Sport Shoe Start-Up & Financing

Let’s get an update on Casey Keller’s Sport Shoe start-up.

Casey Keller ran an indiegogo campaign to raise the $125,000 to start up his company.  He has generously shared the details of his start-up with me because he too generosity says my courses helped him.  As I have said before, I at best help save time and money, the success belongs to the entrepreneurs.

To recap, Casey was not pleased with the casual sports shoes on offer, came up with his own designs, contracted with a world class designer to make his ideas professional, and found the best place in the world to have the product made.  So far so good.

Now, I stress we do not need financing, we need customers.  If we do not have customers, we do not need financing.  If we find customers, then financing usually follows.  Casey understands all of this.

I am a brick-and-mortar advocate, since the internet is less than 6% of retail sales, and I think it is smarter to go where 94% of your customers are, rather than less than 6%.  The market structure for shoes evolved such as it is so a small start-up can work through the B2B structure to get wide but manageable feedback upon which to grow iterations.

So to my thesis Casey went antithesis, he pursued social media and marketing his launch in essence as an online B2C effort.  I may have a thesis, but my opinions do not matter.  Customers ultimately decide all in business.

Next, as a separate element, Casey went after crowdfunding for his start-up.  I’ve gone all Islamic as far as financing, and crowdfunding is halal, inasmuch as it is not a loan at all, or finance, just an exchange of gifts (at least in the indiegogo regime.)  In any event, I was keen on seeing how that played out.

I was amazed at how Casey’s Likes grew on facebook, when another observer astonished me by asserting Casey was buying those likes.  I had blogged on the deleterious effects of buying likes, and confirmed he was buying likes and he was aware of the argument against it.  Here again, thesis, antithesis.

(How would a disinterested 3rd party be able to spot Casey was buying likes?  Apparently it is obvious)

So with all of this teed up, Casey launched his financing campaign on indiegogo, with  30 day duration.  His goal was $125,000 which struck me as ambitious, but who knows?  Of the $125,000 Casey set as a goal, he raised less than $5,000 by the end of the campaign, which means he got zero under indiegogo rules

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/kclacs-footwear-comfort-in-style

Casey was not happy with the results, so we discussed alternatives, several of which Casey already had lined up.  Very good.

So where is he now, three months later?  Fully funded by others who have stepped in with classic skin-in-the-game financing with Casey still majority holder.

Now I blogged before on an apparently well-funded company doing a kickstarter campaign, for what reason?  Whether or not they succeed, they will get plenty of targeted exposure at no cost.  And in essence, although Casey indeed needed the money to start, all this rigamarole brought him to the attention of a cross section of people who in fact stepped in with the requisite funding.

So, what do we learn?

Classic, unchanged -

Zero secrecy

great design talent

best source in the world

never take risks.

New areas of inquiry -

1. What of the B2C and B2B contradiction I mentioned above, that thesis and antithesis?  We seem to be forming a synthesis:  B2C and Crowdfunding can be useful in exposure with a view to finance.

So we have a valid example of a synthesis, and now we need to establish reliability.  who else works along these lines and comes up with the same results.  (To be science, “knowledge” it must be valid AND reliable.)

2. Sticking with the classic “find customers first, then financing,” is there a means to use social media and crowdfunding which has a B2B audience as opposed to B2C?  

So much to keep learning!

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USA Citizens Warned To be Afraid, Worldwide

Now the US State Department issues this warning:

The Department of State has issued this Worldwide Caution to update information on the continuing threat of terrorist actions and violence against U.S. citizens and interests throughout the world.

The threat:

Information also suggests that al-Qa’ida and its affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks against U.S. interests in multiple regions, including Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.  These attacks may employ a wide variety of tactics including suicide operations, assassinations, kidnappings, hijackings, and bombings. 

Didn't we invade the Middle East to stop this?  Of course the question is ridiculous, we invaded the Middle East to steal their assets.  And now there are countless more people who want us dead.  The fact we have been defeated is not enough for these revenge killers.

