PowerSwitch

'Asia has a big advantage,' said our old friend Marc Faber, at the Halkin conference in London. 'It doesn't have the same entitlement culture of the developed countries.'

'Entitlement culture...'

He was talking about zombies. People who take, but don't give. Parasites on the productive economy.

It's the "entitlement society", as Marc puts it. Half the households in the US tap into money that doesn't belong to them - they're beneficiaries of money from the government. And they are not likely to give it up.

'Once you get into a situation like that, where people have a legal right to receive money from the government, it is almost impossible to stop it,' Marc continued.

So what will happen now, one member of the audience wanted to know.

'I don't know. No one knows. But the best thing you can do to protect yourself is probably to buy a farm in a remote location.'

Marc is not necessarily bullish on agriculture prices. Instead, he is bearish on central banks and central governments. Between the two of them, they will bring on a disaster. Having a little farm of your own may be a good investment - no matter what happens to the price of wheat and soybeans.

Some things are more important than money. Like survival, for instance.

'The history of the human race is a history of war,' says Marc. 'And the next war may not be groups of tanks facing off with one another. I can imagine that London's water or electricity will be cut off. Or, the system of internet connections...or the electronic banking system... will be shut down.

'We all depend on those things much more than we realise. Society has become very complex and very interdependent. A breakdown anywhere could mean a breakdown of the whole system. That's when you'll wish you had followed my advice and gotten a farm where you could be more or less self-sufficient... at least for a while.

'That could be the most important investment you ever make.'

In terms of return on investment, a farm may not be the best move you ever make. But neither is a smoke detector. But now, central bankers and central governments have matches in their hands and pyromania on their minds. It's time to take precautions.

moimitou wrote:LB3, he criticizes the "entitlement society", yet recommends investment in farms, don't you see a contradiction there? Isn't the invester a parasite in this system as he sucks out part of the profit he had no business in producing.

Aren't the investers the "People who take, but don't give. Parasites on the productive economy."?

As a young wannabe farmer with no capital to invest with, I surely don't want someone else investing in my farm and expecting to take some of the profit from the produce I make. And, as collapse proceeds, I bet this will become more and more of a problem...

emordnilap wrote:Odd how he forgets that trillions of 'entitlement money' has gone to those who have the most to start with.