Monthly Archives: September 2012

Catala, Events, Peaceful Resistance, Politics, Spain, The Mint

The Catalan Independence Movement – A Memory and a brief analysis

A quick note to share a smattering of links and thoughts related to the Catalan Independence movement and the latest wave of anti-austerity protests in the Club Med region:

Courting disaster in Spain via creditwritedowns.com

The eleconomista.es article referenced, which should be cause for alarm:  Militares advierten a Mas de las consecuencias de promover la “fractura de España” (The Military warns (Artur) Mas (Catalunya’s regional president) of the consequences of promoting the “break up of Spain”)

and this on broader unrest in Greece and Madrid from Reuters via Yahoo!:  Anti-cuts protests erupt on streets of Athens and Madrid

The people of the Mediterranean states are no fools, they realize that they have been made the scapegoats and guarantors for years of mismanagement by their parasitic central governments and banking sectors.  In a reasonable world, where the government respected its citizens, a region like Catalunya would have the right to shrug off the debts of the central government and make a go of providing basic services on its own.

Flag of Catalunya
The Catalans deserve better

Something, that most Catalans will point out, it is capable of doing very well.

However, when it comes to sovereign debt, it appears that there is no escape for the capable.  Rather, the noose is generally tightened as the central government becomes increasingly desperate for revenue.

All reasonable dialogue is thrown out the window, and the central government makes a nationalist appeal and orders subservience at the point of a gun, as evidenced by the statement issued by the Spanish Military Association to Artur Mas.

The statement comes in response to protests calling for Catalan independence that included one in five Catalans (1.5 Million of 7.5 Million).  

We must note, however, that the Catalans are an unusually peaceful people, and the chances of widespread violence are nil.

We were attending grad school in Barcelona when the tragic Madrid train bombing occurred on March 12, 2004.  Apalled by the violence, we participated in a protest of similar size.

It was beautiful.

We took the Metro to Passeig de Gracia and slowly streamed down Barcelona’s grandest boulevard.  As we came together with the main march, it was apparent that this was a large event which was hell-bent on rejecting the violence with an overwhelming show of peace.

No al terrorisme, No a la Guerra by Kippeboy via wikimedia commons
No al terrorisme, No a la Guerra by Kippeboy via wikimedia commons

As we marched down the Paseo, from time to time the procession of millions would stop, clap our hands, slap our legs, and then hold our hands, palms out, in front of us in silence in a grand gesture that shouted through the silence:

Enough

Adin Ballou would have been proud.

Enough of terrorism, enough of war.  This message came to the world in stark contrast to the regular reaction of an eye for an eye that had been pursued up to this point with predictable results.

We pray that this latest round of protests in our beloved Catalunya and Spain end in a similar fashion, with a firm and peaceful rejection of austerity, and a show of solidarity and goodwill towards men.

Economics, Events

Apple’s use of Patent Law indicative of an inferior product offering

9/26/2012 Portland, Oregon – Pop in your mints…

The global smart phone industry is still reeling from the implications of the ruling in favor of Apple in a high stakes legal battle with rival Samsung in the mobile technology space.

To be clear, Apple has every right to make use of the remedies available to them under international patent law.  As the law is written, there can be no mistake that the pioneering iPhone and iOS operating system has been shamelessly mimicked in a desperate attempt to replicate its success and help satiate the insatiable human need for easy to use technology at an affordable price on a platform friendly to developers.

Yes, the villains at Samsung are being punished for listening to the market and copying and improving upon Apple’s design, making it faster, bigger, more affordable, and accessible to developers.

For this their punishment should be all the more severe.

So should the punishment for every organic farmer who dares to “copy” a seed which has been “patented” by Monsanto, or anyone who puts their hands to work to cultivate or, dare we say, improve upon something that has been made before them.

The point is that patent law, while serving the important function of protecting innovations as they come to market, is counterproductive on a societal level when they are enforced to keep copy cat products, which meet a need that the original product does not.  In the example of the iPhone, offering a similar product at a more accessible price with an easier to use interface.

In fact, we see that in nearly every example of a company or individual invoking patent protections to protect its products, the law ends up causing a greater loss to society as they are forced to choose between what is now seen as an inferior or prohibitively expensive product or go without until the patent holder sees fit, from the crystal cage of their legal monopoly, to grant the populace an upgrade or a price break.

Apple, in this sense, has admitted defeat in the mobile realm, as the iPhone 5 proves once again that, after establishing the baseline for mobile technology through sheer genius, they are forced to lean on patent laws to maintain what should have been a clear competitive advantage.

The sales figures speak for themselves:  Samsung shipped twice as many smartphones as Apple sold last quarter.

In the case against Samsung, we see that the authorities are more interested in product pride than allowing free actors in the market to supply a consumer need that the iPhone does not, par for the course in a system where Crony Capitalism daily stifles what may be life-changing innovations.

Thank goodness the human genome wasn’t patented!  Where would we apply for the right to reproduce?

Full disclosure:  We own devices with both android and iOS operating systems.  For those who have never tried a droid, let’s just say that it makes operating in the iOS and the Apple ecosystem feel like being shackled with a pair of handcuffs.  For those who have never tried the iOS, let’s just say it makes the droid feel clunky and unstable.  Were it possible to mesh the iOS with the freedom of the android ecosystem, mobile nirvana would be achieved.  Thanks to patent law enforcement, it never will be.

Stay tuned to your devices and Trust Jesus.

Stay Fresh!

David Mint

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

Key Indicators for September 26, 2012

Copper Price per Lb: $3.70
Oil Price per Barrel:  $90.25
Corn Price per Bushel:  $7.43
10 Yr US Treasury Bond:  1.63%
FED Target Rate:  0.16%  ON AUTOPILOT, THE FED IS DEAD!
Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,743 PERMANENT UNCERTAINTY
MINT Perceived Target Rate*:  0.25%
Unemployment Rate:  8.1%
Inflation Rate (CPI):  0.6%
Dow Jones Industrial Average:  13,455
M1 Monetary Base:  $2,279,800,000,000
M2 Monetary Base:  $10,150,900,000,000

Events, Strategy

The China-Japan Island Conflict – What does it mean?

At the Mint we, along with the rest of the world, follow current events with a wary understanding that the world is slowly destabilizing. 

As international trade continues to collapse, energy that would otherwise be spent on productive activities is increasingly directed towards military preparations as nationalistic animosity rises to take its place.

As we studied our MBA in Barcelona back in 2003, our EU history professor speculated privately to us that the US invasion of Iraq had more to do with keeping an eye on China than any existential threat that Iraq posed at the time.

Circa 2012, his words seem almost prophetic.  Now, as the Israeli/Iranian nuclear rhetoric continues to escalate, there is a new conflict over an old dispute in the East China Sea between China and Japan which, if it continues to escalate, could theoretically force the US into hostilities with China.

It is hard to image a worse scenario in both Iran and China.  At the same, it is hard to imagine a more likely scenario as world governments increasingly look for distractions to a failure of domestic economic policies.

As always, Statfor provides informed insight for the geographically challenged such as ourselves in the following report.  Enjoy and stay fresh!

Understanding the China-Japan Island Conflict

By Rodger Baker
Vice President of East Asia Analysis

Sept. 29 will mark 40 years of normalized diplomatic relations between China and Japan, two countries that spent much of the 20th century in mutual enmity if not at outright war. The anniversary comes at a low point in Sino-Japanese relations amid a dispute over an island chain in the East China Sea known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan and Diaoyu Islands in China.

