[MrBean]

http://www.energybulletin.net/node/23259

[TheDude]

Great article. Dmitri has an excellent book out as well: Reinventing Collapse.

Review of Dmitry Orlov's Re-inventing Collapse | Energy Bulletin

Think Doom or Collapse is unpalatable to Amerikanz in the modern USSA? Try telling them we're less prepared than the Soviets were! Orlov convinced me in short order, though. It's resilience vs. complexity, as described by among others Thomas Homer-Dixon.

[TreebeardsUncle]

Yes. America is much less well prepared than the SU was for collapse.
In fact folks here much less prepared than they were during the GD or anytime previous to that.
g

[drgoodword]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TreebeardsUncle', 'Y')es. America is much less well prepared than the SU was for collapse.
In fact folks here much less prepared than they were during the GD or anytime previous to that.
g

[nobodypanic]

'less prepared' stems from the fact that capitalism while far far more efficient than communism is, because of it's very efficiency, less redundant and therefore less resilient to shocks of these magnitudes.

[mos6507]

The soviets faced a temporary blip, not permanent peak oil in the global sense. There are just too many indirect inputs from energy-rich regions that help prop up energy starved regions. Take North Korea for instance. As bad as it is, it is sucking at the teat of China and blackmailing the west with nukes for oil to avoid outright die-off. There is no true precedence in history to use as a model to know what global peak oil will do long term.

[Buggy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'V')ery astute. We have created elegant beautifully engineered living machine powered, greased, painted, and puffed up with cheap petroleum.

[Revi]

I read Dmitry Orlov's Reinventing Collapse. It is a really good book, and gets you thinking. The Russians had one thing we don't and that is the right to stay in their apartments and houses. When we lose ours, that's it. We're homeless. There will be a lot of people without anywhere to live soon.

I do think that we will figure out ways of surviving. Americans are very inventive. We'll find ways of doing things.

I do think it will be really bad here. I liked the way that he described the situation as it changed in Russia.

The government got more and more dysfunctional, and made things worse. I expect the same here.

[TheDude]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Revi', 'I') read Dmitry Orlov's Reinventing Collapse. It is a really good book, and gets you thinking. The Russians had one thing we don't and that is the right to stay in their apartments and houses.

[cube]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TheDude', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Revi', 'I') read Dmitry Orlov's Reinventing Collapse. It is a really good book, and gets you thinking. The Russians had one thing we don't and that is the right to stay in their apartments and houses.

[MadScientist]

I liked this piece.

He did give the US a hard time, and while I don't think it's totally deserved, we really do need a wakeup call so I dont mind the criticism.

True, the US has had it really really easy for our lifetimes. Usually when I'm with someone who starts getting on my nerves from bitching about something they need or how bad they want something I look at them directly and ask if they've ever been hungry. And they of course say "yeah, I only had a sandwich for dinner one time". And then I reply "no, I mean HUNGRY. Like days with out any food at all." And then they look at me like I'm mad....


However, there is backbone in America that although hidden under fat right now, will be revealed. We are the descendants of an incredibly capable group of people.

[Keith_McClary]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MadScientist', '
')However, there is backbone in America that although hidden under fat right now, will be revealed. We are the descendants of an incredibly capable group of people.

[TreebeardsUncle]

So, when does it start?

The government in the US is already behaving in a counter-productive manner by maintaining the oil-powered credit-enhanced suburbanizing machine going stronger and longer than it naturally should.
g

[Pretorian]

I've seen Americans putting a bottle opener in a dishwasher after they open 1 beer. They are hopeless.

[ReverseEngineer]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cube', '
')Now lets compare that to America.
The worst thing that ever happened to an American was that he lost money in the stock market back in 1929 and had to put on a warm sweater during those cold winters.
boo hoo cry me a river!
We can see this soft and squishy behavior reveal itself today.
Notice how Americans use words like "crisis" to describe ridiculously small events, like when gasoline goes up by 50 cents a gallon or food goes up by 20%.
Americans had it too easy. We are not prepared to even take one step down the ladder let alone 3, 5, 10 steps down or however how far down PO will take us.

[Zero-point]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TreebeardsUncle', 'Y')es. America is much less well prepared than the SU was for collapse.
In fact folks here much less prepared than they were during the GD or anytime previous to that.
g

[cube]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ReverseEngineer', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cube', '
')Now lets compare that to America.
The worst thing that ever happened to an American was that he lost money in the stock market back in 1929 and had to put on a warm sweater during those cold winters.
boo hoo cry me a river!
...

[Sys1]

USSR collapsed because of cheap oil, USA will collapse because of expensive oil, this is the main difference.