You are here: Home / Archives for Economy

Interview: James Howard Kunstler

By December 1, 2010
James Howard Kunstler.

In the peak oil community, converts to the predicament tend to gravitate toward a figure who tells the story in a way that makes sense for them. Whether it's the measured and scholarly caution of Richard Heinberg, the "I've been there" stories of a Dmitry Orlov, the hopeful glean of Rob Hopkins, or the addled sense of a lax (or complicit) government pointed out by Michael Ruppert, followers have their faves. In that vein, I have to admit that I'm firmly a Kunstlerite. I first really heard … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: , , , ,

Distance costs money: Interview with Jeff Rubin

By December 1, 2010
oil barrels

Among the many compelling speakers at the Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO-USA) conference in Washington, DC this October, only a few gave keynote addresses to the attendees. Jeff Rubin, former chief economist at CIBC World Markets and author of Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization, was among that elite. His talk, "Oil and the End of Globalization" hinged on a few key points. One of the most compelling, a refrain he returned to again … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: , , ,

Nicole Foss extended interview

By December 1, 2010
Nicole Foss

Editor's Note: Last month we presented an interview with Nicole Foss that arose from our having met her at the ASPO conference. Contributor Helen Loughrey took that assignment and presented a very readable short interview with Foss, aka Stoneleigh, the co-editor at The Automatic Earth. This month we present the full but unedited version of that interview. Go get a cuppa Joe, and settle in. It takes a while to read. But we think Foss fans will find it worth it. Loughrey: Of the three storms … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: , ,

Zero-sum game

By November 26, 2010
Buy Nothing Day Poster

When I was in college in Richmond, Virginia, there was a fabulous little hole in the wall of a bookshop called Carriage House Books. It's still there, near the campus, and just as cozy. Carriage House always welcomed browsers, even though it was crowded, pokey, and tiny. If you were particularly lucky you could snag one of those library-style step stools, blend in to a corner, and settle in for a good chapter from Sons and Lovers or Netochka Nezvanova. The waft of tea and incense could keep … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: , , , , , ,

I wish the British were coming

By November 18, 2010
British redcoats

America may need a British invasion to get an energy policy that will take us through peak oil. These days, the British seem to know better than we do when it comes to energy. So maybe they can help us out this time, as they have in the past. Fortunately, America has always been an Anglophile nation. Even if we chafed under their Crown, we did buy their culture. There's nothing we trust more than a BBC accent. The Beatles triumphed where two centuries earlier Lord Cornwallis had surrendered. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: , , , , , ,

So much depends on a wheelbarrow

By November 1, 2010
"Checkout," © 1986, oil on canvas, 24x30 inches. Collection of Thomas Humphrey, Jr., Midlothian, VA

Disclaimer: The following has all been said before, more eloquently, factually, persistently and presciently by others. But living with these thoughts is certainly new to me. I wonder, once you've peered through the peak-oil lens, can you ever be truly, blithely carefree or happy again? I guess it requires the sort of psychological doubling wherein you lead your normal day-to-day physical and mental life unconscious of the immense damage that your actions and society's deeds have caused, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: , , , ,

Peak oil prep is a growth industry

By November 1, 2010
Andre Angelantoni meets a fellow beneficiary of the peak oil economy.

As shocking as the inevitable end of cheap energy may be, fortunately there's plenty of jobs being created to address it. Just take this snazzy looking guy to your left, all dressed up in a Chicken Little costume for a day job hawking an anti-peak oil message in front of the recent Association for the Study of Peak Oil conference in Washington D.C.. Whomever hired that hen pecker sure must think it's a worthwhile investment to pay a guy to distribute lit denouncing peak oil. Hmmm, wonder what … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: , , , , ,

Deflated, economy in decline: a talk with Nicole Foss

By November 1, 2010
Nicole Foss.

Financial blogger Nicole Foss is the co-editor of The Automatic Earth, writing under the nom de plume Stoneleigh. Foss formerly ran the Agri-Energy Producers' Association of Ontario, where she focused on farm-based biogas and renewable energy. She recently spoke at the ASPO-USA conference in Washington DC and afterwards took questions on her ASPO presentation, "The Post-Peak Economy." Loughrey:  Of the three storms threatening our modern way of life—peak oil, climate change, and economic … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: , , ,

Double-plus-down-up economy

By October 1, 2010
Crumpled dollar bill

If all economists were laid end to end, they [still] would not reach a conclusion. - George Bernard Shaw The Transition Movement focuses a whole lot on energy and environment; but it doesn’t pay as much attention to economics.  Perhaps it's because economists never seem to agree. For years, economists have variously: declared an economic recession; denied that any recession existed; admitted in hindsight that a recession had been happening after all; claimed to observe signs of a green … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: , ,

Lies, damned lies, and statistics

By October 1, 2010
dartboard

Oil, gold, and other stuff of value What self-respecting publication talking about energy and the economy could resist having a few charts? While the books are certainly cooked on many statistics these days, from unemployment to the money supply, these price charts are pretty straightforward. Enjoy! … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: , ,