As Albert Bartlett taught us about exponential growth, what will the destruction side be like?
I wonder how the economy and population will contract.
Will it be exponential contraction? Or the inverse of exponential?
I guess it depends. If we allow a pure market force, that is, Darwinism to deliver the needed solutions, then yes it will be exponential contraction.
However, if government admits to peak oil, starts to “think” (wow, what a concept) and begins to “plan” (another silly concept) then maybe some orderly contraction could be experienced. If we are really cleaver, the contraction could create better wealth, such as 250-mpg autos or advanced telecommuting, 100% off grid homes for the general population, and so forth.
But looking at how the American economy tends to emulate the Dodo bird, and seeing how “wrong” the government is about simple issues such as finding Bin Laden or finding the 300 tons of wmd in Iraq, my assessment is that we are “screwed”.
Both the US government and the US population are acting like squirrels in the middle of the road, can’t move, jogging back and forth, waiting to the last minute when the bumper is past our teeth.
So sad… brains would have done so much good.


