{"id":66108,"date":"2023-11-06T09:08:05","date_gmt":"2023-11-06T14:08:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=66108"},"modified":"2023-11-06T09:08:05","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T14:08:05","slug":"todays-contemplation-collapse-cometh-clxi-a-self-sufficient-community-better-than-precious-metals-or-fiat-digital-currencies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=66108","title":{"rendered":"Today\u2019s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh CLXI–A Self-Sufficient Community\u200a\u2014\u200aBetter Than Precious Metals or Fiat\/Digital Currencies"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Today\u2019s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh CLXI<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Mexico (1988). Photo by\u00a0author.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Self-Sufficient Community\u200a\u2014\u200aBetter Than Precious Metals or Fiat\/Digital Currencies<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today I\u2019m sharing a conversation with others via the Comments section for a post<\/a> on the website Zerohedge<\/a>\u200a\u2014\u200aas well as a preamble to the conversation to set the context for my part in the conversation. The article<\/a> is focused upon the future of fiat currency but comes via the website Schiffgold<\/a> that for all intents and purposes markets precious metals, warning of the perils of fiat currency.<\/p>\n

For anyone who follows such sites, you will be cognizant of the ongoing debates regarding precious metals and fiat\/electronic currencies. Essentially, the disagreements are founded upon differences of opinion regarding the best avenue for storing one\u2019s \u2018wealth\u2019, particularly surplus wealth, to help avoid the inevitable collapse of current fiat currencies.<\/p>\n

I have written a bit about such topics, particularly as they pertain to growth and collapse, in these posts:
\nFeeding the Growth Monster: Fiat Currency and Technology<\/strong> Blog<\/a> Medium<\/a>
\nFiat Currency: Debasement and Infinite Growth <\/strong>Blog<\/a> Medium<\/a>
\nFiat Currency, Infinite Growth, Finite Resources: A Recipe For Collapse <\/strong>Blog<\/a> Medium<\/a>
\nGreenwashing, Fiat Currency, Narrative Management: More On Climate Change and Elite Confabs <\/strong>Medium<\/a>
\nRuling Caste Responses To Societal Breakdown\/Collapse <\/strong>Medium<\/a><\/p>\n

When I first fell down the rabbit\u2019s hole that is Peak Oil and began to explore all the issues related to this most fundamental of predicaments for our societal complexities, storing surplus wealth was a concern for me[1]<\/a>. My wife and I were still both working full-time in relatively secure and well-paying careers (we\u2019re both since retired), our house was paid off, and our two children were still in high school. We had always been relatively frugal in our consumption and were privileged enough to be in a situation where our income almost always exceeded our expenditures\u200a\u2014\u200aearly in our marriage, when we were both still students, was the exception. But, once we paid off our mortgage (which we did as expediently as possible after our student loans were paid off, that carried 14+% interest on them when we graduated) we were spending far less than we were earning.<\/p>\n

As I dug deeper into the complexities of energy and its implications for our globe, I worried more and more about the future and how to best insulate my family from what may come. I was drawn towards precious metals given my educational background in archaeology and the presence of it as a means of exchange throughout recorded history. But as I delved deeper and deeper into the cyclical recurrence of societal \u2018collapse\u2019 it became clear that without local self-sufficiency\/-resiliency having a hoard of precious metals (many of which have been found by archaeologists, and thus unused\/abandoned) or an electronic wallet holding digital currency was probably moot and not a secure means of \u2018preserving wealth\u2019.<\/p>\n

I have come to understand\/believe that community resiliency and a focus on our fundamental needs may be the most appropriate response to the coming storm that is a loss of surplus energy and the consequential breakdown of energy-averaging systems (i.e., long-distance trade). This is why I now suggest that relocalising food production, potable water procurement, and regional shelter needs may be one\u2019s best approach to help insulate one\u2019s community and thus family.<\/p>\n

I have spent the better part of a decade exploring and practising how to produce as much food as possible on our relatively small, suburban piece of land north of Toronto and initiated a food gardening guild in my community. These are by no means a \u2018solution\u2019 to our predicaments and I could currently feed our household of five adults for about two weeks on our garden harvest\u200a\u2014\u200aif we\u2019re lucky. I take solace, however, in the fact that each year the gardens produce a bit more and my ongoing experiments meet with success more often than failure (from which I try to learn from).<\/p>\n

