CollapseWatch.com

Mike Ruppert - Collapse and The Beginning Of Systemic Failure - Latest Update Jan.26th

2011-01-31T12:44:00.000-08:00

Peak Oil and the Hubbert Model Update

2011-01-18T00:16:00.000-08:00

Nevertheless, what we are seeing is not what we would expect: we are not seeing a well defined peak, at least for the "all liquids" case. That raises a fundamental question: is the Hubbert model a valid tool for describing the future of oil production worldwide?

http://www.countercurrents.org/bardi170111.htm

Cold Fusion Update - Exciting Cold Fusion Demonstration In Italy

2011-01-18T00:08:00.000-08:00

See the Cold Fusion Now blog for details, commentary and updates:

http://coldfusionnow.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/12-kw-cold-fusion-reactor-demonstrated-ramping-up-to-take-your-order/

OFF GRID LAND FOR SALE OR LEASE IN NEW MEXICO

2011-01-12T01:31:00.000-08:00

And this is geared towards the survival/collapse minded crowd.
No building restrictions, no subdivisions etc. Interesting...
http://placeofrefuge2012.com/

STOCKING UP - FOOD AND MEDICINE

2011-01-12T01:14:00.000-08:00

Good post on now being the time (if you haven't started already) to stock up on food and medicine. The medicine part, specifically antibiotics. And there are suggestions on how to get some without prescription.

http://www.off-grid.net/2011/01/12/food-and-medicine/#more-6157

Gerald Celente Trends Forecast 2011 - Alternative Energy

2011-01-09T18:42:00.000-08:00

Look for Gerald Celente to announce COLD FUSION as a prediction for a real alternative energy to emerge this year in his upcoming Trends Journal which will be released soon.
For more on Cold Fusion technology go to http://ColdFusionNow.ORG

Gerald Celente on FOX News 01/01/11 Video

PROPHETS OF DOOM - HISTORY CHANNEL

2011-01-06T21:07:00.000-08:00

Prophets of Doom which aired on the History Channel last night. Featuring James Kunstler, Mike Ruppert, and others.

JOE BAGEANT AND CANCER

2011-01-05T14:26:00.000-08:00

Very sad note on writer Joe Bageant reporting that he has serious cancer -

"As you may or may not know, I have been struck down by an extremely serious form of cancer. Presently I am back in the United States receiving treatment through the U.S. Veterans Administration hospital system. Due to the nature of the massive internal tumor, I am currently unable to even carry on email correspondence or Skype conversations."

Full Post Here

AUSTRALIA FLOODS CAUSE COAL MINE STOPPAGE

2011-01-05T03:25:00.000-08:00

Australia floods cause catastrophic damage

Australia's record floods are causing catastrophic damage to infrastructure in the state of Queensland and have forced 75 percent of its coal mines — which fuel Asia's steel mills — to grind to a halt, Queensland's premier said Wednesday.

COLD FUSION TECHNOLOGY - THE REPRODUCIBILITY CONTROVERSY

2011-01-05T03:20:00.000-08:00

What makes Cold Fusion reproducible?

"In 1989, Dr. Stanley Pons and Dr. Martin Fleischmann, world-renowned in the field of electro-chemistry, announced their discovery: the creation of an enormous amount of heat, a nuclear-power sized heat, but generated from a small tabletop electrolytic cell using a piece of palladium metal in a glass of heavy water, a type of water made from sea-water.

Their claim was so great that, after describing the apparatus in a news conference on March 23, scientists of all stripes around the world rushed to reproduce the experiment. Unfortunately, they met with few successes."

READ MORE HERE

KUNSTLER FORECAST 2011

2011-01-05T03:14:00.000-08:00

KUNSTLER - GIRD YOUR LOINS FOR LOWER LIVING STANDARDS

" The paradigm we've called Globalism is falling apart now. Followers of Tom Friedman (The Earth Is Flat) tried to put across the story that Globalism would become a permanent feature of the human condition, an idea I regarded all along as utter nonsense. Rather, Globalism was a set of transient economic relations characterized by particular conditions of a certain era (the post-WW2 cheap energy era), and that when history moved on, Globalism would dissolve. As is the case now, first in the unraveling of global financial arrangements - a terrifying matrix of irresolvable mutual obligations that are destined to be repudiated in an ugly way. Everybody owes too much money to everybody else. A worldwide game of financial musical chairs is currently eliminating various nation-players too weak to plant their asses in the diminishing chair-space. Iceland dropped out first, then Greece, then Ireland, and so it goes. Entering 2011, the trouble is that the world is out of runt countries to shove to the sidelines. There are Portugal and Belgium to go, and from these on all you've got are nations too big to fail and too broke to keep going, the most conspicuous being Spain."

