Slow News Day  

Having had a busier than usual day at work and then going straight on to a workshop to discuss ideas for a Sustainability Centre that is going to be built around the corner (I had to resist the urge to suggest sustainable crops for the permaculture section), I'm short of ideas for a post tonight.

James Kunstler is still getting a lot of attention for "The Long Emergency", with another interview out today, this one at Grist.

Q: Are you predicting that there will be an elite class that is still privy to all of the conveniences of the cheap-oil era?

A: There will be activities like flying that only the elite can participate in. You are going to see the aviation industry dramatically contract because it relies so heavily on fuel prices. You are going to start to see real political grievance over motoring becoming an increasingly elite activity. Let's say a third of the public can't participate in the motoring system at all. They may resent paying taxes to maintain this tremendous amount of highway infrastructure. The interstate highway system is actually very vulnerable -- once cracks and potholes start, the whole thing starts to fall apart very rapidly. So that could inhibit the mobility of the elite as well.

There is always a lot of speculation about the activities of elites in some of the more obscure sections of the peak oil world, where this report, which purports to summarise the topics of discussion at the recent Bilderbergs meeting in Germany, has been a topic of conversation lately. This is unlikely to be true, but who knows, maybe Bilderbergers do leak sometimes.

An American Bilderberger expressed concern over the skyrocketing price of oil. One oil industry insider at the meeting remarked that growth is not possible without energy and that, according to all indicators, the world's energy supply is coming to an end much faster than the world leaders have anticipated. According to sources, Bilderbergers estimate the extractable world's oil supply to be at a maximum of 35 years under current economic development and population. However, one of the representatives of an oil cartel remarked that we must factor into the equation, both the population explosion and economic growth and demand for oil in China and India. Under the revised conditions, there is apparently only enough oil to last for 20 years. No oil spells the end of the world's financial system. So much has already been acknowledged by The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times, two periodicals who are regularly present at the annual Bilderberg conference.

Conclusion: Expect a severe downturn in the world's economy over the next two years as Bilderbergers try to safeguard the remaining oil supply by taking money out of people's hands. In a recession or, at worst, a depression, the population will be forced to dramatically cut down their spending habits, thus ensuring a longer supply of oil to the world's rich as they try to figure out what to do.

On the topic of peak oil theorists with out-of-the mainstream views (err - even more out the mainstream than the rest of us, anyway), I've been gently chided by Mark Robinowitz of OilEmpire.us for categorising his site as a "Tin Foil Hat" site (he prefers the term "Solar Powered Tin Foil Hat", as he's gone off grid somewhere in the Cascades with a PV powered computer). As he seems a nice enough guy I've moved that section of the blogroll into the less contentious "Head For The Hills" section - which seems to be literally true in his case.

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