I'll continue to travel and if a revenge killer gets me, then my number was up.  I'll suffer and die in some measure to which I have benefitted and contributed to the criminal invasions.  What goes around comes around.

But the fact of the matter is, USA citizens are far safer overseas than they are in USA.  Just as people are naturally fearful of the risk of flying, going by car is vastly more dangerous.  More USA soldiers die by self-inflicted than in combat.  In the places we actually trade around the world, I feel much safer than I do in USA. Now, I am not one to attempt gun running to al qaeda in Benghazi, like an ambassador, which apparently is a matter of heightened risk.  I trade chotzkies in Hong Kong, Paris, Berlin and Vancouver. If something disagreeable happens, it is most likely just the wrong time and place, whether you get whacked by a truck or a terror bomb overseas.

It's never personal.  I am sure it feels personal to those who experience it, but terrorism is all about symbolism.  It's theatre.

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Higher Food Prices Worldwide?

A USA drought and destabilization in the Ukraine, two huge grain producers, are cited as contributing to some rise in food prices.

According to the World Bank, internationally traded food prices increased by a sharp 4.0 percent. The leap was led by wheat and maize, up 18 percent and 12 percent, respectively.

But wait, in the same article...

World Bank economists said prices increased despite bumper crops in 2013 and continued projections of record grain harvests and stronger stocks expected for 2014.

Perhaps the operative word is in the first paragraph, "internationally" traded foods.  A good study would be to compare world prices on an item with domestic prices, and chart the difference.

In the HTS, or SchB, they made "organic" a separate number for a wide range of produce.  Perhaps the highest quality of each country, specialty foods, is flowing to the 1% or each country.  it would be interesting to know.

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The Powers That Be

InfoWars has blogged the attendees list at the next Bilderberg Conference.  As a secretive meeting of world leaders, it occasions much conspiracy theory.  Infowars apparently missed the best name on those lists of changing names, past and present: David Rockefeller.  Whether past or present, his name is highlighted as "Advisory."  I bet.  It is truly a meeting of the powers, but who knows if it is the powers-that-be.    I suspect it is a sub-committee for the powers that be, moderated by David Rockefeller.  But, so what?

I wanted to learn more about these agenda items (among a dozen or so), from the Bilderberg press release:

The key topics for discussion this year include:

• Is the economic recovery sustainable?

• Who will pay for the demographics?

When I went looking for that I saw this.

 In the context of a globalized world, it is hard to think of any issue in either Europe or North America that could be tackled unilaterally.

Now that is interesting locution.  Tentative.  Like when someone who knows better, but is proposing a lie. The fact of the matter is all just actions are unilateral, they need not be negotiated.  In short, as they say, "do the right thing." Negotiations among countries are only, strictly, to settle who wins and who loses.  Each side details how they will harm which constituency in their own country, in a complex series of quid pro quo.  USA: We'll target 2% inflation, benefitting this group group of Americans, harming that.  China: We will peg the RMB to the US$, benefitting this group of Chinese, harming that.  Policy is tweaked to get to some parity (and catalogued in the millions of pages of rules.).  Done! There are no exceptions to this.  Every negotiation results in winners and losers, decided for citizens by that country's representatives.  Afterwards, each side blames the other for each country's targeted losers woes. Symmetry!

So a priesthood of clerks then gets busy fanning out and taking temperatures to gather evidence of whether or not the agreement is doing the trick of making the rich richer and the poor poorer.

There is an alternative to all of this "multilateral" rigamarole, and that is unilateral policy setting.  Simply establish free trade, and we have peace, security and prosperity.    That is not going to happen because there are too many people who clamor to be oppressed, and there are enough people willing to give them oppression, good and hard.  It's called libido dominandi.

