Tell them to study the origins of the Christian teachings and fables - most importantly the plagiarism of Egyptian tales and beliefs. Then realise that the Egyptians (as most ancient civilisations) worshipped the stars. 2012 isn't the end of the world, but rather the evolution of life in our solar system. 'This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius...' The organised global banking fraud is what we should be fearing!
Probably worth pointing out that not all Christians subscribe to the 'end times and destruction' scenario.
The family farm as we know it is on the way out .Large scale agribusiness will be the way of the future in my opinion. This is for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is becoming increasingly rare for family farms to be passed to the next generation. For a start many of the next generation aren't interested but even if they are there are a lot of barriers. The more generations that a farm is passed through, the more fingers there are in the pie and the less channce there is of it being passed on intact. The average family farm is inefficient and suffers from a lack of geograghical diversity. A large scale corporate agribusiness can continue to operate forever with only changes of management. They have the economy of scale to reduce input cost and to maximise farm gate prices through large scale supply contracts. They have the benefit of geographical and enterprise diversity. But there is one thing that large scale agribusiness can't function without and that is experienced management. That's where the family farmer comes in. There is no better manager than the family who has managed the farm sucessfully for generations. I think we'll see the best of both worlds. Big business buying or leasing the family farm with the farmer staying on to manage and train future managers as part of a large diverse agricultural company. We're already starting to see this happening. Some farming families will become large companies themselves and others will sell out to them and other corporate companies. Either way, the days of small scale production are slowly coming to an end. C
i personally can't wait for hyperinflation to hit. with the winter wheat oats and barley crops delayed already almost 2 months for planting and veggies all washed away, businesses in transport and generally servicing agriculture are all messed up all over the shop, the pressure on the economy could amplify very quickly as the trigger that starts hyperinflation always comes from a rapid downturn combined with easy loans/money printing. to be honest i haven't been watching that closely about what australia's position is but i imagine that the drop in sales of chinese goods and contraction of their credit market will mean a contraction in our resource exports but i think perhaps what is holding the collapse back largely has to do with the fact we are the major gold producer. i'm not sure what the exact name of it if there is an economic principle to it, but gold rich nations tend to ride high and fall into the hole last because as the ship sinks they buy all our gold as fast as we can dig it out. once hyperinflation on the USD starts our gold sales will stall and then the trouble hits us.
Mate i say this much! 8-12 years out of twenty are good years for farming, but those 8-12 that are not i have seen what i call 5 year farmers. They buy in when times are good, not having any background of the land they have invested in. They also try playing "keeping up with the Jones's"(no offence added) buy over capitalizing the farm with flash new toys. Gone are the days of the "Aussie inventor" and use already what he has available to him. Contract this part of the work out, contract that part of the work out, buy in all his feed instead of growing what he can to make his farm more sustainable. In my neck of the woods iv'e seen plenty of ups and downs in my soldier settlement farming community, but its been a steady decline in the last 10 years when everyone thought that they either need to buy next door out or sell out. The ones that sold out either moved away or became contractors. The ones that bought next door have more debt now than what they first started with. The contractors mind you are doing pretty well for them self, employing new workers and just keeping the community going with the circle of fiat that the towns need. I can see some smaller farms that are not setup for these larger ones become a niche of there own. Changing the way farming has been done into new markets like goats, sheep milk, and other permaculture style farming. These will become like little pockets of gold in years to come, but only if the same farmer stays on with his project and learns from the "Jones's" instead of keeping up. They won't have a monostyle farm but more like they used to have when back in the 50's and 60's, using every bit of land and produce to it's maximum but also having a balance for the land welfare and bank balance.
I can see some smaller farms that are not setup for these larger ones going bust. Unfortunately the Australian palate on a whole is not attuned to goat meat, sheep milk and hippy drug smoking "permaWTF?" . A percentage of the population still want their crumbed steak with chips and don't try selling me any of that rabbit food shit. My God, I know people who won't eat oysters and they're God's gift to the world, apart from Jesus of course. Only necessity and economic devastation will alter the food preferences of the populace.
Can you give me a timetable for these end times? And how do you know this? Is there some sign? Reason I want to know is I plan to spend all my money on drugs and hookers right up until that point until I have none left, so if you get it wrong I will be very poor and very upset with you.
I would like to know as well, as thats exactly how I would like to go out... but it would be a shame if my magical white powder mountain and hooker money ran out before the end of times, thus it needs to be very carefully timed!
U guys are a bit crazy. It's too easy to slip into the doomsday scenario. I don't think there's gonna be a complete collapse of fiat in the sense of anarchy in the streets. Recessions and depressions have come and gone, and they'll come and go again. And, yes, we are heading for another one on a global scale. That's too obvious. However, it's not doomsday. And thinking that way tends to keep your attention away from "today", and into the future. As the worth of fiat is worn down, and everyone gets to pay off their debts with inflated currency, there will be much unemployment and inflation, and the usual pains that come along with it. Yes food will be expensive, but not scarce. Energy will be expensive, but not scarce. We will keep our earth rotating (even if it flips poles), and we'll keep trading and swapping things with each other. Life will go on. However, the foundation of trade will change. Gold & Silver will have to come back into play as currency and money, because of the unreliability of any fiat created. And that's what I think the main change coming is .... reverting back to real money when the fiat is worthless. It won't cause global destruction, it is only money afterall. But if the collapse in fiat causes us all to be more aware, curtail our "junk" buying, wasteful usage of resources and constant polluting of our lands, then that's a good thing. As every gardener knows, u gotta prune that grapevine hard.
Not true. Sydney alone has a demand for specialty produce that isn't in the monoculture/big business model that would astound you. I see garden farmers making a living. I also see a rise in the organic market and a resurgence of people interested in permaculture. I see I rise in farmer direct business (fruit and veg boxes). I see a rise in urban community gardens. I believe that popular shows like Master Chef are broadening the Aussie palate. I believe that many people enjoy and seek out new and exotic flavours are on the rise. I don't believe big agribusiness can operate in this space. It's too narrow and the profits are scattered among a colossal amount of variety and conditions. It is more efficient and socially equitable to diversify and support all forms of farming big and small. Not to mention the national security risk of loss of biodiversity that big agri business poses. Perhaps the biggest risk for future food security. Sure it's a battle for control but big agribusiness will not win. Nature hates a monoculture. Sure some people will always be the standard white bread, meat and potato people but they are a growing minority. Just think, when Italian (pasta and pizza) and Greek (kebabs) were strange foreign food. They certainly now Aussie standards.
And don't forget rice. My parents remember rice and pasta only ever being eaten as puddings. Lucky we have the diversity now and have a range of staples to choose from.
We're noticing in the clothing industry, our sales are steadily increasing on hemp and bamboo fibres, as opposed to our "competition" who sell nylon/rayon are decreasing. Thus, we're slowly eliminating the nylon/rayon stuff and will focus the next 3-5 years on building our natural fibre ranges up. Definitely a change happening, and it's the melbournites causing it.
Benjamind, again with the deflationary rhetoric~ telling everyone that Treasury bonds and the USD are the safe havens... oh dear. Look, I agree with your analysis, and I would point out that Jim Rogers (my idol) currently owns US$'s, but I simply cannot see thebenbernank doing anything other than printing up the Trillions required to cover all the bad waves of State and Muni bond defaults coming up soon. If this scenario pans out, it would be negative for US bonds and ultimately the $.
that's my take on it as well. if the will to print ever drops though then deflation could take hold again.
