Category Archives: Corruption & Finance

Corruption concentrates wealth in the hands of a few at the expense of the 99% below, and this trend has accelerated the past decades. Corrupt leaders and industries are less likely to ration food and oil as it declines, accelerating collapse. I predict that the higher the level of corruption (see corruption perceptions index at transparency.org) will make collapse faster and harsher than in less corrupt nations.  I hope future historians look at this as a factor in how nations fell during the energy crisis. Though I expect that smaller towns everywhere will do better than large cities, and where local governments are uncorrupted

The war on drugs. A book review of “Chasing the scream”

Preface. The founder of the War on Drugs in the U.S., Harry Anslinger, wanted to build as large a bureaucracy as possible. But a war on narcotics alone—cocaine and heroin, outlawed in 1914—wasn’t enough. They were used only by a … Continue reading

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Peak crude oil did not happen in 2018. But we are still running out of time

Preface.   Using EIA International Data for world crude oil + condensate oil monthly production to compare January through October in 2024 and 2025, it looks like about 850 million more barrels will be produced in 2025 than in 2024.  And … Continue reading

Posted in Debt, How Much Left, Peak Oil | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Sheriffs have too much power

Preface. In August 2017 President Trump pardoned Joe Arpaio for disobeying a 2011 court order that barred his deputies from detaining people based on their immigration status. He was found guilty of continuing these traffic patrols for 18 months after … Continue reading

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Ted Trainer: The radical implications of a zero growth economy

Projections of business as usual from Meadow’s et al “Limits to Growth” Preface. Clearly infinite growth on a finite planet is impossible. Returning the world to ecological health requires humans to live within ecological boundaries in a steady state economy. … Continue reading

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Prisoners are treated worse than slaves in America

Source: It’s Time to Stop Using Inmates for Free Labor Preface. United States Prisons have 2.2 million in jail, 5 million on parole. How can Americans be so proud of themselves when our society has imprisoned one in a hundred … Continue reading

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The growth of incarceration in the U.S. Causes and consequences. National Research Council 2014

Preface. This National Research Council 465-page report may be the most comprehensive study of the U.S. prison system there is.  It will make you cry. I’ve excerpted about one-sixth of it below.  It is shocking that the “U.S. penal population … Continue reading

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Egads! An unfair distribution of wealth is good for the climate

Preface. Good grief!!! I never thought I would write a post with that title. I am pro Democracy, pro fair distribution of wealth!  As you can see at posts here. But it has occurred to me that if if everyone … Continue reading

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DOGE could have been great. Instead it blew everything up

Preface.  You may remember that a movement called “Code for America” founded in 2009, used technology to improve government services and make them more efficient and accessible.  This post is a book review of Pahlka’s 2023 “Recoding America” about how … Continue reading

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CCS plants leak, catch on fire, explode, corrode, and contaminate water

Source: Center for Progressive reform (2024) Carbon Dioxide Leak in Decatur, IL, Demonstrates Dangerous Failure of Carbon Capture Storage and Sequestration Preface. Clearly it is not worth spending billions of dollars to sequester CO2 “permanently” if it may leak. It’s … Continue reading

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The staggering level of corruption & kleptocracy in the world

Preface.  This is a book review of Frank Vogl’s 2021 book “The Enablers: How the West Supports Kleptocrats and Corruption – Endangering Our Democracy” (well, mostly kindle notes).  They couldn’t get away with it if there weren’t so many places … Continue reading

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