Daily Digest 4/24 - Why Banks Will Own You, Social Security To Run Out In 2035, Rethinking Peak Oil

what i was getting at last week:

Michael Hudson: Productivity, The Miracle of Compound Interest, and Poverty -  Suppose you were alive back in 1945 and were told about all the new technology that would be invented between then and now: the computers and internet, mobile phones and other consumer electronics, faster and cheaper air travel, super trains and even outer space exploration, higher gas mileage on the ground, plastics, medical breakthroughs and science in general. You would have imagined what nearly all futurists expected: that we would be living in a life of leisure society by this time. Rising productivity would raise wages and living standards, enabling people to work shorter hours under more relaxed and less pressured workplace conditions. Why hasn’t this occurred in recent years? In light of the enormous productivity gains since the end of World War II – and especially since 1980 – why isn’t everyone rich and enjoying the leisure economy that was promised? If the 99% is not getting the fruits of higher productivity, who is? Where has it gone?

There is a lot of opportunity in Siberia.

The unemployed of the USA could work for the Russians.

My understanding of the genesis of oil is that it starts in an intertidal zone. An algal mat is laid down and then covered with sand and the process is repeated.

Eventually a layer cake is formed which is compressed and the resultant oil migrates up an anticline to be trapped (hopefully) in a fold of the anticline.

Wiki

What stood out for me in the rethinking peak oil piece is " What in the geological history of China formed the algal mats?"

My search took me to this site. Guess which way the winds of history are blowing.

How is BHO going to do it?  How is WMR (Willard Mitt, who knew?)?  How are the bots in Congress going to do it?  No one in a position of power is talking about a steady state economy.  Low or no growth replaces Social Security as the third rail of politics.

Doug

Well worth reading. People going to jail for debts - sometimes even made up debts - in spite of what the U.S. Supreme Court says.

Revisiting the Physical Risks of Debt (April 25, 2012)
"A recent article in the Daily Mail begins to paint the picture of how many Americans are already well within the confines of debt slavery, with almost nowhere or no one to turn to for help. It shows us how the American legal system is like a big glop of silly putty for the powerful institutions - it can be deformed, twisted and redesigned into almost any shape they desire. First, we hear the story of Lisa Lindsay - a breast cancer patient and survivor who was jailed over a $280 medical bill which was sent to her in error, since she had already paid it off."
http://theautomaticearth.org/Finance/revisiting-the-physical-risks-of-debt.html

The author, Ashvin Pandurangi, sometimes posts here as Ashvinp.

Poet

Trav -

Here's a really good explanation of the Virginia Defense Force.  http://www.vdf.virginia.gov/

It is an entity separate from the National Guard, although at times they may function together, along with the Air National Guard.  The biggest difference is that, while under certain circumstances, command and authority over the VA National Guard can pass from the Governor to the President, but the VDF remains under the command of Gov McDonnell.

BTW, just to name drop, Bob McDonnell's daughters and my daughter went to high school together and until he left for Richmond he and his wife regularly attended the same church.  He is a really good guy and I don't think we've heard the last from him on the political scene.  At least from what I've seen so far, I hope not.....

Thank goodness there are still some folks in this country with cojones.

RJS

I read it. I liked it. Thought it was insightful...

Sure, finance has captured a lot of it. Debt servicing as well. But the big thing is, with productivity from technology and a glut of workers, there is not a great demand for workers that would increase wages.

Those who invested money (via finance) - they pretty much didn't even have to do more than stick with a large-cap index fund from 1945 through 2007 - they are the leisure class. Those who didn't, are still dependent on wages.

"Every marginal increase in supply lowers the price of what is being supplied. For the job market this means that the higher the unemployment rate, the lower wages will fall." - Michael Hudson

It doesn't matter  as much, how productive that labor (amplified with technology and cheap energy) is. Labor is cheaper when many offer it and there is less need for it.

Poet