due to lower demand but nearly $100 worth? The big boys had to sell anything and everything liquid because they needed cash, and thus that speculative froth went away.

This should give you cause to ponder what to do next time. I discuss some things in my book on Kuan Tzu, which is the  sage MOST appropriate for our times – the first master of Keynesian and Monetary stimulas in history.  Not Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Sun Tzu and so forth. A strong economy is not built on financial services or export trade flows, for they put it at risk over time. It’s strong because it builds up its own internal market that cannot be exported away. This is something to think about.

The collapse in the financial markets, and recession we’re now in and probably will be in until 2014 (despite ups and downs along the way), should have occurred back in 1987, but Greenspan inflated our way out of it … creating a more serious problem because we tacked on 20 more years of debt!

A recession is here for sure. How do we get out of it? A usual way was by lowering interest rates. But who wants to loan? And who will have a job that they can borrow? And what industry will have demand that requires investment?

Another choice is Keynesian fiscal stimulus — projects to employ people nationwide. But guess what? How can regular jobs be restored? We destroyed the foundational jobs that could have protected us by outsourcing and free trade agreements that shut them down. Manufacturing has been outsourced. Services have been outsourced. So what jobs will be stimulated? Bartending, coffeeshops, hairdressing and the like? If the travel industry goes, so does the hotel, restaurant and entertainment industries. This is just an example that should give you pause to think. Who are you going to stimulate now that the backbone has been gutted?

The economy that has been built up over the last 20 years has been debt based — meaning that demand for goods was geared towards niceties rather than necessary consumptives. You don’t NEED a jacuzzi but with a home equity loan you can install one. We didn’t NEED most of what we bought, but because debt was cheap and we were encouraged to buy, we bought and built up entire industries geared towards luxury rather than necessity. This will not return to the extent it once was. In fact, we now need to build up an entirely new economy from scratch.

Not to mention we have a burgeoning illegal immigrant problem — people looking for work who also require a tremendous amount of social services spending (that we will have to pay for out of taxes). This will turn ugly because of the many times I’ve seen this previously, it has never failed to turn ugly (witness Germany in the eighties) when the economy turned bad.

Our manufacturing sector is gone, and jobs have been outsourced. There are no jobs to stimulate along these lines. The decision to make the financial services industry a key backbone (20+%) of the economy … and other “service” industries, is now seen not to have been wise.

Those in power listened to those with money who told them to “let us make more”, and the result is now disaster. As I discussed with the quotes from Mencius and the Grand Historian, those in power erred. Every time we create a new free trade agreement, with a country like Columbia for instance, is because large multinationals want to get into that market to sell more goods and make a few more million dollars. Let me tell you, the large multinational have wonderful ways of shielding taxes on their extra profits with offshore corporations and so forth. This is not the key to prosperity for the nation. The financial return to the US economy is not what politicians are led to believe it will be unless they reform THESE tax laws. If I told you the offshore tricks that oil companies used to keep profits out of the US you’d have a heart attack. But the people in power listen to these big boys (because they are granted access since they are big) and kid themselves thinking “this is good for our consumers because imported goods will be cheaper.” But as I’ve been saying, cheap goods are fine as long as the people are employed. They never take that into account. I’ve said over and over again, the economic models don’t take into account (1) the TYPE or MAKEUP of products within GNP and (2) the fact that lower prices for consumers should take a secondary concern to employment below certain levels. We are now in defaltion so we shall see who is right.

For every large multinational who therefore sells more, we also put hundreds of little businesses out of work in our home country because of the flow in of cheaper goods. Politicians never consider this because the little guys rarely raise their voices in unison, and PACs hold the purse strings. The PACs should be outlawed, period, and then everyone has a level playing field otherwise the encroachment into Washington of money destroys the government of the people. The little people are the guys paying the taxes! But unfortunately, because they are scattered everywhere and don’t have one big voice that can knock on the doors of Washington, these are the guys who get ignored whereas the doors are open to a Boeing, IBM, Goldman Sachs, Conagra, etc.