In the measure there is a free market, there is that peace, security and prosperity.  The best relative example extent today would be Hong Kong.  It was delightful to see Chile negotiate a free trade agreement with hong Kong.  Hong Kong did nothing, because it already had unilateral free trade with Chile.  Chile changed some rules on their side.   Both sides partied.

With a unilateral free trade program, we would have peace, prosperity and security.  But we would not have exceptional wealth.  Free trade has competition that keeps exceptional wealth from aggregating in few hands.  With free trade we would have a very wide assortment of division of labor, specialized goods and services that just about everyone could afford with their own resources.

The opposite of free trade, capitalism, concentrates wealth in an exceptionally few hands.  Capitalism is not going anywhere soon, for the majority keeps voting for their own oppression.  One form of assurance to the powers that be is masses dwell on perceived conspiracies and blaming others. That assures the powers that be they are safe.

Once anyone starts talking unilateral decision making, then the end is near for the powers that be.  So read this the way it is meant:

 it is hard to think of any issue ... that could be tackled unilaterally.

Yes, hard, as in "if we think along those lines, it is the end of us..." which would be hard, a difficult thing, such change.  As Milton noted, these people would rather rule in hell than serve in heaven.

So I found the page with the agenda, on a public website, marked "press release." from the Bilderberg press release:

At the bottom of the press release, we are told:

Editor's Note, not for publication

Wait, what?  A press release not for publication?  These guys are supposed to be controlling the world and they cannot get their act together on a press release?  That explains a lot.

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Bilderberg Agenda

So I did find the source of these agenda items (among a dozen or so), from the Bilderberg press release:

The key topics for discussion this year include:

• Is the economic recovery sustainable?

• Who will pay for the demographics?

But no elaboration.  Now the first one is a case of "here we go again!"

Like the BoE Gov Carney talking about the good done by QE, "is the economic recovery sustainable" is so obtuse!  What economic recovery?  Do none of these people ever step outdoors?  Do they actually believe their own economic reports?  This makes me nervous, because people who believe their own PR end up in disasters, like a Hitler believing he was winning.  Maybe the agenda is just code for public consumption, but I do truly hope that question is not addressed as posed.

The second one makes no sense, as it is.  Who will pay what for demographic what?  Demographic reports?  Censuses?  Is the idea USA will pay for Ukrainian Census?  What is that about.

Now if you understand that the powers that be, and power itself, is grounded in the Malthus/Darwin premise that there are too many people, the lower humans will die out, so extermination is just helping evolution along, then this is an odious agenda item.  It means what means will which countries use to jettison the perceived "unclaimed baggage" in each country.  it would be good to have this accurately expanded upon.

I've listened to sane, powerful policy makers and enforcers make this same point, in their own words.

Libido dominandi.

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Geoduck is Back on the Menu!

Good news.  China has lifted the ban on Geoduck. Washington exporters rejoice!

China on May 23 lifted the five-month-old ban on imports of live seafood including clams, oysters, mussels and scallops from Alaska, California, Oregon and Washington State.

I covered this earlier, and disrupted markets make for opportunities.  For small businesses in fisheries, strike while the iron is hot.

Look what they have been missing in China:

http://geoduckrecipes.com/geoducks/

You should see it when it gets angry.

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Be Exporting Food Before November

Give yourself a goal.

Be in Hong Kong this November at the wine and food show.  Join a dozen or so other people in one booth exhibiting to buyers worldwide.  Meet people from around the world trading in food or wine, or both.  This will be an intensive real-world seminar where you will return home with world-class experience. But only if you have the business to warrant the trip.  More information here.

To have the business to warrant the trip, get busy now.  The next online "Exporting Food" course starts in a few weeks.  Sign up now here.

If you want an in-person course, one with credit so the business educational benefit program will cover the cost, then you need to sign up for the UCBerkeley extension one day live seminar.  Get UCBerkeley CEUs and a certificate that says so.  Come home with customers overseas targeted and the tools, tactic and attitude to build export sales.  Enroll here now...



