Category Archives: Society

Energy and resources limits what humans can do. So do their own systems. Financial systems fail, corruption, wars, religion, politics and more all play a role in how successful societies are and how wealthy their citizens are. As the distribution of wealth grows more unfair, the population is so immiserated at some point that collapse and a new society emerge

Pessimism and Optimism versus Ignorance

Below are my thoughts about whether views based on scientific evidence can be labeled optimistic or pessimistic. Skeptical energy news: 2017-2-7 Renewable Lies And The Deception Of Dutch Commuters Alice Friedemann   www.energyskeptic.com  author of “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and … Continue reading

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Richard Heinberg: “An Order of Chaos Please”

[ Richard Heinberg’s article comes after my comments below: It really matters who is in power when the energy crisis hits, because some leaders will soften collapse more than others. Surely right-wing / libertarian “everyone for themselves” leaders will have … Continue reading

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Kurt Cobb on the true definition of corruption

Kurt Cobb. April 10, 2016. Corruption, resources, climate and systemic risk.  resourceinsights.com Corruption is a loaded word. One person’s corruption is another’s sound social policy. Some people believe providing unemployment benefits to laid-off workers corrupts them by making them “lazy.” … Continue reading

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When will the corrupt financial system cause another financial collapse?

[ Conventional oil production peaked in 2005-6, so if a financial crash occurs, the net energy cliff will be much steeper on the other side, since new projects won’t get financed, and unconventional oil is very expensive to produce and … Continue reading

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Pensions face bankruptcy in the future

2016-4-10. US faces disastrous $3.4 trillion pension funding hole. Collective deficit of retirement plans is three times larger than official figures. Financial Times. The US public pension system has developed a $3.4 trillion funding hole that will pile pressure on … Continue reading

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Why economic corruption or an oil decline will lead to a financial crash, depression, and permanent energy crisis

This is the introduction to the Corruption category under the Menu item 3) Fast Crash. The posts in this category show that another, much worse crash, is inevitable.  Meanwhile, low oil prices have led to less oil production and discoveries.  … Continue reading

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The phony in American politics: how voters turn into suckers

[ This article skewers many politicians, but my favorite part is what I’ve excerpted below, about one of the first political candidates in the 1930s who ran as a Christian to snag those voters for the big money interests, Texas’s richest oilmen … Continue reading

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The 1% have always been with us – even hunter gatherers had inequality

Pringle, H. May 23, 2014. The ancient roots of the 1%. Science 344: 822-825. Don’t blame farming. Inequality got its start among resource-rich hunter-gatherers. In 79 C.E., the year Mount Vesuvius destroyed it, Pompeii was not one city but two. … Continue reading

Posted in Distribution of Wealth | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Ecological cost of new roads in Africa

[ What follows are excerpts from the January 8 2014 issue of Newscientist’s “Africa’s road-building frenzy will transform continent” by Andy Coghlan.  ] China is funding most of the new roads to get the minerals they’ve mined, and transport food … Continue reading

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M. G. Salameh on oil wars in the past and future

[ Salameh explains why we will inevitably have oil wars in the future, perhaps wars over Iran’s nuclear program, between the U.S. and china, Iraq and Kurdistan, the UK and Argentina over the Falkland islands oil reserves,  and/or over the … Continue reading

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