The Good News of 2008?

Catherine Austin Fitts, a very astute financial observer and localization advocate, has published the last Solari Report this year, which is a very readable and useful year-end “wrap-up” looking back at events in 2008 and discussing what they mean to our future.

Apart from her analysis of the impact of the financial crisis, she also stresses the “good news”:

One of the few good investment categories in 2008 was building local self-sufficiency. From the success of the Financial Permaculture conference in Hohenwald, Tennessee to the rapid spread of Transition Towns around the world, to the spreading of participatory budgeting from Latin America, efforts by local communities to re-localize are very encouraging. The logical response to uneconomic centralization is to look for ways to decentralize. Despite all the difficulties in the economy, entrepreneurs doing natural home building, farmers markets, starting farms, installing solar energy and weatherizing homes enjoyed a market moving their way. These efforts will continue to grow well beyond any shakeout.”

Here’s an outline of what else she discusses:

– The Slow Burn
– Bailouts: Where’s the Money?
– Financial Coup d’etat
– The Crash in Commodities: Temporary or Permanent?
– The Freezing Up of the Global Financial System
– Election 2008: The First Billion Dollar Candidate
– Russia, China, and the Middle East Rising
– Pension Fund Time Bomb
– The Shake-Out Moves into 2009

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