23 - The truth is out there

It ought to be clear to you by now that the "Great Reset" is well in progress and that you are unlikely to benefit from anything that your politicians or leaders are doing, supposedly in your name and with your full support.  This is a once-in-a-hundred year cycle repeating but combined with several other cycles that coincide to give a "perfect storm".

A first step is to see and recognise this for what it is - you need to WAKE UP.  Next steps are to wake up others to what is going on and then together to push back and build community.  As long as you keep accepting the nonsense that you are being fed, more will be delivered; with the current fiat money system there really is an infinite supply and you and your family & friends will not benefit from any of this.  If you are still having difficulty seeing this check out the links below from Ivor and Caitlin.  That most people cannot, or do not want to, see this is due to  Mass Formation Psychosis; this is the real pandemic.

For our travel planning we noticed that Malta and Malaysia have dropped all C-19 nonsense restrictions...  Let's see ...

Mistborn - The Final Empire

This week I have been getting back into reading, starting and finishing "Mistborn - The Final Empire", the first book of the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. This is something completely different from what I usually read - so it is like being on holiday to read this.   I must admit that I was inspired to try this by Ali's review.  Being an Engineer I am intrigued by the "hard magic" system that is Allomancy - not to mention Feruchemy.

If you look even just a little beyond the "obvious story" you ought to see many parallels with real life and important life lessons that are especially pertinent now.

First among these is the ease with which entire populations can be subdued and misled/opressed by duplicitous rulers and those closest to the rulers.  The vast majority of people just want to "live their lives" and "do the right thing" and they get taken advantage of for their entire lives and even generations. This is done through endless extraction of work combined with threats/execution of violence both against individuals to discourage others and populations as "wars" (also to discourage others).  In Mistborn the suppression has been going for over a thousand years.  It takes just a few inspired individuals to light a spark and then the overwhelming power of the people can rapidly take over - after all they do outnumber the elites thousands of times over.

Also some of the characters are very interesting.  For example Breeze the soother (you know my fascination with psychology and related topics) - There are clear parallels between Breeze and mainstream media (and manipulated Social Media) today.  It ought to be clear to you by now that the role of these media is to keep you propagandised with whatever narrative the Empire wishes.   Just like with Breeze - this can involve passifying, stirring up, instilling fear and doubt or just distracting you.

Another fascinating character is Sazed the keeper. As a Keeper he plays a most important role; Keepers are tasked with preserving the memories of times before the Lord Ruler. This is in the hope that when the Lord Ruler falls, they will be able to recall and restore what the world was like before his ascension. Each Keeper specializes in a different area of study; Sazed pursued dead religions and was able to translate ancient documents. You ought to be able to see the parallel between Keepers and Historians/Librarians and written books/records.  They ensure that historical records and wisdom are not lost, rather carried forward for future generations to benefit from and avoid making the same mistakes again.

As an engineer I do also like to ensure that I fully understand the whole story and do not miss parts.  Imagine my joy when I came across Fatal X Blade giving his plot sumary (WARNING: Spoilers aplenty).  I enjoyed his summary as much as I  enjoyed the book - double happiness!

There is a lot of detail in the books and you might find it handy to refer to the Mistborn Wiki - or even contribute to the greater understanding!

Book #2 of the week

The UnCommunist Manifesto: A Message of Hope, Responsibility and Liberty for All.  This is a book that you can read in a day or so but you will want to go back and re-read things and reflect further.  I absolutely loved this book and the interview of Mark and Svetski with Robert Breedlove is a required listen (at 1.8x speed).

You may or may not have read Marx and Engels' book of similar name - don't bother - this is the one that you need.   So many insights emerge clearly - not least the Real Spectrum in which Capitalism (properly defined) is at the other end of the spectrum from Politics: Right, Left, and all the "isms", not to mention authoritarianism.

The definitions chapter is important - Mark and Svetski have really taken time to clarify correct definitions for terminology that you assume you know but don't.
Capital and Capitalism, Communism, Inflation, Deflation, Entropy, Fair(ness), Fitness, Forcing Function, Freedom, Monopoly, Parasite, Proletariat, Public vs Private Property, Time Preference and Value are among that terms that you will understand better and with that enhanced understanding the chapters that follow make even more sense.

