According to Mark Twain, "civilization is the limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities." It seems western civilization is just about done with the mindless multiplication of anything, much less unnecessary nonsense. It's too late for a fast collapse of the industrial…
In the United States, various states offer glimpses into the future of industrial economies. Wisconsin is filling the mainstream media outlets, but California really leads the way. In the latter state, the lights have gone out and the water has…
Everywhere I turn, I read and hear about $200 oil in the near future (here's one recent example, from somebody who should know better, here's another from hyperinflation guru Gonzalo Lira, and here's another from historian Niall Ferguson. Investors are…
Late last week I was interviewed by KMO for the C-REALM radio show. The resulting podcast runs about an hour, and it's posted here (go directly to podcast here). All comments welcome, all the time. My monthly essay for Transition…
The U.S. dollar continues its journey from Brobdingnagian to Lilliputian stature, and the latest trade report is a prelude to the dollar as microbe. The Prime Mover in this case is King Ben, who has the helicopter on track for…
Judging from my email in-box and the occasional comment in this space, my essays have taken a surprising turn. It seems my efforts are worth alerting the authorities, at least according to comments from anonymous cowards who hide behind online…
I wrote an entire book on the life of the mind, if you can imagine that. A significant portion of the book was dedicated to the importance of a liberal education, and I've written about that topic in this space,…