Recent Rants
Seeing through the Myths
by Dale Allen Pfeiffer
Introduction
01/11/08 (www.mountainsentinel.com) US democracy and free market capitalism are nothing more than myths. These myths were drilled into us in public school, and are constantly reinforced by the mass media. Yet events in the past year make it plain these are myths. If we would be willing to take off our blinders and look around us with our own eyes, we would see quite plainly what a cruel deception we suffer under.
Everything the public believes about this country is at best a myth that long ago diverged from reality. At worst it is a malicious hoax, perpetrated to keep the public from understanding what is really happening. The lies we live with have less real value than the credit bubble and derivatives.
We live in a democracy. The US stands for freedom. The US constitution. Trickle down economics. Free market capitalism. The war on terror. Walmart is a great place to shop.
It is tempting to say the system we live in is broken and needs fixing. But it is not broken. It is working just as intended. The writers of our constitution did not want a working democracy; that is why they gave us a republic. And that is why the public resisted accepting this bill of goods.
The resistance continued right up into the middle of the last century. Recently, while listening to some old '78s recorded in the 1920s and 30s, I noted a strong antigovernment theme. These were recordings of old time music, fiddle tunes and string bands — the forerunners of bluegrass. Some of these tracks contained dialog, and without exception, the participants had a strong dislike for government and big business, and only a mild tolerance for organized religion. These recordings emulated the distrust of the general population.
Somehow, between the 1930s and the present day, this distrust was converted into blind patriotism. It is interesting that the 1930s marked the true rise of the mass media, with the advent of talking movies and the spread of the radio. By this time, public relations had become an important industry, exceeding the expectations of Edward L. Bernays. One of the major goals of public relations was to transform the US public from informed citizens to hungry consumers. In this it has been wildly successful.
As Neal Stephenson says in his book Snow Crash, in the majority we have become an oral culture. We obtain our information from oral sources, television and movies, recorded music and video games. If you are reading this little essay, then you are among a minority of US citizens that actively reads, and reads for more than simple pleasure.
Every so often, events betray the myths we accept as reality, demonstrating just how false they are. The past year seems to be rife with such events. Yet the mass media has excelled in promoting denial. When the media cannot maintain their willful denial any longer, then they hammer together a very quick analysis, being careful to frame it in such a way that our fundamental myths are not seriously questioned. And then it is on to a commercial break and the next entertaining bit of informational overload.
So let us take a moment to look at just a couple of the events during this past year that put the lie to our most cherished myths. But first a brief word about the War on Terror, which is itself one of the ugliest myths.
The War on Terror
The myth is that we are engaged in a war with terror. When our decision makers discuss this war, their only disagreement concerns how it is conducted. None of them question the basic rationale for a war. So it is up to those of us who see the false premises behind this war to speak up at every chance.
Terrorism cannot be solved by war. War is State terror. War only begets more terrorism. Whenever a military power takes the offensive and invades other lands, it is always pursuing a war of conquest and imperialism. That is the purpose of warfare. There are no exceptions. When one military power invades a foreign country in response to the incursion of another military power, the two powers are engaged in a contest of imperialism. Nothing more.
Waging war on terrorists only exacerbates the problem of terrorism, leading to the birth of more terrorists. In this sense, waging a war on terror is self-perpetuating. We have entered the Orwellian era of war without end. War will never solve the problem of terrorism. Elevating terrorism to a cause for war merely gives the terrorists the platform they desire.
Terrorists are criminals, not soldiers. Even our military and our President understand that, with their refusal to grant detainees prisoner of war status. Terrorists should be captured and prosecuted in courts of law.
Beyond this we need to resolve the root cause of terrorism, which is oppression. Terrorists and suicide bombers may be deluded by religious extremism, but their basic motivation is desperation. People embrace terrorism because they have been oppressed to the extremity and they see no other way to strike back.
To end terrorism, we need to end repression. We need to go into the areas where terrorists are recruited and resolve the oppression from which the local population despairs. Yet this will never happen because the system we live under thrives on the oppression of other people. So to end terrorism, we must reform our system. Or, since I do not believe we can reform a system which is functioning as intended, we must scrap this system and replace it with something more just and egalitarian.
Instead of solving terrorism, it has been used as an excuse to strengthen global imperialism — ostensibly US imperialism, but in actuality corporate imperialism. The big winners in the war on terror are the defense industries, the corporations that are privatizing the logistics of war (Halliburton), and the oil companies. The War on Terror has served as a vehicle for transferring the wealth of this country to the military-industrial complex, when this wealth could have been used to heal the root causes of terrorism and build a more just and egalitarian system for all.
So much for the myth of the War on Terror.
The Surge and Decline of Oil Prices
All year I have been saying the surge in oil prices was not the result of peak oil. It was the result of market speculation. As such, it is a phenomenon of our economic system. As the real estate bubble burst, investors pulled their money out of real estate backed securities and pumped it into commodities. As a result, the price of oil surged to record highs, along with the price of gold, rice, grain and other commodities.
In late summer, we reached a point where investors felt commodity prices could not sustain their skyrocketing values much longer. Consumption was declining and the economy was falling into a recession. At the same time, the market crash promised that once powerful market entities would soon be available for pennies on the dollar. So investors sold off commodities and banked their profits in bonds while they waited for likely victims.
For consumers, we see a market that is gyrating wildly. By midsummer, the public was having trouble making ends meet as skyrocketing gasoline and diesel prices drove everything else up. In some cases, people could not even afford to go to work.
Now gasoline prices have tumbled to half of what they were only a few months ago. Yet there has been no major change in oil production. There is a lot of talk about price gouging among the oil companies and gas stations. And no doubt some gouging has occurred. The oil majors are reporting the biggest profits ever — profit margins have climbed into the stratosphere. But the major factor that doubled oil prices over the summer and that is now causing prices to deflate is market speculation.
This is the way the market works. And as such it betrays a basic myth of the market. Economists, investors and businesspeople like to think the market will provide for everyone. It will not. The market is a mindless machination driven by greed and gluttony. By its very nature, it will enrich a few by impoverishing the multitudes. In this year, the market has mugged the public to transfer the wealth of this country into the hands of the elite. In time, the middle class will find they no longer exist as such.
The problem here is that the market is working just as intended. And if nothing is done about it, then this summer will only be a dress rehearsal for what will happen in a few years, as oil production begins an irreversible decline. Instead of investing in relocalization and mass transportation, money will go to enrich market speculators and oil executives while everyone else suffers.
The rise and fall of oil prices in the past several months have betrayed the myth of market capitalism as the most equitable economic system for all.
The Bailout
The bailout was a give away and a coup. The remaining wealth of the US is being given to a handful of financiers with no strings attached. Instead of using this wealth to help rebuild the economy, these financiers will use it to consolidate their position by buying out smaller banks. The United States government has become an oligarchy, governed by the rich, and the public is being burdened with insurmountable debt.
