Wednesday, October 01, 2008

THE DAY AFTER THE DAY AFTER

A flat market today probably scared a lot of yesterday's new buyers.It should have. But not to fear; with the Senate's passage of the bailout bill, tomorrow will bring more of the sideline money in. That will be the money that was waiting for the bailout bill. You know, the one that still has to go through the House. Many of the rest will enthusiastically interpret that as a "rally" and more of the last remaining cash will come in. It will pump again and it will later dump harder, like a heart exerting all its force to beat the last few times.

You have no idea how hard this is for me to watch.

I have been checking the comments to my recent postings. I am humbled. Thank you. The truth and accuracy of the work we did cannot go unacknowledged by the mainstream media for much longer. All anyone in the media needs to do is to read FTW's last economic alert -- the onethat came out 11 days before our computers were smashed. We were doing so many things then. FTW's Pat Tillman series was in midstream. On a daily basis we were analyzing global news in a way that made sense to people and provided accurate forecasts. Our subscription base was expanding rapidly.

Investigative journalism has passed for me and that is totally appropriate now. I can accomplish more, in less punishing ways. I am working to finish my new book but I have to just sit back for a few days and see what shakes out.

I want to repeat something I have said for six years on the subject of gold. Never buy paper gold. Never buy gold stocks or gold futures. Always buy only physical gold. There is five times more paper gold out there than there is gold out of the ground. Buy gold bullion in either coins or ingots. Keep it close to you and keep it safe. Do NOT close out your safe deposit boxes. They are OK for the foreseeable future. There is no need to deny ourselves things that are still working or to get hysterical. There is enough fear to go around right now.


MCR

Editor's note: Also when buying gold or silver coins, avoid numismatics whose value derives in part from the artistic value of the coin. You're just interested in the value of the metal. - JO

17 comments:

fuggybootnling said...

This is long overdue, my saying what I am about to say. I have tried to write this missive to the true hero that is Mike Ruppert many times but ...my words just seemed inadequte.

I am determined - no matter how much I want to express, no matter how imperfectly I express it, second guess it, then never send it - to put it out there to Mike this time.

Michael C. Ruppert you are the most influencial person on my life that I have never met.

In 2004 I did a search on a file sharing website for "Fahrenheit 911." I downloaded it, and I got this mustached gentleman talking about all this stuff I had never heard before. I thought "Hmmm...THAT'S not Michael Moore!" I suppose the file was mislabelled...intentionally or not, but I opted to watch it.

And it changed my life.

I sat there gaping on that September weekend - it was a rainy day, I sat out on my 24th floor balcony in Toronto overlooking downtown, I remember it so vividly - just feeling like a whole window on the world was being opened for me. A portal I never previously knew existed. I finished watching...and turned around and watched again. The Peak Oil thing didn't necessarily jump out at me from that vid, but it did as I read FTW. Then I bought "Rubicon" and read it in two days. I couldn't put it down.

My entire political ethos began to change.

I had always been the fiscal conservative/social liberal type. I still am in many ways. But you forced me to really reexamine what the hell the "free market economy" is, and what it means. Made me realize that the entire sine qua non of the whole thing boils down to infinite growth on a finite planet. Suddenly I thought like this "Well, the loss of species can be dealt with. Loss of ecosystems...they've been lost before. Besides, maybe that's overblown. But less ENERGY!?!?!?! THAT is a whole new kettle of depleting fish!" Because any concern a voter or a citizen might have - anything that needs to be fixed - takes ENERGY. Laws of mf-ing therodynamics! That was so profound to realize.

After that I lived with a permaculturalist in Toronto for a year, and learned a lot from helping to grow her garden. I joined the Green Party of Ontario and did some work for them. It's tough because there's still that instinct to do something politically, but that nagging feeling that on anything but a local level it's all futile. The most cogent conversation I found was in joining a Peak Oil MeetUp group in Toronto (home of End of Suburbia, yo! LOL) and helping them along to organizing very active and informative discussion groups on various issues around urban design, sustainability, and permaculture.

Then because I lost a job I had no money and had to move back to my home town Kitchener/Waterloo and move in with the folks for a time. This was very, very difficult. I did then and still miss Toronto very, very much...the vibrancy of a big city, the people you meet, the ability and reassuring common practice that people DON'T OWN CARS AND GET BY FINE. I move here and transit is mediocre, the suburbs are ugly enough for Kunstler to have an ebolism, and my job...well, I earn steady money, not great, but...it's a job. And considering what's coming it's a job FOR NOW. That's all I'll say.

