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Welcome.
My name is Chris Martenson. I'm not an economist. I'm a trained research scientist, and a former Fortune 300 VP. Most importantly, though, I'm a concerned citizen.
I think the next twenty years are going to look very different from the last twenty years. This site is my attempt to explain why.
You should start with the Crash Course. This series of videos is, I think, the clearest and most straightforward explanation of how our economy, energy systems and environment interact -- how we got to where we are today, and some reasonable expectations for the future.
Thanks for visiting my site, and hope to see you back here often.
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Getting the Story Right
Now that I have returned from my UK trip, where I had the opportunity to present the main story of the Crash Course at the Parliament, at the London School of Economics, and to councillors and members of the Scottish Parliament, I've come away with an even stronger sense of the true dimensions of our predicament and what must be done.
We desperately need to start telling ourselves a new story, one that at least fits the known data, and we need to be far more urgent in our preparations for a future that is now upon us. This is not a US or a UK story, but one that applies equally to us all, no matter where we live. It is a global story.
- cmartenson's blog
- 30 comments
- 3981 reads
Daily Digest - March 12
- 218 New Billionaires Averaged $500M in Gains Last Year – How Are You Doing?
- A Job For Life
- The "Repo 105" Scam: How Lehman Fooled Everyone And How Other Banks Are Likely Doing This Right Now
- The Nightmare No One In America Sees Coming
- Unemployment Figures: Slow Going
- Strike Paralyzes Greece; Protests Turn Violent
- Russia, Greece, Chile, and the Narcissism of Harvard Debt Lords
- Doug Casey on Surviving Financial Apocalypse Now
- European Sovereign Debt Issuance to Reach £1,446 Billion
- Chinese Inflation Hits 16-Month High
- Unemployment Tops 20% In Eight California Counties
- Shale Gas - Is This The Global Game Changer?
- China's Oil Demand Increase 'Astonishing', says IEA
- Natural Gas Drilling Chemicals A Concern
- Rapid Rise in Seed Prices Draws U.S. Scrutiny
- 'Biodegradable' Plastic Bags May Not Be As Eco-Friendly As Thought
- Monsanto Faces Fight As Probes Bolster Critics
- Norway Doomsday Seed Vault Hits 1/2 Million Mark
- DailyDigest's blog
- 1 comment
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Pumps On Full
I am truly amazed at what I am seeing out there in the markets these days. I also understand and share the frustration of the many analysts who know what "should" be happening but is not.
What should be happening is massive, self-reinforcing deflation caused by debt destruction and resulting from the housing bust and retreat of consumer borrowing.
These are harrowing figures: read more »
- 47 comments
- 13700 reads
Nowhere To Run - A Monetary Crisis 
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Saturday, March 6, 2010
Executive Summary
- Nations around the world are insolvent and on their way to bankruptcy, a fiscal crisis, a currency crisis, or all three.
- World markets are currently interlocked to a troubling degree.
- A falling currency is always a cross-border event.
- The German DAX, the Dow Jones, and the FTSE 100 charts are nearly indistinguishable.
- A bigger trigger than Greece will be needed to set off the next round of global trouble.
- The UK is a highly qualified candidate for that role; Japan is also a likely possibility.
- Expect the unexpected. The future is going to change suddenly and rapidly.
A significant issue facing all of us concerns the idea of a large decline in the value of our home currency, whatever currency that may be. History is full of examples of currencies suddenly, and sometimes permanently, losing value. Certainly, there is no greater financially traumatic event than having all of your perceived wealth evaporate like water on hot steel simply because your currency fails.
Once upon a time, evaluating the relative risks of various currencies was pretty straightforward, as they were independently run and market forces gave pretty clear signals. Today, the major currencies are hopelessly intertwined, manipulated by central banks, and are therefore providing relatively poor information to market participants.
read more »- 40 comments
- 4984 reads
FDIC Is Broke - Now What?
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Sunday, August 16, 2009
Executive Summary
- With the most recent bank failures, the FDIC is out of funds.
- The FDIC is levying a one-time fee on member banks to cover the shortfall, but it will not be enough and it punishes the prudent.
- The FDIC has been suspiciously slow at shutting down banks that have admittedly already failed.
- Banks have been allowed to overestimate the actual worth of their assets using "mark-to-fantasy" accounting.
- Hundreds of banks are likely already mortally wounded and set to fail.
- The FDIC means well, but creates a moral hazard the effects of which now haunt us.
- Take prudent action: Choose only high-rated banks, and keep cash out of the bank.
Five more banks failed this week, resulting in a long weekend for the FDIC (see below). The largest of these, by far, was Colonial Bank, which will cost the FDIC some $2.8 billion. And that's assuming that their loss estimates pan out as expected and that the $15 billion in shaky assets on which the FDIC will share future losses do not turn into larger-than-expected losses.
read more »- 14 comments
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Economy & Energy - At the UK Parliament
Duration: 01:26:10 — File Size: 82.73 MB
Audio of Chris' presentation to the UK All Parliamentary Party Group On Peak Oil plus Q&A afterwards. read more »
- 686 reads