MANIFESTO OF IRS BUILDING CRASH PILOT

2010-02-18T12:58:00.000-08:00

http://www.businessinsider.com/joseph-andrew-stacks-insane-manifesto-2010-2

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2010/0218102stack1.html

Tom's BugOut Plans from LATOC

2010-02-16T00:11:00.000-08:00

For full discussion see http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/Archives2010/SkilletLickerThinkYoureReadyPartTwo.html

9. Tom's equipment and general bug out plan (very condensed): He said that the first thing he did was to locate land to retreat too. He ran an ad in the paper to lease some land for hunting / camping - min-100 acres, for three years with the option to renew for 2 more terms of three years. He's got ~60 acres, close to the duck river, heavily wooded for three years, with the option of 2 more terms. Cost is $1200 / yr. They drew up a simple term sheet that provided that he did indeed have a lease. He thinks that our economy is coming down sometime within the next 5 yrs, but most likely between Fall 2010 and Summer 2011. He located his site close to the middle, and has over the last year or so prepared his site. An important feature of his site, is that he can drive in about half-way. He has stored some food supplies, but mostly equipment, fuel, some ammo, and a few weapons. The site is roughly 40 miles from his current home, is rural, with only 3-4 neighbors - the closest being about 5 miles away from the BOL.

He described his biggest prize and the most enjoyable hobby was the design and retrofitting of his trailer. He said the most useful tool around his home is his 5*10 foot trailer. It came with the home, and when he realized how useful it was, he sold the family on converting it to a camping trailer, and he bought another one to use for hauling trash, wood, etc. He has built this trailer to house 10 tanks of propane (bbq grill size), in which he bought ~one tank a month for about a year. It also contains all of the camp chairs, tents, heavy food staples (cans of food, rice, beens, etc - about 20 -5 gallon buckets.) tools, axes, a communications compartment with his HAM radio, walkies, laptop, a small solar panel, an ammo/gun compartment, a fishing compartment with multiple trotter(?) lines, 2-100 gallon tanks of water (only one filled in bug out), with a roof to erect for the trailer that collects the rainwater, filters it with modified filters he bought at Lowes, and it fills these tanks (he said that the roof dimensions were 15 by 6 (tin) and for every one inch of rain, he collects roughly 50 gallons of water. We average in these parts about 5 inches rain / month, which provides ~ 250 gallons/month (about 1/3 of his family's needs). Even though it is filtered, he still boils the water for drinking if he has to pull from the tanks. He designed a crude outdoor shower, whose flow is generated by an old hand-crank fuel pump. The same pump, can be used (switch a PVC valve) to wash dishes in the make shift kitchen/study table that is erected after it is located. Lastly, once the trailer has been located, he uses a jack to removes the tires, and set it on blocks.

He also keeps ~ 100 gallons of diesel rotated in/out of his trucks bed tank, with enough stabil to keep the diesel good, for he says 12 to 18 months. All of his vehicles are diesel, and the small 6500w generator is diesel (got it at Northern Supply).

He has taken the trailer out camping with family a few times. They love it, and it has given him a chance to wring out some bugs and determine new needs / useless items. When it is at home, he keeps it covered and stored in a shed in the rear of his house. The only thing it lacks, in an emergency bug out, is the food-stuffs which he keeps in a room close to the garage in his home (temp controlled). He says it will take roughly an hour or so to load this, and if they have the time, he can be fully loaded - and out the door in 3 hrs. If things appear dicey, he is going to preload.

If they have to make the trip and bug out, he is planning on doing this (leaving the home) at about 4am. Before leaving, he will call the switchboard and take two personal days from work. He can be at the site in an hour, plans on setting up the campsite by 7-8am, and monitor news to determine the state of the emergency. If it appears to be a false alarm, he will stay and camp for a couple of days and monitor the news. If it is not a false alarm, he is going to drive to a restaurant 5 miles down the road that has wifi, and send his pre-drafted emails, make phone calls, cache the most recent financial and news data, check and post on his blogs, and get the hunker down underway.

Weekend Links to Go Through

2010-02-06T12:33:00.000-08:00

Some links from the previous week(s).

