this is so incredibly sad. . wouldn't you think that the
world would wake up to the stupidity of socialism
and fascism as a result? . but nooooooooo, they
think that they can do it better, and succeed! -- j
.

Ahhh. Course 2 not only gets to learn tensors, but has to use them to keep real things from falling apart.

Course 2. Graduated 1967

You are correct. The first thing to do with your money is to spend it well on goods that will improve your life and security even if the SHTF.

Jan

"TDM" then, probably still TDM now. How much was lunch at Walker Memorial? How much is it now?

I didn't go there but I worked there, in E34, for LL. I had friends who were courses 6, 5, 8 and 18. What were you?

Its been a long time since I went to MIT, but as I remember, tuition was $1700 a year. Its more than 10x that now.

Very good question. I think Venezuela is a good model for how a socialist system crashes in detail. Knowing what the governments will do to stay in power would give us a heads up and time to take self preservative actions.

I'm sure all bets are off and everything is on the table when it comes to preservation of the government. In theory they will want to take all of the wealth in the hands of citizens for their own use, but what would be nice to know is how and in what order they will try it.

At least in cars there have been some gadgets added and some minor improvements to explain a small portion of the higher prices. Government mandates on fuel economy and emissions also caused some of that higher price, with arguable benefit therefrom.
Speaking of college days, contrast cars with the rise in price of "higher education" where the product itself has (1) plummeted in economic benefit and (2)brainwashed the customers to be servants of the state while (3) restricting their ability to think. Example of Price increase:
1975 Ga Tech Undergrad 4 yr degree (with in-state taxpayer discount) $ 2,040
Source: personal experience
2016 Ga Tech Undergrad 4 yr degree (with in-state taxpayer discount) $50,800
Source: http://admission.gatech.edu/afford/tu...

Note that the 2016 annual "mandatory student fees" which is mostly a sports activity cost (and includes no education whatsoever) exceeds the 1975 total cost of a 4 year degree.

I agree completely that there is virtually no financial incentive for anyone to save and take responsibility for their future. This encourages people to give up their liberty for the illusion of comfort, convenience, and safety.

What happens when other currencies are even less worthy of confidence and there isn't enough money backed with something of value to facilitate trade?

My brand new 1953 Ford 50th anniversary model cost $1,700 out the door. I gave the salesman a down payment of $450 in quarters, 1/2 dollars and a few silver dollars. They were contained in a cardboard carton which he almost dropped, not expecting it to be as heavy as it was.

shades of the usa to come!

I do think that the venezuela effect is coming to the USA and we should be monitoring the modern ways that Maduro is staying in power. Our government will probably do similar things when they are threatened. Just take a look at the NSA and what IT is doing to protect the government from US.

Lenin was right in that the way to destroy any modern society is to debauch its currency and forbid the use of alternative currencies. And its happening here.
When I was in college, a mid-sized car cost $3000. Now the same car costs nearly $40,000

That means to me that our dollar has lost 90% of its value since then.

Why save money in that scenario. Now you dont even get interest on the money you save, and its depreciating in real terms about 10% a year. Fortunately deflation and off-shoring is helping us out a bit by making products from china and other places cheaper

The author naturally did not take, or it was edited out, the opportunity to draw a parallel to TARP and Quantitative Easing. Another totalitarian blind eye to what is going on around them. Like pollsters in the run up to an election, they ultimately try to approach the truth...perhaps WaPo couldn't avoid the reality of state collapse in order to appear relevant.

I just found it remarkable given their recent history of support for the socialist state, that the Post would say Lenin was wrong about anything. It wouldn't surprise me if the Post was wrong.

It says he was wrong in his claim that debauching a currency is harmful to capitalism. I generally agree with Lenin on this.

Matt O'Brien doesn't say why disagrees with this but maybe freedomforall will.