Author Archives: energyskeptic

Education

Posted on April 5, 2014 by

Jan 14, 2008  DISARRAY  by James Howard Kunstler We’d better prepare psychologically to downscale all institutions, including government, schools and colleges, corporations, and hospitals. All the centralizing tendencies and gigantification of the past half-century will have to be reversed. Government … Continue reading →

Posted in Advice | Comments Off on Education

Transportation

Posted on April 5, 2014 by

Jan 14, 2008  DISARRAY  by James Howard Kunstler Stop all highway-building altogether. Instead, direct public money into repairing railroad rights-of-way. Put together public-private partnerships for running passenger rail between American cities and towns in between. If Amtrak is unacceptable, get … Continue reading →

Posted in Transportation What To Do | Comments Off on Transportation

Oil, The Final Warning

Posted on April 4, 2014 by

OIL: THE FINAL WARNING June 25, 2008. Ian Sample. New Scientist (pg. 32) Howls of protest have been echoing round the globe as the price of oil punches through record highs with every passing week. In the UK, last month, hundreds … Continue reading →

Posted in Oil Shocks | Comments Off on Oil, The Final Warning

Not-So-Safe-Deposit Boxes: States Seize Citizens’ Property to Balance Their Budgets

Posted on April 4, 2014 by

Not-So-Safe-Deposit Boxes: States Seize Citizens’ Property to Balance Their Budgets May 12, 2008. Elisabeth Leamy. abcnews The 50 U.S. states are holding more than $32 billion worth of unclaimed property that they’re supposed to safeguard for their citizens. But a … Continue reading →

Posted in Scams | Comments Off on Not-So-Safe-Deposit Boxes: States Seize Citizens’ Property to Balance Their Budgets

Credit Card Debt

Posted on April 4, 2014 by

May 1, 2008 U.S. Credit Card Debt Soars to Unprecedented Heights http://en.epochtimes.com/news/8-4-28/69849.html Studies indicate that credit card defaults and related write-offs increased drastically since 2006. Today, lenders write off 33 percent more in credit card debt than they did two … Continue reading →

Posted in Debt | Comments Off on Credit Card Debt

Credit Default Swaps & CDO’s

Posted on April 4, 2014 by

Why Wall St. Needed Credit Default Swaps http://seekingalpha.com/article/73060-why-wall-st-needed-credit-default-swaps Take a CDO with a 50 basis point spread over US Treasures. Banks will buy credit default swaps costing them 20 basis points, but by doing so, even they seem to make … Continue reading →

Posted in Scams | Comments Off on Credit Default Swaps & CDO’s

2nd largest oil field in the world, Mexico’s Cantarell, declining rapidly

Posted on April 4, 2014 by

Mexican oil exports: start saying adios! by Martin Payne, 19 Mar 2008. Energy Bulletin. 1)      This story illustrates the problem of RATE of production – you might have a lot of oil, but if you can only produce it at … Continue reading →

Posted in Flow Rate | Comments Off on 2nd largest oil field in the world, Mexico’s Cantarell, declining rapidly

Richard Heinberg We need 50 million farmers

Posted on April 4, 2014 by

Fifty Million Farmers by Richard Heinberg, originally published by Energy Bulletin  | Nov 17, 2006 (Note: This is the abbreviated text of a lecture by Richard Heinberg delivered to the E. F. Schumacher Society in Stockbridge, Massachusetts on October 28, … Continue reading →

Posted in Farming and Ranching | Comments Off on Richard Heinberg We need 50 million farmers

We’ll need more Farmers

Posted on April 4, 2014 by

Energy Descent and Agricultural Population Jason Bradford on March 11, 2009 Some excerpts of this article below: Among the cadre of folks who think about food systems and sustainability in the U.S., there’s a concern about the number of farmers … Continue reading →

Posted in Farming and Ranching | Comments Off on We’ll need more Farmers

Softer landing if we can keep the Combines going

Posted on April 4, 2014 by

Save it for the Combine August 24, 2010. Jason Bradford Excerpts from this article: The combine performs tasks that replace an enormous amount of labor in a reliable and timely fashion.  It cuts the stalks of seed crops, threshes the … Continue reading →

Posted in Farming & Ranching | Comments Off on Softer landing if we can keep the Combines going