Cruisin’ on Empty:
A big after Christmas welcome to everyone; its 8 degrees in Cedaredge, Colorado, but your King of Simple News is HOT off the press today and the King of Simple himself is hot under the collar.
Humans are poor planners; of that there is little doubt. Every once in awhile, I see such compelling evidence of that reality as to leave me in a stupefied state of, “Say what?”
In an article from the Denver Post today, these words nearly jumped off the page at me: “Revenue for Colorado’s school land trust is expected to plummet $21 million by June, ending a decade-long financial boon. The 24 percent revenue drop stems primarily from a decline in coal production, which is an indicator of the challenge the trust fund faces: It relies on market-driven, nonrenewable sources for most of its income.” [emphasis added]. Well duh!
Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14071529?source=rss#ixzz0aoTpqjPI
I have some terribly shocking news for these folks at the Denver Post along with those at the Colorado school land trust; The human species relies on market-driven, nonrenewable sources for its very existence!
While the sobering example above applies to Colorado; have no hopeful illusions that the same level of planning may not have occurred in your area. The entire United States economic underpinnings are based on the similar flawed math.
We have planned to expand forever, in world that remains the same size. We have planned to grow each and every year, by harvesting ever greater quantities of non-renewable resources. We have planned to grow population, and at the same time promise to give everyone an ever increasing sized piece of the shrinking pie. And now these people in Denver are shocked that finite resources are actually finite? Geez Leon, get a grip.
The article goes on to say, “The problem, according to even those who manage the land board, is that the trust lacks a business model and apparently always has.” (Welcome to the American politics).
“No, we don’t have a plan. We’ve gravitated towards ‘bright-shiny-object projects,’ and there isn’t a long-term vision,” said Brownell Bailey, who was appointed director of the Colorado State Land Board by Gov. Bill Ritter in August.
The real meat of this article may lie in this statement; “The proposed redevelopment of the old Lowry bombing range was one of the projects. Planned for just under 4,000 acres on a 26,000-acre tract, it was expected to include 260 acres of commercial development and 705 acres of open space and trails.” (Green development…the same color as money). “But the deal fell through when the company working on the project couldn’t secure water rights for the development.”
These people spent days and months and years and untold $$$$$ without first considering that water may be a problem in an area that has fought with short water supplies for 50 years? In an area where water wars have raged in a high desert semi-arid region since time began! But money can buy anything…right?
The above example is the level of planning that exists across this country. And as I’ve stated a thousand times, “Exponential growth is the plan; it ain’t possible is the problem.” The speeding object may well have come into contact with the immovable force of natural physics.
In the mean time, our Congress led by our new President has just passed a horrific bill, masquerading as healthcare, and at the same time, has raised the National Debt limit to $12.4 Trillion, with a capital “T.” Just as a little reminder, the National Debt in 1970 was around $381 Billion…with a “B.” One Trillion is 1,000 Billion.
How will we pay for the new healthcare and the new debt limit? According to Barrack Hussein Obama, we’ll pull out of this recession with hyper-growth. We will grow by increasing human population and consuming ever greater quantities of non-renewable resources. Just don’t figure on Colorado holding up their end of deal; our cupboard is about bare.
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In a recent article it was disclosed that Arnold “The Terminator,” was going to have to speak with Mr. Obama regarding a little loan for California’s untenable $20 BILLION shortfall for operating their government. Hmmm.
Is this yet another example of exceeding the limits of real possibilities? I vote yes.
Remember, the recession is over.
Mike! You’ve missed the fantastic news from Tiny Tim Geithner on Good Morning America on Dec. 23!!! The recession is over!! and Positive Job Growth will begin this spring!!! I’m just giddy with excitement!!
I’ve included a link to the article and the video interview:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/geithner-health-care-bill-good-long-haul/story?id=9404499
I know you will all enjoy this interview full of lolly pops and leprechauns!
