OT: FOX News and the oil blowout

[eavesdropper]

[quote=Allan from Fallbrook] Jim: I frankly don’t know. In light of the Bush/FEMA/Katrina fiasco (and I say that from a PR standpoint, in that I hold the New Orleans first responders and the State of Louisiana primarily responsible for the God-awful handling of that crisis), I would have thought the Obama Machine would have been way out in front of this thing. They’re not, and with every day that passes, the perception of dithering, ineptitude, and incompetence increases.

I’ve caught the Sestak imbroglio only in passing, so I cannot comment there, but was frankly taken aback during the Obama presser by how scattered he appeared. The Left has gone to great lengths to paint Obama as cerebral, but disciplined and capable, and I’m not seeing that.

Shit, things have to be bad when freakin’ Tom Friedman turns on you![/quote]

Ha! I like your last sentence, Allan, even though I’m not necessarily in full agreement with you. Truthfully, I think that Tom’s column is simply a contractual obligation: the Times requires him to take umbrage with Obama four times a year, with abundant demonstrations of outrage, no matter the political atmosphere. In all honesty, while I believe that the oil spill will create unprecedented environmental damage to the Gulf Coast region, and beyond, and severe financial hardship to many of those who live and work there, I think that Mr. Friedman was reaching a little in stating that Obama had missed an opportunity to energize American citizens, and lead them into a charge against oil dependence.

However, I do agree completely that he DID miss an opportunity – a political one. While I’m not convinced that most Americans are champing at the bit in their intense desire to fight our oil dependence – in fact, I think a great many of our citizens are overwhelmingly convinced that “oil dependence” is a dastardly lie being perpetuated by the intellectual elite, who are trying to hide the well-known fact that oil supplies are infinite – it is much easier to push a political prerogative when visions of oil-slicks, ruined coastline, and lots of dead waterfowl are the pages and airwaves of the media.

You’re spot-on with your analysis of the performance of the Administration. This has been going on from the first month of the presidency. At first, I thought that it was the White House staff and Administration officials (which is not, in any way, an attempt to excuse Obama, as they were selected by him). In his first year, it appeared that they were making most of the bumbling moves, while he kind of lingered in the background, only to emerge at the last minute with a decisive move or inspiring speech. But he seems to have run out of steam since the end of the health care battle. And don’t let me get started on the Sestak thing.

I don’t think it that the President and his administration fail to take opportunities as much as they fail to recognize them. I’m an independent voter: I can, at times, demonstrate leanings that appear to be clearly liberal or downright conservative, depending on the particular issue (in short, I’ve always got people pissed off at me). For the past ten years, I’ve felt, very strongly, that those running the Democratic Party have no clue as to what’s going on with the middle class citizenry of this country. So when “opportunities” present themselves, the Democrat power structure simply doesn’t recognize them as such. I cannot believe the cluelessness of these people.

I’m not excusing the Republicans. I’m in awe of their skill in gauging the concerns and frustrations of the American people. The problem is that they exploit this, without any intention of providing relief. They get people worked up over government overspending, over taxes, over “death panels”. Then they head into the Senate and House chambers, and it’s business as usual. And I don’t buy into the “Tea Party” at all. Not only aren’t they organized worth a damn, I believe that many of them are right-wing extremists trying to force the Republican Party they belong to into ultra-restrictive far-right views. And force-feeding us Sarah Palin in the process.

Allan, please tell me there’s hope. You can lie to me, if necessary. I’m used to it – I’ve been voting for many years.

[eavesdropper]

[quote=Aecetia]Helen Thomas was her usual jovial self, too. “When are you going to get out of Afghanistan? Why are we continuing to kill and die there? What is the real excuse and don’t give us this Bushism ‘if we don’t go there they’ll all come here.'”[/quote]

I LIKE Helen. Of course, I’m old enough to remember her “greatest hits” from several administrations, so that may explain her appeal.

I think that they should get rid of Robert Gibbs, and make Helen the White House press secretary. Certainly there’d never be a dull moment.

