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http://kunstler.com/blog/2009/11/thinking-the-unthinkable.html

draffen November 2, 2009 4:38 PM Reply

Yes, the gods are unhappy. Mother Nature is unhappy. Santa Claus is unhappy. The smiley face at Walmart is - umm - shall we say turned from upbeat icon to oxymoron. A coup d'etat by a branch of our military? Possibly. A collapse of industrial civilization within the next twenty years? Most likely.

How can you tell when a politician is lying? When he (or she) moves the mouth. Mouths have been moving a lot lately and little truth or useful information has been coming out of those mouths lately that would be of much benefit to the average American especially in the light of what is coming.

The Halloween Pumpkin, the Thanksgiving Turkey and the Santa Claus are icons, three of the thousands and thousands of icons that front the consumer society. Icons that are bombed at the population 24 hours a day, seven days a week by the gods of Globalization.

Globalization is the grand experiment of the twentieth century that has failed. The idea that all 6.748 billion people under one sky can burn natural resources like no tomorrow to become one mammoth, gargantuan industrial civilization with all the trappings of modern life including personal autos, large homes, flat screen TV's, college educations - the works. The idea that "economic growth" can just continue forever, without bounds, consuming ever more water, food, resources and land for an ever increasing population.

The politicians and the bankers just love globalization and its many icons - the Santa Claus, the Golden Arches, the Pepsi, Coke, Ford, Mercedes, the football teams, the airlines and on and on and on.

So why were the bankers doing these rather rash things they have been doing recently? Why were they underwriting loans to just about anybody that had a pulse? Well, first they were just as mesmerized and addicted to the Ponzi scheme of globalization as just about every modern American citizen (and the citizens of most Western countries) were. Secondly, they knew that almost every industry that made any actual product worth having had been "offshored" to China or some other "low cost" part of the world - in the name of Globalization - and therefore, in order to make any real money they would have to primarily "invest" in real estate and all its derivatives.

Everybody that was anybody know, way back in 2005, that the price of real estate is like the arrow of time, it only moves in one direction, and in the case of real estate that is up. So, since we had no real manufacturing base left in this country any more then real estate became the last great bubble.

Why did the real estate bubble pop, anyway? This goes back to the real problem underlying the concept of Globalization and why it will not work - at least in the way it is configured.

The real estate bubble burst because Globalization itself has started to tremble and creak like so much old infrastructure that surrounds us. Basically, unfettered capitalism that is Globalization has hit absolute limits and growth cannot continue under any circumstances. As they say, the party's over.

What are these limits you ask? Basically they are set by the laws of thermodynamics. We industrialized humans are sitting on this planet of finite size running a global economy primarily on a fossil energy source that is not replenishable on any time scale we can imagine. As more and more people jump on the bandwagon of globalization the demands from the finite earth become ever greater. Something has got to give. And give it has!

Globalization is in the process of taking a big tumble. It has failed and failed miserably. The crash will be spectacular. This period of history will be remembered for a really long time - just like the fall of the Roman Empire. People in the distant future - assuming any survive - will be wondering "what were those people of the 20th century thinking? What Kool-Aid were they drinking?".

The "Low Battery" light is flashing furiously on the dashboard of Globalization. Everywhere there are shortages on the horizon. Food, water, topsoil, copper, oil, gas, uranium, you name it. And the climate is changing and the skies and ground are getting filled with pollution - the oceans are dying.

Our politicians are really lying. So are our news anchors. They are lying like no tomorrow (is there a tomorrow?). We know the bankers are up to something no good because they are breathing. We know the politicians are lying because they are talking. They are all collectively assuring their fellow Americans that even though we are in a "rough patch" right now all is getting better soon. Maybe even in time for Christmas. They say there is a "recovery" coming from sea to shining sea and after a little delay the unemployment rolls will start to shrink and Americans will be back at work. It will be business as usual, just don't fret and have faith in us and please, please, get out your credit cards and hit the stores! Santa Claus says so!