A Little Spicey Stuff for These Final Summer Doldrums Days
Last time we referenced a good read for these final summer doldrums days. Today, we offer a couple of items that one might call a little spicy. So if you're feeling a bit sluggish from the oppressive weight of the sort of weather we're getting here in the Northeast (hazy, hot humid), read on.
Our first bit of spice involves global warming. This post on the Armstrong Economics website provides some interesting facts and theories about current warming trends and their implications. A couple of spicy highlights: hunger rocks, historically significant meteor strikes, and the possibility that volcanic activity will increase to the extent that it causes a kind of mini ice-age following this current warming trend.
Regarding global warming, the author acknowledges its reality, but condemns the "environmental movement." In fact, he feels those leading the push for CO2 reduction are simply in it for the money. I immediately thought of Al Gore who's made mucho bucks pushing his environmental agenda. One simple and clear reason the author's views seem credible: Global warming may simply be a normal cyclical event that's occurred throughout history. Indeed, there's convincing evidence, even in recorded history, of similar warming trends. What's different this time is the attribution of this cycle 100% to human activity. Is it really the result of us driving our cars - and other industrial activity - which produces carbon dioxide that causes the warming effect? Even if we concede that human activity produces carbon dioxide, the current warming trend may be the next in a series of cyclical global warming events the author traces back to the 15th century. If that's the case, can the proposed methods of reducing that carbon dioxide produced by human activity stem the warming trend? Or will the trend naturally play out no matter?
Our second spicy selection comes from Greg Hunter, a journalist who has run his own website, USA Watchdog, for a number of years. I've checked in from time to time as some of his offerings are quite interesting. He does lean to the "gloom and doom" end of the spectrum. Maybe he's a pessimist by nature; or maybe he has found an audience that likes to feed on pessimistic predictions. Either way, my view is that if you can sort through what's offered and find interesting, even helpful nuggets of information, it's worth your while. Besides, you should be doing this with any media source: trust but verify. (Ronald Reagan popularized this phrase, I believe, when describing his approach to his negotiations with the leaders of the then-still-extant Soviet Union.)
Anyway, at the beginning of this particular segment, Hunter characterizes the subsequent interview as the most significant he's produced since he started his website. Why so important? Consider: some pretty disturbing numbers for global debt ($250 trillion+, higher than before the 2008 crisis); the claim that the measures taken to prevent the crisis in 2008 from worsening only presage an even worse crisis; the price of gold will explode to somewhere between $50,000 - $174,000 an ounce. The gentlemen Hunter interviews look for a financial "re-set" that will occur dramatically and find most people unprepared, to their great detriment.
Frankly, I don't know what to make of the claims made by these gentlemen. I'm somewhat familiar with one of them, less so with the other. They've at least got credentials in financial services and media. But whether the rather dramatic predictions they make will come true - or will come true anytime soon - isn't of concern. Again, I'm looking for helpful nuggets, and I did find some.
What you may be able to glean from this interview is some sense of what sort of measures you may wish to take now "just in case." Now, it may be tough to know just what you might want to do based on this particular interview. The idea of gold - which is now priced at around $1,200/oz. - going to $50,000/oz. may sound absurd, even crazy. But the idea of owning some gold as part of your hard assets might be one consideration you take from this.
So if you've got an hour to spare during these summer doldrums, you may find either or both these suggestions spicy enough to be worth your while.
Our first bit of spice involves global warming. This post on the Armstrong Economics website provides some interesting facts and theories about current warming trends and their implications. A couple of spicy highlights: hunger rocks, historically significant meteor strikes, and the possibility that volcanic activity will increase to the extent that it causes a kind of mini ice-age following this current warming trend.
Regarding global warming, the author acknowledges its reality, but condemns the "environmental movement." In fact, he feels those leading the push for CO2 reduction are simply in it for the money. I immediately thought of Al Gore who's made mucho bucks pushing his environmental agenda. One simple and clear reason the author's views seem credible: Global warming may simply be a normal cyclical event that's occurred throughout history. Indeed, there's convincing evidence, even in recorded history, of similar warming trends. What's different this time is the attribution of this cycle 100% to human activity. Is it really the result of us driving our cars - and other industrial activity - which produces carbon dioxide that causes the warming effect? Even if we concede that human activity produces carbon dioxide, the current warming trend may be the next in a series of cyclical global warming events the author traces back to the 15th century. If that's the case, can the proposed methods of reducing that carbon dioxide produced by human activity stem the warming trend? Or will the trend naturally play out no matter?
Our second spicy selection comes from Greg Hunter, a journalist who has run his own website, USA Watchdog, for a number of years. I've checked in from time to time as some of his offerings are quite interesting. He does lean to the "gloom and doom" end of the spectrum. Maybe he's a pessimist by nature; or maybe he has found an audience that likes to feed on pessimistic predictions. Either way, my view is that if you can sort through what's offered and find interesting, even helpful nuggets of information, it's worth your while. Besides, you should be doing this with any media source: trust but verify. (Ronald Reagan popularized this phrase, I believe, when describing his approach to his negotiations with the leaders of the then-still-extant Soviet Union.)
Anyway, at the beginning of this particular segment, Hunter characterizes the subsequent interview as the most significant he's produced since he started his website. Why so important? Consider: some pretty disturbing numbers for global debt ($250 trillion+, higher than before the 2008 crisis); the claim that the measures taken to prevent the crisis in 2008 from worsening only presage an even worse crisis; the price of gold will explode to somewhere between $50,000 - $174,000 an ounce. The gentlemen Hunter interviews look for a financial "re-set" that will occur dramatically and find most people unprepared, to their great detriment.
Frankly, I don't know what to make of the claims made by these gentlemen. I'm somewhat familiar with one of them, less so with the other. They've at least got credentials in financial services and media. But whether the rather dramatic predictions they make will come true - or will come true anytime soon - isn't of concern. Again, I'm looking for helpful nuggets, and I did find some.
What you may be able to glean from this interview is some sense of what sort of measures you may wish to take now "just in case." Now, it may be tough to know just what you might want to do based on this particular interview. The idea of gold - which is now priced at around $1,200/oz. - going to $50,000/oz. may sound absurd, even crazy. But the idea of owning some gold as part of your hard assets might be one consideration you take from this.
So if you've got an hour to spare during these summer doldrums, you may find either or both these suggestions spicy enough to be worth your while.
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