The Long Crisis

I doubt that many Americans have any real understanding about the changes that are soon coming to America and to the world as the result of the world’s financial system meltdown, the consequences of climate change, and a world starved for energy as peak oil become much more than a theory.

The American dream of two cars in every garage, a MacMansion set in the far from the city sameness of suburban wasteful splendor, a college education for every breathing kid, and a huge HDTV and fast gaming computer at the center of everyday life, will all come crashing down in a new world that will demand old fashioned skills and frugality in order to survive.

I don’t think that Americans, including me, are going to be fully prepared for this radical change in lifestyle, especially when their leaders, including the well meaning President Obama, tell them that the role of government is to insure that we get back ASAP to pursuing the American Dream.

These are code words for the continued growth of the economy so that we can all start shopping and once again consume things that we don’t need with money we don’t have. No one talks of limiting growth as resources are depleted or about how the United States has become insolvent and has to borrow money from Japan and China in order to survive.
.
The financial meltdown now ripping its way through the real economy is thought by most Americans as an inconvenient challenge that will soon be resolved. The Federal government is spending trillions of Dollars to repair the damage and to raise the zombie banks from the dead. Hasn’t timely government action saved the big banks and bailed out the poorly managed automotive industry along with AIG and that bastion of capitalism, Goldman Sachs? Judging from recent action in the financial markets, perhaps not.

The American dream dies hard. To be fair it is difficult for anyone, no matter how well informed and realistic they may be, to completely fathom the degree of the changes that are bearing down upon us. The financial meltdown was caused at least in part by the culture of reckless growth, especially in the world of real estate and finance where the trading and passing of paper back and forth created an illusion of creating wealth that downplayed the importance of making physical things of good quality.

We think, they sweat, became a slogan of sorts for all of the big swinging dicks on Wall Street who put growth, profits, and bonuses above everything else. Now we are all paying the price for their creativity in junk deeply flawed finance. Many of Wall Street’s victims must also bear some responsibility for the resulting meltdown. The “something for nothing” mentality gripped even sophisticated investors who believed that the Wall Street hucksters had managed to create financial instruments that offered a bit more yield with less risk. Then when the black swan made his appearance everyone shouted in unison “who could have known” that there are times when real estate values can fall. And fall a lot.

It is our bad fortune that as bad as it as it is and as bad as it will become the financial meltdown is only one of our major challenges. Even if the world’s financial system can be repaired in some fashion the consequences of climate change are already being experienced. Our beautiful planet has been abused for too long. The revenge of Gaia is certain. It is already too late to reverse the damage to our ecosystems. As the 21st century progresses the savage nature of an entire planet trying to come back into balance and repair itself will be brutal for some, fatal for many.

As we struggle with trying to repair the financial system and to restore world trade our other two relentless challenges are bearing down on us. Climate change is occurring much faster than predicted only a few years ago. And with the onset of peak oil there are challenges in producing the energy that developed and developing nations require in order to function. There is little chance that alternative energy resources can replace our reliance upon crude oil before oil become scare and very expensive.

In the new physically demanding world headed our way the reality of an energy starved world will mean that those poor souls with general liberal arts college degrees will be poorly equipped to survive. The survivors will be those who learn to grow their own food, repair and perhaps build their own retreats far from city centers, learn to manage farm animals, and unfortunately, at defending their families from those who are less prepared and starving. In such a world the farmers and hunters of the world will have an advantage.

We are living in interesting times. The convergence of a financial meltdown, climate change, and peak oil, all within a narrow time frame, will test our very ability to survive. Those who do survive will live in quite a different world than the one we now live in.

That may not be at all bad, just very different. Humans will have to learn to cooperate and to share in ways that would seem old fashioned to most people today. On this website we will explore the changes that will be required and how living patterns must change in order to survive the Long Crisis.

Tweet This Post

Related posts:

1. Enjoy Life as Long as You Can Before Climate Change Disaster British climate change science forecaster James Lovelock believes catastrophe is...
2. Jim Rogers and his Outspoken Comments on the Financial Meltdown In 1970 Jim Rogers was a young guy from Alabama...
3. Peak Oil Optimists Abound Humans are a peculiar breed. Ignoring all of the copious...
4. The Long Crisis Spins Out of Control Politicians are often given far too much credit as to...
5. George Soros Sees World Financial Collapse Famous billionaire investor and hedge fund creator George Soros said...
6. Global Warming and Catastrophe are Unstoppable Global warming is a topic that many people still believe...
7. Scientists Report Disappearance of Antarctic Ice Shelf While the headline news for the past few months has...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.