Here’s the only thing that will work AFTER this all works itself out, which   will by the end of 2014. Yes, there will be lots of ups and downs between then — we’re do for a stock rally and reprieve right soon for instance, and 2009 after April should be mostly up and the same for 2010 until the end of the year. But the big thing is that this cycle has happened multiple times in the past and is always caused by too much debt and too little regulation on debt. So it should have been no surprise to anyone at the time because it certainly wasn’t to an ordinary fellow like me and others who read history. They were all just seduced by the financial services industry which wanted to keep raking in the money.

So what will work? After all the destruction, you need ENTIRELY NEW INDUSTRIES, not the old ones, to come up. You need new technologies, such as things the government has held back in black work projects. You need Schumpter creative destruction. You need the Kondratieff new paradigm. Whether it’s nanotech, or magnetic power, or whatever, you need something so transformative that investment comes out of hiding and people invest  and the world is rebuilt anew. That’s the ONLY thing that will work. So R&D, government release of black ops projects, university research, Bell Labs types initiatives, national Apollo mission type objectives that give birth to entirely new industries — that’s what we must put our energies into. Grand missions! To believe that debt relief will bring things back after we’ve outsourced entire industries and their jobs overseas is ludicrous. How will those jobs come back if they are still cheaper over there? They won’t! You only have one choice. To create something entirely NEW that is an industry built at home with employment at home, and it’s not outsourced. That’s it, that’s all that ever works. If you study the Kondratieff waves, this becomes clear.

I’ll say it again so that it sinks in. You can do all the monetary policy and financial stimulus you want, but much of the service industry economy that has built up over the last 20 years is doomed because it was an unnecessary luxury that only thrived in good times, and much of the consumption (demand for the industry producets and services) was based on debt. You only have one choice — to build up hard core, basic industry once again through new policies that make it cost competitive. Sorry GM but you had 20 years to get it right again and still could not, and your unions get paid 95% of their salaries when laid off — do you think you can compete or stay afloat like that?

A strong basic economy usually takes the form of agriculture and manufacturing. Agricultural policy should favor the small farmer rather than the large behemoths, who are making large strategic errors as well that threaten national security.  In this way jobs are spread around, the food supply is not at risk, communities stay together, and small businessmen make a living. This is much more important than concentrating millions in the hands of a few big players who can avoid taxes, manipulate politicians, and make big decisions that imperil the nation.

Manufacturing policy should encourage small firms with legal exemptions from restrictions or oppresions that send manufacturing elsewhere. Most of all, we should release any R&D that has been in the labs. If the government wanted to do anything, it should spend its monies on these new initiatives that can power the next wave up. Who knows what that technology, or market breakthrough will be?

This FDA article disturbed me greatly:

http://www.naturalnews.com/024569.html

This is not what the FDA was charged to do and is exactly why more and more people feel government intruding upon them.

Here are some products I want you to know about…

For Sea Salt, a store that impresses me is Saltworks.us .. check out their Himalyan salt, which has a higher mineral content and greater purity than French sea salt. You can even use sea salt in home space clearing protocols. Drop it in some water. Recite some mantras over it, and fling around the corners of the house for purification purposes. Salt has always been used this way because it is a type of “yin fire” and baddies are “yin”.

http://www.saltworks.us/salt_info/si_gourmet_reference.asp

Want to kill Candida or fungus?
Candisol + Oregacillin

Kidney/Gall stones?
Planetary Formulas Stone Free and Raintree Nutrition Chancpieda tincture

Parasites?
Beachwood Canyon PC 1-2-3

CoQ10?
Try Jarrow brand QAbsorb100

Clean the gunk out of your arteries?
Phoschol + vitamin D (Carlson D2000) + vitamin K-1 (Biotech Pharmachol K-1) + vitamin E (Unique E)

Now that a preventable crisis has the gripping attention of the world’s leaders, what other catastrophic crisis on the horizon is also something that we can identify NOW and act to alter if we become statesmen rather than politicians?