I found the discussion on Equality and Fairness to be particularly insighful; you want equality of opportunity NOT equality of outcome - the latter leads to the Woke nonsense that we see everywhere today.

Mark and Svetski do not just criticise commumism and politics rather they propose solutions.  The real struggle is between individual autonomy, sovereignty and responsibility versus the collectivist tendency toward group identity politics, rights, entitlements and co-dependencies. Between productive cooperation and nihilistic coercion.

By the way - all of this is also clearly outlined in The Sovereign Individual - a book that was first published in 1997 and somehow foresaw (among other things)  personal computers, mobile phones, cryptocurrencies, escalating distrust of government and even the current pandemic situation with travel and banking restrictions....

Ways the government steals your money:

• if you earn it, income tax
• if you spend it, VAT
• if you invest it, capital gains
• if you start a business, profit tax
• if you give it away, gift tax
• if you die, inheritance tax
• if you save it, inflation and war
• last resort, restrictions and confiscation

Update on my projects...

• I am really enjoying building my RSS collection.  This is a simple feature that most websites and newsletters offer that enable you to get notified of updates without having to give an email.  Netnewsire is my (free) reader of choice and it works on Mac, iPhone and iPad.  Amazingly it also works for youtube channels - just paste in the channel URLs that you want to follow.   Check out This Guide for other sites that may not seem to have RSS.  You can copy/paste my RSS feed (https://rogerprice.me/rss) into it to get started - enjoy!
• I have recently started to receive bitcoin payments via lightning.  Absolutely recommended - you must give it a go - especially if you have any sort of cash business for goods and services or if you have children who will benefit from being able easily to accumulate bitcoin.  In countries where you still have access to banking services (and inflation still deemed "only moderate") you may not be so excited but the moment that these services become more restrictive you will regret not having an alternative.  An easy way to get started is with Phoenix Wallet and Kraken exchange as I explained back in Issue 14.  If you go out with friends for drinks or dinner you can pay the bill with your credit card and they pay you via Lightning - try it - you will thank me later!
• A new project re- surfaced on my radar in recent weeks and I am starting to look more into it more:  Nostr Protocol seems to have lots of interesting potential - Listen and learn from Marty's discussion with JB55: Building "Web 3.0" the right way on Nostr
• This is in addition to the ones that I mentioned last week

Watching, Listening and Learning

Below is a collection of interesting sources that I came across, or was reminded of, in the past week - for your enjoyment and edification:

Macro analysis and Economics

• The implications of Peter's interview with Jeff Snider are still circling in my mind (especially after all my Nostro development work at Swift and the Ripple startup that I ran with after leaving Swift).  Imagine my joy when Peter did a follow-up interview already with Lyn .  I can listen to Lyn all day!
• Next up is this fantastic interview between Preston Pysh and Alf Pecca. You will understand clearly how bad things are in EUROland and with the EURO.  I learned so much from listening to this and have listened to it already TWICE.
• Related to this is Charles Gave - if you speak French you might like his YT channel.  For the English speakers read this guest posting..
• A rather clear explainer from Chico: America Will Fall Like Rome - End of the Dollar Empire is coming!
• Just as foreseen, India is starting to make its currency convertible - recall Luc and Marty's discussion on Arthur's paper Energy Cancelled.  Also explained by Zoltan Pozsar from Credit Suisse back in March

Investment analysis and thinking

• James' deep dive is equally worth understanding fully - is the bottom in?  Gotta love his systematic analysis of available data.
• In similar vein, Arthur Hayes' analysis makes interesting (long) reading

Practical suggestions

• You might enjoy Guy's action-oriented suggestions: How To Beat Inflation: TOP Tips To Get Ahead of The Curve!

Geopolitical and Big Picture

• Ivor explains: the War on Farming and Private Property Ownership - be very concerned
• Joe points out: New Inflation Reduction Act is COMPLETLEY Backwards
• Caitlin points out rather clearly what you ought to see: We've Been Lied To Our Whole Lives About Everything That Matters
• You can support Caitlin by buying her Treazine Edition 1

That's it!

No one can be told what The Matrix is.
You have to see it for yourself.

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