What I want to focus on here is how the bailout was enacted. But first let me pose a question I have been unable to answer so far. If the federal government will use this bailout to assume the bad debts of our banking system, will the collection of these debts become a federal responsibility? If so, this bailout could constitute an end run around the bankruptcy laws, which do not apply to federal debt. I have been unable to clarify this point in my own research, nor has anyone else been able to answer this question for me: will mortgages and credit cards become federal debts, exempt from bankruptcy?
If anyone can clarify this for me, I would appreciate it.
Anyway, on to the subject at hand. The bailout package was proposed by Treasury Secretary Paulson and was passed by Congress after being padded with a lot of pork. The bailout grants Paulson unquestionable powers to take taxpayer funds and pass them out to his rich banking cronies. It constitutes an economic coup, and an open invitation to rob the remaining — and future — wealth of this country.
The public was overwhelmingly against this bailout. The House of Representatives, which held the first vote on this package, was deluged with calls from angry voters. Fearing a backlash in the upcoming election, the Representatives buckled under the outcry and voted down the bailout by a small margin.
The package was then modified before being voted on by the Senate. The basics of the bailout were not changed much. Instead a number of pork barrel projects were tacked onto the bill to provide incentives for Representatives to change their vote. Ignoring the public outcry, the Senate passed the bill and sent it back to the House. Having made a token stand for their constituents, the House changed their vote and passed the measure.
Many view this as a failure of democracy. In actuality, our government functioned just as the framers of the constitution intended. In so doing, it pointed out the lie behind the myth of US democracy.
The framers of the constitution were worried about the voice of the people. They wanted to ensure the elite would be served above all others. And so they designed the famous checks and balances of the US constitution. The checks were largely placed upon the will of the public, while the balance favored the designs of the elite.
The House of Representatives is the branch of federal government in which the general public has the greatest voice. It is also intentionally the weakest branch of government. Representatives must be reelected every two years. Likewise, the number of Representatives allowed to each state is based upon the state's population. Thus, when the public speaks, the House is more likely to listen.
Unfortunately, the House is weak and generally follows the lead of the Senate — as intended by the framers of the constitution. Senators are well insulated from the voting public; more so even than the President. There are only two Senators for each state, meaning that Senators answer to a larger population base, which gives each of their constituents a smaller voice. Furthermore, Senators serve six year terms, and these terms are staggered so that no more than a third of the Senate is ever up for reelection. Even if there was a popular movement in an election year to replace all incumbents, it would only change a minority of the Senate. And by the time those new faces came up for reelection, they will have been largely inculcated into the system.
This is how the framing fathers insulated our government from the populace. And since that time, our elected officials have become even more insular. Now their primary constituency is the lobbyists, foremost of which is the banking industry, weapons manufacturers, insurance and drug companies, and Aipac, the Israeli lobby.
The United States has never been a functioning democracy. Our government operates just as the framing fathers intended. The voice of the people is restrained, while the voice of the elite is amplified.
We should not be shocked by the passage of the bail out. Instead we should use it as a lesson on the myth of US democracy.
Election 2008
We are having a one party election this year. We have two main candidates, but on most of the major issues they have the same position. Both of them support the War on Terror. Both of them support the bailout. Both of them mouth platitudes about energy independence without seeing any need for regulating the energy market, conservation, or relocalization.
Whichever candidate is elected, our country will continue along the same course. The wealth we could use to build a sustainable, egalitarian and just society, stimulating the economy and solving the problems of terrorism, war, pollution, resource depletion, starvation and poverty, will instead be given to the elite while the rest of us are further burdened with debt.
The upcoming election will resolve none of this. Instead it will serve to perpetuate the myth of US democracy and free market capitalism, while robbing us of any chance to solve these problems and build a real democracy, and bequeathing to us an impoverished future.
That is why I refuse to vote for either of the major candidates. If I vote, I will write in Nader for President, knowing that it is only a protest vote. And that is why I encourage direct action to tear this system down and replace it with something saner.
Stuff the Bankers
by Dale Allen Pfeiffer
29/9/08 (www.mountainsentinel.com) I'll parse as few words as possible. We don't need this bailout. The economy will not crash if Congress doesn't pass it. What is more, the bailout itself could sink the economy.
No economists were consulted about this bailout. No one knows where Paulson came up with the $700 billion figure. Investor Marc Faber, who is considered a reliable judge of these things, believes the actual amount of the bailout necessary will be closer to $5 trillion.
Every economist worth his or her credentials has gone on record against this bailout. Nobody has offered any details on what they want to do with this money. The best we can figure is that Paulson intends on giving extravagant Christmas presents to all his banking buddies.
So how's this for a bailout package. We use this $700 billion to develop a reliable mass transit system throughout the country, and to rebuild our communities so they can go back to being more self-sufficient. That means relocalizing production and agriculture, and placing the necessary markets within walking distance. And while we're at it, we can refurbish our homes for energy efficiency.
Now I haven't run the figures on all this, but I am willing to bet it will not cost $700 billion. And all of this retooling would actually provide jobs and stimulate local economies, instead of swelling some financiers' pockets.
Unfortunately, between the war debt and the bailouts, we are wasting any chance we might have to do something positive for the people of this country. Our future security is being mortgaged to pay off a pack of thieves.
This amounts to a banker's coup on the US government and the taxpaying public. As a part of this legislation, the financial institutions which benefit from this bailout will become agents of the government. According to the most popular definition, that is fascism.
The $700 billion bailout will cost every man, woman and child in this country $2,000. My nephew's newborn daughter will be indebted before she is even a month old. And if the true amount of the bailout is actually $5 trillion, then the amount owed by every man woman and child in this country will jump to $14,000. A family of four will accrue $56,000 of debt in order to pay off the imbeciles who got us into this mess in the first place.
And with all that, the bailout will not solve the problem. It may delay disaster for a few months, but the fall will be even harder when it does come. The next swing of the pendulum could bring down our entire country. So what would happen if the US was placed into receivership?
It is too late to stop the bailout. But we can make damn sure our politicians know how we feel about it. I sure as hell will not vote for anyone who supports this bill — including presidential candidates.
Anyone for a tax rebellion?
Smell the Roses
by Dale Allen Pfeiffer
Suicidal Tendencies
27/6/08 (www.mountainsentinel.com) Why does it seem that every time the price of gas goes up, motorists respond by driving faster? Is it some misguided belief that if they reach their destination quicker, they will use less gas? Or are rising prices and desperation invoking some lemming-like instinct to use up our energy resources as quickly as possible, accelerating global climate instability as we make a mad rush toward oblivion. Slouching toward Bethlehem could not be farther from the truth, we are racing toward it.
Back in the 1970s, when US oil production peaked and started to decline, sparking the oil shocks of that decade, the government responded through gas rationing, lowering the speed limit to 55, and a host of other measures designed to spur energy conservation. Then Reagan came along and denial and conspicuous consumption were elevated to patriotic duties.
Now, as oil prices aim for the stratosphere, there is no talk of rationing, or even slowing down. But wait, there is one low traffic site urging people to simply slow down.