First, AGRICULTURE — our seeds are controlled by one or two companies that have installed terminator genes, don’t allow farmers to reuse the seeds in subsequent years, and we have a mono-culture crop for most food items … this is a recipe waiting for disaster. One world drought or insect boom or climate change or new disease and the mono-crop is all gone. We must encourage small agriculture once again for security’s sake, as a national strategic concern (just as Saudi Arabia once grew wheat for security concerns as well). The government should encourage public seed swap / seed sharing internet groups as a backup to the often failing government and corporate efforts. There should be NO LAWS preventing farmers from using saved seed — this profit maximizing law threatens your life because it threatens your food supply. The government makes laws and says “No” to many things, and this is one of them because of the risks that the corporations will all so deny … just as they did for the current banking crisis. That’s how profit maximization works. It doesn’t care about social, environmental or other costs like this.

The stakes are way too high here foks to let our food supply policies be determined by corporations rather than public officials thinking things through for the public good (instead of saying let’s just let the profit-seeking corporations do it … witness this month’s stock results). Frankly “terminator genes/seeds” should be outlawed, plain and simple, because of the catastrophic risk. So the firms make less money, big deal. I would not let their actions threaten the food supply of my country, would you?

For the rest of the article on Future Catastrophic Risks, click on the link.

The talk I usually give around the world on the “changing of the guard” in US supremacy is too big to be posted, but here’s the relevant words that address the moment:

* No country stays at the #1 Superpower position forever. Previous to the US it was England, and previous to England (in the Western World) we saw the French, Spanish, Netherlands, Portugal, Venice, etc. That’s just the western world we’re talking about.

* The world supremacy cycle usually lasts about 150 years. A country is usually recognized as “the tops” for about 100 of those years, the first years ignored as the young upstart slowly establishes itself. Witness China the next leader. Within these cycles are large term Kondratieff cycles that on average last around 54 years (the 60 years Indian and Chinese cycle, Jewish 50 year Jubille, Mayan 54 year calendar, 3 generations, etc.). We are in the Autumn entering Winter phase of the current Kondratieff cycle that was longer than usual because of the inflationary policies of the FED started by Greenspan, which temporarily delayed the crash side … but in so doing amplified the underlying forces of too much debt of the wrong type. Austrian economics explains the boom/bust characteristics quite nicely. It is ALWAYS too much debt that looked safe that takes the leader down, along with a lack of regulation, excessiveness (greed), and mind-set that ignored the dictum “the best bank is to store money among the people (not corporations, banks or the government).” The country as it plummets usually turns socialistic in tone. Conservatism returns, protectionism, and debt destruction. A negative social mood breeds an enviroment too ready for war that increases the destruction. War is not the solution, and cannot start a consumptive uptrend.

* The LONG TERM bottom of the current cycle is probably 2014-2015 if we use long term cycle analysis (see timingsolution.com). Between now and then, lots of ups (2009 and 2010) and also downs. It is a period of deflation – destruction of debt and value of property. Cash is king. The value of safe cash increases over everything else.

* The only way out is not inflation, but the Schumpter destruction-creation cycle. New waves of innovation and MASSIVE efficient changes in infrastructure, transportation, energy, banking, etc. can power the uptrends, such as the following past waves in the US:
Cotton/textile: 1787-1842 (Canals, roads, bridges, agriculture, commerce)
Railroad/industrial: 1842-1896 (railroads)
Mass Production: 1896-1949 (Electronics, communications, chemicals)
Information: 1949-2004 (Electronics, consumerism, aerospace, internet)
The government MUST work on promoting this type of massive structural change, like a giant NASA project though in multiple directions. Hidden away projects must be released that can provide breathroughs in energy, transportation, cost recduction, materials, etc. It is the ONLY thing that works.

* As examples, here are sample previous western K-waves in the west that powered the uptrend until debt took each one down or a new trend eclipsed the old trend and became the new powering force (see Michael Alexander):
British rum/tobacco/slave trade
Spanish silver/Sugar
Portuguese gold
Portuguese pepper trade
English textiles boom
English wool
Dutch Asian shipping

* In China, some sample K-waves were (see Modelski and Thompson):
Printing paper/woodblock printing: 930-990 (informational)
National market/new rice/iron casting/paper currency: 990-1060 (networks)
Public finance/tribute system: 1060-1120 (new political framework)
Maritime Trade/compass: 1120-1190 (new global trade)

