Nothing will change in L.A.

neocone · Heavy Crude Joined: Sep 23, 2006 Posts: 235

Bear witness to the usual here:

1) Shopping malls are packed.

2) Traffic is as bad as ever. Maybe $4 gas loosened it a bit (and I mean cut a 2 hr traffic jam to 1.5 hr...) but then it snaps back to the usual horrid.

3) House prices have tumbled... oh maybe 5% and going up again.

4) The main refinery in Carson is at 100% capacity.

5) Road construction is EVERYWHERE. 3 am traffic jams are even more horrid than the morning commute.

Just like mainland USA wasn't touched in WWII and the casualties of north Americans were negligible compared to, say Russia, China and Poland, I believe nothing of importance will happen in SoCal.

Sure large swath of the planet will become like a cross between Mogadishu and Kabul, spiced with a bit of Congo Republic... but here, we are simply too wealthy to care.

Serial_Worrier · Heavy Crude Joined: Jun 05, 2008 Posts: 233

Until TSHTF! Twisted Evil

Cashmere · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Mar 27, 2008 Posts: 1971

pstarr · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 11:57 am Post subject: Re: Nothing will change in L.A.

We are on the plateau and high prices fluctuation are at the extreme margins of the current price regime. When world petroleum production rate begin 5% yearly decline than we have entered the new price regime.

This new price regime will be incompatible with our growth/debt-based economic system. It will be difficult to finance private and public debt under the new assumption that there will be less energy, and less wealth in the future.

This is unknown. Your assurance that "nothing of importance will happen in SoCal." is only reasonable when viewed through the current perspective.
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Niagara · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 12:04 pm Post subject: Re: Nothing will change in L.A.

Neocone, I see the same thing here in Canada. In the Toronto area, the biggest city in Canada, we pay $1.33/litre which is $5/gallon

-traffic seems as bad, if not worse than ever

-roads are being widened and I can think of at least half a dozen overpass bridges being constructed or widened

-the malls are packed with people

-real estate is robust (keep in mind however we didn't have a sub-prime bubble)

-there are plenty of jobs and the overall economy is very strong

Life goes on...

Twilight · Expert Joined: Mar 02, 2007 Posts: 2971 Location: UK

It is self-evident that any activity at a peak has the appearance of being without precedent. This is of limited use when attempting to predict the future. For that, you need to know the underlying. Where did that wealth come from? Can its creation be maintained? Are the necessary resources adequate?
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"The American people are watching the numbers climb higher and higher at the pump and they're waiting to see what the Congress will do." - George W Bush

heroineworshipper · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 12:28 pm Post subject: Re: Nothing will change in L.A.

Why can't you just copy Google search results instead of using your own eyes to determine reality? The 2% drop in housing prices was a meltdown! We need more entitlements! Never mind that only the top 0.5% of the population actually owns houses here.
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neocone · Heavy Crude Joined: Sep 23, 2006 Posts: 235

I believe in Peak Oil but human nature is infinitely stretchable to accomodate any kind of SHTF situation.

Economic conditions in the socialist block in the 1980s (food shortages, crumbling infrastructure... and no right to complain even the slightest about it!!!) dwarf anything bound to happen in America at the worst of the transition to a non oil based society, say in 2020-2050.

Life will go on, the US will use its vast military and a conscribed army (not bad.. time to get those FAT and IDLE drug using teenagers and young illegal aliens to do something for their country!!! and in shape too!) to insure decent conditions.

The rest of the world and third world... will still be the rest of the world and third world.

Man made mismanagement is an order of magnitude greater factor in calamities than any ressource depletion (Ukrainian famine of 1930, Chinese cultural revolution, Rwandan genocide and WWI/WWII).

The more things seem to change the more they are the same...

dbruning · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 12:53 pm Post subject: Re: Nothing will change in L.A.

"Neocone, I see the same thing here in Canada. In the Toronto area, the biggest city in Canada, we pay $1.33/litre which is $5/gallon "

$1.52 a litre here in Victoria, BC.

They didn't actually break $1.50 when the carbon tax went in, they waited 3 entire days just to prove me wrong Smile

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neocone · Heavy Crude Joined: Sep 23, 2006 Posts: 235

Also... everyone remembers the year 2000 mass hysteria? New Year's Eve 2000 came and went... and.. NOTHING.

Also the mass hysteria about "all the forest gone due to acid rain!!!" back in 1985.

I remember a Der Zeit mag cover where a lunar landscape was covered in tree skeletons.

Guess what??? The friggin trees adapted and are thriving in Europe and other regions.

I am no skeptic when it comes to important issues, but remember human nature also was nicely displayed when Orson Wells did his radio broadcast on War of the Worlds in the 1930s.

Peak Oil will most likely be one of several factors of change and adaptation in the coming decades... but apocalypse it ain't! We had the calamitous 14th Century for that Twisted Evil

Specop_007 · Expert Joined: Aug 12, 2004 Posts: 6235

Well I know I'll sleep better tonight.

Razz

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كا&#

pstarr · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 2:33 pm Post subject: Re: Nothing will change in L.A.

NeoPeasant · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 3:02 pm Post subject: Re: Nothing will change in L.A.

Narz · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 3:07 pm Post subject: Re: Nothing will change in L.A.

jedinvest · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 3:35 pm Post subject: Re: Nothing will change in L.A.