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Exporting Water to China?

It's a stretch, but the article makes the point we divert so much water to grow alfalfa for Chinese livestock that in effect the water goes to China.

It would be interesting to see an accounting of what water is used for now during the California draught, and if selling alfalfa in China makes our meals more expensive.  Sounds like a good masters thesis.

This law professor makes some interesting points, especially how the energy solutions use too much water.

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook

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A New Charlie Sheen: Mark Carney

The world has a new Charlie Sheen, the governor of the Bank of England.  He is providing entertainment in the form of the deranged discourse.  In regards to the banking crisis,  responsible parties have gathered in London, and given the challenges that face our economies, here are some select quotes:

"Just as any revolution eats its children, unchecked market fundamentalism can devour the social capital essential for the long-term dynamism of capitalism itself," he said. "A sense of self must be accompanied by a sense of the systemic."

So the Governor of the Bank of England notes the severity of the situation, and blames "market fundamentalism" for the failures of capitalism.  Solution?  Bankers need to think of the community more.  Bottom line though, save capitalism at all costs.

Does anyone sense any sense that the system itself is wrong?

Capitalism is by definition aggregating capital of the many into the hands of the few.  That is not debatable, it is the point, the supposed genius of the system.  Smart people get control of the lions share of the assets, and they direct the capital to smart ends.  They are self-interested in serving you by selling you things that please you.  You vote with your dollars.  There never been a system that has created so much wealth for so many, lifted so many from poverty, and providing longer, happier healthier lives in the history of mankind.  And in just over 150 years.  Think about a toothache in the 1400s, and today.

This sounds great, if you are on the winning side of capitalism.  If you are not, it does not look so good.

Funny the Gov BoE should be scolding bankers over in essence moral failings. Capitalism specifically is morally neutral according to its adherents, and lending money at usury is morally neutral, and lending credit (nothing) at usury is morally neutral.  Yet, these adherents all recognize the term "moral hazard."

It is precisely this process that yields the concentrated wealth of the very few, the malinvestment and overinvestment we see plaguing the world, and the worse example is our decade-long wars for nothing. (Your pension is on the ground in Iraq.)

Now note they blame "market fundamentalism."  That is code for free markets.  Whereas none of these problems can happen in a free market, the failed system blames the problems on the solutions.  There is your proof, nothing will change.

Some readers have challenged my views, but let's look at the points the powers that be make, and the points I've made:

The Financial Stability Board, an international body chaired by Carney, is due to publish a report shortly on how to reform the process, which currently relies on banks submitting honest estimates of representative prices.

Yes, mark to market - the assets are not there, yet putative wealth is assumed.

Carney said public trust had been damaged by the behaviour of banks both before and after the financial crisis. He cited allegations that the Libor interest rate benchmarks and prices on the foreign exchange market were tampered with.

Allegations?  It's been proven, this and ten thousand other crimes.  But they do selective enforcement, just some schmuck.  Is ten thousand too many?  It is not debatable that every day the fast traders front run the market and screw investors.  Every day.

This is a big conference, with Bill Clinton addressing, and so all newspapers cover it:

Mark Carney said bankers had operated a "heads-I-win-tails-you-lose" system. He questioned whether traders met ethical standards and said that those who failed to meet high professional standards should face ostracism.

This is an admission that the regulators cannot do the job.  This is also a classic free market response to a problem.  Who is the cop?  You are!  Ostracism would work if we had a free market, but when we have capitalism in which the cops protect the powers that be, no one has to ever say they are sorry.  Hey Carney, did you ever refuse to take a call from Christopher Cox after he outlawed shorting in 2008?  No?  He was unethical, but you kept your association?

Speaking at a City conference, the Bank's governor warned that there was a growing sense that the basic social contract at the heart of capitalism was breaking down amid rising inequality. "We simply cannot take the capitalist system, which produces such plenty and so many solutions, for granted. Prosperity requires not just investment in economic capital, but investment in social capital."

