Daily Digest 6/18 - The Grizzlies Are Coming, Where Does Disaster Strike Again and Again?

Economy

4 Things Futurist Alvin Toffler Predicted About Work Back in 1970 (Thomas R.)

One of the driving themes of Toffler's work was that knowledge would become the driving force behind powerful societies--more so even than labor or materials. Toffler wrote that those people, institutions, and civilizations that failed to keep up with the pace of new information would quickly face decline. He predicted the spread of free-flowing information via personal computers and the internet, and brought the term "information overload" into the popular lexicon, a reference to the difficulty people have understanding issues and making decisions because of the overwhelming amounts of data available.

Do You Feel Like You’re Being Positioned For What May Come? (Thomas R.)

The later is where my gut tells me I’m being positioned. Being ready for potentially extraordinary SHTF. While I sincerely hope that it never happens, I do feel driven towards the possibility. Is that weird?

The Places in the U.S. Where Disaster Strikes Again and Again (thc0655)

Christina DeConcini, the director of government affairs at the World Resources Institute, said that federal programs do not adequately emphasize adapting to the risks posed by climate change. She said that instead of just being responsive, the government should stress building for resilience against disasters.

It’s All Too Much, and We Still Have to Care (Jen H.)

Jeff Sessions tells a horrified Hugh Hewitt that this forced separation policy is purely instrumental because we must “send a message” to future asylum-seekers that “if people don’t want to be separated from their children, they should not bring them with them. We’ve got to get this message out.” As Jessica Winter observes, this is the “I only beat her because she made me do it” logic that domestic abusers use to blame their victims.

Here We Go Again: Our Double-Bubble Economy (Thomas R.)

The other problem with bubbles is that we've become dependent on them as props holding up a rotten, corrupt status quo. Since the economy can no longer generate sufficient prosperity to go around via actual increases in productivity and efficiency, those skimming most of the gains rely on "the wealth effect" generated by expanding asset bubbles to create a dreamy illusion of prosperity.

Texas Bullion Depository Open for Business; Sets the Stage to Challenge Federal Government’s Monopoly on Money (Thomas R.)

The facility will not only provide a secure place for individuals, business, cities, counties, government agencies and even other countries to store gold and other precious metals, the law also creates a mechanism to facilitate the everyday use of gold and silver in transactions. In short, a person will eventually be able to deposit gold or silver – and pay other people through electronic means or checks – in sound money.

FI Update: Tottering Pillars (James W.)

The fiasco at the annual G7 summit of the major Western nations was a key moment when a horrified European political and security establishment woke up to this strategic reality. The imposition of tariffs against China by the Americans is just one sign that President Trump is deadly serious about ending the liberal globalised economic order using the leverage of American military, economic and monetary (dollar) power. Anybody who followed the Trump campaign closely, listened to his speeches or reads his tweets should not be surprised by these developments.

On Donald Trump's "Madness" & A New Gold Standard (Will H.)

A question in the back of my mind: Is Mr. Trump's "madness" really leading to the Gold Standard? Is that what he really wants? Because if he continues to undermine the present US Dollar as the World's Reserve Currency, by making it impossible for CBs to obtain Dollars through the US Trade Deficit, that would appear to be the likely final outcome.

Demolition Crew Strikes Gold In France, Uncovers 600 Historic Gold Coins Worth Over $100K (Thomas R.)

Right now, the gold coins, which could be worth just over $100,000 are with the French police, the regional Ouest-France newspaper reported.

Head of Bat'isol construction crew, Laurent Le Bihan, told AFP that the original owner of the house was a coin collector, so the discovery was not shocking to the current owner.

Silver To Climb 11% In Next Three Months - German-Based Research Firm (Thomas R.)

"Usually a perfect contrarian setup is found when commercial hedgers hold less than 10,000 short contracts in the silver futures market. With the current 35,297 short contracts, a final sell off in silver is still possible in the coming weeks," he said.

Here Is The Stunning Reason Why Treasury Yields Blew Out In April (Thomas R.)

It was Vladimir Putin that decided to puke the most US Treasuries out of Russia ever, liquidating half, or $47.4 billion, of its US Treasuries in one month, to its lowest holdings since March 2008!

