Thailand: Crushing Localism Threatens National, Regional Stability

April 22, 2017 (Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - Street vendors of all kinds are facing a complete ban of their livelihood across Bangkok, the capital of Southeast Asia's Thailand. While it may appear to be a minor move falling in line with many other nations within the "developed world," the significance of it both to Bangkok, Thailand, and the rest of Asia in socioeconomic terms is indeed, major.

Just like the "developed" nations the new ban seeks to emulate, it is driven not by a genuine desire to clear sidewalks, beautify the city, or enhance consumer health and safety.

Cui Bono? Not for Safety or Health

Instead, it is driven by larger corporations both foreign and domestic, and in particular, agricultural giant Charoen Pokphand Group (CP) which is connected to the massive and ever-expanding network of 7-Eleven convenience stores and Lotus retailers dotting every corner and crevice in both Bangkok and beyond.

The ban is in fact another salvo fired by special interests at Thailand's considerable "informal economy." Bloomberg in its article, "Thailand's Unemployment Rate is a Ridiculously Low 0.6%. Here's Why," would report that:

The informal sector of the Thai economy, comprising anyone who's not covered by formal work arrangements, accounted for more than 64 percent of the total workforce in 2013. It includes street vendors and taxi-motorbike drivers, the self-employed and those operating in gray areas of the economy. They are largely counted as employed.

And as technology further empowers the self-employed and is already disrupting economic monopolies in the "developed world,"  such trends in a nation like Thailand with a sizable informal economy already stand to transform Bangkok into a regional, even global "grey market capital" and model for economic alternatives, start-ups, and other disruptive economic models springing up elsewhere around the world.

While rational leaders within Thailand's government have seen this as an immense opportunity, investing in start-ups, small businesses, the leveraging of technology to empower independent entrepreneurs, other interests appear threatened by the prospect of an economy shifting decisively in favor of independent business owners who are increasingly able to compete against established monopolies across multiple industries.

While the actual number of users employing disruptive technology to compete against established business monopolies is small at the moment, as solutions are employed into markets, Thailand's substantial informal economy is likely to adopt them as well.

CP Group's Vision for the Future

For CP executives and investors, they envision a monopoly over Thai agriculture, food, beverages, retail, telecom, and other sectors. With the prospect of street vendors being swept from Bangkok's roads, CP's network of convenience stores would remain one of the remaining competitors, open 24 hours a day, and providing all the amenities currently provided for by street vendors.

Thailand Needs Domestic IT Infrastructure

It is not only a matter of sound economic development, but also a matter of national security. 

March 26, 2016 (Tony Cartalucci - ATN) - Russia has VK. China has Baidu, Weibo, and many others. What about Thailand? Facebook. Google. Twitter.  

Many seemed to understand the potential danger of a "single gateway," but do these same activists and organizations realize that there is already a "single gateway" of sorts in Thailand - run by foreigners and more specifically the US State Department and special interests in Washington and on Wall Street?

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's leaked e-mails reveal, among many other things, the close relationship between Google and the US State Department and the role the tech giant played in trying to take down nations - most notably during the so-called "Arab Spring" - using its vast control over global IT infrastructure.

The UK Independent's article, "Google planned to help Syrian rebels bring down Assad regime, leaked Hillary Clinton emails claim," would report (emphasis added):

An interactive tool created by Google was designed to encourage Syrian rebels and help bring down the Assad regime, Hillary Clinton's leaked emails have reportedly revealed....

...Thousands of Clinton's personal emails have been published and indexed by WikiLeaks, and some reveal interesting details about the relationship between the State Department and major corporations. 

The email detailing Google's defection tracker purportedly came from Jared Cohen, a Clinton advisor until 2010 and now-President of Jigsaw, formerly known as Google Ideas, the company's New York-based policy think tank.

More than that even, then Secretary Clinton would, in the 2 years before the "Arab Spring," participate in US-based seminars training, equipping, and funding agitators who would then be sent back to their respective countries and attempt to overthrow their respective governments before replacing them with one of Washington's choosing. These seminars were co-sponsored not only by the US State Department, but also by US tech giants like Google, Facebook, and YouTube.

Clearly Google is more than just a search engine, Facebook more than a social network, and YouTube more than just a platform for sharing videos.

Thailand's Proposed Land and House Tax Bill is Medieval, Theft

March 6, 2015 (ATN) - Centuries ago in Medieval Europe, despotic lords ruled over the land. They divided that land amongst their knights who in turn divided it amongst lesser servants and of course serfs. To live on the lord's land, one either gave a service or a determined amount of a good - usually an agricultural product. In other words, people would pay to live on the lord's land. Land may be passed down through families, but ultimately it never belonged to them. Ultimately it belonged to the lord who ruled over it.

In modern times, in most nations, the concept of owning your own land is considered one of several prevailing aspects of freedom. In Thailand, people have thus far enjoyed that freedom for generations. It was one of the many defining attributes that made Thailand truly free, as opposed to Western nations who claimed otherwise, even as they stripped their own people of such a basic right. That is, until now.

The Finance Ministry is considering what it is calling a "land and house tax bill." Thai PBS would report in its article, "Finance holds back land and house tax bill," that:

Finance Minister Sommai Phasiesrlier said that it was yet to be concluded the minimum value of a house which is to be taxed and the value of the house which will be exempted from taxation.

It was proposed that a house plus a land plot on which the house is located which are worth not more than one million baht will n be taxed and the one which is worth between 1-2 million baht will be taxed half of the tax rate whereas the one which is worth more than three million baht will be taxed the full amount of the tax rate.

Three tax rates have been proposed: 0.5 percent for land for farming and for residential purposes but in the initial period land for residential purpose will be taxed just 0.01 percent. The proposed tax rate for land for commercial purpose is 2 percent whereas the tax ceiling of unutilised land is 4 percent.

The concept of paying to live on your own land is, even at face value, absurd. Once one is forced to pay to live on their own land or in their own house, it is no longer their land or their house. It has become a "rental property." No matter how "small" the tax is the Finance Ministry claims it has planned, the moment people begin paying the Finance Ministry, they are essentially paying rent to live on the Finance Ministry's land, to live in the Finance Ministry's house.

Rice Farmers Revolt? A Solution to Thailand's "Class War"

Regime fails to follow through on unsustainable rice buying scam - now is the time to show nation & world anti-regime protests' true colors. 

Regime's rice scheme leaves rice rotting in warehouses.

December 11, 2013 (Tony Cartalucci) - The prospect of dissent spreading across the regime's rural northeast stronghold appears to have heightened as rice farmers who supported the regime specifically for its "rice buying scheme" have been left unpaid since October and are now threatening to block roads in up to 26 provinces. Bangkok Post's article, "Unpaid rice farmers threaten action ," reports:

Rice farmers are threatening to block roads in 26 provinces if the government fails to pay money they are owed from the 2013/2014 main crop.