Chinese FlagThese islands, which are little more than uninhabited rocks, are not particularly valuable on their own. However, nationalist factions in both countries have used them to enflame old animosities; in China, the government has even helped organize the protests over Japan’s plan to purchase and nationalize the islands from their private owner. But China’s increased assertiveness is not limited only to this issue. Beijing has undertaken a high-profile expansion and improvement of its navy as a way to help safeguard its maritime interests, which Japan — an island nation necessarily dependent on access to sea-lanes — naturally views as a threat. Driven by its economic and political needs, China’s expanded military activity may awaken Japan from the pacifist slumber that has characterized it since the end of World War II.

An Old Conflict’s New Prominence

The current tensions surrounding the disputed islands began in April. During a visit to the United States, Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, a hard-line nationalist known for his 1989 book The Japan That Can Say No, which advocated for a stronger international role for Japan not tied to U.S. interests or influence, said that the Tokyo municipal government was planning to buy three of the five Senkaku/Diaoyu islands from their private Japanese owner. Ishihara’s comments did little to stir up tensions at the time, but subsequent efforts to raise funds and press forward with the plan drew the attention and ultimately the involvement of the Japanese central government. The efforts also gave China a way to distract from its military and political standoff with the Philippines over control of parts of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.

Naval Ensign of Japan
Naval Ensign of Japan

 

For decades, Tokyo and Beijing generally abided by a tacit agreement to keep the islands dispute quiet. Japan agreed not to carry out any new construction or let anyone land on the islands; China agreed to delay assertion of any claim to the islands and not let the dispute interfere with trade and political relations. Although flare-ups occurred, usually triggered by some altercation between the Japanese coast guard and Chinese fishing vessels or by nationalist Japanese or Chinese activists trying to land on the islands, the lingering territorial dispute played only a minor role in bilateral relations.

However, Ishihara’s plans for the Tokyo municipal government to take over the islands and eventually build security outposts there forced the Japanese government’s hand. Facing domestic political pressure to secure Japan’s claim to the islands, the government determined that the “nationalization” of the islands was the least contentious option. By keeping control over construction and landings, the central government would be able to keep up its side of the tacit agreement with China on managing the islands.

China saw Japan’s proposed nationalization as an opportunity to exploit. Even as Japan was debating what action to take, China began stirring up anti-Japanese sentiment and Beijing tacitly backed the move by a group of Hong Kong activists in August to sail to and land on the disputed islands. At the same time, Beijing prevented a Chinese-based fishing vessel from attempting the same thing, using Hong Kong’s semi-autonomous status as a way to distance itself from the action and retain greater flexibility in dealing with Japan.

As expected, the Japanese coast guard arrested the Hong Kong activists and impounded their ship, but Tokyo also swiftly released them to avoid escalating tensions. Less than a month later, after Japan’s final decision to purchase the islands from their private Japanese owner, anti-Japanese protests swept China, in many places devolving into riots and vandalism targeting Japanese products and companies. Although many of these protests were stage-managed by the government, the Chinese began to clamp down when some demonstrations got out of control. While still exploiting the anti-Japanese rhetoric, Chinese state-run media outlets have highlighted local governments’ efforts to identify and punish protesters who turned violent and warn that nationalist pride is no excuse for destructive behavior.

Presently, both China and Japan are working to keep the dispute within manageable parameters after a month of heightened tensions. China has shifted to disrupting trade with Japan on a local level, with some Japanese products reportedly taking much longer to clear customs, while Japan has dispatched a deputy foreign minister for discussions with Beijing. Chinese maritime surveillance ships continue to make incursions into the area around the disputed islands, and there are reports of hundreds or even thousands of Chinese fishing vessels in the East China Sea gathered near the waters around the islands, but both Japan and China appear to be controlling their actions. Neither side can publicly give in on its territorial stance, and both are looking for ways to gain politically without allowing the situation to degrade further.

Political Dilemmas in Beijing and Tokyo

The islands dispute is occurring as China and Japan, the world’s second- and third-largest economies, are both experiencing political crises at home and facing uncertain economic paths forward. But the dispute also reflects the very different positions of the two countries in their developmental history and in East Asia’s balance of power.

China, the emerging power in Asia, has seen decades of rapid economic growth but is now confronted with a systemic crisis, one already experienced by Japan in the early 1990s and by South Korea and the other Asian tigers later in the decade. China is reaching the limits of the debt-financed, export-driven economic model and must now deal with the economic and social consequences of this change. That this comes amid a once-in-a-decade leadership transition only exacerbates China’s political unease as it debates options for transitioning to a more sustainable economic model. But while China’s economic expansion may have plateaued, its military development is still growing.

The Chinese military is becoming a more modern fighting force, more active in influencing Chinese foreign policy and more assertive of its role regionally. The People’s Liberation Army Navy on Sept. 23 accepted the delivery of China’s first aircraft carrier, and the ship serves as a symbol of the country’s military expansion. While Beijing views the carrier as a tool to assert Chinese interests regionally (and perhaps around the globe over the longer term) in the same manner that the United States uses its carrier fleet, for now China has only one, and the country is new to carrier fleet and aviation operations. Having a single carrier offers perhaps more limitations than opportunities for its use, all while raising the concerns and inviting reaction from neighboring states.

Japan, by contrast, has seen two decades of economic malaise characterized by a general stagnation in growth, though not necessarily a devolution of overall economic power. Still, it took those two decades for the Chinese economy, growing at double-digit rates, to even catch the Japanese economy. Despite the malaise, there is plenty of latent strength in the Japanese economy. Japan’s main problem is its lack of economic dynamism, a concern that is beginning to be reflected in Japanese politics, where new forces are rising to challenge the political status quo. The long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party lost power to the opposition Democratic Party of Japan in 2009, and both mainstream parties are facing new challenges from independents, non-traditional candidates and the emerging regionalist parties, which espouse nationalism and call for a more aggressive foreign policy.

Even before the rise of the regionalist parties, Japan had begun moving slowly but inexorably from its post-World War II military constraints. With China’s growing military strength, North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and even South Korean military expansion, Japan has cautiously watched as the potential threats to its maritime interests have emerged, and it has begun to take action. The United States, in part because it wants to share the burden of maintaining security with its allies, has encouraged Tokyo’s efforts to take a more active role in regional and international security, commensurate with Japan’s overall economic influence.

Concurrent with Japan’s economic stagnation, the past two decades have seen the country quietly reform its Self-Defense Forces, expanding the allowable missions as it re-interprets the country’s constitutionally mandated restrictions on offensive activity. For example, Japan has raised the status of the defense agency to the defense ministry, expanded joint training operations within its armed forces and with their civilian counterparts, shifted its views on the joint development and sale of weapons systems, integrated more heavily with U.S. anti-missile systems and begun deploying its own helicopter carriers.

Contest for East Asian Supremacy

China is struggling with the new role of the military in its foreign relations, while Japan is seeing a slow re-emergence of the military as a tool of its foreign relations. China’s two-decade-plus surge in economic growth is reaching its logical limit, yet given the sheer size of China’s population and its lack of progress switching to a more consumption-based economy, Beijing still has a long way to go before it achieves any sort of equitable distribution of resources and benefits. This leaves China’s leaders facing rising social tensions with fewer new resources at their disposal. Japan, after two decades of society effectively agreeing to preserve social stability at the cost of economic restructuring and upheaval, is now reaching the limits of its patience with a bureaucratic system that is best known for its inertia.

Both countries are seeing a rise in the acceptability of nationalism, both are envisioning an increasingly active role for their militaries, and both occupy the same strategic space. With Washington increasing its focus on the Asia-Pacific region, Beijing is worried that a resurgent Japan could assist the United States on constraining China in an echo of the Cold War containment strategy.

We are now seeing the early stage of another shift in Asian power. It is perhaps no coincidence that the 1972 re-establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Japan followed U.S. President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China. The Senkaku/Diaoyu islands were not even an issue at the time, since they were still under U.S. administration. Japan’s defense was largely subsumed by the United States, and Japan had long ago traded away its military rights for easy access to U.S. markets and U.S. protection. The shift in U.S.-China relations opened the way for the rapid development of China-Japan relations.

