tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-906854738305262612.post647766170846578119..comments2024-01-16T13:45:18.658-06:00Comments on The North Coast: We Will Kill for OilThe North Coasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14292115710427172625noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-906854738305262612.post-75603491244033800452010-08-22T12:51:35.894-05:002010-08-22T12:51:35.894-05:00Dear Laura:
Hope you're having a nice quiet d...Dear Laura:<br /><br />Hope you're having a nice quiet day. It's raining here now. I was out visiting some friends earlier and am hoping to have a quiet afternoon.<br /><br />Over on CounterPunch is an article (Mike Whitney: the economy is in big trouble) that predicts the Democrats will have a tough time in the midterm elections. To take that conclusion to one of the next logical steps: our political structure will have a tough time when enough people realize that flopping votes from party A to party B (or vice versa) brings us no closer to any improvement of the basic situation about our debts vs our income, our lifestyle expectations vs our realistic means of support, and the costs of maintaining our complex built-up infrastructure vs our budget allocations for the same. Not sure how much longer it will be possible for either major party to maintain the fiction that everything is the fault of the opposing team, or that they and only they have got the way out of this sticky wicket.<br /><br />By the time the elections take place, it will be even more glaringly obvious that TARP was a complete failure, a laughably shallow attempt to “smooth over a rough spot” which we were told was just a temporary interruption to business-as-usual, but which in fact was just the leading edge of a very large abyss.<br /><br />In the news I read that Japan is considering yet another stimulus package “to revive the economy”. As smart as they are, the Japanese have been doing this failed-stimulus activity for decades now and should realize that it doesn't work. We're just beginning the same voyage down into the pit, but without all the advantages that Japan possesses, and with far larger liabilities stacked against us. We'll probably reach the bottom of the pit before they do. Stuff like this is what convinces me (utterly, unfortunately) that we should not expect much (if anything) from our government in the way of measures that could make things better in any real sense. It seems our government is too busy tilting at windmills to notice what's happening.<br /><br />The real pain is not upon us yet, but it's coming. Can you imagine what will happen once the ranks of the 99ers are growing by half a million every month? Every one of them represents a failure, on the part of our socio-economic system (whatever you wish to call it, crony capitalism, oligarchy, the American way of life), to make use of an expensive human resource. <br /><br />It is not that there is not a lot of money in this country or a lot of very worthwhile things that need to be done urgently .. it's merely that our system cannot or will not allocate resources to cover our present & future needs. People will be sitting at home unemployed while old railbeds don't get cleared, bridges don't get fixed, dams and embankments don't get the necessary safety upgrades, electrical lines don't get maintained, water & sewer systems don't get maintained, trash doesn't get collected, parks are closed, and more. Monies will be denied to education and public health and sanitation and emergency services and public nutrition even while monies are being showered upon war contractors, big oil, big coal, big agribusiness, big pharma, big insurance, big investment banks, and more. Houses will stand empty, locked up, and slowly degrading even as more people are homeless, living in their cars or in tent cities or in their relatives' basements, attics, and garages.Nudgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01513472441473206482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-906854738305262612.post-35647553346245905032010-08-20T05:50:57.461-05:002010-08-20T05:50:57.461-05:00Laura, good catch on president Obama never utterin...Laura, good catch on president Obama never uttering the phrase “peak oil” but instead mouthing things about reducing our dependence on foreign oil. Unfortunately our presidents have been doing that same ritualistic phrase-slinging since the early 1970s while doing nothing (or as close to nothing as possible) to reduce our actual consumption of fossil fuels. No doubt to them and their cliques and the DC politicians and the friends & families of said politicians and the rich people/corporations that curry their favor, it would be ghastly and unthinkable to consider giving up some of their FF-supported perks & wealth.<br /><br />Remember how the executives of the auto companies flew in separate private jets to DC to beg for money, and how they had to be /told/ not to flaunt their wealth so openly while trying to play the “we're so poor” card? The executives in question were displaying a trait very prominent among Americans – they were not even remotely entertaining the idea that someday we might be living on less oil than we are now.<br /><br />People in western Europe live on a third (or less) of the energy & resources that Americans do, yet they enjoy comparable lifestyles, better health, longer vacations, and longer lifespans. They are already doing this “less oil” thing, yet still they try to improve the situation by making automobile use/ownership more financially onerous, along with other forms of conspicuous consumption.Nudgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01513472441473206482noreply@blogger.com