My fledgling attempts are far, far behind others I communicate with or read about online, but I am far, far ahead of almost my entire social circle. Apart from my blood siblings, none are pursuing any form of self-sufficiency but are hip-deep in ignorance, denial, and bargaining\u200a\u2014\u200acarrying on with their \u2018modern\u2019, relatively affluent lifestyles.<\/p>\n

My much younger sister (who has put her career as a gynaecological oncologist on hold as she is home with three young children) has been experimenting with food production and chicken raising the past couple of years. And my younger brother\u200a\u2014\u200awho is months away from retiring as a fire station captain\u200a\u2014\u200ahas recently purchased a remote property (relative to the densely populated southern Ontario where he and I reside) in northern Ontario where I spent a week this summer helping him get some neglected raised beds cleaned up\u200a\u2014\u200athere were surprisingly a plethora of well-established perennial food plants present.<\/p>\n

Anyways, without further ado, here is the conversation that reflects some different perspectives\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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Me: While precious metals or crypto may be a store of wealth as argued by many, I think I\u2019d sooner \u2018invest\u2019 what little surplus I have in physical tools\/supplies to help my family\/community become more self-sufficient and resilient. As the saying goes, you can\u2019t eat gold. Physical materials that will help in food production, procurement of potable water, and regional shelter needs may be a much better focus for folks than either fiat, electronic wallets, or metals at this point in the fourth turning\u2026oh, and a means to protect what you have may be wise as well\u200a\u2014\u200afrom community cohesiveness to armaments of some kind.<\/em><\/p>\n

Weirdly: Saving money is for excess value. You have it right. Tools, businesses, friends, community until you are limited, then save in bitcoin.<\/p>\n

Me: I think I\u2019d sooner save excess in silver\/gold than bitcoin. Chances are high that grid-down scenarios are likely to increase in frequency and size as the center loses control making electronic-based \u2018wealth\u2019 about as useful as our politicians\u2026but as price inflation is quickly eating away any excess for me, this may be a moot point.<\/em><\/p>\n

JudgeSmails984: Grid down scenarios? Are you high? I live in Northern California where they shut the power off when it\u2019s windy and ask you not to charge your EVs in the summer when everybody is using their AC, and still, the power never goes out for more than a few hours, anywhere.<\/p>\n

your \u201cincreasing frequency of grid down occurrences\u201d statement is idiotic and not based on real world reliability data. Outside of natural disasters and yahoos shooting up transformers here and there, the electrical grid is a highly distributed architecture of critical infrastructure, and there are almost no significant outages, anywhere that matters in the US.<\/p>\n

Also-almost all critical facilities like hospitals and law enforcement all have backup diesel generators-our electrical system is very robust and resilient.<\/p>\n

how so many people plan their investments around something that never happens, has never happened but might happen, is beyond me. It\u2019s like taking a parka into the desert at noon because it might snow while you are there\u2026it could happen, the next ice age could begin today.<\/p>\n

JudgeSmails984: I have a 3 month instability limit. You shut the lights off and leave the humans without food to fend for themselves, I have one bullet for myself in that unlikely scenario.<\/p>\n

Given that my current GF is diabetic, she\u2019d probably check out a month after the CVS stores ran outta insulin.<\/p>\n

I have freeze dried food, some gold, silver, cash to get through a short period of disorder, but I have no interest in living rough, like indefinitely, for years without security, food, comfort etc. through a new, post apocalyptic dark age.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had 50 good years, rather go out with a bang than suffer slowly and watch those I love perish.<\/p>\n

Good luck with your long term ambitions though. Hope nobody you love gets a tooth abscess or bacterial infection\u2026once cured at the clinic on the corner, now likely fatal.<\/p>\n

Me: Living \u2018rough\u2019 is completely subjective in nature and our species has done so for many, many millennia in the past; and by all accounts (despite the misconceptions of many due to a focus upon what befell the ruling elite upon previous societal collapses) lived fulfilling lives.<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes, some of our complex conveniences will be absent but a lot of what befalls a complex society during its \u2018collapse\u2019 will actually be an improvement for many; that\u2019s why and how collapses happen, it\u2019s an economic\/political choice by people who abandon the systems imposed by the ruling caste of a society for what they perceive as an improved situation\u200a\u2014\u200aread archaeologist Joseph Tainter\u2019s The Collapse of Complex Societies.<\/em><\/p>\n

If your local community is self-sufficient and can get through the initial chaos of faltering\/declining complexities, there\u2019s no reason a \u2018dark age\u2019 cannot be avoided.<\/em><\/p>\n

