Watch out Main Street!

SUBHEAD: Most people today don't remember Woolworth's and the other five-&-dime stores that used to populate small town America.By Matthew Boyle on 9 March 2011 for Bloomberg News - (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-09/wal-mart-will-break-ground-on-express-small-stores-in-arkansas-next-week.html)Image above: F. W. Woolworth's sold everything, and was (in)famous for its lunch counters. This

Why cheap energy Is a bad thing

SUBHEAD: Drive down oil consumption with higher taxes. Stretch out limited supply for best purposes.By Jean Laherrère on 9 March 2011 in The Nation - (http://www.thenation.com/video/159001/jean-laherrere-why-cheap-energy-bad-thing)Image above: A 2004pink Hummer H1 turbodiesel 4wd at the beach. From (http://news-cars-en.blogspot.com/2011/01/hummer-h1.html).In this tenth video in the series “Peak

The Area Under the Curve

SUBHEAD: We have never faced the stark reality of a net energy decline before in history. Now we are.By George Mobus on 7 March 2011 in Question Everything - (http://questioneverything.typepad.com/question_everything/2011/03/its-the-area-under-the-curve.html)Image above: An ocean whirlpool. From (http://www.unoriginal.co.uk/gallerymisc58.html).Oil Prices and the EconomyThe punch line comes

The Uselessness Premium

SUBHEAD: Without four more Saudi Arabias ready to dump fuel on the market the price is set to rise.By Steve Ludlum on 2 March 2011 in Economic Undertow -(http://economic-undertow.blogspot.com/2011/03/other-shoes-and-uselessness-premium.html)Image above: Egyptians hold shoes in the air in defiance of dictator Hosni Mubarek a month ago. From (http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/02/01/5969373

Walker Wrong on Unions

SUBHEAD: Destroy the unions and underfund the public sector and then try to justify wide-scale privatization.By Tom Juravich on 28 February 2011 for Bloomberg News - (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-28/u-s-recovery-might-need-public-sector-unions-commentary-by-tom-juravich.html)Image above: Wisconsin protesters against Gov. Walker's legislation. From (http://world-countries.net/archives/

Unsustainable Modern Capitalism

SUBHEAD: An interview with John Perkins, author of "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man".By Anthony Wile on 27 February 2011 in The Daily Bell -(http://www.thedailybell.com/1791/Anthony-Wile-with-John-Perkins-on-His-Best-Selling-Book-Confessions-of-an-Economic-Hit-Man-and-the-Unsustainability-of-Modern-Capitalism.html)Image above: Still from video of John Perkins interview. See below.Introduction:

Borders to file for bankruptcy

SUBHEAD: This may signal the closing of the popular bookstore at Kukui Grove in Lihue.By AP Staff on 11 February 2011 for Huffington Post -(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/12/borders-bankruptcy-detail_n_822128.html)Image above: Kauai's Borders Books at Kukui Grove, the only bookchain retailer on the island. From (http://www.flickr.com/photos/brewbooks/2503902404).Borders Group Inc. may file

The Economics of Happiness

SUBHEAD: It’s a comfort to watch a film that presents the sentiment that a future with less oil is preferable to a future with lots of oil.By Jennifer Prediger on 4 February 2011 for Grist - (http://www.grist.org/article/2011-02-04-a-new-documentary-about-the-real-wealth-of-nations-)Image above: Image promoting course on "The Economics of Happiness" From (http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/11

Non-Peaking Energy Demand

SUBHEAD: The non-peaking of energy demand is part of our energy ponzi scheme.By Steve Ludlum on 27 January 2011 in Economic Undertow - (http://economic-undertow.blogspot.com/2011/01/looking-at-non-peaking-of-demand.html)Image above: "Modernity is stoking a hot furnace stranded on an ice flow." Mashup by Juan Wilson.Here are some 'first principles' of Economic Undertow:The 'First Law' of

Peak Oil & Our Financial Decline

SUBHEAD: Going out of business as an advanced industrial civilization with James Howard Kunstler.By James Howard Kunstler on 20 January 2011 in The Nation - (http://www.thenation.com/video/157892/james-howard-kunstler-peak-oil-and-our-financial-decline)Image above: Still frame of James Kunstler from video below.In this fifth video in the series “Peak Oil and a Changing Climate” from The Nation

What Does a Better Economy Look Like?