The United States’ underlying interest is maintaining a perpetual balance between Asia’s two key powers so neither is able to challenging Washington’s own primacy in the Pacific. During World War II, this led the United States to lend support to China in its struggle against imperial Japan. The United States’ current role backing a Japanese military resurgence against China’s growing power falls along the same line. As China lurches into a new economic cycle, one that will very likely force deep shifts in the country’s internal political economy, it is not hard to imagine China and Japan’s underlying geopolitical balance shifting again. And when that happens, so too could the role of the United States.

Understanding the China-Japan Island Conflict is republished with permission of Stratfor.

Bible Teaching, Jesus, Teaching

Bible Teaching – Avoiding Distractions

We must remove the distractions and say only what is eternally important.

Today, perhaps as never before in human history, people find themselves in the middle of a constant battle for their attention.  When people enter the classroom to hear the Word of God, this battle intensifies.  As such, the teacher is not only fighting for the class to hear the Word of God in a fresh way, they must first fight through any number of distractions which are competing for the attention of the class.

The distractions generally take one of two forms.  There are the obvious distractions such as cell phones, external noises, and whispering amongst students.  These obvious distractions are best ignored and will usually fade as the Word of God begins to captivate the class.

The more subtle form of distraction is the type of distraction which masquerades as a search for an understanding of the Biblical text.  The key to avoiding these subtle distractions is twofold:  1) Remember that we are reading the Bible as if we have never opened it before and, 2) Take pains to reiterate that the Word of God is for each and every person in the class.  As such, it must be understood that the Word is being taught and received in an intimate fashion, regardless of the size of the class.

For example, when teaching the story of Creation presented in Genesis, there may arise a question as to whether the days of creation are literal 24 hour days or are meant to represent a longer periods of evolutionary change.  While this may be a profound theological question which inspires a lively debate in the class, you can see how allowing the class to be distracted by this debate destroys any opportunity for the class to receive the words of Genesis in a personal fashion.

For example, in Genesis 2:7, we are confronted with the following,

“Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

God breathed life into Adam
Imagine, the Living God breathing in our nostrils! www.thebricktestament.com

That is intimate!  Imagine, the Living God breathing life into our nostrils!  A theological debate can add nothing to this beautiful imagery, and while scholarly debate may appeal to the intellect, it will do nothing to radically change the lives of those who listen.

When teaching the Word of God, scholarly debate is a distraction to be avoided.

As teachers, we must remove the distractions and say only what is eternally important.  Only then can the class take the cup of the Word of the Living God and drink it deeply into their souls.

Economics, Personal Finance, The Mint

The Bernanke Ka-Put

9/19/2012 Portland, Oregon – Pop in your mints…

Most of the world who bothers to keep up with monetary matters, as we at The Mint are tasked with doing, have now digested and “evacuated” (to use the medical terminology) the jest of the FED’s last communication to the world.  Amongst other things, the FED’s public image, Ben Bernanke, indicated

Ben Bernanke Testimony
Bernanke’s Put will leave a painful mark on household budgets

that the all knowing Federal Reserve Bank, protector of the US currency and guarantor of full employment for all, will take the following actions:

1.  The FED will keep the FED funds rate target zero bound through 2015.  Since the FED funds rate has been zero bound for over three years now, the FED has taken to increasing the year at the end of this statement, in this case 2015, since they are reluctant to target a negative interest rate.  Think of the year as just another decimal point in this absurd equation.

2.  They will take Quantitative Easing (QE) to a whole new level.  Starting with $40 Billion in free funds to holders of mortgage notes and other rehypothecated asset backed (the astute will note the oxymoron) trash each month, for the rest of their existence.

This is not a drill.

The FED has tipped their hand so far that even most bankers (save Morgan Stanley) and government officials now understand what is going on.  We are witnessing what will come to be known as the Bernanke Put, or Ka-Put, as we now refer to it.

As Ira Epstein eloquently put it in his most recent Gold Report:  “Basically, the Fed threw the kitchen sink at the market.”

The Bernanke Ka-Put, taken together with the recent comments by Mario Draghi of the ECB and the ruling of the German High Court, which further sealed the Euro currency’s inflationary demise, leave no room for doubt as to what the MO of the world’s Central Banks is.

What does it mean?  The FED will print money to prop up the system no matter what happens.  Rampant price inflation and intermittent panics (due to the malinvestment which is occurring as a result of the FED’s money printing) must now be assumed in any financial model and household budget.

Additionally, contingency planning, with the assumptions of the disruption of services and supply lines, must now take place.  Malinvestment means that things will begin to “not work” (an understatement, to be sure) in the real world as a result of the financial engineering being practiced by the FED and every other Central Bank and banking cartel on the planet.

Again, This is not a drill.

Stay tuned and Trust Jesus.

Stay Fresh!

David Mint

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

Key Indicators for September 19, 2012

Copper Price per Lb: $3.77
Oil Price per Barrel:  $94.57
Corn Price per Bushel:  $7.40
10 Yr US Treasury Bond:  1.77%
FED Target Rate:  0.16%  ON AUTOPILOT, THE FED IS DEAD!
Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,771 PERMANENT UNCERTAINTY
MINT Perceived Target Rate*:  0.25%
Unemployment Rate:  8.1%
Inflation Rate (CPI):  0.6%
Dow Jones Industrial Average:  13,609
M1 Monetary Base:  $2,470,800,000,000
M2 Monetary Base:  $10,103,400,000,000

Economics, Politics, The Mint

The Fiscal Cliff, the moronic Redux of the 2011 Debt Ceiling debacle

9/18/2012 Portland, Oregon – Pop in your mints…

Today we turn our focus to an event which, like a sequel of a bad movie, has been widely ignored.  The dreaded Fiscal Cliff.  For those who do not recall, the Fiscal Cliff is the moronic sequel of the 2011 flop “The Debt Ceiling Debacle.”  You can read our review of the first film here:

US Debt Ceiling Vote to Ignite Armageddon in Bond Markets?

Most of the actors in the first film, Obama, Boehner, Reid, and Bernanke, are returning for the sequel, although there are rumors that Obama may be replaced by Mitt Romney if Romney is chosen over Obama in a fan poll scheduled in November.  Tim Geithner, who did a poor job acting as the voice of reason in the original film, is expected back as well, albeit in a severely diminished role.  His appearance in the film is largely contingent upon Obama winning the fan poll.

The sequel picks up the story where the original left off with Bernanke, Reid, and Boehner accelerating their vehicle towards a cliff, presumably to plunge into the canyon a la Thelma and Louise.  The sequel begins with a cloud of dust, which eventually settles to reveal that the trio has abruptly stopped the car just before taking the plunge.  After a collective sigh of relief, they hold a meeting and decide the following:

1.  Instead of plunging off of this cliff, they will look for a larger cliff to plunge off of somewhere down the road,

2.  Bernanke will pay for the gas with the money he stole from US Dollar holders and,

3.  Rather than taking the plunge themselves, they will force Obama and Geithner, or Romney and Geithner’s replacement, to drive off the cliff.

The fan poll in November should serve to make this moronic sequel somewhat interesting, but either way, the winner will be handcuffed to the wheel with the accelerator at full throttle.

Our advice?  Don’t bother watching this moronic redux.  Like the Expendables 2, it is a desperate attempt by the actors to cash in on past glories.  Unlike the Expendables 2,  anyone living in the US will need to purchase an advance ticket to NOT see the Fiscal Cliff.  Tickets can be found at your local coin shop.  Simply trade you US dollars and bonds for gold and silver and you can ignore this catastrophe.

