This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Ready Or Not... The Unsustainable Status Quo Is Ending
Submitted by Chris Martenson via Peak Prosperity,
~ Walking straight in a hall of mirrors
I have to confess, it's getting more and more difficult to find ways of writing about everything going on in the world.
Not because there's a shortage of things to write about -- wars, propaganda, fraud, Ebola -- but because most of the negative news and major world events we see around us are symptoms of the disease, not the disease itself.
There are only so many times you can describe the disease, before it all becomes repetitive for both the writer and the reader. It's far more interesting to get to the root cause, because then real solutions offering real progress can be explored.
Equally troubling, in a world where the central banks have distorted, if not utterly flattened, the all important relationship between prices, risk, and reality, what good does it do to seek some sort of meaning in the new temporary arrangement of things?
When the price of money itself is distorted, then all prices are merely derivative works of that primary distortion. Some prices will be too high, some far too low, but none accurately determined by the intersection of true demand and supply.
If risk has been taken from where it belongs and instead shuffled onto central bank balance sheets, or allowed to be hidden by new and accommodating accounting tricks, has it really disappeared? In my world, risk is like energy: it can neither be created nor destroyed, only transformed or transferred.
If reality no longer has a place at the table -- such as when policy makers act as if the all-too-temporary shale oil bonanza is now a new permanent constant -- then the discussions happening around that table are only accidentally useful, if ever, and always delusional.
Through all of this, the big picture as described in the Crash Course grows ever more obviously clear: we are on an unsustainable course; economically, ecologically, and -- most immediately worryingly -- in our use of energy.
So let's start there, with a simple grounding in the facts.
By The Numbers
Humans now number 7.1 billion on the planet and that number is on track to rise to 8 or 9 billion by 2050. Already 'energy per capita' is stagnant across the world and has been for a few decades. If the human population indeed grows by 15-25% over the next three and a half decades, then net energy production will have to grow by the same amount simply to remain constant on a per capita basis.
But can it? Specifically, can the net energy we derive from oil grow by another 15% to 25% from here?
Consider that, according to the EIA, the US shale oil miracle will be thirty years in the rear-view mirror by 2050 (currently projected to peak in 2020). And beyond just shale, all of the currently-operating conventional oil reservoirs will be far past peak and well into their decline. That means that the energy-rich oil from the giant fields of yesteryear will have to be replaced by an even larger volume of new oil from the energetically weaker unconventional plays just to hold things steady.
To advance oil net energy on a per capita basis between now and 2050, we'll have to fight all of the forces of depletion with one hand, and somehow generate even more energy output from energetically parsimonious unconventional sources such as shale and tar sands with the other hand.
These new finds...they just aren't the same as the old ones. They are deeper, require more effort per well to get oil out, and return far less per well than those of yesteryear. Those are just the facts as we now know them to be.
In 2013, total worldwide oil discoveries were just 20 billion barrels. That's against a backdrop of 32 billion barrels of oil production and consumption. Since 1984, consuming more oil than we're discovering has been a yearly ritual. To use an analogy: it's as if we're spending from a trust fund at a faster rate than the interest and dividends are accruing. Eventually, you eat through the principal balance and then it's game over.
Meanwhile, even as the total net energy we receive from oil slips and our consumption wildly surpasses discoveries, the collective debt of the developed economies has surpassed the $100 trillion mark -- which is a colossal bet that the future economy will not only be larger than it is currently, but exponentially larger.
These debts are showing no signs of slowing down. Indeed, the world's central banks are doing everything in their considerable monetary power to goose them higher, even if this means printing money out of thin air and buying the debt themselves.
Along with this, the demographics of most developed economies will be drawing upon badly-underfunded pension and entitlement accounts -- most of which are literally nothing more substantial than empty political promises made many years ago.
These trends in oil, debt and demographics are stark facts all on their own. But when we tie these to the obvious ecological strains of meeting the needs of just the world's current 7.1 billion, any adherence to the status quo seems worse than merely delusional.