* The only thing that brings us out of these is a NEW economic force of new possibilities to make money because of a new revolutionary introduction into the economy of something, as illustrated, not a war. The destruction of the old capital base dries up the availability of capital, but new capital will come out of the woodwork if something new is found that displaces the old capital base that was previously the predominant power that demanded protection. After all, it’s already destroyed at the bottom, so there is no use to protect the old base anymore and prevent the new paradigm from manifesting. Such as — a cheaper source of energy, cheaper transportation, more efficient manufacturing system, invention of new revolutionay materials, new informational system, etc. as you can glean from the above examples. For instance, the US governemment (see Greene) has locked away in off book projects many technologies it does not want released that might start the whole thing anew by launching a boom that can absorb the losses even now. Capital will come from everywhere, even after a more devastating final destructive bottom is reached, to risk on these new things. This is the ONLY thing that can help .. not inflation.

* You will definitely see higher taxes. Kuan Tzu would predict that you may even see several countries combining their financial or monetary systems (ex. US and Canada) to get over this.

* History shows you may also see the taxing of non-profits, Foundations and university endowments. Whenever they grow too large, as is the case, and exert too much influence or control, this has happened in the past (France, India, China). Regardless of the religion, it happens. The large non-profit Foundations (Ford, Rockefeller, …) are prime targets.

* You may even see the splitting up of countries because of Federal government decisions to make unwise forays elsewhere that cause national repercussions, or due to the institution of national policies against populist wishes, and then a clamp down on the possible protests by citizens or more intrusions on citizens. Resenting this, and for a variety of other reasons too numerous to mention, countries sometimes split along economic, cultural, language, religious, or mind-set lines.

* The most irresponsible, arrogant, imbecile, stupid, imprudent “screw you rest of the world I’m doing what I want” threatening thing anyone can do right now is invade a country like Iran which is seen as a “maybe possible threat after five years or so.” It’s the worst possible thing that can happen at such a vulnerable juncture, especially when time is on the side of waiting. Remember, there is no immediate threat, and the future threat is only a theoretical possibility. If this can be avoided and people hold on their heads, we have a good chance.

Solution:
Pay attention to the cycles for your investments, but remember cash is king
Encourage the government to release its off book projects that might power a new uptrend, or stop suppressing changes that obliviate billions/trillions in previous infrastructure (ex. solar power, electric car, …)
Be careful of placing people in power whose mindset is asura-like

I just found a quick way to find our out of print books at reasonable prices.

Got to www.Bookfinder.com and put in the title or the author.

Simple as that.

Many people ask me about market cycles and so forth.

Either it has bottomed now, or a late October low (October 20 week).

Whichever it is, a rally into December, then the window dressing fall as funds change their portfolio before year end, and then rally to mid January, and then fall into late March/early April 2009.

Somewhere in 2009 we have a bottom (perhaps that is it), and then a rocket rally up to 2010 and then fall for years thereafter until the real mess works its way through the system … probably ending 2014-2015 by cycles work.

Here’s the best charts I can find:

What a scare. The blog was hacked and I thought the posts were gone forever. For days I’ve been trying to retrieve things and posting the articles as static html pages just in case.  For those of you who are Wordpress inclined, here’s what happened – a new exploit:

There’s a Wordpress plugin that uploads jpg and png avatars for users.  As we found out the hard way,  do not activate it ever. It’s the exact way how the attacker can get into your files (png can be script). Any plugins/addons that allow your subscribers to upload something (you can allow jpg or gifs for avatars, but better keep it safe) turns out to be DANGEROUS.

Here’s how the attacker gets in the database for Wordpress and starts causing mischief.  In the database appears javascript code that creates a second administrator.  It will have no name but all rights and call itself Wordpress (like a superuser).  So you have no chance to see this user in a list. But, there’s still one place where you can see it (please remember it).  When you’re on the user managing page, theres a list

All users | administrators (1) | subscribers (65)

When you click on the All Users, you will see administrators (2) – so if you know there’s only 1 administrator, the second is an exploit.

Why tell you all this? Maybe you can use this info to save a friend.  It sure is hard running a website to offer information nowadays!

