Malthus University

There — just felt I had to add my 2 cents to all this Iowa hoopla. Not that I think anyone can stop what’s coming since we seem so far gone down the path of societal collapse, but at least Ron Paul is the only candidate (counting sitting POTUS) who isn’t intent on speeding along the same old path. He is the only one committed at core to a much smaller, less expensive, less intrusive government — these days, I’ll take any whiff of Jeffersonianism I can get; maybe he could do some good before TSHTF.

What I don’t get is where does all the out and out hostility against Ron Paul come from? I was skimming reports on various news sites and Republican-leaning blogs, and one well-intentioned Ron Paul supporter tried to make the simple point that his followers are much broader than the tinfoil hat brigade which MSM makes them out to be (though the tinfoilers are on board the Paul express, I’m fairly certain, but their presence is entirely beside the point as they are NOT the majority among Paul supports, OR among either the OWS movement or the Tea Party for that matter — I think of them collectively as the Perceptibly Disgruntled who Haven’t Figured Out the Details Yet).

Anyway, the supporter simply posted and wrote something like (on a Republican-leaning blog) “Let’s see how much support Dr. Paul really has among Republicans. Anyone who supports Dr. Paul like this post and let’s see how many are on this site.” Or somesuch.

So some assclown replies with, “I’m Lucid. Where’ the Unlike button?” The closed-minded comment incensed me and struck me as smugly Stalinist in its “only I can think; put the power in my hands” message, which is essentially what “I’m Lucid. Where’s the Unlike button?” A Dislike button, for comparative purposes? Have it at! But Unlike? That’s a chilling wish to erase the spirit of others that just frightens me. I’d guess this is the kind of person preppers have in mind when they are buying ammo for personal protection when TSHTF.

At any rate, here’s my open reply to the assclown whod like to erase the expressed opinions of others:

You’re lucid — you’d rather continue the medieval practice of coin shaving in its modern form, inflation by printing currency (thereby debasing the value of your savings and income), which eventually leads to higher interest rates, which leads to greater debt, which leads to unsellable treasury bonds, which leads to:

a) A return to prosperity, with stainless steel appliances for all
b) Something like the PIIGs are facing, except millions are armed, and no one can so much as grow a tomato or walk the length of their local Wal-Mart to renew their maintenance meds and the junk food that caused them to require the meds in the first place.

While Paul is naive about foreign policy — particularly in light of decreased outputs of light, sweet crude from existing oil wells — he’s the only one, current POTUS included, who will attempt to address the above. And yes it will be painful. But all the others are willfully steering us toward “B.” Gingrich would make a good VP replacement for Biden the plagiarist (Google Neil Kinnock). There is no Left and Right; its a circle, and Communism and Fascism/Corporatism bump asses at 360 degrees. Wake up.

cheers,
Anthony Schiano
aka “President Malthus”
www.MalthusUniversity.com

If “con” is the opposite of “pro,” is Congress the opposite of progress?

Discuss.

cheers,

Anthony Schiano

a.k.a. “President Malthus”

In the Tuesday, Nov. 8 edition of the Wall Street Journal, page C1 bore a feature headlined “Investing in a Stranger’s Retirement.” I’ll quote the first couple paragraphs; you’ll get the idea:

“Last month, some financial advisers passed around to potential investors a spreadsheet with information about future pension payments for 93 people, including retired civil servants and military veterans.

“The advisers’ pitch: For a lump-sum amount, investors could purchase pieces of the pensions – offered up by pensioners wanting instant cash in exchange for their future monthly checks – that could yield them 6% or 7% a year. The retiree would sign a contract pledging to hand over part of each month’s check for a specific number of years.”

The article of course goes on to talk about woebegone debtors who have sold off portions if not all of their future revenue stream for pennies on the dollar,  but it also made me wonder: how many of these folks selling off future cash flow from pensions are actually preppers betting that what they are selling off will stop coming before too much longer, and a bird in the hand is preferable?