Here's just one example from the ecological sphere. All over the globe we see regions in which ancient groundwater, in the form of underground aquifers, is being tapped to meet the local demand.
Many of these reservoirs have natural recharge rates that are measured in thousands, or even tens of thousands, of years.
Virtually all of them are being over-pumped. The ground water is being removed at a far faster rate than it naturally replenishes.
This math is simple. Each time an aquifer is over-pumped, the length of time left for that aquifer to serve human needs diminishes. Easy, simple math. Very direct.
And yet, we see cultures all over the globe continuing to build populations and living centers - very expensive investments, both economically and energetically – that are dependent for their food and water on these same over-pumped aquifers.
In most cases, you can calculate with excellent precision when those aquifers will be entirely gone and how many millions of people will be drastically impacted.
And yet, in virtually every case, the local 'plan' (if that's the correct word to use here) is to use the underground water to foster additional economic/population growth today without any clear idea of what to do later on.
The ‘plan’ such as it is, seems to be to let the people of the future deal with the consequences of today's decisions.
So if human organizations all over the globe seem unable to grasp the urgent significance of drawing down their water supplies to the point that they someday run out, what are the odds we'll successfully address the more complex and less direct impacts like slowly falling net energy from oil, or steadily rising levels of debt? Pretty low, in my estimation.
Conclusion
Look, it's really this simple: Anything that can't go on forever, won't. We know, financially speaking, that a great number of nations are utterly insolvent no matter how much the accounting is distorted. Said another way: there's really no point in worrying about the combined $100 trillion shortfall in Social Security and Medicare, because it simply won't be paid.
Why? It can't, so it won't. The promised entitlements dwarf our ability to fund them many times over. There's really not much more to say there.
But the biggest predicament we face is that steadily-eroding net energy from oil, which will someday be married to steadily-falling output as well, can't support billions more people and our steadily growing pile of debt.
Just as there's no plan at all for what to do when the groundwater runs out besides 'Let the folks in the future figure that one out,' there's no plan at all for reconciling the forced continuation of borrowing at a faster rate than the economy can (or likely will be able to) grow.
The phrase that comes to mind is 'winging it.'
The wonder of it all is that people still turn to the same trusted sources for guidance and as a place to put their trust. For myself, I have absolutely no faith that the mix of DC career politicians and academic wonks in the Fed have any clue at all about such things as energy or ecological realities. Their lens only concerns itself with money, and the only tradeoff concessions they make are between various forms of economic vs. political power.
If the captains supposed to be guiding this ship are using charts that ignore what lies beneath the waterline, then you can be sure that sooner or later the ship is going to strike something hard and founder.
I'm pretty sure the Fed's (and ECB's and BoJ's and BoE's) charts resemble those of medieval times, with "Here be dragons" scrawled in the margins next to a series of charts of falling stock prices and unwinding consumer debt.
So there we are. The globe is heading from 7.1 billion to 8 or 9 billion souls, during a period of time when literally every known oil find will be well past its peak. Perhaps additional shale finds will come along on other continents to smooth things out for a bit (which is not looking likely), but it's well past time to square up to the notion that cheap oil is gone. And with it, our prospects for the robust and widespread prosperity of times past.
Because all of this inevitably leads to some sort of time of reckoning, natural questions emerge: What might happen and when? What would that feel like? How would I know it's started? Given the knowns and unknowns, are there any dominant strategies for mitigating the risks that I should undertake? What are the challenges and what are the opportunities?
»
- 53624 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
Ebola (and other viruses), wars and mother nature will take care of this overpopulation problem
you mean the 1% will fix over-population
after they extracted all the wealth from the 99%..
if they wont work, send them to the showers...
god, these people are evil...
Of course not. But don't pretend to know what's coming next. Because most don't even know how things work today.
Ray Dalio has a 'template' for understanding the world as it works and how he has avoided catastrophes in the past.
http://www.planbeconomics.com/2014/09/ray-dalio-on-how-the-economic-mach...
A life of abundance and luxury for every Ebola survivor.
I used to live in a room full of mirrors
All I could see was me.