Hurry, there is precious little time before the Fiscal Cliff’s December 31 debut.

Stay tuned and Trust Jesus.

Stay Fresh!

David Mint

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

Key Indicators for September 18, 2012

Copper Price per Lb: $3.78
Oil Price per Barrel:  $95.22
Corn Price per Bushel:  $7.39
10 Yr US Treasury Bond:  1.68%
FED Target Rate:  0.15%  ON AUTOPILOT, THE FED IS DEAD!
Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,769 PERMANENT UNCERTAINTY
MINT Perceived Target Rate*:  0.25%
Unemployment Rate:  8.1%
Inflation Rate (CPI):  0.6%
Dow Jones Industrial Average:  13,552  
M1 Monetary Base:  $2,470,800,000,000
M2 Monetary Base:  $10,103,400,000,000

Bible Teaching, Events, Jesus, Rapture

Its Rosh Hashanah 5773, is your lamp lit?

Today marks the beginning of the Jewish high holiday Rosh Hashanah, a celebration of the new year, a celebration of the creation of the world.

We are convinced that the Messiah, Jesus, is returning.  We are equally convinced that it has not been given to any man to know the exact time of his return.

What we do know is that we will know the season of his return.  The interpretations which we have heard of Jesus’s declaration recorded in Matthew 24:36 generally center around the premise that some sort of series of great catastrophes will be unfolding and a series of signs will be in some stage of fulfillment, implying that these things will mark the season of Jesus’s return.

Here at The Mint, we subscribe to a much simpler and more profound understanding of this scripture, drawn from an understanding of the Jewish wedding ceremony.  Jesus will arrive during the fall season in the Northern Hemisphere.

In fact, based on the timing of His death and resurrection, the Passover, we believe that His triumphant return will logically take place over Rosh Hashanah.  The celebrated Feast of Trumpets.

Feast of trumpets by Aleksander Gierymski (1850–1901): Painting of Hasidic Jews performing tashlikh (ritual washing away of sins) on Rosh Hashanah, placed on the banks of the Vistula River in Warsaw.
Feast of trumpets by Aleksander Gierymski (1850–1901): Painting of Hasidic Jews performing tashlikh (ritual washing away of sins) on Rosh Hashanah, placed on the banks of the Vistula River in Warsaw.

Not necessarily this fall, mind you.  For it is impossible to know for certain.  If one were to attempt to pick a specific year, the logical choices would be one of the upcoming Jubilee years, 2018 (starting on Rosh Hashanah 2017 on the Gregorian calendar) or 2068, or the final year of the 6000 year Jewish Calendar, 2240.

Yet it could be tomorrow, or the next day, as Rosh Hashanah has the element of uncertainty as to precisely when the new moon occurs.  This detail fits nicely with Jesus’s declaration that we would not know the day or time.

With all of the things that are happening in the world, many have begun to speculate that the end is nigh.

Clearly, the end is always nigh, and calamities such as the ones humanity is currently suffering have always taken place to some degree ever since mankind chose to disobey God and turn their back on their Creator.

Today, with billions of us on the planet, these calamities are multiplied to a staggering degree.  The good news is that God’s grace and mercy are experienced in abundance as well, and this will overcome all suffering and calamity as He daily establishes His Kingdom within and amongst us.

As Rosh Hashanah begins, we hold fast to our faith, cleanse our minds and spirits, and resolve to love and forgive as God has loved and forgiven us.  The Messiah is coming, the trumpet is about to sound!

Is your lamp lit?

Affiliates, Economics, Gold, Personal Finance

Should You Accumulate Gold Like China?

According to reports on Chinese imports of gold from Hong Kong, the People’s Republic is on track to import more gold bullion in 2012 than the entire official holdings of the ECB.  What does it mean for us, fellow taxpayer?  Our guest contributor Brad Evans, who is writing on behalf of BullionVault, explores this economic trend and possible implications for your portfolio in the following insightful editorial.  Enjoy and stay fresh!

Should You Accumulate Gold Like China?

In recent years, much has been written and speculated about the idea of Chinese authorities buying up massive amounts of gold bullion.  Indeed, the amount of gold going to China has increased notably over the course of the past few years, and it certainly seems as if the country is making a concerted effort to accumulate a great deal of the precious metal resource.  Is this just a passing trend, representative of independent economic movements, or a greater strategy with implications for the worldwide economy?  Ultimately that remains to be seen, but one result of China’s accumulation of gold bullion is clear.

With many of the world’s dominant economies located in the United States and the Euro zone, the U.S. and countries that use the Euro generally prefer to keep the cost of gold low, if possible, so as to avoid the strengthening of the resource against their respective currencies.  As things stand now, and have for some time, the U.S. dollar and the Euro are generally seen as popular reserve currencies, meaning that people in other economic zones frequently turn to the U.S. dollar and the Euro as the ultimate safe haven.  As long as the price of gold remains relatively low, the dollar and Euro remain strong as reserve currencies.  Therefore, it is plain to see why China buying up massive amounts of gold bullion may lead to an unwanted shift in gold prices that could take the focus away from the reserve currency status that U.S. dollar and Euro enjoy.

Perhaps more important for many people is how this economic strategy of China’s could affect your finances.  World economic trends will come and go, and economies will strengthen and weaken accordingly – but can you benefit from buying up gold bullion in your personal life, on a smaller scale, in the same way that China hopes to benefit in the long run internationally?  While you certainly can’t hope to influence any worldwide economic trends on your own – accumulating gold bullion may not be a bad strategy to consider if you feel that the price of gold will be rising relative to other assets in the coming years.

Buying gold bullion is simple enough.  You just need to head to a precious metal trading site such a s BullionVault, where you can buy and sell gold as you please according to constantly updated world prices.  These sites also offer you various convenient and secure storage options, meaning that if you want to you can easily accumulate a great deal of gold bullion.  However, before making this or any investment decision it is important to formulate a sound investment strategy.  For example, if you are looking for short-term stability or gains, gold investment may be risky at the moment, as the dollar is strengthening and gold may be weakening.  But for long-term gains, this may be a strategy worth considering.

This has been a guest post on behalf of BullionVault, written by freelancer Brad Evans.

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Payroll processing is a function which is so feared and loathed by some that dry shaving with a razor may appear pleasant next to the prospect of processing one’s own payroll and correctly filing the tax returns.

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Financial Advice, Healthy Habits, Personal Finance

Get Out of Debt by Enhancing Your Credit Score

The following is a guest post on a timely personal finance topic from Alicia, a tech writer from the UK with a fondness for finance.  We encourage you to follow her on Twitter at @financeport for more debt reduction and personal finance tips and information.  Without further adieu:

Get Out of Debt by Enhancing Your Credit Score

In the present competitive world many people are prone to being burdened with debts which come about for one reason or another. Irrespective of the reasons, these debts can cause real trouble by bringing down people’s credit score; this needs to be resolved immediately.  The best way to improve your credit rating is by paying back all of your debts.  Here are some helpful tips that can be followed to get out of debt and improve your credit score: Get out of debt - Credit Cards - Piggy Bank

  • Stick to your budget plan: It is vital to design a budget plan that will suit your standard of living.  It should include all the income and expense details which can be modified accordingly.  Once the plan is prepared, stick to it with complete determination and dedication. 
  • Keep reminders of overdue dates:  Most debts that you owe should be repaid in monthly payments, which are a sum of interest charges and a portion of the principle amount. Dates are specified for these payments to be made.  Be sure to keep track of them.  Assuring that all bills are paid on time that will not only avoid penalties but will also have a positive impact on your credit rating.
  • Overpayments: People tend to pay the exact repayment amount, but it is advised to avoid this strategy and try to pay more than required as that will cut down principle amount borrowed, which will in turn improve your credit score.  This can be done with the assistance of payday loans or by directly transfering money from your savings account to repay your debts.
  • Check credit history periodically:  Your credit history should be checked periodically in order to avoid surprises and unforeseen consequences.  Reviewing your credit report allows you to know the exact details of all the debts owed, and if there are any errors on the report they can be addressed before they become a problem.  It is even possible to know if there is any crossing of credit limit, if so then it can be prevented
  • Opt for a debt consolidation loan:  One of the best options many borrowers is to repay all existing debts through a debt consolidation loan instead of declaring bankruptcy. This type of loan provides a certain amount as a loan with relatively lower interest rates.  The consolidator is capable of collecting monthly payments and distributing it among all the creditors for fast repayment and subsequent improvement of your credit rating.
  • Avoid credit card use: The latest survey conducted has proved that one of the main reasons for accruing debts is due to the use of credit cards, where card holders are prone to exceeding their credit limit.  The ultimate result can be overwhelming debts.  It is manageable to use credit cards wisely to some extent, however avoiding them would be the better choice.
  • Utilise liquid assets: You can find many liquid assets that are just lying around your home that have cash value; these assets can be sold to get money that can be utilised in repaying debts.

