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Solved Twice in 4 Words: World Hunger

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World hunger is solvable in four words because it’s not a hard problem.

The first solution is “Sardines, crackers, water filters.” These four things could be made available to the world’s population with little more than existing manufacturing and distribution channels.

The second (and better) 4-word solution is to “grow and harvest locally.”

Grow and Harvest Locally

The challenges of providing food to difficult places on earth are best framed as they would be in providing food for astronauts engaged in interplanetary travel. Bringing food to a distant planet is unfeasible. Therefore, what’s transported are seeds and knowledge. Food is harvested at the destination from those ingredients.

On earth, food comes from land, water, sun, work, and education. Everywhere people are currently starving, the first three of those ingredients are already present.

Is it feasible to harvest or grow food in all of the world’s biomes?

If viewed from the vantage point of intra-planetary “space” travel, then, yes, of course, it is.

Then, Why Does World Hunger Persist?

Because stated desires are mistaken for intent, an unchallenged shortage mentality, the mistaken belief that personal contributions don’t matter, and lack of knowledge about how to harvest food from local land and waters.

Still, world hunger will not end until the usual suspects abandon artificial prosperity blocks. The only thing powerful enough to do that is overwhelming abundance.

Stated Desire vs. Intent

A stated desire to “end world hunger” is not the intent to do anything, at all, about hunger. Unless the speaker has a grocery bag in their hands, it’s virtue signaling.

Virtue Signaling

Virtue signaling is like wind past the ear; pleasant, but empty except for any action the listener might take. The speaker withdrawals from the Bank of Elegance to purchase the listeners good will. “Rather than pay in action, or in fact, they enchant with the grace of their salute. The true courtesy is the performance of duty: the spurious, and especially the useless, is deceit. It is not respect but rather a means to power.”1

“Leaders” touting a desire to end world hunger ought to be accountable for grocery deliveries in proportion to the loudness, and reach, of their speech.

Shortage Mentality

Is there a shortage of sardines, crackers, or water filters?

If you don’t know the answer, then shortages aren’t the problem. Anyone with a spare $900 could ship a ton of sardines to Venezuela, today!

Price controls, and a lack of imagination cause shortages. Free markets resolve most shortages. Those that remain require imaginative substitutes. If sardines come up short, substitute a can of spam. Starvers can’t be choosers.

The First Best Solution is You

Personal steps taken towards the resolution of large problems are not meaningless; nor are they mere gestures. They’re the first best solution because the need is met:

  • Personally, imparting knowledge and experience to the doer.
  • Locally, improving the immediate environment.
  • At the least possible cost as people make sure of that when their time and money is at stake.

Passing the buck to a group masks the reality that doing so gives it to another person. Unless people (who make up every group) have the expertise, the price of the solution increases and the likelihood of success, or any action at all, is decreased.

‘Wars’ on Effects

Wars declared on effects, rather than causes, are guaranteed (designed?) to never end. Even my 4-word solutions to end world hunger presume that hunger, itself, is the problem.

Hunger is an effect of a shortage of food, not eating food that’s available, or not digesting food that’s eaten. Hunger doesn’t cause these conditions. However, where there are no medical, or psychological, problems, making food available to the hungry is the solution because it addresses the cause.

Sadly, more food than needed to feed the world must be made available to the world, to overcome artificial prosperity blocks by the usual suspects.

Prosperity Blocking by the Usual Suspects

Western countries are using aid to Africa as a smokescreen to hide the “sustained looting” of the continent as it loses nearly $60bn a year through tax evasion, climate change mitigation, and the flight of profits earned by foreign multinational companies, a group of NGOs has claimed.

Attempts to make the population less hungry are direct threats to the rackets that profit from hunger. From the vantage point of the scoundrel, world hunger is not a problem, but an opportunity. A hungry population is a controllable, and profitable, population.

Any good thing can be blocked, or destroyed, with a tiny fraction of the energy it takes to create it. Therefore, worldly power is obtained, more quickly and easily, by blocking the good than it may be obtained by producing the good.

Prosperity blocking is widespread, efficient, and predictable. I was tempted to say the resolution to world hunger is in three words: “Stop Blocking Prosperity.” But abundance, not the blocking of it, is the correct solution.

