Many people predicted the economic collapse of 2008 and yet very few listened. Economists like Peter Schiff and Lew Rockwell were mocked as doomsday soothsayers rebelling against a postmodern age. Those of us who advocate a sound economic system are seen as enemies of modernity and the status quo. And this much is true, someone born into the Fractional Reserve System advocating sound currency, well that is postmodern rebellion.
But, as we know from the economic and social pains from the fourth quarter of 2008 the system does indeed appear unstable. The question is what do we do about it?
LewRockwell.com: The ‘No Problem’ Mindset: Guaranteed Destruction
For students of Austrian economics we know the truth:
We know that the Federal Reserve System creates economic bubbles through manipulation of interest rates.
We know that the Federal Reserve System creates inflation by obligating the taxpayer to debt based currency.
We know that the Federal Reserve System, like all central banks, inherently seeks to consolidate national power and autonomy to the state.
We know that wealth without value is no better than the paper it is printed on.
In our parents’, grandparents’, and great grandparents’ lifetimes great nations have risen and fallen. As someone interested in history I always worry about the families and individuals who were conscripted into the Nazi party, forced to serve on one side or the other in the civil war (often times family against family), or forced to march with Napoleon simply because they were not prepared and had no other economic choice but to serve.
Some ideals are worth fighting/dying for. Liberty. Freedom. Representation in government. Protecting our inalienable rights. But at some point the social contract must cease its infiltration into everyday affairs. Freedom isn’t defined as reliance on one another.
Let’s start with the basics: food, clothing and shelter.
Do you know how to grow a garden? What about reseeding?
Do you know how to raise chickens, cows, or pigs?
Do you know how to can and preserve food?
Do you know the basics of food storage?
And clothing: have you ever made your own shirt, pants? What about the fabric? Or even more basic, have you ever repaired your own clothing when worn down? And on shelter, how much of what permeates your household is produced by someone other than yourself? Are you electrically self-sufficient? In an emergency do you have water for bathing, drinking and cooking?
Clearly I think we can all agree that the free-market can provide all of this so we don’t need to know. But given the state of affairs, are we safe to assume that the current system will always be able to provide the goods and services that we need? We must assume that in a total economic collapse there would be some times of uncertainty, even more so when an economy is based on central reserve banking.
We must be more like our ancestors if we are to shed the shackles of tyranny that have crept into our lives. Ayn Rand once penned a line for the infamous John Galt, “an honest man is one who knows he can’t consume more than he has produced”. Are you an honest man? Can we live more simply and be free? Or worded better, is a postmodern world an inherit enemy to liberty and freedom?
I am not saying pack up and go mountain-man, well that is unless you choose to do so. I am just saying let’s get ourselves better prepared for the next time the Federal Reserve puppeteers choose to crash the party. We can do this by becoming more self-sufficient and wiser in our investments.
One idea is to have a garden, even it it doesn’t provide all of your food. We do this so that if we had to rely on our own gardening skills we would know how to do it. Even if we only grow ten percent of our own food, aren’t we that much more free should things get that much worse? Besides, kids love watching plants and animals grow.
Or let me simplify this entire argument: If the only thing you need to worry about is paying the mortgage, what does it matter what the rest of society does? Self sufficiency my friends, not quite the dirty word it was come late 2008.