by threadbear » Fri 02 Dec 2005, 00:05:28
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', 'I')t's back there somewhere, but I thought another one wouldn't hurt. It's based on my reading of Kunstler's The Long Emergency, why I'm bringing this up again. He pointed out the Coal Gasification worked in Nazi Germany, but only because they had slave labor. The idea is that it wouldn't work in a free society with a market capitalism economic system. So suppose that Kunstler is right, that going back to a coal-based economy would require slave labor. Would that not seem to be how we get out of this mess? So how would it all go down? My guess is that money and indebtedness will be used somehow to get around the ideological problems. The transition would be obscured by symbolism and rhetoric, masking the real situation. Serious social disruption and misery will call for drastic measures, but it will happen by stealth. There is no getting around the fact that we have enjoyed a good ride with all the cheap energy, but that the good times are drawing to an end. The ugly truth will have to be denied, while at the same time, it is dealt with.
Elegantly described, PMS. Ironically, the Bush family had something to do with the coal and steel mining AND subsequently slavery in Germany in the thirties and early 40's. So, it would be like old times for the Bushes to be directly or indirectly involved with this kind of program for Americans in the 21st century.
From the Guardian newspaper--
His business dealings, which continued until his company's assets were seized in 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act, has led more than 60 years later to a civil action for damages being brought in Germany against the Bush family by two former slave labourers at Auschwitz and to a hum of pre-election controversy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,1 ... 40,00.html