How many of us have considered “losing” 35-40% (taxes plus penalty) of “our” 401k money by cashing out early rather than risk losing it all to confiscation, hyperinflation, or complete societal collapse of some sort? Viewed through the prepper lens, getting cash in hand now, so long as the lump sum exceeds the total amount of payments we expect to still keep coming before collapse ensues, this seems like it may present a golden opportunity.

And an aside: note how the WSJ deftly promotes the status quo with its language, then inadvertently exposes it to the careful reader: the lede of the story refers to “some financial advisers” and “potential investors.” Then, the next paragraph refers to “the advisers’ pitch” — if they’re advisers to these potential investors, why do they need a pitch? Let’s keep in mind that a financial adviser is a salesman, plain and simple.

Class dismissed!

Anthony Schiano

aka “President Malthus”

No doubt you’ve already read elsewhere that Standard & Poor’s has elected to downgrade the debt rating of the United States. That’s relatively clear-cut; no charade there. The charade I refer to is the rumored hand-wringing, back-and-forth drama between S&P and the White House, as reported throughout the afternoon by CNN, the Wall Street Journal, etc.

CNN does a good job of capturing and summarizing the hoopla here. I quote: “On Friday afternoon, hours before S&P publicly announced the downgrade, the agency revealed its plans to the Obama administration and sent an analysis to the Treasury Department. The senior administration official said the analysis inflated U.S. deficits by $2 trillion.
“Treasury analysts contacted S&P and challenged the analysis, and S&P acknowledged the mistake, the official said. But S&P said it still would stick with its decision to downgrade the United States’ credit rating, according to the official.
“This is a facts-be-damned decision,” the senior official said. “Their analysis was way off, but they wouldn’t budge.”
“The official the administration can do nothing now but hope that S&P’s decision and analysis faces outside scrutiny. (sic)
“These guys make Congress look good,” the official said of S&P.”
You get the idea. Couldn’t possibly be the tip-off that took a market that was down more than 200 away from the bearish “flight to safety” and into a closing rally back into positive territory and riskier, less liquid equities? Could it? Nah, that just all made sense on the heels of a 512-point drop the day before.

Again, we find indicators pointing toward efforts to accelerate removal of the USD from its official role of primary global reserve currency. Let’s read a bit of Bloomberg’s coverage of the debt downgrade: “The committee of bond dealers and investors that advises the U.S. Treasury said the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency “appears to be slipping” in quarterly feedback presented to the government on Aug. 3. The U.S. currency’s portion of global currency reserves dropped to 60.7 percent in the period ended March 31, from a peak of 72.7 percent in 2001, International Monetary Fund data show.
“The idea of a reserve currency is that it is built on strength, not typically that it is ‘best among poor choices’,” page 35 of the presentation made by one member of the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee, which includes representatives from firms ranging from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to Pimco. “The fact that there are not currently viable alternatives to the U.S. dollar is a hollow victory and perhaps portends a deteriorating fate.”
Members of the TBAC, as the committee is known, which met Aug. 2 in Washington, also discussed the implications of a downgrade of the U.S. sovereign credit rating. “None of the members thought that a downgrade was imminent,” according to minutes of the meeting released by the Treasury. So the dudes from Goldman and Pimco et al didn’t even see it coming this soon.
And Treasury Secretary Geithner said as recently as April that there is “no risk” of a U.S. debt downgrade. So, presumably, even Secretary Geithner didn’t see this coming.
Now, you’ve probably also read that Moody’s and Fitch Ratings announced Aug. 2 that the debt ceiling increase deal unveiled that day sufficed for them to leave their AAA rating of U.S. debt in place. What would make S&P differ in its decision from the one made by its industry peers? A $2 trillion error, as we’re asked to believe, or cooperation among Council on Foreign Relations members (Card-carrying members Geithner and S&P President Deven Sharma come to mind.) S&P has been telegraphing the downgrade threat longest and loudest, which is exactly what led me to look at S&P executive bios to see who might be working in tandem with Geithner toward some end or other, back when the barking about a debt downgrade began earlier this year. As always, the question to ask is “Who benefits?”

Looks to me like a benefit to anyone seeking a new global reserve currency. As a reminder, another CFR member, George Soros, stumped for replacement of the USD earlier this year via a conference un-ironically conducted at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire by his puppet Institute for New Economic Thinking.

