The Amish should be left alone. To them, our entire civilization is a speculative bubble set to burst.

... What I wonder about is the whole concept of the "dollar collapse." You have to kind of shift your perspective a little, but the U.S. is in many ways like a host and every nation with which the U.S. has a trade deficit is a parasite. The parasite lives by taking more from the host than it returns to it. If, however, the parasite ever gets the idea that it can make it without the host, it finds that a finely equipped parasite can make a very poor stand-alone organism.

Why would other nations want the dollar to collapse if the stability of the U.S. economy is what the stability of their own economies depend upon?

Since all currencies trade in relation to one another, if the dollar "collapses" that must mean that there will be other currencies that will survive and one or more of which will become the new world reserve currency. Think of all the other world currencies right now--which one could replace the dollar? Which one would want to? All I see right now is ALL governments racing to devalue their currencies as quickly as possible to counter deflationary forces. The strong Japanese yen is killing Japan because it's making it impossible for them to export anything.

But I think this Faustian business is exactly what is driving us toward hell. To be clear, I'm not saying that there should be absolutely no new infrastructure. But it should be approached cautiously and modestly, always with the emphasis on downsizing, conservation and doing without.

It is virtually certain, though, that franticness will prevail.

People are NOT giving him 100% of the total blame, its just that 100% of what he did was wrong.

I agree these people are suffering from a lack of imagination, but it's almost impossible to be imaginative once you've become depressed. I'm hoping everyone is now starting to think about what kind of changes might come upon them in their life situations, and what "proactive" changes they can make. I think, however, most people just go along in their daily lives assuming nothing will change (certainly not for the worse) and so they never even contemplate, let alone take steps, about ways they can direct that change themselves.

I personally would steer well clear of time wasting green politics, naive self-sufficiency, flakey far right corporate bumchums and blowhard survivalism.

Go read Karl Marx, understand your enemy: the way he thinks and maneouvres cos you my young brother, will one day be fighting them on the streets and in the trenches whilst us older doffers are fading out with our organic leather sandals, combat fatigues, zen navel gazing and stacks of cans of beans.

edited.

There is no perfect solution, including renewable energy. Wind and solar power are a great direction when compared with coal, but they can cause environmental problems of their own - which means they should be approached with all the wisdom and care we did not use with our store of hydrocarbons. There is no way the flows of the natural world can replace all the loss from hydrocarbon depletion and allow us to continue the party - looking for "green" ways to continue an insane consumption level is a contradiction. Our switch to renewable energy sources must be accompanied by a reduction in consumption, and with full regard for all the environmental consequences we can identify, and every effort made to minimize or eliminate them. Or it will all end in sorrow. At this late hour, there is no solution we can find for our gluttony that will not cause more problems for us. Perhaps that's been true for a while now. But it's becoming more apparent all the time, isn't it?

Shouldn't it be member quotes, and not member chapters. I would think having to scroll to read something, really takes away from it.

This one of coyotes is perhaps a little long?

Yes, usually a shorter one is preferred, such as: 'I want my mommy', or, 'I give up' ... something short, crisp, and to-the-point, as we generally offer everyone in the MQ section.

But in this case, which is clearly an exception as everyone here knows, a few more words were used because our dear friend coyote offered something unusually brilliant. And it's very poor taste to edit and hack at something that delicious.

So ... I invite you to ponder up something shorter for the next one.

I blame the Israeli government, but I love the jews!!!

Fat people serve as a good source of heat. The oily substance comprising their systems can be burnt to heat a small home for days.

I was really happy while I bought my new Honda generator yesterday. It seems strange that my happiest consumer moments are when I am buying stuff that prepares me for the collapse of civilization.

Almost without exception all people believe (in both their personal and professional capacities) that growth has positive social and economic value. It is absolutely true that faith in endless growth (in a finite world) is the foundation of all our social, religious, and scientific constructs. It is our reigning paradigm.

That this is completely illogical in the face of planetary declines seems not to have bothered people in the least. Read Collapse by Jared Diamond to see how entire cultures can delude themselves into believing the cause of their problems can also be the solution.

This also means that the scary halflife model is the best case scenario.

Being a Rambo tends to have acutely negative medical consequences.

The past two hundred years we have become masters at moving beyond the petri dish and have become habituated to this to the point that it has become normal. Today we have the most people on the planet who have come to feel entitled to this never ending exponential growth.....just at the point we have run out of sinks. Cultural transformation away from this mindset in the 21st century? You bet.