Deranged!  A social contract among whom?  Capitalism is a system forced on the citizens in favor of which legislatures and judges rule, over time, so patterns and practices benefits the few.  Again, the point, the rationale, is inequality is good, yet Carney says this ought not be.

He said one of the lessons of the crisis was that compensation schemes that delivered large bonuses for short-term returns encouraged individuals to take on too much long-term risk. "In short, the present was overvalued and the future heavily discounted."

Was?  We are past that now?  When was this problem fixed?  So the governor of the bank of England on one hand notes there is a problem with mark to market, but on the other hand says it was in the past. Nothing will be done to save your pension, because no one will admit there is a problem.

Carney said that ultra loose monetary in the UK had helped to prevent a lost generation of long-term unemployed, and improved long-term social mobility prospects.

Charlie Sheen could not say this with a straight face.

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Trading Food Worldwide

When I was a kid bread was Wonder, cheese was Velveeta and wine was Thunderbird.  And you could travel Europe on $5 a day.  Those who did visit Europe came back and started a revolution toward good food.  I am a life member of Puget Consumers Co-op, which stated as a "cheese conspiracy."  In the 1950s a dozen families would buy a ten kilo round of an imported cheese and divide it among themselves.  People copied the bread and beer from Europe.  Jimmy Carter deregulated the laws forbidding small companies from producing good food outright. Kids of these people went on to start all of those specialty food companies and restaurants we now esteem.

At the same time, following the fascist policy of "get big or get out" industry proceeded to produce the kind of food that makes people obese and diseased:

As previously described by investigative reporter Michael Moss, author of the book Salt Sugar Fat, food manufacturers go to great lengths to find the perfect blend of salt, sugar, fat, and additional flavorings to excite your brain’s reward center, thereby assuring you’ll be back for more. In addition to those basics, the food industry also employs other strategies to increase their products’ addictive nature. 

Sodium, sugar and fat were all highly subsidized and turned into food for the very inner cities who were the target of massive welfare payments.  Corn provided two of the three industrial ingredients, oil and syrup (fat and sugar). The fact that these foods were subsidized means people could "afford more" and so they could spend more on consumer items, advantage WalMart/China.  Massive subsidies and distorted demand brought ever more land into the hands of big Ag, especially Monsanto whose history was saccharin, asbestos, DDT, agent orange, BGH and now GMO.  (Almost nothing cooked you eat is without corn oil, and something like 90% of the corn in USA is GMO.) Talk about modern living through chemicals.  Tax-payer money flowed into the Ghetto, and the dollars flowed out to huge corporations, and the middle-folk got sick slowly.  The drug dealers saw this model, and moved in.  That money then brought in the intel agencies to the game, for off-budget funding sources, and the rest is history.

I believe it is genocide, ethnic cleansing, something I don't care for, or perhaps, more to the point, just don't have the stomach for.  Also, still a little too close to home.  There is nothing said today on the most rabid comment sections of websites about the ancestrally African that was not said about the Irish 100 years ago.  If anyone objected to denigration of the Irish back then, the powers that be would simply provide the scienterrific evidence that the Irish not only act inferior, they were genetically inferior.  And, not to put too fine a point on it, the means to ethnic cleanse Ireland of the Irish back then was called the "Corn Laws."

For good reason people do not want to know.  In the face of implacable injustice, people resort to violence, in spite of the fact that violence serves the oppressors.  (Ireland used violence to gain its "independence" and is now back under the British boot.) But there are alternatives to violence.  Compare Iceland.  (Iceland is reputed to be largely Irish genetic stock.)

To my mind there is a distinction to be made, victim vs survivor.  Same event, the victim accepts passively, the survivor refused to cooperate.  Violence only serves the bad guys, so the options, if not violence, for non-cooperation are narrow indeed.  But, by the Grace of God, there are options.

