I have never voted in a presidential election. Although I am intensely political and received my B.A. in Political Science from the University of California at Davis in 1966, I have never voted for a presidential candidate. This "abstinence" is my vote on the s0-called democratic process in America.

Nonethess, I cannot let this day pass unacknowledged. Today, a black man has been elected to the presidency of the US. I do not believe he can cure this nation's ills nor do I believe he has the political power to do so even if he knew what to do.

What I do know is that America is changing. I grew up in the 1960s and knew well the nation the US purported to be. I also knew what it was. Today, it is a different nation than it was then.

There are those who mourn for the good old days. Let them mourn. They are most likely white. Tomorrow belongs to tomorrow but today belongs to history. A newspaper in Meridian, Mississippi yesterday wrote an apology for its inaction during those times. I suggest you read it. It speaks well of our possible future as a people.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003931673

Darryl Robert Schoon

http://www.survivethecrisis.com/

http://www.drschoon.com/

"This too shall pass" sums up my sense of the present moment.  For those who hope it means the crisis will be over, it is not meant in that way. "This too shall pass" is meant to convey that this present moment is but a pause in an on-going  crisis. Sooner, rather than later, this too shall pass and the world as we know it will disappear.

 The human mind is unable to conceive of that which it has never experienced. Those who grew up in the easy credit days of the past 25 years have no understanding of what is about to be. Their world, always vulnerable to a change in economic winds, is about to destroyed, blown away by hurricane-level forces. 

 I have watched this crisis develop over the past decade. That it became visible  in the past two years does not mean that is when it began. This crisis began decades ago, gathered steam, and is only now giving evidence of what is to come.

It is too late to stop it. Indeed, it cannot be stopped. As Bucky Fuller wrote in 1981, it is a Universally intended crisis intended to transform humanity.

I have written, "Until humanity changes, history will not".

Get ready, history - and humanity - are about to change.

 Good luck,

Darryl Schoon

www.survivethecrisis.com

www.drschoon.com

The latest Institute of Supply Management survey confirms our deepest fears. As recently as June 2008, 50 % of businesses reported they were expanding and hiring. In December 2008 the number for both  had dropped to zero.

For the first time in the history of the survey, no sector reported any growth at all. This is not just another Great Depression, it is going to be far worse.

The credit-based system that produced the first depression has evolved in the meantime and the second Great Depression will make the first seem like only a prelude to what is going to happen.

Although, it is impossible to foresee exactly how the future will play out, it is clear that much of today's world will not survive. We are between eras, between times. The old world  is passing away and the new world is not yet here.

 Hanging on to the old will not improve you chances of survival. Letting go is the optimal strategy if you are to make it through. If you do not have much experience in letting go, now would be a good time to practice.

Good luck,

Darryl Robert Schoon

www.survivethecrisis.com

www.drschoon.com

  In our construct of our reality, time and space are the coordinates; and time, once again, has returned Martha and I to the space of Venice. Life has given both of us many gifts and Christmas in Venice is one of them. As I writes these words, the waters of the Grand Canal lap silently outside our window-life at its grandest.

Life is not always like this; in fact, life is always moving, always changing, a process disconcerting to our egos, our temporary sense of self. This "disconcertment" remains a part of life until we are able to step outside the confines of our temporary selves-a process not controlled by the ego.

Now, in the meantime, the experience of separation is the norm, a feeling of oneness, of belonging, the exception.The truth is we are one, we do belong; but not to this, but to THAT-in the NOW.

Darryl Robert Schoon

wwwsurvivethecrisis.com\

www.drschoon.com

 Martha and I just arrived in Paris. A feeling perhaps only akin to when Paris entered Helen of Troy. It'is been far too long since my last visit to this extraordinary city, perhaps a quarter century but not long enough to forget why I wanted to return.

Like many, my life has been uncertain and difficult at times but I am blessed enough to know that I have been blessed as few others and returning to Paris after so long is testament to that fact.

We are entering times so uncertain that what have known  in the past will do us little good in the days ahead. The miracle that is life, however, will not cease nor will the miracles themselves.

Remember to count your blessings. Doing so will bring you more.

Good luck,

Darryl Robert Schoon

This has been a year to remember--or rather, a year to forget. Trillions of dollars of wealth disappeared in 2008 as  markets reeled from the forced liquidation of assets. The process is not yet over, another drop of 50 % is still possible.

