Blog

We're very pleased to announce our participation in the Hard Assets Alliance, our newly endorsed solution for purchasing precious metals.

For years, we've received a continuous stream of questions from readers, all essentially asking where's the best place to buy gold and silver?

While we've done our best to review and present an assessed list of the top bullion vendors, the remaining work readers needed to do in comparing each of them was still more challenging and confusing than we were comfortable with. It's been clear that folks are hoping for a single "best of the best" recommendation.

That's why we were so glad when the Hard Assets Alliance was formed, and we had the good fortune to be invited to be a Founding Member. This new platform offers so many clear advantages to customers that we were happy to throw our support behind it. » Read more

According to the conventional account, the Great American Middle Class has been eroded by rising energy costs, globalization, and the declining purchasing power of the U.S. dollar in the four decades since 1973. While these trends have certainly undermined middle-class wealth and income, there are five other less politically acceptable dynamics at work:

1. The divergence of State/private vested interests and the interests of the middle class
2. The emergence of financialization as the key driver of profits and political power
3. The neofeudal “colonization” of the “home market” by ascendant financial Elites
4. The increasing burden of indirect “taxes” as productive enterprises and people involuntarily subsidize unproductive, parasitic, corrupt, but politically dominant vested interests
5. The emergence of crony capitalism as the lowest-risk, highest-profit business model in the U.S. economy

Oil, natural gas, and alternatives dominate the headlines when it comes to energy. But there's a big and largely-overlooked revolution occuring with the energy source likey to become the most preferred fuel for a world in ecomomic decline: coal.

The United States coal sector has been hit very, very hard this spring. Demand has been crushed by over 10%, as warm weather and bountiful supplies of cheap natural gas have induced power plant operators and all other users where possible to switch away from domestic coal. The rapid change in fortune has sent the stock prices of big, listed names such as Peabody and Arch down by double digit percentages, as the Dow Jones US Coal Index has fallen below 160 from above 225 at the start of 2012. » Read more

I would like you to join me, Becca, Adam, and other Crash Course-aware individuals for a powerful, calming, transformative, and intimate weekend session at the Kripalu Center June 29-July 1. This is the only remaining seminar on the 2012 calendar, so be sure to register or be prepared to wait until at least 2013 for the next one.

So much is transpiring so rapidly these days (welcome to the steep portion of the exponential curve) that anything and everything we can do to prepare ourselves mentally, financially, physically, and emotionally is the best use of our time.

You should especially come if you want to get to meet other like-minded people in a relaxing setting, be invigorated, and come away with a clear sense of what to do next.

We will address:

• Talking to (and living with) reluctant partners (friends, colleagues, and neighbors, too)
• Emotional barriers to action
• How our beliefs can be limiting or enhancing, and knowing which we are holding
• The six stages of awareness
• A full tour of the precise steps that Chris and Becca have taken at their homestead
• Hope & Fears - an open discussion among friends about the future
• Creating community
• Developing your own resilience steps and checklists
• Financial steps you should take - we'll have one of our endorsed financial advisors on hand to address your questions