The more I look into the trade of food worldwide, and the more I see nonsense and madness, in equal measure I see opportunity.    But using food for political ends is nothing new.  Looking at the facts on the ground may enrage someone, let off a siren that drives an Odysseus mad.  (Odysseus had his crew plug their ears as they sailed by, and Jason relied on louder music.)  And the effect of the Sirens was to starve to death.  Funny that.  The point of those myths is to teach a truth, when you get past the part that makes you crazy, you can see so many options.

The world can be a wicked place, and that is good to know.  Acknowledge that when you see it, and then see where the opening is, and take it.  Like a group of people buying a round of cheese, good things grow from small initiatives.  All hail small business!

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Mining Canada Trade Data For Gold

If what I teach is not true for all times and places, I am not much interested in teaching it.  The tool, tactic and attitude attracts seminar participants from around the world.  There are realities and tactics with which to contend, and here is a letter from one seminar participant:

On May 25, 2014, at 8:46 PM, J A wrote:

Hi John,

After searching I found the Canada HS code for mixed seasoning is 2103.90.20.00.

Statistics Canada only provides trade information on six digits (2103.90).  Also they only provide four years of trade data.
Will this be enough?

***I've heard that, but six will do (ten is better if they get to it...  you might inquire at their sites as to ten digit info...)

I have attached my completed spreadsheet.

US is shown as the number 1 export country (90%).  I think this should still look promising to suppliers even with a 4% reduction in 2013 compared to 2012?

***Next door neighbors are always #1 trading partners... mexico and canada are usa's #2 and #1 partners...  I'd expect that 90% to be heavily USA commodity sauces made in canada for usa tax avoidance... note prices paid to Canada...  smaller countries are premium buyers...  korea and philippines prolly fish sauces...   the other countries are interesting...***

New Zealand decreased to 99% in 2013 from a high of 123% in 2012 and Australia is accelerating.

***Yes, but good prices to both...***

When sending the letters to the Canadian suppliers, should the letter be folded in a small envelope or sent in a large envelope?

***In USA we call it the #10 envelope....  here is how...   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5gelIkXXLg

John

In the upper right under GET YOUR BUSINESS GOING NOW are world trade seminar opportunities, live in cities and online. Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.

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Lucky Fraud Victim!

I am notified I am a Lucky Fraud Victim...  When the West was developing capitalism, fraud abounded, such as the Great South Sea Bubble.  And as Africa now advances, similar scams abound.

FROM  MR. JONAH OTUNLA
CHIEF ACCOUNTANT GENERAL OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
Federal Secretariat Towers (5th & 10th floors)
Shehu Shagari Way , Central Area, Garki, Abuja.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Greetings to you and members of your family.

You may not really understand why this email is coming to you. I am
Mr. Jonah Otunla, from the Office of the Chief Accountant General of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Due to series of petitions received from International Organizations
and foreign individuals on claims of fraud perpetrated on them, most
of which emanating from Nigeria or its friendly network in Europe,
Asia and other parts of Africa, taking over all or part of the entire
life savings of their victims, the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria
and my Office representing the Federal Government of Nigeria have had
series of meetings with the Secretary-General to the United Nations,
Mr. Ban Ki-moon. This meeting has been holding for nearly 3 months
now, but ended a few days ago with the sole objective of compensating
selected fraud victims, whose information and deals with fraudsters
was provided to us by the United Nations Internet and
Telecommunication Activities Monitoring Team.

Being the outcome of our meeting, we are sending this message to
selected fraud victims who has been scammed by various means. The
United Nations have therefore agreed to compensate them with the sum
of US$500, 000. 00 (Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars only)
each. These include some foreign contractors and inheritors that could
not receive their contract or inheritance payments, and people that
have had unfinished transactions or international businesses that
failed due to strict Government policies, those whose bank account was
hacked, apartment scam etc. And you are lucky to be one of those
selected.

