GliderGuider: A comment by a reader at The Automatic Earth has me ruminating this morning:
Cyclical terms like “recession” and “depression” are looking less appropriate by the day. It’s like calling the period between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance a “depression”.
I know the our situation is vastly different from the state of the world in Roman times, but the idea that we could be on the brink of a fundamental reset of civilization is intriguing, to say the least.
I've been convinced for several years that we are looking at the convergence of a set of wicked interlocking global problems -- ecological problems (climate chaos, the death of the oceans, fresh water shortages etc.), energy shortages due to fossil fuel depletion, and overpopulation with the resulting pressure on the global food supply. This convergence is happening under the umbrella of the current global financial collapse that constrains our ability to respond to any of these problems individually, let alone any further problems that might emerge from interactions between them.
Read on...
When Peacenik started posting doomsday articles there were many doubters. What seemed fanciful in August seems like the good old days today. Is it possible? GliderGuider makes it sound not only possible but probable. Today the Chicago Tribune declared bankruptcy. All those leveraged buyouts by private equity firms don't seem likes such a good idea now. And there were thousands of them, all designed to rape the companies of value for the benefit of a few. It is all coming apart now. But Peacenik is optimistic. It won't be the worst case scenario. And once things do start to turn as most business cycles do, there may be a chance to rebuild a better society from the ashes of this one. Hows that for upbeat?
