Amidst the endless flood of propaganda ("there is no recession, Europe is about to fix all its problems in one fell swoop, a new Bull market is underway," etc.) a trend of long-term importance is emerging: the truth is going global.

By the "truth" I refer not to some eternal truth, but to an understanding that the financial model presented by the Status Quo as "reality" is in fact an illusion that serves the interests of those controlling massive concentrations of wealth and political power. Simply put, the present-day financial Status Quo is unsustainable, and it will devolve or collapse under its own weight of internal instabilities and lies.

There is no way to track how many people around the world are awakening to the understanding that everything that the mainstream media presents to them as financial reality is a distortion aimed at managing their perceptions and gaining their passive acceptance of the Status Quo as "good for you" or at least "permanent."

Thus all we have is anecdotal evidence of the sort I am going to present.

Earlier this week, I was standing in the cool pre-dawn darkness outside the small hotel that had been "home" for this visit to Paris, waiting for the airport shuttle. The night clerk of the hotel, a young man in his mid to late 20s, was kind enough to join me. (I will call him by his first initial, C.) C. was conversant in English, and spoke in a measured, friendly tone.

Just as a point of conversation, I asked about France's rugby team, which had been in the news for its win over Britain's team. He replied that he didn't follow sports much, and then he referred to ancient Rome's technique of using "bread and circuses" to distract its people.

Woah. Bread and circuses? This was not the response I expected. With a bit of encouragement, C. then went on to describe how "banksters" (his word) dominated the governments in both the U.S. and Europe, how the mass media was incapable of reporting the truth, and how people were blind to this manipulation of their opinion.

I asked him how he had learned all this, and he replied, "The Internet." He had learned all this from American websites and blogs.

With no further prompting from me, he went on to describe Roosevelt's confiscation of private gold in the 1930s, and how a plot of good land and house in the countryside might be the ultimate hedge when things fell apart. He suggested that gold would the basis of a new money, but only after the Elites had bought it up/made it illegal for commoners to own.

This young man did not know I was a writer/blogger; to him, I was just the brother of a regular customer of the hotel.

I asked if he had studied economics in university, and he said no, but a friend of his did, and that his friend was only learning how to indoctrinate the next generation of students with the Status Quo model.

Is C. a rarity or one of a growing number of young people around the world who "get it"? There is no way to know, but we do know this:

1. English is the international language that every educated person must learn

2. U.S.-based websites are available everywhere in the world except where they are actively blocked, i.e. China, etc.

What is truth and what is illusion? Ultimately, we organize the chaos around us into models that explain the behavior we observe. If the model no longer makes sense of the world we see, then eventually we abandon it for a model which does a better job of matching the reality we observe.

The Status Quo model of financial reality no longer makes sense of the real world, and so the Status Quo has been forced to manipulate our perception via statistical legerdemain, manipulated markets and coordinated "perception management" via the corporate media.

As I write this, the stock market appears to be breaking out to new highs on the "news" that Germany and France "agree" and that a complete "fix" of the Eurozone's multiple financial morasses is close at hand. The presumption is, of course, that maintaining the financial Status Quo will usher in a global Bull Market of epic proportions, with a global resurgence of confidence and prosperity to follow.

Truth or illusion? We know it is illusion being presented as truth. But if the audience believes the magic, then is it true? How many young people have gazed behind the curtain and seen through the trick? We don't know, but the number may well be rising faster than the Status Quo realizes.


NOTE: I am jetlagged, exhausted and under the weather; I owe many of you books and emails, and your continued patience is greatly appreciated.

If this recession strikes you as different from previous downturns, you might be interested in my new book An Unconventional Guide to Investing in Troubled Times (print edition) or Kindle ebook format. You can read the ebook on any computer, smart phone, iPad, etc. Click here for links to Kindle apps and Chapter One. The solution in one word: Localism.


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My new book is available in both print and ebook formats: An Unconventional Guide to Investing in Troubled Times (print edition) or Kindle ebook format. You can read the ebook now on any computer, smart phone, iPad, etc. Click here for links to Kindle apps and Chapter One.

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