The problem is that H. sapiens developed in primitive social and chain of command control hierarchies and it is nearly impossible for people to see that those systems don't work in a positive-sum technology based economy. Both systems are anti-freedom, anti-progress, and anti-civilization.
But they are pro-savagery. Four hundred million deaths caused by government in the 20th century.
Mass die / kill off ie. Ebola, large scale war, known asteroid strike or Yellowstone type eruption event.
Or
They have an energy source / technology hidden in the wings that can't be monopolized as easily as oil so they will wait until every last drop and penny is extracted before "unveiling" it ?
No way they don't see the problem .. they have a perceived solution we just don't know what form it will take yet.
ffs...tesla stuff is a scam.
there is no way "capture" energy on the fly in the air... stop being so idiot.
in fact every shit coming from usa is scam... apple, google, facebook, chevy... list is long.
We stopped cutting trees because we saw the vast emptyness of our supply. Yet we didn't see that same emptyness with oil so we can't quantify our supply. The boat was missed here folks, many years ago, yet the elite insist upon doing the same mistake over and over again.
in fact every shit coming from usa is scam
Point.....counterpoint.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK-Dqj4fHmM
Typical Chris Martenson, never mentions global warming even once.
http://images.dailykos.com/images/105234/large/TMW2014-09-17color.png
He tends to shy away from total nonsense.
Because for the last 15 to 20 years there has been none.
Global cooling.... here we come!!!!
Where did you get your degree in climate science?
Just asking.
It is people who hold degrees in the sciences that promolgate the "manmade climate change" fraud. Rather than actual science, consensus is the operative term. Too much wealth and power comes to those who advocate it so that the real science goes out the window.
Most climate change advocates, in spite of credentials; could not even tell you what percent CO2 exists in the atmosphere. They are just like the economists who are well educated but remain morons.
If you wish to help with 'global warming', shoot yourself. Dead.
ffs...tesla stuff is a scam.
No it isn't. Most just don't understand it. Tesla never said there was "free energy". Others took his patents to mean that.
One can capture energy "on the fly" "in the air". It has a name, it's called "prâna". It's free of charge and surabundant.
The "technology" (!) has been known for thousands of years, do a research : you just need your body, lungs, respiratory system, and a developed capacity for concentration you can carry with you anywhere you go without most of people noticing. I've practiced it. I know it. It's both a "bio-technology" you control entirely -- and an art of life. And it goes much further than the simple comment I'm writing here.
Oh, and don't try it, even a honest try, dont't do that, don't ever : you could realise it works (a shock!) and that it could be good for you! Damn!
Got a book or two as suggested starting points?
ok - barre de rire - apparently you know more about electricity than the man who is, more or less, responsible for the entire planet's AC electric grid? do tell..... throw some equations up here buddy...edumacate us.
Did you post that from your Iphone?
There's no way? http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100825185121.htm
Tesla was right about most of what he hypothesized. Just like the motor company Tesla is today. The oil industry will not go down quietly.
Jimi was awesome.
or at least a good living wage; it was the black plague that saved Europe from Feudalism; and made humans valuable enough that they had to be paid. It created the modern world.
It also created surpluses in rags,clothing,jewelry etc. The black death spared no class or creed, it made humanity aware that death was but a heartbeat away and that we all were engaged in battle with a common though invisible and terrifying enemy.
It wrought the modern world, though most won't even recognize the vestiges that still remain.
Ring around the roses
Pocket full of posies
Some kabuki theater coming up.
http://rt.com/usa/191092-fed-goldman-sachs-leak/
9 billion people won't happen. That number is based on simply extrapolating current population trends into the future. The reason it won't happen is there is no way to feed 9 billion people. That would mean increasing the global production of food by 30%. Ain't gonna happen. Since that ain't gonna happen, 9 billion people ain't gonna happen. Simple as that.
