Chris Martenson's Blog

I had a number of requests to make this particular Insider post (for enrolled members) from Wednesday public.

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There was a huge amount of press and follow-up to the Guardian article of the leaks.  This theme is important enough to continue exploring.  Anybody who has seen the Crash Course does not need any more information about Peak Oil itself.

Instead, I am most fixated on when a tipping point in global awareness about Peak Oil might occur.  That's why this revelation and all the press it has been getting has been extremely interesting to me.

The first article helps to provide some more context and backing for the 'leaks,' which turn out not to have been very original leaks, since others were told this same information as early as 2007.  read more »

Before the holiday festivities begin and you reunite with your families, Becca and I invite all of you to spend some time with our family.  We are getting close to our once-a-year seminar in Rowe, MA.

Tucked away in a picturesque mountain setting, the Rowe seminar combines an atmosphere of retreat with a social environment and educational tools to promote action, conversation, and solutions.

This year’s seminar incorporates a number of improvements and new sections, as we increasingly focus on the practical, emotional and community components that help us prepare and envision the change we wish to see.

One of the unique elements of the Rowe experience is the diverse but aligned community it attracts. Becca and I are still in touch with many of the impassioned and articulate individuals who have comprised previous groups from Rowe.  As the premier seminar in our home region of Western Massachusetts, we feel a special connection to Rowe, and find it an incredibly valuable resource for regrouping and reawakening to what is possible within a motivated local community.

Time is running out to register, so we hope you will consider joining us for this special, end-of-fall event.

Click here to register to be a part of this one-of-a-kind event, which kicks off Friday, November 20th.

Click here to learn more

To read unsolicited testimonials from participants at a recent seminar offered in Lowesville VA, click here.

We'd love to see you there.

Chris & Becca Martenson

 read more »

The Guardian published an explosive article today.  If true, it means that governments have been intentionally overstating the amount of oil that we have and could pump out of the ground. The implications are enormous.

This confirms the evidence that I saw at ASPO that had been painstakingly developed by independent researchers.  So we might want to incorporate this news into our personal and financial frameworks.

First, a snippet:  read more »

Practically every day I post my observations about what is happening in the markets and larger world for enrolled members in the "Martenson Insider" area and then we discuss it.

Here is yesterday's post (11/5/09).

I'd be delighted if you would consider joining.

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After digging around and sifting through the things both said and not said, I have come to the conclusion that what we are seeing are the likely effects of a rescue operation.

By this I mean a large injection of stabilizing cash to one or more parties, possibly related to the recent large bankruptcies.  Two of my friends, who have been actively trading for more than 20 years between them, threw in the towel this week, as their patterns and methods are no longer working.

Their conclusion is the same as mine; this market is not trading like it used to.  It is trading chaotically, counterintuitively, and as if there's some sort of distorting influence involved.

First, we might just wonder if this isn't the impact of a rogue firm with entirely too much power moving the market for its own benefit.  read more »

Once again, the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (waggishly referred to as the Open Mouth Committee during the Greenspan era, for its tendency to try and talk up a good response in the markets) has delivered a widely anticipated "non-event" from its most recent meeting.

That is, interest rates were left untouched at a level indistinguishable from zero.

As expected.

Once again I will try and provide translation services for the overly obtuse and meandering language preferred by the FOMC staff writers.  read more »

A new Martenson Report is ready for enrolled members.

Link:  Market Shift - Something Is Coming

A snippet:

As you know, I spend a great deal of time combing the available market information for clues about what is happening in the economy and where it may be leading us. This past week (October 24 - October 31, 2009) showed some amazing developments indicating that a major turning point is once again upon us.

This assessment is based on several key events, including the bankruptcy of Capmark Financial, which kicked off the week, the return of volatility to the stock market (reminiscent of past tops), and the bizarre strength in the price of gold on Friday, even as the Dow peeled off nearly 250 points.

Click the above link to read this report.  Please note that the full report is available only to enrolled members.  To enroll, please click here.

[Note:  Comments are disabled here; see the Martenson Report content box on the main page for comments.]  read more »

To commemorate our one-year anniversary, I'm pleased to announce that I am posting a free, condensed, 45-minute version of the Crash Course for your viewing enjoyment.  

The presentation it contains is part of a public talk delivered in Boulder, Colorado, this past summer filmed by Dave Gardner (who is working on a documentary called GrowthBusters, check it out - he deserves and would appreciate support for his project).

If it has been a while since you watched the Crash Course, please take the time to experience this new format.

You can watch all six parts here on this page.  read more »

A new Martenson Report is ready for enrolled members.

Link:  Personal Preparation - Where to Begin

I am continuing with my thoughts and advice on preparation for a very different future.  This time we focus on personal preparation.  In this report I discuss many of the changes and actions that we have personally undertaken in my household.

A snippet:

In a recent report entitled It's Time to Prepare, I walked through the financial preparations that one might take to add greater resilience to one's holdings and where they are located. 

But there is more to preparation that just financial savvy. I have been asked repeatedly to provide some guidance on personal preparation. In this report, I will begin the process of sharing my thoughts and experiences about this subject.  read more »

One year ago today, the final installment of the Crash Course was loaded to the site.

Happy birthday, Crash Course!

It was a terrible concept and a worse business decision.  Three and a half hours of intellectually dense material, lacking a happy ending, that I decided to give away for free.  On paper, it should have been a disaster.  But in reality, it has been enormously successful, having been featured in the Washington Post, on PBS, in the Huffington Post, and on Financial Sense Newshour with Jim Puplava, just to name a few..

So now that a year has passed, and this incredible and vibrant community has coalesced around the Crash Course, let's review where we've been and what we've accomplished.  read more »

I recently attended and presented at the Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO) conference in Denver.

The entire summary of everything I heard boils down to this:  We are already past peak oil.

I'll wait for a minute while that sinks in.

(…)

While the implications are enormous, seemingly incalculable and therefore ungraspable, I truly believe that understanding the impact this will have on our economy will illuminate the future for those who take the time to internalize the details.

One of my central contributions centers on the idea that it is our monetary system itself that is out of step with reality.  Everything else we see around us economically is merely a symptom, while the cause of our current and future ills is the dependence of our monetary system on perpetual exponential growth.  A profound and important set of conclusions immediately result from the acceptance of this argument.

While I spend a lot of time sifting through current data and trying to explain it, this is the primary scaffolding upon which I hang everything else and which drives my long-term views.

If I am right, this has enormous implications for our future prosperity and the trajectory of our current investments and other stores of wealth, especially those denominated in a defective currency.  And I am not just talking about the dollar here, but all debt-backed fiat currencies.

While at the ASPO conference, I had a strong urge to re-post the article below, as it concisely lays out my central thesis and it occurred to me that perhaps we should periodically revisit and discuss this topic.

If you really internalize this argument, which is admittedly difficult, because it means suspending an enormous range of internal beliefs and external confirmations, then you might find yourself unable to slip on your old spectacles and view the world of economics and money quite the same way again.

In the parlance of the movie The Matrix, this point of view represents a red pill; once taken, it's extraordinarily difficult to see things the old way.

My hope is that we can have a vigorous discussion here.  I am constantly looking for evidence to either bolster or refute this hypothesis.  Where is this wrong?  What could mitigate this argument, besides some miracle energy breakthrough?  Is there another way to view this?   Is it somehow possible for our money system to be tweaked into compliance with reality?

As always, higher style points are offered for comments that are fact-based and logical over arguments that are grounded in beliefs and opinions.  read more »