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Tuesday, August 29, 2017

On internet privacy, be very afraid-New tools you can use.


 

Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…


ISSN 2161-5543

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

On internet privacy, be very afraid-New tools you can use.

Three former Israeli intelligence operatives have created the technology that protects photos posted online from facial recognition technology.

 

The company is D-ID (the name stands for “deidentification) and it claims its software is difficult for artificial intelligence to overcome and is capable of protecting every photo containing biometric data that is shared online.

 

 The other never-ending issue of government spying and the NSA archiving every kilobyte of data that passes across the Internet.

It might be easier to simply “CC” the government on every email you send and add their email address as an authorized user of your Dropbox account.

Despite all these known risks, though, and the constant stream of stories about hackers and government spying, few people take steps to safeguard their data.

(As an example, according to a
study by Keeper Security, the most common password is 123456. Not exactly hacker-proof.)

But there are some very simple tools available that can help.

One of them is called
Cryptomator, which came to my attention from a close friend of mine who works in the US Army’s cyberwarfare divison, which was established to defend government systems against foreign hackers.

Cryptomator is a free, simple program which encrypts every single file you store on a cloud server.

Let’s say you use Dropbox to sync files between your laptop and the cloud.

Ordinarily, your files are stored unencrypted on your laptop, and they’re accessible by certain Dropbox staff through the cloud servers.

Cryptomator encrypts the files on BOTH ends, i.e. the file that’s stored on the Dropbox servers is encrypted, AND the file stored locally on your laptop is encrypted.

Dropbox employees who try to access your data would see nothing but gibberish.

And anyone who gains physical access to your laptop would see nothing but gibberish.

Only you have the ability to unlock the files.

Now, this sounds like a cumbersome process… having to constantly encrypt and decrypt files, enter passwords, etc.

But it’s not. Cryptomator has created a streamlined platform where you can group files together in ‘vaults’.

Then you can decrypt an entire vault, attach it to your file system, and easily re-encrypt it when you’re finished.

You can
see an example in this video.

Try it out if you’re interested; the software is free, available on Mac OS, Windows, Linux, Android, and iPhone.

Plus it’s open-source, meaning that anyone who knows the Java programming language can download the source code and verify that the software contains no backdoors or malware.
 
 
 

ALSO NOTED…

In the internet era, consumers seem increasingly resigned to giving up fundamental aspects of their privacy for convenience in using their phones and computers, and have grudgingly accepted that being monitored by corporations and even governments is just a fact of modern life. In fact, internet users in the United States have fewer privacy protections than those in other countries. In April, Congress voted to allow internet service providers to collect and sell their customers’ browsing data. Cybersecurity expert Bruce Schneier talked about government and corporate surveillance, and about what concerned users can do to protect their privacy. “Surveillance is the business model of the internet,” he says.

In the internet era, consumers seem increasingly resigned to giving up fundamental aspects of their privacy for convenience in using their phones and computers, and have grudgingly accepted that being monitored by corporations and even governments is just a fact of modern life.

In fact, internet users in the United States have fewer privacy protections than those in other countries. In April, Congress voted to allow internet service providers to collect and sell their customers’ browsing data. By contrast, the European Union hit Google this summer with a $2.7 billion antitrust fine.

To assess the internet landscape, the Harvard Gazette’s Liz Mineo interviewed cybersecurity expert Bruce Schneier, a fellow with the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School. Schneier talked about government and corporate surveillance, and about what concerned users can do to protect their privacy.

Gazette: After whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations concerning the National Security Agency’s (NSA) mass surveillance operation in 2013, how much has the government landscape in this field changed?
Schneier:
Snowden’s revelations made people aware of what was happening, but little changed as a result. The USA Freedom Act resulted in some minor changes in one particular government data-collection program. The NSA’s data collection hasn’t changed; the laws limiting what the NSA can do haven’t changed; the technology that permits them to do it hasn’t changed. It’s pretty much the same.

Gazette: Should consumers be alarmed by this?
Schneier: People should be alarmed, both as consumers and as citizens. But today, what we care about is very dependent on what is in the news at the moment, and right now surveillance is not in the news. It was not an issue in the 2016 election, and by and large isn’t something that legislators are willing to make a stand on. Snowden told his story, Congress passed a new law in response, and people moved on.