Food Like Air

Recent attempts to outlaw the collection of rainwater proves that nothing is outside the scoundrel’s willingness to block. The more precious the good, the more profitable the block. But, where abundance reigns, prosperity blocks fail.

Rainwater blocking fails only where the abundance of rain overwhelms the block. The second 4-word solution to end world hunger is best because it leads towards making food available in overwhelming abundance.

Only when food is available like air will world hunger come to an end.

Conclusion

196 countries would have plenty to spare after gearing up factories and transportation to provide 7.5 billion people with sardines, crackers and water filters. The unchallenging project would realign providers and channels to tackle more challenging problems like getting fresh fruit and vegetables on the plates of everyone in the world!

The better solution is to frame the challenge of food provision as intra-planetary travel where it must be harvested from, or on, the ground of the hungry. Only when food is available in such abundance that it overwhelms the prosperity blocks from the usual suspects, may attempts to end world hunger be successful.

  1. The Art of Worldly Wisdom, by Balthasar Gracian, page 115, “cxci Do not take Payment in Politeness”. ↩
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I Love Job vs. I love Job
Belief

7 Ways to Integrate Your Job & Spiritual Calling

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The expectation that your job & spiritual calling must be identical is false. Fortunately, the mysteries of the relationship between the two are revealed with delightful clarity through a careful reading of the Bible. Even non-Christians can gain insights into their own work and aspirations by considering what the Bible has to say about them.

After clarifying the biblical meanings of words like talents, spiritual gifts, natural abilities, job, and spiritual calling, this article will describe 7 ways to integrate your job and spiritual calling.

Total Integration in Perspective

Large overlaps between job and spiritual calling have been more the exception, than the rule, throughout church history. Typically, those who’ve found their calling (At last!) are already making a living with natural abilities. Current jobs then become a platform from which to direct that calling.

However improbable, total integration is a possibility. Apart from traditional clergy and dedicated pastors and worship leaders, the luxuries of a sophisticated division of labor and access to investment capital have made the total integration of job and spiritual calling more possible than ever. However, utmost care must be taken so that believer’s expectations are set with respect to all the factors involved. Where your job and spiritual calling fit on the continuum between “Total Integration” and “No overlap” is a reflection of divine design.

Talents vs. Spiritual Gifts

Talents are the natural abilities you have prior to conversion.

“Talents have to do with techniques and methods; gifts have to do with spiritual abilities. Talents depend on natural power, gifts on spiritual endowment.1

A spiritual gift is …

… a God-given special ability, given to every believer at conversion by the Holy Spirit, to share his love and strengthen the body of Christ.2

Believers Have Both

A believer has both the natural talents they were born with and the spiritual gifts received at conversion. Both are at their disposal in everything they do. The spiritual gifts, however, are a special empowerment for the fulfillment of your calling.

Job vs. Spiritual Calling

A job is whatever you do to make a living. Prior to conversion, you have only your natural talents to perform this work. A job may provide the platform from which to direct your calling. However, it does not define your calling nor is it the same as your calling.3

A spiritual calling is a …

… commissioning from God to make a significant difference on this earth. It’s the banner of your life that you carry and wave for God’s glory.3

Spiritual gifts empower the fulfillment of this calling. What God has called you to do, he has empowered you to do.

7 Ways to Integrate Your Job & Spiritual Calling

The relationship between your job and spiritual calling will fall on a continuum between “no overlap” and “identical”.

Working out this relationship can only begin when you …

1 — Answer the Call, Obedience Precedes Results

The first way to integrate your job and spiritual calling is to answer the call. Obedience precedes, and is more important than, results (which are for God to judge). Feelings about not being ready are irrelevant. If you’ve been called, you’re ready to start.

The way to answer the call is probably the same way you found your calling in the first place:

Move forward with confirmation and stay with your holy passion.4

Let external circumstances sharpen, but never stop, the answer to your calling. A sobering view on one consequence of this obedience comes from John Bevere in “Driven by Eternity”:

One believer’s effectiveness may be limited by another’s obedience.

We’re all parts of the body. When one part is not working, the whole body is affected.