Prasit Boonchoey, Thai Rice Farmers Association president, said most rice farmers have not been paid since October.

He said the farmers need the money to invest in planting new crops.

Mr Prasit said the Commerce Ministry needs to do more than merely complain the government is short of funds. He said the ministry's response goes against cabinet ministers' assurances that the government can afford the scheme.

He said the farmers may have to block roads to pressure the government into taking action.

This presents a two-fold opportunity for anti-regime protesters who have already shaken the regime to its core with two unprecedented nation-wide mass mobilizations, forcing the government to dissolve the Parliament and call for new elections.

First, anti-regime protesters can lay to rest the myth that this is a struggle between "rich and poor." By openly inviting rice farmers to join anti-regime protests and giving them a voice in the growing movement, no longer can the regime pose as the exclusive defender of the poor.

Second, it presents the opportunity to propose a sustainable program to assist rice farmers - one that will illustrate how the regime has not actually been defending the poor, but rather exploiting them with crass vote-buying scams that were never designed to improve the lives of the electorate.

Giving Thailand's Rice Farmers a Seat at the Table

Anti-regime protesters must reach out to leaders stepping forward to represent disenfranchised, cheated rice farmers. A specific position within the movement should be made to give a voice to explaining the hardships now faced by farmers who remain unpaid - left in desperate dependency on a regime because of their unsustainable promises that should never have been made in the the first place.

This would serve to give anti-regime protesters a better understanding of the regime's current constituency and defuse the intentional "strategy of tension" the regime is trying to use to pit protesters against the rural poor. It will also turn adversarial posturing into a mutual effort to solve a national problem.

Offering Sustainable Alternatives 

Rice farmers encouraged to depend on the regime's reckless populist policies need relief now - a plan by economists and the business community to quickly restore confidence in the nation's rice markets both at home and abroad, as well as a means to get cash into the hands of farmers to meet immediate needs, must be devised.

While the protests have the numbers, and rice farmers become increasingly disenfranchised, now would be the time to root out the corruption that exists between the rice farmers and customers - in other words, the notorious thieving middlemen who have thrived as the regime squats on rural rice farmers.

Also a long-term development plan must be implemented to give rice farmers the ability to mill and distribute their own rice through smaller, more decentralized collectives.

Other long-term plans aimed at increasing sustainable income indefinitely for farmers must also be devised. Money that would otherwise simply be thrown to farmers (and then quickly run out) should be instead invested in SME entrepreneurial centers that offer rice farmers the skills they need to diversity their economic activities either horizontally across the field of agriculture or vertically into other industries. Decentralized rice farming collectives could be expanded to also process and distribute produce from these programs.

Image: Steps in opening a franchise. Open-source franchise micro-loans and training swapped out for the torrents of cash now being wasted in the regime's rice buying scheme could offer the rural poor real opportunities to permanently improve their lives - as well as escape from under exploitative political patronage systems. A sustainable means of increasing income for rice farmers is by offering them opportunities to diversify their economic activities. If rice farmers choose to leave agriculture, those that remain will receive more for their harvests through stable market mechanisms, not cash handouts. (image: franchise direct) 

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Decentralizing Big-Retail

December 11, 2012 (AltThaiNews) - In Thailand, and across much of Southeast Asia, big retail co-exists with local businesses because the sort of rules and regulations that stifle small businesses in the West are not usually enforced here.

In fact, a large Tesco serves as a host for smaller venders to sell their ware along the sidewalks and outside the doors, where high-volumes of potential customers move by. Out in villages and even around city blocks where large Tesco or Big C stores cannot reach, local businesses can fill a niche - and while they may not be as cheap as Tesco or Big C, they are certainly more convenient.

But a careful examination of big-retailers as they exist in the West can still be helpful for Asia - and looking at the solutions being pursued by people who seek to subvert these entrenched monopolies can serve as blueprint for Asia to follow, skipping the decades of hollow, unsustainable consumerism large supranational bodies like ASEAN seem poised and eager to usher in.

Originally published on LocalOrg, this article, "Decentralizing Big-Retail" shows how people are reclaiming their communities from large corporate monopolies and special interests, by leveraging education and technology. As a result, wealth redistribution is accomplished through local entrepreneurship, not populist handouts or increased wages for laborers.

For Thailand particularly, where self-sufficiency is promoted at the highest levels of its ancient institutions, the ideas being pursued and implemented across the West would be a perfect fit for the intermediate and advanced stages of the Thai "self-sufficiency economy."  These solutions include local hackerspaces, localized education, local agriculture (including urban agriculture), and even local auto-manufacturing (one example is in fact taken from Thailand's own, 999 Motorsports).

Read "Decentralizing Big-Retail" here, on LocalOrg. 

 

Why So Secretive? The Trans-Pacific Partnership as Global Coup

November 26, 2012 (Andrew Gavin Marshall - BLN) - The Trans-Pacific Partnership is the most secretive and “least transparent” trade negotiations in history.

 

Image: A summit with leaders of the member states of the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPP) in November, 2010. (Photo: Gobierno de Chile)

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Luckily for the populations and societies that will be affected by the agreement, there are public research organizations and alternative media outlets campaigning against it – and they’ve even released several leaks of draft agreement chapters. From these leaks, which are not covered by mainstream corporate-controlled news outlets, we are able to get a better understanding of what the Trans-Pacific Partnership actually encompasses.

For example, public interest groups have been warning that the TPP could result in millions of lost jobs. As a letter from Congress to United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk stated, the TPP “will create binding policies on future Congresses in numerous areas,” including “those related to labor, patent and copyright, land use, food, agriculture and product standards, natural resources, the environment, professional licensing, state-owned enterprises and government procurement policies, as well as financial, healthcare, energy, telecommunications and other service sector regulations.”

In other words, as promised, the TPP goes far beyond “trade.”

Dubbed by many as “NAFTA on steroids” and a “corporate coup,” only two of the TPP’s 26 chapters actually have anything to do with trade. Most of it grants far-reaching new rights and privileges to corporations, specifically related to intellectual property rights (copyright and patent laws), as well as constraints on government regulations.

Transpacfic Free Trade Deal Lacks Transparency

On TPP Secrecy, US And Five Others Decline To Answer UN

November 14, 2012 - (IP Watch) The nine countries asked by a United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur to respond to a complaint over the alleged secret and bureaucratic negotiations for the draft Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement either failed to respond or defended the backdoor talks, according to the advocacy group Knowledge Ecology International (KEI).
 
