I can't sign off on the title, There is no Tomorrow, but this short film provides an accurate assessment of our current condition and the challenges humans face in the future.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Energy usage a better metric for real economic contraction
I recently hijacked a thread started by Scott R with an article suggesting that real economic activity is better measured by energy consumption than phony economic figures.
Yesterday, Charles Hugh Smith released a followup article.
It's Not Just Gasoline Consumption That's Tanking, It's All Energy.
An excerpt:
A number of readers kindly forwarded additional data sources to me as followup on last week's entry describing sharply lower deliveries of gasoline. (Why Is Gasoline Consumption Tanking? February 10, 2012)
The basic thesis here is that petroleum consumption is a key proxy of economic activity. In periods of economic expansion, energy consumption rises. In periods of contraction, consumption levels off or declines.
This common sense correlation calls into question the Status Quo's insistence that the U.S. economy has decoupled from the global ecoomy and is still growing. This growth will create more jobs, the story goes, and expand corporate profits which will power the stock market ever higher.
Courtesy of correspondents Bob C. and Mark W., here are links and charts of petroleum consumption, imports/exports, and electricity consumption. Let's start with a chart of total petroleum products, which includes all products derived from petroleum (distillates, fuels, etc.) provided by Bob C. The chart shows the U.S. consumed about 21 million barrels a day (MBD) at the recent peak of economic activity 2005-07; from that peak, "product supplied" has fallen to 18 MBD. The current decline is very steep and has not bottomed.
This recent drop mirrors the decline registered in 2009 as the wheels fell off the global debt-based bubble. Those arguing that the U.S. economy is growing smartly and sustainably have to explain why petroleum consumption looks like 2009 when the economy tipped into a sharp contraction.
I would add that demand cannont exceed constraints of available supply for long as the cost of scarce products eventually decreases demand.
Demand isn't created by what people want, it's created by what people buy. When the citizenry can't afford to buy, demand falls.
Yesterday, Charles Hugh Smith released a followup article.
It's Not Just Gasoline Consumption That's Tanking, It's All Energy.
An excerpt:
A number of readers kindly forwarded additional data sources to me as followup on last week's entry describing sharply lower deliveries of gasoline. (Why Is Gasoline Consumption Tanking? February 10, 2012)
The basic thesis here is that petroleum consumption is a key proxy of economic activity. In periods of economic expansion, energy consumption rises. In periods of contraction, consumption levels off or declines.
This common sense correlation calls into question the Status Quo's insistence that the U.S. economy has decoupled from the global ecoomy and is still growing. This growth will create more jobs, the story goes, and expand corporate profits which will power the stock market ever higher.
Courtesy of correspondents Bob C. and Mark W., here are links and charts of petroleum consumption, imports/exports, and electricity consumption. Let's start with a chart of total petroleum products, which includes all products derived from petroleum (distillates, fuels, etc.) provided by Bob C. The chart shows the U.S. consumed about 21 million barrels a day (MBD) at the recent peak of economic activity 2005-07; from that peak, "product supplied" has fallen to 18 MBD. The current decline is very steep and has not bottomed.
This recent drop mirrors the decline registered in 2009 as the wheels fell off the global debt-based bubble. Those arguing that the U.S. economy is growing smartly and sustainably have to explain why petroleum consumption looks like 2009 when the economy tipped into a sharp contraction.
I would add that demand cannont exceed constraints of available supply for long as the cost of scarce products eventually decreases demand.
Demand isn't created by what people want, it's created by what people buy. When the citizenry can't afford to buy, demand falls.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Max Keiser interviews Dmitri Orlov
For those unaware, Dmitri Orlov was born in the Soviet Union, immigrated as a young teen to the United States, and then traveled between Russia and his new home, watching and documenting the collapse of the Soviet state.
Orlov then wrote a book and maintains a web-site drawing comparisons between the Soviet collapse and the ongoing collapse of the United States.
Orlov then wrote a book and maintains a web-site drawing comparisons between the Soviet collapse and the ongoing collapse of the United States.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Sunday, February 5, 2012
False flags
It’s been common practice over the last century to stage attacks on populations in order to marshal citizenry to war. Not only to stage attacks, but also to spread rumors and lies: propaganda, for the furtherance of these causes.
Seems we’ve been fed a steady diet of that shit lately.
Best I can tell, it works.
Seems we’ve been fed a steady diet of that shit lately.
Best I can tell, it works.
Move toward cashless society
I'll lose some of you with this.
I'm OK with that.
Recently, I was fined by the IRS for paying employee withholding funds with a personal check. Not for refusing to pay, or shorting what I owed, but because I paid with a check.
By law, the IRS requires electronic transfer of funds to make those payments.
I tell people that we're moving toward a cashless society, eventually requiring the implantation of a chip in our bodies. Not only will this chip be required to buy or sell, but also to track our movements.
People roll their eyes, etc.
Well, here's what happened when a man recently tried to pay his mortgage at Bank of America with cash:
On my dollar bills, it says:
This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private.
Is it now?
I'm OK with that.
Recently, I was fined by the IRS for paying employee withholding funds with a personal check. Not for refusing to pay, or shorting what I owed, but because I paid with a check.
By law, the IRS requires electronic transfer of funds to make those payments.
I tell people that we're moving toward a cashless society, eventually requiring the implantation of a chip in our bodies. Not only will this chip be required to buy or sell, but also to track our movements.
People roll their eyes, etc.
Well, here's what happened when a man recently tried to pay his mortgage at Bank of America with cash:
On my dollar bills, it says:
This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private.
Is it now?
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