Author Bio:

My name is Alicia. I am a tech writer from UK. I am into Finance. Catch me @financeport

Politics, Strategy

War and Bluff: Iran, Israel and the United States

As always, George Friedman, author of Strafor’s indispensable publication Geopolitical Weekly, provides clarity into what on the surface is a situation on the verge of erupting.  A situation that, if poorly handled, has the potential to unleash chaos throughout the world.

In a world where Might makes right, striking a delicate balance between one’s rhetoric and actions is the statesman’s most important task.  A task that would be rendered useless were we all to chose the better way.

Nonetheless, Friedman helps us to cut through the rhetoric to recognize both the motivations of and limitations on each of the actors in what has become a game of brinksmanship of epic proportions, and the stakes have never been higher.

We encourage you to review the full report which is reproduced below with the permission of Stratfor:

War and Bluff: Iran, Israel and the United States

Flag of IsraelFlag of the United States of America

Flag of IranBy George Friedman

For the past several months, the Israelis have been threatening to attack Iranian nuclear sites as the United States has pursued a complex policy of avoiding complete opposition to such strikes while making clear it doesn’t feel such strikes are necessary. At the same time, the United States has carried out maneuvers meant to demonstrate its ability to prevent the Iranian counter to an attack — namely blocking the Strait of Hormuz. While these maneuvers were under way, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said no “redline” exists that once crossed by Iran would compel an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The Israeli government has long contended that Tehran eventually will reach the point where it will be too costly for outsiders to stop the Iranian nuclear program.

The Israeli and American positions are intimately connected, but the precise nature of the connection is less clear. Israel publicly casts itself as eager to strike Iran but restrained by the United States, though unable to guarantee it will respect American wishes if Israel sees an existential threat emanating from Iran. The United States publicly decries Iran as a threat to Israel and to other countries in the region, particularly Saudi Arabia, but expresses reservations about military action out of fears that Iran would respond to a strike by destabilizing the region and because it does not believe the Iranian nuclear program is as advanced as the Israelis say it is.

The Israelis and the Americans publicly hold the same view of Iran. But their public views on how to proceed diverge. The Israelis have less tolerance for risk than the Americans, who have less tolerance for the global consequences of an attack. Their disagreement on the issue pivots around the status of the Iranian nuclear program. All of this lies on the surface; let us now examine the deeper structure of the issue.

Behind the Rhetoric

From the Iranian point of view, a nuclear program has been extremely valuable. Having one has brought Iran prestige in the Islamic world and has given it a level of useful global political credibility. As with North Korea, having a nuclear program has allowed Iran to sit as an equal with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany, creating a psychological atmosphere in which Iran’s willingness merely to talk to the Americans, British, French, Russians, Chinese and Germans represented a concession. Though it has positioned the Iranians extremely well politically, the nuclear program also has triggered sanctions that have caused Iran substantial pain. But Iran has prepared for sanctions for years, building a range of corporate, banking and security mechanisms to evade their most devastating impact. Having countries like Russia and China unwilling to see Iran crushed has helped. Iran can survive sanctions.

Visit our Iran page for related analysis, videos, situation reports and maps.

While a nuclear program has given Iran political leverage, actually acquiring nuclear weapons would increase the risk of military action against Iran. A failed military action would benefit Iran, proving its power. By contrast, a successful attack that dramatically delayed or destroyed Iran’s nuclear capability would be a serious reversal. The Stuxnet episode, assuming it was an Israeli or U.S. attempt to undermine Iran’s program using cyberwarfare, is instructive in this regard. Although the United States hailed Stuxnet as a major success, it hardly stopped the Iranian program, if the Israelis are to be believed. In that sense, it was a failure.

Using nuclear weapons against Israel would be catastrophic to Iran. The principle of mutual assured destruction, which stabilized the U.S.-Soviet balance in the Cold War, would govern Iran’s use of nuclear weapons. If Iran struck Israel, the damage would be massive, forcing the Iranians to assume that the Israelis and their allies (specifically, the United States) would launch a massive counterattack on Iran, annihilating large parts of Iran’s population.

It is here that we get to the heart of the issue. While from a rational perspective the Iranians would be fools to launch such an attack, the Israeli position is that the Iranians are not rational actors and that their religious fanaticism makes any attempt to predict their actions pointless. Thus, the Iranians might well accept the annihilation of their country in order to destroy Israel in a sort of megasuicide bombing. The Israelis point to the Iranians’ rhetoric as evidence of their fanaticism. Yet, as we know, political rhetoric is not always politically predictive. In addition, rhetoric aside, Iran has pursued a cautious foreign policy, pursuing its ends with covert rather than overt means. It has rarely taken reckless action, engaging instead in reckless rhetoric.

If the Israelis believe the Iranians are not deterred by the prospect of mutually assured destruction, then allowing them to develop nuclear weapons would be irrational. If they do see the Iranians as rational actors, then shaping the psychological environment in which Iran acquires nuclear weapons is a critical element of mutually assured destruction. Herein lies the root of the great Israeli debate that pits the Netanyahu government, which appears to regard Iran as irrational, against significant segments of the Israeli military and intelligence communities, which regard Iran as rational.

Avoiding Attaining a Weapon

Assuming the Iranians are rational actors, their optimal strategy lies not in acquiring nuclear weapons and certainly not in using them, but instead in having a credible weapons development program that permits them to be seen as significant international actors. Developing weapons without ever producing them gives Iran international political significance, albeit at the cost of sanctions of debatable impact. At the same time, it does not force anyone to act against them, thereby permitting outsiders to avoid incurring the uncertainties and risks of such action.

Up to this point, the Iranians have not even fielded a device for testing, let alone a deliverable weapon. For all their activity, either their technical limitations or a political decision has kept them from actually crossing the obvious redlines and left Israel trying to define some developmental redline.

Iran’s approach has created a slowly unfolding crisis, reinforced by Israel’s slowly rolling response. For its part, all of Israel’s rhetoric — and periodic threats of imminent attack — has been going on for several years, but the Israelis have done little beyond some covert and cyberattacks to block the Iranian nuclear program. Just as the gap between Iranian rhetoric and action has been telling, so, too, has the gap between Israeli rhetoric and reality. Both want to appear more fearsome than either is actually willing to act.

The Iranian strategy has been to maintain ambiguity on the status of its program, while making it appear that the program is capable of sudden success — without ever achieving that success. The Israeli strategy has been to appear constantly on the verge of attack without ever attacking and to use the United States as its reason for withholding attacks, along with the studied ambiguity of the Iranian program. The United States, for its part, has been content playing the role of holding Israel back from an attack that Israel doesn’t seem to want to launch. The United States sees the crumbling of Iran’s position in Syria as a major Iranian reversal and is content to see this play out alongside sanctions.