Green Slow Moving Machine
Fulton "Jay" Hanson (no relation to Jay Hanson of dieoff.com fame) maintains a blog urging people to make a difference simply by slowing down. Greenslowmovingvehicle.com makes a very good argument for the savings that accrue from simply driving a little slower. I urge everyone to visit this site and consider taking an active roll on the slow movement. The site draws a lot of its information from government studies that deserve to be loudly trumpeted.
from www.feuleconomy.gov
All vehicles achieve their optimum gas mileage at speeds between 50 and 60 miles per gallon. And as gasoline prices climb above $4/gallon, we are talking about a substantial saving here. The rule of thumb is that for each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph, you are paying an additional 30 cents per gallon. That is cumulative. In other words, if you are driving 75 mph, then you are paying an additional 90 cents per gallon.
Driving faster than 60 mph reduces fuel economy due to a number of factors. The energy necessary to overcome rolling resistance of the tires and other frictional effects within the mechanics of the car increases directly with velocity. The power required to drive the pumps in the vehicle increases with the square of velocity, and the energy required to overcome wind resistance increases as the cube of velocity. So as your speed increases, the amount of energy necessary to drive the vehicle increases many times over. A more detailed explanation can be found at the How Stuff Works website (What speed should I drive to get maximum fuel efficiency?)
Some folks seem to think that new vehicles are designed to drive faster. The EPA regularly calculates data on fuel economy. The following table is based upon their data. It shows that for all vehicles, maximum fuel economy is achieved at speeds around 55 mph. Data from real road driving tends to be lower than EPA data, so your fuel economy is likely to be less than that listed in the studies.
Model |
40 mph |
50 mph |
60 mph |
|
mpg |
mpg |
mpg |
sub-compact |
35 |
36 |
29 |
compact |
28 |
30 |
27 |
midsize |
21 |
22 |
20 |
van |
15 |
17 |
13 |
luxury |
13 |
14 |
12 |
table from http://www.greenslowmovingvehicle.com/
data from the EPA: http://www.epa.gov/fueleconomy/data.htm
So it really does pay to slow down and drive between 55 and 60 mph. Just think of it as a fun way to mess with people's heads and save money. While all those irate leadfoots are zooming past you, keep in mind the money they are throwing away with their need for speed (not to mention the extra pollution they are adding to the atmosphere, and their race towards energy impoverishment).
Other Money Saving Tips
AC vs Rolling Down Windows
There have been a lot of arguments over which is more energy efficient, using AC or rolling down the windows. Consumer Report's auto-test department finds that AC use will reduce a car's fuel efficiency by up to 10%, at speeds below 45 mph. However, at speeds over 45 mph, wind drag becomes a major factor, decreasing fuel economy by 10% and more. So in the city, roll down the windows, and on the expressway turn on the AC. (Source: http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/auto/20050804a1.asp)
Reduce Vehicle Weight
Every 100 pounds of load reduces your fuel economy by up to 2%. Lighten up.
(Source: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/driveHabits.shtml)
Avoid Idling
Idling reduces fuel economy to zero. The larger the engine, the more gas that is wasted. Modern vehicles do not require warming up. So when you are caught in a traffic jam or waiting for a long train to pass, stop your engine.
(Source: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/driveHabits.shtml & http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/auto/fuel-efficient/4.asp)
Avoid Rapid Acceleration and Excessive Braking
Try to drive as smoothly as possible. Resist the urge to stomp on the gas when the light turns green. Conversely, do not ride the brake. These bad habits can lower your fuel economy by up to 33% on the freeway, and 5% around town.
(Source: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/driveHabits.shtml)
Don't Drive
Avoid making unnecessary trips. Walk and bicycle whenever possible.
There are other ways to improve your fuel economy. Generally speaking, drive sensibly, be a smooth driver, avoid rush hour and combine trips. Using cruise control on the freeway tends to save on gas. Also, when you use overdrive gear your car's engine speed is reduced, at a savings.
If you were CEO of Exxon/Mobile
If you were the CEO of Exxon/Mobile and you knew that within the decade oil production was going to head into an irreversible decline while the price of production would inexorably climb, what would you do today? Well, you might drive up the price of oil now to maximize your profits before the decline. Then you could milk as much money out of the market as possible and be in an optimum position once the decline does begin.
Now I'm not saying oil prices are being manipulated for the reason stated above. However, given the coming peak and decline of oil production, the current situation fits the best scenario for maximizing company profits. You can bet oil executives and investors are not complaining about the current price of oil.
What we are seeing, whether intentional or not, is an economy being primed for collapse. The Fed is flooding the market with dollars. Most of the traditional ways to invest this excess money are currently unappealing. So investors are pouring all of this funny money into oil and other goods (such as grains). As a result, prices are skyrocketing and the wealth of the world is being quickly transferred from the majority to the elite minority.
Every time you purchase a gallon of gasoline or a loaf of bread, you hasten this transfer of wealth, giving your hard-earned money to those who are already glutted with their own fortunes. Likewise, every time income taxes are lowered or adjusted and sales taxes are raised, it aids this transfer of wealth.
Gas prices are currently $4/gallon and nearly $5/gallon for diesel. By the end of summer, gasoline is expected to cost $6/gallon — possible even $7. And if we go to war with Iran, we could very quickly see $10/gallon or higher.
We are approaching a currently unknown limit that will bring our country to a halt. When people can no longer afford to drive to work and truckers have to park their rigs and walk away from them, our civilization will be crushed overnight.
And those who are currently reaping the profits do not seem to care. When the smoke clears, they will have transferred the country's wealth — if not the world's — to their own personal accounts. And they will then be able to pick up what is left for pennies on the dollar.
Something has to be done about oil speculation. However, if new regulations simply act to roll back the price of oil, they will do us a disservice in the long run. The price of gasoline should probably be $4/gallon right now, but half of that should go toward developing a decent mass transit system, before declining oil production really does hit us. We need to prepare. We need mass transit. We need to redevelop our railways, and we need to restructure our communities so that work, school and food are only a walk away. We need to redesign our food distribution system so that most of the food we eat is produced within 100 miles of our home.
Instead, the money necessary to prepare for the future is being given to profiteers.
The Smell the Roses Revolt
To paraphrase the late Utah Phillips, in an oil-based civilization, walking and riding bicycles are revolutionary acts.
There is no profit to be made from conservation. There is no profit to be had from slowing down and smelling the roses. That is why our leaders want us to go on consuming as much as possible. Hurry to work, hurry to the store, and use those credit cards to keep everything running smoothly. Be sure to buy the latest cellphoneipodblackberry and use it as much as possible. And when it becomes obsolete next year, dispose of it and buy the latest model.
Remember, consumption is your patriotic duty. Going into debt is your patriotic duty. Drive as fast as possible with your flag decals on the bumper. When reality starts to feel a little uncomfortable, grab a beer, turn on the TV and do a little home shopping.
But if you should desire a saner, healthier and more fulfilling world, then slow down. Or better yet, park the car and go for a walk. And please take the time to smell the roses.