In the many opinions people toss about on what the US should or should not do in the world, or what any country such as France, Israel, China or Russia should do to preserve and maintain itself,  I must remind people that every country should consider its international efforts and relations with neighbors in view of survival and prosperity. The various strategies a small state, middle sized state, interior state, island nation, impoverished state and macro state should pursue for survival as underlying national policy I have gone over in my book on Kuan Tzu.

First, a country should act in order to preserve itself. This is called acting for survival. The island exporting nation Japan has  different survival strategies than Israel, which uses strategies different from Ethiopia, China, France, Mexico or a Vanatu, India or Saudi Arabia. Each country must seek  to maintain itself and influence other countries for its own interests, which they all do though in means helpful or detrimental to their long term interests. All nations do this; Britain was a past champion of being able to influence and intervene (some would say interfere) in nations for its own interests of maintaining Empire. The question to be asked by strategist is "how will these actions threaten my survival in the short run or long run? Will they possibly threaten our survival through direct or indirect consequences, in the short run or long run, as we are most prone to simplistic straight line thinking and need to broaden our horizons. Is this the BEST strategy for our survival ?"

Frankly, the US in recent years has done a terrible job at examining these questions because  many of its geo-political actions and interventions have backfired, and if institued with long term survival in mind, show a nation that has imperiled itself rather than strengthened itself.

If survival is not an issue, the country’s leaders must consider whether its actions will,  in both the short run and long run, buttress or weaken its current and future prosperity. The underlying goal is called "maintaining a state of auspiciousness" and is most often achieved by a achieving a balancing of forces (a "golden mean" so to speak) in moderation over a prolonged period of time. In neither economic nor military nor social spheres should you let the nation progress to an extreme. "hubris" — the great error of the Persian Empire — should not be allowed.

In other words, statesmen should ask "will the actions we take or are currently permitting further our goal of ascension in the world, or weaken it through direct or indirect consequences?" There is definite blowback, or cause and effect, for every action taken, and we must consider  the full scope, measure and width of blowback consequences to our hopeful march forward. Obviously this has not been done.

What must not be done is let corporations, which are purely money seeking ventures, call the shots or influence the shots with preponderance. Corporations, for profit, will readily gut a country without a second thought, and only wise legislation can prevent this.  Furthermore, they often profit from wars, which are then seen as desired vehicles of profit for their goods and services, which provides an underlying motivation for them not to make influential moves that would help pace the way for peace and stability in troubled times. Wars are the biggest stimulators of consumption, but no populace benefits by them. Only the powerful at the head of strong banking and defense interests really benefit from military ventures that destroy property, lives and socieities. History has shown this over and over again…countless books commenting upon this have been written.

In capitalism, consumption is driven by advertising to stoke demand, consumer debt to make it possible, and war to make it necessary. Presently America has reached the limits of the capabilities of debt to stimulate production and consumption. Consumerism, or the stoking of demand by advertising and a materialistic ethos, does not have an unlimited lifespan just as capitalism does not have a  guaranteed ticket to ever increasing returns (profits increasing quarter by quarter) unless new markets are constantly opened and resources made available, sometimes by force if necessary. Such is the hidden basis of capitalism’s history, whether spoken of openly or not. The inherent idea is that there must always be growth, but in actuality, the economic models do not rule out a zero growth or low growth environment, which is something that might have to be considered in the next fifty years as even China and the other former Communist regimes reach saturation.  As it is, in most developed countries the consumer markets are replacement markets (eevryone has a car, tv, telephone), except for innovations.

When a government falls into the hands of large profit seeking interests or listens to them too much, thinking their interests are what is best for the people, it makes a big mistake and yet we have drifted into this teritory over the last 30 years because of PACS and the merging of economic thinking by the Democratic and Republican parties.  Corporations are not synonomous with the economy, yet they are readily identified by politicians seeking election donations whereas the great mass of the public is not usually turned into an identifiable voice with a single cash wallet. As a sage once said, "the best bank is to store money amongst the people," not the corporations, yet the rise of electorial politics has caused us to forget this thinking that the benefit of the corporations, and not the working people is what matters. It is too bad that our statesmen do not read economist Michael Hudson who often paints a clear pictue of where we are.

