[neocone]

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]

Until TSHTF!

[Cashmere]

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.

Good luck with that.

Or should I say, bueno suerte.

[Niagara]

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]

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?

[heroineworshipper]

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.

[neocone]

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]

"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

[neocone]

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

[Specop_007]

Well I know I'll sleep better tonight.

[NeoPeasant]

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

I've just about had it with your agenda.

Quit wasting my precious time JERK.

ok?

If we didn't have posters from time to time disputing what we say here, it would be necessary to fabricate some to keep the discussion going. Is neocone the product of a denialbot generator?

[Narz]

I've just about had it with your agenda.

Quit wasting my precious time JERK.

ok?

No need to flame, just makes the site look bad.

If you're getting yourself riled up over "deniers" you're wasting your own precious time. Take some responsibility. If the worst is coming your time is more precious than ever, far too much so to be wasting it bickering. That the MonteQuests here are spending countless hours trying to prove how bad it's going to be only proves either that they're A : probably wrong as per their timescales or B : they're somewhat suicidal (arguing online doesn't seem to be the best apocalyptic survival strategy). In Monte's case I'd say with some confidence it's B (he rarely commits to timescales anyway, just his steady, draining sense of inevitability), not sure about you, don't know you well enough.

The one's who think it's gonna be really bad, really soon are out prepping. The ones left are just trying to get themselves pumped up (or trying to soothe themselves).

Or you're just too poor or unconnected to prep. In which case I feel for you (and am in a similar boat though I'm doing what I can to be prepped for most circumstances that may come about).

[jedinvest]

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

I think you're yanking everyone's leg, too.

Year 2000 fear was good for software companies. I did 'worry' that my VCR would stop recording programs and my Microwave would continuely flash its lights, but let's face it that there is precious little technology left even from the 1970's. Most everyone has upgraded already (serveral times over, in fact).

The air quality is much better now with scrubbers used extensively on industrial power stacks. But I wouldn't laugh at Ocean acidification.

Lumping these rather trivial probelms with Peak Oil means that you don't grasp the magnitude of the problem at all (as Cashmy would say).

[Kingcoal]

LA is very diverse, it is several cities within one. It will be rocked to the core when gas is $8/gal. However, as long as the sun rises and that cool breeze off the ocean keeps blowing, people will want to live there.