Weather Report: The “Stimulation” Economy, The Oil Run-Out, Power-Out? Manual Garden and Other Tools

THE “STIMULATION” ECONOMY: “Roubini: U.S. Needs $500 Billion Stimulus” reads the Street Talk headline over at money news.newsmax.com (10/28/08).

The $500 billion mentioned is over and above (of course) the billions already allocated to “stimulate” our flagging economy but former Clinton advisor (and professor) Nouriel Roubini says that this is the only way to get through the recession the U.S. is entering. This money needs to be spent on infrastructure (roads, bridges, etc.) and, as usual, needs to be spent immediately or all of the efforts we’ve put forth so far in re-capitalizing the financial system will have been for naught.

In agreeing with Professor Roubini, Barney Frank (Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee) adds that the psychological problems induced by our current financial mess are “even worse than the real problem.”

THE OIL RUN-OUT: Post Carbon Institute (postcarbon.org) posted an article by Richard Heinberg on 10/29/08 entitled “Nine Percent”. The article asserts that the Financial Times…” has leaked the International Energy Agency’s long-awaited study of the depletion profiles of the world’s 400 largest oilfields, indicating that, “Without extra investment to raise production, the natural annual rate of output decline is 9.1 per cent.”

The effect of this decline,…” means that 6.825 million barrels a day (considering regular crude oil only) of new production capacity must come on line each year just to keep up with the aggregate natural decline rate in existing oil fields. That’s a new Saudi Arabia every 18 months.”

The Financial Times story continues, noting that the current declining price of oil has the effect of delaying investment decisions in the face of steeply declining production in existing fields such as Alaska, Russia, and the North Sea (note also, Mexico’s 10% production decline from 2007).The net result of the foregoing is that the world will meet this challenge only with great difficulty ( if at all according to Mr. Heinberg).

POWER OUT?: “The Coming Electricity Crisis” by Byron W. King in the 10/39/08 edition of The Daily Reckoning (DailyReckoning.com) provides the background for our “Manual Garden and Other Tools” comments at the end of our blog today.

Mr. King is the editor of “Energy & Scarcity Investor” (among many other accomplishments) and speaks with authority when noting that essentially very little was done to “fix” the causes of the 2003 power failure wherein 50 million people were without power in the U.S. and Canada for a short time.

Mr. King goes on to present some of the remarks of a long time energy policy expert at a privately sponsored U.S. energy policy presentation indicating among other things that: “The electric industry in the U.S. is in terrible shape” and that we could expect blackouts and brownouts at the local and regional levels ”within five years”. If we fail to make the necessary investments over the next decade in new power systems and fail to conserve and create greater efficiencies then: lights out.

MANUAL GARDEN AND OTHER TOOLS : It is within the context of the above “Power Out?” commentary , our current financial tribulations, our natural resource short-falls at every level, and geo-political uncertainty that PrudentHome recommends manual/non-powrer tools as primary (or at least back-up) means for your essential work around your home.

Manual tools in general are more economical to acquire and to use than their power counterparts and are thus more likely to have “duplicates’ or back-ups should break downs occur.

We recommend three sources for all your essential manual tools:

1. Yard sales
2. Flea or farmers markets
3. Lehmans Non-Electric Catalog, in that order.

Yard sales will probably provide your most economical tools and it almost goes without saying that tool condition and manufacture (USA tools are almost always preferred) should be primary criteria. Here too, don’t overlook older tools as their manufacture may be better than some newer models.

Flea or farmers markets can be good sources with the same guidelines you would use when shopping yard sales, with one or two additions; 1. Look for someone/vendor who’s been doing business at that market for some time and has a good reputation (don’t hesitate to ask around) and 2. Take someone with you who knows something about the tools your looking for and hopefully knows the vendor your thinking of buying from: either directly or by reputation.

Finally, Lehmans. Up front; we at PrudentHome have an affiliate relationship with Lehmans’ and they provide us a small payment for each sale that goes thru our Simple Living Tip section (click-on Amish Site with thousands of products, etc). This affiliation is very recent and very carefully considered. The Lehman folks have been around many years, serving both the Amish and non-Amish with very high-quality products ( a large percentage American-made). Lehmans Non-Electric Catalog is the standard. We, our family at PrudentHome, have done business with them for a number of years and recommend them without reservation. We would appreciate your going thru PrudentHome if you should decide to make a purchase from them.

Find thousands of unique products for a simple lifestyle from Lehmans.com. Click here.

Until next time, keep your eyes on the horizon.