Consider that if one is guided by profits alone, what actions would not be undertaken to further gain? Humanity, ethics, society, culture all go out the window in pursuit of the almighty dollar and profit. That is why I often bring up the commentary by the Grand Historian of China when reading Mencius:

As the Grand Historian was reading Mencius, he unconsciously put the book down and sighed when he came to the place where King Hui of Liang asked Mencius, ‘How will you profit my country?’ The historian said, ‘Ah, profit is truly the beginning of disorder. That is why Confucius seldom spoke of profit, always shoring up the source.’ The source is the beginning. Whether it is found among the upper classes or the lower classes, the degeneracy of lust for profit is basically the same. When those in public office profit unfairly, then the law is disordered. When those in the private sector profit by deception, then business is disordered. When business is disorderly, people are contentious and dissatisfied; when law is disorderly, the citizenry is resentful and disobedient. This is how people get to be so rebellious and belligerent that they don’t care if they die. Is this not a demonstration of how, ‘Profit is truly the beginning of disorder’? The sages and saints were deeply cautious and aloof from profit, giving honor and precedence to humanity and justice. But in later times there were still those who deceived each other in hopes of profit; what limit is there to those who destroy morality and ruin education? How much the more serious is the problem when the path of adventurous profiteering is publicly espoused and pursued; under these conditions, how could we hope for the world’s morals and customs to be upright, and not be thin and weak? 

The Story of Chinese Zen, by Nan Huai-Chin, (Charles E. Tuttle Company, Vermont, 1985), p. 205-206.

 

 
What is the passage Szuma Chien is referring to? It is from the very opening of the book of Mencius, which starts out with a conversation between Mencius and the King Hui of Liang, who said,

 

‘Sir, … You have come all this distance, thinking nothing of a thousand li. You must surely have some way of profiting my state?’
 ’Your majesty,’ answered Mencius, ‘What is the point of mentioning the word "profit"? All that matters is that there should be benevolence and rightness. If Your Majesty says, "How can I profit my state?" and the Counselors say, "How can I profit my family?" and the Gentlemen and Commoners say, "How can I profit my person?" then those above and those below will be trying to profit at the expense of one another and the state will be imperiled. When regicide is committed in a state of ten thousand chariots, it is certain to be by a vassal with a thousand chariots, and when it is committed in a state of a thousand chariots, it is certain to be by a vassal with a hundred chariots. A share of a thousand in ten thousand or a hundred in a thousand is by no means insignificant, yet if profit is put before rightness, there is no satisfaction short of total usurpation. No benevolent man ever abandons his parents, and no dutiful man ever puts his prince last. Perhaps you will now endorse what I have said, "All that matters is that there should be benevolence and rightness. What is the point of mentioning the word ‘profit’?"’

 Mencius, Volume One, transl. by D. C. Lau, (The Chinese University Press, Hong Kong, 1984), p. 3

These are things you should consider when you examine the world trend of events today and try to decipher who is pulling the strings, or pulling for outcomes in certain directions. In the last 60 years a certain style of capitalism and world economic system has developed, but the system has reached a turning point that marks its end and a new one is slowly developing. But what will its shape be?

I recall several small quotes from Understanding This Chinese Generation that touch the periphery of these issues but enough to make their review worthwhile:

Throughout the cultural history of mankind our conceptions of morality have been governed by the religious principles of sin and retribution; from this our educational norms and modes of thought have taken shape, maintaining the social order for the last three millennium. With the rise of the modern culture of materialism and the consequent rapid development of commerce and industry, our view of morality has gradually fallen victim to an ideology of economic valuation that attaches a price tag to all things.

…

This is how danger is transformed into security, and the nation’s fears are put to rest. National salvation follows from the application of talent and wisdom, and the cultivation of talent and wisdom is the windmill which harnesses the “kinetic energy” of the winds of profound thought and learning. Based on the concepts of “rethinking the old to understand the new” and “examining the past to master the future,” we must map the recent historical evolution of our present approach to national salvation. With this in hand, the causes and effects of the complex confusion before us will be revealed and we can begin to understand how to productively direct our efforts in the perilous days ahead.