[eavesdropper]

[quote=Aecetia]Helen Thomas was her usual jovial self, too. “When are you going to get out of Afghanistan? Why are we continuing to kill and die there? What is the real excuse and don’t give us this Bushism ‘if we don’t go there they’ll all come here.'”[/quote]

I LIKE Helen. Of course, I’m old enough to remember her “greatest hits” from several administrations, so that may explain her appeal.

I think that they should get rid of Robert Gibbs, and make Helen the White House press secretary. Certainly there’d never be a dull moment.

[eavesdropper]

[quote=Aecetia]Helen Thomas was her usual jovial self, too. “When are you going to get out of Afghanistan? Why are we continuing to kill and die there? What is the real excuse and don’t give us this Bushism ‘if we don’t go there they’ll all come here.'”[/quote]

I LIKE Helen. Of course, I’m old enough to remember her “greatest hits” from several administrations, so that may explain her appeal.

I think that they should get rid of Robert Gibbs, and make Helen the White House press secretary. Certainly there’d never be a dull moment.

[eavesdropper]

[quote=Aecetia]Helen Thomas was her usual jovial self, too. “When are you going to get out of Afghanistan? Why are we continuing to kill and die there? What is the real excuse and don’t give us this Bushism ‘if we don’t go there they’ll all come here.'”[/quote]

I LIKE Helen. Of course, I’m old enough to remember her “greatest hits” from several administrations, so that may explain her appeal.

I think that they should get rid of Robert Gibbs, and make Helen the White House press secretary. Certainly there’d never be a dull moment.

[eavesdropper]

[quote=Aecetia]Helen Thomas was her usual jovial self, too. “When are you going to get out of Afghanistan? Why are we continuing to kill and die there? What is the real excuse and don’t give us this Bushism ‘if we don’t go there they’ll all come here.'”[/quote]

I LIKE Helen. Of course, I’m old enough to remember her “greatest hits” from several administrations, so that may explain her appeal.

I think that they should get rid of Robert Gibbs, and make Helen the White House press secretary. Certainly there’d never be a dull moment.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

[quote=eavesdropper]
I’m not excusing the Republicans. I’m in awe of their skill in gauging the concerns and frustrations of the American people. The problem is that they exploit this, without any intention of providing relief. They get people worked up over government overspending, over taxes, over “death panels”. Then they head into the Senate and House chambers, and it’s business as usual. And I don’t buy into the “Tea Party” at all. Not only aren’t they organized worth a damn, I believe that many of them are right-wing extremists trying to force the Republican Party they belong to into ultra-restrictive far-right views. And force-feeding us Sarah Palin in the process.

Allan, please tell me there’s hope. You can lie to me, if necessary. I’m used to it – I’ve been voting for many years.[/quote]

Eavesdropper: First off, you need to post more. Not only because you generally agree with me, but because you represent an intelligent, fairly middle-of-the-road voice, and that offers balance to the Left versus Right jousting that these threads usually descend into.

Yeah, there’s hope. There’s always hope. Of course, I’m also a Raiders fan, so what the hell do I know?

More seriously, I do believe that we’ll get through. We always do, and throughout our history. Obama’s election proved the incredibly dynamic nature of this country; electing a black man president and barely two generations past the Civil Rights Act.

That said and ceteris paribus, we also need to get our shit together: Individually, collectively and as a nation. We’ve turned into a bunch of hand-wringing, ineffective, frightened children who are now conditioned to turn to our Big Mommy/Daddy Gubment to fix all woes, whether its the “War on Terror” (don’t get me started), or this bungled and bungling Gulf crisis. If the latter does nothing else, it should dispel the notion that corporations have a heart and are capable and that Big Government is not the easy answer when things go wrong.

I don’t buy into the Tea Party, either, but it is good to see people getting off their asses and rallying, even if the result looks a little like a Klan rally mixed with the Tin Foil Hat Brigade. We’ve had plenty of nutbags in this country, but the beauty is that they tend to non-violence and the transitions between Democrat and Republican are bloodless.

