Peak Oil: Will Removing Bush, Inc. Change America?

[TennesseeWalker]

First off, I've thought a lot about America under President Bush. I'm a strong Al Gore supporter, and I mourned for him and for America when Florida was "settled". However, I really thought that things would be all right under Bush. I saw him as a bonny Prince, unsuited for ruling the Empire. Visions of a one-term, media-hobbled Presidency danced through my head, with very little change coming from a pampered legacy pledge with no mandate.

Well, after nearly four years of his reign,I admit I didn't have a clue as to what was really going on in America. I started reading about Peak Oil a couple of years ago, and it really makes all the dots connect.

I've heard Bush refer to himself as "America's CEO". I believe him when he says that. This country is being run just like a corporation that is about to fail. When a CEO knows there's trouble, he/she either merges his company with another, OR he/she crashes it and liquidates its assets.

Fast crashes are seen as better in the long run for failing companies. What's happening to the good old USA right now seems just like a controlled corporate collapse due to the World Oil Peak.

Some believe Peak Oil has already hit home, and we're now seeing the tip of the iceberg in a struggle for industrial nation survival. Check out a couple of links for a primer on Peak Oil:

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/

http://www.museletter.com

Removing Bush alone won't save our idea of America. Jimmy Carter was the last president who tried to change the American People's lifestyle, and look what they did to him for his trouble. Does any democratic contender have what it takes to force this issue into the mainstream?

Regardless of political beliefs, this issue MUST be debated before things get any worse. America and other industrialized nations must change their ways or face an unthinkable fate. Many believe that fate is inescapble, including, I believe, the people currently in charge of America, Inc.

This should be a major debate topic in the USA, but it doesn't compare to the Jackson Family or Brittany Spears. It transcends party, affiliation, race, creed or family. Our leaders should be discussing this in the open, and we SHOULD be listening.

[starroute]

1. Our leaders should be discussing this, but they aren't and can't

This is why empires fall. They get so locked into whatever made them great that they lack the will to change. The have to either collapse, be defeated in war, or at the very least decline while more flexible societies around them advance, before change becomes possible.

For at least a century (I think it may go back to H.G. Wells), various people have been suggesting that given an adequate knowledge-base, technological expertise, and democratic institutions, it should be possible for societies to actually foresee problems on the horizon and react to them before they happen.

Unfortunately, I don't see much ability to apply any of those things in the US today. We're rapidly becoming stupider, less democratic, and technologically more dependent on others. If you wanted to come up with a formula to make sure American society would collapse rather than reforming itself, you couldn't do better.

I really fear that we're going to go the way of Rome or the Ottomans, and my only hope is that the rest of the world will come through without a crippling level of damage.

[Karenina]

2. Cutting the *puppet strings

is only the first inportant step. The *cabal he fronts for is entrenched and vicious. Try as I may, I cannot imagine the ouster being pretty.

[stepnw1f]

3. I am very scared now!

[JohnyCanuck]

4. I think politicians are scared of this issue.

I sent an email a few months go to the Canadian PM, the Finance Minister, the Minister of Energy, my MP and each of the leaders of the Canadian opposition parties in parliament. In the email I politely brought up the issue of Peak Oil and gave some links to various web sites dealing with Peak Oil and asked if they were investigating the Peak Oil issue and/or considering in their planning how our economy and society would have to evolve to accommodate the changes that would be forced onto us by a coming peak in world oil production.

In the past whenever I sent an email to any Canadian politician as long as I included my mailing address in the email I would get some type of official letter in the mail thanking me for my submission and giving me some type of official response to my concerns. In some cases of course, it's nothing more than a polite brush off, but at least they still acknowledge in writing that I have raised an issue or concern and they are now aware of my position on the matter (even if they don't intend to do much about it), e.g. We appreciate hearing your concerns. We're always glad to hear what our constituents are thinking. We'll certainly take it under advisement. Thanks for writing. La di da etc.

In the case of the Peak Oil email I got one response from the Progressive Conservative Party leader by return email indicating he was forwarding the email to his party's energy critic for investigation and a response. I heard nothing more after that and since then the Progressive Conservative party has been dissolved and incorporated into the new Conservative Party of Canada.

Maybe it's time I email again and this time I'll be sure to request that they send an official response.

[kalian]

5. They can't discuss this in the open....

its too dangerous and the vested interests would feel "threatened".
The thing is, America is going to have to face reality once and for
all that it cannot live its current lifestyle while the rest of
the world, including such wealthy places as Europe and certain
Asian countries, lives a much more "realisitic" energy lifestyle.