Underlying Israel’s hesitancy about whether it will attack has been the question of whether it can pull off an attack. This is not a political question, but a military and technical one. Iran, after all, has been preparing for an attack on its nuclear facilities since their inception. Some scoff at Iranian preparations for attack. These are the same people who are most alarmed by supposed Iranian acumen in developing nuclear weapons. If a country can develop nuclear weapons, there is no reason it can’t develop hardened and dispersed sites and create enough ambiguity to deprive Israeli and U.S. intelligence of confidence in their ability to determine what is where. I am reminded of the raid on Son Tay during the Vietnam War. The United States mounted an effort to rescue U.S. prisoners of war in North Vietnam only to discover that its intelligence on where the POWs were located was completely wrong. Any politician deciding whether to attack Iran would have Son Tay and a hundred other intelligence failures chasing around their brains, especially since a failed attack on Iran would be far worse than no attack.

Dispersed sites reduce Israel’s ability to strike hard at a target and to acquire a battle damage assessment that would tell Israel three things: first, whether the target had been destroyed when it was buried under rock and concrete; second, whether the target contained what Israel thought it contained; and third, whether the strike had missed a backup site that replicated the one it destroyed. Assuming the Israelis figured out that another attack was needed, could their air force mount a second air campaign lasting days or weeks? They have a small air force and the distances involved are great.

Meanwhile, deploying special operations forces to so many targets so close to Tehran and so far from Iran’s borders would be risky, to say the least. Some sort of exotic attack, for example one using nuclear weapons to generate electromagnetic pulses to paralyze the region, is conceivable — but given the size of the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem-Haifa triangle, it is hard to imagine Israel wanting to set such a precedent. If the Israelis have managed to develop a new weapons technology unknown to anyone, all conventional analyses are off. But if the Israelis had an ultrasecret miracle weapon, postponing its use might compromise its secrecy. I suspect that if they had such a weapon, they would have used it by now.

The battlefield challenges posed by the Iranians are daunting, and a strike becomes even less appealing considering that the Iranians have not yet detonated a device and are far from a weapon. The Americans emphasize these points, but they are happy to use the Israeli threats to build pressure on the Iranians. The United States wants to undermine Iranian credibility in the region by making Iran seem vulnerable. The twin forces of Israeli rhetoric and sanctions help make Iran look embattled. The reversal in Syria enhances this sense. Naval maneuvers in the Strait of Hormuz add to the sense that the United States is prepared to neutralize Iranian counters to an Israeli airstrike, making the threat Israel poses and the weakness of Iran appear larger.

When we step back and view the picture as a whole, we see Iran using its nuclear program for political reasons but being meticulous not to make itself appear unambiguously close to success. We see the Israelis talking as if they were threatened but acting as if they were in no rush to address the supposed threat. And we see the Americans acting as if they are restraining Israel, paradoxically appearing to be Iran’s protector even though they are using the Israeli threat to increase Iranian insecurity. For their part, the Russians initially supported Iran in a bid to bog down the United States in another Middle East crisis. But given Iran’s reversal in Syria, the Russians are clearly reconsidering their Middle East strategy and even whether they actually have a strategy in the first place. Meanwhile, the Chinese want to continue buying Iranian oil unnoticed.

It is the U.S.-Israeli byplay that is most fascinating. On the surface, Israel is driving U.S. policy. On closer examination, the reverse is true. Israel has bluffed an attack for years and never acted. Perhaps now it will act, but the risks of failure are substantial. If Israel really wants to act, this is not obvious. Speeches by politicians do not constitute clear guidelines. If the Israelis want to get the United States to participate in the attack, rhetoric won’t work. Washington wants to proceed by increasing pressure to isolate Iran. Simply getting rid of a nuclear program not clearly intended to produce a device is not U.S. policy. Containing Iran without being drawn into a war is. To this end, Israeli rhetoric is useful.

Rather than seeing Netanyahu as trying to force the United States into an attack, it is more useful to see Netanyahu’s rhetoric as valuable to U.S. strategy. Israel and the United States remain geopolitically aligned. Israel’s bellicosity is not meant to signal an imminent attack, but to support the U.S. agenda of isolating and maintaining pressure on Iran. That would indicate more speeches from Netanyahu and greater fear of war. But speeches and emotions aside, intensifying psychological pressure on Iran is more likely than war.

War and Bluff: Iran, Israel and the United States is republished with permission of Stratfor.

Empire, Jesus, Peaceful Resistance, The Mint

On the nature of Empire, Part III: What is Truth?

9/10/2012 Portland, Oregon – Pop in your mints…

The distinction between the failed “Might makes right” mentality, which is the ideological base for all Empires, and what we have termed the better way, which can be summed up in the words of the Golden Rule:  “Love your neighbor as you love yourself,” was made clear to all in an event that can only be adequately described as the flashpoint in human history, the moment which literally opened the possibility to choose the better way.

This critical moment is related for us in the Gospel of John, chapter 18, verses 37 and 38:

37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

38 “What is truth?”retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.”

John 38: 17-18
a papyrus shroud containing the text of John 38: 17-18

For those unfamiliar with the scene, which is expounded upon in John 38:28-40, this historic exchange between Jesus and the Roman Governor Pilate takes place in Pilate’s residence, which is referred to as the Roman Governor’s Palace, in Jerusalem on the day before the Jewish Passover in what is now known as the year 33 CE according to the Gregorian calendar.  It was witnessed by none other than the Apostle John.  It is evident by its inclusion in John’s gospel that He grasped the full importance of the exchange.

For John was witnessing the start of a revolution.

Pilate, the governor, was Rome’s representative in Jerusalem, capital of the rebellious province of Palestine.  He spent his days tempering an uneasy peace between Caesar and the Jewish majority of the region.  His life was a daily exercise of the compromising principles and choosing the lesser of evils.  Perhaps more than any historical character, He represents the inescapable consequence of humanity orienting itself by the “Might makes right” mentality and the ever present fear that it engenders.

Pilate was the embodiment of Empire.

Jesus before Pilate by Nikolai Ge 1890
Pilate utters the lament of Empires across the ages: “What is truth?”

His reply to Jesus’ statement about everyone on the side of truth listening to him (Jesus), “What is truth?” is neither a contemptuous mock of Jesus, nor an honest question, rather, it is an exasperated utterance of a man whose life has been reduced to endless compromises, and has seen that the lesser of evils is, in any and every case, necessarily evil.

One must wonder how many heads of state today utter these same words as they contemplate the clear moral law in contrast to what they have been called to do in this life.

How many career military men, after carrying out an assault on the enemy, have grappled with this lament in their souls?

Each of them may grapple, if indeed they pause to reflect on such matters, with a contradiction which has been eloquently expounded by Adin Ballou, who wrote a significant body of work on peaceful resistance, in his pamphlet entitled:  “How many Men are Necessary to Change a Crime into a Virtue?”

“One man may not kill. If he kills a fellow-creature, he is a murderer. If two, ten, a hundred men do so, they, too, are murderers. But a government or a nation may kill as many men as it chooses, and that will not be murder, but a great and noble action. Only gather the people together on a large scale, and a battle of ten thousand men becomes an innocent action. But precisely how many people must there be to make it so?–that is the question. One man cannot plunder and pillage, but a whole nation can. But precisely how many are needed to make it permissible? Why is it that one man, ten, a hundred, may not break the law of God, but a great number may?”

Yeah, it is a contradiction that rightfully haunts thinking persons the world over to this day.

