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I'm Looking for Ten Readers Willing to Pony Up $1 for the Crazy-Valuable Content Here May 27, 2022
Thank you very much for considering this beggar's banquet.
OK, I get it: money's tight. A great many bets and certainties have turned to dust. 401K accounts have been decimated and the level of uncertainty about the future is pegged to 11. It's times like this when the crazy-valuable content on Of Two Minds becomes even more crazy-valuable. Yes, many people reckon it's simply crazy, but look how many times what was dismissed as crazy by the mainstream turns out to be right. For example, What If All the Cheap Stuff Goes Away? (March 30, 2018). I try to turn a uniquely pragmatic, independent eye on the world, avoiding ideological tunnel-vision. My interest is in real-world solutions, both systemic: The Only Non-Totalitarian Solution to Resource Scarcity: Decentralized Degrowth and The Community Economy Needs Its Own Money. --and on the individual-household level: Livelihoods in a Degrowth Economy and The Epidemic Nobody Talks About: Burnout. I'm interested in grounded optimism, not empty optimism: Doom Porn and Empty Optimism. I'm interested in what's becoming increasingly scarce, starting with common ground. The number of issues that divide us is expanding like a supernova as polarization disintegrates what few islands of common ground still exist. I'm interested in preserving the remaining bits of common ground and perhaps even establishing a few new ones. The world is being forced to transition to degrowth, and this opens a path to a much more sustainable, human-scale way of life that is antifragile rather than precarious. Sure, we can cling to waste is growth, but why self-destruct when a brighter future beckons? I can't help being frugal (see photos below) in both the tangible world and the world of ideas, where I try to identify the core systems dynamics in play, for example, What Happens When Complexity Unravels? (May 6, 2022) and Checking In On Five Long-Term Cycles. I tend to focus on what one reader described in this way: "money richness and wealth are vastly different animals." For reasons beyond my feeble comprehension, this led to Of Two Minds being shadow-banned, starting with my inclusion in the infamous anonymous hit-list PropOrNot in 2016. So far I've avoided being renditioned to a rat-infested cellblock in the 'Stans, so life here on the margins is lively though not exactly lucrative (see below). Let's not overlook the entertainment/amusement value of crazy. Crazy has its own unique value, and if there's one thing that everyone can agree on, it's that Of Two Minds is unique (ahem, in a good way). I don't expect you to agree with everything I post, or agree with any of it--that's not my goal. I don't see content as a popularity contest, I see it as an opportunity to contribute to our understanding and the debate on how best to respond to problems and obstacles. A mix of differing proposals and critiques is essential to the process of moving forward. You and I are part of that process. I tend to keep expectations low, as my experience tracks Churchill's definition of success: going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. So in the spirit of maintaining low expectations, I'm looking for ten of you thousands of readers who reckon the crazy-valuable (or just plain crazy) content here is worth a dollar. Heck, let's call it a dollar a month, or 12 Washingtons a year. Those ponying up a Lincoln ($5) every month get the weekly Musings Reports, an incredible bargain given what you get. The goal here at Of Two Minds is to not just scrape through crises but emerge with greater skills, adaptability and real wealth--the kind that can't be taxed, stolen or expropriated because it's social and experiential capital. (A cushion of a few extra quatloos is also a goal, as they may come in handy.) Alas, I'm never going to mint a million on TikTok or YouTube. Yes, I understand the value of video and podcasts, but this site is focused on data-driven analysis and marked-up Federal Reserve charts. (I fear my photos of garden veggies are not going to mint me a million on OnlyFans, either.) So here's my question to you: are you one of the few, the daring, the foolhardy, the insanely generous readers willing to pony up a dollar a month to extend life-sustaining encouragement to the one-person content factory here at Of Two Minds? If you are one of those rare and precious souls, please accept my sincere gratitude: Yes, I'm rattling the begging bowl. I'm asking you to consider becoming a patron or contributor. If you need a doorstop, paperweight or sleep-aid, buy one of my books. Heck, buy one as a doorstop and another as a paperweight; they work splendidly in these utilitarian roles. Become a patron of my work via patreon.com How to Contribute / Subscribe to Of Two Minds Thank you very much for considering this beggar's banquet. 
Recent podcasts/videos: The Big Problems And Crash Dynamics Of The Spring/Summer 2022 Housing Market Crisis, Simplified (1:08 hr) My new book is now available at a 10% discount this month: When You Can't Go On: Burnout, Reckoning and Renewal. If you found value in this content, please join me in seeking solutions by becoming a $1/month patron of my work via patreon.com. My recent books: Global Crisis, National Renewal: A (Revolutionary) Grand Strategy for the United States (Kindle $9.95, print $24, audiobook) Read Chapter One for free (PDF). A Hacker's Teleology: Sharing the Wealth of Our Shrinking Planet (Kindle $8.95, print $20, audiobook $17.46) Read the first section for free (PDF). Will You Be Richer or Poorer?: Profit, Power, and AI in a Traumatized World (Kindle $5, print $10, audiobook) Read the first section for free (PDF). Pathfinding our Destiny: Preventing the Final Fall of Our Democratic Republic ($5 Kindle, $10 print, ( audiobook): Read the first section for free (PDF). The Adventures of the Consulting Philosopher: The Disappearance of Drake $1.29 Kindle, $8.95 print); read the first chapters for free (PDF) Money and Work Unchained $6.95 Kindle, $15 print) Read the first section for free Become a $1/month patron of my work via patreon.com. My new book is now available at a 10% discount this month: When You Can't Go On: Burnout, Reckoning and Renewal ( $18 print, $8.95 Kindle ebook) 
When I burned out, what I wanted but could not find was a practical guide by someone who had experienced burnout
themselves. None of the material I found spoke to what I was experiencing or to my sense that our
economy is now optimized to burn people out.
