slowlyfadingaway: Life at the end of civilization?

James Howard Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency and World Made by Hand appears on

• The Colbert Report (funny, must-see)
• The Glenn Beck Show (luckily Glenn interviewed him before finding out Kunstler had called him an idiot-maniac just days before, thus allowing thousands of people to be exposed to the idea of Peak Oil, perhaps for the first time.)

Also, CNN says We Were Warned. Thanks, CNN, you warned us when the train was a foot away.

Lost cities of the future — It’s sad how close they are to us. And how close we are to the future.

What Rome can teach us about the decline of civilizations — In some ways we have tougher challenges than Rome. We have one key advantage — we can talk about our predicament. Or Twitter about it if you prefer.

The New Energy Order — We have entered a new era in which traditional super powers now face energy super powers. Nothing less than our food and livelihood is at stake.

When the Prime (”Good”) borrowers start handing in their keys

Monetary failure is rewarded only at the highest levels

• IMF Warns of Great Crisis — We keep seeing the “Depression” word come up more and more in the mainstream.  The mainstream media wasn’t even worried about a recession this year. And who is the IMF? Read more here, and be sure to check out the criticisms.
• The Black Death of Financial Collapse — Relentlessly dire view of the global economic situation.
• Financial Collapse Information Foraging and “Uglier than you thought”
• Major banks about to go bye bye? What will happen to all those “subprime” mortgages nobody could really pay off, and as a result, all the more legitimate mortgages nobody will be able to pay off either? Free houses?
• The UN warns of global food fights. — Now might be a good time to stock up on food.
• Shell finally sponsors Peak Oil (PDF) — I wonder if Shell read this part: “The bad news is that no combination of technologies can plug the energy gap if the peakists are correct. There will be a third, and last, global energy crisis. It will dwarf previous crises. Profound economic dislocation will result. The challenge for human civilization will be how we rebuild post-peak.”

• The New Survivalism — Dear lord, this is the stuff being found in the NY Times Fashion & Style section. Britney Spears move over.
• The US Oil Supply — a dire prognosis getting worse by the day.

• The Federal Express plows forward aiming for your loot. Don’t get on the boxcar.
• Slate tells us why Fed reform won’t work. Duh.
• When the end is so very nigh, which straw breaks the camel’s back?
• When trouble strikes, you’re on your own.
• The Collapse Party becoming the most honest party in government. Doubt anybody would vote for it.

• Nobel Prize winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz, says we’re in big trouble.
• Richard Heinberg, Post Carbon Institute and energy expert says the Global Depression is here…we just don’t know it yet.
• Sobering case study of Peak Oil affecting a pump near you very soon. The Canterell oil field has gone into decline recently. Mexico is our third leading source of oil exports, and Canterell is the world’s second largest field. Life gets depressing when you find yourself tracking oil fields in other countries more than you do the NCAA tournament results.

One issue that seems to get conservatives understandably concerned is any threat to America’s economic or political sovereignty. As the dollar weakens, gas prices soar, immigration rages, and concern for our future continues to rise, the ideas of a NAFTA Superhighway, a North American Union, and a replacement currency called the Amero (think the Euro) enter as challenges to what it means to live within the world’s strongest economy and nation and to see that replaced by….something else. One has to wonder, though, how the project of globalization that results in the further centralization of political systems and currencies and governmental oversight can continue while that particular system — pardon the pun — runs out of gas.

The following video from CNN gives you a taste of political battles to come this election season. Whether these battles are televised is another story.

• Stocks make a rebound — Enough articles like this, and one almost believes all is OK in the world. It’s not.
• Are you on a terrorist watch list? — Apparently 1 out of 300 Americans are. Which I guess I can believe, given that 1 out of 100 of us is in jail. Glad someone is keeping track.
• Army Goes Green! Although I’m wondering if climate change will really be a concern to anybody when fuel shortages hit.
• Is Iran imminent? Political Hell Mary?

Finally, creepiest MTV video ever.

• The Death of Consumerism by Barbara Ehrenreich
• The Impending Destruction of the US Economy: Part 1 — This was written wayyyy back in July but is recommended for its clear language and the point that the economy has been in grave trouble for longer than many of us realized…we’re just now seeing the effects.
• Save the Market from Market Forces — Free Market fundamentalists read up.
• Cheap Oil Is Over: Kiss the Gas-Guzzling NASCAR Era Good-Bye by James Howard Kunstler. Kunstler is considered a “doomer” by those more optimistic about our energy future, but his influential book, The Long Emergency, written in 2005, looks more relevant with each passing day. He was easy to second guess when oil was $55 a barrel and the real estate boom was on. Now that oil has hit $110 and the economy is melting, he’s worth listening to.

Two good videos to understand what’s going on right now, and the delicious interaction of mainstream media and alarmed pundits.

First, Gerri Willis, the Personal Finance editor for CNN explains the “subprime” crisis and why it goes far beyond a little reckless lending. What I love about the video is that it clearly deconstructs the debacle that is going on and points out how much obfuscation occurs in mainstream financial analysis.
Second, Matt Simmons, perhaps the most successful energy investor and a key adviser to the Bush Administration throws cold water on the faces of the Fast Money folks in explaining how energy prices are going up and, oh, we might be running out of oil.