In a statement today, KEI said out of the nine countries asked for response by the UN Special Rapporteur for the right to health Anand Grover, only Australia, Chile and New Zealand responded, and all three defended the need to have secret negotiations for TPP. KEI claimed that the three countries were also “lying about or minimizing the expected impact of the negotiation on access to medicines.” The responses can be found here.

The rest, led by the United States, did not respond, a move which KEI found disappointing especially on the part of the US, as it is “the leading target of the complaint and the most aggressive proponent of of high drug prices.”
 
“In 2009, President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for ´his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. ´Apparently these ´extraordinary efforts´ do not extend to engagement with the UN’s Special Rapporteur for the right to health on a topic that concerns life and death issues for millions of persons,” KEI Director James Love said.
 
The TPP is a multilateral free trade agreement touted as boosting the economies of countries bordering the Pacific.

Thai Government's Reckless Populism Endangers Infrastructure/Economy

Reckless handouts are already destabilizing the economy and jeopardizing opportunities, long-term effects will be more devastating.

Tony Cartalucci
AltThaiNews
November 2, 2012

Traffic in Thailand, particularly in the capital of Bangkok, is notorious. Jams can last hours, and what would normally be a 15 minute drive - during rush hours can last an eternity. In addition to mere logistical concerns, there is also the issue of pollution. Trapped exhaust floating above roads creates a visible cloud that impairs breathing and demonstrably affects the health of people who are exposed to it on a regular basis, including traffic police, motorcycle drivers, city residents, and pedestrians. A competent government would most likely work on reducing this problem along several approaches.

Image: Bangkok's elevated "Sky Train." Instead of handing out tax rebates for new cars, the government should be investing in expanding mass transportation beyond already long-signed contracts. The government's tax scheme is simply a shortsighted way to buy off votes, that will have a catastrophic impact on Thailand's future as reckless populism takes the place of proper planning.

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These approaches might include expanding mass transportation while increasing taxes on the purchase of new cars. Thailand already has many ways of getting around without the need for a car - in Bangkok, and even in the outlying provinces. Expanding and improving these options would greatly improve the lives of tens of millions of Thai people, as well as enhance their economy.

Many might guess the current government, symbolically run by Yingluck Shinawatra, holding the premiership for her deposed, exiled, and convicted criminal brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, is attempting, but simply failing to pursue one of these approaches to solve this problem. But they would have guessed wrong.

Instead of expanding mass transportation beyond what has already been long-planned, or imposing a tax on new car purchases to encourage people to use mass transportation, the government has actually implemented a " first-time car buyer tax rebate scheme" to encourage an increase in car purchases.

Bangkok Post reports in their article, "300,000 claim new car tax rebate," that indeed, some 300,000 cars have been purchased under this scheme and is expected to deprive Thailand of approximately 30 billion baht in potential tax revenue in just one year - enough to extend mass transit elevated trains by many kilometers.

The policy implemented by the current government aims at achieving two goals -  first, a short-term buy-off of voters, in the hopes that most of Thailand's population will not understand the reckless, shortsighted nature of the policy and how it will only compound chronic, costly problems already faced by the nation. Second, it hopes to benefit the multinational corporate-financiers that have stalwartly backed Thaksin for over a decade.

Image: The US-ASEAN Business Council, a who’s-who of corporate fascism in the US. In 2004, Thaksin attempted to ramrod through a US-Thailand Free-Trade Agreement (FTA) without parliamentary approval, backed by the US-ASEAN Business Council who just before last year's 2011 elections that saw Thaksin's sister Yingluck Shinawatra brought into power, hosted the leaders of Thaksin’s "red shirt" personality cult. US-ASEAN Business Council members Ford, GM, Exxon, and Chevron are surely pleased with all the new cars taking to Thailand's roads, thanks to Thaksin's new populist policy. (click image to enlarge)

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Other reckless policies aimed at achieving short-term popularity at the cost of long-term development and stability include similar house-buying schemes, rice-buying schemes where the government has been stockpiling warehouses full of overpriced rice it has allegedly bought off from farmers, and the purchasing of tablet computers for first graders - even as school buildings crumble and the quality of instruction continues to plummet.

For the price of buying off voters and maintaining a strong support base, the current government run by Thaksin Shinwatra via his own sister acting as his nepotist proxy endangers both Thailand's infrastructure and the future stability of its economy.

Mass transportation must be expanded, and the 30 billion baht a year being lost due to the populist "new car tax rebate" scheme should be used toward this instead. The millions of baht wasted on handing out tablet computers to first graders who will lose them, steal them, abuse them, and if all else fails, find them obsolete by the end of the year, should be used to improve the quality of education and/or invested in more useful infrastructure like proper computer labs used to teach programming, design, and other IT-related skills.

Similarly, the rice-buying scheme should be replaced with programs that help farmers diversify their economic activity and allow them to make money across a wide variety of markets beyond merely rice. That way, when rice prices fall, adequate income can still be made with other activities. Providing technical educations as well as introducing and leveraging modern manufacturing technology could accomplish this, and with government organization and funding, it can be done at an accelerated rate.

However, these are big ideas, requiring effort and the prerequisites of a full understanding of how infrastructure and economies work. The message of "cheap cars," "guaranteed prices for rice," and "free computers," is much more appealing and easier to communicate than improved curriculum, diversifying economic activity at the grassroots, wealth redistribution through education and local entrepreneurship, and improving transportation through large infrastructure projects.

The second goal of this policy is to directly benefit multinational corporate-financiers. Car manufacturers and the petroleum industry are undoubtedly thrilled with the news of 300,000 new cars taking to Thailand's roads. Thaksin's populist handouts have deprived the state of revenue to help multinational car manufacturers maintain their absurd and unsustainable business models.

Computer manufacturers in China are likewise thrilled by the Thai government's decision to throw free computers at students instead of a quality education. The rice-buying scheme trills large mill owners processing and reselling rice to the government for absurd prices.

Thaksin (right), golfs with president for life Hun Sen of Cambodia (left).

Many of these multinational corporations constitute the foreign support base that has been backing Thaksin for over a decade. This includes the US-ASEAN Business Council, who in 2004, Thaksin attempted to ramrod through a US-Thailand Free-Trade Agreement (FTA) for, without parliamentary approval. It was backed by the US-ASEAN Business Council who just before last year's 2011 elections that saw Thaksin's sister Yingluck Shinawatra brought into power, hosted the leaders of Thaksin’s "red shirt" street front, to provide undisclosed support ahead of the elections. 