Where should I Go?
by Dale Allen Pfeiffer
June 18th, 2008 Foreword
June 18, 2008 (www.mountainsentinel.com) The following article originally appeared in The Mountain Sentinel two years ago. Currently there are a number of people making panicky statements that everyone needs to relocate. To present a fair assessment of the idea and to help calm people down, I have decided to reprint this article for free.
Since this article was written, my family has moved from Appalachian Kentucky to Evansville Indiana. Evansville is not a haven of preparedness. It will face many problems as we enter an age of energy depletion and impoverishment. Our reason for moving here is that we have a lot of family in this area, and family can be a far more important resource than any other.
My daughter is in public schools now. While she does battle with the authoritarian rigidity, patriotic propaganda and religious zealotry that plague the public schools, she is at least making friends.
For my part, when I can spare a little time from working on novels and short stories, or playing the fiddle and the banjo, I do a little work with the local sustainability group, and the food co-op.
As this article asserts, there is no place in North America that is ideally prepared for the joint crises of resource depletion, environmental destruction and economic impoverishment that now loom before us. Relocation is an option, but for many people it is not the best option — perhaps for most people.
The Delusion of Survivalism
Many people have asked me where they should go to survive the end of the oil age. People asking this question generally fall into one of two groups, those who believe that civilization will disintegrate into lawless chaos where former neighbors will be preying upon each other and hordes of murderous starving bandits will swarm out of the cities to feed on the suburbs. The other group are those who see things breaking down, but not to the point where they must seek to defend themselves against every stranger. These people want to find a community and/or a farm where they can become self-reliant.
I will address the total breakdown group first. If there is a total breakdown of civilization and we are left with neighbors preying upon neighbors, then there is no place you can go. Whatever remote mountain hideaway you sneak off to, in this scenario you will have to deal with pillagers out to take what little you have. Anywhere you go, there are already people there.
In this day and age, the only places you can go to hide away are lacking in human population because they are so inhospitable. There are so few people there because it is so difficult to live there. And the few people who already live there probably meet that ecosystem's limited carrying capacity for human beings.
As someone who has lived alone in the wilderness, I have to ask you: do you really want to be a hermit. Do you want to spend your entire day struggling for the basic necessities? Can you make your own clothing, build and maintain your own weapons, grow, forage and hunt enough food to feed yourself, lay in a sufficient store of fuel to keep you from freezing in the winter? The list goes on and on. Sure, you can survive off what you forage and hunt, make clothes and blankets out of hides, and live in a debris hut; but do you really want to?
Stop romanticizing about the myth of the rugged individualist. It is just that: a myth. Almost all of the rugged individualists I have met were maladjusted misanthropes who would likely have been institutionalized if they had lived among others. This is not to say that I have not known many sane and balanced mountainmen and mountainwomen. But the sane ones do not live in total isolation, however limited their interaction might be, they are part of a community.
Consider indigenous peoples throughout the world. They are not rugged individualists. They all belong to tribes. Their sense of identity is closely linked to the community of which they are a part. It is their family and their safety net. They could not imagine trying to make it on their own and would wonder why anyone would ever want to do such a thing. When they are taken out of their tribal setting and placed in modern civilization, they are lost without their community.
The pioneers were not rugged individualists. They knew that community was the key to their survival. They worked together to build their community, plant and harvest their crops and provide everyone within their community with the necessities of life. It was only with difficulty that their sense of community was squashed by the modern industrialized community and the centralized state.
Let's get this straight. The myth of the rugged individualist is extolled by the dominant socioeconomic system because it helps cover up the atomization of society, and it leaves the disillusioned and disenfranchised uninclined to work together towards an alternative.
And where did you ever get the idea that you will have to fight your neighbors for survival, or that the cities will unleash hordes of desperate degenerates to pillage the countryside? This is an unlikely scenario. Sure there might be a rise in crime if the established order breaks down, or there might not. In large part, this depends on us.
When we look at examples of collapse, we do not see much real change in the crime rate. In a socioeconomic collapse, here does seem to be a relationship between the crime rate and the strength of community. The more tightly knit the community is, the lower the rise in crime, and vice versa.
During the Great Depression, people helped each other. Though they may have little to share, they did share it. During the collapse of the Soviet Union, people helped each other. Even in North Korea, people helped each other — though they were terribly repressed by there government.
The counter-argument is that this is a different situation. There will be no recovery, and in the US people are atomized, selfish and overly competitive. We are no longer predisposed to help each other, and there is very little sense of community left. Where people were once loyal to their community, they are now loyal to their company. And if that company closes its doors to them, they will do whatever it takes to survive.
My answer to that is Argentina. The people there were highly atomized and terrorized. More so, even, than people in the US. Decades of experience taught them not to concern themselves about their neighbors; to look out only for themselves. But when the Argentine economy collapsed, the people banded together to create one of our best examples of how people can respond positively on a grassroots level to a collapse. For details on this, I refer you to my article Coping with Collapse; Examples from Argentina in the The Mountain Sentinel, Vol. 1 No. 1.
The scenario that the collapse of the dominant socioeconomic system will result in a dog eat dog situation is another myth. This myth most likely evolved from the misconceptions of social Darwinists. It is reinforced by the fear mongering of the US news media which portrays our communities as dangerous places full of murderers, rapists and thieves. And it is fleshed out by our entertainment media (that is our manufactured perception of reality) that thrives on cop shows and violence.
We are taught that it is a dog eat dog world, where you must always watch out for the other guy, and where the successful businessman is he who reads The Art of War. Then we internalize the perception of crime and violence that we are fed daily by our media. It is no wonder that we wind up projecting our own fears and insecurities onto the world around us, believing that the collapse of the dominant system will leave us fighting each other for our very survival.
Hog wash.
Where to Go
Okay, we have done away with the myths of survivalism. Now to address the second group: those who worry that their community is not prepared for the collapse of the dominant system and who are honestly wondering what to do and where to go. Let's start off by stating that there is no place that is fully prepared for the collapse. There are a few places where a portion of the citizens in aware of the approaching problem and are beginning to prepare for it, but these places are at present very few and would be quickly overrun if we all headed there. As of this writing, most communities are unprepared and very few people are even aware of the pending problem. So, for the most part, you can forget about moving into a community where people are already aware of the problem and are actively addressing it.
Now, where should you live? There are four choices: wilderness, rural, urban and suburban. Each has its own benefits and drawbacks; except for suburban, which has most of the drawbacks of both rural and urban with few benefits.
If you are living in a wilderness area, you will want to become completely self-sufficient and you might want to hide your location as well. We have already discussed wilderness living somewhat in the section above. It still presents a viable option, which would probably be best pursued if a group of likeminded people move to the wilderness to establish their own community. The difficulties in doing so would be very similar to the difficulties encountered by the first settlers who came the North America, but would be further complicated by the fact that the remaining wilderness areas are largely inhospitable areas that cannot sustain too many people.
If you are living in a rural area, then you will want to become a family farmer living as part of a farming community. A farmer's life can be a hard life, but it is not without its rewards. One major benefit of being a farmer is that, so long as you can hold onto your land, you will have food. Bear in mind, farming is not something you just decide to do. Even if you have the right skills and a knowledge of farming, it will take some years of preparation, trial and error before you have gained enough experience to even begin becoming a self-sufficient farmer. Perhaps your greatest resource will be the advice of the experienced farmers who are your neighbors.
