Oil's energy contribution has declined by about 12% since 1999. The world's economies have also declined by about 12%. (Using conventional metrics, which are time delayed determinations, this will only be seen in hind sight). The massive destruction of asset values now occurring testifies to it happening.
Peak is well behind us, world economies have peaked and will continue to decline.
Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 12:23 pm Post subject: Re: Its a loathsome offensive brute, yet I can't look away..
"Its a loathsome offensive brute, yet I can't look away.."
I remember hearing this exact phrase come from the
bride's side of the church during my wedding. Hearing
it again after all these years makes old efarmer moist
in the peepers.
* edited because old efarmer in the throes of an emo
meltdown botched his own name
Last edited by efarmer on Wed Sep 17, 2008 1:56 pm; edited 1 time in total
Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 12:36 pm Post subject: Re: Its a loathsome offensive brute, yet I can't look away..
DrBang wrote:
I find it curious the disparity of how Americans see their country and how the rest of the world see it.
If only you knew what Americans thought of the Continent of Criminals.....
Admittedly I've heard theres a lot of redheads down there, and I do love redheads..... _________________ "Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the
Abyss, the Abyss gazes also into you."
Ammo at a gunfight is like bubblegum in grade school: If you havent brought enough for everyone, you're in trouble
Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 12:49 pm Post subject: Re: Its a loathsome offensive brute, yet I can't look away..
burtonridr wrote:
DrBang wrote:
I find it curious the disparity of how Americans see their country and how the rest of the world see it.
I have always wondered how you (the rest of the world) see it, care to explain?
Ugh that would be a book in and on itself, but let me try to paint a picture in very very broad strokes.
A land with a lot of promises that was sold down the river by the supposedly non existing elite.
Public opinion being "fabricated" by the non-existing "intellectual" elite.
As a whole, anti intellectual. Complex issues are only complex because the other person is trying to confuse the "average" American. (I do give the average American a bit more credit, but it seems that most people have swallowed that line hook line and sinker).
Optimistic to a degree that it at times crosses the line into naivete.
Not "looking back" only "forward". Which results in a lot of repeated mistakes that could have been avoided.
Thick and thin skinned (as a society) at the same time.
A lot of the "image" that America projects is through it's media and all that it entails. The reality on the Ground is quite different, I have lived and travelled through the US quite a bit in a decade and a half and my personal feeling is one of disappointment. What I thought the US was and what the reality is were two different things.
The Russians (supposely) had the Potemkin Villages to show the Czar just how well his people where off, which lead to the revolution. The US has Disney Land.... True to it's founding fathers, it's not the ones in power who are deceived but the populance and I think even those who know don't dare to open the door to that nice looking house, afraid of what they may really find there.
But to be clear: Every country is self deceiving. We all have an image of ourselves that mostly is much nicer than reality.
And finally: Most Americans I have met in person are nice people, even the "vaunted" Republicans (I had to do a business roadtrip with one in my last job for two weeks), but there is also a high-degree of self denial going on, I think the more dire the situation for the individual the harder they squeeze their eyes and push the fingers into their ears, but that's human too.
Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 1:03 pm Post subject: Re: Its a loathsome offensive brute, yet I can't look away..
Dr. Bang, I have to give equal time for my loathing of the Canadian self image. "We are so nice. We always do the right thing. We never raise our voices and our children are all above average". It's like Lake Woebegone, from coast to coast! I make me sick, I tell you!
Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 2:17 pm Post subject: Re: Its a loathsome offensive brute, yet I can't look away..
Snowrunner wrote:
Ugh that would be a book in and on itself, but let me try to paint a picture in very very broad strokes.
A land with a lot of promises that was sold down the river by the supposedly non existing elite.
Public opinion being "fabricated" by the non-existing "intellectual" elite.
As a whole, anti intellectual. Complex issues are only complex because the other person is trying to confuse the "average" American. (I do give the average American a bit more credit, but it seems that most people have swallowed that line hook line and sinker).
