Forum Post: Why Oil is the problem behind our misery

In 2008 there was a oil price spike. This is what triggered the recession, banking collapse and put people out of work. The banks got assistance. The people didn't because our government is corrupt!

Economists believe that we live on a Flat Earth where resources last forever. Actually we don't and they won't!

Small growth percentages have long-term impacts. Let's give you an example. If something rises at 7% per year how long will it take to double? The rule of 70 (or 72) is quite useful in calculating this answer. You just take 70/7 = 10 years.

Consider that for a second. 10 years - that's not long. I took that idea and used it on oil reserves (BP stats). Assuming humans use oil at 1% per year it will be rationed by 2046.

That sounds a long way off until you realise that at higher percentage rates of consumption say 7%, it will be rationed in just 10 or 15 years.

So what am I getting at here? Oil is the dominant fuel type. It is used to farm, light our homes and keep us warm as well as plant, harvest and transport food. Without it America is finished.

So whilst you guys worry about hip hop, lack of employment, unions, politics, Sarah Palin, and Obama etc, remember this: oil is running out. It won't happen overnight. It will be gradual. The trend is that oil prices rise continually making the capitalist economic system less and less able to grow. If it doesn't grow, it cannot get taxes and thus there's no way to pay for armed forces, police and politicians. Soon the whole of America will descend into poverty.

You may think I'm a doom merchant. Some of you may even say: we'll find a solution to the oil crisis? In fact studies have shown that innovations are falling (they peaked in 1879 and 1913). Physics is reaching its upper limits of what is possible.

Fusion power is 50 years away. To become scalable by then it would need vast amounts of cheap portable fuel to build the power plants. But none of the substitutes we have now are primary fuels. They all rely heavily on fossil fuels. Without oil, there's no cheap gas, or coal. You have to dig ever deeper, drill further down, or sideways. Technology lives and develops based on cheap fossil fuels, not ones that take more money to extract than they provide.

If it takes $1 to get $100 worth of oil its profitable (1900). But when it takes $100 to get $99 that's not worthwhile. That's what we're facing. When the Energy Rate of return on Investment falls below 8 the USA can say goodbye to being a super power where everyone uses 245 kWh/day/person. The US citizens will have to endure power cuts or go without food, just like they do in Africa.

As oil trends up, money gets printed more, and thus hyperinflation will start to bite. Soon it will be better to have a prostitute in the family than a dead infant! We'll be like 1923 Germany! Destitute gangs of lawyers breaking rocks to make a buck. The poorest will be raiding farms to get food.

That time is only 70 years away in my opinion. Everyone needs to take notice. Unfortunately in a democracy built on the American Dream of greed from birth to death, there are no solutions.

If you were born after 1966 expect to die horribly and in poverty. That way you won't be disappointed. So to conclude: forget about Republicans or Democrats, Tea Party or your brainwashing (American Dream shit). Instead focus on the why you allow oil magnates to run your government and banks. And note that when a bank takes your home they do so on behalf of the oil giants who control them. The 1% of the US that control 99% of its wealth.

Virtually all of the wealthiest people in America got their billions via inheritance. Very few were every self-made. When the likes of Sarah Palin rants against welfare, take note: she's got a nice home. No bank is going to repossess her home.

And when they say they are Christians. Remember this: Christ said: 'Let the highest amongst you be as your slave'. Slaves don't live in nice houses, palaces, the White House, or the Vatican. They live with the poorest. And Jesus also said: "Sell ALL you have and follow me'. That's not sell some of it. Or get up on a box and start quoting Christian values but then get in a car outside and drive home. Christians don't have cars or homes. They don't own a thing! Find me a true Christian in the USA and I'll find you damned hypocrite and a liar!

That's all for now.