Choose Wisely:
Good Morning all of you free thinkers out there in Sanity Land; your King of Simple News is on the air.
As I wind down this site I want to thank my readers and commenter’s and award you the title of “Best of the Best” in the genre of “basic controlling economics,” and your innate understanding of the integral part that human psychology plays in the madness of our impossible exponential growth culture.
Madness, delusion, hallucinations, insanity, psychosis, lunacy….call it what you may, but the patients are in fact running the asylum. A smattering of examples are in order.
The great marble city of Washington D.C. is touted as a shining beacon of hope and freedom to the remainder of the world as our leadership gathers to allocate Billions upon Billons of borrowed fiat dollars to assist poverty stricken people around the planet. Yet, just outside the Beltway, in that same city of Washington D.C., lies a predominantly Black community that has never known anything other than poverty, crime, and corruption and which remains invisible to this day.
As Americans search the world for poverty stricken foreign children to adopt and add to our already overpopulated nation; thousands of American children live in abject poverty, choosing a gang and drug culture as a pure survival mechanism in a failed societal system.
In the land of opportunity for all and the epitome of freedom and justice, we house the greatest percentage of our citizens in prisons of any nation in the world.
As we flood our borders with both legal and illegal immigrants, our children and grandchildren can no longer find viable employment. To combat the unemployment issue, our leadership authors new laws that legally export our most important jobs.
The Colorado River has gone dry; L.A., Las Vegas and Phoenix plan on using more water from that source.
As Atlanta’s water supply, Lake Lanier, is drying up; Atlanta plans on more growth and greater water consumption.
As oil declines; we plan to grow our population and use ever greater amounts of oil.
As the world fisheries decline and totally perish; we plan on eating more fish.
As the last of the rare earth minerals are harvested; we plan on using ever greater amounts of the same to produce solar panels to replace our reliance on fossil fuels.
As our cities, towns, counties, and states lack the funding to maintain their current infrastructure; we plan on building more infrastructure.
As finite physical inputs decline; we plan on exponentially increased outputs.
I could go on for pages, but there is no need. “The Biggest Lie Ever Believed,” is playing out in real life and real time. It is physically impossible to grow exponentially in a finite world.
Nearly two years ago I stated that the United States had reached PHYSICAL ZENITH and that real GDP cannot possibly grow if one cares to factor in increased debt, inflation, and per-capita share of that same GDP.
I have also stated that there is no possibility of linear decline from the delusional state that I have described above.
The path followed from a problem that was created by an exponential function being included in our very means of survival is the backside of a vertical exponential curve; better described as a cliff. There is no other way.
There are problems, that if left uncorrected for a sufficient period of time, eclipse the possibility of a palatable solution. Our system of debt-based-growth-capitalism is just such an example. It is my unswerving opinion that there are no pleasant solutions left available to us as a whole.
So that brings us down to the proverbial fork in the road doesn’t it? We can follow the well traveled path of the deluded multitudes, or make difficult personal choices that require thought and knowledge and that follow the dim trail of non-convention. Choose wisely.

Welcome back!
Even if only to wind things down. You have been missed and the thread of most of the comments seems to be
DON’T GO AWAY AGAIN.
Thanks for being here with your uncommon common sense.
Nailed it!!
When you come to a fork in the road, take it..
I think that’s a Yoggiism, or something..
Tnx.. Nice to hear from you.. Anytime..
wma..
Choosing wisely has always involved a certain amount of study. This aspect of the process remains unchanged.
Continuing our studies with the dismal outlook that we are all aware of; becomes quite a challenge however.
Human nature tells us we are wrong in our conclusions, even when based on math and science. Grounding ourselves with truths and pressing on, however, will afford us the opportunity to learn what our very different future needs will be and allow us to choose the path that will take us (with much less pain) to that new and simpler life.
Once we begin that journey, most will wonder why they did not begin long ago. -bb
Here is link to an article from a gentleman with a little different perspective that also believes that we have started our permanent decline when measured against what most consider as normal.
http://finance.yahoo.com/retirement/article/110001/stocks-and-bonds-are-now-hazardous-to-your-wealth?mod=retire-planning
There is a great deal of uncertainty as to how this decade will unfold. Old jobs and skill sets will decline in value, but new skills sets and jobs that will ultimately become valuable are still uncompetitive because of cheap foreign labor and relative cheap energy.
It will be a tricky transition; make the change too soon and your new business venture has no market, or is at a disadvantage to lingering modern technology and the last days of cheap oil. Wait too long, and you are unemployed, possibly unemployable and left behind.
We are currently caught in the transition from one world order to another. Until the one we currently live in mostly disappears, the new one will have trouble taking hold. That will make our decisions and timing very difficult.
Keep your eyes open and be ready to change your plans as circumstances change. This is no time to be operating on auto pilot. Those who are not married to dogma of any type, and who remain open and flexible, will have the best chance of landing on their feet.
Mike, You have been motivation and inspiration to me. Having you as a personal friend is truly a blessing!! I hope that you and Joe and I can still get together from time to time for coffee or lunch.
It’s been over a year now that I got laid off from Chaco as another great Made in the USA company made one wrong decision after another and took the same fork in the road as the DoDo Bird. My “Standard of Living” has been diminished by a good 60%. Thank God I listened to Mike’s advise and got my house paid off before the lay off.
Here’s something I didn’t expect a year later. My “Standard of Living” is the lowest it’s been in 20 years. My “Quality of Life” is the highest it has ever been.
That was a pleasant surprise.
Mike, just read the bad news about winding down the blog.
Say it ain’t so!!!!
Choose wisely, you say. Perhaps we won’t have the chance to choose, but instead be pushed or conditioned to follow the path laid out for us by the powers that be. I was watching the news today about “baby boomers” considering suicide so they won’t be a burden on society. Is that true or are we being conditioned to think that way. Who knows and who can you trust today? The world is becoming so complex .
Karen,
We will never really lose the power of personal choice…we will voluntarily relinquish that option to avoid having to deal with reality.
The world is what we make of it for the most part, however convention is a powerful persuader.
Hi Mike
What ever you do, we pray its great for You and Yours. My Teri still ask , “what did your ” friend ” say today”. I have yet to tell her that you have retired. Mostly because you start our new day on a different topic. So now I invent my own topic and she is beginning to ask , “did Mr. Folkerth say that.?” We go to Grand Junction quite often. I have friends there from working around Hanksville in the mines Etc. Should you ever want to meet for lunch we would consider it an honor. I could email you when we are coming over the mountain. My Teri thinks we should meet. Thanks for every thing
Frank