Let’s close with a look at what’s being pimped currently on the home page of the globalist clubhouse known as the CFR: “Rising Fears of New Global Recession: A tumultuous week in global markets that saw major indexes plunge aroused concerns of a double-dip recession driven by U.S. economic lethargy and the European Union’s resurgent sovereign debt crisis.”

But of course this is just a math error or divergent opinion on the part of S&P; Geithner and Sharma couldn’t possibly be running plays together to use the impending, worsening U.S. and European debt crises to bring about a global reserve currency change more quickly, right?

I merely lay out the case for orchestration; consider it and decide for yourselves. But allow me to suggest: we’ve about 42 hours (as of this writing) before global spot markets for gold and silver re-open. Go to your most savvy local coin/bullion dealer tomorrow and make a small purchase – a couple silver eagles or junk Morgans, or a one-tenth ounce gold eagle – and see whether the mark-up over spot has grown since last you’ve bought. If spreads are growing (and the joint is jumping) Joe Main Street is beginning to feel the boil. Ratchet up the preps as TS rockets toward TF.

Class dismissed.

Anthony Schiano
a.k.a President Malthus

Mainstream media coverage (CNBC) in advance of the Bilderberg Group meeting last week in Switzerland provided a lesson in semantics.
A June 9 article on the CNBC.com website titled “Rich, Famous and Powerful Converge at Bilderberg” quoted Cranfield University professor Andrew Kakabadse, who co-authored the recent book “Bilderberg People” with Nada Kakabadse and Ian Richardson. The professor is quoted as saying, “The Bilderbergs are probably the most influential global network of all time. It’s an honor to be invited, it’s a tremendous honor. Part of it is recognition for work done and part of it is for contribution to enabling world affairs.
“The people we talked to are quite genuine. Mostly they don’t understand the conspiracy bit, because they say when you go there what you find is people of all sorts of varying views. But the fact that they’ve been invited is indicative of the position that they’ve reached in life,” he said.
Then, direct language from the journalist who wrote the news story: “Nevertheless, Bilderberg is where ideas are shared and a transatlantic, capitalist consensus view of the world comes together.” And how pray tell does a “transatlantic, capitalist view of the world” differ meaningfully from a globalist agenda? I invite professor Kakabadse to submit his reply for publication on Malthus University.
And Kakabadse again: “You do get the impression that what is happening is a shaping of ideas and the shaping of a way forward does take place,” Kakabadse said. A way forward does take place. Does that include a final meltdown of the Greek economy, as we seem to be seeing barely a week after the close of the Bilderberg soiree in Switzerland?
“The name we’d put to this is smart power or shaping, but it is definitely not doing something definite, like ‘we’re going to go and make that investment or conspire against them.’ It’s more about getting a consensus around a position that then infiltrates itself into society.” Let’s see – somehow, getting a consensus around a position that infiltrates itself into society is “definitely not doing something definite.” What’s so indefinite about a consensus position?
Sounds to me like soft language for “the global elite circumnavigate the laws of sovereign nations via a supranational, non-governmental caucus of the powerful and wealthy.” Am I missing something, professor?
With Greece closer to the brink a mere week out from the most recent Bilderberg meeting, an unresolved conflict in Libya, tensions at the most recent OPEC meeting, the Fed scheduled to end QE II in two weeks’ time (yeah, that Fed…the one buying 70% of all U.S. Treasuries issued these days) and a U.S. government that has reached its debt ceiling with an impending potential default date on or about Aug. 2, I advise keep one’s eyes peeled for the consensus positions that are about to infiltrate themselves into society.
Post-script from President Malthus: I realize this blog has been quiet for more than a month, but my preps for civil unrest and financial collapse have moved into high gear, and they have included maximizing fiat day-job income over the last several weeks while it is still at all useful. Apologies; it is my intention to return to more frequent updates as there is much to chronicle, analyze and prepare for that seems to be afoot in the not too distant future. And with the Bilderbergers having met to achieve their…ahem…consensus positions, things may very well pick up speed.

Best,
Anthony Schiano
Aka President Malthus