If you are in an urban area, you will want to organize your community so that you can survive with the cooperation of your community. You will want to establish community gardens, and self-sufficient utilities such as water and sewage. And you will need to form an agricultural cooperative with outlying farmers, to help supply your community with the food you cannot grow.
It is those living in the suburbs who would be wisest to pull up stakes and move to one of the other three areas. Suburbanites are too widely scattered to build any sort of functioning community, yet too concentrated to feed themselves by farming. If most of the residents of a suburb move away, the few remaining might be able to plow up all of the lawns and become farmers, but they will be lacking the support communities that are already established in rural areas. The worst off of the suburbanites will be those who live in trailer parks, closely followed by those who live in condos. There are simply too many people in these locations and the living quarters simply won't be viable without heating, electricity, water or sewage treatment.
Do You really Want to Move?
If you move, you will be the new kid on the block. Even in wilderness areas, there are residents who will look on you as the new-comer. You may always be the outsider. And if things become difficult, you may be persecuted simply because are new.
If things have become difficult before you even begin to consider your move, then you probably won't be welcome anyplace else. Communities struggling to survive are not going to welcome the displaced.
If you move too far away, you will have to contend with cultural and language differences. These differences will mark you and serve to keep you apart. If you move to a small town in the south and do not join a church, then you are likely to remain isolated. If you are moving as little as 300 miles south or north of your current latitude, you will likely find yourself in a different climate. Though you may have been an experienced gardener in your former home, you will have to learn what to grow in your new location and when to plant it.
Stop and think for a moment. If you have been living in your present location for several years, then you know what is around you. If you need something, you know where to go to find it. And you know what neighborhoods to avoid. You have a network of friends and acquaintances. You know where the local farmer's market is, where the food co-ops are, and where you can find community activists with whom you can work. And, though you might not realize it, you probably know where to go to fish, to hunt, to forage.
In your new location, you will know none of that. If times are already getting hard when you make your move, then you will be at a distinct disadvantage.
Although the idea of moving might have some appeal — certainly, the grass is always greener — do you really want to move? You need to decide whether it would be preferable to move to a new and unknown community, or to help organize the community where you are already at home. Instead of asking "Where should I go?", you should be asking "Where do I want to live?" And, if you honestly consider all of the possibilities and important factors, your answer might be to stay right where you are and get more involved in your local community.
Speaking from Experience
Early in the year 2001, we had a family catastrophe that forced me to leave my position, pull up stakes and move. All of our savings was used up paying for medical and legal expenses. With what little we had left, we had to find a new home in an area where I could find no employment in the field for which I was trained. We wound up buying a trailer in a mobile home park, and went to work as a substitute teacher until I could make enough money as a journalist and author to leave that job.
We lived in that trailer park until summer of 2005. Although we were grateful to have a roof over our heads, the neighborhood was bad and the trailer was too small. Our yard was a small lot composed of shaded sand and acidic soil. We couldn't grow anything on the little land we did have. From the beginning, we knew that we would have to get out of this trailer park, preferably before the economy went sour.
In summer of 2005, we did make a move, all the way from Michigan down to Kentucky. The major factor in choosing the location was the proximity to relatives in southern Indiana and Tennessee. The price of real estate and the affordability of a mortgage were also major factors. There were other factors that I won't get into here. In hindsight, although we now have more room, a better yard and a much safer neighborhood, the move has not placed us in a much better position.
The town we live in, as it turns out, is a dead town that has been overtaken not by suburbs but by suburbanites. While it looks like a small town, and it has a local government (indeed, it is the county seat), it is not a functional town in the sense that the residents meet all of their needs locally. We drive 20 miles to do our grocery shopping, and 60 miles to do any major shopping, or to reach the only decent food co-op in the area. Most of the people who live in this town make a 20 to 60 mile drive to work every day. When the price of gasoline climbs over $4.00 per gallon, people around here are going to have a very difficult time carrying on with their lifestyles.
We are very isolated in this community. We are not church-going people, and so there is no social interaction with our neighbors. We have been invited to attend a couple of the local churches, and though we have been tempted to go simply for the socialization, we can't bring ourselves to actually do so. We have started attending services at the Unitarian Universalist church 20 miles away, but none of the other members reside in our area.
Our daughter, who is now 14, has no friends. When we first moved here, we sent her to public schools. Though we quickly found that the local schools were 3 years behind the schools she attended up in Michigan, we kept her in the school so that she could make friends. She did meet a couple of girls who were friendly, she did not socialize with them outside of school because we did not attend their church. Other kids teased her because she was different. In the end, we started home schooling her. We have found her one friend, who subsequently moved 40 miles away. And it is mainly to provide her with social activity that we began attending the Unitarian church.
Last summer we planted a large garden, but most of it failed because of the heat. We did get a good crop of green beans, a fair crop of carrots and a few tomatoes, but everything else failed, including corn, squash (zucchini, summer and acorn squash), cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and peas. We have since learned that down here peas should be planted early in the spring, while cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower should be planted at the beginning of September. But nobody down here did well with their gardens this summer. It was too wet in the spring and again in at the end of summer, while midsummer was much too hot and dry. And fall has struck hard and cold this year, so fall/winter crops are suffering as well.
Michigan had a lot of state land where I could hunt, forage and simply enjoy nature. And there were any number of lakes up there for fishing, not to mention the Great Lakes. Because it was largely settled before becoming a state, Kentucky has very little open state land. It is mostly private land and some national forest. There are some rivers down here, but I don't know that I would eat anything out of them, even if I knew where to fish them. And there are a few small manmade trout ponds where you can pay to fish in a puddle so small I would have a tendency to caste right over the water and hit the guy on the far shore. I wouldn't know where to hunt around here or where to forage. And half of the plant I normally forage for — such as cattail or boneset — are comparatively hard to find around here.
No doubt, if I had grown up in Kentucky, none of this would be a problem. I would know where to hunt and forage, or I would know who to ask permission to hunt and forage on their land. And we would be recognized members of the community. But, as it is, it was a mistake to move here, and now my hope is to get out of here before things fall apart. I wish that somebody had given me the advice I have tried to pass along in this essay, and I wish that I would have listened to it.
Dealing with Gasoline Prices
Why prices are rising, what isn't being done about it, and what it means for you
by Dale Allen Pfeiffer
The Genie
June 8, 2008 (www.mountainsentinel.com)
What is going on?
Oil prices surge to $100 per barrel, $120, $130, with no end in sight. And analysts are now talking about $200 per barrel by the end of summer.
Gasoline prices have reached $4 per gallon in the US. And now they are saying we may see $6 per gallon by summer's end. Some analysts are saying gasoline prices will eventually reach $12 to $15 per gallon.
What is going on? Is this peak oil with a vengeance?
Yes and no.
There are three reasons why oil prices are skyrocketing, and peak oil is only indirectly involved.