In the end, the regular people swindled with bread and circus will find themselves again hungry tomorrow, and because of gross mismanagement and unsustainable, populist handouts, the free bread might not even be available to slake that inevitable hunger. The government of Thaksin Shinawatra hopes to consolidate its hold over Thai politics, industry, and society before that happens, and like neighboring Cambodia, where "President for life" Hun Sen has likewise eliminated all meaningful opposition, use his security forces to suppress his people and sell the land right out from under them.

A responsible government that truly cared about the people would take the time to explain why quick fixes won't work and why more sustainable, pragmatic solutions should be pursued instead. Those throwing handouts to the masses, seek only to manipulate and use them in a quest to consolidate and maintain power. Once that power is consolidated, they will no longer need the people. The handouts will disappear, and the sustainable, functioning infrastructure necessary to maintain progress and modern civilization will not have been put in place to begin with. 

It is clear that there are no "responsible" parties in Thai government, therefore the drive for building sustainable infrastructure, improving education, diversifying economic activities, and achieving wealth redistribution not through handouts, but through local entrepreneurship must be a challenge taken up by the people themselves, through the development of local institutions, self-sufficiency, and by pragmatic local collaboration, not political struggle.

Hong Kong First to Feel the Force of QE Tsunami

Thanong Khanthong
The Nation
October 30, 2012

The Hong Kong dollar is feeling the heat of quantitative easing. Easy money created out of thin air at an almost zero-per-cent cost by the US Federal Reserve is flowing into the emerging markets for speculative attacks. The Hong Kong dollar has become a distinct target. In a proxy war launched by the US Fed at the height of the US presidential campaign, the speculators appear to be circling Hong Kong's currency board system to test the water. We don't know yet whether the speculators would like to tear apart Hong Kong's currency board in a repeat of the 1997 episode when they attacked Thailand's fixed-exchange-rate system with the aim of ripping it apart. Don't forget that Hong Kong is the window to China, where the yuan is the ultimate target in this galactic currency war launched in parallel with the geopolitical confrontation between the US and China. In a series of defensive moves, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority has intervened in the foreign exchange markets several times over the past week to protect the integrity of its currency board system. It has spent US$1.85 billion since Saturday to fend off the speculative attacks on the currency board by buying up the US dollar with its printed Hong Kong dollar. This is aimed at preventing the HK dollar from appreciating and breaking beyond the very narrow range within which it is allowed to move against the US dollar in a particular trading day.

Getting Ready for the Paradigm Shift

What is Singularity University?
by Tony Cartalucci

April 18, 2012 - A paradigm shift is coming that will change everything about the way people work, learn, and interact - it will be the beginning of a new age and the shape that age takes depends greatly on the number of informed people that take part in it and where they decide to steer it. Already, the top minds across a variety of industries are converging and preparing for the shift. One such group, an educational institute called "Singularity University" comprises of innovators, teachers, scientists, and engineers from both the private and public sector. Some could be considered elitists interested in consolidating power, others are truly forward thinking and interested in a better world for all of mankind.

Video: An introduction as to what "Singularity University" is. It is easy to pick out good and bad people, corporations, and agendas involved in Singularity University, it is much more difficult to determine what its overall agenda is. It may be possible, if average people became informed on a large scale, to steer its agenda toward what benefits humanity as a whole, rather than a handful of corporations.

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The battle that will play out depends entirely on the general public becoming informed and active in the coming paradigm shift, guiding it toward a society of solidarity and progress rather than one of disparity between enslavement and superiority. Analyzing Singularity University's website and video productions, the impression is one of a multitude of ideas and directions - not a predetermined agenda, so far.

One concept that is omnipresent throughout Singularity University's activities is cutting edge technology and the possible implications it will have on society. This includes everything from 3D printing, robotics, artificial intelligence, and radical advances in genetics and biotechnology. The implications range from the ability for every individual on Earth to "print" at will any conceivable object they are able to obtain the blueprints for or design, to gene therapies capable of extending human life to centuries.

While the public is distracted with gritty political ploys, wars, and engineered destabilization, it is hoped that these emerging technologies can be meshed into the existing power structures and preserve the power of elites who have reigned over humanity for generations. Sabotaging education, ruining family and culture, and perpetuating the futile "rat race" also plays a role in keeping the vast majority of humanity out of the debate, and thus at a clear disadvantage.

Video: An amazing presentation given by Singularity University's Daniel Reda discusses the latest breakthroughs in biotechnology and bioinformatics. While some of these breakthroughs carry with them horrifying implications, they are only horrifying if the knowledge and techniques surrounding them remain monopolized in the hands of a select few. Just as many would argue against gun control and the dangers of an unarmed society subjected to the whims of a brutal dictatorship, the same could be said of a technologically and intellectually disarmed population as well.

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Just like Europeans arriving on the shores of the New World - with vastly superior weapons and institutions to perform a campaign of full spectrum domination over natives that has endured ever since, the global elite of today hope to assume a position of vast superiority enabled by quantum leaps in technology while the rest of us, through ploys such as "environmentalism" and "sustainable living" increasingly disarm ourselves industrially and technologically. Polluting our priorities with political issues instead of pragmatism also widens the rift of disparity between the people and the ruling elite.

What many may find as a surprise however, is that not only are there members and guests of Singularity University that are aware of this, but many are very outspoken about this issue and insistent on the masses becoming engaged and participating in the coming paradigm shift.

One comment by entertainer William James (Will I Am), speaking as a guest at a Singularity University event, made the point that progress is moving at such a pace that those not involved in science and technology stand a very real danger of being left behind. James made the point that his reason for coming to Singularity University was to raise awareness of technological advances amongst people from the inner cities and inspire them to become engaged and involved directly. He also made the point that technology stands at a crossroads where it could either doom humanity or produce unthinkable benefits and pressed for caution as humanity moved forward.

Video: A panel featured at a Singularity University event featuring a wide range of views from a Hollywood monopolist, to entertainer William James, to techno-entrepreneur Elon Musk of SpaceX.

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The points James brings up are indeed valid and in fact, the very root of the problem we now face - an ignorant population facing a profound paradigm shift that will leave them vulnerable to great exploitation should they fail to "catch up." This was a point famous astronomer Carl Sagan made during one of his last interviews where he too pointed out that civilization was increasingly built upon science and technology the vast majority of the population did not understand, and warned of the dangers that might result.

Video: One of the last interviews Carl Sagan gave, warning of the consequences of a technologically advanced civilization where the population is vastly ignorant of both science and technology.

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Those dangers include the vast majority of decisions being monopolized by very few individuals, a scientific-dictatorship of sorts, that can manipulate, abuse, and exploit the ignorance of the population with devastating results. The future we live in, Sagan explained, will be determined by those who understand the principles our modern, scientific and technological society is built on. In essence, all of the "democratic" trappings any given society may have, or may pose to fight for, are irrelevant where proper education and understanding regarding pragmatism and technical subjects is lacking, sub-par, or worse yet, non-existent.