The thing is though...I had to do some serious soul searching as to what to do once I did dig myself out of an immediate financial hole. Do I go back to Toronto where all my friends, my social base is? I had neglected visiting home - even though it was only an hour Greyhound ride away - all but maybe three times a year. I really hated coming here, and Kunstler made me realize why at a deep level - the social discontectedness of it all, the lack of any sense of place. Toronto has actual neighbourhoods, Kitchener has none. Waterloo? Sort of.

But in large part to ideas - basic principals - you instilled in my head I eventually decided I had to stay here. This area is relatively benign when it comes to Canadian climate, there's excellent farmland, and - the wildcard! - there is a large old order Mennonite population around here; clad in black, riding horse and buggy, defiantly anachronistic, but likely possessing skills that just about no one I meet now would recognize as essential to life going forward.

And I wouldn't have made this decision without YOU Michael Ruppert! I'm not saying it's all on you, of course not. But would I have read Powerdown, or discovered Global Public Media, or gone to Peak Oil Meetings and learned there, or consult the Oil Drum daily, or listened to Jim Puplova (don't agree with 100% of what he says BTW) or any of a hundred other changes in my life, without me serendipitously discovering your vid online that September in 2004?

I wonder...

But I doubt it. You've made such an impression on me.

I buy silver coins now when I can get the money together, and I don't make much. I love rubbing them through my fingers and for the first time knowing I have REAL money in my hands.

And I live in Kitchener's twin city Waterloo now, and am involved with the Green Party campaign for the federal election. I know it can't change anything. But the leader is being allowed in the national debate for the first time. Elizabeth May knows Peak Oil, even if she doesn't say the words. Why else would she have a good ol' fashioned whistle stop train tour across Canada to promote more rail infrastucture? I really dig this leader.

My main motivation though is to meet and network with people locally. With people who share common interests here. Locally. Meet people who get it. In the town where all my family is.





I never would have done this without you Mike.



I owe you so much.




I only hope one day I can shake your hand and thank you.

Rice Farmer said...

I was trying to think of the best descriptive term to help people get a handle on this bailout operation, and as usual MCR has come up with the perfect explanation: a giant pump and dump operation. As I see this unfold before my eyes, I stand in awe of the monster vacuum cleaner/pickpocket machine that's fleecing the Little People.

Rice Farmer said...

Run on gold
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bf8246aa-8f13-11dd-946c-0000779fd18c.html

Unknown said...

I'll second that.

Mike, you're an Urban Guru
and complement my Spiritual Teacher perfectly in that you are AWAKENING us.

Not just writing a book that makes me think twice about the choices i make at the grocery store but giving a window into a world of giants and what that means to the little people.

In this world there are forces behind the forces of the forces (no not jedi forces). To find liberation you must see clearly and acknowledge the truth of your own SLEEP.

To overcome sleep we must face the horror of our existence - from there the way to the truth is clear.

These are extraordinary times. I'm sad to say I didn't find you earlier. If i'd stayed in Toronto back in 2002 I would have come across your work as I was very involved in the anti-globalization movement but since have been on a spiritual journey.

I'm catching up on your journey Mike - what a ride, what a ride!

But we are ALL here to make a transition into a new age. It's up to us.

The little people count.

Let us wake them up as fast as we can.

God's strength.

businessman said...

With respect to the reference to utilizing bank safe deposit boxes, I was considering getting one and asked my bank, a major bank, if I was protected if someone gained access to the box and stole what was inside of it. And I was basically told "No, you're completely on your own if that happens. We only provide safe deposit boxes as a convenience to our customers."

So check with your bank to see if the same scenario will apply to you, as I'm sure there's at least one employee in your bank who can get access to your safe deposit box if it's deemed necessary.

Unknown said...

I'll never forget that interview I heard on coast to coast on april 14, 2004. I've heard it time and time again along with other interviews and lectures I could find.

MCR, you have opened my eyes and I have tried to open the eyes of friends and family members.

Thank you for the education.

NB Patton said...

Problem I have with just preparing yourself and loved ones for life with less energy is that the den of vipers that is "The Bank" is going to have MORE power and control. They are not going to feel peak's effect AT ALL. There is MORE than enough oil for them for a long LONG time.
We need to take them out of power at all costs before we are stripped of the means to carry it out. Peasants and pitchforks time, let me know when and where. My pitchfork has an effective range of 1000 yards.

"Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!" -Patrick Henry

redrosebeader said...

