How Rising Oil Prices Will Force U.S. Into A Post-Industrial Wasteland

The Business Insider ^ | 1-4-2010 | James Kunstler

[blam]

How Rising Oil Prices Will Force U.S. Into A Post-Industrial Wasteland

James Kunstler
Jan. 4, 2010, 5:12 PM

It's the first business day of the new year and oil is trading above $80 a barrel, which means the price has re-entered the danger zone where it can crush industrial economies.

This is a central element of the predicament we find ourselves in. The US economy is essentially a Happy Motoring economy.

During the whole nervous period since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, American gasoline consumption hardly went down at all, though so many other activities collapsed, from house-building to trucking. Yesterday, The Seattle Times published a story with the idiotic headline: Oil Touches $80 on US Economy, Demand Optimism. Apparently, they think high oil prices are "a good sign."

How much can a nation not get it? Would $100 oil ignite a new orgy of "consumer" spending and another round of investment in commercial real estate? Welcome to the Futility Economy.

This is the economy where Nature and its material companion, Reality, punish us for our stupidity and fecklessness. This is the economy that will tear the United States apart, after it bankrupts us at every level, and mercilessly drives the population down by one-third through starvation, homelessness, violence, disease, and sheer political cruelty.

[snip]

[combat_boots]

We have gas til Kingdom Come in Utah & NM.
We have oil for decades in AK
We have offshore oil off CA and FL for decades
We have solar through the SW to power factories
We have coal enough for clinkers in every home
We have Marcellus Shale and Bakken oil shales/sands to make us the Saudi Arabia of oil shales & sands.
We have wave action up the wah to create both electricity and desalinized water for all coastal areas

Having the commodities aplenty, there is no excuse not to use our natural wealth in order to help our countrymen with energy, work and abundant business.

What would be the REAL purposes to seal these resources off to a country’s citizens?

[combat_boots]

“And because this is light, sweet oil, those billions of barrels will cost Americans just $16 PER BARREL!”

I paid 27 cents per gallon in Tampa quite a ways back. It was a normal price. Remaking gas pumps into machines that can tally into the 10s-100s of dollars was a big do-over.

It might not be 27 cents per gallon again—but it could be.

[truthguy]

This guy James Kuntsler is a certified crackpot. I use to read his blog called (I'm not kidding) Cluster*uck Nation. What he generally advocates is going back to the 19th Century. He wants America deindustrialized. It's not gonna happen. He has no scientific or technical training and his educational background is in theater arts.

We couldn't go back to the 19th century if we wanted to. This guys is really off the deep end. He hates cars. He hates suburbs. He hates any house larger than a cottage. He believes that Peak Oil is imminent. He believes in only locally grown food and living in small communal communities. How we would get the products and materials to live this way he doesn't explain. Yes, this guy is certifiable. He's completely nuts.

[ckilmer]

The problem with this analysis is that currently US oil imports are falling very very fast. Same thing happened back in the 70's. US demand was cut in half

[dragnet2]

This is a government caused crisis.

Yes it is....The government corrupt insiders and their political agents do not have American's in their best interest. Even for the deaf and blind, this has been inordinately clear for some years now.

[denydenydeny]

Garbage. This is “peak oil” nonsense with even more hype than usual.

[ckilmer]

Doesn't look like the last link worked. Try this link http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_wkly_dc_NUS-Z00_mbblpd_w.htm

[Hayrider]

Not to mention that the Haynesville Shale play in northwestern Louisiana is the largest natural gas find in American history, with over 250 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (the Marcellus Shale in western Pennsylvania and New York is of a similar size), has the potential to revolutionize the American energy market and make us an exporter of natural gas. But naturally, the Democrats are working at trying to shut down hydraulic fracturing, which is the technique used to break loose shale oil and gas and has been in use for 50 years, largely to benefit George Soros' portfolio. It's treason. No other way to describe it.

[Frantzie]

Thanks. Everyone should read this but people live for meaningless ball games and nonsense. They are enslaving themselves.

Forbes, Rush, Hannity, Savage, Levin and others should be repeating this over and over.

[Frantzie]

Bingo again! Well Clinton also made the best coal formation in the USA in Utah into a park to benefit the Riady’s in Indonesia where Obama also has close ties. The Dems and Soros are pure evil.

[midway]

KUNTSLER BEATS THE SAME DRUM over and over again

BUT I do enjoy his EYESORE OF THE MONTH feature about architecture. Not all items are equally interesting but just keep clicking backwards and you will find some items sure to amuse +/or boggle your mind.

[emissarium]

Thanks. Everyone should read this but people live for meaningless ball games and nonsense. They are enslaving themselves.
Forbes, Rush, Hannity, Savage, Levin and others should be repeating this over and over.
 

That's why it's posted on FR, so other concerned thinkers like you can give the message wings. We are living in critical times. As you noted, we can't count on the TV and sports zombies to step up to the plate, so to speak.

[emissarium]

It's treason. No other way to describe it.
 

Can't argue with that assessment.

 

[pawnshop dave]

Pure GREED! It’s the “American way”, and the evil force that will destroy this nation. No one is willing to give up a single luxury if it’s at THEIR expense.The oil company’s are assuring THEIR survival. They don’t give a rats A$$ about us.

[Former Proud Canadian]

Like many modern “problems” the solution is as easy as you describe. Take California, for example. A state short of power and water. Place a dozen nuclear plants on the coast. Have them feed energy into the grid during peak demand and switch to a desalination plant during off peak. Both problems solved.