Peak Population is near? Peak everything is near. Except brains, which peaked several years ago
peak brain quality ? hmm, ended in the 90'
since 2k web era, shit propagation is astonishing.
youtube is an idiocy big screening wall, facebook is a tamagoshi system, tweeter is perfect for law 'n politics ( no need more 140 char.. )
now you pay with credit card no touch system rfid and an app on a phone wifi scan any card within a meter... so.. to me, the more technologic we go, the more DUMB AS FUUUCK humanity goes...
on the shooting club where i am i saw a guy using iphone to snapshot the target to know the shooting score.... while with my pen within 3 sec i knew what i did for myself... this is sick as fuck. not able to use brain to visualise & count...
the reel problem, to me, the only one, when any connected shit stuff for house, cars, wife, dogs etc will be online , powered, the 1st total offgrid mean human self decimation. it is impressive.
i see ppl getting fully web pluged, while i 'm selling all i got to get manual tools & guns. ppl todays no longer manually open cans.... you do realize what point humanity is ? jeeeez, scare the shit out of me.
Peak population is at hand, because of birth control. Population is already falling the the high consuming first world. Population would be falling world-wide right now, if people weren't living longer. Living longer is a good thing, so peak population will occur a little later.
No population bomb.
The problem is that intelligent people are breeding themselves out of existence, why the knuckle-draggers are breeding like rabbits... Welcome to the Age of Idiocracy...
Intelligent people are an anethma to the .01%.
"Just stupid enough to run the machines.."
At least Tamagotchi required a modicum of responsibility to keep alive... can't say that for Facebook, where your persona seems to take on a life of its own entirely.
I have an old rotary dial phone in my home because when it rungs I can hear it no matter where I am in the house. Amazing how many people can't use it without instruction.
Your food production limit won't happen. Food will be produced with far less need for land.
Nine billion may not be reached because of lower birth rates. World growth rates are about half what they were 50 years ago and will be halved again in 30 years.
Don't bother, you are talking to the propagandist and sophists.
World growth rates are down in the west and Europe. But way up in the middle east, north africa and asia.
You are correct that 9 billion people won't be reached. The US, Japan, and China are all already below the replacement ratio.
Just another hockey stick projection to terrify people unnecessarily. People living in fear are a lot easier to control.
not talk about china eu & usa , dont give a shit, talk about africa.
they will be 2 within decades.
Precisely. The 9 billion estimate in 2050 takes into account current and projected birth/death rates.
Even today, Europe, North America and Japan represent less than 20% of global population. China may be stabilizing, but not the rest of Southeast Asia, Africa, South America or India.
Did you ever take 30 seconds to look at the Club of Rome forecasts and what really happened?
Currently you are only one member of If reality no longer has a place at the table
Terrifying to see how many people fall for this Neo-Malthusian drivel. Not like this shit hasn't been theorized and planned for 200 years in advance.
http://www.esp.org/books/malthus/population/malthus.pdf
If people can't see the obvious historical continuity between the East India Company's "Principle of Population" and what's going on today, I don't know what to tell them... "Suck an egg," perhaps.
As I recall, Einstein thought that only the Universe and Human Stupidity were infinite, and he wasn't so sure about the Universe.
I've learned and observed that humans learn more from pain, mistakes and disasters than from insight, advice or aphorisms.
Alas, some mistakes you only get to make once. And, unlike Bond, you Only Live Once.
long as you be gettin' dee ebt, n dee wefare, n don' get dee 'bola, y'all cou' hit ten billun an'ways...
Everyone in the world will grow a front lawn garden. And garden more intensively. Food will not be the obstacle. I hope birth rates go down in ME and Africa, cause that's currently where most growth comes from.. What I foresee is 9billion and we poison the shit out of the earth with our waste.
a everyone doesn't have a front yard
b. food production is difficult and seasonal
c. high yields require fertilizers and water both of which are in high demand but are difficult to provide without petroleum.
d. everyone who doesn't have a garden will steal your produce including varmints.
Hope is wonderful, but its really just a cloud to obscure the true picture. The next hundred years will be brutal and the world that emerges will be vastly different than our current world.
Even the Energizer Bunny will contract Ebola too?