I was in Costco the other day and saw a Newt Gingrich book warning of us of the perils of the Obama Administration and probably containing incantations for protecting oneself from the “Pox of Leftism” or somesuch. I remember laughing at the title, because it was overblown and inane, but also because “only in America”.

We can scream and squeal and point fingers, but eventually we pull our heads out of our asses and go get the job done. I remember my grandpa on my mom’s side, who was working for Ford in Detroit when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. He told me of the complete panic in Detroit, and Chicago, and St. Louis immediately following FDR’s “Infamy” speech and the declaration of war. People were convinced the Japanese were going to invade the west coast and the Nazis were landing in New York City. They were arming themselves from the local hardware stores and Sears and Roebuck and sort of running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Then we got serious as a nation and went out and put Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany to heel. With a vengeance.

We’ll figure it out. We always do. It’ll involve waste, mismanagement, stupidity, and will take longer and cost more thatn it should, but we’ll figure it out.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

[quote=eavesdropper]
I’m not excusing the Republicans. I’m in awe of their skill in gauging the concerns and frustrations of the American people. The problem is that they exploit this, without any intention of providing relief. They get people worked up over government overspending, over taxes, over “death panels”. Then they head into the Senate and House chambers, and it’s business as usual. And I don’t buy into the “Tea Party” at all. Not only aren’t they organized worth a damn, I believe that many of them are right-wing extremists trying to force the Republican Party they belong to into ultra-restrictive far-right views. And force-feeding us Sarah Palin in the process.

Allan, please tell me there’s hope. You can lie to me, if necessary. I’m used to it – I’ve been voting for many years.[/quote]

Eavesdropper: First off, you need to post more. Not only because you generally agree with me, but because you represent an intelligent, fairly middle-of-the-road voice, and that offers balance to the Left versus Right jousting that these threads usually descend into.

Yeah, there’s hope. There’s always hope. Of course, I’m also a Raiders fan, so what the hell do I know?

More seriously, I do believe that we’ll get through. We always do, and throughout our history. Obama’s election proved the incredibly dynamic nature of this country; electing a black man president and barely two generations past the Civil Rights Act.

That said and ceteris paribus, we also need to get our shit together: Individually, collectively and as a nation. We’ve turned into a bunch of hand-wringing, ineffective, frightened children who are now conditioned to turn to our Big Mommy/Daddy Gubment to fix all woes, whether its the “War on Terror” (don’t get me started), or this bungled and bungling Gulf crisis. If the latter does nothing else, it should dispel the notion that corporations have a heart and are capable and that Big Government is not the easy answer when things go wrong.

I don’t buy into the Tea Party, either, but it is good to see people getting off their asses and rallying, even if the result looks a little like a Klan rally mixed with the Tin Foil Hat Brigade. We’ve had plenty of nutbags in this country, but the beauty is that they tend to non-violence and the transitions between Democrat and Republican are bloodless.

I was in Costco the other day and saw a Newt Gingrich book warning of us of the perils of the Obama Administration and probably containing incantations for protecting oneself from the “Pox of Leftism” or somesuch. I remember laughing at the title, because it was overblown and inane, but also because “only in America”.

We can scream and squeal and point fingers, but eventually we pull our heads out of our asses and go get the job done. I remember my grandpa on my mom’s side, who was working for Ford in Detroit when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. He told me of the complete panic in Detroit, and Chicago, and St. Louis immediately following FDR’s “Infamy” speech and the declaration of war. People were convinced the Japanese were going to invade the west coast and the Nazis were landing in New York City. They were arming themselves from the local hardware stores and Sears and Roebuck and sort of running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Then we got serious as a nation and went out and put Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany to heel. With a vengeance.