Gazette: What about corporate surveillance? How pervasive is it?
Schneier: Surveillance is the business model of the internet. Everyone is under constant surveillance by many companies, ranging from social networks like Facebook to cellphone providers. This data is collected, compiled, analyzed, and used to try to sell us stuff. Personalized advertising is how these companies make money, and is why so much of the internet is free to users. We’re the product, not the customer.



"On its best day, with every ounce of technology the U.S. government could muster, it could not know a fraction as much about any of us as Google does now” (Shelly Palmer, technology analyst).




Recently I gave readers of my newsletter my up-to-date Emergency Recommendations:

  • Have some cash at home.
  • Keep only enough money in the bank to cover about one month’s worth of bills.
  • Have some 1 oz. gold coins at home.
  • Take delivery of long-term holding stock certificates if you have them. They are not tied to any broker. Your dividends will come straight to you.
  • Have some pre-1964 silver coins at home.
  • All major companies like GE and GM and the big banks are major derivative dealers. In these times small banks and small brokers may be safer.
  • Avoid Internet financial services, i.e. brokers and banks.
  • Be careful how you use the Internet. My research tells me that it is certainly not private. It is still better to use fax or mail. This may not be private either, but better. Use the phone for travel plans.
  • Consider a Swiss annuity denominated in Swiss francs. Contact The Swiss Advantage at 1-800-331-0996 and give your name and address for more information.
  • Buy oil, energy, uranium, and commodity related assets/stocks, including stocks of gold and silver miners.
  • Store gold coins in the Perth Mint if you have the funds. Get details on the web at www.perthmint.com.
  • As always have basic food and water and guns and ammo stored at home.

I think we are very close to a point of no return. There are still millions who are ignorant to what they must do. Yet if you’re reading this, then you are one of the few who are very concerned with the state of our country and are attempting to learn more.

In fact, when it comes to the notion of surviving these hardships or a collapse, and the methodology for doing so, I feel so strongly that you need to start protecting yourself today that I prepared a special report for you to read and review this information about surviving what’s to come, absolutely free.

What about you? Got anything interesting to share?



Bruce, the Poor Man... free thinker, social critic & cynic

 


A Final Note…

Contributors and subscribers enable the Poor Man Survivor to post 150+ free essays annually. It is for this reason they are Heroes and Heroines of New Media. Without your financial support, the free content would disappear for the simple reason that I cannot keep body and soul together on my meager book sales & ecommerce alone.

Additional Resources


 

How much emergency food do you need? »
The amount of food we need changes based on what our goals are. In modern prepping the line between what we need and what we store is blurry. Just because a can of dried fruit has the words, "Emergency Food" on the label does not mean it is the type of food you need in an emergency.  
More »



 

 


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A Smoking Frog Feature, Shallow Planet Production

 

Thursday, August 24, 2017

The Magic Number of 3 for Staying Alive - Why Some Survive, Why Others Do Not


Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…


ISSN 2161-5543

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

 

A survival situation brings out the true, underlying personality.  Our survival kit is inside us. >Laurence Gonzales

 


The Magic Numbers of Staying Alive-Survival Secrets

      In 1957 the US Army produced a little beige booklet called FM 21-76 called the Field Manual for Survival, the official instructions on how to stay alive in hostile environments.  In its very first pages, the book tells soldiers that the experience of 100s of servicemen in WWII and Korea “prove that survival is largely a matter of mental outlook, with the will to survive the deciding factor.”  Without a “will to survive” your odds of surviving are greatly diminished in any grave situation – your attitude, your previous training and preparation along with the hand of God often acts as your life preserver.

   In almost any survival emergency, the US Air Force believes two magic numbers can help save your life.  In its grueling survival course at Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane, WA, the first thing that instructors drill into your head is 98.6.  Whatever you do, they say, protect your core body temperature.  They don’t even bother to attach degrees to the numerals.

Their slogan is simple:  Maintain 98.6.  It’s a top priority.  Cold and heat kills.

In a survival situation, everything else – such as food and shelter – can wait.  Once the air force bangs 98.6 into your brain, there’s one other digit it force feeds.  Every student learns the magic number 3.

Whether you’re a fighter pilot or a single mom, in a car accident or taking a walk in the park, the number 3 will keep you alive.
 

