Diregard my earlier post. I’m getting it now — must be a lot of others too as it is crawling…

I’m actually listening right now on the website (I’m on vacation this week) but, I wanted it on my iPhone as I have to take off in a bit and wanted to hear it in the car.
I spent my morning setting up 8-5 gallon pails with long-term wheat, legumes, and rice.
Times are strange, Jack. Thanks for all you do!

Sheeeple are the zombies. Most cannot get out of debt, that is so easy to say when you make big bucks. As I write this comment some company is leaving to go overseas and laying off more people. In the next couple of years, thousands of more companies will relocate to an overseas location. Across America there are more and more small ghost towns. Large urban cities are in decay and utilities and repairs are being cut off. Large sections of neighborhoods are being bulldozed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij4H9M55c64&feature=player_embedded

I am disabled and live on what most people consider the government dime, my VA pension and Social Security. This gives me a unique position to see from. I see that your words hold gold, but I also see that if we as a people do not rise up to our own standards we will be forced, by our own inaction, to live by the standards of others. This is the message of every day, nothing new. What really gets me is that if I take your blinders off you still only see straight ahead, but if you take your own blinders off now there is a whole new world that you only saw one road width at a time before. Until I ran into your cast I had always told my family and friends that we, America, is going to fall if we don’t stand up. I never could tell them how to stand up, I guess that I knew how because I had to stand up or die. I never understood money, thought and still think, that money is evil and is our own slave chains, but a tool none the less. Today I believe that I can now suggest certain things to do, when I would say fight back some thought with a gun, but I can now explain better that just being debt free is fighting back, maybe now they will understand. I know there is more but you can’t expect a baby to walk out of the womb.
Thanks brother for the help.

@metaforge – I just watched that 2 minute Bill Maher video. The part I agree with is is that America is, by and large, messed up because of greed. However, Bill Maher has become one hateful human being. Perhaps he has always been this way but I remember watching him years ago and he was not caustic and hateful as he is now. He also seems to be on a one man crusade to mock Christianity every chance he gets.

On a final note, a conservative friend of mine emailed earlier to say he felt that the economy was on its way to getting better. I just sent him the link to today’s podcast…

Best show of the year Jack!

Glad you did the show today.

-gkaranov

@Shorty
Hate is a strong word, brother, and I’m sorry, but who you are referring to are not true Christians. I am a follower of Jesus Christ as I have accepted him as Lord and Savior. That makes me a “Christian”. I think you must be referring to those who call themselves Christians but are doing so falsely, however, that is for God to judge a mans heart, not you or me. I understand exactly what Bill Maher was saying as he is using one large brush to paint all religion, and primarily Christianity, as hypocrisy. There is plenty of that to go around, but what Bill does these days is plain old hateful.
Finally, the last part of your statement makes very little sense to me — so I’ll leave it at that.

@Gary, yeah I agree. Back in the day, Maher had a much more libertarian streak. Today he seems more like an angry shill for the left.

Aside from what he says on either greed or religion, just thinking about the people, it reminds me of the videos of everyone trampling one another for Black Friday sales. If only I had an X (especially a free or discounted one) then my life would be so much happier. I don’t necessarily think that’s greed – it’s more like being brainwashed or mentally ill/depressed, unable or unwilling to think for ones self. All the while, not realizing the slavery required to keep consuming, consuming, consuming, and certainly oblivious to the 7 deadly cracks discussed today.

@Modern Survival
No sir you are right I AM NO follower of Jesus, I respect his words, but his fan club scares the shit out of me. The true followers are some of the best people I have ever met, but the things I have done can never be forgiven even as they were done for my country and I will not taint those who truly believe with my presents in their meeting places. I rail against the one who will say the words and then does the exact opposite, they deserve to be poked with a stick so I poke them. I will not do that here again and if I caused harm to anyone I do humbly apologize for that.