We’ll figure it out. We always do. It’ll involve waste, mismanagement, stupidity, and will take longer and cost more thatn it should, but we’ll figure it out.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

[quote=eavesdropper]
I’m not excusing the Republicans. I’m in awe of their skill in gauging the concerns and frustrations of the American people. The problem is that they exploit this, without any intention of providing relief. They get people worked up over government overspending, over taxes, over “death panels”. Then they head into the Senate and House chambers, and it’s business as usual. And I don’t buy into the “Tea Party” at all. Not only aren’t they organized worth a damn, I believe that many of them are right-wing extremists trying to force the Republican Party they belong to into ultra-restrictive far-right views. And force-feeding us Sarah Palin in the process.

Allan, please tell me there’s hope. You can lie to me, if necessary. I’m used to it – I’ve been voting for many years.[/quote]

Eavesdropper: First off, you need to post more. Not only because you generally agree with me, but because you represent an intelligent, fairly middle-of-the-road voice, and that offers balance to the Left versus Right jousting that these threads usually descend into.

Yeah, there’s hope. There’s always hope. Of course, I’m also a Raiders fan, so what the hell do I know?

More seriously, I do believe that we’ll get through. We always do, and throughout our history. Obama’s election proved the incredibly dynamic nature of this country; electing a black man president and barely two generations past the Civil Rights Act.

That said and ceteris paribus, we also need to get our shit together: Individually, collectively and as a nation. We’ve turned into a bunch of hand-wringing, ineffective, frightened children who are now conditioned to turn to our Big Mommy/Daddy Gubment to fix all woes, whether its the “War on Terror” (don’t get me started), or this bungled and bungling Gulf crisis. If the latter does nothing else, it should dispel the notion that corporations have a heart and are capable and that Big Government is not the easy answer when things go wrong.

I don’t buy into the Tea Party, either, but it is good to see people getting off their asses and rallying, even if the result looks a little like a Klan rally mixed with the Tin Foil Hat Brigade. We’ve had plenty of nutbags in this country, but the beauty is that they tend to non-violence and the transitions between Democrat and Republican are bloodless.

I was in Costco the other day and saw a Newt Gingrich book warning of us of the perils of the Obama Administration and probably containing incantations for protecting oneself from the “Pox of Leftism” or somesuch. I remember laughing at the title, because it was overblown and inane, but also because “only in America”.

We can scream and squeal and point fingers, but eventually we pull our heads out of our asses and go get the job done. I remember my grandpa on my mom’s side, who was working for Ford in Detroit when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. He told me of the complete panic in Detroit, and Chicago, and St. Louis immediately following FDR’s “Infamy” speech and the declaration of war. People were convinced the Japanese were going to invade the west coast and the Nazis were landing in New York City. They were arming themselves from the local hardware stores and Sears and Roebuck and sort of running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Then we got serious as a nation and went out and put Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany to heel. With a vengeance.

We’ll figure it out. We always do. It’ll involve waste, mismanagement, stupidity, and will take longer and cost more thatn it should, but we’ll figure it out.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

[quote=eavesdropper]
I’m not excusing the Republicans. I’m in awe of their skill in gauging the concerns and frustrations of the American people. The problem is that they exploit this, without any intention of providing relief. They get people worked up over government overspending, over taxes, over “death panels”. Then they head into the Senate and House chambers, and it’s business as usual. And I don’t buy into the “Tea Party” at all. Not only aren’t they organized worth a damn, I believe that many of them are right-wing extremists trying to force the Republican Party they belong to into ultra-restrictive far-right views. And force-feeding us Sarah Palin in the process.

Allan, please tell me there’s hope. You can lie to me, if necessary. I’m used to it – I’ve been voting for many years.[/quote]

Eavesdropper: First off, you need to post more. Not only because you generally agree with me, but because you represent an intelligent, fairly middle-of-the-road voice, and that offers balance to the Left versus Right jousting that these threads usually descend into.

Yeah, there’s hope. There’s always hope. Of course, I’m also a Raiders fan, so what the hell do I know?

More seriously, I do believe that we’ll get through. We always do, and throughout our history. Obama’s election proved the incredibly dynamic nature of this country; electing a black man president and barely two generations past the Civil Rights Act.

