Haven't posted anything here for a while because I've been very busy with a new venture: a renewable energy cooperation. Can't say too much about it now but more will follow soon

Over een paar weken mogen we de Tweede Kamer der Hypotheekrenteaftrek kiezen. Daar lijkt het althans op. Ongelooflijk hoe dit thema de verkiezingen domineren terwijl het eigenlijk een volstrekt achterhaalde discussie is.

“What currently dominates would politics and economics is not a true conspiracy; it’s a mistake. It is a conspiracy of error. We are witnessing the collective pursuit of an inoperable political ideal and an erroneous economic paradigm, built on a totally inadequate, misunderstood and almost unchallenged financial system.”

This quote above is taken from the book ‘The Grip of Death; A study of modern money, debt slavery and destructive economics’ by Michael Rowbothan. Don’t be put off by the title (‘Grip of death’ is actually the literal translation of 'mortgage' - the things that started this whole credit crisis) because this book does a very good job at explaining the roots of the financial problems we are currently facing. Even better, it even offers solutions. I highly recommend reading it.

The insight that the book offers is highlighted by the fact that it was written in 1998; well before the financial crisis that is unfolding around us. The global financial problems are not a glitch in the system that we can fix and move on; we are coming to the point where the money-as-debt system will succumb under its own weight. You simply cannot solve a debt crisis with more debt; although that is exactly what governments are trying to do.

I find it incredible that three years into this crisis, there is still hardly any debate on what money IS; debt. No debt, no money. It is impossible to repay our debts because it would leave us without money. At the same it is becoming impossible to pay the interest on the debts. Catch-22.

We are at the beginning of the ‘end game’ of our financial system. The volatility on the financial markets is just one of the signs that we are reaching the mathematical end of our debt-based casino-speculation financial system.

What we need is a monetary system that is not based on debt. Where a euro in somebody’s pocket doesn’t necessarily mean a euro of debt for somebody else. A system where money is used as a means for trading and storing value instead of runaway speculation and useless financial derivatives. Instead of being the ultimate goal, money should be like oil in an engine used to facilitate transactions.

Want to know more? Read the book. Although it is a bit antagonistic towards our capitalistic system at certain points, it is a great alternative to accepted theory. And to understand where the author is coming from, maybe start by reading the last chapter: ‘A spectrum of opportunity’. Puts the whole thing in perspective…

Heerlijk om deze woorden te horen uit de mond van ons Vaderlandsch Econoom. De wereldwijde focus op economische groei om de groei is onzinnig en destructief. Hoog tijd om de slag te maken van kwantitatieve groei naar kwalitatieve groei. Niet alles hoeft ontwikkeld te worden...

Kijk, hier ben ik het dus VOL-LE-DIG mee eens....

A few days ago it hit me. A one-sentence summary of the problems we are facing today:

Our planet and economy are in trouble because we use resources from the past and money from the future.

Fossil fuels contain the energy of ancient sunlight. It also contains the carbon that accumulated during millions of years, which we now release in a few decades. The trillion dollar mountain of debt that keeps on growing every day fuels our economy now, but needs to be repaid in the future.

In both directions we underestimate the implications of our actions. Both our climate and the global financial system are highly complex systems that don’t behave in a linear way. Small changes can accelerate due to positive feedback loops; minor adaptations can trigger huge systematic changes. We ignore the risks because of our addiction to our comfortable consumerist way of life. We consciously choose to adhere to a destructive form of capitalism and close our eyes for the overwhelming evidence that all is not well on the financial and climate front.

As a society we do not seem to be able to match our focus on enjoying the ‘now’ with finding a solution in the now. Our sense of urgency is tainted by a system that places costs far away, both geographically and in time. We find comfort in climate critics and financial regulators who tell us that nothing is amiss. We hope that these problems will simply go away like acid rain and the dotcom bubble did before. We do not (want to) recognise the systematic nature of what we are facing today. Even where we agree on the problems we get bogged down in political debate and competitive considerations. We are not doing what is required; but at best what we feel we can afford. And it is simply not enough.

Any progress will be slow – too slow – if we do not face the brutal facts and act accordingly. We need to surpass the political debate and lobbyists and focus on the truths we cannot deny. Let’s start with a basic premise that for our society to be sustainable it has to function in the present; without depending on a far away history nor future.

We need to get off fossil fuels and put an end to the money-as-debt system. The first transition has gotten a lot of attention in the last few years, the latter is largely unknown to the wider public. The truth is that we cannot fix a system built on debt with more debt – as we are doing at the moment. At some point the money-debt pyramid will collapse because society cannot support any more debts. More and more countries are now dangerously close to defaulting.

The problem is that we need debt, because we need th money. No debt, no money; that is the way our system works. This is the reason why countries, business and individuals can all be in debt at the same time. To whom? To the banks that have the unique right to create money out of nothing and charge interest for the service. Although this makes sense in the situation where banks lend out money saved by others, this is not the case. It is new money, based on debts that need to be paid off in the future.

The economic power of Now implies an energy supply that relies on the power that the sun provides each day as it comes. It also implies a money system that is based on money – value – that is present in the economy today. We need to change now, and stop shifting our problems to future generations. Instead of an economic system that aims to extract as much value as possible we need a system that is self-sufficient within the timeframe it operates. Our society will never be sustainable if we don’t fix both of these issues. We need to focus on the now, both in terms of the way our global economy operates, as well as the moment to act out this change. Because in the end, as Eckart Tolle observed in his book ‘The power of now’, the only moment there will ever be is a long and continuing now.

Below you will find an interview (in 3 parts) with Bill Murphy, chairman of GATA.org (the Gold Anti Trust Association) by Mike Malony of GoldSilver.com. The interview goes into the ongoing manipulation of the gold price by the American Government in order to support the dollar and paper currency in general. It is not the best piece of interviewing but lays out the scheme and the implications quite well.

Why is this relevant? Well, right at this moment there is a hearing by the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC; more about that here) that is exposing this scheme and takes it out of the 'conspiracy' position it has long been in. Now that the story is featuring on mainstream media this could be the beginning of the end of manipulative practices, sending the price of gold bullion through the roof. Good for those who have invested in gold but it could also dangerously weaken the dollar and be a fatal blow to banks that will come up short when prices start to move up in ernest.

I wouldn't be surprised that if the manipulation of prices is halted because of all the scrutiny it is getting now, and gold prices shoot up, this could turn out to be the beginning of the end of fiat money (money created on the basis of debt & without any real backing). And that certainly is relevant.


Time to get into gold I would say. Not so much to not speculate on the gold price going up (I'm not a big supporter of speculation because it doesn't add any real value), but certainly to insure yourself against the possibility of the value of the dollar and euro going down. With all the money that has been pumped into the economy over the last decade - including trillions as economic support packages in the last 2 years - it will not take much to spark serious inflation...