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Domestic ChickensSam Mathid Amongst the many emailed responses to 'Domestic Turkeys' was one which demanded the solution to the problems of the world and took me to task in no uncertain terms for not providing it in the article. It does go without saying of course that there is a solution to all problems. A solution is always as clear as the problem. If it is a struggle to come up with a solution then the problem has not been inspected closely enough. Further to this is the fact that you cannot give someone a real solution to a problem if they have not yet fully understood the problem. You cannot give someone anything until they are ready and educated and able enough to receive it. Offer your friends the advice that if they accumulated some of their money and invested it in gold and silver rather than frittering away every penny they would be doing themselves a big favour and watch their eyes glaze over. The problems that our society confronts are becoming worse because the solutions being offered and implemented are not appropriate to the problems. When the problems are not properly understood there can be no solutions that work. When inappropriate solutions are implemented then the problems are likely to get worse not better. We live today in unusual times. I don't believe that ever in the course of human history has a surviving society strayed so far from the path of reason. Reason could be defined as 'right solutions'. We are like an island being gradually submerged by a rising sea of wrong solutions. In the nineteenth century the Industrial Revolution introduced the concept of the constructive creation of new wealth (mass production) as opposed to the destructive confiscation of old wealth (war and empire). Superior methods of production took over from superior military might as the engine of growth and prosperity. The industrialisation of society called for, and the generated wealth allowed, the construction of infrastructure and mass communication which then facilitated the creation of further wealth. That new wealth was gradually dispersed throughout society to the point where any who cared to could participate in the creation of not only a new situation for themselves, but a true new order whereby opportunity was no longer only the prerogative of an 'elite' ruling class. This finally manifested in the age of modern democracy when the abstract concept of social justice grew into the reality of social services. Out of the reality of social services (first implemented by Kaiser Wilhelm to ensure a compliant population) came the gradual realisation that it was possible to vote for the right to live off the productivity of someone else. From the confines of that dismal intellectual black hole society degenerated to the point in the latter part of the twentieth century whereby the majority lived off the minority. Of course that was not financially sustainable and so we resorted to spending not only the wealth created in the past (taxes and crumbling infrastructure), but also borrowing so much that we spent the wealth that has still to be created in the future. We live in an avaricious present that has blindly consumed and squandered most of what was created in the past and probably more than can be created in the immediate future. The urge to produce is an individual urge that stems from, but is not limited to, the desire to improve one's own personal situation. When that incentive which is inherent to all sane individuals is morphed into the demand to pay off a debt accrued by a previous generation (ours), and the size of the demand is such that it becomes no longer possible to improve one's own situation, then that natural impulse is all but extinguished. Instead of putting away the surplus for the lean years we have devoured everything in sight without thought for tomorrow. Our children and grandchildren are saddled with a debt which is so enormous it will be almost impossible to service. Do you have reserves so that when the lean times come you have something to fall back on? If not I suggest that you do something about it, if not for your sake then for your children's and grandchildren's sake. Theirs is likely to be a much tougher era than ours has been. If you have nothing to set aside then get on to eBay and start selling. You will either do it now when prices are high or later when everyone is doing the same thing and prices are low. Old guitars, CD's, clothes, books, even unwanted shoes; it's amazing what there is a market for out there. Put aside gold and silver in as large or small quantities as you can manage. Many small pieces of bullion, or coins, are superior to one large hunk of bullion. The smaller the units the easier they will be to trade with. There is no one to look after you other than you yourself. It cannot be and should not be any other way. How can we ever win in this game called life if we are denied responsibility for our own success or failure? When you need the government they will not be there for you. They never have been there for you and they never will. That is not their function. The sole function of modern government is to exist for the sake of existing. Government at the turn of the twenty-first century is a grotesque representation of the old 'elite', tenaciously re-creating a way of life whereby the inferior commoners have to have someone in authority to tell them what to do, and the quasi elite who do the telling occupy a privileged position built upon expropriated wealth (taxation), and an assumption of ever increasing power based on a presumed intellectual superiority. By definition those of the governing class view you and I with a disdain verging on open contempt. We have degenerated in just over two hundred years to the precise situation that the framers of the Constitution sought to avoid. A tawdry mainstream media who have abdicated their right to be considered a serious news source, and who are under the influence of dark corporations as distant from morality as Back Alley Betty, are not the problem. Nor are hostile youth with a penchant for violence, destruction and depravity. Neither is the breakdown of law and order. None of these are the problem. They are the effect brought about by a cause. Solutions that exclusively address the effect rather than the cause are doomed to allow the worsening of the problem. Are the effects of the cause becoming more severe? I leave that for you to decide. I have some big, fat healthy chickens. I feed them; they lay eggs. For as long as they keep laying eggs I will keep feeding them. Chickens have survived as domesticated fowl for thousands of years because they are good value for effort. The effort of feeding and housing them is minor compared to the pleasure and nutrition of receiving enough free range eggs every day to feed myself and my family. Chickens don't plan for the future. Though rather endearing (they are my writing companions), they are just silly birds who live from moment to moment with no thought for the future. Our little arrangement will keep working as long as they are able to keep giving me more than I have to return to them. Does something seem creepily familiar about that scenario? Whilst I doff my cap with a deep respect to the many wonderful financial writers on the web I think that sometimes the pursuit of a purely economic and financial line of reason negates the importance of that which is running parallel to, but above the economic vector. For purely investment purposes a precise focus is useful. For understanding what it is that has got us into this mess and what the nature of that mess is, and will become, it is necessary to take a wider point of view. The disastrous finances of the US are just one more effect, one more manifestation of the problem, as is the sickening backward lurch away from production and toward war and empire. Yet there is always hope, always reason for optimism. The chickens seem likely to keep laying for a while longer and apparently there is some warmer weather on the way. I have just read that the courageous, intelligent, ethical and pro-gold Congressman Ron Paul is running for president in 2008. For those of you who have had a gutful of the political shenanigans of recent decades this is your chance to do something about it. If you are not aware of Ron Paul then do a search on Google for some of his speeches. He is a Constitutionalist who stands head and shoulders above his peers. If you are sick to death of the procession of telegenic, goofball candidates who buy their way into the presidency then make contact (http://www.house.gov/paul/) and help change the course of history for the better. Never doubt the power of decency and a true grassroots movement and your own ability to be a part of it. Sam Mathid © Sam Mathid 2006-2007 321gold |