Que es la Veritat
The question that haunts thinking persons the world over to this day, “I que es la veritat?” (“And what is truth?” translation from original Catalan) highlighted by Antoni Gaudi the Passion facade of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. (Photo by Etan J. Tal)

At this flashpoint in history, Pilate speaks for all of them.  The Might makes right system, which must avail itself to represent the truth in a vain attempt to cloak itself with a shred of legitimacy, leaves its thinking adherents searching in vain for a truth that ultimately relies on the fragile force of arms to perpetuate itself.

On the other side of the truthless void embodied in the person of Pilate, is Jesus, the Messiah.  Jesus brought the truth with Him wherever He went.  As He stood, soon to be condemned to death by the Might makes right mentality which was swallowing the world, He embodied the truth as never before.  John witnessed this moment in the governor’s palace and remained shocked to the end of his days.

The Apostle John
The Apostle John, witness to the watershed moment in human history

To Pilate’s lament, “What is truth?” Jesus replies, then and forevermore: “God Forgives.”

In doing so, He ratified what he had preached in the Sermon on the Mount, to turn the other cheek, what is know today as the doctrine non-resistance.

Ever since that fateful day, which represents THE watershed moment in all of human history, mankind has had the choice to chose the Golden rule, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself,” over the self destructive system of Might makes right.  For Jesus represents the clear change in God’s relationship with mankind.  God would no longer claim His ultimate authority on the failed Might makes right philosophy, for there is none mightier than the Living God.  Rather, He chose to cleanse the world through Jesus, the ultimate example of non-resistance.

Jesus’ crucifixion served as an indictment to every soul who would claim triumph by defeating others.  It served notice of the moral bankruptcy of the world system.  For over 2,000 years, those who have stopped at the cross to soak in the message, as John did, have been relentlessly making the world a better place.

In His resurrection, Jesus shattered every excuse for those who believe in Him to cling to the failed system of Might makes right, for to cling to the system is to live in constant search of, or worse, a fear of a truth which has already been revealed.  It is to deny that the kingdoms of this world are perishing and the the Kingdom of God is advancing EVERY DAY.

The Christian, then, has no moral standing when embracing the “Might makes right” mentality in defense of property and even life.  Jesus showed us the better way, the way to the Father.  He is preparing for us a home in God’s Kingdom, where the rule of Might makes right is vanquished, where peace is permanently established and treasures are secure, for the Golden Rule reigns supreme.

Yet the true irony and divine beauty of embracing the doctrine of non-resistance here and now is that it serves to enhance both the peace and security of the adherent.

Why not give peace a chance?

Stay tuned and Trust Jesus.

Stay Fresh!

David Mint

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

Key Indicators for September 10, 2012

Copper Price per Lb: $3.62
Oil Price per Barrel:  $96.28
Corn Price per Bushel:  $7.81
10 Yr US Treasury Bond:  1.68%
FED Target Rate:  0.16%  ON AUTOPILOT, THE FED IS DEAD!
Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,724 PERMANENT UNCERTAINTY
MINT Perceived Target Rate*:  0.25%
Unemployment Rate:  8.1%
Inflation Rate (CPI):  0.0%
Dow Jones Industrial Average:  13,254
M1 Monetary Base:  $2,385,400,000,000
M2 Monetary Base:  $10,002,100,000,000

Anarchy: Athiesm with Regards to Government, Jesus, Peaceful Resistance, Politics

The Catechism of Non-Resistance: Required reading for all human beings

Adin Ballou
Adin Ballou dedicated 50 years of his life to spreading the doctrine of non-resistance.

Leo Tolstoy, in his great Christian-Anarchist work “The Kingdom of God is Within You,” pays homage to Adin Ballou, an American preacher who was a colleague of William Lloyd Garrison, the great American Abolitionist.  Ballou devoted 50 years of his life advocating for the doctrine of non-resistance.

The following is a version of the Catechism of Non-Resistance that Ballou created for his followers.  The last paragraph is especially moving, so much so that we consider it required reading for all human beings:

Q. Whence is the word “non-resistance” derived?

A. From the command, “Resist not evil.” (M. v. 39.)

Q. What does this word express?

A. It expresses a lofty Christian virtue enjoined on us by Christ.

Q. Ought the word “non-resistance” to be taken in its widest sense–that is to say, as intending that we should not offer any resistance of any kind to evil?

A. No; it ought to be taken in the exact sense of our Saviour’s teaching–that is, not repaying evil for evil. We ought to oppose evil by every righteous means in our power, but not by evil.

Q. What is there to show that Christ enjoined non-resistance in that sense?

A. It is shown by the words he uttered at the same time. He said: “Ye have heard, it was said of old, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you Resist not evil. But if one smites thee on the right cheek, turn him the other also; and if one will go to law with thee to take thy coat from thee, give him thy cloak also.”

Q. Of whom was he speaking in the words, “Ye have heard it was said of old”?

A. Of the patriarchs and the prophets, contained in the Old Testament, which the Hebrews ordinarily call the Law and the Prophets.

Q. What utterances did Christ refer to in the words, “It was said of old”?

A. The utterances of Noah, Moses, and the other prophets, in which they admit the right of doing bodily harm to those who inflict harm, so as to punish and prevent evil deeds.

Q. Quote such utterances.

A. “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.”–GEN. ix. 6.

“He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death…And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.” –Ex. xxi. 12 and 23-25.

“He that killeth any man shall surely be put to death. And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbor, as he hath done, so shall it be done unto him: breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.”–LEV. xxiv. 17, 19, 20.

“Then the judges shall make diligent inquisition; and behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother, then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother…And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”–DEUT. xix. 18, 21.

Noah, Moses, and the Prophets taught that he who kills, maims, or injures his neighbors does evil. To resist such evil, and to prevent it, the evil doer must be punished with death, or maiming, or some physical injury. Wrong must be opposed by wrong, murder by murder, injury by injury, evil by evil. Thus taught Noah, Moses, and the Prophets. But Christ rejects all this. “I say unto you,” is written in the Gospel, “resist not evil,” do not oppose injury with injury, but rather bear repeated injury from the evil doer. What was permitted is forbidden. When we understand what kind of resistance they taught, we know exactly what resistance Christ forbade.

Q. Then the ancients allowed the resistance of injury by injury?

A. Yes. But Jesus forbids it. The Christian has in no case the right to put to death his neighbor who has done him evil, or to do him injury in return.

Q. May he kill or maim him in self-defense?

A. No.

Q. May he go with a complaint to the judge that he who has wronged him may be punished?

A. No. What he does through others, he is in reality doing himself.

Q. Can he fight in conflict with foreign enemies or disturbers of the peace?

A. Certainly not. He cannot take any part in war or in preparations for war. He cannot make use of a deadly weapon. He cannot oppose injury to injury, whether he is alone or with others, either in person or through other people.

Q. Can he voluntarily vote or furnish soldiers for the government?

A. He can do nothing of that kind if he wishes to be faithful to Christ’s law.

Q. Can he voluntarily give money to aid a government resting on military force, capital punishment, and violence in general?

A. No, unless the money is destined for some special object, right in itself, and good both in aim and means.

Q. Can he pay taxes to such a government?

A. No; he ought not voluntarily to pay taxes, but he ought not to resist the collecting of taxes. A tax is levied by the government, and is exacted independently of the will of the subject. It is impossible to resist it without having recourse to violence of some kind. Since the Christian cannot employ violence, he is obliged to offer his property at once to the loss by violence inflicted on it by the authorities.

Q. Can a Christian give a vote at elections, or take part in government or law business?

A. No; participation in election, government, or law business is participation in government by force.

Q. Wherein lies the chief significance of the doctrine of non-resistance?

A. In the fact that it alone allows of the possibility of eradicating evil from one’s own heart, and also from one’s neighbor’s. This doctrine forbids doing that whereby evil has endured for ages and multiplied in the world. He who attacks another and injures him, kindles in the other a feeling of hatred, the root of every evil. To injure another because he has injured us, even with the aim of overcoming evil, is doubling the harm for him and for oneself; it is begetting, or at least setting free and inciting, that evil spirit which we should wish to drive out. Satan can never be driven out by Satan. Error can never be corrected by error, and evil cannot be vanquished by evil.