HardKnoxKid: Totally agree\u2026\u2026 My yard is full of estate sale tools\u2026.. lots of hoes, shovels, metal rods, rolls of electrical wire\u2026.. great buys at some of these sales\u2026\u2026. one day, all those nice electronics folks have will not do them poop\u2026.. watched a 30 year old black woman in my country meat market\u2026.. had 3 kids under 10\u2026. she walked in right before me\u2026. got out of an old Corolla, but clean\u2026.. kids very well mannered. She was looking at the meat, and telling the kids maybe they would have beef for dinner\u2026. and picked up a couple packages of stew beef\u2026\u2026 As I shopped, I saw her being very wise. After I paid for my small cart, I found her adding up her few items\u2026.. I gave her a $50\u2026\u2026. told her to buy steak or whatever she wanted\u2026.. she was very reserved and cried lightly\u2026\u2026 I could tell that \u201cshe\u201d had a rough upbringing\u2026.. and if I could help her just for an evening, then that is my pleasure\u2026\u2026 And yet, we send trillions over seas for all the crooks\u2026\u2026\u2026Don\u2019t have any vehicle or mortgage or credit card payments\u2026.. don\u2019t give to big charities\u2026\u2026 this is my way of giving\u2026\u2026 It feels good.<\/p>\n

Surreality: That\u2019s good in the community. I think do both. We and our communities also need to preserve our wealth as well as have resources to be resilient.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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A handful of interesting articles to ponder:
\nThe Energy Crisis is Here to Stay<\/a>
\nDebt, Currency Debasement & War\u200a\u2014\u200aThe Timeless Pillars of Failure<\/a>
\nThe System Isn\u2019t Designed to Help You<\/a>
\nThe Cycle of Evil<\/a>
\nToday\u2019s Energy Bottleneck May Bring Down Major Governments<\/a>
\nWhy Civilization Would Collapse Even Without Climate Change<\/a>
\nClimate Disaster Is Here\u200a\u2014\u200aand the State Will Never Save Us<\/a><\/p>\n

Bonus:
\n50 Books About the Collapse of Civilization<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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If you\u2019ve made it to the end of this contemplation and have got something out of my writing, please consider ordering the trilogy of my \u2018fictional\u2019 novel series, Olduvai (PDF files; only $9.99 Canadian), via my <\/strong>website<\/strong><\/a> or the link below\u200a\u2014\u200athe \u2018profits\u2019 of which help me to keep my internet presence alive and first book available in print (and is available via various online retailers).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Attempting a new payment system as I am contemplating shutting down my site in the future (given the ever-increasing costs to keep it running).<\/p>\n

If you are interested in purchasing any of the 3 books individually or the trilogy, please try the link below indicating which book(s) you are purchasing.<\/p>\n

Costs (Canadian dollars):
\nBook 1: $2.99
\nBook 2: $3.89
\nBook 3: $3.89
\nTrilogy: $9.99<\/p>\n

Feel free to throw in a \u2018tip\u2019 on top of the base cost if you wish; perhaps by paying in U.S. dollars instead of Canadian. Every few cents\/dollars helps\u2026<\/p>\n

https:\/\/paypal.me\/olduvaitrilogy?country.x=CA&locale.x=en_US<\/a><\/p>\n

If you do not hear from me within 48 hours or you are having trouble with the system, please email me: olduvaitrilogy@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can also find a variety of resources, particularly my summary notes for a handful of texts, especially Catton\u2019s Overshoot and Tainter\u2019s Collapse: see here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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Today\u2019s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh CLXI Mexico (1988). Photo by\u00a0author. A Self-Sufficient Community\u200a\u2014\u200aBetter Than Precious Metals or Fiat\/Digital Currencies Today I\u2019m sharing a conversation with others via the Comments section for a post on the website Zerohedge\u200a\u2014\u200aas well as a preamble to the conversation to set the context for my part in the conversation. The article […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,4,5,6,7],"tags":[150,30371,2557,309,716,5833,30370,33947,20097],"class_list":["post-66108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","category-energy-2","category-environment","category-geopolitics","category-liberty","category-survival-2","tag-collapse","tag-collapse-cometh","tag-community","tag-fiat-currency","tag-self-sufficiency","tag-steve-bull","tag-todays-contemplation","tag-todays-contemplation-collapse-cometh","tag-wealth-preservation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66108"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66109,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66108\/revisions\/66109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}