All I know is that my long term plan consists of trying all 60 Sam Adam's beer varieties next year. Beyond that......F#*% it.
I understand "to each his own", but Sam Adams? Really? Any Sam Adams compared to any German beer taste like shit to me. We American's have been brainedwashed and doused with crap beer for too many years.
And by "German beer" I mean non-export version. You can get a close proximity to it if you have draught German beer locally. The beer IN Germany is an mind blowing experience.
I hate to agree with such an obvious Europhile, but he's right. I've had beer in Munich and it's just fantastic. The minute you taste it, you know why it can't be bottled and stored for long periods of time without losing something. It's like drinking fresh baked bread.
I've tasted a few local American microbrews at their point of production and they're arguably comparable. But in no case could either be "bottled" and have the same flavor at some later point in time.
Even regular German beer is better than American good beer. Drink enough warm pilsner and it hits you. Agreed.
Ya, give me a sweet dark German beer in my hammock and some good tunes and I'm in heaven
And Guinness fresh from the teat
And San Miguel. It's why MacArthur said he would be back when leaving the Philippines, he owned half the brewery.
Set yourself free: homebrew.
When you discover what you can do yourself (yes, it takes a while to get good), your perspective will be greater still.
I don't use an airlock.
Just put a 5 gallon food grade bucket in a garbage bag, and loosely wrap a rubber band around the open end.
Any Sam Adams compared to any German beer taste like shit
I lived in Munich for three years and I'm sorry to have to break it to you but you're just being a snob. Mind blowing experience.... LMAO! You should try having sex some time.
Living in Munich when you're 5 years old doesn't count, fuckstick. Augustiner. Really, you think there's a better beer in the world? Fuck off and keep drinking rice beer bitch.
Sam Adams is over hyped American crap
(Full disclosure, I'm American with a German mother and spent time at Ramstein as a child living with my grandparents)
When I drink American, I prefer any of the Shiner brand over SA and I agree with home brew. Have just done my first batch of a blonde and could not beleive how much flavor it had
I've noticed on comments sections that there are several subjects that folks have strong opinions about. In this case, beer, which has passionate, opinionated, and enthusiastic fans. It's like watching the Apple Fanboys and Microsoft crowds jab at one another. It happens in a lot of cultural subject areas, like beer, computers, religion, and sex with kangaroos.
any excuse to errect their e-penis and shit on others. and they wonder why we can't come together and overthrow our chains.
.
'Humans now number 7.1 billion on the planet and that number is on track to rise to 8 or 9 billion by 2050.''
Hey what's a billion or so extra peeps in 35 years or so.
Keep the change
Just more "Ready or Not, Here We Come" Fear Porn from ZH et al
Don't buy it folks. The dollar is strong and the US is the envy of the world. Let freedom ring!
were's the sarc tag???
Do you mean to tell me that I must wear some kind of scarlet letter because I speak the truth and you can't take it?
I can sustain this boner for about 10 more minutes, man. Then I'm outta here.
remember... if your erection last more than four hours...
if your erection lasts more that four hours.....you just may be an overactive prepper.
If your erection lasts longer than 4 hours the wife won't let you out of the house.
Notice how the 4 hour disclaimer appears in all advertisements? It's probably by intention and I'm guessing it's been one of the top selling points for that shit. Both sexes probably start salivating like Pavlov's dog just at the thought of performing anywhere near that long. Talk about an advertisers wet dream and the overt barely subliminality of that statement is easily suggestive.
I would like to see an auto-maker make the disclaimer: "If your car lasts more than 25 years..."
Dey aint that smart yet.
Troll
Sean Hannity is online, and messin' with ya.
Indeed it is, sir! In fact, dollars are TOO strong. For when we all start using them as ass-wipe, the Roto-Rooter men will be working 'round the clock.
You fucking idiot. LOL!!!
King Dolla!! Zirptard! LOL!!!
Zero Hedge can't get out of its own way. The next article just zero'd out this article -
Russia Discovers Massive Arctic Oil Field Which May Be Larger Than Gulf Of Mexico
*ahem* But that article is not about cheap oil; it's about deep expensive oil that can only be pumped during short arctic summers. Read the article, instead of just the headline.