ENDGAME - John Michael Greer
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2010/02/endgame.html

HEINBERG - CHINA VS US -
http://www.postcarbon.org/article/67429-china-or-the-u-s-which-will

ORLOV on HEINBERG PIECE
http://www.cluborlov.blogspot.com/

Energy Flow, Emergent Complexity, and Collapse
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6181/

Ruppert on various -
http://mikeruppert.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-happens-when-unemployment-checks.html

TOYOTA ADMITS PEAK OIL

2010-01-29T16:35:00.001-08:00

Collapse Control

2010-01-21T23:34:00.000-08:00

More money to dumb down the already dumbed down.

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thegaggle/archive/2010/01/21/scotus-ruling-spells-disaster-for-political-transparency.aspx

Branding/Collapse

2010-01-21T17:16:00.000-08:00

"...the Democrats are in trouble because they branded themselves as progressives, but the system is too ossified to make any progressive reforms. Meanwhile the Republicans have branded themselves as the party of anger, so now they are getting votes even from angry liberals.

Of course, whatever the branding, the job of both parties is to throw scraps to the people while protecting the giant pool of money that wants to keep growing by lending money that nobody can pay. The people are stronger than the giant pool of money, in that money only exists if we believe in it. But it's stronger than us in that our whole way of life depends on it. But that way of life is already falling apart." -RanPrieur.com

also see:
http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2010/01/journal-brands-and-hollow-nationstates.html

Bankers/Bonuses

2010-01-21T17:13:00.000-08:00

http://money.cnn.com/2010/01/11/news/economy/bank_bonuses/index.htm

For just $17,500 a night you can rent Dunton Hot Springs, a private town in the Colorado mountains.

Celente predicts another economic collapse in 2010

2010-01-12T02:18:00.000-08:00

"What You Can Do to Survive"

2010-01-11T01:06:00.000-08:00

JAN.9TH Entry - http://www.ranprieur.com/

"Find a landbase and build the topsoil; plant fruit trees and vegetable gardens; learn to forage and hunt and repair stuff; learn uncommon useful skills; make local friends; work to make your city and region more sustainable and resilient; make friends in other regions in case you have to move; gradually shift more of your activities and dependencies out of the money economy; break your addictions; get healthy; spend your money on tools and skills and long-keeping food; meditate; exercise your intuition. This is not meant to be a complete list, but a list of examples of the kind of thing you should be doing. The title of my talk was "Weeds through Pavement", because when pavement turns to forest, the pavement does not turn green and put down roots -- plants crack the pavement and grow through it. So do that." - Ran Prieur

Detroit Drive at Decades End

2010-01-05T01:31:00.000-08:00

Random shots of Collapsed Detroit neighborhoods

Ruppert Warning

2010-01-04T23:48:00.000-08:00

http://mikeruppert.blogspot.com/2010/01/something-evil-this-way-comes.html

"To all of you who I love and to whom I owe so much, I recommend that you make a small investment in potassium iodide tablets for yourself and your family. It's time to start running faster than the other campers."

Excerpt 2 from Mondays CLUSTERFUCK

2010-01-04T15:07:00.000-08:00

http://kunstler.com/blog/2010/01/the-futility-economy.html

Reality is taking us out of that familiar, if sordid, realm, whether we like it or not. Our destination is an everyday economy where you rarely travel far from the place you live, where you have to make provision for you own health, your own old age, your own income, your own diet, your own security, and your own education. If you're really fortunate, some or all of these necessities can be obtained in conjunction with your neighbors in the place where you live -- but don't expect an increasingly mythical federal government to supply any of it. Expect a new and different way of organizing households based on extended families and kinship groups. Be prepared for agriculture to return to the foreground of everyday life, where farming is back at the center of the economy. Think about how you will cultivate your best role in a social network so the things you do will be truly valued by the other people who know you. Learn how to make your own music and write your own scripts. Try to study history. Resist cults. Keep your mind clear and your senses sharp.
-KUNSTLER

Excerpt from Mondays CLUSTERFUCK

2010-01-04T14:59:00.000-08:00

http://kunstler.com/blog/2010/01/the-futility-economy.html

Whatever you thought our economy was the past thirty years -- whatever model of it you have in your head -- that is definitely not what we are going back to. Like one of Dickens's Yuletide ghosts, Reality is leading us by the hand into new circumstances. We resist like crazy. We throw our hands over our eyes. We don't want to look. We want to return to the comfort of our dreary routines -- living in places that aren't worth caring about, weaving endlessly in freeway traffic, drawing a paycheck at the air-conditioned cubicle, inhaling Buffalo wings by the platterful, with periodic side-trips to the state-chartered casino where there's always a chance of scoring a lifetime's income on one lucky bet. And at the end of the day, you can retire with a simulated prostitute on your laptop screen! And not even have to fork over a dime -- except perhaps for the Internet connection fee.
-KUNSTLER