Deployable vs. Employable

All gifts and callings are deployable. Not all are employable. Deploy anyway. Even the Apostle Paul continued his trade of tent-making while pursuing his calling of preaching the Gospel.5
Deployment, with no expectation of remuneration or employment, is the best way to discover what the relationship between your job and calling is meant to be.

2 — Connect with an Existing Ministry of Your Church

If your calling fits naturally into an existing ministry of your church then BINGO! Figure out where best to plug in and you’re off to the races!

  • Do you have a list of all the ministries of your church?
  • Does your calling fit naturally into one of them?
  • Are you the missing piece to helping that ministry to continue, grow or thrive?
  • Are they stuck, or not exploring the possibilities, in the area of your spiritual gifts because someone just like you hasn’t shown up, yet?
  • Could your calling be part of a ministry your church has been wanting to move forward on but nobody like you has showed up?

The only way to get these answers is to ask. Depending on the size of your church you might have to ask leaders at multiple levels. Even the lead pastor may not be the person with the answer. Keep asking until you know for sure.

Your church is the ideal platform from which to answer your spiritual calling. So ideal, in fact, that it’s best not to move on to other ways until you’ve thoroughly explored this option.

3— Partnering

… when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.
— Philippians 4:14–17 (ESV)

The Philippians partnered with Paul sending help for his needs. In return, Paul “seeks the fruit that increases to their credit”.

Working with another church is the next best thing to working from within your church. The relationship between the churches will be naturally strengthened through your work. It may even inspire your church to join in. That shouldn’t be your motivation, of course; just a possible outcome to keep in mind.

4 — Donations

Many callings, and the goals of some large charities and non-profits, are fueled largely (or solely) through donations. This could be as simple as putting a donate button on a website or just saying, “Yes”, when asked if you could use some funding.

Don’t be afraid to ask. Be a squeaky wheel for a divine purpose!

5 — Attract (And ask for) Sponsorships

Think of getting sponsorships as making sales for God. You must become lucid on your goals and mission. You’ll also need to list the benefits of success to your sponsor.

  1. What is the specific mission you’re asking to be sponsored?
  2. Who are you going to help?
  3. How are you going to help them?
  4. What will helping them look like? What impact will it have on them and the community where you live?
  5. What will be the benefits to the sponsor if you succeed in your mission?
  6. Is anyone else partnering with you, already? Who else are you working with?

Don’t underestimate the value of your sponsor’s logo on the T-shirts or hats of people performing excellent work in the local community. Seen from your sponsors point of view, your work may be the best representation of their core values apart from the product or service they provide.

6 — Start a Non-Profit

I’ve been watching this process unfold with Dr. Michael Heiser. After many years, and with great  reluctance, Mike’s enlisted help from readers to form a non-profit named after a retreat as named in one of his books. It’s called Miqlat. They’re already doing great work that wouldn’t be as effective, or possible, if performed through a different entity.

Even with all the material and talents available to Mike starting your own non-profit is a daunting prospect. As you’d see from following Miqlat’s’ journey, nobody has all the skills necessary to accomplish all the many tasks and projects required to get one of these off the ground. If this option is for you, let providence enable it to unfold as it should.

7 — Identical or Bust!

The total integration of your job & spiritual calling is the exception, rather than the rule. Still, I can’t leave this option out because it is possible. It’s the defining relationship for traditional clergy, some pastors, some worship and ministry leaders, and many who are called as missionaries.

Now that you understand the difference between jobs and spiritual callings you know that one of them may suffer terribly if the roles are forced, in any way. You are seeking to discover the divine design of the relationship rather than imposing it.

Non-Clergy Example

A better example for those reading this article, however, is probably the example of Dr. Michael Heiser described in the previous way. He has kept his income going through teaching, being a “scholar in residence” at Logos Software (FaithLife Corp.) and is now, slowly, trying to get donations to his new Miqlat non-profit to cover his expenses. This may, at last, free him up to work solely on creating the content that he’s been called to create.

Another example are the many individual employees of FaithLife Corp. I’m sure many of their jobs and spiritual callings are exactly in line with each other.

