On this episode of Objective:Health, we're joined by Mike the Bear who has been researching and working in financial markets for 20 years. His insights on the market, supply chains and cryptocurrencies put him in a unique position to comment on the current state of things and possible implications for the future.
But it's not all doom and gloom. Mike gives us some good advice on what we can do to help protect ourselves in the current climate, giving practical tips for everyone, even if you're not a market genius.
Join us for a scintillating discussion about what you can do to stay secure in insecure times.
And check us out on Brighteon!
Running Time: 01:05:17
Download: MP3 — 59.5 MB
Here's the transcript of the show:
Erica: Hello, and welcome to the Objective Health Show. My name is Erica and I will be your host for today. Joining me in our virtual studio are Doug, Elliot, Tiffany, and we have a special guest today, Mike the Bear.
Tiffany: Raaaaawr. {laughter}
Mike: Hello.
{Everyone welcomes Mike}
Erica: Today, we are talking about thriving and surviving during the Corona plandemic. Mike is here with us to share some of his research and insights on what is happening economically in the United States and around the world. Mike, to get us started what got you interested in this topic?
Mike: When I first started investing in the late 90's, which was right before the ".com" bubble burst, I was lucky to not lose all my money investing in stocks and stuff like that. I realised I didn't know what I was doing and I didn't really know anything, so I started researching stocks, stock markets and everything like that and delved into what money is, which led to precious metals and the precious metals community. Ever since then I followed along with a lot of different writers and people talking about different things. That's how I got interested and educated in the topic.
Tiffany: To consider yourself a person who is smarter than the average bear - no pun intended - and to start looking into economics and what money really is versus currency, I would assume that you have to know a lot about the history of financial markets and money and economics. Where would a good place to start be for someone who wants to get to know the basics of the financial system?
Mike: I would have to think about it. I ended up reading massive amounts of alternative writers about the topic of gold and money and they would talk about the federal reserve. You learn names like the Bank of International Settlements, then I would say "I don't know anything about this topic". Back then Google was a lot better in terms of finding alternative views on this so I would search or pick up stuff.
I would say that you could start reading about the history of the Federal Reserve. There are a couple of different books, I will have to think about the names. They were written by authors who were outside the banking system and they were describing the Federal Reserve. One of them was The Creature from Jekyll Island. I don't know if there is one writer or one book that comes to mind that puts it all together. I pieced it together over 20-years.
Tiffany: It's funny that you mention The Creature from Jekyll Island because I was just listening to a Corbett Report, his documentary A Century of Enslavement and it was about the federal reserve. He actually interviewed the author of that book, G. Edward Griffin. I just wanted to see if you had any tips on where to start for someone who is a complete idiot when it comes to economics. {Laughter}
Mike: There used to be a number of different alternative websites that I would visit daily and they would post different articles talking about different topics. I haven't visited them for a number of years because you kind of branch off and find different things that you like to read. They are out there and if anything comes to mind that's current then I'll bring it up. Nowadays a lot of people follow ZeroHedge and websites like that. Even if their views on certain subjects are questionable, they do provide different writers that are writing about the topic of finance and economics.
Tiffany: We can always put links under the description box.
Erica: Mike, with this whole plandemic, what is your overview of things? What do you see happening that those of us, like Tiffany and I and maybe our other hosts don't really understand economically? We see that they are pumping all this money into the US economy. Maybe you can give us a broad overview in a simplistic way that will help our listeners understand?
Mike: I followed the precious metals community and the alternative writers for many years, and for a number of years they would talk about different scenarios regarding the financial reset that was going to be coming up. They would talk about what the impact was going to be on currency, economics and also what it would do for gold and silver.
The reaction that has taken place with the global economic system is that it has been hampered or shut down in terms of the way that we know it and many countries being shut down, all this stuff that I have read for a number of years is coming to fruition in terms of helicopter money being pumped into the system to save the banking system which could lead to inflation and possibly hyper-inflation and destruction of the system as we know it. So I think we are entering the time where there is going to be a transition from the old financial system that we knew, to something different. What that different thing might be is leading into completely digital currencies that are controlled by central banks, digital currency or possibly a full cashless society where if you want to transact you might be forced to use digital currency.