My brother has a union city job, with pension & full medical coverage. I told him 2 years ago, he should assume his pension will be pennies on the dollar when he retires [just over 20 years]. I also told him to assume social security will be pennies on the dollar of expected benefits. He laughs. The city of Philly will default on the city union pension funds, the fed will go to bail them out, the fed will not be able to cover all the collapsing pension funds & tax payers will refuse to cover them all… As usual, none of the pension funds are fully funded [assuming the could with the market tanking!] or insured fully [sounds like wall street & mortgage backed securities] He said he doesn’t think its that bad, but he is stockpiling food & ammo so i think he knows too…

while we’re talking about the bible [i guess it is the season, and i am re-committing to reading it totally finally…] Genesis comes out & is clearly acknowledging that it cannot be taken as “literally truth”… man is created twice in 2 different ways right after each other… only 1 has woman coming from his rib. the other story has man & woman created at same time. So if bible is literal truth – he created us twice for one existence? I gained respect for the writers at that point… and i do not find genesis in conflict with science. A day to GOD isn’t 24 hours. nuff religion- i mean no disrespect to anyone who disagrees- thats what our freedom is for.. just my opinion that the bible is crystal clear in the first book, that it is ‘not a science textbook…

@Modern Survival
Thank you for the wordage you are closer to what I meant than I was and it is true that actions speak louder than words. It was these actions more than anything I spoke of.

@Gary
I have read the bible many times I had no choice, I used to know it better than seminary trained preachers. It has some of the most beautiful and most terrible things in it, but that is neither here nor there. Nuff said

Yeah, started reading your book and have heard you talk about it before in other shows, but hadn’t heard external non-dollar sources of wealth being used to repay be discussed. I guess the assumption that wasn’t clear was repayment in dollars… what if creditors took other things as payment? Yuan, gold, platinum, land, coffee beans. Then it could be repaid? Gets to your notion of the value of the country being the land, resources, production, etc not just 1 thing like gold. Just curious, thanks.

@Modern Survival
There is plenty of ability for the American people to provide assistance to the truly disabled. I feel your pain brother but know that you will suffer in this just like most of us will.

Money itself isn’t evil nor is even the desire for it. Money simply is a way to facilitate barter, unfortunately we don’t have real money in America, we have quite literally debt certificates. Please read the beta of the eBook I just released.

Be prepared as best you can!

On disability I also think it is sad that many who are disabled COULD work some, earn some money but are prohibited from doing so. Instead of saying okay you are X% disabled and you can earn up to Y in income and remain on disability most are put on full disability and will lose everything if they earn even a little based on what they can still do, this is COMPLETELY moronic!

I know several disabled people that earn poverty incomes via disability. Most of them could make a few hundred dollars a month if they were allowed to do so but if they do they loose their benefits. They are truly disabled, they could never hope to fully support themselves so they continue to draw and do no actual work and earn no additional income.

How is anyone helped by this? Now many will say that it will encourage people to milk the system, the reality is that the current system requires many that do not want to milk the system to do so.

Keep your powder dry and if you can make a few bucks under the table and squirrel them away, do it and don’t feel bad for taking help if you really need it.

Now for those that purely milk the system simply because they can all I can say is……

http://www.survivalpodcast.net/store/store/clothing/get-back-to-work-tees/

You are absolutely right I can still think and work with my hands, but if I do I lose everything, as for working under the table I never have and would have no idea as to where to start to find work that way. I have degrees in chemistry and multimedia and I think a lot as well. Any push in the right direction would be helpful.

Thanks again for all your hard work.

On a more directly related subject to this episode, just a comment… my Keynesian progressive buddy who loves to say spending creates jobs, read your 7 cracks article, and agrees that there is recovery & spending & record profits underway (note he doesn’t think it’s a false recovery), and then therefore concludes that there will be increased local tax revenue, which will allow the states & cities to meet their obligations & not go bankrupt, companies will slowly begin to hire, therefore housing will gradually recover, etc. and thus those cracks will mend. I guess he believes the CPI numbers, and so does not buy into the ultimate inflation out the back end.