PREDICTIONS 2010

2010-01-02T12:15:00.000-08:00

KUNSTLER - http://kunstler.com/blog/2009/12/forecast-2010.html#more

CELENTE - http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977972845&grpId=3659174697244816

SCHWARZ - http://www.rense.com/general89/pred.htm

Igor Panarin - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123051100709638419.html

Jeff Vail - http://www.jeffvail.net/2010/01/2010-predictions-and-catabolic-collapse.html

Please add more links in the comments, thanks.

Climate Change VS Peak Oil

2009-12-08T00:21:00.000-08:00

From - http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2009/12/hagbards-law.html

The global warming story, if you boil it down to its bones, is the kind of story our culture loves to tell – a narrative about human power. Look at us, it says, we’re so mighty we can destroy the world! The peak oil story, by contrast, is the kind of story we don’t like – a story about natural limits that apply, yes, even to us. From the standpoint of peak oil, our self-anointed status as evolution’s fair-haired child starts looking like the delusion it arguably is, and it becomes hard to avoid the thought that we may have to settle for the rather less flattering role of just another species that overshot the carrying capacity of its environment and experienced the usual consequences.

Textbook Signs of CoLLapse

2009-12-01T13:43:00.000-08:00

Addicted to Nonsense

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/addicted_to_nonsense_20091129/

AP / Kiichiro Sato

By Chris Hedges

DETROIT - SILVERDOME - 55 MILL TO BUILD - SOLD FOR 580 THOUSAND - WELCOME TO COLLAPSE - FREE STADIUMS AVAILABLE

2009-11-26T01:12:00.000-08:00

http://features.csmonitor.com/economyrebuild/2009/11/18/new-tale-of-detroits-woe-silverdome-sold-for-583000/

Gerald Celente on King World News | Part 1/4

2009-11-14T00:51:00.000-08:00

KUNSTLER - DREAMS DIE HARD

2009-11-09T22:37:00.000-08:00

http://kunstler.com/blog/2009/11/dreams-die-hard.html

<<<"In the meantime, American life will just wind down, no matter what we
believe. It won't wind down to a complete stop. Its near-term
destination is to lower levels of complexity and scale than what we've
been used to for a long time. People will be able to drive fewer cars
fewer miles. The roads... will get worse. They'll be worse in some
places than others. There will be fewer jobs to go to and fewer things
sold. People who live in communities scaled to the energy and capital
realities of the years ahead are liable to be more comfortable. We're
surely going to have trouble with money. Households will drown in debt
and lose all their savings. Money could be scarce or worthless. Credit
will be scarcer.">>>

Wall Street Journal Ruppert Interview

2009-11-04T22:59:00.000-08:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703932904574511942676683258.html

COLLAPSE TRAILER STARRING MICHAEL RUPPERT (YOUTUBE)

2009-10-27T23:40:00.000-07:00

DETROIT HOUSE AUCTION FLOPS DESPITE $500 MIN. BIDS

2009-10-25T15:31:00.000-07:00

Detroit house auction flops for urban wasteland

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091025/us_nm/us_usa_housing_detroit

"COLLAPSE" MOVIE TRAILER - NOW ONLINE

2009-10-24T17:55:00.001-07:00

http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/collapse/

COLLAPSE PERFORMANCE ART

2009-10-22T17:04:00.001-07:00

The Collapse of Complex Societies - Summarized

2009-10-20T23:32:00.000-07:00

Good summary of Joseph Tainter’s 1988 The Collapse of Complex Societies

http://tobyspeople.com/anthropik/2005/10/thesis-14-complexity-is-subject-to-diminishing-returns/

RON PAUL ON CNN 10/20/2009

2009-10-20T23:30:00.000-07:00

THE WARNING - FRONTLINE

2009-10-20T23:18:00.000-07:00

FRONTLINE piece on Woman regulator who predicted the financial collapse 10 years ago but was shut up by Greenspan -- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/

MORMONS PREPARED FOR HARD TIMES

2008-12-26T21:09:00.000-08:00

Church's doctrine of self-reliance, service keeps storehouses stocked

Douglas C. Pizac / AP file

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28392743/

Customers pick out needed food items at the Mormon church's Bishop's Storehouse facility in Salt Lake City on Aug. 11.