The Rule of 3 states that you cannot survive:

3 seconds with spirit and hope

3 minutes without air

3 hours without shelter in extreme conditions

3 days without water

3 weeks without food

3 months without companionship or love

   Air Force training emblazons the number 3 on your mind.  They make you memorize the order of the rules so that you will always know your survival priorities and be able to manage your needs.  Then they drop you off in the woods, deprive you of food, and you around till can’t think straight.  They teach you which plants to eat and which are poisonous.  They show you how to make a slingshot and hunt for dinner.  They rough you up and interrogate you like a prisoner of war.

And at the end of the 17-day course, they hope you never forget those magic numbers and keep your priorities clear and stay alive.
 

The Theory of 10-80-10- Why Some Survive, Why Some Do Not

   British researcher John Leach came up with a theory as to why some people survive a disaster and some do not.

First, around 10 percent of us will handle a crisis in a relative calm and rational state of mind.  Under duress, they pull themselves quickly.  They remain sharp and focused. They keep their emotions in check or what psychologists call “splitting” and it’s common among folks who keep their cool under the greatest stress…usually those who have been trained or who have innate sense to do so.

The majority of people however, 80 percent, are unable to respond in this manner – in a crisis they will become stunned and bewildered or impaired.  We find that our reasoning and thinking is difficult.  Often, we’ll behave in a mechanical manner.  [I’ve personally seen this even among mothers who panic when their child becomes injured in an accident].  We’ll develop tunnel vision, losing all sense of what is going on around us during a crisis…brainlock or analysis paralysis.

  The last group, the final 10 percent, the one group you want to avoid in an emergency [the one lifeguards fear the most].  This group does the wrong thing – they panic and react counterproductively, often making the situation worse [for everyone].

A pilot once told me, "Flying a plane is really just hours of boredom that separate a couple of moments of sheer terror."

Although it is difficult to predict one’s future behavior, even police and fire personnel don’t always know how they will react in a given situation…[as a volunteer mounted deputy in Arizona, the first time I encountered a dead body during the aftermath of a sudden flooding, I was frozen in amazement for several moments before I called it in].  No matter what category you think you’ll fall into, experts say you can improve your odds of survival through practice to improve your crisis response effectiveness.

   Your success as a survivor depends on your ability to shut off the fear alarm and to channel purposeful action that reduces the danger you are facing…throwing the switch from I’m going to die to I’m going to survive!


Yours for better living,

Bruce ‘the Poor Man’

 

Additional Resources

Contributors and subscribers enable the Poor Man Survivor to post 150+ free essays & free reports that I provide annually. It is for this reason they are Heroes and Heroines of New Media. Without your financial support, the free content would disappear for the simple reason that I cannot keep body and soul together on my meager book sales & ecommerce alone.  You can make a donation at top of this page via PayPal.

 

Support our efforts by shopping my storefront…


 

 
A Smoking Frog Feature, Shallow Planet Production

 

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

How to Give Yourself a Mental Boost-And Live Longer!


 

Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…


ISSN 2161-5543

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

 


How to Give Yourself a Mental Boost-And Live Longer!

   Ever wish you could enhance your focus, improve your energy and memory, perhaps even spark your creativity without drinking one of those energy drinks?  You can snack your way to better brainpower by reaching for natural goodies such as blueberries, walnuts, oats or matcha tea.  Nutrient dense, antioxidant-rich foods enhance your ability to create, protect and repair brain cells, producing a renewed sense mental sharpness.

   Oatmeal, for example, has a well deserved reputation as a top brain food:  its low-glycemic index provides sustained energy or ‘brain fuel.’  Your brain will truly thank you however if you add some raisins and matcha to the mix.  Matcha is powdered green tea which has L-theanine, an amino acid that improves cognition which results in an improved creative juice flow!

   Cook your oatmeal as usual, stir in milk, cook 5 minutes longer, mixing often, then remove from heat and stir in honey to taste and macha.  Transfer to a bowl and top with bananas or raisins, berries or nuts if desired and enjoy.

Instantly Be More Creative

   Feeling uninspired?  Pretend to be someone famous or an expert at the task you’re trying to tackle.  According to recent Harvard research, this simple trick supercharges your ability to come up with creative ideas.  Why?

Imagining yourself as someone successful relaxes creativity-controlling areas of the brain, helping you come up with solutions and ideas you not have otherwise thought of.

Happiness is About Choices

   In a recent finding, people with the highest levels of well-being were those who, no matter how much money they made, were able to make choices, such as taking up a hobby, socializing with friends and family, and visiting new places.