The peak oil gene is out of the bottle, at least so far as investors are concerned. They only have a partial understanding of peak oil, but it is enough for market speculation to drive prices out of sight.
Oil production has not peaked. It is constrained and it can no longer keep up with growing world demand, but it has not peaked yet, so far as we can tell.
World oil production is approaching peak. It is no longer increasing as it once did. What is perhaps more important, there is no more spare capacity left in the system. At $130 per barrel any spare capacity has already been put into production. That is why Saudi Arabia has politely refused Bush's request that they increase production. They are pumping everything they can.
Simply the specter of peak oil is enough to fuel market speculation, making a few people very rich while the rest of us must empty our pockets at the gasoline pumps.
On top of this, we have the devaluation of the US dollar. The petrodollar has become the Frankenstein monster, and now it is running amok.
What we are seeing is nothing less than the failure of the free market. And without intervention, the failure of the free market will make a shambles of the world economy and lead to massive impoverishment and even starvation.
The Stupidity of Our Elected Leaders
So where are our leaders? They are arguing about who is to blame while trying to assure the public they will fix the problem. Our elected leaders either do not understand peak oil or refuse to acknowledge it. They are still worshipping at the alter of the free market, even as their god demands greater and greater sacrifices without delivering anything in return.
So now we have a congressional committee looking into high oil prices who can't understand why investments in domestic exploration and production do not pay. We have presidential candidates shaking their finger at OPEC and the oil majors, and we have a justice department suggesting they might attempt to sue OPEC for not opening up the spigot.
Where were all these people when Congressman Bartlett delivered his energy depletion seminar on capital hill a few years ago? Where were the members of the congressional committee investigating oil prices? Where were Clinton, Obama and McCain? They certainly weren't in attendance.
I do wish the US Justice Department could sue OPEC. If that were to happen, OPEC's most successful defense would be to say they had already opened the spigots all the way. They would then have to prove this once and for all, and everyone would know exactly where we stand.
But that isn't going to happen. Instead, our leaders are going to point fingers, suggest cosmetic fixes that will have little to do with the actual problem, and hope irrationally that prices will eventually collapse.
Oil Graft
Don't get me wrong. The energy companies certainly hold their share of the blame. They should have made us aware of this problem years ago and taken steps to help everyone prepare for it. They should be honest with us now.
The oil majors are certainly capitalizing on the current situation. The oil market is poised to take full advantage of rising oil prices.
One casual observation is enough to drive home this point. I have a friend who owns a music store situated next to a gas station. He has sat in his store and watched the gas station raise prices twice in one day, though no tanker has delivered fresh gasoline to the station. He has watched the gas station raise its prices just as rush hour traffic was beginning to hurry home in the afternoon.
There is no other business where the price of current stock is raised because of future speculation. As my friend says, if the price of guitar strings goes up, he does not reprice what he has on the shelf. He sells his stock at the same price and raises the price when he reorders.
However, you cannot place too much of the blame directly on the oil companies. They are simply being model businessmen. If the oil business is at fault, then it is a fault of the free market, and it will only be resolved by nationalizing the industry.
The Situation in a Nutshell
So our elected leaders and our business leaders are going to point fingers at each other and whine without doing anything to really solve the problem. That should be a granted.
We have uninformed leaders operating from selfish hidden motivations. We have experts who worship in the temple of a false god. We have a media that is compromised to the point that it cannot be expected to honestly inform. And we have an uninformed, undereducated public, living in a frame of reference that keeps them easily misled and even easier to manipulate.
What we are seeing is the beginning of the spoiled brat rebellion, while potential leaders vie for a position to take full advantage of that rebellion.
Because the current rise in prices is largely due to speculation, there may very well be a collapse in prices somewhere in the future. And should that happen, there will be a chorus of disinformation claiming it is proof that peak oil is a myth. And the majority of the public will return to their somnolent lifestyles.
Or prices may remain high until world oil production does actually begin to decline, at which point a bad situation will become much worse.
You can be sure, however, there is some critical price at which the system will collapse. This will happen when oil reaches a price too high for business to continue. I can't tell you what that critical price is, I can only ask: how high must gasoline prices go before you have to park your car and stop driving?
We can get some idea of what the climbing price of gasoline will mean for each of us.
Gasoline Prices and You
According to the US Census Bureau, the median income per household member (including all working and non-working members above the age of 14) was $26,036 in 2006.(1) This breaks down to about $72 per day.
According to the Bureau of Traffic Statistics, people in the US travel about 40 miles per day outside of their commute to work.(2) Elsewhere, we find the average work commute to be about 16 miles one way.(3) Another source suggests that men of working age travel an average of 18,000 miles per year by car, while women of working age travel only 10,000 miles per year.(4) For simplicity, let's accept the 18,000 figure for men and women. That is then broken down to 50 miles per day. Considering that gasoline prices have already acted to limit non-occupational travel, lets accept the figure of 50 miles per day as representative of current driving averages.
Data on average gas mileage varies considerably. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates average gas mileage of cars sold in the US in 2004 to be 24.7 miles per gallon.(5) Many of the vehicles on the road are older than 2004 models, and even most 2004 or newer models have declined in fuel economy since their purchase. Furthermore, as nearly half of all consumer road vehicles in the US are "light trucks", the average gas mileage is probably closer to 17 miles per gallon.(6) However, we will go with the 24.7 mpg figure for the sake of this discussion.
Given that the average person in the US earns $72 per day, and drives an average of 50 miles per day with a fuel economy of 24.7 (or 25) miles per gallon, we can generate a table to explore how much of a bite rising fuel prices will take out of daily income.
At $4 per gallon, gasoline consumption will take 11% of daily income. It is expected that gasoline prices might rise above $6 per gallon by the end of summer. Such an increase would require 17% of daily income to meet gas needs. The percentage of income spent on gasoline climbs over 20% as we approach $8 per gallon. And a price of $12 per gallon would eat up fully a third of the average income. Half of the average income would disappear into the gas tank at $18 per gallon. And at $36 per gallon there would be nothing left of the average income.
Now, let us bear in mind that this average income is a median. That means half of the population earns less than that amount. The rise in gasoline prices will have a much more drastic effect on this half of the population. To see how it will affect them, let's look at the minimum wage.
The current federal minimum wage for covered nonexempt employees is $5.85 per hour. That works out to just under $47 per day, or $17,155 per year. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2004 there were 520,000 people earning the minimum wage in that year, and another 1.5 million people earning less than minimum wage.(7) Let's see how these 2.02 million people will fare with rising gasoline prices.
This portion of the population is already spending at least 17% of their wages on gasoline. By the end of summer, they could be spending over a quarter of their income on gasoline. And, at $12 per gallon, they will spend more than half of their income putting gas into their vehicle.
I can think of nothing better to demonstrate what a travesty is our current minimum wage. For those who argue that a rise in the minimum wage will hurt employers, I point out that as gasoline prices rise, the minimum wage will literally amount to a slave wage. It will not be long before no one can afford to take a job for minimum wage.