That also ties into cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, where does that come in? Those are different from the Central Bank's digital currency. You're probably going to see some kind of transition from what we've had into something different that is going to be more digital and possibly more restricted where they will possibly be able to control what you're able to do.
There was an article - which I will post in the chat when I find it - where China recently came out with their pilot program for their central bank digital currency for the Yuan, which is their currency. People would use an app on their phone and this would link them up with the central bank and their bank accounts linked up with that and that is how they would transact. It could cut out the old banking system, or even tie into it, but it could possibly be a control mechanism. They would say the reason that this was good is because of the ease of transaction which is much better, it could get rid of money laundering and drug dealing. You could be blacklisted from that if they don't like what you're doing or what you're saying. If that app is there then they could tie in things like tracking and digital certificates and digital ID.
That's a possibility, not only for China, but throughout the world, that system being set up and put into place. If you get the wrong set of leaders or psychopaths in power then that could be very negative, to say the least. That's the overview of what we might be transitioning into. Everything is a mess and they are pumping money into the system to try and keep it from imploding.
Doug: I have actually noticed a few articles that seem to be tieing the idea of cash being something dirty to something which you can catch the virus from, by passing cash back and forth. It's almost like they are starting to set this up, getting the idea into people's mind that cash is bad and if things are digital then it's much safer. It wouldn't surprise me if what you're talking about is coming down the line Mike.
Tiffany: There have been several news stories out in the past couple of years about swiping your phone instead of using cash. For the longest time people have been using debit cards instead of cash. I think India and China were two of the big countries that were experimenting with all these apps and whatnot where you didn't have to use cash. It seems like they have been prepping for this for a long time, not to say that the international bankers necessarily planned this outbreak. They say never let a good crisis go to waste so I think that a lot of things are being put into place that were talked about before. Now, with the Covid situation there's a good excuse for putting it though.
Mike: Yes, the justification. I sent you guys an article titled Digital Currency: What do the Global Banking Elite Want? It's by a guy that I started reading named Steven Guinness. It details what the Bank for International Settlements and other central banks are doing behind the scenes. He has a couple of other articles that detail things like what they have been working on since 2015.
They have been working on this, and in the article it says a representative from the Bank of England says,
"Degrade a currency sufficiently, via hyperinflation and collapse of the banking system, and people will eventually look for alternatives. But that's generally the sort of thing that has to happen. Almost always, these currency substitutions occur only once the existing currency has become deeply compromised. Even then, the thing people naturally reach for is an existing, trusted currency - often the US dollar - rather than some entirely new unit of account. When currency substitution has occurred naturally it's almost always done so only after the incumbent currency has been debauched by hyperinflation."
Really, what you need in order to do that is some kind of event that causes the hyperinflation. For years - even since 2008 - the system was possibly close to going down. I think a writer from Bloomberg sued the Federal reserve for freedom of information. Because of the lawsuit, they found out that they pumped $16 trillion around the world - not just in the US - into businesses and banks to prop up the system.
I'm positive that's going on now. Who knows how much money they are pumping in it just to maintain the system? That could lead to the hyperinflation that the quote talks about; debasing the currency or people losing trust in the currency. In that article, they are talking about central banks and digital currencies being the answer that we will transition to as fiat currencies get destroyed.
I think that they have been thinking about this for a long time. I think that plans are going to be put into action based on actions that are taken due to the Coronavirus situation.
Erica: Mike, how would that affect everyday mainstream people or all of us here, people who aren't involved in following these financial trends? What will we see in our everyday life a result of this?
Mike: If the current stuff going on is any indication then the masses of people aren't necessarily going to be taken care of as the banks, hedge funds and corporations are being bailed out. We're not getting the same type of bailout. So people are going to ask "Am I going to be able to live?" There were 22 million people in the last month who filed for unemployment.
A person right now is going to ask "how am I going to survive this?" as we have this transition. "There are all of these problems going on but we've got the solution now. We have got this central bank digital currency that you should use and this is what you have to do to use it. If you want any more stimulus relief cheques then download this app and we will send you the money right to the app and then you can use it and you can scan to buy things". That's a possibility of how it could unfold.
I think the magnitude of it is like 2008 on steroids. You'll see some solution being rolled out. I go back and forth and it's interesting that you have Donald Trump in office, he is not necessarily the mouthpiece for the Federal Reserve and is very critical of stuff like this. Even if a system like that gets rolled out it will probably depend on the leader of your country as to how it will go.