Lovemaking Boosts Brainpower

In a recent study, adults age 50 and up who engaged in physical intimacy weekly scored higher on tests of verbal fluency, attention and memory, reports The Journal of Gerontology.  Researchers theorize the effect is linked to the release of hormones such as dopamine and oxytocin during sex.

Learn to Delegate

Some tasks are best left to others, especially as we age or if we do not have the expertise or physical strength.  For example, do it your selfers who take to climbing on their own roof clear gutters or operating a chainsaw to clear foliage can suffer horrific accidents [more than 30,000 people are hospitalized annually from chainsaw-related injuries].

Delegating such tasks are also a matter of saving money as it saves time and time is money.  In today’s economy home improvement projects can be accomplished with the help of HomeAdvisor or Angie’s List.  Other tasks can be handled with the freelance economy [or perhaps you might earn extra cash through such gigs] via Fiverr, TaskRabbit, Elance, etc.
 
 

People Who Read Books  - Fiction or Non, Live Longer And…

Researchers at the Yale School of Public Health studied 3,600 men and women over the age of 50 for 12 years and found those who read books [not just magazines and newspapers] for as little as 30 minutes a day over several years were living an average of two years longer than people who did not.  [that included fiction, non-fiction, poetry or prose].  Chapter books encourage ‘deep reading’ which forces your brain  to think critically and boosts your brainpower.

Keep Your Brain Sharp

Medical technology is increasingly becoming wearable, implantable and trackable via Fitbit, Apple Watch and other devices.  Personally, I could care less for these devices despite their so-called health advantages.  Their ultimate next step is implantable microchips into each human from birth – no thanks!  Google, for example, is working on mind reading technologies that allow people to surf the internet from a device that connects directly to their brain.

For the sake of your mental health and to keep your brain sharp, take time to read and to enjoy the real, physical world free from internet and device distractions.  Feed your brain a healthy diet of fruits and vegetables and physical reading materials and include some daily exercise.

NOTE:  Books and other media have become increasingly simple today to accommodate an ever decreasing attention span limited vocabulary.  For example, presidential State of the Union addresses have from a 17th-grade level pre-1900 to a 12th-grade level in the 1900s to below a 10th grade-level in the 2000s, prompting a Guardian headline newspaper headline to declare, “The state of our union is…dumber.”

Perhaps that is why broadcast media has been reduced to near meaningless sound bites which communicate almost nothing to the public.  Gone are the basic tenets of journalism – who, what, why, when, where, when and how.  As a consequence, many Americans are left in the dark about what is going on in the world.

 

Yours for freedom,

 

Bruce, the Poor Man!

 

 

Additional Resources

 

Contributors and subscribers enable the Poor Man Survivor to post 150+ free essays annually. It is for this reason they are Heroes and Heroines of New Media. Without your financial support, the free content would disappear for the simple reason that I cannot keep body and soul together on my meager book sales & ecommerce alone.

 

 

>>Want to improve your brain?  Learn how here:

 
You Have a 16-Cylinder Brain-Learn How to Use it & Re-Awaken the Genius Inside You!

 


I know everyone is short on time in this hectic world so I’ve kept this PDF short and to the point with links to expert how-to articles and guides including:

 

·         How to Increase Your Intelligence

·         6 Step Brain Exercise Steve Jobs Used to Boost Creativity

·         6 Simple Habits to Boost Your Intelligence

·         The Best Vitamins to Increase Brain Function

·         How a Harvard Brain Specialist Keeps Her Brain Healthy

·         A Review of the Top 10 Brain [Limitless] Pills

·         How to Protect Your Cognitive Function

 


 


Support our efforts by shopping my storefront…


 

A Smoking Frog Feature, Shallow Planet Production

 

Thursday, August 17, 2017

The Cold War Reheats-Will it be a…21st Century Apocalypse?


Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…


ISSN 2161-5543

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources
 
 

The Cold War Reheats-Will it be a21st Century Apocalypse?

 Every report by the mainstream press makes the most fundamental of errors, which is that they fail to understand that North Korea is a Chinese proxy. Kim Jong Un is not just North Korea's Dear Leader but also a puppet of the Chinese Empire.

The US continues to firmly trend towards war with China as the mainstream press media spotlight on North Korea during 2017 continues to displace the other dozen or so US/China flashpoints such as China's land grab underway in the South China Sea as I wrote about last week.