That’s not to say that one must be as prepared as Mike, or a happy employee of FaithLife, to achieve total integration of job and spiritual calling. In fact, such integration may not be possible or meant to happen, at all. And, if it doesn’t, it’s by no means an indication of failure. It’s more likely an indication of divine design.

This total integration option is best taken to prayer and balanced with the providence of where you live, what your talents and gifts are, and the particulars of your calling.

If You Insist …

The reason for this stubborn belief is the sophisticated division of labor and availability of capital often present in developed countries. For those who absolutely insist that their job and spiritual calling can be identical you’ll need to take on the burdens of understanding all the factors involved. You’ll also need to read up, or take some courses, on entrepreneurship.

More is Expected and Required

Though beyond the scope of this article here’s some great advice from Gary North on taking a run at the possibility of total integration between your job and spiritual calling.

Gary starts with an expanded definition of calling. He defines it as whatever your answer is to this question …

What is the most important thing you can do in which you would be most difficult to replace?

With your answer to that question firmly in mind, Gary recommends asking yourself these followup questions with respect to the marketplace in which you’ll be working:

  1. Where do you have a clear-cut advantage over your competitors?
  2. Is this advantage visible to others?
  3. Can you leverage this outside your present job?
  4. Can this leverage extend beyond your retirement?
  5. Can this leverage extend beyond your death?
  6. What are the technical tools of your leverage?
  7. Are you skilled in the use of these tools?
  8. Are your competitors equally skilled?

As you can see by the questions, you’re now faced with, not only the work of your calling, but interfacing directly with all the forces of the marketplace. Unless entrepreneurship is part of your calling these requirements will degrade your effectiveness.

In good faith, I can only recommend this option for believer’s whose gifts are designed for it. Frankly, any option that would completely stop you subverts Way #1: “Answer the Call, Obedience Precedes Results”.

Conclusion

Large overlaps between your job and spiritual calling are the exception, not the rule. The expectation that they must be identical (Or forced to be identical) is a myth. If that prevents you from answering your calling then myth has spawned tragedy.

In partial summary:

  • Let nothing discourage you (Including this article)!
  • What you’ve been called to do, you’ve been empowered to do.
  • Obedience is more important than results.
  • Every calling is deployable. Not every calling is employable.
  • The relationship between a deployable and employable is not completely in your control.
  • Even the Apostle Paul continued his trade of tent-making while engaged in his calling of preaching the Gospel.5
  • Your calling will almost certainly involve the participation of others in order to be brought to fruition.
  • Your calling will present different challenges depending on the economic realities of where you live.
  • The relationship between deployable and employable will be greatly affected by the location in which you pursue your calling.

Like a brilliant diamond, your calling will need the 5 C’s applied to be made into the masterpiece it was intended to be. It will need to be expertly cut, clarified, colored, carat weighted, and confidence added.

What you’ve been called to do, you’ve been empowered to do!

Check Out My Online Course, “Your Life, On Purpose”

In my upcoming course, “Your Life, on Purpose” I explore and remove the biggest obstacles to discovering and living on purpose. The most prevalent worldviews are compared, word puzzles resolved, and terms further clarified and integrated into a coherent understanding. Upon completing the course terms like purpose, career, meaning, vocation, avocation, success, mission, goal, values, worldview, destiny, gifts, spiritual gifts, spiritual calling, etc. will inform, rather than confuse.

For a free sample module of “Your Life, On Purpose“, and to stay updated on the release of the full course, please sign up for e-mail updates, below. As an added bonus you’ll receive the password for McGillespie’s Free-Resource Library.

  1. Leslie B. Flynn, 19 Gifts of the Spirit. Colorado Springs: Cook Communications, 1974, 1994, 17 – 18. ↩
  2. Rees, Erik; Rees, Erik. S.H.A.P.E.: Finding and Fulfilling Your Unique Purpose for Life (p. 34). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. ↩
  3. Rees, Erik; Rees, Erik. S.H.A.P.E.: Finding and Fulfilling Your Unique Purpose for Life (p. 22). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. ↩
  4. Dave Patterson, Sermon #3 of “The Big 4” at The Father’s House, January 29, 2017 ↩
  5. “…and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks. Acts 18:3 (ESV). ↩
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The Outlier’s Handbook

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The world discards ideas and people that present multiple standard deviations away from “normal”. And yet, Reality has always been phenomenal and noumenal. To ensure you’re able to thrive in the artificial chaos of this generation you’ll need to be an outlier, in many ways. Here’s “The Outlier’s Handbook” to optimize your trajectory.