Mormons may be among the country's best prepared to weather the current economic hard times. Since the Great Depression, church leaders have preached a doctrine of self-reliance and selflessness, calling on members to plan for their own future while tending to the needs of others.

PREPARING FOR THE GREATEST DEPRESSION

2008-12-08T13:23:00.000-08:00

from http://cinemaelectronica.wordpress.com/

Preparing for the Greatest Depression

ANALOGIES TO GREAT DEPRESSION

2008-10-29T11:09:00.000-07:00

Commentary: Analogies to the Great Depression are needlessly scary

EXCERPT: Even days like Tuesday can't completely scare that gorilla away. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU:

Dow Jones Industrial Average

News, chart, profile, more

Last: 9,118.64+53.52+0.59%
2:09pm 10/29/2008
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Financials

CITIGROUP NEXT TO DROP

2008-10-29T11:05:00.000-07:00

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/story.aspx?guid={58fa552e-05b7-4f2e-b0f5-7dd531f414cb}&link=www.247wallst.com/2008/10/citigroup-c-won.html

Citigroup (C) is not going to make it, at least not an an independent company. The FT has reported that the head of Goldman Sachs (GS) called Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit to discuss a merger. Goldman had converted itself into a commercial bank. Maybe it was worried it would go the way of Morgan Stanley (MS). But, the Treasury has come up with capital for all the big financial firms, so the urge to do something has probably passed for the world's premier investment bank.

It is different for Citigroup. There things have gone from bad to worse.

CUTS ACROSS THE BOARD

2008-10-27T09:24:00.000-07:00

Economy in turmoil

Matt Sullivan / for msnbc.com

Pink slips bring home depth of finance crisis

Gut Check America: As global slowdown grows, workers in industries ranging from banking to food service are finding their wages cut or jobs lost.

CURRENT PEAK OIL ANALYSIS

2008-10-24T10:33:00.000-07:00

The Peak Oil Crisis: In the Eye of the Storm

"Let's take a bad, if not the worst, imaginable scenario. Suppose the world economy really goes sour in the next year or two; unemployment soars into double digits; consumer sales, agriculture and industrial production drop markedly across the developed world and international trade melts. What happens to oil production, demand, and prices? For starters, there are numerous countries in the world that are already in an economic death spiral. For those unable to earn foreign exchange, demand for oil will drop precipitously and large parts of their economies will soon be back into the 19th century."

SURVIVALISTS MAKING HEADLINES...ALONGSIDE BRITNEY

2008-10-21T09:24:00.000-07:00

Hard times have some flirting with survivalism
Economic angst has Americans stockpiling 'beans bullets and Band-Aids'

Planning for 'Greater Depression'

Hunkered down in the city

While many Americans are worried about the tough economic times, Rob, an urban survivalist in Seattle says he’s preparing his family for the worst-case scenario.

COLLAPSEWATCH NOTE:

THE STORY ABOVE APPEARS AS THE MAIN STORY ON THE LEFT COLUMN OF THE MSNBC WEBSITE.

THE STORY BELOW IS APPEARS AS THE MAIN STORY ON THE RIGHT COLUMN OF THE SAME WEBSITE PAGE

A UNKNOWING REPRESENTATIONAL PROOF OF SOCIETAL COLLAPSE AND THE DELUSIONS AND DENIAL WITHIN.

Chris Pizzello / AP file

Regrets, she's
had a few

Scoop: Spears wishes her driving charge hadn't gone to trial. Full story

KUNSTLER - 2 STAGE TSUNAMI

2008-10-20T11:45:00.000-07:00

from http://kunstler.com/

"...let's say that we are witnessing the two stages of a tsunami. The current disappearance of wealth in the form of debts repudiated, bets welshed on, contracts cancelled, and Lehman Brothers-style sob stories played out is like the withdrawal of the sea. The poor curious little monkey-humans stand on the beach transfixed by the strangeness of the event as the water recedes and the sea floor is exposed and all kinds of exotic creatures are seen thrashing in the mud, while the skeletons of historic wrecks are exposed to view, and a great stench of organic decay wafts toward the strand. Then comes the second stage, the tidal wave itself -- which in this case will be horrific monetary inflation -- roaring back over the mud flats toward the land mass, crashing over the beach, and ripping apart all the hotels and houses and infrastructure there while it drowns the poor curious monkey-humans who were too enthralled by the weird spectacle to make for higher ground. The killer tidal wave washes away all the things they have labored to build for decades, all their poignant little effects and chattels, and the survivors are left keening amidst the wreckage as the sea once again returns to normal in its eternal cradle." -Kunstler