The only reason North Korea has nuclear weapons is because China gave them the technology, and the same goes for its ballistic missiles. And the same goes for the other Chinese proxy in the region, Pakistan. While India is America's nuclear proxy in the region.

Therefore, if the press fail to get this fundamental fact then everything else they write is pretty much gibberish. North Korea is a basket case where at least 90% of its soldiers would fail to even fight for the Kim 'God' dynasty, instead would likely celebrate the demise of their Dear 'Fat' Leader.

The only reason why North Korea has nuclear weapons is because the Chinese want them to so that they can be used to put the United States and its Asian allies under pressure which the United States military fully understands hence why the US long term strategy is for the military encirclement of China. In respect of which having a North Korean rogue state that openly threatens the United States is in China's strategic interests. And thus all of the noises coming out of China regarding their inability to control North Korea can be taken with a huge mountain of salt for China WANTS THIS version of North Korea to exist so that it can be used to attack US interests without triggering war between China and the US.

While the US confronting North Korea is in terms of sending a message to China as North Korea is merely a stepping stone towards the containment of China. Thus an attack and destruction of North Korea's military capability would amount to degrading Chinese military power in the region.

Here’s another analysis of these events…

 


7 Horsemen of the 21st Century Apocalypse

What’s truly driving world leaders to increasingly bellicose behavior is not merely their own rational or irrational decision-making. Nor is it the reasons and excuses that our leaders themselves believe and cite.

Rather, what’s ultimately behind these new winds of war is a bundle of seven economic, social and political megatrends that, like an invisible fist, are pushing the U.S., Russia, China and others toward a dangerous confrontation.

I call them the Seven Horsemen of the 21st Century Apocalypse …

1. The Horseman of Debt

The first megatrend is the vast accumulation of government debts. Back in the early 1970s, the U.S. government had only 30 cents in debts for each dollar of goods and services (GDP) produced per year. Now, its debt burden has more than quadrupled in size — to $1.32 per dollar of GDP.

That’s bad enough. But even that big debt burden does not include trillions in U.S. government obligations for Social Security, Medicare and veterans’ benefits. Nor does it include debts piled up by U.S. corporations, consumers and local governments — let alone the trillions in high-risk bets made by New York megabanks, called “derivatives.”

Moreover, the United States is not the worst offender. Other major economic powers have plunged even deeper into debt, with Japan leading the pack. It has a government debt load per GDP that’s twice as big as America’s.

The result has been a series of financial collapses, crashes and panics that have appeared like recurring tidal waves, each larger than the previous: The historic collapse of the U.S. dollar in the late 1970s; a monumental crash in the U.S. government bond market in 1979-’81; a flood of bank failures in the 1980s, followed by giant insurance company failures in 1989-’91; the great housing bust of 2007; the Great Debt Crisis of 2008; the Great Recession of 2008-’09; the near-bankruptcy of multiple European governments in the 2010s.

2. The Horseman of Money

The second megatrend is radical easy money and money printing, a core aspect of governments’ desperate strategy to paper over the debts and escape the severe financial panics that they cause.

This money-printing desperation was particularly evident in the wake of the granddaddy of debt crises that struck the globe in 2008.

Indeed, it was the watershed event of that debt crisis — the failure of Lehman Brothers on Sept. 15 of that year — that set off the greatest wave of money printing in the history of civilization.

That’s when the U.S. Federal Reserve — along with the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England — broke all tried-and-tested rules of monetary policy, embarked on a multiyear binge of money printing, and helped fuel other megatrends that are now leading toward global conflict.

The U.S. Federal Reserve started the ball rolling. It went stark-raving mad, abandoning any semblance of restraint, expanding its assets (the best measure of money printing) by a mammoth $3.6 trillion through 2017.

The European Central Bank immediately followed in the Fed’s footsteps, expanding its assets by $1.5 trillion. Plus, for extra measure, they cut their official interest rates to zero and even below zero.

The Bank of England, although smaller, was equally aggressive, expanding its balance sheet by $435 billion between 2008 and 2017. After the Lehman Brothers failure, their money printing went ballistic; and during the European debt crisis, it went ballistic again.

But if you think all of the above is crazy, wait till you see what the Bank of Japan did! After the Lehman Brothers blow-up in 2008, it expanded its balance sheet by a whopping $2.5 trillion. Adjusted for the smaller size of Japan’s economy, that’s the equivalent of a $9.4 trillion surge in the United States, or more than 2½ times the Fed’s expansion

ll of this adds up to a big-bang of monetary expansion unprecedented in all of recorded history:

The Fed’s $3.6 trillion, plus the Bank of England’s $435 billion, the European Central Bank’s $1.5 trillion, and the Bank of Japan’s $2.5 trillion give you a grand total of more than $8 trillion in monetary expansion after the Lehman Brothers failure.