…

Today, universal education and the boundaries of knowledge grow with each passing day at a rate unheard of more than thirty years ago. Yet, the dedication and spiritual “zeal” of our youth to the ideals of the “movement for national renaissance” cannot compare to that of the generation before them. As we pattern ourselves on the advances of material civilization, we trade in our inhibitions and self-control for the good life, seeking refuge in its promised future of comfort and security. Blindly pursuing the development of commerce and industry, each frantic moment of our precious time is devoted to the attainment of wealth, even as our love of learning and self-realization become impoverished. As a result, we have fostered a social milieu that slavishly stresses the potential of the natural sciences, but treats the exploration of humanist thought as a profligate squandering of time. We continue to avert our eyes from the tragic future certain to result from the grotesque juggernaut of natural science as it feeds off the remains of humanist culture, like a “parasite in the belly of a lion, consuming its mighty host.”
 
If we truly desire to chart a new ideological course for the nation and the world, we must first come to terms with the struggles of modern life and the realization that they are the symptoms of a cultural war. Whether we look to the regions of communist control or the Free World, the industrially advanced First World or the underdeveloped Third World, as in the past we remain lost between the goals of spiritual realization and the necessities of practical existence. In other words, our frustrations are a product of the competition between man’s quest for economic equality in the face of scarcity and his search for spiritual rebirth and peace of mind. In our struggle, two preliminary issues emerge: the unabashed borrowing of capitalist economic devices by modern communism, and our own wrongheaded worship at the altar of materialism. Therefore, other than the current focus of modern youth on learning the skills necessary for everyday life and the struggle for national renaissance, there are two important topics that urgently need to be addressed by the best of this generation:

1. How to shape a new economic philosophy for the benefit of mankind
2. How to synergistically unite and harmonize the cultures of materialism and spirituality.

In the process of working towards this goal, we must proceed with the understanding that our endeavor is an outgrowth of the humanist ideal and a challenge worthy of the best among us, requiring deep reflection, a love of learning, and an inductive approach. Our task is not one of hasty plans and hurried work. While it may be true that there is an ocean of difference between our quixotic goals and the reality of the world around us, “diligent study ultimately leads to success.” Applying this wisdom to the honorable pursuit of humanist ideals will lead us to the inner realm of self-understanding. If, however, we limit our strategies to the goals of personal success and the necessities of individual life, then the historic opportunities now within our reach will be lost. We must seize our present situation and exchange it for an everlasting reality, grab hold of our individuality and transform it into an historical destiny. If we do see to it that these notions take on a renewed sense of worth in the minds of our young, we run the risk of becoming the laughingstock of future generations as we leave a legacy of blank pages to the next sixty years of scholarship.
 

I always try to tell people that tiny things can lead to big results, and to look for the little hinges on which the big doors swing. For instance, one tiny little thing I’d do if I were President would be to push recognition of stevia, the natural sweetener, which the FDA refuses to let us know about.

What would be the domino effect? Less sugar everywhere, less obesity, less health problems, less diabetes, healthier Americans … all because of the recognition and permission to use one natural sweetener that is far far better than sugar on so many different levels. You have to think of the domino effect of tiny acts to see how to change the world for the better.

By the way, there’s a new soft drink made from stevia called ZEVIA. Can’t wait to try it.

And another thing while I’m at it … the labeling rules of the FDA forbid manufacturers from telling you if they did NOT use hormones in their milk production, or their food was NOT irradiated and all sorts of other things we want to know about. Why outlaw such disclosures? Because the FDA bows to big business rather than the public, and big business doesn’t want us to know about the healthier options so we’d buy them..

Such small legislative changes like this could revolutionize the nation. That’s how you should think….what small thing can I do that would have tremendous results in benefitting the public?  I’m sure you could collect tons of ideas like this that cost absolutely nothing and yet the ramifications are so gigantically beneficial that we’re stupid for not doing them. Makes you wonder sometimes if someone isn’t being compensated  or rewarded in some way to keep everyone from being healthier.