You read about different things that are going to happen because Trump is president and that he is the puppet of the new world order and it is just a scam in terms of him acting out that he is independent and Trump is going to destroy the federal reserve and introduce a treasury note like Kennedy tried to do. What exactly is going to happen is up in the air, but the possibility is there of the long awaited cashless society.
Doug: Is it an advantage for people who are traders or involved in the financial system as it is right now, to transfer over to this digital currency? I'm wondering if this is going to be something that will catch everybody by surprise and if a lot of people are going to be screwed by it? Or, is it that the people who understand the game and who have a little insight into what is coming are actually going to profit from this immensely?
Mike: In that article I mentioned about the central bank digital currency, they mentioned that the possibility exists where you have a dual currency system, one for the financial interests and the banks and the central bank, and then the one where everyone else can transact. It really depends how they set it up. But if they do that then you're tied into the system so they could possibly guarantee the profit for these institutions.
But I really think that the way that they are going to profit the most possibly -- we're talking about the central bank digital currency stuff -- but there is also the supposedly decentralised cryptocurrencies that aren't controlled by anybody, like Bitcoin and stuff like that. There is a lot of news out there and it is really hard to follow because it moves so fast and there is so much information if you're following other topics, to look at it. But they're building out through corporations and different interests. They're basically building almost an ecosystem that would use the same type of thing, like an app where you could use cryptocurrencies to spend. I think that is where the insiders would possibly profit the most because they can see what's coming in terms of a digital system and I think cryptocurrencies are going to be a significant part of that.
Every time you see Bitcoin flash crash down I think they're possibly causing that and also benefiting where they are going to buy up as much of the cryptocurrencies now at low prices and then they will end up driving it up like in 2017 where everything went crazy. It's like the boom/bust cycle within the cryptocurrencies, I think that's how they will profit from it.
Tiffany: I have a question. Is there a difference between cryptocurrencies and digital currencies? When I think of crypto, I think there is a certain degree of anonymity or obscuring financial transactions from prying eyes versus a digital dollar where it works as a debit card but without the physical card. Is there a difference?
Mike: There is a difference. With the central bank digital currency they would use distributed ledger technology and blockchain technology similar to what you would find with Bitcoin, but it wouldn't be the same because with Bitcoin anyone could set up a node where you could be part of the Bitcoin network and if you had enough money you could buy these mining rigs and mine Bitcoin. It's really open to anyone to decentralise.
Even though they will say the central bank digital currency's decentralised it's really a centralised control mechanism via a central bank to regulate it. They're probably going to set it up where they can create as much of the digital currency as they want in the central bank system. With Bitcoin you can't just create as much as you want due to how it's set up and to the intent of how it was created. That is a big difference between them.
With cryptocurrencies and crypto tokens there is a wide range of differences between them. You have some that are mined, some that you have "proof of state" where you don't actually have a mining rig using electricity to mine it. Then, you have things that aren't central bank digital currencies but are very similar to them, there is one called XRP which is run by a private corporation or business called Ripple. Ripple would be like the centralised control like the central bank. So there is a wide range of it out there and there are a lot of differences to it.
Doug: Is the idea that one of these will come to reign supreme, or is it going to be a future where there are multiple different types of currencies out there and it's all confusing because everybody is using different things to pay for things?
Mike: I think it might be a little confusing. My father doesn't even have a cell phone. He still uses cash, cheques and credit cards. There are going to be a lot of people that maybe aren't going to be technically advanced enough to adopt into a system like that. Even though they would want to get rid of cash, personally I think that cash is still going to be around for a while but it will be harder to use and less businesses will accept it.
You will probably still have debit cards and then you'll have apps where you can spend the cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum. Then, you may have an app from the central bank digital currency where you can spend that. You will have many different systems alongside each other as well as barter for people who don't want to be into a digital system. You will probably have all that going on at the same time because you have the economic turmoil, and people trying to survive. As things are introduced it'll probably all be running side by side for a significant amount of time.
Doug: I guess one of the big disadvantages of these digital currencies is the idea that everything would be tracked. It seems like one of the things that they are working in through this whole plandemic, if you want to call it that, is the idea of tracking everything, tracking you through your cell phone, your location, through apps on your phone and all that kind of stuff.