Must be a headline algorithm...
By 2030 oil will be left in the ground, because the price will be too low. Not too low because of the cost of extraction, but too low because peak oil demand will have occurred. The days of riding on the oil merry-go-round are numbered.
I think they are not going to sell their oil for dollars. Winter is coming for the petrodollar.
+1
Ice, ice, baby!
Y'oil get that?
I think they are not going to sell their oil for dollars. Winter is coming for the petrodollar.
and +1 again...
Yeh the USD is soo damn strong you can export all your wealth and buy cheap chinese shit, try and sell something to create more wealth/jobs/industry and they will tell you to fck off.
Back to the printer....
zirpedge never gone LA by night or do not know what a tent city is.
usa strong ? rofl... almost fuuny
You forgot to tell everyone to vote 'Progressive' in November. . . at least a dozen times.
Not to worry. Solyndra will soon provide all of our energy needs and then some.
Hot air from dc is heating my tent.
I'm gonna miss all this bought air.
Revolution! Read ancient history and you shall know the future.
History: Intermittent periods of wide scale despotism, interspersed with periods of localized chaos often triggered by plagues, all whitewashed by the dominant culture de jouer. Back to you, Johnny.
This article reads like Thomas Malthus from the 1800's. Only a Malthusian would overlook the exponential growth that central planning can provide.
Is ZH just redundant "Ready or Not, Here We Come" Fear Porn?
Don't buy it folks. The dollar is strong and the US is the envy of the world. Let freedom ring! Break the cycle of abuse and buy equities before it's too late.
Site bug, this was an edit to above. Administrators please fix, thanks.
Yup, you're once again missing the "/sarc" tag.
:)
BWAHAHAHA!
lawls, bitchez
https://gallery.mailchimp.com/207e05a82de07fb3b63b59989/images/0495fd26-...
so, best case is dow 1200
or worst case is dow 400?
if the dow hit 400 it would be a MAD MAX movie...
'who run bartertown.....bitchez???'
Sure, it's Tyler's fault!
Central planning is the essence of COMMUNISM which is the antithesis of FREEDOM. Open mouth and insert foot.
Loyd Blankfein says he has 7 trillion left to BTFD.
BTFD M'Fers.
The sky is falling...again...my tinfoil hat will protect my noggin.
Seriuosly though, such stories of collapse and doom have not played out. End already, stupid world.
They simply fail to take new technologies into account.
Tech is cool if used right. I just don't trust people to do so. Look at the net for example. I can yap with folks all over the world...yet as I write this I,m distracted by ads for russian babes.
Russian babes huh? I gotta get rid of this adblock plus thing :-)
I've noticed many things become mainstream approx. 20 years after having been originally invented. No doubt tech is many years ahead of what we have available now. The issue (as usual) is that I believe to a certain degree its introduction is being stage managed. We probably could have been far less dependent on oil at this point but, as you probably know very well, it serves certain purposes.
no, tech is made for profit.
this decade is all about replacing manual acts & thinking by automated iphone googled apps 'n functionality, since when runners give a shit about heart pulsebeat....
since when is important to exactly know how many step you fucking move per day...
personnal coaching, electronic masturbatin, etc... only to make money, point of it ? none, pointless, uterly useless. just era of time, see, watch is ringing, it is time to me to get fuck & go head down to maximise change of becoming preggo..., soon an app will replace your own sexuality then send request for sex to husbands ... you will see.
fucking lucky as man i still can piss standing on my legs & not bleeding like deadly pork monthly if shtf so i can run.... just thinking, why dont they make special meds so women period can become drinkable...
hmmm, which technology is going to refill the aquifers?
Sadly, it will probably be fracking waste injection wells.
Acme Instant H2O (TM) - just add water!
lol, yeas, lyophilised powder water, open, put in a glass, just add small water...
What I mean is...msm tells us all is groovy. Alt media screams doom. My drunk customers buy lottery tickets. Just want whatever is or not going to happen to happen and be done.
