Miserable Means - Miserable Ends

SUBHEAD: Our remaining intellectual horsepower will be exhausted trying to revive the 'Kar Kulture'.By Steve Ludlum on 6 March 2011 in Economic Undertow - (http://economic-undertow.blogspot.com/2011/03/miserable-ends-justify-miserable-means.html)Image above: Before and After. Scene from movie "Cars". From (http://www.bloggerdad.com/how-cars-almost-ruined-the-super-bowl).I mean, who really cares

From the bottom of the pyramid

SUBHEAD: The wealthy may have deliberately chosen to buy themselves out of the need for 'messy' human entanglements and interdependencies.By Nicole M. Foss on 22 February 2011 for the Automatic Earth - (http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/2011/02/february-22-2011-view-from-bottom-of.html)Image above: Jane Darwell as Ma Joad in 1940 film "The Grapes pf Wrath". From (http://www.examiner.com/

Freedom to confront Peak Oil

SUBHEAD: The American way of life is not negotiable because reality is not going to negotiate with you.By Nicole Foss on 19 January 2011 in The Nation - (http://www.thenation.com/video/157648/nicole-foss-we-need-freedom-action-confront-peak-oil)Image above: Still from Nicole Foss video below.In the third video in the series “Peak Oil and a Changing Climate” from The Nation and On The Earth

James Howard Kunstler profile

SUBHEAD: "We are unable to construct a coherent consensus about what is happening to us and what we ought to do about it." - JHKBy Lindsay Curren on 1 December 2010 in Transition Voice -(http://transitionvoice.com/2010/12/interview-james-howard-kunstler)Image above: "Gas" by Edward Hopper, 1941, Whitney Museum. Click to enlarge. In the peak oil community, converts to the predicament tend to

A New Era???

SUBHEAD: Decline is the new normal. The only remaining US growth industries are food-stamps and poverty.By Steve Ludlum on 4 December 2010 in Economic Undertow -(http://economic-undertow.blogspot.com/2010/12/new-era.html)Image above: Seven-Eleven signals policy on Slurpee purchase payments. From (http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2010/08/so-there-are-li.html). "Buy some silver and put JP

"QE Explained" Analysis

SUBHEAD: Viral video "Quantitative Easing Explained" has been criticized and defended.Image above: Still frame from "Quantitative Easing Explained." See below.By Richard Alford on 29 November 2010 for Naked Capitalism - (http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/11/richard-alford-%E2%80%9Cquantitative-easing-explained%E2%80%9D-and-its-critics.html)The YouTube video “Quantitative Easing Explained” has

Pre Post Mortem

SUBHEAD: Don't worry folks, that sound of heavy breathing you hear is the exhalations of the big banks reviving on their IV drip lines of financial liquidity.Image above: Story illustration by Juan Wilson of SUV meeting CSX by the light of approaching meteor.By James Kunstler on 8 November 2010 in Kunstler.com - (http://kunstler.com/blog/2010/11/pre-post-mortem.html)The poetry of dynamic

White Knight of Zombieland

SUBHEAD: The Fed's effort now suggests that the harsh effects of Peak Oil are to be felt imminently. Our waste-based economy is a zombie.Image above: Bust of zombie version of superhero Colonel America. From (http://www.gametrailers.com/users/bobafett300/gamepad/?action=viewblog&id=99236).By Steve Ludlum on 5 November 2010 in Economic Undertow -(http://economic-undertow.blogspot.com/2010/11/

Dollar's Decline - Oil to Soar

SUBHEAD: What current Fed dollar actions mean for Hawaii. At $100/barrel things will be looking bad.Image above: What's the worst case scenario. The streets of Waikiki are empty. From (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/xUwDRlg66O2l2AXNQW3ZCw).By Brad Parsons on 5 November 2010 -Today, the futures price of a barrel of oil rose again to above $87. As expected, it has been rising since Federal

Defribulating the Economy

SUBHEAD: The US Federal Reserve will decide our economic fate beginning tomorrow. Let us pray.Image above: Jumpstarting the dollar. By Juan WilsonBy Neil Irwin on 1 November 2010 for Washington Post - (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/31/AR2010103103818.html)The Federal Reserve is preparing to put its credibility on the line as it rarely has before by taking dramatic