Both of the above charts also point out what an insult is the Bush tax rebate. At $4 per gallon, this rebate amounts to enough gasoline to meet average driving demands for 75 days. Or 50 days at $6 per gallon. For those who only receive $300 in their tax rebate – that is, for the minimum wage earners, Bush is offering to subsidize their gasoline for 38 days at $4 per gallon, or 25 days at $6 per gallon. It would be better to apply this money to the record budget deficits resulting from Bush's illegal wars.
As gasoline prices increase people will have to take money from some other part of their family budget to pay their gas expenses. The following chart contains the Bureau of Labor Statistics average US cost of living statistics.(8) The dollar figures are from a suggested yearly income of $30,850.64.(9) This figure is much higher than the census bureau's median income.
We can see that these figures do not take into account the current surge in gasoline prices. Motor fuel has already grown to twice the percentage listed here. And as that figure continues to climb, it will usurp other expenses, starting with Recreation and Other Goods and Services. Next it will displace Household furnishings and operation, Education and Communication, and then Medical Care and Apparel.
Note that these percentages are for average income families. For those below average income, the percentage spent on Housing and Food must be higher, while the percentage spent on Recreation and Other goods and services must be lower. Lower income families are probably already running into a choice between gasoline, housing and food.
Also bear in mind that as oil prices go up, so does everything else. Food prices are already climbing, in large part due to the price of oil. Food, Motor Fuel and all other commodities in this budget are becoming large constrictors squeezing the life out of the average household.
Look over these tables, compare them with your own income and consider what the rising price of gasoline will mean for you. And try to answer this question for yourself: at what price will you no longer be able to drive to work?
What are We to Do?
Whether this current period of oil speculation ends in a price crash or not, eventually declining oil production will kick in, and it will drive prices toward the high end of the above tables. At some point you will be faced with the choice: do I eat today or put gas in my car?
Here is my suggestion: sell all of your vehicles. Buy a subcompact, along with one or two motor scooters, and bicycles for everyone in your family. Use the motor scooters and the bicycles for most of your commuting. Use the subcompact only when your family is traveling long distance, or when you need to transport something.
Beyond this, we must push for the development of a real mass transportation system. Europe and Japan have monorails, so should we. For just a fraction of our current military budget, we could have a monorail system knitting this entire country together. Such a project would benefit homeland security more than the so-called "War on Terror." If we do not develop a decent mass transportation system, we will all suffer for it in the end.
Also, lobby your local government and businesses to redesign your community so that the groceries and other commodities you need are only a walk away. Grow your own food and start community gardens. And lobby to raise the minimum wage to a living wage that takes into account rising gasoline prices.
Ron Paul is not the Man
by
Dale Allen Pfeiffer
December 28th, 2007 (www.mountainsentinel.com) Ron Paul is not the man for me. Trusting an unregulated free market is like trusting a ravenous beast to watch over your children.
Certainly, the system we have is not working. Certainly we have to stop the imperialist conquest of the Middle East. Certainly we have to do something about the immigration problem. Certainly we have to find a better way to end inequality, be it racial or economic.
But simply cutting government oversight, adopting an isolationist policy and adhering to an unfettered free market philosophy will not solve any of these problems.
The current imperialist conquest of the Middle East is simply a new stage in the US-led conquest of the world. This is a conquest that began when the first Europeans set foot in America. It began with the conquest of the American Indians. The foundation of the empire was forged with slave labor and the sweat of an exploited working class.
Once North America was conquered its resources were used to consolidate its position as the preeminent power in the world. In the last century, that power was used to extort the wealth of the rest of the world. This stolen wealth made the US what it is. It made the American Dream a possibility, while impoverishing the rest of the world to do so.
Now we are entering a new era of contracting resources, even as our corporate overlords reach for a new global power base. So we must ensure our hold over the world's remaining resources through military might. We are trying to squeeze a little more room to grow, even as an economy predicated on constant growth begins to falter.
It is no wonder that foreigners are flooding this country, when we have stripped the resources from their homelands. Closing our borders will not solve this problem, no more than the drug war solve the ongoing flood of illegal drugs.
Likewise, segregation and other affirmative action policies of the mid-1900s do not work. Or to restate that, they achieved just as little as they were meant to do. A small portion of the black population was bought off, while others were told that they could aspire to the American Dream. Meanwhile the largest segment of the black population, which would have been subject to radical aspirations in its disenchantment with the system, was kept oppressed by the criminal justice system.
Much the same can be said for the working class reforms of the early 20th century. Their true success was in breaking the back of working class solidarity and resistance. They built a complacent class to stand as a buffer against worker dissatisfaction. By the mid-century any change of organizing a radical alternative was expunged from the political landscape. Generations of ignorant consumer sheep have been bred since.
If we would truly solve all of these problems, then first we must undertake a massive redistribution of wealth. The descendents of the American Indians and the descendents of the slaves are still owed restitution. The poor of the world are owed restitution. And the US working class is owed restitution. The playing field the whole world around must be leveled off. Only then can we talk about what system is to be put in place of the current failing and abusive system.
The US is only major power opposed to the UN Declaration of Human Rights. This declaration recognizes the right of every human being to food, clothing, housing and economic security. The US has long stood virtually alone in its opposition to this declaration because the recognition of such rights simply is not possible under the system of exploitation that we call the free market.
Without a doubt, Ron Paul will not sign the UN Declaration of Human Rights. Nor will he make any reforms or restitutions that will help to absolve the long standing inequalities and injustices mentioned earlier in this essay. What he will do is finish the work of George Bush and his predecessors, transforming the US into a fascist land where money rules absolutely.
Our Masters, Ourselves
by
Dale Allen Pfeiffer
This article originally appeared at carolynbaker.net.
Corrupt beyond Redemption
2/11/07 (www.mountainsentinel.com) Those of us living in the US live in a fascist system, right now, today. We live in a system where powerful corporations call the shots, both nationally and globally. They do this beneath a façade of democracy, a façade that has grown exceedingly thin. And every day they come closer and closer to allowing this façade to drop.
It should be quite plain by now that our government does not heed the public mandate. They have not stopped the war in Iraq, they have not moved to impeach Bush and Cheney, they refuse to discuss a working solution to global warming, and they will do nothing about outsourcing, capital flight and impoverishment of the US working class.
Yet activists in the peace, environmental and labor movements continue to lobby the government for change. We are content to wait until the next presidential election and replace the incumbents of one crooked party with the candidates of another crooked party. Yet no election is going to make the slightest bit of difference in solving the problems with which we are faced.
Our politicians are bought off. Most of them are members of the privileged class to start with, and once they leave office they will go to work for the very firms they should now be attempting to regulate. The move to privatize has reached critical mass; we have sold off our infrastructure and our vital government services to corporations — worse than sold, we have handed these things over while promising to subsidize their ownership with taxpayer's dollars. The privatization mania has gone to the point that we have now largely privatized our military and police services to private firms whose first loyalty is clearly not to the US public.