For a ruling elite who presumes dominion over mankind, providing such education is almost unthinkable. It is not something we will be able to ask our representatives to do for us, but something we must do for ourselves. No amount of "freedom" or "security" can be achieved unless we are fully informed, not simply in terms of history and the functioning of our chosen form of governance, but also in the essential subjects of science and technology that have inevitably achieved supremacy in the administration of human society.

Get Informed.

For the population to become informed - it would be best to follow those converging at Singularity University, and by following William James' advice, being cautious about the progress and achievements showcased there instead of blindly being caught up in the enthusiasm. The Internet is a vast resource available for anyone willing to take on the responsibility of becoming informed regarding these essential topics. Any word or concept mentioned during any of the talks featured on Singularity University's YouTube channel can easily be looked up and researched. TED Talks are another great resource for finding the very latest topics in science and technology to begin researching and understanding. TED represents another forum where both "good" and "bad" interests converge and compete in the court of opinion.

For those seeking more academic presentations, universities such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) or Berkley University provide "open course ware," or in other words, an entire series of lectures for free on both their own websites and on YouTube.

If one has the money or opportunity to take courses in a technical trade - this too would be highly recommended. The "service economy" and much of the current economic paradigm will be swept away as emerging technologies like 3D printing, personal manufacturing, and biotechnology comes of age. Entire supply chains and even the concept of "logistics" may be radically changed or even effectively ended when all someone has to do is hit a "print" button and an object is produced before their very eyes. Biotechnology has made it possible to create artificial genetic sequences capable of producing raw materials for anything from fuel to construction materials to spare body parts. The speed at which these technologies are being developed and implemented is increasing exponentially.

Video: Carl Bass, president and CEO of Autodesk, discusses the paradigm shift 3D printing is going to have as well as the convergence of disciplines and the need to vastly overhaul the way we approach education.

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Becoming aware is the first step of getting involved. Even as just a part-time hobby it would be immensely beneficial to pursue something constructive, either machining, wood working, or studying in an amateur capacity any number of scientific fields. Another topic at Singularity University that is brought up time and time again is the fact that fields of research as well as occupations are beginning to converge. Just as our forefathers were jacks of many trades, technology is once again making it possible, even necessary to have a multitude of talents and pursuits as well as a wider range of knowledge to be productive and successful in society.

As mentioned before, it is essential that people understand the world around them, understand the role large multinational corporations play in maintaining the crippling disparity between themselves and an infinitely ignorant population, and the necessity to reverse this disparity before the paradigm shift unfolds.

We must boycott those corporations, institutions, and individuals that seek to dominate humanity, and support those that believe in a future we all will benefit from. We must be ever vigilant as technology emerges that we both understand it, its benefits and dangers, and examine with due diligence the best way to implement it within our changing society. We must examine, then reexamine the leaders in industry, their motivations and agenda, and help encourage them to do what is right, while penalizing them with boycotts and alternatives when they are demonstratively harming society.

The future is in the hands of whoever reaches out and grabs it. Right now, we as a population are distracted, our heads are down, our eyes fixed to only what is directly before us. The future, no matter how many times we "vote" and no matter how vigorously we "protest," is demonstratively not in our own hands. We must get informed, we must get pragmatically involved. We must look at what the top minds across industry and innovation are doing at Singularity University, who are preparing themselves for this convergence and acceleration, and likewise prepare ourselves, lest we find ourselves on the wrong divide of an infinitely vast disparity.

Free Markets & Socialism: An Alternative View

Transitioning from socialism to pragmatic, technological solutions.
commentary by Tony Cartalucci

Building things, making things, technological and scientific
progress moves forward the frontier of human knowledge
and makes all that follows in its wake more accessible and
affordable to the average person.

Bangkok, Thailand April 29, 2011 - Why is medical care subsidized by insurance schemes and socialism? The answer is quite obvious in that medical care requires highly trained practitioners and state-of-the-art technology to provide the absolute best care. Such trained practitioners and technology is of limited supply, in great demand and thus incredibly expensive to procure for the average person without financial assistance, be it from insurance schemes or socialist handouts.

However, perpetually subsidizing medical care will never address the underlying cause of its scarcity and in turn, its incredible price. Subsidizing is also unsustainable economically. It requires rationing and difficult "moral" decisions to be made regarding who receives what treatment. Such scenarios belittle both human dignity and the full potential of humanity in general.

Of course no one could seriously suggest people deserve to be denied medical care for the simple fact that they cannot afford it. The sad reality is that many people do not receive the best treatment available, subsidized or not, because neither they nor the state can afford it. So what is the answer? When is it ok to subsidize political solutions and what can be done to find permanent, pragmatic, technical solutions?

The answer is quite simple - perhaps so simple, especially when divorced from political ideology, it eludes understanding in today's political arena. Socialist handouts are tools. Like any tool they are only as good as the people using them. While the intentions of socialist medicine, welfare, education and so on seem noble, in reality they are primarily used by self-serving crooked politicians as bribes handed out in exchange for the voting public's servile dependency on a particular political agenda. Generations of voting blocs have been created using socialist handouts in just this fashion. Pragmatic solutions are never seriously pursued because pragmatic, permanent solutions - while alleviating entirely any particular social problem - would undermine the real purpose of the handouts, namely, building a dependent, servile voting bloc.

However, let us imagine socialist handouts for a particular social problem such as medical care applied in the context of a temporary stop-gap measure. While people are subsidized for care, the commitments are temporary and voluntary only to prevent people from dying without proper treatment. Meanwhile, investments are put into education and biomedical technology with specific benchmarks and time frames in mind. Simultaneously, barriers such as crippling "intellectual property rights" and monopolizing business practices are eliminated to allow real competition to flourish.

By increasing the supply of trained practitioners and biomedical engineers through improved education, and advancing biomedical technology past current levels of precarious scarcity the price for medical care will drop accordingly. With monopolies eliminated, real progress can be effected. If a particular company has a viable, affordable treatment for cancer, no established monopoly will be able to lobby Washington to regulate it out of business to protect their particular racket. Similar solutions could also easily be applied to the inadequate, antiquated, parasitic oil and car industries as well.

We should look around society today and take stock in industries and commodities we take for granted. We do not kill one another over the last chicken leg or leaf of lettuce nor do many people go without basic food. This is not because we have mastered subsidizing socialist handouts to feed our populations, rather we have developed agricultural technology that allows us to create an affordable market nearly anyone can benefit from under normal circumstances.