Now if you’ll excuse me I have to chase a white rabbit down the rabbit hole.
2009 has been a very generous and prosperous year for everyone, as compared to the state of our economy on this date in 2010. Hope everyone has enjoyed it as much as I have.
If however our congress and president can somehow increase our debt another 6-8 trillion dollars in 2010 and increase our population by 50% or more through immigration, we maybe be able to balance our books (did I say balance, maybe that should be cook our books). This Keynesian thing of throwing large sums of money at a runaway exponential growth economy, just may work out for us all over the next few years.
Obviously it will not work out with the mentality our elected officials have possessed over the past 40 years. And there is no indication this is changing; in fact the dead end direction we are heading is pickin’ up steam. Oh, great, huh!!! -bb
This adds to the evidence that our economic and political systems are totally inadequate. To this day, there are “intelligent” people who will respond to this statement with the response….”but it works!”
Well, if they can call this working, then so does the plague, war, famine and genocide, they are very effective ways of controlling population - they work too! Supporters of Capitalism and Democracy have set the bar for “working” so low that a snake can crawl over it and not knock it off.
The arguement that humans are primarily instinctual creatures with little or no capacity for self-regulation keeps getting stronger with every passing year. Being completely delusional, we pursue the same failed strategies decade after decade, all the while claiming that things are “working.”
We will never change voluntarily. One day change will be forced on us by circumstances beyond our control. Even then, people will claim they are being “proactive” and making a “conscious choice.”
We are so clueless it is comical. Do you recall the film Gremlins? Their insane instant gratification, their mindless and stupid antics so closely parallel our behavior that anyone watching should have seen the obvious similarity with humans. Do you recall the television program “Jackass?” That really says it all.
We are all but totally blind to our failures and shortcomings, and we inflate our accomplishments wildly out of proportion. We mistake our myths for reality and become angry and defensive when anyone has the audacity to point out the disconnect.
We can become depressed, or we can sit back and enjoy the show. It’s a laugh a minute and admission is free.
The ONLY REASON it worked as long as it did, is due to logistics. We were blessed to live in a nation so abundant in natural resources, that everyone tought they would last forever. Many still believe this. I am not one of that group. -bb
Re “…a decline in coal production…” and “The human species relies on market-driven, nonrenewable sources for its very existence!”:
There is one thing and one thing only that makes human life tolerable, and that is fire; fire in whatever form, but fire nonetheless.
You can have fire without gold, but you can’t have gold without fire.
Perhaps if money were based on the BTU instead of gold, we might start moving toward an economic system that makes something resembling sense. (And actually, money is not based on gold, though some think it ought to be. Money is based on absolutely nothing at all, which tells you what it’s soon likely to be worth.)
Tom, basing our supply of currency on BTUs would probably be an improvement over what we do today. Some have suggested using the estimated total value of our arable land, or its annual output, and the value of the remaining ores in the ground and such.
You are correct, this would make more sense as the underpinning of our currency. However, politicians and bankers would get around this by inflating the estimates of agricultural output and the number of BTUs contained in the coal, as well as the size of the reserve.
The problems we face have amazingly little to do with geology, technology, economics, food supply or anything else outside our skin. Most of our problems reside squarely between our ears.
Humans are incapable of regulating their own affairs. For the moment, there are plenty of resources to go around, and that has been the case in the past. Yet humans have done a lousy job of managing and allocating those resources. Now that the quantity and quality of those resources are dwindling while the population continues to grow, we will be exposed for the fools that we really are.
However, we don’t need to worry about losing face, we will find a scapegoat to blame. We will continue believing our inflated opinions of our intelligence and our lofty place in the universe, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. We have met the enemy and he is us.
Great comments on this important subject. Humans are poor planners. We were just smart enough to borrow against the future and call it “working.”
Tom, Our money is based on something; the governments ability to collect ever increasing taxes. Nothing more.