I decided to write the guide I wanted but could not find. This is my experience of burnout, reckoning and renewal. This book is my account of what helped me. The intended audience is other burnouts and those who want to better understand the experience of burnout. Burnout is a life-changing experience in a good way, as absurd as that may sound to those in the depths of burnout. To paraphrase Samuel Beckett: I can’t go on but I must go on. There is a way forward. Read the first section for free (PDF). The Introduction
The Epidemic Nobody Talks About: Burnout
Global Crisis, National Renewal: A (Revolutionary) Grand Strategy for the United States ( $22.50 print, $9.95 Kindle ebook, audiobook) 
Nations that embrace Degrowth and social cohesion will survive. Those that cling to "waste is growth" economies
and destabilizing extremes of inequality will perish.
The threats to the republic are unprecedented, and conventional responses are an accelerant of collapse: the status quo is now the problem rather than the solution. We have an opportunity to redraw America’s Grand Strategy from the ground up. Should we fail to do so, the United States will fail, along with all the other nation-states that are incapable of grasping degrowth and social unity as solutions. This revolutionary Grand Strategy will be the deciding factor between nation-states that fail and the few (if any) that will not just survive but actually thrive. Read Chapter One for free (PDF). Read the Introduction Podcast discussing the book: A Grand Strategy to Address the Global Crisis (54 min., with Richard Bonugli)
Recent entries: I'm Looking for Ten Readers Willing to Pony Up $1 for the Crazy-Valuable Content Here May 27, 2022 Livelihoods in a Degrowth Economy May 26, 2022 The Consent of the Governed Is Slipping Away May 25, 2022 What Could Go Right? May 23, 2022 The Solution for Social Media Spam Bots Is Already Here May 20, 2022 The Epidemic Nobody Talks About: Burnout May 18, 2022 Checking In On Five Long-Term Cycles May 16, 2022 Curveballs in the Housing Bubble Bust May 13, 2022 Herd on the Street May 11, 2022 The Problem with Money May 9, 2022 What Happens When Complexity Unravels? May 6, 2022 The Contrarian Curse May 4, 2022
Is Housing a Bubble That's About to Crash?
May 2, 2022
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Extra-Special Bonus Aphorisms:
"There is no security on this earth; there is only opportunity." (Douglas MacArthur) "We are what we repeatedly do." (Aristotle) "Do the thing and you shall have the power." (Ralph Waldo Emerson) "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." (E.F. Schumacher, via Tom R.) "He who will not risk cannot win." (John Paul Jones) "When we drink coffee, ideas march in like the army." (Honore de Balzac) "Progress is not possible without deviation." (Frank Zappa, via Richard Metzger) "Victory favors those who take pains." (amat victoria curam) "The man who has a garden and a library has everything." (Cicero, via Lee Bentley) "A healthy homecooked family meal and a home garden are revolutionary acts." (CHS) "Do you know what amazes me more than anything else? The impotence of force to organize anything." (Napoleon Bonaparte) "The way of the Tao is reversal" Or "Reversal is the movement of Tao." (Lao Tzu) "Chance favours the prepared mind." (Louis Pasteur) "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." (Winston Churchill) "Where there is ruin, there is hope for treasures." (Rumi) "The realm of gratitude is boundless." (CHS, 11/25/15) "History doesn't have a reverse gear." (CHS, 12/22/15) Smith's Law of Conservation of Risk: Every sustained action has more than one consequence. Some consequences will appear positive for a time before revealing their destructive nature. Some consequences will be intended, some will not. Some will be foreseeable, some will not. Some will be controllable, some will not. Those that are unforeseen and uncontrollable will trigger waves of other unforeseen and uncontrollable consequences. (July 8, 2014)(thanks to Lew G. for retitling the idea.) Smith's Neofeudalism Principle #1: If the citizenry cannot replace a kleptocratic authoritarian government and/or limit the power of the financial Aristocracy at the ballot box, the nation is a democracy in name only. The Smith Corollary to Metcalfe's Law (The Network Effect): the value of the network is created not just by the number of connected devices/users but by the value of the information and knowledge shared by users in sub-networks and in the entire network. (CHS, 4/6/16) My Credo of Liberation: I no longer care if the power centers of our society--the distant, fortified castles of our financial feudal system--are changed by my actions, for I am liberated by the act of resistance. I am no longer complicit in perpetuating fraudulent feudalism and the pathology of concentrated power. I no longer covet signifiers of membership in the Upper Caste that serves the plutocracy. I am liberated from self-destructive consumerist-State financialization and the delusion that debt servitude and obedience to sociopathological Elites serve my self-interests. (Thank you, Klaus-Peter L., for reminding me) "We've become a culture of excuses rather than solutions: solutions always require sustained effort and discipline." (CHS 4/9/16) "Fraud as a way of life caters an extravagant banquet of consequences." (CHS 4/14/16) "Creativity = problem solving = value creation." (CHS 6/4/16) "Truth is powerful because it is the core dynamic of solving problems." (CHS 7/21/17) "We live in a system of human emotions that masquerades as a science (economics)." (CHS 1/1/18) "Always remember, your focus determines your reality." (George Lucas) "Diversity is for poor people. Sameness is for the successful." (GFB) "When power dissipates suddenly, it dissipates completely." (CHS 7/14/19) "Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves." (Henry David Thoreau) "Markets cannot price in the value of non-monetized natural assets such as diverse ecosystems." (CHS 7/14/19) "Magical thinking isn't optimism, it is folly." CHS 1/3/22) "Tune in (to degrowth), drop out (of hyper-consumerism and debt-serfdom) and turn on (relocalizing capital and agency)." (CHS 1/5/22) |
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