|
INTRODUCTION The dinosaurs didn't see it coming. Oversized with "pea brains", they had "ruled" for millions of years. They were "here to stay". Yet, overnight (in a geological historical sense), they were gone. At least, all the gigantic ones were gone; the smaller-sized remnants spared being the progenitors of what we know as "birds". There are a few more survivors or descendants of survivors of the same general family from those times -- lizards, crocodiles, alligators, and Komodo dragons. That's pretty much it. The only things that survived the cataclysm were small. The few small types of remaining dinosaurs evolved into birds. And there were some small furry things -- mammals -- just waiting their turn to participate in the evolutionary sweepstakes. Regardless of the catastrophe theory you may favor -- an asteroid-sized meteor splashing in the sea to create a huge worldwide tsunami -- a similar meteor strike on land raising a tremendous cloud of debris of such magnitude into the atmosphere that it caused a years long worldwide "winter" -- a planetary crust slippage and/or pole shift -- some new (evolved) disease affecting the sauroids but not the mammals -- who knows for sure? -- the giants fell; the small survived. In the relatively short age of the mammals (compared to that of the dinosaurs) there have been episodes of gigantism. All have been failures. The only remains of these "experiments" are such as elephants on land and whales in the sea. The mastodon and mammoth are gone, as well as the sabre-toothed tiger, for example. Perhaps the sabre-toothed tiger ran out of prey. Perhaps the mastodon and mammoth fell prey to smaller, smarter mammals -- such as humans. If we look at species (evolutionary) history and human (societal) history, we see that gigantism fails. It is a maladaption. It contains the seeds of its own destruction. These may include an insupportable appetite, attractiveness as a target, loss of agility and adaptiveness, etc. And in particular, in the case of nation-states and empires, you can add arrogance, corruption, softness, carelessness, etc. Davidson and Rees-Mogg and others discuss these and other possibilities. In any event, the Roman Empire fell. The Spanish Empire fell. The British Empire fell. The Russian (U.S.S.R.) Empire fell. What makes "leaders" and their subjects feel that the American (U.S.) Empire will not fall, or that the "wannabe" Chinese, Euro, and U.N. Empires won't fall, if they get established? Only their arrogance and stupidity leads them to believe that "this time it is different". The Roman Empire, further back in history, took centuries to rot and crumble. The more recent Spanish and British Empires took a much shorter time. The late, great Russian Empire took seventy or so years or forty-five or so, depending on how you count. For the U.S. Empire, how long will it have lasted when it disappears within the next ten years or so? So far, this has considered just the empires. How about the huge nation-states themselves? The mastodon and mammoth likely fell prey to human predation, being large, vulnerable targets. Consider the large nation-states such as the U.S., Russia, England, France, Germany ... and yes, even The People's "Republic" of (communist) China. All of these countries have done something (or many things) to earn the enmity of other countries; political, ethnic, or religious groups; and individuals. Cheap, and cheaper, nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, if not yet widely available and easy to deploy, soon will be. This will occur regardless of the desperate attempts of the large nation-states to prevent it. From time to time, such as right now, writing this, I am amazed that I am still alive, still living as I do in the greater metropolitan area of one of the largest cities in one of the largest nation-states. That is, I'm amazed that I haven't already been nuked, gassed, or turned into a puddle of slime by some so-called terrorist nation or group. I am certain that as long as I remain living where I am, that I am "living on borrowed time".
Now, in addition to the "terrorist threat" of cheap, easily
deployed weapons of mass destruction as a challenge to the
continued rule of the large nation-states, they have another
problem.
This is the pending collapse of the welfare state, aided by the
"cyberspace" revolution.
This brings us to THE SOVEREIGN INDIVIDUAL AND THE MINI-STATE How long do the large nation-states have before they self-destruct -- rot or implode -- or are destroyed? And what will take their place? What will be the real "New World Order" as opposed to the New World Order vision of the leaders of the large nation-states and their rulers? Davidson and Rees-Mogg offer their scenarios in The Sovereign Individual. If you go to Amazon.com, for example, you will see two editions: the 1997 edition and an updated 1999 edition with the same main title but a different subtitle. The later edition focuses more on the "Information Age". You will see many reviews on the Amazon site by readers. Most reviewers agree that these are important books, whether they agree with the premises or not. Most of those who don't agree, don't agree because they don't like the conclusions -- the vision of the future that the authors see. Those willing to look at reality have a more favorable view of their books. As one reviewer ("A reader from Boston", March 22, 1999) states: "Few people have courage to examine how their society will end ..." I would say that it will be even easier for wealthy and/or productive individuals than businesses to pick up and move -- or at least to move their wealth -- to where they and their wealth will be more kindly treated. The upshot is that the amount of wealth that can be extorted by the large nation-states will dramatically decline -- leaving only the "leavings" -- the much smaller amounts obtainable from the marginal producers who consume from the state as much or more than they provide. There is already a large "PT" movement, formulated and popularized by Harry Schultz and Bill Hill, using the "Five Flags Theory ". This is a movement of people expatriating themselves, their businesses, their professional activities, and their wealth from the clutches of the high-tax, high-control large nation-states. This movement can only accelerate. On the other hand, the high-tax, high-control large nation-states are desperately trying to thwart this movement by means of the OECD and its FATF arm. They are pressing (bullying) the smaller independent sovereign nations known as "money havens" or "tax havens" to kow-tow to their demands to furnish financial information on those who have freed their money from the insatiable appetites of the large nation-states. The large nation-states, so long as they are still large and powerful, may be able to slow this escapist movement to expatriate money and wealth, but will not be able to stop it. Governments and religions have not been able to stop prostitution, drugs, "illicit" commercial transactions and money/wealth movement despite millennia of trying. Yes, governments increase their technological abilities, but so do those who would be free. Davidson and Rees-Mogg also discuss the possibilities of more small nation-states (mini-states) being created (and existing mini-states updating their legal structures) to serve the needs of the increasing number of expatriates eager to escape the rapacious attitudes of the large nation-states. There is a tremendous "market opportunity" here if a sufficient number of mini-states ally themselves to thwart the New World Order aims of the large nation-states and establish their own "New World Order" of a world of freedom of wealth and capital flow and of minimally necessary taxation and regulation. This may even necessitate the establishment of a money and banking system independent of that of the large nation-states. It is to achieve this aim that OASIS was founded, and a major impetus for that was The Sovereign Individual. THE SOVEREIGN INDIVIDUAL: How to Survive and Thrive During the Collapse of the Welfare State, James Dale Davidson & Lord William Rees-Mogg, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1997 THE SOVEREIGN INDIVIDUAL: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age, James Dale Davidson & Lord William Rees-Mogg, Touchstone Books, 1999 |
|
Please bookmark this page before you visit the next site.
Home Page
OASIS Main Page
|
STOCK, ETF, & OPTIONS SWING TRADERS...
NEVER take a trade without a good estimate of the Reward/Risk Ratio Discover the details |
Information in this document is subject to change without notice. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of OASIS.