Tag Archives: US

For most people, the collapse of civilizations is a subject much more appetizingly viewed in the rearview mirror than straight ahead down whatever path or roadway we are on.

Jared Diamond wrote about the collapse of earlier civilizations to great acclaim and brisk sales, in a nimbus of unimpeachable respectability. The stories he told about bygone cultures gone to seed were, above all, dramatic. No reviewers or other intellectual auditors dissed him for suggesting that empires inevitably run aground on the shoals of resource depletion, population overshoot, changes in the weather, and the diminishing returns of complexity.

Yet these are exactly the same problems that industrial-technocratic societies face today, and those of us who venture to discuss them are consigned to a tin-foil-hat brigade, along with the UFO abductees and Bigfoot trackers. This is unfortunate, but completely predictable, since the sunk costs in all the stuff of daily life (freeways, malls, tract houses) are so grotesquely huge that letting go of them is strictly unthinkable. We’re stuck with a very elaborate setup that has no future, but we refuse to consider the consequences…

Read More »

The truth is: The three adult generations in the U.S. are suffering, and their burdens are likely to increase with time. Each is experiencing a squeeze that is making it harder to create value, save capital, and pursue happiness than at any point since WWII. At that point, we were a creditor nation with an economy exploding into dominance on the world stage. Now, however, the U.S. is the largest debtor nation and our economic hegemony is increasingly at seige across a number of fronts.

A continuation of the status quo is a decision to sleepwalk face-first into the constraints hurtling towards us.

Instead, shouldn't we stop fooling ourselves and ask: What should we be doing differently?

Read More »

"We have a national mythology that limits are always bad. In fact, we have a national phobia of limits," wryly observes John Michael Greer: author, historian, conservationist and proprietor of the popular weblog The Archdruid Report. "We need to get past that."

Read More »

Friction is the resistance between moving parts that cause a bicycle in motion to come to a stop once you stop pedaling. If you flatten the bike’s tires, increasing the resistance between the rubber and the road, that increase in friction causes the bike to slow far more quickly than a bicycle with inflated tires. Increase the friction enough, and you can barely push the bike forward.

Though friction cannot be eliminated entirely, it can be reduced to the point that very modest amounts of energy create substantial results. Alternatively, friction can increase to the point that the energy input required to maintain output rises far beyond the value of the output. At that juncture, the system freezes up. The returns are so marginal that they no longer justify the energy and expense needed to maintain the machine.

A bicycle with wheels that barely turn will be tossed aside when the rider realizes he can go faster by walking — and with much less effort.

How Much of the US Economy is Friction?

Economies have friction, too. When the friction increases to the point that much of the economy’s energy and surplus are being consumed in overcoming systemic friction, then the system will eventually freeze up and be abandoned.

Read More »

• Brazil Accuses US, China of Currency Manipulation, Looming Trade War
• Merk Commentary: Budget Battles Ahead
• Wildlife Wednesday – The Portu-Goose!
• Fed’s Kocherlakota: Not Yet Time For Fed’s Exit Strategy
• France Says Concerned By Surging Global Food Prices
• US Mint Bullion Product Revenue Rises 68.5% to Record $2.8 Billion
• Fed Bid to Limit Rescission Rights Sparks Consumer Outrage

Insightful analysis on the Three E’s. Take home a Special Edition DVD today. (NTSC or PAL)

Read More »

• US EIA Jan Outlook: Sees Oil Prices At $99 By End-2012
• Governor To Disconnect 48,000 Cellphones In Hands Of State Workers (California)
• Food Prices To Soar
• Christie Calls for New Jersey Pension Overhaul, Education Cuts
• Fiscal Challenges Deepen For Md. Lawmakers
• Japanese Pledge Eases Tension In European Markets
• Newark Losing Police Horses Due To Budget Woes
• Atlantic City Casino Revenue Falls To $3.57bn In 2010
• Villaraigosa Threatens Layoffs And Furloughs (Los Angeles)
• Portugal Debt Woes Grow As Economy Now Seen Shrinking In 2011
• Texas’s Perry Faces Record Budget Gap on Revenue Drop
• Restaurants Could Be Food Stamp Option For Some (San Diego)

Our ‘What Should I Do?’ guide offers tips for how to stay healthy in an emergency.

Read More »

• Debt Default Fears will Spread to US and Japan, Warns Citigroup’s Willem Buiter
• World Food Prices Enter ‘Danger Territory’ To Reach Record High
• Rumour of €80bn Bail-Out To Squeeze Portugese Bonds
• Deepening Crisis Traps America’s Have-Nots
• Massive Silver Withdrawals From The Comex
• European Debt Worries Again Weigh on Shares
• Gold Rises A Bit But High Prices Limit Buying

Get started building resilience into your life with our ‘What Should I Do?’ guide

Read More »

• Two Flawed Currencies
• Collect(ion) Call
• Wanted – Political Leadership In Europe
• U.S. Fiscal Health Worse Than Europe’s: China Adviser
• Sovereign Debt Risks Grow as Stimulus Pumps Asset Prices
• Passing the Pension Time Bomb?
• Iran Sees $100 Oil Price ‘Quite Normal’, Crisis Ahead
• Global Bond Rout Deepens On Us Fiscal Worries

Our ‘What Should I Do?’ guide explains how to stay connected to others even in a power outage.

Read More »

• Mauldin: Texas, Ireland and Ten Little Indians
• US South Korea Free Trade Deal a ‘Win-Win’
• Australia’s Central Bank Set to Pause on Rates as Economy Slows
• The Bond Vigilantes Have Moved to Dublin
• EU’s Bailout Fund May Be Increased, Reynders Says in a Break With Merkel
• Age of Cheap Oil Is Over: IEA’s Chief Economist (Video)
• States Want Their Cap-and-Trade Plans Added to U.S. EPA’s Carbon Limits

Get started building resilience into your life with our ‘What Should I Do?’ guide

Read More »