It seems like tracking transactions and purchases is the next step. I'm sure they're already doing that with debit and credit cards, they know exactly what you're buying and when, but you can still get money out of the machine and go down to your buddy's place and buy some of his homemade pickles. As far as the tracking goes, it seems to me like it's a big disadvantage. They always spin it in a good way like saying it'll get rid of the black market and blah, blah blah, but given what the alternative is maybe getting rid of the black market wouldn't be such a good thing for the average person.
Tiffany: One person's black market is another person's free market.
Elliot: If I understand correctly, if they were to set up the system so that everything was tracked, they could create a scenario where there was a tax or some kind of a fee that everyone had to pay every time that they make a transaction. If they then monopolised almost every service - most of these multi chain conglomerates own most of the markets like Walmart (ASDA in the UK), most of these multi-chain conglomerates, they do own most of the market - there's still little independent shops and traders. They could make it really difficult to be able to trade outside of the promoted groups.
Mike: In the US, the Care Act was supposed to help the small businesses get through the shut down. There is an article I sent that talks about the small business loans and the amount of money that was available being gone within minutes of it opening. Then Congress went on recess and they didn't approve more money so there is no more money to give the businesses and there are so many businesses that need that. They are not really providing enough to keep the small businesses alive. You could see a lot of them go under just because they're not getting supported. I actually think that Trump wants to support them but it depends on what congress is doing.
You can see it consolidating, like you were saying Elliot. Walmart may be the only big store in town that's able to supply food and everything you need because a lot of everything else may have gone bankrupt because of the reactions to the plandemic or whatever.
Speaking in terms of how anonymous cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are, if someone doesn't know your address, where you're sending your money from, it is semi-anonymous. I think the IRS or the government possibly have the computer technology, even the IRS or the government, to track every transaction. If they know your address, they know you're sending x-amount of Bitcoin to this other address, if they know who that other address is, they know exactly what's being transacted.
There are coins that are completely anonymous or cryptocurrencies that are completely anonymous such as Zcash and CloakCoin. I think they are going to go after those and shut those down at some point. To the general public, if they don't know your address it would be anonymous and you would be protected, but I think it's safe to say everything that you do electronically is open to being tracked, whether that's a cryptocurrency or anything else.
Tiffany: Can you give us any information on the supply chain? I have been going into the grocery store and they say don't panic, don't horde, just make sure you and your family have a few weeks of goods in order to survive the rough times ahead, but don't horde and don't panic. It seems like in the grocery stores there's lots of workers in the Walmarts stocking things all the time but the meat section is entirely picked over and decimated depending on what store you go to. Sometimes there are no eggs. There's limits on certain products you can buy. You can only buy two of pork, two of beef, and two milks. How does the supply chain play into all of this and was there anything going on with the food supply before this Covid thing happened?
Mike: I think there was. Last year you had the big flooding in the US that affected crops and livestock. Then you had the early winter that destroyed crops and I think that was also in Canada too. How was this going to affect the supply of food? Worldwide, if you follow SOTT you see flooding and famine and even the locusts they have in the Middle East.
You have a lot of stuff and even if the lockdown didn't happen, we would have possibly been moving to supply issues with food because of the things that have been happening for a number of years, whether it's weather, or the locust plague, or trade wars or things that were already going on in the background. The thing that really got my attention for the first time with this Coronavirus stuff was when I saw China shut down their whole country. My alarm system went off because they are the manufacturer for the entire world. I said, if they stay shut down this is going to have a major impact on the supply chain of all the things that China supplies to the world and the US, whether it's electronics or pharmaceutical drugs or anything that was coming from them. I said, this is going to be serious.
It went to Iran, then it went to Italy and Italy shut down. I said to myself, this is going to be spread to other countries where they're going to shut down. Then the whole global economic system is hampered or shut down to a certain extent. That leads into supply chain issues. It's hard to say exactly how much of China's back up and running and making goods, but I do know that the numbers from the shipping ports in the US were down 20-30% in the last quarter. You can see that less goods are coming in.
