KUNSTLER, PEAK OIL AND THE TRUTH

Cluster**** Nation  posted its 2010 forecast on Monday. Kunstler is one of my favorite writers. He drifts off into knee jerk left wing calumny from time to time but I don't care. His ideas about where we are heading as a country and as a people are, I believe, uncannily accurate. Some will quibble with his insistence on the accuracy of Peak Oil; I don't. I think that Peak Oil is here. There are a number of different ways for the scenario to play out, none of which has to involve the actual depletion of oil. We are seeing the effects all around us, politically, economically and in our day to day existence. Anyone notice how prices of food are starting to climb? Peak Oil is part of this dynamic. The price of fuel is directly related to Peak Oil and this price is a huge part of the cost of food with the average meal traveling 1500 miles to your plate.

We are at the beginning of the end as far as cheap and readily available energy is concerned. With the disappearance of cheap energy goes our entire way of life. Our government has decided to inflate one last huge bubble in hopes of keeping us drugged on technology and comfort just long enough to siphon off whatever wealth is left. We are entering a long period of diminishing standards of living which will move us back to the 1880-90's. The sooner we plan for this and accept it the faster we can start to prepare.

Most don't believe it, don't want to hear it and will not prepare for it. And many, maybe most, will not survive.

Unless we begin to reestablish local markets and sources of supply we will not be able to weather the coming storm. It is vital that we learn how to live within our means and our local economy. This will require rethinking our entire idea of money. Money will cease to be a fiat currency backed by nothing and will become something issued by local banks, as it used to be. These paper bills will be redeemable for gold or silver, just like they used to be. We are going to return to barter. This means that if you don’t have a useful skill, you need to learn one. Your worth will be based on your ability to contribute, not the car you drive or the house you live in. Cars will be monuments to a life no longer possible and houses will be practical means of staying under cover, not testimonials to your job status.

If you don’t believe this is possible, look at the news today. YRC is struggling to stay alive. The deadline for their survival has been extended another 24 hours to 11:59 p.m. today. If they cannot get the money they need they will go bankrupt. This seems to be what the end result will be since Goldman-Sachs will profit from their demise. Who is YRC, you ask? It’s Yellow Freight and Roadway, the largest trucking company in the country; and this on the heels of the collapse of Arrow Trucking a few days ago. In an economy based on just in time delivery, with most products shipped from great distances to the shelves in your neighborhood store, how long do you think we can keep things together without trucks?

This is Peak Oil in action. The slowdown in the economy that was started by the run up in fuel prices that culminated in oil at $147.00 per barrel has led to the collapse of trucking in this country. Along with trucking goes the supply chain. This takes out your shipments of fuel, food, medicine, clothing, building materials and everything else that you can’t get within walking distance. And, because of just in time delivery, there is no inventory of these goods at the retail level. When the trucks stop it will be only a matter of days before you can’t buy the most basic necessities.

This will happen with the speed of flipping a light switch. Soon, some vital support will be removed from the economy and everything will collapse like a house of cards. Is the imminent possibility of the loss of the two largest carriers in the country that support? I don’t know. But, if it is, what are you going to do? Have you prepared? No access to food, fuel, money, energy, medicine or damned near anything else? Have you prepared physically, mentally and spiritually?

I pray to God that you have. Because, if you haven’t you’re going to show up at the door of those who have looking for help. Some of us will do what we can because it is our duty but many won’t. And then, what? You’ll have to kill to survive. You’ll just be one of millions, clawing and murdering your way to an ugly, hungry, thirsty deranged death. Because you didn’t prepare. You laughed at people that told you it was ending. You were to smart to fall for the “conspiracy”.

Remove the blinders and the biases and do your homework. Look at the numbers and do the math. We are in a corner that we cannot extricate ourselves from. This isn’t some (fill in the blank) wing conspiracy. This is plain, simple logic. Both parties have been involved, along with all of us. We put the gun to our own heads and we are about to pull the trigger.

2010 is going to be unlike anything we have ever seen. Everything is on the table; anything is possible. Except going back to the way it was before. We will never, ever live in the full blown hedonistic orgy that we have lived in the past 20 years. It’s not coming back. Quit living as though it will. Face facts and prepare. You owe it to yourself, your family and the rest of us. We’re going to have it hard enough keeping ourselves alive without having to carry you, too.

AMERICA AND RUSSIA - COMPARING COLLAPSE

If you have the time read the article that this links to. The author compares the Soviet Union during its collapse with the coming collapse in the U.S. He points out, I think, the inherent weakness in our system, overwhelming dependence on everything but ourselves. Strange to think in these terms since the mantra of capitalism and America is the myth of rugged individualism. In reality, most of us are completely reliant on all kinds of systems just to support our existence.

I was at a coffee shop today and marveled at the number of people around me absolutely addicted to technology. I asked my wife if she thought that they could survive without cell phones and laptops. I had this sudden picture in my mind of drug addicts suddenly cut off from their supply.

My family decided about a year ago to collapse our own personal economy. We made this decision because we believe that an orderly collapse at a personal level will be much easier ahead of the general collapse that is coming. I would rather have already reduced our needs and increased our self sufficiency before the rest of the world begins the process. It's easier to work the bugs out of the system while there is still normality all around us. I don't want to have to work out these issues when everyone else is in a state of panic.

When I read this article it verified for me the wisdom of our decision. I don't see a down side to living at a lower standard. We are ready for the SHTF. And, if it doesn't, what have we lost? Nothing. But, what we've gained is a more reasonable life with a better, less dependent future ahead of us.

So , take a look at the article and think about the future. We are on the verge of collapse and all the happy talk from those in the government and the banks can't change that. Be proactive and plan to protect your family. Look to Russia and Argentina for the future. They've been down this road; without global collapse at the same time. Argentina is still in the middle of it. Listen to those that have seen it happen and lived it. Learn from them about what it's really like when all the systems modern society is based on go away.

And if you get prepared, and nothing happens? That's better than the other way around.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I am not an expert or a scholar or an activist. I am more of an eye-witness. I watched the Soviet Union collapse, and I have tried to put my observations into a concise message. I will leave it up to you to decide just how urgent a message it is.

My talk tonight is about the lack of collapse-preparedness here in the United States. I will compare it with the situation in the Soviet Union, prior to its collapse. The rhetorical device I am going to use is the "Collapse Gap" – to go along with the Nuclear Gap, and the Space Gap, and various other superpower gaps that were fashionable during the Cold War."

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