Tom welcomes back Jon Forrest Little, publisher of ‘The Pickaxe’ to the show. Jon discusses how the world is fracturing into two economic sides. There have been fifty-seven wars since World War II, and they have all largely been disasters. The United States has spent trillions on these conflicts, and now the dollar itself is at risk. China and Russia are studying U.S. economic policy carefully. Every time the government bails out a particular sector or engages in additional conflict, the credibility of the dollar system wanes.

China is connecting seventy-five percent of the world’s population, along with fifty percent of global GDP. The United States and IMF prefer to provide debt-trap financing to other nations instead of being a benefactor. The U.S. is reliant on the petrodollar, but now, even the Saudi’s have pivoted toward Russia. Nations are beginning to transact in gold and are bypassing any sanctions.

Western central banks never talk about gold, unlike those in the East. We will have a new Bretton Woods unless the West chooses to remain in denial. Everything is going to come down to who controls and has access to energy. Russia is good at managing foreign relations, and many countries want to move away from Western systems. U.S. foreign policy starts out diplomatic, but often escalates to forceful coercion. We see that now, domestically with, 87000 new tax collectors.

The Fed is pretending to act tough on inflation, but it’s all a cover to raise rates. These creatures at the Fed are creating inflation and causing most of the problems via currency debasement.

The climate emergency is another method for enforcing additional control on the population. The Chinese lockdowns are due to energy issues. Governments want these authoritarian tools.

They want the population always in a state of fight or flight. This way they can’t think as they’re too busy responding to fear. We need an informed population, not one that is being spoon-fed. The current sound-bite daily debate is woefully lacking substance.

Get yourself out of the system and find a community that you can build around. Find the sources that already question things and distrust the mainstream. Those in power today aren’t even bothering to hide the corruption anymore. This is normal for the endgame of empires.

Time Stamp References:
0:00 – Introduction
1:24 – World Bifurcating
6:48 – Gold, Trade & BRICS
9:28 – West Vs. BRICS
10:49 – Bretton Woods 2.0?
16:38 – Collapse Signs
18:38 – Silver Opportunity
21:15 – The Fed & Inflation
25:08 – Economists & Resources
27:32 – Energy Issues
29:08 – Climate Emergency
33:16 – Normalizing Dystopia
38:10 – Information Sources
43:50 – Wrap Up

Talking Points From This Episode

• The decline of the United States and the rising East.
• China’s infrastructure project connecting 75 percent of the world’s population.
• Why the Fed is talking tough on inflation.
• The collapsing middle class and the need for community in the coming years.

Guest Links:
Website: https://www.thepickaxe.xyz
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThePickaxe_Ag

Jon Forrest Little studied at the University of New Mexico with an emphasis on history, Latin American foreign policy, and archaeology. He studied processual archaeology under distinguished anthropologist Lewis Binford. Jon also attended Georgetown University’s Institute for Comparative Political and Economic Systems.

Little began his professional career working for 21 years in the clay mining industry. He worked with companies drawing from shale mines surrounding Mount Cristo Rey in El Paso. These clay deposits were unique because two manufacturing plants from two separate countries (north and south of the US-Mexican border) shared the clay resources. The same clay deposits were used by Mexican and US brick manufacturers. This experience sharpened Jon’s knowledge of international business and labor relations. Jon also worked with dozens of clay mines near Pueblo and El Dorado, Colorado.

While working in the clay-fired brick industry, Jon worked with Robert AM Stern architects to set a CU Boulder campus standard for a brick blend to replace the locally quarried sandstone. The sandstone was selected by Charles Z Klauder in the 1930s. Klauder was inspired by the hillsides of Tuscany and designed CU Boulder in a Tuscan theme with clay-fired roof tiles, sandstone walls, copper gutters, and brick. Jon worked with architects, masons, and contractors in the field of value engineering. His work with architects and contractors has saved CU Boulder building projects millions of dollars. The “Artisanal” blend Jon created was half the cost of sandstone installation.