Discussion

In this current crisis, I believe the "Powers that Be" among nations will get together for another Jekyll Island. The crashing of these many nations currently will make them pull together to form a type of world currency. American dollar will become worthless.
This will destroy our economy as nations attempt to become one and this will create a final turn for the U.S. to a complete socialist nation and economy. Obama is the beginning of this debacle.
As a people, we must either rebel and, if we do not, then we must prepare.
I am not a doomsayer nor a conspiracy theorist, but the bigger picture of what policies are being written and forwarded by the current administration are compelling. What else would these trillions of dollars being made by our government today and the policies being proposed point to anyway?

Its a shame that everything points to the money and who has it and who does not. But if there is heart and power, that is much more powerful than a dollar. Americans will either have to put up or shut up. The majority appear to do the latter. It was heartening to see the many demonstrations on tax day this past. The issues may be forced and our economy may be saved.

Robert

I too have spent much of the past 8 months increasing my financial literacy. This Chapter is the best so far at explaining in simple to understand terms what has and is going on in the World. Thank you.

Right now it is very dim. But, I am a firm believer that if people do not change their thinking mode of taking charge if their future, then they will be the ones depending on the government. What makes matter worse is the misinformation from some of the clowns on T.V. called talking heads in the media that are feeding distorted news and advice for viewers on how they should handle their finances. The people who make changes in their lives financially as some of your principles, Robert, that you were taught by Rich Dad, will be the ones that we ride this financial wave and make money work for them regardless if President Obama fixes this mess or not.

Right now, there are two classes: The Haves and The Have Nots. Middle class is gone.

So, the bottom line is that the future of our economy is the way one thinks. Currently, we have a President that inherited this mess and many lawmakers from both political parties that have benefitted financially from financial mess that are decision makers on bills in Congress on dealing with this mess. I think people shouldn't concentrate on the left wingers or the right wingers but the bird in the middle which is the person looking in the mirror everyday. The financial future is in our hands.

It is a very exciting time! The end of the middle class reminds me of Aldus Huxley's book Brave New World, where there are different types of people who are genetically modified.

Our financial Brave New World will consist of only Alphas and Epsilons, the highest and lowest of classes. Epsilons will have to work, the people they work for will be the Alphas.

All this goverment and huge spending can amount to one thing only - a smaller, or invisible government. Perhaps not for a while, but governments may just be replaced by wealthy philanthropists who use their own money to take care of society.

There is no doubt that the greenback is ruined. Even if there WAS a gold standard, simple supply and demand would tell you that it will take a while for the dollar to recover from it's upcoming decline. History has proved time and again that only a currency backed by SOMETHING will survive. Maybe we will reinstate the gold standard and start from scratch.

Whatever happens, it sure is an exciting time to be alive and experience these dramatic changes first hand!

We are on the verge of a transfer of wealth. Certain aspects of that are already occuring as a result of the current recession. I have a friend that owns two bars with video lottery machines. Even though money is tight for most people, more people have turned to drinking and gambling. This is the first transfer of wealth and it's an immediate one. Business owners providing escapes will reap benefits in the short term.

In the long term, the transfer of wealth will occur on two fronts.
First, the retirement vehicles held by baby boomers will be moved from their 401Ks (if they havent lost too much value) to another savings vehicle. Second, entrepreneuers recognizing the new set of problems that are being created will get wealth by providing solutions.

Those three events will set the stage for the future of our economy, in my opinion.

Robert,

1) The future of money: Prepaid cards as we know them today (as used by Starbucks, for example) will become exponentially more pervasive throughout society and evolve more sophisticated characteristics yet to be seen. As consumers and businesses deal with growing instability and uncertainty surrounding fiat currency, these digital cards will become private money with value derived from the underlying goods and services purchased. Such prepaid cards will thus in some capacity subvert the federal reserve system. They will also likely become powerful credit or banking facilities for the issuing businesses, perpetuating the "magic money" system.

2) The economy: The middle class will face increasing financial difficulty going forward due to it's lack of interest in money. By far the biggest lesson of my career in financial services is this: poor and middle class employees simply are not interested in financial education. Every (mostly good-faith) effort made by the retirement and mutual fund industries to engage investors and/or teach them basic finance has failed miserably due to lack of participation. This happens in good and bad markets, whether investors are young or old, making money or losing money, maxing out their retirement contributions or contributing nothing. Although the mutual fund and retirement complex is largely maligned in Rich Dad's material, the critical point is the masses' apathy or outright disgust for financial education. This psychological aspect has been deeply ingrained over many generations and is hard to change. I'm a big fan of Rich Dad, but in the scheme of the larger economy the message is falling on deaf ears.

I think that with all the funny money being printed and the huge amounts of debt being created the government will be unable to meet its future obligations. This will lead to a devaluing of the US dollar because the good faith and credit of the US taxpayer will no longer be good. Americans will not make good on the money they owe. They will not be able to pay their bill. This will lead to a new global currency and the US dollar will fade into oblivion. Consider that the baby boomers have just started retiring and in the near future many will have to withdraw their money from the markets which will create more debt and more market volatility. The only way out is to devalue the dollar thereby making our debt worthless.

Call me an optimist, but I think that money, ESPECIALLY in the form it takes today, will eventually disappear. I think that we are reaching a critical mass in technology and knowledge that will allow us to build a support infrastructure where everyone's basic needs will be provided for by our thinking machines and their robotic extensions. When that happens, money will lose it's power to control people's lives.

i suppose there will always be some unit of measure in order to keep things in balance.

i also suppose that humans will evolve to the point where everyone has the health and motivation to simply contribute to our basic needs, comfort and entertainment. In that scenario, you would not even need a barter system. However, our survival instincts are so engrained that this option is centuries away. we would have to feel safe and know abundance.

the zeitgeist website proposes a plan in conjunction with another visionary thinker. there is no mention of currency in that vision.

Robert:

I truly agree with everything you are saying, but a lot of time you repeat yourself over and over. We understand, or at least some of us do on the truth about money, inflation, taxes, and lastly debt and how we can use this to our benefit. But really! We do have the tools you have taught us, but can you write a chapter on how we can truly start building wealth (step by step and with little money, you keep saying you are going to do it but you just repeat yourself). Your tools are GREAT, but obviously for people who have money to invest or money to start businesses. Can you also mention some of the good industries to get into now and evolve a business around in the is type of economey. Ok so start a cash flowing business...well you first have to think of an industry that is profitable and will sustain this economy (which aren't that many). My brother started www.pocketshopperfresno.com, a local coupon site, but NO ONE HAS MONEY...so its tuff.

Don't know if you respond, but hopefully you will or any others who want to comment..thanks!