You have follow-on effects from the lockdown where meat processors are shutting down because they don't want to get their employees sick, or people that grow vegetables for restaurants are dumping the vegetables because they have no one to sell to and the supply system isn't set up for the food that was supposed to go to the restaurants. You're seeing this shock to the system in terms of the supply chain and distribution. That's pretty serious because even if they opened up the economy tomorrow for the whole US, is the system of delivering fuel to the gas stations going to be up and running? Is the whole supply chain system that was there before the virus going to be able to come back up? If it does, how long is that going to take?
I was personally going to the grocery store a few times a week and looking at the shelves and I noticed when they were facing the shelves to look full, there wasn't that much stock behind on the shelf for a lot of products. I'll probably go this week, but you can look and see that it doesn't look like they are getting this or that product in. That can be pretty serious if we have another panic due to something you could see stuff that you want from the grocery store which isn't junk food being cleaned out. I don't know how much is left in the system to restock the grocery stores now.
Doug: Do you think that the Coronavirus "thing" is going to be used as a front for the fact that these systems were already in trouble?
Mike: Yes, I think so. Even with the financial system back in September/late summer in the Repo market - the short-term lending to banks - was already starting to have significant issues where the federal reserve was already pumping in $100 billion a week through the fall and even more money. There was already stress there and there was probably stress within the amount of food that was going to be available to restock. They could have said that we were already going to have these issues anyway so we might as well blame the situation with the Coronavirus and locking down everything, to blame it on. Then we don't take the blame from everyone that doesn't know the ins and outs of what they have been doing and the possible problems that were going to come anyway.
Tiffany: I can imagine that there's a lot of really rich people and corporations that are going to get even richer. One of the things that really infuriates me - we've done a show on - is the vegan putsch. Over the past few years they have been using all these celebretards to push the idea that veganism is healthy and push the advantages of eating a plant-based diet. They have all of these Beyond Meat burgers and lab-grown meats and things. Then, you hear that the biggest pork producer in the US, Smithfield, is shutting down and a bunch of chicken factories are shutting down, cattle farmers don't have people to process their meat. There are all these big investments in lab-grown meat and Beyond Burgers and all that crap and all of this stuff is going to be foisted onto us. Every time I go into the grocery store and I see the meat section and there are just a few packages strewn here and there, it really makes my blood boil.
Mike: Then you see the pictures of what was left in the grocery store when it was cleaned out and there was tofu and that Beyond Meat stuff! People want the meat, so I hadn't even thought about that in terms of them pushing that. I think there was a picture of books that Bill Gates was reading that was going around and one of them was Do We Really Need Meat? Or something like that.
That's probably going to be the next thing "We can't feed you with the meat that you want so we have got this other stuff. you're going to eat bugs and you're going to eat tofu". {laughter} People are going to go crazy "We have this to eat. You can eat it and survive but you'll become some kind of mutated genetically modified human." {laughter} Maybe that's in the works, but that's been quiet since the Coronavirus started, at least from what I have looked at.
Doug: That idea is chilling though.
Erica: It's not surprising though.
Doug: That's where it hits home for me. Take away my meat.
Tiffany: That's where I draw the line. It's funny how all of these industries like the food industry, are suffering because of the weather and climate change - not particularly global warming per say - that industry's been suffering. Everyone's been calling for an economic collapse and the financial industry was suffering and it just so happens that this came along and all these different areas can take advantage of what is happening.
I don't want to say conspiracy because it seems so big. All of those different areas of finance and industry just so happened to come upon this Covid thing and they can all take advantage of it. Maybe on a different spiritual level or a cosmic level when things start to get bad then pandemics or viral outbreaks occur, not one causing the other but they're all being caused by whatever that same thing could be that they all have in common, if you know what I'm saying. I don't even quite know what I'm saying. {Laughter} I'm just speculating here. When things start to hit the fan they start to hit the fan in several different areas all at once.
Mike: I'm not sure. It's possible, but I think one thing that people should look at moving forward is quality, healthy food which is probably going to become more expensive and harder to get. The thing that I hope happens is more local production for food kicking in to where your community is where you're going to want to get most of your staple stuff, if you can. That will hopefully bring communities together, because if they see the federal government or someone else is not going to take care of what they need then, maybe everyone could come together as a community to help survive and thrive during the problems which look likely to be coming.
That's local production of eggs, food, cattle, livestock, vegetables, growing your own food or part of your own food. I think that's going to be something that could be a positive. If you're in a big city I don't know what to say. I personally wouldn't want to be there because you really don't have many options for that. But if you're in a more rural setting that already has something set up in terms of local food production you might have a better chance of getting what you want.
