[deMolay]

Economy churning and going backwards. http://www.businessinsider.com/90-oil-recession-2010-12

[Daniel_Plainview]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')hree years after the start of the economic crisis, we can say resolutely that America has a structural unemployment problem. [While] a handful of Americans are going back to work, ... they are doing so at much lower pay.

[Cloud9]

I have a gnawing suspicion that it is never going to be like it was. The paradigm this country operated on for the last 150 years no longer matches reality. We are no longer a country with unlimited resources.

[Cog]

We never did have unlimited resources, we just thought we did. The rest of the world is not going to be immune to the effects of peak oil and peak debt either. The die-off is going to be spectacular and you should count yourself fortunate to be around to see the show begin.

[diemos]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cloud9', 'I') have a gnawing suspicion that it is never going to be like it was.

[Xenophobe]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cloud9', '.') We are no longer a country with unlimited resources.

[lper100km]

It can and will. However, what I think you mean is that it can’t survive in the bau paradigm.

[Plantagenet]

The Obama administration hasn't connected the dots yet. They don't understand the connection between peak oil and the great recession.

Obama's energy policy is just as misguided as his economic policies. He supports Quantitative Easing and cutting off domestic offshore oil drilling---- both policies that have helped to drive oil prices to $90 and higher. Higher oil prices hurt the poor and impact businesses, and ultimately destroy jobs.

[vision-master]

Tax cuts for the Rich!

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')ost of the tax cuts that were a signature domestic initiative of George W. Bush’s presidency carried an expiration date of Dec. 31, 2010, to limit the potential revenue losses; supporters assumed that they would be extended when the time came.

Extending them (tax cut's for the rich) for the next 10 years would add about $3.8 trillion to a growing national debt that is already the largest since World War II. About $700 billion of that reflects the projected costs of tax cuts for those in the top 2 percent of income-earners.

[Xenophobe]

Quick math calculation.

Unemployed person collecting $250/week in benefits. Drives 100 miles a week searching for work, in typical 20 mpg car. Combusts 5 gallons a week. $2.50/gal, versus $3.25. Incremental change in budget of $3.75.

Yeah...I'm thinking the jobless won't be much worse off with $90 oil. Skip a slurpie a week and it nets out to not change at all.

Next excuse to blame "not as expensive as 1970s's gasoline" current prices on?

[Cog]

I think where deMolay was going with this thread is not that unemployed people couldn't afford gasoline but that the overall affect of having this many people currently unemployed, with our current economic circumstances, would result is far more egregious effects.

[Xenophobe]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'I') think where deMolay was going with this thread is not that unemployed people couldn't afford gasoline but that the overall affect of having this many people currently unemployed, with our current economic circumstances, would result is far more egregious effects.

[Cog]

@Xenophobe

You consider nearly $90/bbl crude oil prices low? This is an economy that is struggling to grow its way out of a very deep recession? What do you consider a high oil price?

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Xenophobe', '
') the jobless won't be much worse off with $90 oil. Skip a slurpie a week and it nets out to not change at all.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')[While] a handful of Americans are going back to work, ... they are doing so at much lower pay.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')[While] a handful of Americans are going back to work, ... they are doing so at much lower pay.

[dsula]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '
')While the top 1% make more money than ever!