Your email appeard on the list of lucky fraud victims provided
to us by the United Nations, being the reason why we are contacting
you.It has however been agreed upon that you receive your payment with
immediate effect following approvals received from the Central Bank of
Nigeria in affiliation with the United Nations.

You are hereby advised to acknowledge receipt of this payment notice
as soon as possible, to enable us instruct the Central Bank of Nigeria
which is the United Nations Paying bank here in West Africa to pay
you.

Congratulations!

Yours Faithfully,

MR. JONAH OTUNLA.
Chief Accountant General ( Federal Republic of Nigeria )
Central Area, Garki, Abuja.

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All Hail Sharia Law Within The United States!

Prof Rozeff tends to touch on topics which cause one to go "aha!"  I've been denigrating democracy and its evil handmaiden capitalism, which clothes itself in free markets for legitimacy and disguise.

Rozeff notes the big problem in advancing anarchy is getting people to agree to the non-aggression principle, or more to the point, agree on what is non-aggression.

I point out government must be voluntary (and democracy by definition is not) and how the largest government in the world, and the oldest is purely voluntary: the Catholic Church.  So voluntary is it that the Roman Rite welcomes competition from various other rites even within its own territory, even what little of that it has!  But the vast experience of Catholicism is a government with no territory, or as Rozeff puts it, non-territorial government.

And so when Rozeff writes of non-territorial government, voila!, the penny drops yet again.  he ultimately gets to panarchy, in which anarchy is but one system, but why not have several governments at once.  In fact, we already do, with any given American under city, county, state, federal and blueberry commission rules all at once.  It is so complex there is an area of law called "conflict of law."

Not only is the Catholic church voluntary, it has no territory.  There is the Vatican, but the Vatican is no Jerusalem, which Jesus preferred, nor is the Vatican the home of some other 22 rites in the Catholic Church.  Indeed, the Vatican spent sixty years holed up in France at one point.  Sacre bleu!

We have all sorts of non-territorial governments, from rules over the game of chess to Lex Mercatoria, the most comprehensive and effective law in history short of the Bible, to SWIFT and so on.

When Islam ruled lands it often allowed the various factions to maintain their own legal structures within their lands.  This is territorial, but non-exclusive law.  When and where Islam reigned supreme, they allowed Jews to maintain their own laws and customs, and Jews were often safer under Islam than Christianity.

We have so much to learn form the government of religions.  In practice there is no reason why we need territory for effective government.

Often I am told, as a critic of democracy, "if you don't like it here, just leave."  But why should I leave if what everyone else is doing wrong.  If someone has to leave, why not wrongdoers?  But once we realize government need not be territorial, nor monopolistic, then we can all live side by side in peace and prosperity.

So under a free country, Sharia Law could thrive within this territory we call USA, along with all sorts of other laws.  For those who want it.  In fact it already does, if subscribers do not run off to the State for relief. Christianity teaches we are to stay our of courts, and court cases.  People may have reason to visit religion on the coming years.  They have interesting governments.

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USA Economic System

I've been ranting here for a few years on our false economy, its distortions, and its genesis in usury.  Here is a German central banker on the same topic:

The monetary system was saved in 2011 through concerted action by major central banks worldwide. But, according to Stark, the whole system is "pure fiction". The monetary authorities have been groping since 2008 to avoid a second Lehman Brothers, but if happen, "the system will not survive," he warned.
The problem is the monetary model itself. That is, the printing of paper currency without real backing and the multiplier by which the commercial banks can expand credit-uncontrolled without prior savings. Stark recommended allocating part of this fictional savings to investment in traditional "safe havens" such as gold or silver.

Welcome aboard!  He recommends gold, but gold is savings, and can be taken away from you.  Better to have the means of production, plus an international aspect, so you have trade with elsewhere.  The only thing they cannot take is your skillset, and we will need people who can perform in a true economy when this false economy dies.

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