Likewise, medical technology and other essential industries can and must be advanced to where the market price is affordable to all. This will not happen with socialist handouts or monopolizing regulations in place. It will happen with improved education and healthy competition within the markets, where the only protection given is the rights of entrepreneurs big and small to pursue their trade without being hindered by monopolistic practices. In the meantime, it is sensible to transition away from total, permanent (and pandering) socialist solutions and move toward temporary stop-gaps until this is achieved.

Real, technical education in engineering, design, medicine, and other physical, world shaping trades should be re-prioritized over the degenerate fixation the West has for "administration" and "service sector" occupations. Economies still performing during the current economic depression including Germany, South Korea, and other nations that ply in real industry are proof of the merits of this argument. Engineering, design, and science is what advances the frontiers of human knowledge and makes all that follows in its wake more accessible and affordable to the average person.

Of course, another essential aspect of a fully functioning free market is a well informed consumer base. Without an informed consumer base, monopolistic regulations are easily put and kept in place. Failed business models can perpetually stay in business no matter how horrendously and consistently they fail their consumer base. The entwined relationship between big business and government is allowed to grow unchecked, perpetually to the detriment of the average person.

We can begin today to rectify this problem and begin our journey toward a more promising future by first turning off the crass entertainment that has intentionally lulled us into the ignorant, uninformed stupor within which these corporations operate with impunity. We can instead use our time to teach ourselves in areas where our public education has failed us and reignite our interest in shaping the world rather than watching it pass us by on the sofa. We need not wait for this paradigm to shift nationally. We can begin shifting it locally amongst proactive groups of vigilant, ambitious citizens. In many cases, such as organic farming and home school education, this is already being done. Ultimately if we want change, we must take the responsibility upon ourselves to make it happen pragmatically, not politically.

The Globalists' Worst Nightmare

Self-Sufficiency: a universal solution to the globalist problem.
commentary by Tony Cartalucci

For an extreme in-depth look at Thailand's "Sufficiency Economy" and "New Theory" economics, please see, "Wisdom from the Orient: Self-Sufficiency."

ฝันร้ายของนายทุนข้ามชาติ: เศรษฐกิจพอเพียงคือคำตอบปัญหาการเมืองทั่วโลก (ภาษาไทย)

Introduction

When thinking about "solutions" many are quick to cite organizing a protest and taking to the streets. Let's for a moment consider the mechanics of a protest, what it might accomplish, and what it may leave to be desired.

Take Glenn Beck's feckless and disingenuous 2010 "Restoring Honor" event in Washington D.C. It drew thousands of honest, well-intentioned people from all over the United States. Indeed, thousands of people filled up their Fortune 500 made cars with gas from Fortune 500 oil companies, drove countless miles, stopping along the way at Fortune 500 fast food restaurants, stayed at Fortune 500 run hotels, and stocked up on supplies purchased at Fortune 500 Walmart. They slaked their thirst under the hot August sun with cans of Fortune 500 Pepsi and Coke, and at the end of the day, they drove home, paid their Fortune 500 cable subscriptions to watch their Fortune 500 media reports, most likely on News Corporation's Fox News, a Council on Foreign Relations corporate member.

At best, all a protest will lead to, while we are so hopelessly dependent on this system, is a round of musical chairs inside the political arena, with perhaps superficial concessions made to the people. The vector sum however, will still be decidedly in favor of the global corporate-financier oligarchy.

If we understand that the fundamental problem facing not only America, but the entire world, is a global corporate-financier oligarchy that has criminally consolidated their wealth by "liberalizing" their own activities while strangling ours through regulations, taxes, and laws, we should then understand why events like Beck's "Restoring Honor" are not only fruitless, but in fact, counterproductive. We should also realize that any activity we commit ourselves to must be directed at this corporate-financier oligarchy rather than the governments they have co-opted and positioned as buffers between themselves and the masses.

While people understand something is wrong and recognize the necessity to do "something," figuring out what that "something" should be becomes incredibly difficult when so few understand how power really works and how to strip it away from the oligarchs that have criminally consolidated it.

Understanding Globalization

As of late, the expansion of this global oligarchical empire has taken a more extreme, perhaps desperate form involving staged revolutions as seen in Egypt and Tunisia, and in Libya's case, armed rebellion and the specter of foreign military intervention. However, worldwide globalist coup d'etats have occurred before - for example, in the late 1990's under the guise of a "financial collapse" and IMF "restructuring."

Many nations fell beholden to the IMF and its regiment of "reforms" which amounted to neo-colonialism packaged under the euphemism of "economic liberalization." To illustrate how this works, it may help to understand what real colonialism looked like.

Thailand's geopolitical surroundings 1800-1900. Thailand was
the only Southeast Asian country to avoid European colonization.

Thailand in the 1800's, then the Kingdom of Siam, was surrounded on all sides by colonized nations and in turn was made to concede to the British 1855 Bowring Treaty. See how many of these "gunboat policy" imposed concessions sound like today's "economic liberalization:"

1. Siam granted extraterritoriality to British subjects.
2. British could trade freely in all seaports and reside permanently in Bangkok.
3. British could buy and rent property in Bangkok.
4. British subjects could travel freely in the interior with passes provided by the consul.
5. Import and export duties were capped at 3%, except the duty-free opium and bullion.
6. British merchants were to be allowed to buy and sell directly with individual Siamese.

A more contemporary example for comparison would be the outright military conquest of Iraq and Paul Bremer's (CFR) economic reformation. The Economist gleefully enumerates the neo-colonial "economic liberalization" of Iraq in a piece titled "Let's all go to the yard sale: If it all works out, Iraq will be a capitalist's dream:"

1. 100% ownership of Iraqi assets.
2. Full repatriation of profits.
3. Equal legal standing with local firms.
4. Foreign banks allowed to operate or buy into local banks.
5. Income and corporate taxes capped at 15%.
6. Universal tariffs slashed to 5%.

Read more: Egypt Today, Thailand Tomorrow

And few could argue that the IMF's rehabilitation regiments being forced upon nations all over the world after the late 90's financial crash are any different than economic colonialism both past and present. In fact, the IMF itself publishes reports at great length concerning the "necessity" of economic liberalization.

To be sure, the governments that come to power in the wake of the current Middle East destabilizations will be more servile and will undoubtedly be committed to similar economic liberalization. Brookings Institute's Kenneth Pollack already made it quite clear that "The struggle in the new Middle East must be defined as one between nations that are moving in the right direction and nations that are not; between those that are embracing economic liberalization, educational reform, democracy, the rule of law and civil liberties, and those that are not."