Rise of the machines: has technology evolved beyond our control? (Sparky1)

Instead of a utopian future in which technological advancement casts a dazzling, emancipatory light on the world, we seem to be entering a new dark age characterised by ever more bizarre and unforeseen events. The Enlightenment ideal of distributing more information ever more widely has not led us to greater understanding and growing peace, but instead seems to be fostering social divisions, distrust, conspiracy theories and post-factual politics. To understand what is happening, it’s necessary to understand how our technologies have come to be, and how we have come to place so much faith in them.

The View From Olympus: The Big One (Thomas R.)

For the U.S. military, which at present requires enormous financial inputs for not much output — we should be able to buy failures for less than a trillion dollars a year — everything will change. The vast armies of contractors and DoD civilians will have to go. Expensive procurement programs will be terminated. Force structure will shrink — and the bureaucracy will seek to save itself by cutting what few actual fighters we have. So enormous has that bureaucracy become that we could find ourselves with a “military” that has hundreds of thousands of people but no combat forces whatsoever. If you think that can’t happen, take a look at Europe’s militaries today, including the Bundeswehr.

Overconfident Students, Dubious Employers (Thomas R.)

The biggest divide was around students’ professionalism and work ethic. Almost 90 percent of seniors thought they were competent in that area, but only about 43 percent of the employers agreed.

OPEC Back “In the Driver’s Seat” (Michael S.)

Libyan export terminals knocked offline. Libya’s two largest oil export terminals suffered disruptions this week due to clashes between rival groups. The outages at the Es Sider and Ras Lanuf terminals disrupted some 240,000 bpd of supply, Libya’s National Oil Corp. said on Thursday. The two facilities account for 40 percent of Libya’s oil exports. If the losses are sustained for any lengthy period of time, it will put more pressure on the OPEC+ group to increase output at its meeting on June 22.

Can You Retire Comfortably If You Only Work a Part-Time Job? (Thomas R.)

However, part-time employment has downsides when it comes to retirement. While full-time workers can receive enticing perks like retirement plans and health insurance, gig workers and others with part-time hours may be solely responsible for their own savings and benefits. That can make it difficult to prepare for the retirement lifestyle you want.

5 Signs You Will Never Retire (Thomas R.)

Mortgage debt also makes it more difficult to retire because those monthly payments contribute to a higher cost of living in retirement. Paying off a mortgage is often a major factor in determining whether you can stop working. Joseph Carbone, a certified financial planner for Focus Planning Group in Bayport, New York, says some clients are able to retire with a mortgage because they have a carefully crafted retirement plan that affords them enough monthly cash to cover their payments and their living expenses, but not everyone can afford to make mortgage payments using their retirement income.

Unbearable damage: Foresters look to protect trees from black bears (Thomas R.)

The bears love to peel bark off the trees to munch the newly formed sapwood beneath. If they scrape it all off, it kills the tree, taking away the xylem and phloem in the cambium of the tree, which would otherwise allow water to move from the roots up the tree stem, said Ron Durham, land resource supervisor at the Idaho Department of Lands office at Priest Lake.

The Grizzlies Are Coming (Thomas R.)

Biologists and their maps agree: The bears are coming to southwestern Montana. Since 1975, when this icon of the American West was listed as an endangered species, grizzlies in the ­Yellowstone National Park eco­system to the south have more than quadrupled their range and population. Well to the north, grizzlies in the Glacier National Park region also are spreading out.

The 8 Best Survival Food Companies to Buy in 2018 (Thomas R.)

The Ready Store has won numerous awards for the best food storage company, both for its great products and excellent customer service. Started by a Utah couple just after 9/11, The Ready Store has grown into one of the best food storage companies in the country.

Gold & Silver

Click to read the PM Daily Market Commentary: 6/15/18

Provided daily by the Peak Prosperity Gold & Silver Group

Article suggestions for the Daily Digest can be sent to [email protected]. All suggestions are filtered by the Daily Digest team and preference is given to those that are in alignment with the message of the Crash Course and the "3 Es."