A Movement Prepares: Goodbye, Limitless Oil. Hello, Primitive Dystopia.

[Chuck]

“Our whole economy depends on greater and greater energy supplies, and that just isn’t possible.”

John Leland - NYTIMES - June 5, 2010

In the video, check out the energy monitor. --Ed.

As oil continued to pour into the Gulf of Mexico on a recent Saturday, Jennifer Wilkerson spent three hours on the phone talking about life after petroleum.

For Mrs. Wilkerson, 33, a moderate Democrat from Oakton, Va., who designs computer interfaces, the spill reinforced what she had been obsessing over for more than a year — that oil use was outstripping the world’s supply. She worried about what would come after: maybe food shortages, a collapse of the economy, a breakdown of civil order. Her call was part of a telephone course about how to live through it all.... [Read More]

[xcel]

Hi Chuck:

Good stuff but I have to wonder what Mrs. Wilkerson drive s let alone how she drives. In addition, we (the US) have a bunch of Shale Oil but it is an environmental nightmare to get at it. In addition, it is not ours, it will be the highest bidders including Asia and Europe.

Good Luck

Wayne

[jimepting]

I too see this coming at some point. It is pretty much inevitable. But, I think it is a progressive thing and doesn't happen all at once. Of course, there are several side factors which could make the timescale shorter or longer for us in the U.S. The most notible factor in my mind is the soundness of the currency. At the moment we are pretty much wrecking the value of our paper currency. So, the time scale for us depends somewhat on how long the Chinese and Indians will be willing to hold or exchange anything for paper dollars.

Since we live in a global economy, I see the deminishing supply of oil going to the highest bidder in REAL monitary terms. Since the "stated" value of various monitary vehicles is subject to a lot of politics, the "real" value can take a while to reveal itself.

One thing is relatively sure, and this trend is already obvious in the shifting price of oil, is that any strong recovery from our current economic mess will be limited by increasing energy prices. Therefore, I think we are already stuck at the current or lower level of economic activity. Economic growth, the vehicle of increasing living standards in the post WWII period, is a thing of the past. We in the west could have managed better, but there is little hope that we can learn and adapt - especially when the populace is glued to reality shows on TV :-(