Ercia: Those are the type of communities where you would most likely be able to use cash as the currency, or even bartering.
Doug: I hear people comparing it to the great depression, the 2008 crash. It seems bigger to me. Is this bigger Mike?
Mike: I think it has the potential to be. I'd have to read more about the great depression, but that was huge, societal changing. I think this is a societal changing type thing. We do live in a digital, more technologically advanced system where the central bank or the government is able to prop up the system and not let it all crash, so they can transition to something different.
I don't know how it's all going to play out, but I think it's possibly going to be very chaotic. If you didn't have food stored, or have savings there are going to be people who are not going to be able to eat. That is as serious as it gets because that could lead to people protesting and rioting, and crime increasing. I don't know if I could say it's going to be greater than the great depression, but it's probably going to be on par when we transition to a different system as the old system dies. You're going from the gold-backed currency of the great depression, where you could take gold to the bank and exchange it for dollars and vice versa, to where they basically banned anyone holding gold. That happened in the early 1930's in the US.
It's going to be some kind of transition like that and it's going to be chaotic and if they don't take care of the people, a significant portion of people don't know the ins and outs. When you're hungry or if the life that you lived before this started happening is upended then you start questioning and you see whether or not they're taking care of the masses of people and people react. You can get instant information. Even though it's controlled online, people can find it pretty quickly and share it via social media. I've been thinking about it a lot the last few days and how it's going to play out. It doesn't necessarily have to be the worst case scenario economically and financially with a totalitarian police state and cashless society.
The possibility is there for that to happen but it doesn't necessarily have to be that way. Not to say that it's rainbows and unicorns and everything's going to be okay, or very optimistic, but not falling into doom and gloom and absolute worst case scenario.
Tiffany: I think that just as in any situation, there are going to be some people who thrive and really show their creativity and other people that will fall into a pit of despair or evilness. I think that it's going to be bad, maybe worse than the great depression because back then people were a bit more resilient. I think now people are a lot more coddled. We have a bunch of millennial brats who have safe spaces and people who have never gardened or hunted for their own food or fished or anything like that. When they lose their creature comforts they will more than likely lose it.
Mike: They may lose it. If you're in your bubble and you're not adaptable to change then you're probably going to have significant issues, whether that's leading to substance abuse or mental health issues. Let's say you had a home that you had a mortgage on and you can't pay it, if they're not backstopped by the government then you can lose your home and then your whole world is upended as the world is being upended.
I think in terms of health and wellness, you should be open to change and be adaptable and not let the stress of it freak you out to the point where you either fall into depression or things like that, or you freeze and not do anything. For a number of years I have been reading about and learning about cryptocurrencies and if that is going to be part of the system. I don't know if it's going to be a negative thing if it is part of the system, it may be, but if I have that education I could possibly get certified education and then find jobs in that field. There are going to be opportunities out there if you're willing to educate yourself and you're willing to work for people.
President Trump once proposed a $2 trillion infrastructure project for the US. Who knows if that'll get pushed through, but if it does then as long as things don't fall apart completely where there might be opportunities to actually work and survive and possibly thrive if you're willing to work hard or educate yourself. I don't think it's going to turn into Mad Max. It's going to be a transition.
If you want to grow your own food and get involved in that there might be opportunities in the community so you can shift what you found important and meaningful in your life to what you found valuable and that could be a very positive thing if you've rooted in the right thing. You could say "I was this way and all I cared about was a fancy car and I really didn't value or think about life or the bigger questions of life" so if you're adaptable enough it could be positive in some ways.
Tiffany: If all else fails you could just rely on the universal basic income which they are writing about a lot. What are your thoughts on that Mike?
Mike: I personally think if you don't have the situation where the economic system bounces back right away there's going to be a lot of people that won't have any income who are going to be upset and they're going to need some kind of support. That'll probably be on the cards down the line.
Now the question is, are they going to tie that in with not getting vaccinated, not being able to get the UBI? "If you don't want to get the chip then we are not going to give you the UBI." I'm not saying that's going to happen, but that's a possibility. You have got to think to yourself what kind of decisions am I going to make if that's the case, prepare mentally, because if you can't feed yourself or you don't have money to live and they are offering the UBI and then down the line they say "You're getting UBI, now you have got to get this vaccine or we are not going to give it to you" those kind of large questions might be out there.