Siam eventually rolled back the terms of the 1855 Bowring Treaty as the British Empire waned, but as of 1997, Thailand was once again faced with similar terms, dictated this time by the banksters of the IMF.

Thailand's Answer to the Globalization

Thailand's answer to the IMF, and globalization in general was profound in both implications as well as in its understanding of globalization's end game. Fiercely independent and nationalistic, and being the only nation in Southeast Asia to avoid colonization, Thailand's sovereignty has been protected for over 800 years by its revered monarchy. The current dynasty, the House of Chakri, has reigned nearly as long as America has existed as a nation and the current king is regarded as the equivalent of a living "Founding Father." And just as it has for 800 years, the Thai Monarchy today provides the most provocative and meaningful answer to the threats facing the Kingdom.

The answer of course is self-sufficiency. Self-sufficiency as a nation, as a province, as a community and as a household. This concept is enshrined in the Thai King's "New Theory" or "self-sufficiency economy" and mirrors similar efforts found throughout the world to break the back of the oppression and exploitation that results from dependence on the globalist system.

A vision of self-sufficiency in Thailand. Agrarian values and the
self-reliance they engender are the hallmarks of real freedom.

The foundation of the self-sufficiency economy is simply growing your own garden and providing yourself with your own food. This is portrayed on the back right-hand side of every 1,000 baht Thai banknote as a picture of a woman tending her garden. The next step is producing surplus that can be traded for income, which in turn can be used to purchase technology to further enhance your ability to sustain yourself and improve your life-style.

The Thai 1000 baht banknote. Left is one of the many dams controlling
floods and producing electricity throughout the Kingdom. Center is the current
King of Thailand. Right is a depiction of a local garden providing
food in a self-sufficient manner.

The New Theory aims at preserving traditional agrarian values in the hands of the people. It also aims at preventing a migration from the countryside into the cities. Preventing such migrations would prevent big agricultural cartels from moving in, swallowing up farming land, corrupting and even jeopardizing entire national food supplies (see Monsanto). Those familiar with the UN's Agenda 21, the more recent UN "Climate Change Program," and the globalist "end game" may understand the deeper implications and dangers of such a migration and why it needs to be stopped.

By moving to the city, people give up private property, cease pursuing productive occupations, and end up being folded into a consumerist paradigm. Within such a paradigm, problems like overpopulation, pollution, crime, and economic crises can only be handled by a centralized government and generally yield political solutions such as quotas, taxes, micromanagement, and regulations rather than meaningful technical solutions.

Also, such problems inevitably lead to a centralized government increasing its own power, always at the expense of the people and their freedom. The effects of economic catastrophe are also greater in a centralized, interdependent society, where everyone is subject to the overall health of the economy for even simple necessities like food, water, and electricity.

A slide presenting the "New Theory" depicting a manifestation
of greed leading the people from their rural private property and
into a "city of extravagance." If Agenda 21 had an illustrated
cover, this could be it.

The goal of the "New Theory" is to have people return
to the countryside from the cities and develop their communities in a
self-reliant manner. It is, in other words, Agenda 21 in reverse.

Under the "New Theory," demonstration stations all across Thailand have been created promoting education in matters of agriculture and self-sufficient living. The program is competing against the contemporary globalist system, which as of now, is mired in many parts of the world with economic meltdown. The relatively self-sufficient nature of Thais in general has weathered this economic chaos fairly well. In 10 years, a plate of food still costs the same amount of money, as do many everyday commodities. This only further vindicates the value of being self-sufficient and now more than ever, in both Thailand, and abroad, it is a good time to get involved and get self-sufficient.

Globalist Reactionary Hand-Wringing

Of course the head-of-state of a nation almost 70 million strong promoting a lifestyle that cuts the legs out from under the globalist agenda does not sit well with the oligarchical establishment. Their response to this, as it has been with all of Thailand's habitual displays of defiance is something to behold.

Perhaps the most vocal globalist critic of Thailand is the Economist. It openly criticizes the King's self-sufficiency economy in an article titled "Rebranding Thaksinomics." It states that the economic plan is "a partial retreat from Thailand's hitherto liberal economic stance." The Economist muddles the debate by side-stepping the self-sufficient aspects of the"self-sufficiency economy." It claims that socialist handouts under deposed Prime Minister and notorious globalist stooge Thaksin Shinawatra somehow accomplished the exact same goals. The Economist also claims the concept of self-sufficiency is merely a "rebranding" of such socialist handouts.

The Economist article then breaks down into a pro-Thaksin rant, decrying his ousting from power and continued claims that somehow encouraging people to grow their own food is a theft of Thaksin's socialist policies.

It should be noted that socialism is not self-sufficiency. It is complete dependency on the state and on people who pay their ever increasing taxes. Socialism is not about growing your own garden, using technology to enhance your independence or solving your problems with your own resources. It is about taking from the collective storehouses of the state, and when you are again hungry, taking again. Socialism could only be useful as a stop-gap measure between current problems and the active pursuit of technical solutions. However, the goal of globalization is to create interdependency between states, and total dependency on global institutions, therefore, perpetuating problems, not solving them becomes the equation.

Another globalist point-of-view comes from Australia's National University's "New Mandala" blog written by academic wonk Andrew Walker. The blog itself is a clearinghouse for globalist talking points regarding Southeast Asia. Some "contributing writers" even include Thaksin Shinawatra's hired lobbyist, Robert Amsterdam.

Walker's entire perception of Thailand seems to be derived from his time spent in a single village in Northern Thailand. From his myopic point-of-view in the minute village of "Baan Tian," he condemns entirely Thailand's self-sufficiency economy in his article "Royal misrepresentation of rural livelihoods." He suggests that "the sufficiency economy prescriptions for rural development are inappropriate and disempowering."

As with the Economist, the article breaks down into a pro-Thaksin rant claiming the entire plan is meant to keep the rural population of Thailand in their place, out of the cities, and thus out of the debate of national issues.

Of course, becoming self-sufficient is one step on the road to real empowerment. Academic wonks like Andrew Walker presume the height of empowerment is feeding a paper voting stub into a box, on your way home from a service sector job, and then relaxing behind the glow of a new plasma screen TV bought on credit. A more likely argument would be that sustaining your own existence, wrought from the land beneath your feet, and the ability to shape the world around you with an understanding of science and the mastery of multiple trades is the height of empowerment and the truest form of human freedom.

The hand wringing within the writings of the Economist and ANU's Andrew Walker is not the full extent of the globalists' reaction to Thailand and its wandering from globalist dominion. A full fledged "red" color revolution has been brewing within the Kingdom since at least 2009. Reading the "Red Siam Manifesto" penned by "red shirt" intelligentsia Giles Ungpakorn makes it quite clear how they view "self-sufficiency" and the need to "reform" Thailand as a socialist welfare state.