That said and ceteris paribus, we also need to get our shit together: Individually, collectively and as a nation. We’ve turned into a bunch of hand-wringing, ineffective, frightened children who are now conditioned to turn to our Big Mommy/Daddy Gubment to fix all woes, whether its the “War on Terror” (don’t get me started), or this bungled and bungling Gulf crisis. If the latter does nothing else, it should dispel the notion that corporations have a heart and are capable and that Big Government is not the easy answer when things go wrong.

I don’t buy into the Tea Party, either, but it is good to see people getting off their asses and rallying, even if the result looks a little like a Klan rally mixed with the Tin Foil Hat Brigade. We’ve had plenty of nutbags in this country, but the beauty is that they tend to non-violence and the transitions between Democrat and Republican are bloodless.

I was in Costco the other day and saw a Newt Gingrich book warning of us of the perils of the Obama Administration and probably containing incantations for protecting oneself from the “Pox of Leftism” or somesuch. I remember laughing at the title, because it was overblown and inane, but also because “only in America”.

We can scream and squeal and point fingers, but eventually we pull our heads out of our asses and go get the job done. I remember my grandpa on my mom’s side, who was working for Ford in Detroit when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. He told me of the complete panic in Detroit, and Chicago, and St. Louis immediately following FDR’s “Infamy” speech and the declaration of war. People were convinced the Japanese were going to invade the west coast and the Nazis were landing in New York City. They were arming themselves from the local hardware stores and Sears and Roebuck and sort of running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Then we got serious as a nation and went out and put Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany to heel. With a vengeance.

We’ll figure it out. We always do. It’ll involve waste, mismanagement, stupidity, and will take longer and cost more thatn it should, but we’ll figure it out.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

[quote=eavesdropper]
I’m not excusing the Republicans. I’m in awe of their skill in gauging the concerns and frustrations of the American people. The problem is that they exploit this, without any intention of providing relief. They get people worked up over government overspending, over taxes, over “death panels”. Then they head into the Senate and House chambers, and it’s business as usual. And I don’t buy into the “Tea Party” at all. Not only aren’t they organized worth a damn, I believe that many of them are right-wing extremists trying to force the Republican Party they belong to into ultra-restrictive far-right views. And force-feeding us Sarah Palin in the process.

Allan, please tell me there’s hope. You can lie to me, if necessary. I’m used to it – I’ve been voting for many years.[/quote]

Eavesdropper: First off, you need to post more. Not only because you generally agree with me, but because you represent an intelligent, fairly middle-of-the-road voice, and that offers balance to the Left versus Right jousting that these threads usually descend into.

Yeah, there’s hope. There’s always hope. Of course, I’m also a Raiders fan, so what the hell do I know?

More seriously, I do believe that we’ll get through. We always do, and throughout our history. Obama’s election proved the incredibly dynamic nature of this country; electing a black man president and barely two generations past the Civil Rights Act.

That said and ceteris paribus, we also need to get our shit together: Individually, collectively and as a nation. We’ve turned into a bunch of hand-wringing, ineffective, frightened children who are now conditioned to turn to our Big Mommy/Daddy Gubment to fix all woes, whether its the “War on Terror” (don’t get me started), or this bungled and bungling Gulf crisis. If the latter does nothing else, it should dispel the notion that corporations have a heart and are capable and that Big Government is not the easy answer when things go wrong.

I don’t buy into the Tea Party, either, but it is good to see people getting off their asses and rallying, even if the result looks a little like a Klan rally mixed with the Tin Foil Hat Brigade. We’ve had plenty of nutbags in this country, but the beauty is that they tend to non-violence and the transitions between Democrat and Republican are bloodless.

I was in Costco the other day and saw a Newt Gingrich book warning of us of the perils of the Obama Administration and probably containing incantations for protecting oneself from the “Pox of Leftism” or somesuch. I remember laughing at the title, because it was overblown and inane, but also because “only in America”.