Overall, the UBI as a concept? It probably wouldn't play out like this, but if you follow what's going on with corruption and how banks have been bailed out and people have become rich by gaming the system because they get tips within the system, that's just how it is, people should be taken care of but I wish the system wasn't set up where people would need that.
If they tell people that's how they're going to do it and they are going to give everyone it then use those funds in the best possible way to set yourself up for what you value and what you want to do with it, whether that is you saying "Okay they have given me this money so I'm going to hook up with a local farmer and get involved with that and use the money that way so I can not be dependent on the system necessarily."
Doug: Mike, I wanted to ask a question, I had a friend ask me about derivatives, and I know I have seen a lot of stuff written in different articles about this and people seem to be freaking out about it. Not knowing anything about what derivatives are, is there a two minute explanation for that and what's going on there?
Mike: The official definition of what a derivative is, let's say you have a block of gold, and you don't have it in your possession but someone else does, and they say okay if you give me money for it I'll hold it for you and you don't have it. That's the first step of a derivative. You get a certificate to say that you own that gold, that is a derivative of owning that gold. It's been a while since I have read up on it, but in terms of the financial system all these banks have written contracts which are like bets that the interest rate is going to be "here" for various things with other banks, so like a contract as a derivative. That's what people are probably freaking out about because there are supposed to be trillions, if not quadrilions, of dollars worth of these derivatives that have been written and they are totally unregulated by the central bank. That was a conscious decision by the federal reserve and other central banks back in the 90's with Alan Greenspan, was not to regulate this. I think that was to do with the fact that they use all these derivatives to keep the system afloat and to manipulate the system and all markets.
Now, you're having wild swings in the oil price so if you had oil derivatives that were written those are probably be activated where if the oil dropped to "this" then this bank was supposed to pay this other bank so that bank will be able to pay on that derivative contract. I used to get freaked out about it when financial turmoil would start happening, but I actually think they have an unlimited amount of keystroke money printing and I think they are underpinning every bank in this derivative contract system, so it may not implode the banking system right away. As the financial system has stress, you might see it degreade.
I used to think that it was all going to implode and the whole banking system is going to come down, but officially they're buying up everything. Who knows how many trillions of dollars worth of stuff they're pumping into the system or buying from the banks to keep it from these derivatives destroying the banks? They're bailing out every bank to keep the system from crashing.
I don't know if I was clear on the derivatives, they're really complex when you delve into them. There is a guy, I haven't read his stuff for a while because there is only so much you can read at a time, his name was Rob Kirby. He is based out of Canada and is probably the foremost expert on that topic. I haven't checked if he has written stuff recently. If he is writing anything publicly then it is probably worthwhile to read, he is probably talking about derivatives.
All of these years I have followed a number of very, very smart people who know about economics, finance, and precious metals, and I don't even know if all those people put together would really have a view of exactly how it was going to play out with all this happening. You can get an idea of what the possibilities are, but I don't know unless you're really up there as the president of a country or the central bank system you're not going to know what's going to be implemented or how it's going to play out.
That could be a good thing, because I used to think that I had to get my compound in the mountain and ride out the Max Mad era; it was that kind of thinking. Now, I think just be flexible and adaptable with whatever comes down the line and do your best to help the others that you care about whether it's your neighbours, family, or community. It will be different and there will be a lot of change I think.
Doug: I think that's the key: don't panic, stay flexible, stay aware, keep on top of what's going on to as much of an extent as you can, and stay adaptable and everybody help each other. Be excellent to each other.
Mike: Even if you lose a lot of possessions or you can't live the lifestyle that you did before. People are pretty resilient to change eventually. It may be different and you may find something more valuable in terms of connections to others or education or information.
Erica: Mike the Bear, did you have any other solutions or ideas that you wanted to share with our listeners and viewers?