The coming year will be far more difficult as the consequences of what happened to the financial sector begins to affect the lives of those  far away from Wall Street. The pain will be real and our memory of the last depression will not do justice to the suffering that is about to be.

Denial about our problems has been the norm in America. Hopefully, that denial will give way to acceptance and understanding in the future. Only then is change possible.

 I don't know how America will respond to this unfolding crisis in the coming years. A country's past is no indicator of its future. It is my hope  the crisis will bring out the best in America.

During the past decade America lost its moral compass. Perhaps in the next, it will find it again.

 Let us pray it will be so.

Merry Christmas

Darryl Robert Schoon

www.survivethecrisis.com

www.drschoon.con

  Jill Bolte Taylor is an extraordinary person. Named by Time Magazine as one of the 200 most influential people in 2008, her influence is highly unusual. If you haven't yet seen a video of her presentation, now is the time to do so.

Life is an amazing phenomena and we are rarely given glimpses into areas beyond our own experiences. Jill Bolte Taylor's story is an exception to that rule. By listening to her story you will learn more about your own.

This is the link to Jill's  story:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html

 Good luck,

Darryl Robert Schoon

www.survivethecrisis.com

www.drschoon.com

The final session of Gold Standard University Live was held in early November in Canberra, Australia. In a lovely academic setting, participants listened to Professor Antal E. Fekete discuss trading the basis in gold and silver markets and the current economic crisis.

 What was an unexpected result of that session was the sense of community experienced by those in attendence. As all of us who believe in gold and  "sound money" know that such a belief is highly uncommon, thus relegating us to the outer edges of society where alienation is our common experience.

 In November in Canberra, this was not so. Understandably, most who attended were from Australia but many came from other countries such as the US,  Canada, Spain, South Africa, Sri Lanka, etc. but all shared the common belief that sound money was critically important. All who attended also felt a sense of community being among others of like mind and intention.

While in Canberra, Martha and I had the opportunity to see hundreds of kangaroos who stared at us as uncomprehending as those who look at us today and wonder why we feel so strongly about gold and the dangers of paper money.

Hopefully, the kangaroos will escape the consequences of what is about to happen. Those who stare at us uncomprehending of our belief in the value of sound money and gold will not.

Darryl Robert Schoon

www.survivethecrisis.com

www.drschoon.com

The collapse of what was once the largest insurance company in the world, AIG, goes straight to the heart of the hubris that caused today's problems.

Fools always believe what they want to believe.  This truism is as true today as it was yesterday and the day before.

 It was certainly true when AIG began writing insurance policies on financial investments. Investment banking is nothing more or less than a global casino where savings are bet in the hope of greater reward.

The cost of the bet is measured by risk and the greater the risk the greater the possibility of reward. It is also true that the greater the risk, the greater the possibility of loss.

 This is where the hubris of AIG enterered the picture. When the investment banks found a pigeon stupid enough to write risk insurance on their increasinly risky bets, they were home free or so they thought.

 But if AIG was in fact stupid enough to write insurance on increasingly complex and risky financial bets, it didn't mean AIG had the money to back those insurance policies up when the bets went bad--and they didn't.

 Today, AIG is bankrupt but the investment banks are still receiving full dollar on their insurance policies because an even bigger sucker than AIG has been found--the US taxpyer who is now committed to paying off AIG's bad debts. 

The next time you go to the polls, remember what you voted for and what you in fact got.

Good luck,

Darryl Robert Schoon

www.survivethecrisis.com

www.drschoon.com

No matter what your position in the markets, or lack thereof, what you are witnessing  is history in the making.

Bad news continues to accumulate. The latest is that European banks  are in even worse shape than US banks as they have lent far more and far more imprudently than previously disclosed.

 It was the collapse of Austrian bank Credit Anstalt  that led to a domino collapse of banks in the 1930s that pushed the world further into the Great Depression. News from Austria today is that Austrian banks have again literally bet the bank and lost.

 It is now reported that Austrian banks lent an amount equal to 85 % of Austria's gross domestic product to faltering East European countries that are  beginning to default.

Things are getting worse and will continue to deteriorate. We are witness to the collapse of a system of paper money loaned and leveraged far beyond anyone's ability to ever repay. Governments were complicit in this process. We will all pay for what they did and did not do.

 Savings are disappearing. Pensions are next. This is history in the making.

 Good luck,

Darryl Robert Schoon

www.survivethecrisis.com

www.drschoon.com