Unfortunately, the changes are already underway and its only going
to get worse. Many people are just thinking, "Its not my problem,
so why should I stop driving my SUV, etc. Let my kids worry about
it when the time comes."
I have coworkers who state this rather matter of factly and it shocks
me given that we don't know when peak oil will hit us. Peak oil has
already happened and its effects are starting to appear...and will
continue to worsen. To think that tomorrow some secret, magic remedy
will pop up on the news telling us that we no longer have to worry
about the looming energy crisis, is absurd. We have to start NOW...
actually...yesterday...

This is VERY serious folks, since energy is this country's lifeline.
Once it becomes too expensive...then its all over...

[Minstrel Boy]

6. "This country is being run just like a corporation that is about to fail"

Very well said.

Peak oil really does connect all the dots. Let's see your Energy Task Force papers, Mr Cheney.

It SHOULD be a major topic of serious debate, but I wonder whether American society is capable of holding such a thing anymore.

The true nature of the Bush/Cheney resource war will not be revealed to Americans until the truth of peak oil registers. At which time, pretense will no longer be necessary.

[brokensymmetry]

7. We should all be discussing it...

but, in all seriousness, I'm wondering if we can do anything to stop the crash. I tend towards the analogy of a large SUV (a Hummer?) going down an ice covered dwonhill road at 90 mph. If we apply the breaks, we're in big trouble. If we don't, we're in big trouble.

Consider...we have a gigantic debt, as a nation, among our corporations, and as individuals. We assume - as individuals and as a group (the government) that revenues tomorrow will be as large or larger tomorrow than it is today. If that isn't true, the debt cannot be serviced, and it's bankruptcy all 'round. The Soviet Union's defacto national bankrupcty destroyed all private savings, and effectively eliminated pensions. Could it happen here? Well, the dollar is down a lot against the Euro...and, after a brief rally, the dollar is down some more.

Could we strengthen the dollar? Sure, we increase interest rates. Which will crash an already weak economy. And, given the 6.5 Trillion dollar debt, if interest rates increase, the cost of debt service goes up too.

We're going to face issues with more than just fuel, and more than just jobs. The world cannot begin to feed itself without fertilizer and pesticide produced by oil. The US might be able to feed itself, but we can forget the selection of fresh foods we all enjoy - transportation will become too expensive to support it.

So, if this is true (hey, I'd love to be told I'm wrong!), I wonder - is America ready to hear this? Are WE? :scared:

[the_real_38]

8. Peak Oil may not happen until after 2010....

... that's the date the Uppsala group set, and the one which conforms to the simple math. It may be possible to stem the time and lessent the (vast) damage when it gets here, but not if we re-elect Bush. At least Kerry has a plan to do alternative energy research and implementation - Bush is still slapping backs with his oil buddies.

But we're definitely going to see some dystopia scenes - buy a bicycle , and keep those legs in shape!

[Jose Diablo]

9. We better get started on some real solutions soon

Or we will all be walking. And there will only be about 10% of us left, if we are lucky.

The money/energy we have expended on this Iraq war would have installed some pretty large solar collector arrays. It would have been a start.

I view it like this. We have so much energy left and we can either use it to build some other energy sources or we can use it for attempting to control a ever smaller supply of fossil fuels. It looks like the powers to be would rather spend the energy on the latter.

In the end, the oil will dry-up.

Unless we plan for this, the world-wide civilization we have now will cease. A lot of people will die and our great grand children will revert back to a living mankind hasn't seen for thousands of years.

If mankind is lucky that is. The crash could kill so many, that only a handful would survive, then its a toss of the dice if disease kills the rest.

Peak oil is real. It is not if, but when.

[Old and In the Way]

10. It is the quintessential issue facing America.

The Republican vision has our National Security = Energy Policy = Oil. That means more war and more American blood spilled, an erosion of the US world image, and still not facing the coming reality. Great politics and financial benefit to the Republicans, but at the expense of this country.

The Democratic vision should confront this reality head on and use this problem to drive an evolutionary change in this country. This problem of oil scarcity presents an opportunity to reinvent America, create a whole new public/private investment in developing decentralized alternative energy, newe technologies, and create a huge jobs reinvestment as the infrastructure is rebuilt to accommodate this change in our core energy policy.

[stepnw1f]

11. Just an idea..

We could try to adopt other notions of economy. That would be good place to start, however its just a dream I suppose (Utopia). It seems like we have the technology and know-how to help taper the destructive results, yet that...that word, ECONOMY...keeps getting in the way! It's gonna be a moment of truth. Are we stupid enough to live in an economy or are we wise enough to change? The most powerful people in the world who basically make all the important decisions for us are only powerful because we allow them to be.