SUBHEAD: A book review - "Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet". And, can we have it?By George Mobus on 16 December 2010 in Question Everything -(http://questioneverything.typepad.com/question_everything/2010/12/what-does-a-better-economy-look-like.html)Image above: Woodworking shop of Andrew Lunn where he makes custom saws. From (http://woodtalkonline.com/blog/35/entry-721-

Out of the Comfy Zone

SUBHEAD: America is in frozen state of partisan self-denial as we stumble through a haze of Fox TV breaking news alerts.By Juan Wilson on 3 December 2010 - Image above: Mashup den with Pat Buchanan on Fox talking about illegal aliens and venereal disease.For the past couple of years oil prices have been bobbing along in a “comfy zone” that has been acceptable to OPEC. In recent months that has

Three Life Saving Books

SUBHEAD: These books will help making a livable future even as the civilization we have known crumbles around us.Image above: Permaculture garden from "Heroes of the Environment"film series (http://www.humanisthall.net/Cal-Nov09-FilmSeries.html). By George Mobus on 21 November 2010 in Question Everything -(http://questioneverything.typepad.com/question_everything/2010/11/

Everything and Nothing

SUBHEAD: The returns on wasting expensive oil are insufficient to service the loans required to enable the waste!Image above: Painting by Viktor Visnetsov of "The Flying Carpet". A magic carpet or golden goose are examples of something for nothing. They share being unreal. From (http://lukemcreynolds.com/wallpaper/images/viktor_vasnetsov_-_the_flying_carpet).By Steve Ludlum on 24 November 2010 in

Walking in suspended animation

SUBHEAD: We need to walk calmly away from the game before the music stops in order to minimize the consequences of being wrong.Image above: In 1929 a family seeks the sunny side of life. From (http://midclassillustration.blogspot.com/2009/11/realismrockwellian.html).By Nicole Foss on 22 November 2010 for The Automatic Earth - (http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/2010/11/november-22-2010-

NOAA rebuilding Fisheries

SOURCE: Kenneth Taylor (taylork021@Hawaii.rr.com)SUBHEAD: NOAA policy encourages catch shares to end overfishing and rebuild fisheries.[Editor's note: Here in Hawaii NOAA would be working with the Western Pacific Regional Management Council. In accordance with full disclosure, I, Juan Wilson am now completing a contract to provide WesPac with maps of traditional ahupuaa and moku areas. A

Joining the Seed Dance

SUBHEAD: You can’t propagate plants without learning about their seeds, and their life cycle.Image above: A mahua seed sprouts after monsoon in Mumbai. From (http://addithebirde.blogspot.com/2010/06/transformation-monsoon-magic.html).By John Michael Greer on 10 November 2010 for The ArchDruid Report -(http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2010/11/joining-in-dance.html)Recent headlines, it seems

Empire of Lies

\SUBHEAD: The only question of economic significance at this point is which event puts the stake in the heart of the industrial economy.Image above: Famous capitalist and banker J. P. Morgan in top hat on Wall Street. From (http://irrationalgeographic.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/the-giant-and-the-midget).By Guy McPherson on 31 October 2010 in Nature Bats Last -(http://guymcpherson.com/2010/10/

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

Now What?

SUBHEAD: The mortgage problem is not going away. It is going to paralyze the real estate industry for as far ahead as anyone can see.Image above: Burning house in Australia in 2008. From (http://www.rainbowreporter.com/australian-property-downturn).By James Howard Kunstler on 31 October 2010 in Kunstler.com - (http://kunstler.com/blog/2010/10/now-what.html)On Tuesday, when the Republican Party