Truth is usually somewhere in the middle.
Like the ham in a sandwich.
things happen when they are ready to happen.
don't be impatient for the system to break, and as unsustainable as it is, be grateful for the luxuries it affords us for the time being - this is as good as it's going to be for a while.
to be precise system is cracked and collapsing, now.
actually, is just a slow process it takes years so you can measure evolution.
any new law, new political move, show they have no more control. this is reality, actually.
You are a sayer of sooth.
Every now and then a very notable and important event occurs, sometimes it slips by without even being noticed. For months the major world currencies have traded in a narrow range as if held in limbo by some great force. This has allowed people to think we were on sound footing as central banks across the world continued to print and pump out money chasing the "ever elusive growth" that always appears to be just around the corner. Recently some currencies have made multi-year highs.
Weak demand for goods and most of this money flowing into intangible investments inflation has not been a major problem, but the seeds for its future growth have been planted everywhere. John Maynard Keynes said By a continuing process of inflation, government can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens.
While there are not many Bond Vigilantes there are a slew of Currency Vigilantes and they are ready to make their presence known. Weakness in the value of the Yen, Pound, and Euro must not go unnoticed. More on why this may be a signal that currency trading is about to get very wild in the article below. Please note, this may also be sending a signal that the whole system is unstable and the stock market is about to drop like a stone.
http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2014/09/caution-alert-currencies-may-get-wild.html
Yeah, I've been watching the FX lately and I get the feeling it's going to start oscillating in some interesting ways. I don't know what it'll wind up doing but I'm pretty sure nobody is going to like it.
It may be a signal that you aare going INSANE brother!*
BLOG PIMP ALERT!
Fuck off, loser.
So Chris is saying we have a chance???
I like those odds.
+1 for Dumb and Dumber reference
They have a plan. It is documented under the title "Agenda 21" it exists and I scanned through it. The gest of it has been playing out since the idiot Bush Jr. stole the election in 2000. It involves several actions which will reduce the world population by 90%.
It is admittedly a dark/macabre topic, but if were part of this "Agenda 21" group, there are two key set of questions you'd have to answer:
1. The "WHO" questions: What criteria would be used to reduced the population? Would it be 90% across the board in every country, or would the culling % vary from country to country? Would Developed countries be culled as much as undeveloped ones? Do things like IQ and Skills factor into this? IOW: The numbers aside, what would the final Demographic profile look like after it's all over?
2. The "HOW" questions: What means would be used? Biological? Neutron bombs? Some combo, to reach the desired Final Profile?
And what if some countries did not adhere to (comply with) the agreed Terms?
I do agree with those who think that, as a species, humans are far too "successful" for the good of the planet. WE are the cause of the 6th Great Extinction of Species on this Planet. And if I were some "Guy in the Sky", I'd be rather "pissed" at what's happening to the planet. Humans no longer have a Natural Enemy (diseases or predators), and have become The Disease that's eating up the planet, its resources and habitat. Bringing their numbers down to sensible levels would require the elimination of cheap energy, effective medicine and elimination of modern farming (high use of energy, fertilizers from oil, pesticides, fungicides). IOW the traditionally natural natural predators to humanity would have to return: Disease, Starvation, War.
p.s. If the 90% reduction were ever reached, you'd have a choice as to how to keep the population constant: Either by using birth control (if modern Medicine is used), or let Nature be the cruel decider who lives and dies before the age of 60 (if low-tech Medicine is used). You can't have both, you'd have to pick one.
This identifies some of the most relevant issues, but really sugarcoats it. For a harder dose of reality, read Gail's discussion of oil production and credit supply, which have been guest posts here, see:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-09-22/lower-oil-prices-good-news-or-b...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-08-07/making-sense-us-oil-story
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-22/connection-between-oil-prices-d...
My crystal ball is rather cloudy, but Gail's logic seems to consider all relevant factors more completely than any other analysis I've seen.
Diminishing Return
If you visit Venango County, Pennsylvania, we will find the birth of the US oil industry. To this day, they still pumping oil out of it.
