[vfr]

Our economy is not based on sustainable health - it is based low interest credit to encourage compulsive spending, debt and living a life of constant consumption with a 'disposable mentality' when it comes to durable goods.

The problem of consumption is the games the Federal and World banks play with interest rates. They manage the economies in ways to fuel consumption and mask the real trend. Witness the recent cries for Federal bankers to lower interest rates...so the stock market can go up...fueled by spending of the consumer.

It is drug habit that Greenspan got us hooked on and we just can't get away from. Lets look at CHINDIA, (China and India) two up and coming giants. Are they built on the compulsive spending habits of their people to foster a healthy economy? No, they are built on producing products and services and selling them to the USA and the world. Sure, their home consumption is a factor, but it is not the main factor as it is with the USA. 70% of the US GDP is based on consumer spending.

The USA is built on consumer consumption to artificially fuel our economy to make our retirement funds only go up. All this worldwide consumption contributes to more and more global warming and the depletion of our natural resources.

Then the governments juggle the numbers to make the inflation figures seem artificially low, so everyone's retirement portfolio will make them happy so they will continue to buy and consume more...and on it goes....IT IS ALL WE KNOW

Thoreau once said when people invited him to dinner they 'put their pride' in how fancy and expensive a meal they could make. Whereas he put his pride in how simple and inexpensive a meal he could make.

Where do we put our pride? We surely don't put it in living within our means and in balance with nature. Now you can see why don't we do anything about global warming...because we can't. To do anything substantive would cause a financial and population backlash of unimaginable proportions.

The 'public' gets their underpants in a bind when the GNP declines at all...even when it is still in the positive numbers. They start a panic in the stock market when the GNP is +1%, so how can it survive a -25% GNP drop if we wished to seriously work on global warming and making fossil fuels last a few years longer?

And as for cutting back on our demands...well it goes against the American dream. Are you starting to see the folly of thinking mankind can stop peak oil or global warming, when mankind is built on such a ludicrous foundation? There is no 'simple or easy answer' to this issue nor is there even a 'not so simple and hard answer' to our dilemma.

The world is in a death spiral. It is just how we have built our world over the years. Take care

[billg]

I predict a blossoming in spirituality.