True non-resistance is the only real resistance to evil. It is crushing the serpent’s head. It destroys and in the end extirpates the evil feeling.

Q. But if that is the true meaning of the rule of non- resistance, can it always put into practice?

A. It can be put into practice like every virtue enjoined by the law of God. A virtue cannot be practiced in all circumstances without self-sacrifice, privation, suffering, and in extreme cases loss of life itself. But he who esteems life more than fulfilling the will of God is already dead to the only true life. Trying to save his life he loses it. Besides, generally speaking, where non-resistance costs the sacrifice of a single life or of some material welfare, resistance costs a thousand such sacrifices.

Non-resistance is Salvation; Resistance is Ruin.

It is incomparably less dangerous to act justly than unjustly, to submit to injuries than to resist them with violence, less dangerous even in one’s relations to the present life. If all men refused to resist evil by evil our world would be happy.

Q. But so long as only a few act thus, what will happen to them?

A. If only one man acted thus, and all the rest agreed to crucify him, would it not be nobler for him to die in the glory of non-resisting love, praying for his enemies, than to live to wear the crown of Caesar stained with the blood of the slain? However, one man, or a thousand men, firmly resolved not to oppose evil by evil are far more free from danger by violence than those who resort to violence, whether among civilized or savage neighbors. The robber, the murderer, and the cheat will leave them in peace, sooner than those who oppose them with arms, and those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword, but those who seek after peace, and behave kindly and harmlessly, forgiving and forgetting injuries, for the most part enjoy peace, or, if they die, they die blessed. In this way, if all kept the ordinance of non-resistance, there would obviously be no evil nor crime. If the majority acted thus they would establish the rule of love and good will even over evil doers, never opposing evil with evil, and never resorting to force. If there were a moderately large minority of such men, they would exercise such a salutary moral influence on society that every cruel punishment would be abolished, and violence and feud would be replaced by peace and love. Even if there were only a small minority of them, they would rarely experience anything worse than the world’s contempt, and meantime the world, though unconscious of it, and not grateful for it, would be continually becoming wiser and better for their unseen action on it. And if in the worst case some members of the minority were persecuted to death, in dying for the truth they would have left behind them their doctrine, sanctified by the blood of their martyrdom. Peace, then, to all who seek peace, and may overruling love be the imperishable heritage of every soul who obeys willingly Christ’s word, “Resist not evil.”

ADIN BALLOU.

Anarchy: Athiesm with Regards to Government, Jesus, Peaceful Resistance, The Mint

On the nature of Empire, Part II: The better way

9/4/2012 Portland, Oregon – Pop in your mints…

In our last correspondence, we began to explore the nature of Empire and found that it is necessarily founded and maintained by a prevailing “Might makes right,” mentality.  This mentality has, as its logical end, the effect of destroying the capital stock of a society.  This is accomplished by the wasteful consumption of resources by employing them in both warfare, whose destructive nature need not be further explored, and welfare, which by nature rewards sloth and penalizes productivity.

{Editor’s Note:  Here we must make the clear distinction between charity, which is a voluntary action taken by a willing individuals to help their fellow human beings and welfare, which is a system of Imperially mandated aid which ends in enslavement both for the recipient and provider.}

When confronted with the fatal defect of Empire, the destruction of the capital stock of a society, the Imperial apologist offers support of the Empire as either the lesser of two evils, implying that the ideological alternative, namely: Anarchy, would lead to chaos and an even greater destruction of life and capital or may find support in any number of religious texts for Imperial rule and conclude that submission to government is God’s will.

“I am an atheist with regards to government, for I have chosen to live in the Kingdom of God”

We offered this refrain a mere three months ago as we explored inconsistencies between a belief in God and a belief in the world’s government.  Today, we will take this idea a step further as we present the better way that civil persons over the centuries have searched for and, in their better moments, embraced.

We’ve been inspired to do so by a recent post by Joel Bowman over at the Daily Reckoning entitled: We’re all Anarchists Now.

One of Mr. Bowman’s points is that Anarchy is a concept that has been hijacked.  In the same way that the term Liberalism has come to be associated with social progressives, anarchy has come to be associated with rebellious hoodlums.  However, when properly understood, Anarchy, devoid of the “Might makes right” mentality, is the perfect antidote for the problem of Empire.  As Mr. Bowman explains it:

“Properly understood, the term anarchy, which derives from the Greek anarchia, literally translates an, “without” + arkhos, “ruler.” Freedom from being owned…enslaved…forced against one’s will. Freedom to act voluntarily. Freedom to associate with whomever one so desires and under whatever conditions he or she sees fit…provided they do not diminish the ability of another to enjoy the same freedom.”

In other words, Anarchy declares that, all at once, there are no sovereigns and that every individual is sovereign.  You can understand why this may upset those who cannot begin to imagine  this worldview.

As for those who would support the “necessary evils” of perpetuating the Empire on religious grounds, we offer the following:  Were the Empire to truly be God’s agent on earth, it would cease to exist.

The Kingdom of God is Within You
“The Kingdom of God is Within You”

From the beginning, God has desired communion with mankind.  It is from a state of perfect communion with God that mankind has fallen, and it is to this state of perfect communion that mankind will return.  How can this perfect communion exist if God requires an earthly, Imperial authority to act on His behalf?

Yet the ultimate solution of Anarchy, where there is no sovereign save God himself or where every individual is a sovereign subject to God, depending upon one’s preferred theology, would be the embodiment of a perfect communion with God.  In fact, it would be the only way in which it is possible.

The problem, then, is not the existence of Empire, the Empire is simply the manifestation of man’s failed belief system that “Might makes right.” It is this failed belief system that must be vanquished.

The better way

Sadly, to study most of human history is to study the violent and destructive embodiment of the “Might makes right” mentality as Empires rise and fall, either to external Empires on the rise or from revolutions from within.  With every violent upheaval, most recently observed in what is now referred to as the Arab Spring, it becomes clear that the populace has simply exchanged one oppressive regime for another.

In fact, as one examines history, it becomes clear that the only true, permanent changes have come about when they are brought about through the use of peaceful resistance.  Who amongst us are not familiar with the name Mohandas Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr.?  These men found the key to permanent change lies deep within themselves.

The key has been articulated by Leo Tolstoy in his insightful work “The Kingdom of God is Within You.”

It is the way revealed to us by Jesus, who chose to suffer and die in order to break the disease of ‘Might makes right” in the hearts of everyone.  To open the way for a perfect communion with the Father.

This is the better way.  His action trumped every argument that could ever be made in favor of Empire, and opened the doors to God’s Kingdom, the reign of a Holy God over a perfect Anarchy where the only rule is emblazoned on every heart:

“Love your neighbor as you love yourself”

Stay tuned and Trust Jesus.

Stay Fresh!

David Mint

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

Key Indicators for September 4, 2012

Copper Price per Lb: $3.46
Oil Price per Barrel:  $95.35
Corn Price per Bushel:  $8.07  
10 Yr US Treasury Bond:  1.58%
FED Target Rate:  0.14%  ON AUTOPILOT, THE FED IS DEAD!
Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,696 PERMANENT UNCERTAINTY
MINT Perceived Target Rate*:  0.25%
Unemployment Rate:  8.3%
Inflation Rate (CPI):  0.0%
Dow Jones Industrial Average:  13,036  
M1 Monetary Base:  $2,306,900,000,000
M2 Monetary Base:  $10,032,900,000,000