Post
by Ronja » Fri Dec 17, 2010 8:48 am
Interesting: Stansberry's full-length version offers some rather strong political opinions, although indirectly and therefore IMO dishonestly. The role of the oil crisis of 1973 is not even mentioned when talking about the tough times that Britain had in the 1970ies. Current Californian plans of letting free some of the prisoners and legalizing marijuana are called "ridiculous" policies, without any reference to how large a percentage of the population is in prison to begin with, and for what kind of offenses, or how much "ordinary" (not high risk) prisoners or the drug war against marijuana cost.
I'm not saying that all of Britain's problems in the 1970ies were related to the price of oil, not by far. I'm also not saying that releasing the least dangerous prisoners or legalizing marijuana would necessarily save the economy of California. However, if I, only based on my high-school education and some reading later in life (I'm not an expert on history or economics - I have never studied either after my baccalaureate), immediately come to think of a few sides of the issues that this guy does not present at all, then I do start to doubt also his economic facts or at least which sides of them he chooses to emphasize.
Besides, the whole air of this presentation is "every person for her/himself (and maybe their family) - make money through others loosing theirs", and I don't like that at all. I would not like for us to be the richest family in our neighborhood (or even one of the twenty or forty richest) - in tough times that is a genuinely risky position, that can attract a lot of unwelcome attention. I would much rather that the whole neighborhood survived and maintained at least a tolerable standard of living, even if that meant that we have to cut down our own lifestyle radically.
One of his main points is very sound, though: that the US will be in dire straits if/when the US dollar is abandoned by many enough countries as the standard trading currency.
"The internet is made of people. People matter. This includes you. Stop trying to sell everything about yourself to everyone. Don’t just hammer away and repeat and talk at people—talk TO people. It’s organic. Make stuff for the internet that matters to you, even if it seems stupid. Do it because it’s good and feels important. Put up more cat pictures. Make more songs. Show your doodles. Give things away and take things that are free." -
Maureen J
"...
anyone who says it’s “just the Internet” can

. And then when they come back, they can

again." -
Tigger