The building of a fascist system within the façade of democracy has been in progress for a long time. It can be traced back to the days of the Great Depression and even further. The move towards fascism accelerated in the 1970s and particularly in the 1980s. Privatization, outsourcing, labor and environmental deregulation, mergers and in particular media monopolies have all been tools in producing this transformation. Global trade agreements consolidated fascist power throughout the world, while formalizing the supremacy of international corporations over federal governments.
By the turn of the century, the advance of fascism had reached the point that corporations and political lackeys in the Bush administration could act with impunity, openly trashing the US Constitution and the Geneva Conventions while making jokes about it. What previous administrations used to do in secret, the Bush administration does in the open, and then grants itself immunity from future prosecution.
And now Bush has granted himself the power to abrogate the constitution and suspend elections through the declaration of martial law. He can do this for any perceived threat, whether it involves terrorism, economic crisis, environmental catastrophe, or social upheaval. Soon even the trappings of democracy will become unnecessary, and the US public will find themselves living in a repressive police state without any of the freedoms and protections from abuse that we have for so long taken for granted.
None of our elected officials wish to repair these breeches in our governmental system. Instead, they are all lining up to profit from them. Instead of taking up the public mandate, they are vying with each other to feed at the corporate troughs and assume the mantle of fascist dictator.
The Shame of Our Flag
The United States is the power behind world repression. Since World War Two we have made it our policy to support the corporate exploitation of resources and populations the world over, so long as the bulk of those riches flowed into the US to maintain US consumption and economic growth.
The US is the leading producer of greenhouse gasses. Yet the US is the one country that has refused to do anything about them. It is the top consumer of world resources, consuming at a level far exceeding the carrying capacity of the environment. As such, the US is largely responsible for resource depletion and mass extinction.
Yet even our gluttonous over-consumption is not enough to sustain economic growth. So we have turned to juggling bubbles of debt. The public is told that it is their patriotic duty to consume, consume, consume, even as their adjusted income continues to shrink. To fulfill our patriotic duty, we take out second and third mortgages, and we max out credit cards. Our debts are then repackaged and sold off as investments.
Now these bubbles are becoming unmanageable. Foreign investors, the other pillar of our economy, are beginning to divest themselves of the US dollar. A major economic crash is imminent, a crash that could make the Great Depression pale in comparison. Once this crash is complete, plans are already in place to replace the US dollar with the North American Amero, to establish the supremacy of the North American Union over the federal governments of the US, Canada and Mexico, and to keep the public in line through the establishment of a repressive police state.
Meanwhile the US Empire and the conquest of the rest of the world will continue. Under the guise of fighting a war on terror, we have assumed the right to attack any country we wish through so-called pre-emptive strikes. We can imprison anyone anywhere indefinitely, without filing formal charges. And we can use any amount of force necessary, even torture.
The country we live in has become a fascist empire. Our government and our corporations have joined together to commit crimes against humanity and crimes against the planet. If allowed to go on, all of us will suffer — all of us but our elite masters. That is, if their insane greed does not destroy this planet's ability to support complex life.
Something has to be done to stop this madness, the sooner the better. And that goal will not be achieved by voting, writing letters to our congresspeople, or marching on the capitol. Our only recourse to prevent the unthinkable is a major uprising.
Disinformation & Complacency
Right now, we simply cannot stage a successful uprising within the US. Those of us who are aware of the many issues I mentioned above are reaching the point where we know an uprising is necessary. But we do not have the numbers to pull it off. If we were to attempt such an uprising right now, they would simply round us up. If enough of us rose up, it would give them an excuse to declare martial law, formalizing their fascist dictatorship.
There are simply too few of us at this point. For each of us who recognizes the necessity of a mass uprising, how many people do we know who are unaware of the impending crises that we are facing? How many are somewhat aware, but think that these problems will be solved for us? How many still think that all we have to do is petition our elected leaders or vote the scoundrels out of power?
The public is uninformed. They do not know what crimes the government has committed and is committing under our names. They do not know what major crises are bearing down on us. They do not know that democracy is dead in the US and we live in a fascist system. They do not know this because the media they are exposed to does not discuss these things.
Our media conglomerates are part and parcel of the fascist system we live under. They will not permit an honest discussion of the problems we are facing. Or, if they allow such a discussion, then they will keep it framed in a fashion that supports the fascist system.
The majority of US citizens believe we invaded Iraq because Saddam Hussein was involved in 9-11. The war was necessary to fight terrorism. Sure Bush was wrong about the weapons of mass destruction, and his administration has fumbled this war all along. But we had to invade Iraq to fight the terrorists.
Back up. Who ever said that war was the way to solve the problem of terrorism in the first place? Terrorism is a problem for law enforcement. You hunt the terrorists down, you arrest them, you place them on trial and if they are found guilty you hold them culpable for their crimes. Then you resolve the problems of repression and desperation that give birth to terrorists in the first place. You do not declare war against other countries, using war (which is state terrorism) to increase the level of repression and desperation, breading more terrorists.
This is just one example. Where the media does allow discussion, it first establishes a framework that supports the overarching goals of the fascist system. And once the discussion is over, it lulls the public back into a stupor by moving on to sitcoms, cop shows, sporting events, OJ Simpson and Brittany Spears.
So if we are going to stop this madness, we need to begin talking to the people around us, helping them to understand the situation we are in. This can be a long process, depending on how far each person is sunk into denial and complacency. Talk to them, give them information, answer their rebuttals, but do not put too much pressure on them at one time. Let them digest what you have said and work through it for themselves. And move on with your argument when you perceive that they are ready for more.
Currently the US population is too complacent to stage a mass uprising. We have it too easy. To some extent or other, we are insulated from the problem. We have been co-opted by our own consumption and our 401k's. The media keeps us insulated from the real world, and the system keeps us comfortable.
But that is beginning to change. People are being squeezed tighter and tighter by the economy and corporate greed. Rising energy prices due to declining energy supply will have a growing impact on our lives from here on out. Life in the US is going to become increasingly uncomfortable from now on.
Talk to people about their discomfort, help them to understand how this relates to the world at large, the avarice of our corporations and the treachery of our political system. Minorities such as Blacks, Hispanics and American Indians are already well aware that we live in a police state. Reach out to them. The poor are well aware of how unfair our system is. Reach out to them. Yet be aware that the disaffected are already being preached to by media mouthpieces and by religious fundamentalists. But every day more and more people become aware that something is wrong. Reach out to them.
Drawing Momentum from the Crash
Oil has already peaked. Production began declining in 2006, and is now diminishing at a rate of 7% per year. The latest studies show that natural gas, coal and uranium will soon follow. (Steep decline in oil production brings risk of war and unrest, says new study. The Guardian, October 22nd, 2007.)
What, you mean you hadn't heard?
Overall, energy prices are going to keep going up. And as the price of energy goes up so will everything else. At some point, the economy will crash. Hunger will become a problem all over the world, even in once prosperous nations such as the US.
Global Environmental Outlook 4 has just been released. This is a publication of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) produced by 390 experts using data compiled over the last two decades. They warn that we must act now to safeguard our own survival and the survival of future generations. (