My thanks, too, are long overdue. On 15 April 2003, as I was checking the status of the Branch Davidions held illegally in prison, I continued along several lines of interest and discovered 9-11's real perps. I then spent the rest of the day researching many of the sites that came up. After I got into fromthewilderness and read it, I immediately subscribed. Late that night I had second thoughts about my quick decision, so next morning I went back on the site, and thought "I did make the right decision."
Myself 20 years ago would be surprised at me today, knowing so much history and politics of the world. I would be more depressed if learning new things hasn't always been my salvation.
So thank you Mike and the other contributors. Thanks for all the other connections made jumping off your site. I now "know" Peter Dale Scott, Michael Chossudovsky and many others who are my teachers.
Thank you!!!

Kim said...

Ultimately, the power of "The Bankers" rests solely on the power of the state to physically re-possess physical assets. My hubby's a prison officer, and I'm a registered nurse (working for the State government, in Australia which has a public health system). So my theory is that by the time public workers like us are being "Re-possessed" en masse, there won't be anyone available to actually do the physical re-possessions . . . Further, it doesn't matter how stinking rich you are, you're completely reliant on a highly complex society that takes huge numbers of people to deliver, e.g. everything from your shoe laces to your open heart surgery. So, if "The Bankers" want to take a scalpel to their own society, ultimately they're taking a scalpel to themselves . . .

Steve said...

Mike, I remembered your comments about buying physical gold. I was tempted to buy those "electronic" gold certificates, but instead I bought silver, gold and platinum coins such as the Eagle, Maple Leaf, and Panda. I do keep them in a safe.

I feel much better knowing that I have the physical coins. I agree with you about avoiding the numismatic element. It is too difficult to value, and the premium to great. I can often buy bullion coins below melt value on eBay if you are a bit lucky.

Unknown said...

"Cynthia McKinney on 9/11 and COINTELPRO"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPJG5bTEHbI

McKinney praises MCR on his war games research.

werner said...

Mike, you can't eat gold! I keep repeating things you've said: all economic success in the current system is predicated on the availability of cheap energy. Gold is not energy and to return to a gold standard is a return to the past. The future is about energy, not dead symbolism. The Aztec's knew this pretty well when Cortez's men fled the city and many drowned by the weight of the gold they plundered because they could not possibly give up a foolish dream instead of understanding what the Aztecs knew: it's an interesting material to shape and use as a medium of human expression, but you can't really eat it- it's not energy. And if an army of pissed-off Aztecs is chasing you to kill you, you best let go of the gold you’re carrying because you’re not going to be able to fight back, nor are you going to get very far in the bogs. I don't know why you're attempting to make everyone paranoid about money all over again. It's regressive to the idea that the future is based on energy and a world abundant with it, in tandem with nature - energy's greatest expression.

petroleum is abiogenic said...

This isn't directly related to this blog post but

"FBI Prevents Agents from Telling 'Truth' About 9/11 on PBS"

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/spytalk/2008/10/fbi-prevents-agents-from-telli.html

Unknown said...

Something I saw recently. Here is Lyndon LaRouche speaking.

This is telling...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd5uaScAUSQ

Carlos said...

I'm pretty sure my discovery of MCR was also a Truth & Lies rip dressed up as a copy of Fahrenheit 9/11.

And it wasn't even me that downloaded it, it was my brother. Has it really only been four years?

Every time you write a piece, Mike, it makes us realise how much you were missed. Thanks for putting others before yourself, as you've always done, yet again.

agape wins said...

Werner Has the right idea!
The time for collecting is
passing.
We need to be working our way out of this mess WE have created,those that have could soon look like Wall-E!
There is a way out, & it's not by
saving MYself/EGO, but, by working
together, if the Spanish had thought of "the other", they may have saved, each one, his selfishness.
We all need those around us, that we never see until they are GONE!
Hitler did away with those, of
many races, who could have saved Germany.

NB Patton said...

Werner,
While I 100% support your idea of NOT using a gold backed government currency system, I feel that perhaps you may be misunderstanding MCR in terms of his position on "precious metals". It is my perception that MCR is not referring to the investment and use of gold in a system with government (or private!) backed currency. I believe he is talking about its use in a truly fiat sense. And YES gold can be used in that sense even though some might think it to be a contradiction.

Gold and silver, among others, have ALWAYS proven themselves throughout history as acceptable means of payment for work done in a social setting where there is NO government issued currency or in a society where that issued currency has become valueless. In other words, you might not be able to "eat the gold", but you will be able to eat the fish that you could trade your gold for. Or better yet, trade your gold for rod and tackle!

I don't pretend to speak for MCR or assume I am correct, this is just my humble opinion.