We can scream and squeal and point fingers, but eventually we pull our heads out of our asses and go get the job done. I remember my grandpa on my mom’s side, who was working for Ford in Detroit when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. He told me of the complete panic in Detroit, and Chicago, and St. Louis immediately following FDR’s “Infamy” speech and the declaration of war. People were convinced the Japanese were going to invade the west coast and the Nazis were landing in New York City. They were arming themselves from the local hardware stores and Sears and Roebuck and sort of running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Then we got serious as a nation and went out and put Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany to heel. With a vengeance.

We’ll figure it out. We always do. It’ll involve waste, mismanagement, stupidity, and will take longer and cost more thatn it should, but we’ll figure it out.

[Arraya]

http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/
However, while energy has been a key driver of global integration and complexity, the structures we have created do not depend only on energy. Because any structure with a fundamental dependence on the buy-in of new entrants, and therefore the constant need to expand, is grounded in Ponzi dynamics, these structures are inherently self-limiting (see From the Top of the Great Pyramid.

We have reached the limit beyond which we cannot continue to expand, there being no more virgin continents to exploit in our over-crowded world. The logic of Ponzi dynamics dictates that we will now experience a dramatic contraction, and that our financial structure, which is the most complex and most vulnerable part of our hypertrophic political system, will become the key driver to the downside during that period. Part of that contraction will be of our available energy supplies and ability to distribute energy to where it is needed, both of which will fall victim to many ‘above-ground factors’ in the years to come (see Energy, Finance and Hegemonic Power).

snip

Elites (top predators) will have a smaller peripheral pool from which to extract the tithes they have come to expect. No longer able to pick the pockets of the whole world, they will very likely squeeze domestic populations much harder in a vain attempt to maintain the resources of the centre at their previous level. This will be very painful for those at the bottom of the pyramid, who will be asked, told and eventually forced to increase their contributions, at the very moment their ability to do so declines sharply.

Whether the left or the right presides over contraction, we are most likely to see a much more pathological face emerge, and this will aggravate political crisis considerably. On the right this could be xenophobia, strict enforcement of tight and arbitrary norms dictated by the few, loss of civil rights, extreme poverty for most while a few live like kings, and fascism, perhaps grounded in theocracy.

On the left it could be forced collectivization, the elimination of property rights, confiscations, and a desire to punish anyone who appears to be doing relatively well, whether or not they achieved this legitimately through foresight, hard work and fiscal responsibility. In either case, liberty is likely to be an early casualty, and intolerance of differences is virtually guaranteed to increase.

[Arraya]

http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/
However, while energy has been a key driver of global integration and complexity, the structures we have created do not depend only on energy. Because any structure with a fundamental dependence on the buy-in of new entrants, and therefore the constant need to expand, is grounded in Ponzi dynamics, these structures are inherently self-limiting (see From the Top of the Great Pyramid.

We have reached the limit beyond which we cannot continue to expand, there being no more virgin continents to exploit in our over-crowded world. The logic of Ponzi dynamics dictates that we will now experience a dramatic contraction, and that our financial structure, which is the most complex and most vulnerable part of our hypertrophic political system, will become the key driver to the downside during that period. Part of that contraction will be of our available energy supplies and ability to distribute energy to where it is needed, both of which will fall victim to many ‘above-ground factors’ in the years to come (see Energy, Finance and Hegemonic Power).

snip

Elites (top predators) will have a smaller peripheral pool from which to extract the tithes they have come to expect. No longer able to pick the pockets of the whole world, they will very likely squeeze domestic populations much harder in a vain attempt to maintain the resources of the centre at their previous level. This will be very painful for those at the bottom of the pyramid, who will be asked, told and eventually forced to increase their contributions, at the very moment their ability to do so declines sharply.

Whether the left or the right presides over contraction, we are most likely to see a much more pathological face emerge, and this will aggravate political crisis considerably. On the right this could be xenophobia, strict enforcement of tight and arbitrary norms dictated by the few, loss of civil rights, extreme poverty for most while a few live like kings, and fascism, perhaps grounded in theocracy.

