Blog fight: ClusterFuck Manifesto vs. Oligopoly Watch. Well, not explicitly on the part of either author, both of whom I find very interesting and insightful, but hard to see both being correct longterm. Then there’s Anderson’s Long Tail, more in line with Kunstler than Hannaford, and Jon Springer’s Peak Energy. All of which leaves out any consideration of the physical, economic and social changes that will come after the effect of rising global ocean temperatures are felt, probably within the next 10-12 years. But let’s spin off into a deeper question, shall we?
Reform or save Social Security? Ha! Growing availability of automabiles with hybrid engines, this is funny, I compared the hybrid and standard versions of the only car sold in the US with either choice, the 2005 Honda Accord sedan, and the difference is 7 miles per gallon! The endless search for America’s most wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden, goes on with the occasional Presidential sound bite but without results–perhaps there have been no tragedies on American soil since 9/11 but there are the 1,500 Americans and uncountable tens of thousands Iraqis dead in Iraq. Maybe the Supreme Court will proclaim the legitimacy of posting the Ten Commandments on government grounds and will cheer some people up.
Trivial diversions, all of them, while (most of) the richest among us grab as much as they can before all these problems collide. Seems like these people are no longer even concerned with manuvering discretely to reach their goals and instead have developed sophisticated communication machines that put populist bread and circus sheens on everything. You know, like a guy using a fake name claiming to work for a fake news organization who was given White House press access for two years so he could lob softball questions whenever the “real” journalists’ questions were edging out of the comfort zone.
Makes me wonder if, far away from prying eyes and almost certainly outside the United States, some very large, well secured estates are being developed as refuges for the ridiculously wealthy. Lots of space for growing food and raising livestock, temperate climate away from coastlines that might be submerged by rising sea levels, modest accomodations for the manual labor and security to keep them in line, with political cover bought and paid for.
Now that would be worth a serious investigation by a journalist, academic or anyone with the time and resources to uncover. Me, paranoid? Sure but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong.
[instigated by JRobb]
BillSaysThis 