A cheery monday morning thought

[we_are_toast]

Jim Kunstler is one of my favorite writers. Although he doesn't get into the economic details, his broader perspective of the impact on society is worth reading.

http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/

To switch metaphors, let's say that we are witnessing the two stages of a tsunami. The current disappearance of wealth in the form of debts repudiated, bets welshed on, contracts canceled, and Lehman Brothers-style sob stories played out is like the withdrawal of the sea. The poor curious little monkey-humans stand on the beach transfixed by the strangeness of the event as the water recedes and the sea floor is exposed and all kinds of exotic creatures are seen thrashing in the mud, while the skeletons of historic wrecks are exposed to view, and a great stench of organic decay wafts toward the strand. Then comes the second stage, the tidal wave itself -- which in this case will be horrific monetary inflation -- roaring back over the mud flats toward the land mass, crashing over the beach, and ripping apart all the hotels and houses and infrastructure there while it drowns the poor curious monkey-humans who were too enthralled by the weird spectacle to make for higher ground. The killer tidal wave washes away all the things they have labored to build for decades, all their poignant little effects and chattels, and the survivors are left keening amidst the wreckage as the sea once again returns to normal in its eternal cradle.

[ggirod]

Re: A cheery monday morning thought

I read his "World Made By Hand" and it is a very good and worthy read. I am not sure, however, that the failure of technology he portrays or the extent of the energy crisis are foregone conclusions of the tsnunai he so beautifully describes. This is largely because life is harder in his book than it was in the 1900s and there is no reason that society would necessarily collapse to a level before that. Then again, maybe he is right and we no longer have the "right stuff" that would allow us to thrive in a turn of the last century situation.

I hesitate to categorically deny the validity of his future vision because in the recesses of my mind lurks the thought that indeed, mankind is better than the shallow and self-serving beings that many seem to be. But also back there lurks the thought that I am wrong. While short of Mad Max, he paints a realistic scenario that will most certainly make you think, question some of your assumptions, and maybe come away a bit wiser and better prepared to survive the tsunami that I believe is unavoidable.

[ggirod]

Re: A cheery monday morning thought

I read his "World Made By Hand" and it is a very good and worthy read. I am not sure, however, that the failure of technology he portrays or the extent of the energy crisis are foregone conclusions of the tsnunai he so beautifully describes. This is largely because life is harder in his book than it was in the 1900s and there is no reason that society would necessarily collapse to a level before that. Then again, maybe he is right and we no longer have the "right stuff" that would allow us to thrive in a turn of the last century situation.

I hesitate to categorically deny the validity of his future vision because in the recesses of my mind lurks the thought that indeed, mankind is better than the shallow and self-serving beings that many seem to be. But also back there lurks the thought that I am wrong. While short of Mad Max, he paints a realistic scenario that will most certainly make you think, question some of your assumptions, and maybe come away a bit wiser and better prepared to survive the tsunami that I believe is unavoidable.

[Nicolasd]

Re: A cheery monday morning thought

Very good writing skills, sounds like Ka-poom theory in words as opposed to the graphs we are used to on i-tulip