Thus, I trace the demise of political parties as disparate entities to Reagan’s election in 1980. With the 1980 election, the United States embraced a single ideology: economic growth. Political party no longer mattered because the ideology crossed party lines. And this dangerous ideology absolutely required imperialism.
As you can imagine, Heller doesn’t believe in peak oil, so he’s all set to grill Alten about his “ludicrous” novel. I think I’m supposed to provide air support.
The Arizona Republic ran my lengthy op-ed in their Viewpoint section today. So far, a few minutes before noon, responses are mixed. About half are vile, in-denial buckets of hate. The other half are thankful, fearful, and/or curious to learn more.
Cheap oil allowed us to build the suburbs and treat our houses as ATMs. Thus, cheap oil allowed the fiesta of economic growth and the packaging of bank loans into increasingly complex bundles of surreality. When reality bitch-slaps the banks, it’s really peak oil doing the slapping. When banks fail, or are baled out by … well, you and me … the failures are induced by peak oil and the “baling out” is a tax on you and me.
Within the last week alone, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Ben Bernanke, the head cheerleader for the U.S. financial system, testified before the U.S. Senate that banks will fail. This is the ultimate no-brainer admission. But still. The FDIC also brought back, out of retirement, a bunch of bank examiners to oversee the carnage. And “Helicopter” Benanke proposes to destroy the dollar, apparently so the banks will have company.
The feds are providing the type of support I’ve come to expect. Facing the collapse of civilization and the extinction of our species, the remaining viable candidates for the nation’s highest office are focusing laser-like on cutting taxes and reinvigorating dying industries that have no future. The federal government’s complete unwillingness to deal with the tsunami of economic news, from home foreclosures to runaway inflation and supply disruptions in gasoline, is truly pathetic. On the other hand, perhaps TPTB understand that, soon enough, their ability to deal with economic issues will resemble screen doors on a submarine. Once they reach that conclusion, it’s easy to imagine they’ll save the lifeboats for themselves.