3. The Horseman of Inequality

The trillions of new money that the Fed and other central banks poured into the global economy didn’t go into industry to create more high-paying jobs. Instead, it flowed into the world’s largest banks. It fueled widespread speculation benefiting a small minority of large, risk-oriented investors. And at the same time, it flattened interest rates, reducing to a pittance the income of risk-adverse investors, savers and retirees. Result: Extreme income inequality.

But the Horseman of Inequality didn’t first gallop onto the scene in 2008. It actually appeared three decades earlier. Consider the stats for the United States:

·         In 1978, the top 1% of Americans controlled 22.9% of the nation’s wealth. That’s not unreasonable. In a capitalist society, some level of inequality is acceptable and even desirable. In the most recent reckoning, however, their wealth share has doubled.

·         The concentration of wealth and economic power has grown even more extreme among the nation’s top 0.01% (one of every 10,000 families). In 1978, they controlled 2.2% of the nation’s wealth. Now their share of the nation’s wealth pie has grown fivefold!

·         The wealth disparities in Russia are even more severe. According to New World Wealth, Russian millionaires control 62% of the wealth, or nearly double the nosebleed levels reached in the United States. And according to Credit Suisse, the top 10% of Russia’s population control a staggering 85% of the country’s wealth, with just 111 individuals controlling nearly one-fifth.

·         In China, meanwhile, wealth disparities have grown more rapidly than virtually any other country in the world.

·         Between 1990 and 2016, the Gini Index, a widely accepted measure of poor income distribution, rose by 20 points in China.

·         That’s nearly triple the rise that took place in India, also a country of great wealth disparities. Worse, it’s more than ten times the rise that took place in advanced OECD countries, in the world’s Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs), and in Asia’s Low Income Countries (LICs).

·         Even this measure understates the large regional discrepancies in China — between the impoverished countryside and the industrial megalopolises; between the small coastal provinces (see blue in map) and the giant Western regions (brown).

·         No matter how you slice the numbers, China has clearly suffered the most radical shift from equality to inequality among nearly all countries of the world.

4. The Horseman of Corruption

·         Widespread corruption is both a cause and a consequence of income inequality. Wealth empowers certain elites and government officials to cheat and steal. That behavior, in turn, is a big factor in the impoverishment of middle and lower classes.

·         This is not only a pandemic in government, but also in business; not only via criminal activity, but also in the form of hidden, technically “legal,” schemes deliberately designed to deceive the public. I call it “corruption by deception.”

·         To properly document corruption globally would require volumes greater than the Encyclopedia Britannica. So let me cite just two countries:

 

·         The United States of America: In the late 1990s, the Big Five U.S. auditing firms, their large corporate clients, and some of the most widely respected Wall Street analysts effectively conspired to deceive investors and the general public about the earnings and ratings of the nation’s leading companies, especially in the technology sector. The result was the Tech Wreck of 2000-’02, crushing the wealth of middle-class investors.

·         In the mid-2000s, it happened again. But this time, the corruption was more widespread; the losses, much larger.

·         The deceptions were perpetuated by big “nonbank banks” that specialized in subprime mortgages like New Century Financial and Countrywide Financial; the nation’s largest commercial banks, such as Bank of America and Citigroup; the biggest investment banks such as Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs; the nation’s giant government-sponsored mortgage agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; Wall Street’s Big Three rating agencies, Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch; plus a long list of prominent government officials.

·         The result was the Housing Collapse, the Debt Crisis and the Great Recession, crushing the wealth of an even broader swath of middle-class America.

 

·         The Russia Federation: Surveys by OPORA, a Russian business association, finds that 90% of entrepreneurs have encountered corruption at least once. Similarly, a survey by the Institute of Contemporary Development in Moscow concludes that Russian citizens view corruption as the second biggest problem in the country. Meanwhile, Transparency International, a global nonprofit active in 100 countries, says that corruption in Russia is worse than in Brazil, China, India and the 34 member nations of the OECD. This leaves virtually no space for a middle class, and few escape hatches for Russia’s urban or rural poor. It is a deeply ingrained, pernicious driver of public discontent in Russia.