Optimistic to a degree that it at times crosses the line into naivete.
Not "looking back" only "forward". Which results in a lot of repeated mistakes that could have been avoided.
Thick and thin skinned (as a society) at the same time.
A lot of the "image" that America projects is through it's media and all that it entails. The reality on the Ground is quite different, I have lived and travelled through the US quite a bit in a decade and a half and my personal feeling is one of disappointment. What I thought the US was and what the reality is were two different things.
The Russians (supposely) had the Potemkin Villages to show the Czar just how well his people where off, which lead to the revolution. The US has Disney Land.... True to it's founding fathers, it's not the ones in power who are deceived but the populance and I think even those who know don't dare to open the door to that nice looking house, afraid of what they may really find there.
But to be clear: Every country is self deceiving. We all have an image of ourselves that mostly is much nicer than reality.
And finally: Most Americans I have met in person are nice people, even the "vaunted" Republicans (I had to do a business roadtrip with one in my last job for two weeks), but there is also a high-degree of self denial going on, I think the more dire the situation for the individual the harder they squeeze their eyes and push the fingers into their ears, but that's human too.
hmm, its kinda the same way I feel about the rest of the country here and it drives me up the wall....
BTW I hope to visit Australia before I die, some life long friends of mine are from there and everyone else I have ever met from Australia are great, fun people. Wouldnt mind moving there except I dont think I would like living on an island, even though it is huge. I cant hope on my motorcycle and go explore different countries without taking a ship or airplane. _________________ Tired of high gas prices? Then stop driving to work, duh..... Learn to Work from home
This song caught our attention so well it won the "Hottest 100", an annual vote-in competition of the best songs as voted by the listeners to our biggest national youth/alternative/pop radio station.
This song caught our attention so well it won the "Hottest 100", an annual vote-in competition of the best songs as voted by the listeners to our biggest national youth/alternative/pop radio station.
Let me guess... You're Canadian or French _________________ Tired of high gas prices? Then stop driving to work, duh..... Learn to Work from home
Joined: Aug 23, 2004 Posts: 574 Location: New Zealand
Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 4:23 pm Post subject: Re: Its a loathsome offensive brute, yet I can't look away..
Quote:
I cant hope on my motorcycle and go explore different countries without taking a ship or airplane.
On the upside, they can't come exploring you. _________________ Congress has found themselves in a bear trap. They will chew off three legs, and still be caught in it...
Joined: Jun 14, 2007 Posts: 157 Location: SE Qld Australia
Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 4:30 pm Post subject: Re: Its a loathsome offensive brute, yet I can't look away..
Quote:
If only you knew what Americans thought of the Continent of Criminals..... Razz
This has been demonstrated with the last couple of rounds of trade agreements. The relevant word here is bully. _________________ For every question , there is a lie. For every lie, there is a truth. For every truth, there is a way. And for every way, there is a time. This is the time.
Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 4:31 pm Post subject: Re: Its a loathsome offensive brute, yet I can't look away..
idiom wrote:
Quote:
I cant hope on my motorcycle and go explore different countries without taking a ship or airplane.
On the upside, they can't come exploring you.
Yes thats very true ....
But if they are trying to get you, its tougher to get away. _________________ Tired of high gas prices? Then stop driving to work, duh..... Learn to Work from home
Joined: Oct 06, 2006 Posts: 1371 Location: East Texas
Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 4:41 pm Post subject: Re: Its a loathsome offensive brute, yet I can't look away..
The world looks upon the loathsome brute and ponders, for a moment outraged, then annoyed, then shrugs and mutters,
"dance with thems that brung ya."
TALLY HO!
The costs of trying to break out of the current system, vastly exceeds the benefits that would be acquired by the smoldering remnant. _________________ Yes, we are. As we are.
And so shall we remain; Until the end.