The Outlier’s Handbook

(Thriving in Artificial Chaos)

Table of Contents

Part 1 — What Outliers?

“Let Your Reasonableness Be Known to Everyone”

  • Ockham’s Razor: Benefits & Limits
  • The Bookends of Normalcy Bias & Cognitive Dissonance
  • “This Book Goes Too Far!”

What Outliers?

  • Outliers Defined
  • You Know You’re An Outlier If . . .
  • Outlier Benefits
  • Outlier Costs
  • Personal Secession and Other Outlier Mindsets

Part 2 — It’s Your World, Boss!

This Is Where You Live

American Roulette

  • The Constitution is Safe!
  • A Bank with Social Services Around It
  • Democracy: The God that Failed
  • The Corporation
  • The Deep State
  • Fascism, American Style

Lifecycle of Nations

  • “Poverty of Nations” Report Card
  • Imperial Collapse Playbook

Danger, Will Robinson!

Technocracy: The Trojan Horse of Global Transformation

Regional Bloc Head Mercantilism

  • Gee, Maybe Nation-States Weren’t So Bad, After All
  • Solutions Amidst Global Fascism
  • Change Happens Like This, Now

Part 3 — The Usual Suspects

Call Them As You See Them

Origin & Story of Rulers and Authorities

  • Angelic Gen 6 View: Consistency & Insights
  • So, Who are “They”?
  • The “New” Face of Evil (Follow the Blood)
  • Long Term Trends Require Spiritual Unity
  • The Minions
  • A Working Structure of Oppression

They Walk Among Us

  • Serial Killers
  • How Can You Spot One?
  • Political Ponerology
  • 7 signs you might be dating one
  • Protection From Them
  • Speech Patterns
  • I, Psychopath
  • The Hidden Cost of Killing Psychopaths
  • Beware the Backlash

Elements of Their World View

Their Goals

  • ”Ye Shall Be As Gods”

Their Methods

  • The Moral Code of Evil
  • Inversion
  • Undisclosed Adhesion Contracts
  • Counterfeit Money
  • Controlled Markets
  • Technocracy
  • Stacked & Interlocking Pyramidical Structures
  • Consolidation
  • Democracy
  • Eugenics
  • Perpetual Fear
  • Long-Term Planning
  • With Methods Like This, Who Needs the Occult?

Part 4 — Acquiring Immunity

Move #1: Acquire Personal Immunity

Personal Matters

  • Purpose is Everything
  • Managing Outlierhood
  • Growth
  • Ethical Time Travel

Health Matters

  • First Do No Harm
  • Clean Food, Water, Air & Place
  • Nutrient Dense Diet
  • Gut Flora, Probiotics and the Second Brain
  • Optimal Exercise
  • Stress & Breathing
  • Life Extension & Blood Sugar Management
  • Sensible Health Insurance
  • Putting It All Together

Spiritual Matters

  • Intelligent or Random Design
  • Oneism (Monism) vs. Dualism
  • CINO’s & MINO’s
  • Christianity Leads To Science, Islam leads to Murder
  • Gandhi or Jesus?
  • Get Blessed
  • Get Uncursed
  • Supernatural Immunity: The Mind & Way Of Christ
  • The Whole Council of God
  • Spiritual Warfare
  • Practical Examples of Spiritually Based Solutions

Locational Matters

  • The Best Place to Live
  • Where Not to Live
  • Should you relocate?
  • The World is Yours
  • The Illusion of Ownership
  • Mobility
  • G.O.O.D Project – Lessons Learned

Family Matters

  • Instrument of Recursive Perfection
  • Spouse Choice
  • Children
  • Extended Family
  • Friends Worth the Title are Family
  • Community