I’d also be interested in your thoughts on what role (if any) peak oil has/had in the formation & continuation of the 7 cracks. Major player, or just coincidence? Thanks for the great discussion, show, and article.

I agree with George, this is one the best shows of the year.

Jack summed up what I’ve been thinking about since we started seeing the headlines change. That is, in spite of all the “fabulous news” about how all the economic indicators have turned positive (literally, instantaneously [God Bless QE2])that NOTHING has really changed. All the underlying problems are still lurking and will eventually rear their ugly head. The sad thing is that 80+% of the general population believe we’ve turned the corner on our problems.

Thanks for a great year Jack. …lots of fantastic info that’s been shared. Merry Christmas!

Hello and good morning,
@rich hutchins, in the interest of shedding some light on the book of Genesis, I too am a student of Holy Scripture and have looked into why there are two stories of creation. The first chapter is the version that was told for generations by word of mouth. It is the Yahwist version; the version that was shared from village to village and caravan to caravan. It had grown to become the way that the Hebrews taught their next generation and so it was included in the Hebrew text out of respect of tradition (little t). The second version is the Priestly version, a version most accepted by priests begun by Moses. Both versions point to God as being the reason and creator of all that is and both state that Man was put in charge of all living things and all elements on earth. Going further into God’s word is explained that we are to have reverence for the Creator and for all that He has put forth on this earth. Not to treat it without regard but to recognize God’s attention to detail in every living thing and to hold our responsibility and authority with awe and wonder.

@Jack; thank you for the show Jack and don’t let the time window bother you. When the message is on your heart then you have to share it and let it out because the reality of not sharing and bad things happening is too much for a human soul to have to bear. I listened to this episode yesterday morning on the way to work and finished it on the ride home. I also watched this video linked onto the PatriotFood.com website: The Day the Dollar Died, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N8gJSMoOJc

The scenes almost fall in line with how you describe events happening. Thanks Jack and don’t let the sad news throw you off. We need “Paul Reveres” like you to wake us up and keep us vigilant. I will post this same comment to the FB blog.

Lastly; I too watched the video of bill Maher and while I do not agree with his outlook as far as God is concerned I do find agreement with his summation that most people today are focused and sometimes obsessed with material wealth. How many people play the lotto, I do. How many people want to get that one big hit and win millions of dollars so we will be “set for life?” While I do not support Mr. Maher’s view of a Godless world (or soon hope for one) I cannot help but notice how Oprah has made herself god in the sense that she alone is making wishes, dreams, hopes and desires come true for people. The reactions by the audience to me is over the top and she feeds it by giving them more material goods that only pertain to their momentary desires. She has set up a system where God is out of the way so to speak and now she can right the world one audience at a time. In the mind of such individuals God takes too much time, does not really hear prayers, is so silent and hard, non-caring. Further is from the truth but to those who do not make it a life’s work to understand the ways and heart of God they only draw confusion and frustration from their experiences of God. It is very sad that the same people in Oprah’s audience on that video will be the ones rioting in the streets when all their toys and amenities are removed.

This day I remember the good news about Christmas, Christmas is a reminder that at some point in history God so loved the world in all its sin and error that He sent us His only Son so that Son would be in our care and we would raise him up and he would live with us, joke with us and cry with us. That Son later created the bridge that would forever more make a pathway to God’s door, never to be blocked. To me this is the reason for this season. We were given a gift so fine, so pure and so simple that we can live a lifetime and still not mentally intake it all. A gift to bring us home, to the loving arms of the One who created us and placed us here on earth. Psalm 139 Shorty, we have all been there and we have all done things that the person next to us could judge unforgivable but I am thankful that only He is the true judge and He has said, “It is finished.” Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Peace .

Hey Jack, I’m curious if you can elaborate on what you mean when you say that the income tax ‘pays interest on the debt, and funds additional debt’, namely the second part of that statement. What does it mean to use money to fund additional debt, which is how I believe you put it?