As M. King Hubbert said, “We have the necessary technology. All we have to do is completely overhaul our culture and find an alternative to money.” And some say that Hubbert didn’t have a sense of humor!
Greg made an interesting statement when he said, “The argument that humans are primarily instinctual creatures with little or no capacity for self-regulation keeps getting stronger with every passing year.”
And so it does Greg. “They,” is a mandatory element in our lives. The ancient cultures had rain gods, war gods, harvest gods, and so on.
Today, we have the mythical god “They.” They will find more oil. They will find more coal. They will find a way to live without clean water and clean air. They will come up with a little capsule to replace food. They can increase population and reduce pollution at the same time. Heck, They can provide free healthcare. In other words, the great god “They” can find a substitute for anything.
For those who believe in They, it may pay to remember that Jim Jones came up with Kool-Aid as a substitute for breathing.
Mike, you are right, we have multiple gods. We have the gods of science and technology. We have the myth of never ending growth and progress.
For the most part, people today don’t understand modern technology, they simply have blind faith in that technology. It is much the same faith that less sophisticated cultures had in the rain or fertility gods. Yet we laugh and look down our noses at so called primitive cultures because they had rain gods. Are our beliefs any less silly and blind?
Greg,
Yep, technology not only requires resources to produce, it often hastens the extraction of those resources due to technically advanced machinery and a global reach.
I’m amazed that the reaction to the Colorado problem was to focus on replacing the income source rather than understanding the horrible consequences of depleting the finite resources.
What an air of irony around this whole thing! With a name of “School Land Trust” one would think there would be educated people in charge of this. It makes you wonder what they are educated in? or should I say indoctrinated in?
Here’s a statement from a financial news article. “Homes are selling at their fastest clip in nearly three years, the unemployment rate is falling and stocks are up 66 percent since their March lows — the best performance since the 1930s, so what’s not to like?”
Just for fun, who can point out the deception(s) in the above statement? Spin till ya win!
Here’s a great visualization of U3 versus U6 Unemployment numbers. Spin till ya win!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ulu3SCAmeBA
A few years ago Elaine Chao, Secretary of Labor said, “After all, the stock market is the final arbiter of the American economy”. With reasoning like that is it any wonder we are headed for a collapse.
In reality the stock market is simply a shell game played by the predator class, in hopes of sucking even more money out of the lower classes.
Mike, re: the financial article, there are so many deceptions I don’t know where to start.
To begin with the author needs to supply the numbers. Homes may be selling at their fastest clip in three years, but where? East Jesus, MO? In last three years they sold one home in the fourth quarter, this year they sold two?
Also, what time frame are they comparing, three days or three months? Sample size and duration are significant variables. Further, did the author take sales numbers from one week and project them over 52 weeks to get a small increase?
There is an old saying in statistics, “statistics don’t lie, but liars use statistics.”
As for the stock market, it does not reflect what is happening in the larger economy. When I was in college I worked for Merrill Lynch. One of the more candid brokers once told me that stock prices reflect only what people think stocks are worth. The price frequently bears little or no relationship to the actual assets or prospects of the company. How else could absolutely nothing change from one day to the next with regard to a particular company, yet their stock price could go up or down significantly? In this brokers opinion, a person could do just as well; maybe better, by betting the on the ponies.
As for the market being up, it still hasn’t recovered all that it lost in the current melt down. This is just a suckers bubble. The smart investors are waiting until January 2, for some big time profit taking. They wait until January for tax purposes. Sell now and you pay the tax in three months, wait until January and you get to keep your gains for fifteen months. Wait and see how much the market is up on January 15.
Great observations Greg, you win four gold stars!
In short, the deceptions can be revealed by asking, “compared to what?”
“I’m in pretty good health compared to my neighbor; he died last week.”
The Dow Industrial Average rose above 10,000 in 1999. In 2009 it fell to 6500! The average is now back to 1999 levels without considering inflation. Like they said, what more could you want…profit?