Joined: Jun 14, 2007 Posts: 157 Location: SE Qld Australia
Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 5:12 pm Post subject: Re: Its a loathsome offensive brute, yet I can't look away..
Quote:
I have always wondered how you (the rest of the world) see it, care to explain?
Like anything thing else this is complex. I have met and worked with many Americans. They were mostly good people (with the usual arseh*les). I found them to be a hard people. If you were down on your luck you deserved it. In Australia we have a reasonable social security system. There is a safety net. In the US there is not. This has influenced how people think and interact. As a culture we tend to value community and like to help each other. The US society seems to be fraught with fear of each other.
While the American people were much the same as everywhere else, the US government (s) have been an entirely different matter. My thoughts and this thread is attached to the US govt.
The US has been throwing its weight around something shocking for some time now. They have been breathtakingly successful in creating an empire and transferring all their problems world wide.
I work in an international community with people from the US and all over the world. Their insights are quite telling. Again their issues are not with American people but the American govt. I find it interesting that most people make this distinction.
The greatest fallout/impact has been economic. The military arm seems to be only part of the softening up process. The ideas written in are how I personally see the US administration interacts with the rest of the world:
"Confessions of an economic hitman" (John Perkins)
"The Shock Doctrine" (Naomi Klien)
Noam Chomsky's work on how the world bank has been used to create poverty in exchange for resource management.
This is not just the latest generation but every single one of them since the formation of the US fed in 1917. The key here is to examine what really happened, not what the PR spin media story claims happened.
The Chicago school of economics, which eventually evolved into he Shock Doctrine (an economic strategy applied by the CIA and US financial sector while disabling and taking over smaller countries) is responsible for some really unfortunate stuff in South American Southern Cone areas for the last few decades. All around the world this procedure has been applied. While it certainly worked in disabling the target country and made them beholden to US interests, the ultimate goals of economic "reform" did not take.
Some of the strategies used to further US interests and create their empire have had some really unfortunate effects.
The creation of this fiat based money system
Petrodollar link to oil
Countless wars around the globe
Creation
of this bogus war on terror
to name a few.
In Australia, the US has really pushed us around on many issues. The outcomes of which are to our detriment but further US interests. Our sovereignty has been for the taking for some time. First the British before 1950 and now the Americans ever since. That 'special relationship' is now under the spot light.
What has been happening domestically in the US has been frightening us all. You have the largest stockpile of nuclear/chemical/biological weapons in the world and have been making more at a stiff rate, regardless of a lack of an adversary (the question has to be asked is: Why?). Having this kind of destructive power under a toxic irresponsible government is down right scary. then there is the willingness to use them (the Preemptive Strike Doctrine). Organizations like the CIA, NSA and TIA are down right unethical. The direction you guys have been going in is certainly concerning. I refer to:
"End of America" (Naomi Wolf)
We Aussies are generally used to disdain from other countries. You should hear the crap we get from the British for being one of their penal colonies at our start!!!! Lately we have been getting a pounding because we didn't do so well in the Olympics. I feel the occasional serious loss helps us truly understand what it means when we win. The Aussie cricket team started to look like bad winners for a while, so perhaps this is good timing.
Australia is just as guilty but on a much smaller scale. We have thrown our weight around in the Pacific nations for years. Why this has happened is not clear but I bet it is much more than just arrogance at the root of our actions. A true reckoning of what went down will be told by someone from the Pacific nations one day.
Militarily we also have no moral high ground. We sent troops to Afghanistan and Iraq. We could argue that the US made us do it, but in the end it was us who allowed it to happen. We have taken part of two nasty resource wars.
The title of this tread was off an Jerry Sienfeld poster of Cramer. Very funny, but behind every joke is deadly serious intent
Kind Regards
Dr Bang _________________ For every question , there is a lie. For every lie, there is a truth. For every truth, there is a way. And for every way, there is a time. This is the time.
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Then stop driving to work, duh..... 
....