Can you tell how many barrels of oil it’s pumped?
40 barrels…………A YEAR!
To put into perspective:
2006: US Population = 298 million. Oil consumption = 20.7 million barrels A DAY
2013: US Population = 316 million. Oil consumption = 18.5 million barrels A DAY
Now, can you tell us what is NOT diminishing?
Dollar pumping!
Can you tell why?
Economic: Unemployment
Military: Inability to pay them
Societal: Inability to maintain electrical and water supply grids and infrastructures
Institutions: Inability to maintain governments, education, healthcare, and so on
Geopolitical: Inability to import more than export
And the list is long within the lack of growth in production and consumption to cover the interest charges in this Ponzi scheme………….
And, that you and I are part of it, along with all the other hypocrites.
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/15765
http://www.titusvilleherald.com/articles/2011/08/16/news/doc4e4b452d3c518727905287.txt
http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?c=us&v=91
http://www.multpl.com/united-states-population/table
Nice.
If we could only send Michael J Fox back in time and have him convince Henry Ford to go with the steam engine.
Chris, do you really have to throw in the over-pumped aquifers as well on a peaceful saturday night? I mean, it's not as if we're short on problems here.
Could someone please sing me a soothing lullaby that doesn't contain the words "squid", "bubble" or "continuous compound interest"? Thank you.
Sorry to report back to you that: There are NO solutions!
Enjoy the last decade of the 'biggest' (sorry) dollar bubble, ever.
By the way: I am a strong believer that 'SDR' is in the draw, ready to go, when US defaults.
Not sure the BRIC's will go for that. Major geopolitical compromise.
Correction: Paper bubble
Let's not pretend other CB's aren't involved.
Off course they all have to be involved in one form or another. They are all walking a fine line of keeping theirs coming, while dropping the others to zero.
And if you asked me how they are doing, my answer is: Unbelievable good. These PhD’s/Central Bankers are really good.
"Could someone please sing me a soothing lullaby...."
Soft kitty, warm kitty
little ball of fur...
jingle bells
batman smells,
robin layed an egg,
the batmobile lost it's wheel,
and the joker got away.
batman's in the kitchen,
robin's in the hall,
the jokers in the bathroom,
peeing on the wall
"little ball of fur..."
Come sit on my face, and let me make you purr...
We got that big yellow electromagnetic ball in the sky. That could save us if there was the political will to do so.
OT, been meanin' to tell you that the Duc888 is a wicked mo-fo. Had one pull up next to me on five-seven-five. We were doin' seventy or so- he cranked the throttle and carried the front wheel for prolly a quarter mile.
There was a time in my life when I woulda' thrown my leg over that Duc888 and tamed it.
Now, not so much.
...and a +1 for realizing it's electric.
One morning as Gregor Samsa, the big yellow electromagnetic ball in the sky, was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that he had been changed into a monstrous verminous red giant.
Ooops.
Shit happens.
fkn dup and a snail-like isp, whick is s'posed to be 50 mbps. Fuck you comcast!
Does this mean. I mean, does this mean... I can't plow my heavy ass walmart skull fuck black metal body over skinny wannabes at the next BLACK MASS, I MEAN BLACK FRIDAY SALE>
Well, a BIIIIG FUcK YOU TO YOU!
highly debtful: Chris, do you really have to throw in the over-pumped aquifers as well on a peaceful saturday night? I mean, it's not as if we're short on problems here.
We live on a water planet. No shortage of the H2O, just no political will to capitialize on that fact.
These are problems for which we have the technology and solutions to fix.
But nobody has the will. Just try to get a molten salt reactor built or high KV transmission lines run. The insane are running the asylum and we're just along for the ride.
can some one tell why they cant just make huge distillers and boil sea water to make more water?
I takes lots of.power to do
poopie
Just read this is you want to understand the root cause: http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ik/Muqaddimah/Chapter4/Ch_4_18.htm
That's like saying that truck drivers have health problems due to their sedentary lifestyle.