Mike: Let me think about it here for a second. I think I've mentioned a couple of points that I wanted to mention. I think I actually covered most of the stuff. I think it is a good idea to get involved with a farm to have some more food. I've recently gotten involved with a farm and most days of the week I go there and help with what is going on. It would get me out of my mind thinking about Coronavirus, or plandemic and the agitation and anxiety that wells up from it from reading about it on the computer. I would get out there and do something in nature, get some sun and work my body. That has been the most positive thing that I have done in all this besides looking at the situation for what it is, doing something proactive that's healthy which you could possibly get food from. I think people should consider doing something like that, even if you have a small plot of land.
I didn't mention it before when I was talking about the supply chain but the market for buying seeds is really tight now too because a lot of people are thinking that way. Do something where you can disconnect from the stress that all this brings because you can really eat yourself up and have a lot of problems from the stress and mental health issues that could come from all this. It really is stressful.
My personal stressful time was when I saw China shut down. I thought what do I want to buy or what do I want to do? Because this could have lasting impacts and it cascaded to the worst case scenario with the global economy shutting down. I had a little bit of a freak out then. Now I try and do things that are positive; positive actions to react to it.
Erica: That's some great advice. It's so easy to get caught up in stressing about it. I noticed that a lot of people keep saying "when things get back to normal" and now it's pretty clear that things are not going to get back to normal as the average person believes and sees it.
Mike: I think so, and really you don't know what other events or catalysts might be out there in the wings. Not to cause people to be afraid, but leading up to the Coronavirus thing it was like are we going to have a world war because of the killing of the Iranian general? Then, you had the impeachment before that. There's probably going to be some kind of next thing, not saying it's going to be a huge earthquake, but you just don't know what might come up that will freak people out, or will freak you out if you're prepared to roll with the punches and do the best you can.
Erica: That's some great advice. I have found that I don't even fill out my monthly calendar anymore, I just go day to day and see what is going to happen each day. {Laughter} Planning to make it through the day, long term plan.
Mike: It is like that, depending on where you're and what the restrictions are on getting out of your house. Your whole life is upended, especially if you lost your job. Even if you're able to get unemployment or the relief cheque you still have to ask "what do I do with myself? What do I focus on?" I still write stuff down on my calendar, but it's more like what I want to get done for that day, or to make sure I don't forget something instead of what I wanted to plan to do in three months.
Erica: I have one last question. If people have a little bit of extra money or if they get their relief cheque or unemployment, what is something that you've been doing or that you can suggest that people do which isn't going to cost them thousands of dollars?
Mike: Not being a financial advisor, I'll just throw out things that I've thought about or I've done. When I first saw this possibly heading down the path that we are on now I asked myself, what are the things that I need over the next six months to a year? If I don't have a lot of debt or if I am able to service my debt, whether it's a mortgage or credit card debit, if I have this extra money, what would you need to get you through tough times?
Maybe that's extra food, or extra items that might cost more in another six months to a year due to inflation or hyperinflation or the supply system being degraded or shut down. That's the thing that I would think about. Everyone needs to use toilet paper, but let's not freak out and a buy two year supply though, you're probably going to use that. You're going to use toothpaste, you're going to need soap, you're going to need food and those basic necessities to have a normal existence. Hygiene, feeding yourself, and that kind of stuff.
Erica: That's a great idea. Do you folks have any other questions?
Tiffany: To add onto what Mike just said, I would also invest in building up, or acquiring or strengthening the skills that you already have. If you're a good mechanic or you know how to fix things, make sure you have all the tools that you might need, make sure you have reference manuals, and download some helpful YouTube videos. Don't rely on your electricity being on and YouTube always being available. Make lists, make notes, network with people who can teach you things. You might be able to teach them something and you can trade skills and services, things like that.
Erica: Yes, because those are going to be very important.
Mike: I think so. That's like a commodity in itself. If you're useful for something, that is better than not having any kind of education or not being any use to anybody. You could share and network and be part of the community instead of someone the community has to support. You can support the community.
Erica: Thank you so much for all your helpful information. I know that for me it was more understandable. Sometimes it gets overwhelming. We have always covered the health and wellness aspect but I really do think that this is a part of health and wellness as well, knowing a little bit about what's going on and how to navigate through these very uncertain times.
Mike: It was my pleasure coming on. I hope I didn't babble on too much, confuse anybody and that I was clear. Thank you for having me.
Erica: Thank you to all of our listeners and co-hosts. We do ask that you "like" and subscribe to Objective Health. We look forward to coming at you guys with another interesting topic really soon.
[Goodbyes]
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