Legal Matters

  • Natural Law
  • The Constitution is Safe!
  • Jurisdiction Matters
  • Where is the Agreement?
  • It’s Hard to Be a Free Man
  • Unraveling Your Liberty

Financial Matters

  • Money is for Immunity & Purpose
  • Business as Extension of Purpose
  • Tax Penalties for Fear and Poor Planning
  • Mortgage Slavery, Repealed
  • Austrian Economics is Real Economics
  • Investments in Immunity & Purpose Have the Highest ROI
  • Asset Protection

Political Matters

  • Terms of “State” & “Government”
  • The Diversion Of Left – Right Thinking
  • The Votes that Matter
  • Optimal Government = Perfect Self-Government
  • The Chief Asset Of The State: Fear & Belief In It’s Necessity
  • All Matters of Liberty Are Related
  • Caveat Viator: Libertarianism and Anarchy are Aspects of a Complete Worldview
  • Govern Thyself Perfectly and Hold Death Dear

Perspective Matters

  • The Most Valuable Commodity on the Planet
  • Philosophers On Donuts
  • Terms of “Freedom” & “Liberty”
  • Equality & Authority
  • Freedom & Structure
  • Peace Does Not Flow From Passivity
  • Proof and Truth
  • You Can’t Beat Everything with Nothing
  • “Let’s Just Split the Difference and Find a Middle Ground”
  • Stoicism
  • The Opportunity in Uncertainty
  • If Swamp Rats Can’t be Exterminated Why Can You?
  • What About America?

Doing Matters

  • Tony Robbin’s Best Trick
  • Think Spiritually, Act Locally
  • Getting Things Done
  • Low Hanging Fruit
  • Tragic Flaws of Conventional Prepping
  • Expert Tips
  • How To Lose Without Fighting (An Outlier’s Not To-Do List)

Part 5 — Ants & The Human Mosaic

Change The World in Four Moves

  • Humans as an Ant Army
  • Move #1: Immunity
  • Move #2: Specialize
  • Move #3: Move
  • Move #4: Cooperate
  • Humanize the Best Attributes of Animals & Insects

Part 6 — Problems: Solutions

Move #2: Specialize & Pick One

Personal Concerns

  • Training Disguised as Education
  • Shortening Attention Spans
  • Media Agitprop

Health Concerns

  • Eugenics
  • Vaccines Vs. Immunity
  • Socialized Medicine
  • Food Fascism & GMOs
  • Fluoridated water
  • Nuclear Waste & Meltdown Disasters
  • Geo-Engineering
  • Disease(s) Cured

Spiritual Concerns

  • Psychopathy
  • Moral Relativism
  • Odious Debt (Slavery)
  • Wars of Conquest
  • False-Flag Attacks
  • End Times Decoder Rings
  • 501c3 Churches

Locational Concerns

  • Agenda 21
  • Scientific Control Grid
  • Power Grid Fragility

Family Concerns

  • The State as Great Father
  • Broken Families

Legal Concerns

  • Patent Squelching
  • Webs of Undisclosed Adhesion Contracts
  • Drug Wars
  • Licensing
  • Militarization of Police
  • Surveillance State
  • Monopoly
  • Bonus: Beating Traffic Tickets

Financial Concerns

  • Fractional Reserve Banking (The Theft of Human Labor)
  • Disappearing Middle-Class A.K.A Unemployment
  • Currency Wars
  • US Bankruptcy
  • World Banking Systems
  • Institutional(ized) Theft
  • Market Manipulation
  • Global Cooling, Warming …Climate Change?
  • Technocracy

Political Concerns

  • Collectivism
  • Globalism

Part 7 — Appendices

  • In Case of Emergency: Read First!
  • Four Ways to Parse Solutions
  • Reading List for Outliers
  • Outlier Creeds
  • Sovereignty & Law
  • Agorist Manifesto in 95 Theses
  • Agorist Road-map Kyle Bennet
  • 100 Ways To Leave Leviathan
  • Wayne & Barry’s Guide for World Rulers
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Business

Estate Planning Lessons From “The Art of the Steal”

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The documentary film, The Art of the Steal is a gripping tale of intrigue and mystery in the art world. The film traces the history of the Barnes collection of Post-Impressionist paintings, which was worth billions and became the subject of a power struggle after the 1951 death of the owner. Dr. Albert Barnes collected 181 Renoirs, 69 Cezannes, 59 Matisses, 46 Picassos and many other valuable paintings. Despite his best efforts political wrangling over the collection eventually led to its division and control by the very group of people he wanted the collection to be protected against.

