Comments on: Strange Days of Debt, Peak Oil and Stock Rallies

By: Rancher Lady

Rancher Lady — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 06:17:42 +0000

Joe omitted, or may not have known, one pertinent fact. I was living in Tacoma at the time and I didn’t. If you look at news footage it is impossible to avoid concluding that the few causing all of the violence were bully boys there for that purpose, and I have seen a very good case with other news clips made that they had been busy in California before that causing trouble. The police did NOTHING to stop them from turning over garbage cans, smashing windows, and threatening the peaceful protesters. Why? Because they had been ordered to do nothing. Seattle is an ultra-liberal city, and the city council/Mayor’s “solution” was to cordon off down town and refuse to let anyone in who was so much as wearing a protest button! If we will just all think beautiful thoughts there won’t be any problems?

Nice post, Joe. Have you been in an ammo store lately? Prices have risen steadily for the last fifteen months, more and more frequently. These days it is commonplace for the shelves to be pretty empty and the prices are staggering. 18 months ago a brick of .22 (500 rounds) cost $11. It just went to $25. Not long ago, 9 mil was fifty cents a round; it is up to a dollar…if you can find any. Shotguns have tripled in price and they can’t keep “big” rifles in stock. We’re not talking Uzis or anything, just a rifle bigger than a .22. We’re getting to the point where just about any round is at least sixty cents and most of them are a dollar, which does take the shine off plinking, target shooting, and hunting. To non shooters a brick probably sounds like enough to invade a small country, but half a dozen guys having a friendly competition on the range can go through one in a couple of hours. That isn’t Mole Patrol with unlimited shots available for free.

By: William Culverhouse

William Culverhouse — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:36:13 +0000

In his otherwise well written article, Strange Days, Mr. James H. Kunstler badly mischaracterized broadcast commentator Glenn Beck.

Mr. Kunstler says, “cheerleaders such as Glenn Beck on Fox News calling for the formation of militias….

During the six or so months that I have been listening, Mr. Beck has NOT called for “formation of militias”, He has instead emphasized that we citizens who feel disenfranchised respond to our government’s errors in a peaceful, non- violent manner.

Despite the many errors our politicians- of both parties- have made and are making, despite their steering us into a Fascist society, they need not fear “the tattooed minions of Glenn Beck [will] come a’calling.” In fact, Mr. Beck has roundly criticised the mob mentality that recently led to the demonstrations at the homes of AIG executives!

Mr. Kunstler would do well to check out the facts before writing about anyone. He owes Mr. Beck an apology.

By: Joe in Olympia

Joe in Olympia — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:30:37 +0000

James,
To the contrary, we have seen this before and quite recently, although at a smaller scale as far as geography is concerned. I refer to the race riots in the 1960s and more recently, the WTO riots in Seattle a few years back. The most frightening thing about these recent episodes in the USA is that the police and the national guard were relatively powerless to protect the innocent; they basically stood by and observed the looting and violence. The only parties that survived looting and violence during the race riots were the ones that were heavily armed and organized patrols and guards 24 hours a day; a few shots and the rioters left them alone. That is why the rifles and ammo are being sold out; we know that we will be the only ones who will protect our families and our possessions. And, if it gets very bad – roving bands of thugs looting food in addition to valuables – then our very survival will depend on our weapons.
The Second Amendment to our Constitution was encoded for such emergencies and also for the dreaded emergency of having to take back our government from tyranny should it ever become necessary. I do not feel the latter emergency is “upon us”. But, I am convinced that the former is. So: hide some gold and silver bullion in small coins, hide some cash in small bills, hoard necessities and food for at least a one year stint; plant a victory garden; beef up security. In other words, dig in for the emergency be it inflation or deflation.

By: Gary Gibson

Gary Gibson — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:15:36 +0000

A Shooter wonders whither and wherefore the price of gold?

“Hi Gary,

“After much contemplation, I finally bought some gold based on your and other OI recommendations that it is still cheap. In view of what is currently going on out there in the financial world, why does this precious metal continue to go lower?”

Dear Shooter, if only it were that easy.

The world’s going crazy, right? So the price of gold should march steadily upwards, no?

No.

The crowds keep doing the wrong thing until a breaking point is reached. And there are hills, valleys and stock market suckers’ rallies along the way.

You have to be able to buy the gold even as the crowd mocks you…even as they sell gold off and buy up general stocks…even as they force the price of gold down.

Think of it this way; if everyone acted rationally all the time, we wouldn’t have war, socialism and other crimes of rapine. But people don’t act rationally even a quarter of the time. They believe the dumbest things en masse and then do the dumbest things with the synchronicity of the herd.

Let’s recall another Whiskey credo: mankind’s most salient trait isn’t that big complex brain that can unravel the mysteries of the universe; it’s his limitless capacity for self-delusion.

Perhaps as a side effect of our impressive talent for imagination and reason, we are prey to the darnedest whoppers and rationalizations. Primarily: that it is possible to get something for nothing…and that our neighbors will happily give us the fruits of their labor for free.

We are at heart still just primates trying to deal with the biosphere’s built-in scarcity. The stuff we need to thrive and breed is scarce and competition to get that stuff is fierce. Diligence, production and willing trade work, but deceit and theft are quicker and simpler.

That’s the folly at the heart of government. And we’re on the way to getting even more of the stuff. Dan Denning reports: “…that’s what this G20 meeting was all about. It was about Big Government getting even bigger. It was about Big Government using the crisis as a chance to put the shackles on the free market. And it was about Big Government defending the way it funds itself (through debt and paper money).”