On the left it could be forced collectivization, the elimination of property rights, confiscations, and a desire to punish anyone who appears to be doing relatively well, whether or not they achieved this legitimately through foresight, hard work and fiscal responsibility. In either case, liberty is likely to be an early casualty, and intolerance of differences is virtually guaranteed to increase.

[Arraya]

http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/
However, while energy has been a key driver of global integration and complexity, the structures we have created do not depend only on energy. Because any structure with a fundamental dependence on the buy-in of new entrants, and therefore the constant need to expand, is grounded in Ponzi dynamics, these structures are inherently self-limiting (see From the Top of the Great Pyramid.

We have reached the limit beyond which we cannot continue to expand, there being no more virgin continents to exploit in our over-crowded world. The logic of Ponzi dynamics dictates that we will now experience a dramatic contraction, and that our financial structure, which is the most complex and most vulnerable part of our hypertrophic political system, will become the key driver to the downside during that period. Part of that contraction will be of our available energy supplies and ability to distribute energy to where it is needed, both of which will fall victim to many ‘above-ground factors’ in the years to come (see Energy, Finance and Hegemonic Power).

snip

Elites (top predators) will have a smaller peripheral pool from which to extract the tithes they have come to expect. No longer able to pick the pockets of the whole world, they will very likely squeeze domestic populations much harder in a vain attempt to maintain the resources of the centre at their previous level. This will be very painful for those at the bottom of the pyramid, who will be asked, told and eventually forced to increase their contributions, at the very moment their ability to do so declines sharply.

Whether the left or the right presides over contraction, we are most likely to see a much more pathological face emerge, and this will aggravate political crisis considerably. On the right this could be xenophobia, strict enforcement of tight and arbitrary norms dictated by the few, loss of civil rights, extreme poverty for most while a few live like kings, and fascism, perhaps grounded in theocracy.

On the left it could be forced collectivization, the elimination of property rights, confiscations, and a desire to punish anyone who appears to be doing relatively well, whether or not they achieved this legitimately through foresight, hard work and fiscal responsibility. In either case, liberty is likely to be an early casualty, and intolerance of differences is virtually guaranteed to increase.

[Arraya]

http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/
However, while energy has been a key driver of global integration and complexity, the structures we have created do not depend only on energy. Because any structure with a fundamental dependence on the buy-in of new entrants, and therefore the constant need to expand, is grounded in Ponzi dynamics, these structures are inherently self-limiting (see From the Top of the Great Pyramid.

We have reached the limit beyond which we cannot continue to expand, there being no more virgin continents to exploit in our over-crowded world. The logic of Ponzi dynamics dictates that we will now experience a dramatic contraction, and that our financial structure, which is the most complex and most vulnerable part of our hypertrophic political system, will become the key driver to the downside during that period. Part of that contraction will be of our available energy supplies and ability to distribute energy to where it is needed, both of which will fall victim to many ‘above-ground factors’ in the years to come (see Energy, Finance and Hegemonic Power).

snip

Elites (top predators) will have a smaller peripheral pool from which to extract the tithes they have come to expect. No longer able to pick the pockets of the whole world, they will very likely squeeze domestic populations much harder in a vain attempt to maintain the resources of the centre at their previous level. This will be very painful for those at the bottom of the pyramid, who will be asked, told and eventually forced to increase their contributions, at the very moment their ability to do so declines sharply.

Whether the left or the right presides over contraction, we are most likely to see a much more pathological face emerge, and this will aggravate political crisis considerably. On the right this could be xenophobia, strict enforcement of tight and arbitrary norms dictated by the few, loss of civil rights, extreme poverty for most while a few live like kings, and fascism, perhaps grounded in theocracy.

On the left it could be forced collectivization, the elimination of property rights, confiscations, and a desire to punish anyone who appears to be doing relatively well, whether or not they achieved this legitimately through foresight, hard work and fiscal responsibility. In either case, liberty is likely to be an early casualty, and intolerance of differences is virtually guaranteed to increase.

[Author]

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