Barnes was a shrewd man. He took pains to hire the best lawyers to erect a trust for his paintings to protect them from every imaginable threat. Ironically, the people, state rats and foundations that would eventually divide, move and control his collection were largely known to Barnes at the time of his death.

For the intriguing story of how they accomplished this I recommend the film.

Barnes drafted his trust in 1922 and modified it many times leading up to his sudden death in 1951. It took 58 years from the time of Barnes’ death before the judges ruling cleared the way for its division which overturned every one of Barnes’ express wishes for his collection and transferred control of what now is $25-$30 billion dollars of art into the very hands Barnes never wanted to to have anything to do with it.

While watching the documentary I was struck both by how long it took the collection to be divided and how short that period was with respect to the magnitude, beauty and importance of the art. It’s reminiscent of what is often said about a Stradivarius Violin: The current owner is merely temporary in the life of the instrument.

Barnes was a great man. As such, we who loathe that his magnificent collection has fallen into enemy hands have no better recourse than to glean from the rubble of this theft every possible lesson of what strategies might have worked in fulfilling Barnes’ true wishes.

The problems started when the Barnes Trust ran out of successor trustees.

Have More Successor Trustees

  • Have Children – Barnes had no children. There’s no guarantee that children will fulfill estate wishes but it would have put a few more options on Barnes’ table.
  • Designate a Lineage of Trustees – Barnes designated five successor trustees. This is the primary reason his collection was protected for the 58 years it was. Even though five seem like plenty it was not enough. More is better and a methodology for adding them, post-mortem, is even better.
  • Have Trustees (Vetted While Grantor is Alive) Designate Successor Trustees – The Trustees Barnes knew while he was alive performed flawlessly. If there was a mechanism in the trust for these trustees to, in turn, vett and add new trustees, this would extend the time and increase the quality of adherence to the original intent of the Grantor (Barnes, in this case).

“Poison Pill” Provisions

To avoid contention between competing trustees “Poison Pills” could be placed in the Trust to squelch trivial squabbles. John Lennon’s estate was famous for ensuring that anyone who contested the terms of the trust be cutout of the trust, as a result. It works!

Map Out Maintenance Strategies Using Corpus of the Trust

At one point, Barnes’ collection was in danger due to problems with the building that contained it. Multiple approved methods of raising money for maintenance could be included in the trust. This would take options away from untrustworthy trustees who see this as a crack in the Trust’s armor. It would also make it easier for good trustees who may not have the business sense to go along with their desire to adhere to the grantors’ wishes.

One option, here, for Barnes would have been a strategic sell-off of some of the collection. As terrible as that may sound Barnes would have been most familiar with his collection. Not everything he chose was untouchable. While alive Barnes might have chosen the order in which a very small number of paintings could be auctioned off for the good of the collection IF that was the only option available to the trustee.

Use Corporation(s), LLC(s) or Complex Structures in Lieu of a Trust

This opens up a whole different can of worms that I’d rather not explore in this article. I only bring it up as an option in reaction to seeing the limits of Barnes’ chosen protective entity: The Trust. The ultra rich typically erect complex structures of multiple entities to protect their wealth while they’re alive. Admittedly, maintaining such structures is much more difficult upon death but perhaps such complexity is necessary in cases like Barnes.

Prohibit Boards as Trustees

The biggest fractures appeared with the Barnes collection when Trustees morphed into boards who created their own rules about how the boards were run. Such boards were free to add members, for instance, that enabled a few members to change the consensus of the board. I’d say the only way to squelch this problem is to prohibit boards of any kind. Groups of people never behave themselves with as much integrity as individuals.

The Nuclear Option

Barnes was a great man. To become so takes a level of determination and single-mindedness that few of the rest of us can probably even imagine. After watching the documentary it occurred to me that Barnes was so determined to keep his collection in tact and out of the hands of his enemies that he never even contemplated a last-ditch option. With the benefit of the hindsight that Barnes’ experience has given me I think his best last ditch option would have been to focus on . . . .

