doom letter #7

Dear fellow poor people,

Although we are facing some doom today, it is not the doom I thought was coming. At least, not exactly. I thought that the big doom would come later on in the bumpy plateau of oil production. It turns out that we get a first crack at it now. I am talking about the collapse of finance that has been going on for the last 18 months or so. Welcome to the bottom of it. We are getting the first taste of what life will be like for most of us for the rest of our lives – lower property values, lower wages, lower investment values all leading to lower expectations over time.

So, again, welcome. For customers of the American sales pitch, aka the American Dream, your purchases will not be honored over the long haul. Some of you are luckier than others. The lucky ones, for once, are the poorest among us. I say this because you have the least invested in the greatest scheme of all time (it lasted for more than 50 years). You will need to make adjustments, but they will be more like fine tunings for you. Basically, you will get slightly less than the same you are receiving now for the forseeable future. Get used to living with less, and remember to enjoy yourselves.

Also, if you pay attention to mainstream, or even left wing media, you will notice a growing difference between rich people and you. For your own good, do not waste any time on worrying about the excesses of a relative few. The media will inevitably offer up sacrificial lambs to the masses to keep us at bay, don’t pay them any mind. You have bigger things to worry about in the coming years, like learning how to be dynamic and self-reliant in an uncertain future of scarcity. America went through this little anomaly of economic history for the last 50-60 years in which people with modest incomes were provided an unsustainable level of affluence. It is over now, and you will be better off for it karmically. Our collective affluence came at the hands of the poor around the world and the natural treasure of our land. The poor around the world have since wised up. And although there is a lot of treasure left in the ground, it is not as abundant as before – and there are more of “us” than ever before.

Wasting your outrage on what rich people are doing with their money will only keep you distracted from what you need to be doing – getting yourself out of the economy that the rich people set up for their benefit. If you can’t get out totally, the best thing for you to do is to figure out what you are going to do if the supply of items you have become dependent upon is interrupted. For those of us with little financial means, this will best be accomplished through learning basic information which will always be of value to those around you. Every person should learn the basics about how to grow plants, maintain shelter and maintain your bodily health.

It will be easy to get caught up in the absolutely stupid things that government and business are doing to America’s economy. Try to keep yourself informed, but realize paying too close attention will only take away from your efforts to separate yourself from it all. The government is married to the wealthy elites of this country, and there is no point in trying to change their minds. They do not have the same interests as you do, and they don’t give a shit about you or your problems. At best, they want to keep you engaged in the economy to the extent you are in case they need to exploit your labor in the future. The best thing for you is to learn about what is keeping you anchored to your current economic life and find out how you can sever those ties if necessary.

If you are a liberal and you are reading this, I realize it will be a difficult pill to swallow. Your wet dream for a leader is now President, and he talks really pretty and makes you feel all warm and tingly when he waxes the future. He is little more than a salesman for the elite in this country now. Just this week he told you to reinvest your money (half of which you likely lost on similar advice) in the stock market. This was pure salesmanship. He doesn’t know if stocks are going to rebound long term (inevitably they will rebound in the short term), and only savvy investors can make money in an up and down market. Obama wants you to invest because working class people with 401k’s create demand in the stock markets which rich people can take advantage of to turn short term profits. DO NOT buy into this sales pitch. Obama is grasping at straws trying to figure out how to bring the bubbles of the 90’s and early 00’s back. If you want to invest your money in a long-term way, buy some land, and staff it with a bunch of hippie kids that will happily grow food for you in return for a free place to live and play. Oh, and buy some guns and learn how to shoot them. I am not saying that Obama is going to declare martial law just yet, but it does seem like a possibility.

So, stop worrying about rich people and figure out what you are going to do about your own life.

doomed and povertous,

mike