“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” ~ Philip K. Dick

By Catherine Austin Fitts

Dr. Mark Skidmore is a professor of Economics and holds the Morris Chair in State and Local Government Finance and Policy in the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics at Michigan State University (MSU). He also serves as Director of MSU’s North Central Regional Center for Rural Development.

Dr. Skidmore joined our event hosted by Rob Kirby in Toronto in August. He graciously took time before returning to Michigan to share his latest thinking about how to manage our “map” of reality. These insights reflect his journey from “official reality” to expanding his understanding of the world as a result of the financial crisis and bailouts, reviewing $21 trillion of undocumentable adjustments in the federal accounts, and witnessing the adoption of FASAB 56.

We discuss the challenges of understanding and navigating a reality and “official reality” that are increasingly divergent and how to avoid being misled by nonsense along the way. Based on my discussion with subscribers, finding a sensible approach to the fracturing of the world around us is of great importance.

In Let’s Go to the Movies, I review American Factory, a new documentary about a Chinese company factory in Dayton, Ohio, that revives a shuttered General Motors plant and grapples with achieving profitability amid culture clashes and the growing pressure of automation.

Subscribers can e-mail or post questions and story suggestions for Money & Markets for September 12th here.

Talk to you Thursday!