THE ECONOMY–SEEING THRU THE STORM : Amidst the clatter, clamor, clutter and confusion of the storm of economic information besieging the American public, it’s refreshing to find some clear, understandable and useful data that can clarify both the problem and solutions (or lack of solutions).
This rare combination of clear, understandable, and useful data can most recently be found, not surprisingly, in a recent post on mikefolkerth.com (Mike Folkerth – King of Simple) on 2/24/09.
The title of Mr. Folkerth’s post is “Wrong Thinking is a Dangerous Process” and here are some excerpts:
“…Many people are viewing the possibility of total economic recovery under the misconceived belief that the U.S. will always be top dog in the consumption department; no matter what… a few pesky facts tell a very different story.”
“The U.S. represents 4.8% of the world population, but currently consumes 25% of all energy and 30% of world materials. Our plan is to substantially grow that number!
In 1980 the U.S. was the largest creditor nation on earth. Today we are the largest debtor nation on the planet to the point in fact, that we borrow money from third world countries to pay the interest on the National Debt.
The U.S. is totally dependent on borrowing from foreign nations to fund our government and our personal lifestyles.
Somewhere between 80% to 85% of Americans are broke, should the phantom equity in their homes not be considered. In other words, 30 days from bankruptcy should their income streams cease.”
“The U.S. has a trade imbalance of about $700 Billion per year. In other words, we buy about $2 Billion more per day from foreigners than we sell.
Should the Chinese manage to raise consumption to the same per-capita rate as Americans, they would require 100% of all resource production on earth.
If India and China were to collectively consume at 50% of the U.S. per-capita rate, the same result would be obtained; 100% resource depletion, with the remainder if the world having zero.
The U.S. hit peak oil production in 1970. Today we produce 40% less than we did in 1970 and consume 40% more. We purchase that energy on credit from others by borrowing against the future.
Over our lifetimes, we consume some 75% over that of our European counterparts …”
“If anyone can read the points that I have just made and continue to believe that the U.S. will always have the upper hand and that our economy will return to status quo through growth of debt and population; have your doctor check your medications.”
MORE COPING: “Recession grows interest in seeds, vegetable gardening” by Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY (via Energy Bulletin at energybulletin.net on 2/24/09, Food & agriculture)
Seed sales of vegetables at the U.S.’s largest seed sellers have increased at a double-digit pace this year, according to Mr. Horovitz’s article, and this is the result of hard economic times.
The last time food gardening seed sales increased this much was 30 years ago said Bruce Butterfield, National Gardening Association’s group research director, as the NGA projected the number of homes growing gardens to increase this year more than 40% above two years ago.
PrudentHome plans a “sources and methods” gardening article at the end of this week and it looks like we’re about on time.
Until then, keep your eyes on the horizon as the weather’s changing fast.
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