Crash Course by Chris Martenson

I have to say, when it arrived (and having not watched it yet), I was not very impressed by the dvd. The packaging does not seem well planned. The barcode appears in the middle of the description paragraph on the back. Some parts of the presentation (which is in powerpoint format, by the way) run off-screen, and it seems as if it was not intended for dvd format.THAT BEING SAID, this is a very informative and easy to understand presentation. I would recommend it to just about anyone interested in what can be expected for the united states, in the decades to come. I found it helpful with a multitude of graphs and actual facts. The program highlights the unavoidable progressions of systems that our government, economy, and daily lives depend on. This could be quite useful info for you, if you can get past the lackluster production value.

This is a truly exceptional video. It does an amazing job of explaining our economic problems in a clear, concise, easy to understand, and interesting way. Most importantly, you will learn why, with our debt based monetary system, hyperinflation is inevitable.The Narrator and author of The Crash Course has also recently published a book with the same title. It, too, is excellent and is goes into much greater detail than the video. (By the way, you can view this DVD for free on the author's website, ChrisMartenson.com .)Basically, The Crash Course (book or DVD), in a very compelling way, makes two fundamental points. First, that our present rate of consumption of oil, when correlated against an increasing world population and increasing demand from the industrialization of third world countries, is simply not sustainable. In fact, it appears that we are currently at the precipice of there not being enough oil to meet the demand. And, when we go over the cliff, our standard of living will be diminished overnight. (Imagine having to spend 50 to 70% of your income food and gasoline.)The second fundamental point made by the Crash Course is that our debt based monetary system must inevitably end with hyperinflation. The reason is that each year, enough new currency must be created to pay the interest on all of the previously created debt. As a result, there is an exponential increase in the money supply. It is like putting money in a savings account and letting the interest continue to compound year after year. For many years, your bank balance grows very slowly. But, you ultimately come to a point where even though the rate of interest is small, it is increasing your bank balance by amazingly large amounts each year. The author illustrates this with a graph shaped like a hockey stick. Well, it turns out that on this front, we are again at a precipice. In 2010, our government created more debt than the TOTAL of all the debt created in our history. In other words, we are on the verge of a financial Armageddon.The author makes a compelling case for why the above outcomes are inevitable. And, based on the shortsightedness of our leaders, he is probably right. We've known about our problem of dependence on foreign oil for forty years and we haven't done anything significant to deal with it. However, I believe that there are technological solutions already in existence that would solve this problem. Unfortunately, it's not likely that we will employ any of them until AFTER the proverbial crap hits the fan.With respect to the problem of having a debt based monetary system; the solution is not only simple, but proven. Change the system to a non-debt based monetary system and use non-debt created money to pay off the debt. Andrew Jackson did this and he not only balanced the budget, he also paid off 100% of the national debt. So, what do I mean by changing to a non-debt based monetary system? I'm talking about abolishing the Federal Reserve System and returning the power to create money to the Treasury Department where it belongs.A complete understanding of the Federal Reserve System and why it is at the root of our economic problems is essential to a complete understanding of our economic problems. In this regard, The Crash Course falls a little short. This is not a criticism because, to fully explain this subject matter, an entire book or video is required. In this regard, I can recommend some excellent sources.There are two very good videos on this subject. They are "The Money Masters" and "The Secret of Oz". Both of these are available from Amazon or you can view them on YouTube.com by entering the title in the search bar. As for books, I recommend "The Creature from Jyklell Island" by G. Edward Griffin which is the most comprehensive book I've found on this subject. I can also recommend "End The Fed" by Congressman Ron Paul. This book does an excellent job of summarizing all of the moral, ethical, legal, and practical reasons for ending the Federal Reserve System.

So many other reviewers have given detailed reviews, I'll keep this short.You MUST see this movie. Quite seriously, you MUST. Chris does a fabulous job of explaining connections between energy, economics, and the environment, and makes it clear why we, as a civilization, cannot continue "business as usual". He also uses some GREAT analogies to get concepts across.I already knew quite a bit of the material he covers (ie, I knew how the Fed Reserve works, and I knew a lot about the depletion of our planetary resources and the danger of overpopulation), but his analogies make it all a lot easier to think about and understand the connections between everything on a more gut level, rather than as a series of intellectual facts. His explanations helped me clarify and understand what I knew in a deeper way. (I absolutely LOVED his comparison of oil wells to margaritas - and that's just one example of how he offers analogies to understand things in new, better ways than dry reports and graphs).If you have never thought about some of the things that he presents (such as exponential curves), you will very probably be shocked (perhaps even horrified) at what you learn. If you knew some, but not all, of this stuff, you'll be shocked, though to a lesser degree.No matter what, you DO need this information, as Chris himself stresses throughout the movie. It is, I dare say, imperative that as many people as possible get this info, understand it, and realize the implications for all of us, both as individuals and as entire societies. The direction that we, as a planet-wide civilization, are heading is NOT GOOD.It's time to consider the consequences of "business as usual" and the repercussions we are creating for ourselves by continuing to pretend that these realities somehow don't exist.Get this movie. Watch it. Watch it as many times as you need to in order to get and understand the message. Then pass it around or buy copies for your families and friends and help spread the message. The political leaders are not going to do anything to avert dangerous consequences...or, if they do, they will either do too little, too late...or they'll do enough - but it'll still be too late.Time for everyone to learn this and then, as Chris suggests at the end of the movie, figure out what steps can be taken to at least mitigate the worst of the damage to oneself, to society, and to the planet.

I purchased this at the end of January and I only recently tried to listen to it. I get an error message each time and I have tried to play it on two different devices. Because of the time frame, now I can't even return it for a replacement. I keep getting disc error message. Do I have any recourse at all?