The Creators Not the Creations

In the event that any of Barnes’ parameters were violated he could have put instructions into the trust that all the art in the collection be auctioned off for the benefit of the kinds of artists whose work Barnes so understandably admired. By doing so the actual art in the collection would have been randomly distributed around the world (To be collected by the next Barnes?) and he would have been funding the efforts of new great artists to create more beautiful and inspiring art for Barnes’ desired educational purpose of the art, itself. Not to mention that the existing art would have been put beyond the reach of the contemptible group that now controls it.

I’m not presuming that this is a better use for Barnes’ art than he, himself, imagined. I’m merely pointing out one possible backup option that Barnes probably wouldn’t even let himself consider.

They Ruin Everything They Touch

Greed, power, sociopaths and whatever “Foundations” they hide behind are like water falling on a building: They never stop eroding what they come in contact with. In life it’s often possible to avoid contact, altogether, with these brands of evil. In death, the best one can hope for is to delay the meeting for as long as possible.

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Superman on his way
Charity

How to Save Your Own Life

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One of the contributing factors to my brothers’ death was hemachromatosis. By the time he was diagnosed, a year before he died, it had already caused serious damage to his organs.

It was a hereditary condition and my brother told me to get checked for it. So, I went to a doctor and had blood tests taken along with a painful liver biopsy. In the follow-up appointment to discuss the results the doctor was puzzled. He said I definitely had the condition but was not showing any symptoms. He asked if I had ever donated blood. “Yes, all the time”, I said. “I’m in the gallon club at Cedar Sinai.”

Then the doctor said, “Well, congratulations. You just saved your own life.”

Bloodletting is the only way to get rid of excess iron in the blood for someone with hemachromatosis. Donating on a frequent basis had cleared my blood of excess iron. If the iron hadn’t been removed it would have built up to high enough levels to do severe damage to my internal organs. At my age the damage would have already been life threatening.

This is How

You save your own life by contributing directly to mankind for the sake of humanity with no strings attached.

Not tithing. Tithing is to God.

Not your work. The work you do to create value for others in exchange for money is a wonderful thing. There’s no conflict between that work and the direct contribution I’m referring to here. They’re separate offerings made for a different purpose.

Not an action you take for a direct benefit. Although, its almost impossible to do something for others that doesn’t return to you, in some way.

Like Putting Quarters in a Strangers Parking Meter

Sometimes I use spare quarters to load the parking meters of strangers. I especially like to feed the meters of those who are about to get a ticket. It sounds like a cheap thrill, but, I find it thrilling for less obvious reasons:

  • I hate getting parking tickets.
  • I can’t save myself from getting one, but, I can save someone else.
  • Maybe one day someone will do the same for me.
  • I like the idea of being nice to someone before they’re nice to me.
  • I know the hassle I’m saving my stranger.
  • I know the cost to me is less than the hassle saved for my stranger.
  • I know my stranger will be in a better mood and their mood is contagious.
  • It’s possible their contagious mood travels around the invisible world and improves my own.
  • The state gives out parking tickets to make money, not to encourage people to change their parking habits.
  • Denying the state the proceeds of its deception gives me a thrill. Cheap for me, but not for them.
  • It costs me a quarter. But, it costs the state $25. 100 times ROI in money alone!
  • If my ROI is 100 in money what does it return in the improved and contagious mood of my stranger?
  • If my stranger has $25 more than he would, otherwise, what will he be able to do with the money?
  • If the state has $25 less what may it be prevented from doing that, like all state interference, would decrease the liberty and wealth of society?

Every time I drop a quarter this list comes to mind and makes me smile. Not such a cheap thrill after all, is it?

A Pint of Blood vs. 25 Cents

How much more beneficial is a pint of blood to save a life than a quarter to save a parking ticket? The prospects are enormous and powerful. Powerful enough to save a life. Maybe it would even save your life. Maybe, maybe, maybe. But, not for me.

It did save my life.

Copyright © 2014 by Terence Gillespie. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given to McGillespie.com

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