·         But President Vladimir Putin effectively turns this sentiment around to his great advantage. His vehicle: A Russia-first foreign policy that routinely blames domestic ills on foreign enemies, galvanizes public opinion, and has helped establish Putin as the most popular Russian leader since Lenin. Putin knows it is the single best vehicle to convert domestic shame into international pride. And he pursues it aggressively, deftly portraying the United States as the ringleader of Western nations seeking to undermine, sabotage and destroy Russia.

5. The Horseman of Division


·         In parallel with the widening income inequality, we have also witnessed a global trend toward extreme political divisiveness.

·         Let me start with the United States …

·         In the chart above, income inequality (black bars) is measured by the wealth share of America’s top 0.01%; the higher the bars, the more inequality.

·         Political division (red line) is based on an exhaustive study of voting patterns in Congress; the higher the line, the more extreme the partisanship.

·         Most Americans are aware of “government gridlock.” But what most do not realize is that the political divisions in America today exceed those which prevailed during Reconstruction, the extremely divisive period that followed the U.S. Civil War.

·         That’s when the federal government enacted a series of new laws to enforce equal rights for black Southerners, encountered violent opposition from citizens, and ultimately abandoned its efforts to forcefully mold Southern society. During that period, this widely respected index of political divisiveness in the United States reached an all-time high of 0.79. Today, that same index is even more extreme, at 0.97.

·         The divisive trends in Russia and China are less evident on the surface, but potentially more powerful in their ultimate impact. The big difference: There, they have emerged in the form of mass protests and rebellion. And there, they’ve been promptly squelched by repressive federal governments.

 

·         6. The Horseman of Tyranny

·         Sixth, we’ve seen the rise of authoritarianism and dictatorships. Back in the 20th Century, it took two world wars, countless wars of independence, plus decades of struggle to slowly but surely rid most of the world of colonialism, neocolonialism and military dictatorships. In the 21st century, however, it has taken only a fraction of that time for similar kinds of authoritarian regimes to again rear their ugly heads. I’ll save the many examples for a future column.

·         7. The Horseman of War

·         Finally, the global rise of authoritarianism has been accompanied by a global rise in nationalism, militarism, and the irresistible urge by the world’s most powerful autocrats to blame their domestic ills on foreign adversaries.

·         The blame game was rampant first in countries like Russia, China and North Korea. Now, it may also be rearing its ugly head in the United States. On both sides, weapons of choice include propaganda and fake news. On both sides, foreign enemies are powerful mechanisms for rallying domestic political support and unity. And everywhere, this is what connects the dots between domestic division and international conflict.


·         The Invisible Fist is Powerful

·         Yes, the boldness, rashness and sheer recklessness of individual leaders are specifically to blame for the events of the past week and earlier. It’s our leaders who push the envelope of diplomatic wars, cyber wars, trade wars, proxy wars and regional wars. They’re the ones who ultimately issue the commands to send troops into battle or press the buttons of ballistic missiles.

·         But it is the Seven Horsemen — Debt, Money, Inequality, Corruption, Division, Tyranny and War — that cause booms and busts; create a climate of envy and disdain; encourage dishonesty and abuse; catapult autocratic leaders to power; give them the mandate to build their military power and ultimately, to wage war.

·         I repeat: This bundle of seven megatrends is a powerful, invisible fist. And it’s this invisible fist that’s pushing, shoving, sometimes forcing our leaders toward the chest-pounding, bellicose behaviors that we are witnessing all over the world today


 
More Resources:.


 
Yours for better living,

Bruce, the Poor Man

 

 

A Final Note…

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>>Want to improve your brain?  Learn how here:

 

You Have a 16-Cylinder Brain-Learn How to Use it & Re-Awaken the Genius Inside You!

 


I know everyone is short on time in this hectic world so I’ve kept this PDF short and to the point with links to expert how-to articles and guides including:

 

·         How to Increase Your Intelligence

·         6 Step Brain Exercise Steve Jobs Used to Boost Creativity

·         6 Simple Habits to Boost Your Intelligence

·         The Best Vitamins to Increase Brain Function

·         How a Harvard Brain Specialist Keeps Her Brain Healthy

·         A Review of the Top 10 Brain [Limitless] Pills

·         How to Protect Your Cognitive Function

 


 

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A Smoking Frog Feature, Shallow Planet Production