Category Archives: 2) Overshoot

The polycrisis/overshoot, collapse of the financial system, breakdown of supply chains, blackouts, end of being able to make computer chips, and so on are symptoms of the underlying cause: peak energy and peak everything, especially peak diesel since trucks, rail, and ships make this one-time only fossil fueled civilization possible. Wind, solar, nuclear, and so on also need fossil fuels for every single step of their life cycle, so that is a dead end. It is back to before the 15th century — wood world. Whether the house of cards collapses from chokepoints in the middle east such as the Suez canal, the financial shock of a natural disaster or from debt and corruption, Export Land Model, or nuclear war — there is certain to be a series of dislocations that ultimately bring population down to 400 million (population before fossil fuels) or less (due to overshoot factors such as top soil erosion, pollution, etc) Let’s hope there are some islands of sanity and that you are living on one of them!

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

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

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Credit Card Debt

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

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Credit Default Swaps & CDO’s

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

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Energy in the Food System uses 19% of all energy consumed in the USA. Pimentel 2008

Pimentel David, et. al. 2008.  Reducing Energy Inputs in the US Food System.  Human Ecology 36:459–471 [ Here are some excerpts from this paper. I don’t list many of the ideas in the article on how to do this though, … Continue reading

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Energy in Food System. March 2010. USDA

Canning, P. 2010. Energy Use in the U.S. Food System.  USDA Economic Research Report Number 94 Another great review of this article is Beyond Food Miles by Michael Bomford, a research scientist and extension specialist at Kentucky State University, an … Continue reading

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Articles about the Stages of Collapse

Complexity, Problem Solving, and Sustainable Societies 1996. Joseph A. Tainter from GETTING DOWN TO EARTH: Practical Applications of Ecological Economics, Island Press, 1996; ISBN 1-55963-503-7 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1559635037 OVERVIEW   Historical knowledge is essential to practical applications of ecological economics. Systems of problem … Continue reading

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Bonuses and salaries way too high at Banks, Wall Street, Corporations

The “Paid-What-You’re-Worth” Myth March 13, 2014. Robert Reich. New York Times and robertreich.org It’s often assumed that people are paid what they’re worth. According to this logic, minimum wage workers aren’t worth more than the $7.25 an hour they now … Continue reading

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FDIC Sues 16 Banks for Fraud by Manipulating Global Interest Rate

FDIC sues 16 Banks for rigging the Libor Rate March 2014. New York Times. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) sued 16 banks for fraud because they conspired to set a crucial global interest rate low to enrich themselves.   … Continue reading

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Oil and Gas Infrastructure are Rusting Apart

Oil And Gas “Rust”: An Evil Worse Than Depletion Offshore Technology Conference May 5, 2008 Houston, Texas by Matthew R. Simmons Chairman Simmons & Company International Some of the slides are: If Infrastructure Not Rebuilt It Creates A Double Whammy … Continue reading

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Rot in the Banking culture

Questions are asked of Rot in Banking Culture Peter Eavis. March 13, 2014. New York Times. Money laundering, market rigging, tax dodging, selling faulty financial products, trampling homeowner rights and rampant risk-taking — these are some of the sins that … Continue reading

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