[Jose Diablo]

12. The powerful people have already made their decision

They want a massive controlled die-off then a reversion to Feudalism as the economic system with themselves in control naturally. That is the plan today.

[TennesseeWalker]

14. Exactly. Reversion to Feudalism and autocratic control.

That's been the solution in the past. Tax cuts for the rich, repeal of the estate tax, a growing wage gap, etc. all give the currently powerful a huge advantage if civilization starts to take a downward spiral.

John Edward's "Two Americas" speech means more than maybe even HE knows. It could get much worse. We may need to begin preparations for a crisis of Great Depression proportions, at the least.

[Old and In the Way]

17. You have to ask yourself why an administration so politically tied

to oil could possibly be looking out for the best interests of this country. They turned a $400BB surplus into $500BB deficits. In so doing, they have made it impossible for the government to make structural changes in our energy policy.

But that can change. Democrats should lay it out. Taxes on the wealthiest will be reinstituted and the surplus will go to progressive solutions to wean us out of oil, develop new energy technologies, and re-energize the country's middle-class and the infrastructure.

[Mari333]

13. I called my sons in Seattle and told my oldest son about this

I dont believe in living in denial. I told my oldest son, because he has a level head on his shoulders. I wont allow my kids to make decisions in their lives without all the facts.
Lifestyle change here. I have 13 acres of land, and I am not going to freak out. My 2 sons are moving to Hawaii, which is very dependent on oil and gas . I guess I wish they would all come home, and live here and we could protect each other. But I cant make them. They are adults and they will have to decide. I wish they didnt live in Seattle either. Big cities and all.
My son said "You described a Mad Max scenario". I said "Listen, if a meteorite were about to hit the earth, would you want me to let you know about it and then make your decisions based on that?"
as for the baby boomers. We will be demanding social security and it wont be there. It wont.
I am planning on surviving, if anything, for my sons and my grandkids.
Its not a pretty future.

[TennesseeWalker]

15. One self serving kick....(n/t)

[Mari333]

16. some really interesting papers from a lot of sources on peak oil

http://www.odac-info.org/articles/articles.htm

[Kazak]

18. Chilling...

:scared:

[RainDog]

19. the Democratic Party is failing American, and refusing to see

it's source of strength against the Republicans...but since campaigns are bought and won by big biz, and since the media is now merely another entertainment conglomerate, Democrats THINK they can't win and tell the truth at the same time.

but they're wrong. they have been bamboozled and they need to wake up and smell the petroleum.

The Democrats, unlike the Republicans, especially the current ones, do not have to remain tied to the petrol totalitarians.

Hydrogen is not the answer. However, there are answers and they are readily available for the Dems to embrace NOW.

They need to say...America, you've been given a raw deal, a crude oil deal with Bush. Now it's time for a real deal, time to empower America.

How do we do this? We go back to those qualities which we've always valued: self-sufficiency, innovation, grass roots action.

Rather than give tax cuts to the richest of the rich, rather than allow the entitled little twerps of big money to avoid their responsibilty to make their own way, just as the rest of us are supposed to do,

It's time to give incentives and breaks to those companies which can declare war on oil addiction. Small scale, rather than global energy answers via local energy production through renewable sources like wind, solar and fuel cells...

Give breaks and incentives to those companies which have progressive salary structures and profit sharing to reward hard work in their employeees.

time to take health coverage out of the hands of the corporations and give it back to the American people via universal health care.

this will empower entrepreneurs to take those chances to create new businesses which do not outsource jobs, when those jobs entail manufacturing energy independence here.

when corporations control American citizens' health care, innovation is discourged, as is entrepreneurship.

It's time to stop corporate cronyism and socialism for the rich and feudalism for the rest of us.

it's time to legalize hemp for biomass for energy and for paper production-- to save our forests. it's time to get past prohibition based upon the pressure from a small group of industrialists who wanted to eliminate any fair competition and awaken an entire and huge market in another energy and product form.

it's time to tell corporations that they cannot do business in America if they claim they do not exist here when it comes time to pay their taxes. no more offshore tax shelters for anyone.

Democrats need to realize big media will try to stop their message and learn from Dean's campaign to go around the power structure.

it's time to honestly take back our country from oil interests in the middle east.

This is an agenda which can get through to Americans. we want and need jobs. we want and need to see a bright future based upon our own actions, rather than reactions.

Set fuel standards to require automakers to join the 21st century, rather than letting Japan again out do America by their focus on the future in hybrid cars.

Why doesn't the dem party do this? The only reason I can imagine is because it has sold itself into prostitution to the same corporations which will kill us all with their greed.