by Chris Martenson
Nothing seems right anymore.
In whichever direction we choose to look, things are unraveling at a quickening pace.
Welcome to the Fourth Turning; and with it, a profound loss of trust in institutions and government.
Such lack of social cohesion is a hallmark of a Fourth Turning. Sadly, it’s happening at a time when society desperately needs to pull together, set aside our differences, and make some really big decisions.
For my own part, my loss of trust in what is termed the ‘mainstream media’ (MSM) is nearly complete. Its sins of omission and commission have piled up too high to forgive – the bank of trust I once had in it has lost every penny and is now in deep overdraft.
In my opinion its gravest sin is the willful and deliberate fracturing of society into many disparate warring camps. The MSM has a lot to answer for in that regard.
Similarly guilty is our political system. The core power players are unable to hold each other accountable, revealing that we don’t have two parties after all, but rather a uniparty organized around power and money.
The rules are increasingly re-written to benefit a smaller and smaller group of elites at the expense of everyone else — and that’s now becoming increasingly crystal clear to the 99.9% who are getting screwed. The corrosive effects of that are going to take decades to resolve.
As a result, the social fabric is rending apart. Stress is epidemic with more people than ever reporting being unhappy, unfulfilled, isolated and alone. Suicide is the second leading cause of death. It’s worse than just depression, it’s something far more insidious — it’s demoralization. There’s no hope left any more for too many of us.
Even more alarming to me is that the world’s ecosystems are no longer stable.
I started off my professional career as a biological scientist and the current apocalyptic fires in Australia are too brutal for even this hardened information scout to digest. The reported loss of animal life there (at least a billion!) a punch to my gut, my heart grieves for the loss of beauty and life, so I turn away in horror at the unfolding death and destruction there.
More locally, here in New England in January 2020, my bird feeders are mostly devoid of the usual (once) common species. A few chickadees, half the usual blue jays, and a small smattering of juncos. Some sort of bird apocalypse has occurred, almost certainly connected directly to the great insect apocalypse that has roared across the landscape over the past ten years. Turns out, wiping out the bottom of the food pyramid is bad for life. Who knew?
That’s what people are beginning to register in their deep animal bones. It’s part of the anxiety we all feel but maybe can’t articulate. The prime narrative by which we live is false, and if that’s not being registered by the cortex, it will be felt in the gut.
Meanwhile “the economy” has been replaced by stock worshiping; which itself is propped up by wave after massive wave of central bank money printing.
Each day for the past 3 weeks I’ve awoken to discover that the Federal Reserve has poured into the “markets” anywhere from $45 billion to $120 billion overnight.
If Band-Aids could cure cancer, I’d be 100% in favor of what the central banks are doing. But since ‘symptom masking’ serves only to make things eventually worse, I am very much not in favor of the Fed’s actions.
Geopolitically, the tensions in the Mideast are almost certain to lead to calculation error, some sort of mistake that boils over into something even more tragic than has already occurred (and that’s saying a lot).
If all of this sums up to a fair bit of worry on your part, well… welcome to the club. You’re not alone.
It may be that you find that the most important things in your mind are not up for discussion among your friends and family, no matter which season we’re in. Again, you are not alone.
Here we are. Here we all are, facing this particular wave, and we need to choose whether to stand up and surf it or lie down and be pummeled.
For those choosing to stand up and surf, we must focus on controlling what we can while releasing the rest.
I cannot control the Fed’s printing sprees. But I can buy gold, silver, and land to preserve and grow the purchasing power of my wealth.
I cannot prevent industrial agriculture from ruining the vast bulk of the soils. But I can build the soils of my garden sustainably, as well as buy from local farmers who do the same.
I can either choose to be aggravated and demoralized by the daily nonsense I see. Or I can choose to serve as a model who inspires others by boldly doing what needs to be done.
The hope I have in this story comes from the vast awakening I see (finally!) beginning to emerge among the masses.
The one thing I’d like to leave you with is this: if you want a future worth having, get busy. Take that first step. Don’t wait.
It’s time.
Why? Because the next 8 – 10 years are going to completely reshape everything we think we know about ‘how things work.’
Once the impossibility of infinite growth on a finite planet really sinks in, vast new opportunities will open up and just as vast avenues of standard operating procedure will close down.
Broadly speaking, anything dependent on squandering cheap energy will be out. And anything offering more efficient ways to produce and distribute goods and services will be in.
Sorry malls. Goodbye McMansions. Sayonara to endless debt-fueled growth. The future will be all about living within our means.
Each of these and countless other changes will rock the very firmament of how people live, work and play. The new opportunities will be nearly endless, while many things you now see about you will be decommissioned and dismantled.
In Part 2: Taking The Leap Into The Unknown, we explain why the strategies for success in the coming years will look extremely different from the ones we’re familiar with today. The entire playbook is being re-written, and those who learn and adapt to it now, before the next crisis, will have a tremendous advantage.
The wave of change is finally here. Are you ready?
It’s time to surf.
No comments:
Post a Comment