Ungpakorn's childish and ranting manifesto can be found on "Socialist Worker Online" here. A complete selection of the "red shirt" propaganda used within Thailand can be found here.

It should be noted that the leader of the "red shirt" protest is deposed ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra, a former adviser to the Carlyle Group who was literally standing in front of the CFR in NYC on the eve of his ousting from power in 2006. Since 2006, he has been represented by fellow Carlyle man James Baker and his Baker Botts law firm, International Crisis Group's Kenneth Adelman and his Edelman Public Relations firm, Belfer Center adviser Robert Blackwill of Barbour Griffith & Rogers, and now Robert Amsterdam's Amsterdam & Peroff, a major corporate member of the globalist Chatham House.

To say that Thaksin Shinawatra and his "red shirts" have foreign backing is a profound understatement.

Thaksin's proxy political party maintains the "red shirt" mobs which in turn are supported by several NGOs including the National Endowment for Democracy funded "Prachatai," an "independent media organization" that coordinates the "red shirt" propaganda efforts. Prachatai was recently nominated for the Deutsche Welle Blog Awards by the "Neo-Con" infested Freedom House, upon which former Thaksin lobbyist Kenneth Adelman sits as a member on the board of directors.

Freedom House "tweets" their March 11, 2011 nomination of NED
funded "red shirt" propaganda clearinghouse, Prachatai.com.

The globalists know what's going on already and they are moving against it while the majority of humanity still sleeps in ignorance and apathy. Thailand is but one nation of many, in China's "String of Pearls" that is targeted for destabilization and US State Department sponsored "liberation." The key to stopping the globalists dead in their tracks is seizing back from them the mechanisms of civilization - and we have done that already in terms of the alternative media. Such success is necessary in all aspects of our life, and as the King in Thailand suggests, it can start with something as simple as growing your own garden.

Today and Into the Future

Of course in Thailand, agricultural self-sufficiency is coupled with technology to enhance efficiency and improve the quality of life. Even in the city, small independent businesses are adopting the latest technology to improve their production, increase their profits, and even out-compete larger corporations. Computer controlled machining equipment can be found in small workshops crammed into old shop-houses, automatic embroidering machines allow a single woman to fulfill orders for name tags on new school uniforms - rather than both businesses sending off orders to factories owned by a handful of wealthy investors. A multitude of examples can be seen walking around any city block in Thailand's capital of Bangkok.

MIT's Dr. Neil Gershenfeld inside his "Fab Lab," arguably
the birthplace of the personal fabrication revolution.

Bringing this sort of technology to rural people, even enabling people to create their own technology rather than just employ it, is not just science fiction but is a reality of today. MIT Professor Dr. Neil Gershenfeld has developed the "fabrication laboratory" or "Fab Lab." The Fab Lab is a microfactory that can "make almost anything." His Fab Lab has since been replicated all over the world in what he calls the personal fabrication revolution. It aims at turning a world of dependent consumers into independent designers and producers.

Dr. Neil Gershenfeld presents his Fab Lab at TED.

Dr. Gershenfeld in his own words articulates the problem of finding support amongst institutions and governments, stating that individuals are very enthusiastic about this revolution "but it breaks their organizational boundaries. In fact it is illegal for them, in many cases, to equip ordinary people to create rather than consume technology."

This indeed not only encapsulates Dr. Gershenfeld's dilemma, but describes to a "t" the mentality of oligarchs and the fears they harbor about empowering the people, a fear reflected in the "organizational boundaries" of their corporations and governmental institutions. This is a feature of oligarchy described as early as 300 B.C. in ancient Greece in "The Athenian Constitution." In it, a character referred to as "the Old Oligarch" describes his contempt for the social mobility the technology of the Athenian navy affords the lower echelons of Athenian society.

Dr. Gershenfeld goes on to encapsulate the true potential of his Fab Labs by stating, "the other 5 billion people on the planet aren't just technical "sinks," they are "sources." The real opportunity is to harness the inventive power of the world to locally design and produce solutions to local problems." Dr. Gershenfeld concludes by conceding he thought such a possibility was 20 years off, but "it's where we are today," noting the success his Fab Labs are already having around the world.

The interior of a "Fab Lab" in Amsterdam, featuring an
array of personal manufacturing technology.

Dr. Gershenfeld's message resonates with the current culture of Thailand and the ambitions of the "self-sufficiency economy." In many ways, Thailand's patchwork of micro-businesses, already successfully by-passing capital intensive centralized production, vindicates the work and optimism of Dr. Gershenfeld. It also, however, resonates strongly with the self-reliant traditions that had made America great. The technical possibility for this to change the world is already a reality, but Dr. Gershenfeld himself concedes that the biggest obstacle is overcoming social engineering - in other words - creating a paradigm shift in the minds of the population to meet the technical paradigm shift that has already taken place.

Self-sufficiency and the harnessing of technology in the hands of the people are the greatest fears of the global oligarchy - fears that oligarchs throughout the centuries have harbored. Simply boycotting the globalists' corporations and replacing them with local solutions is something everyone can afford to do starting today. And by simply looking into Dr. Neil Gershenfeld's "Fab Lab," raising awareness of the personal fabrication revolution, and even in the smallest way participating can help overcome the obstacle of social-engineering and spur a profound paradigm shift. We have begun to seize back the media, now it is time to seize back the other levers of power. Now is the time to recognize true freedom as being self-sufficient as a nation, as a community, and as a household, and start living it everyday.

See also: Alternative Economics

CNN's" A factory of one's own"

Forward by Tony Cartalucci: If the PC and the Internet have undermined the ability of the ruling elite to control communication and information, then personal manufacturing will end their ability to control manufacturing, distribution, and control over the very creation of technology. Read on about the "Personal Manufacturing" revolution...

From CNN's "A Factory of One's Own."

By Jeffrey M. O'Brien, Fortune senior editor

November 7 2006: 6:43 AM EST

According to MIT's Neil Gershenfeld, the digital revolution is over, and the good guys won. The next big change will be about manufacturing. Anyone with a PC will be able to build anything just by hitting 'print.'

(Fortune Magazine) -- Imagine a machine with the ability to manufacture anything. Now imagine that machine in your living room. What would you build first? Would you start a business? Would you ever buy anything retail again? According to MIT physicist Neil Gershenfeld, it's not too early to think about these questions, because that machine, which he calls a personal fabricator, is not so far off - or so far-fetched - as you might think.

Read the rest of this article here.

Please also check out the innovative work of the Reprap project, open source personal 3D printing, and the MakerBot here.