True love? Bah! Economics! Every emotion has its roots in heartless natural selection; women with their precious eggs try to reproduce the fittest carriers of good genes they are able to attract with their endowments.

Sound mercenary? Tough. Things are as they are, not as we wish them to be. It’s something a lot more of us are going to be learning the hard way in the ensuing months…

Now, as promised we’ll address the umbrage brooked by some readers due to James Howard Kunstler’s characterization of Glenn Beck and his followers:

“Sir:

“In his otherwise well written April 7, 2009 article, Strange Days, Mr. James H. Kunstler badly mischaracterized broadcast commentator Glenn Beck.

“Mr. Kunstler says, “cheerleaders such as Glenn Beck on Fox News calling for the formation of militias….

“To my knowledge, Mr. Beck has NOT called for “formation of militias”, He has instead emphasized that we citizens who feel disenfranchised respond to our government’s errors in a peaceful, non- violent manner.

“Despite the many errors our politicians- of both parties- have and are making, despite their steering us into a Fascist society, they need not fear “the tattooed minions of Glenn Beck come a’calling.”

“Mr. Kunstler would do well to check out the facts before writing about anyone. He owes Mr. Beck an apology.”

I sent your concerns along to Jim and here’s what he had to say:

“The new form of demagogic broadcast “news” is designed specifically to “stir up the animals” by presenting figures to model “angry” behavior. Obviously, it is a marketing ploy by the companies who present the “news.” It is also a gross departure from the values and norms of broadcast news that had existed in an exemplary form of self-regulation until fairly recently.

“These new histrionics are pure emotional manipulation (for profit) and it is a kind of playing with fire. By the way, I regard the smug, sneering performances of figures like Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow on the “Left” to be as disgusting as the wild-eyed hysteria of “Rightists” like Glenn Beck. The entire landscape of cable TV news has degenerated into a toxic swamp of hatred and anger. The consequences are apt to be very unpleasant as our social and economic woes mount.”

We tend to agree on the big ideas about scarcity, commodities, commodity money and the inevitable failure of government. The particulars, however, can get a little hairy. Some of our letters to you are bound to insult some person or idea you hold dear. You are of course encouraged to let us know when we’ve upset you.

Now we turn our attention to the rest of the article…

“Good Afternoon

“After reading about Peak Oil and sources to replace it, I have to agree on several things.

“I am a headhunter who works for several nuclear entities here in the U.S. as well as a hydropower engineering firm.

“Our dams are already built, why not harness them for more power? It’s clean, no environmental impact, except may be some fresh sushi from fish that get sucked into the turbines.

“Nuclear is even better. It’s clean and cheap and runs constantly. If you do your energy research and look at capacity factors and how long out of a day can the station produce power, then nuclear, geothermal and hydro are the best of the bunch.

“Unfortunately, environmentalists see two out of three as destructive. But then, isn’t anything? Environmentalists forget to talk about the birds that fly into wind turbine blades.

“I do enjoy your columns and subscribe to a few for Agora Financial newsletters.”

Well, thank you! And you’re right; everything has a cost. Ain’t no such thing as a free lunch as the old folks and physicists say. Everything has an impact and the circle of life is a chain of suffering and predation. But what can you do?

We won’t let the lights go out without a fight. Our geologist and energy expert Byron King likes nuclear, geothermal and hydro, too. You can read more about that here.

Promise me you’ll see what Byron has to say before you move into a cave and try to survive solely on air.

“Gary —

“Hi! I like the Shots a whole lot — thanks for the great work. In response to the Peak Oil doubter:

“I find that people who reference only estimated underground reserves have not had much exposure the complex processes it takes to get oil from the ground to your local Shell station. Yes, there all sorts of reserves underground. But the real questions are “how do we get the oil up” and “how much does it cost to do so”? It does help to have done some field work in geology (I have a BA in it) to understand the importance of those questions.

“My personal 30 second speech explaining Peak Oil is that we have blown through most of the *cheap* oil and the world must change because of that. I don’t see us actually running out of oil in my lifetime, but I do suspect my children or my grandchildren will inquire with interest about a world where plastics were thrown out daily, by the ton. It’s comforting notion to think the only thing that stands in the way of endless oil prosperity is The Nature Conservancy, but it is not the case.”

Thanks. I gave up trying to explain Peak Oil to anyone in my everyday life. Now I act just as surprised as everyone else during the bumpy tumble down the far side. As James Howard Kunstler is probably tired of pointing out, this is going to prove to be about a lot more than different ways to run all our cars.

“Dear Gary,

“James Kunstler is right to point out the potential for social unrest which could follow from the continued unraveling of the economy brought about by the financial community’s stupendous fraud. At least in the United States the citizens are armed and can fight back against the perceived plunderers. Here in Britain, the citizens have been systematically disarmed since the end of the First World War when the ruling class feared the returning army.

“But in both countries we can look forward to increasing inroads of ‘fascist’ economics — we are already a long way down the track. Extensive government regulation, expanding public works, state-enforced cartels, generous social programmes. The state will continue to take over failing banks and corporations, while the rest of big business will survive in direct proportion to its willingness to co-operate with the state. The ‘national’ part of national socialism (fascism) will come through trade barriers, restrictions on capital movements, and travel constraints on individuals. Through this melding of nationalism and socialism we will be able to see fascism for what it always was — no more than a Marxist heresy with a rump of a possessing class.

“The strange thing is that the great bulk of people in the western world will welcome this — because the fascist government will promise salvation from anarchy and starvation.”

Meh. Anarchy isn’t all that bad, but your point is taken. Still, anarchy doesn’t mean chaos. More on that later. Till then…

Regards,
Gary Gibson,
Managing Editor, Whiskey & Gunpowder