Peak Oil Preparation: Get Out of Debt 3/3 - Michael Ruppert

2008-10-18T00:51:00.000-07:00

Peak Oil Preparation: Get Out of Debt 2/3 - Michael Ruppert

2008-10-18T00:48:00.000-07:00

Peak Oil Preparation: Get Out of Debt 1/3 - Michael Ruppert

2008-10-18T00:46:00.000-07:00

COLLAPSE AND DRUG HOARDING

2008-10-16T13:51:00.000-07:00

from http://www.mikeruppert.blogspot.com/

Then today Matt Savinar sends me this story about how the world's heroin supply is disappearing:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markeaston/2008/10/map_of_the_week_the_mystery_of.html. Someone is stockpiling heroin. Heroin is the base drug of morphine. The opium poppy, papaver somniferum, is the source of opium, the most commonly used, and most effective natural pain killer in man's history. Heroin is made from opium. I fear that opium and heroin have become new hot commodities and there is no way that that much opium/heroin could be intended for "recreational" use -- or even to supply addicts. It seems that someone is banking heavily on a lot of people being in a lot of physical pain. -- Good job Matt, as usual. I can't explain what's happening wth cocaine. Is it being hoarded until the price goes up? Not likely, because no one will have money tobuy it in just a few short months. But then again, if it's dirt cheap,say $75 a gram...

LIKE DOMINOES THEY FALL

2008-10-15T10:03:00.000-07:00

The problem is they totally refused to see that dominoes was the game being played. Setting up these planned non organic cookie cutter neighborhoods thinking that buying a cheap house would somehow make up for the 2 hour commute each way, and that this was some sort of boom that would only get bigga and bigga and ... Unfortunate idiots through and through, so far behind the present, living in some nostalgic fairy tale past. All this was predicted and obvious. Yet the sheep fled there in droves, now put out to pasteur ignorantly surprised that somehow the fairy tale just ain't panning out...
-EE

Victorville, California: A desert boom town goes bust
Victorville was the second-fasting growing town in the US in 2007, and now it's one of the cities hit hardest by the housing crisis.

OIL AND COLLAPSE PERSPECTIVE

2008-10-14T23:27:00.000-07:00

From http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/BreakingNews.html

Editor's Note #2: Why Have Oil Prices Dropped so Much?

The obvious reason why oil prices are dropping is the market is factoring in the realization that we're now in a second Great Depression and that demand for oil and other commodities will begin dropping. Too often, people take the prices of oil as an indicator of whether Peak Oil is "true" or not. So when it dropped back to $80 those who had finally started to wake up when it pierced $147 figured "I guess I was concered over nothing." The thing is if you look at previous economic downturns, the price would usually collapse back to $20 a barrel in inflation adjusted terms. So $80-$85 is about 4X higher than we would expect in the context of the events of the last few months.

Keep in mind that what's going on now is far bigger than just a "downturn" or "recession" as previous downturns and recessions did not turn the world's biggest companies into compost. The dot-com bubble, for instance, took down Pets.com and a host of similarly glorified flimflam artists. The events of the last six weeks, however, have taken down three of the big five investments banks, the world's biggest insurer (AIG), both of the GSEs, has shut economic giants like AT&T out of the commercial paper market, bankrupted several major retailers, sent the stocks of the big auto makers back to prices not seen for 60 years, and pushed Iceland - one of the world's wealthiest nations - to the brink of bankruptcy. Given the unprecedented size of these financial implosions, the fact that oil has dropped back to only $80 instead of $10 or $20 should tell you that something is very different this time around in regards to the oil supply.

Best of luck,

Matt

PLANNED SYSTEM IMPLOSION (THE ENGINEERING OF A CRISIS)

2008-10-14T01:07:00.000-07:00

Mortgage Crisis kicked off planned economic collapse part 1

Marc Faber - Stock Market Rebound - US Collapse

2008-10-13T13:09:00.000-07:00

Doomed to Fail (The Economic Collapse)

2008-10-12T23:51:00.001-07:00

THE DESIGNERS WOULDA NEVER THUNK....

2008-10-12T23:41:00.000-07:00

Shannon Stapleton / Reuters file

Debt Clock runs out of numbers

Display doesn't have enough room for growing figure.

DEPRESSION CONNECTION

2008-10-10T23:32:00.000-07:00

Paulson: U.S. will buy bank stocks

Last time such a move was made was during the Depression. Full story | Video

Fear trumps efforts to solve crisis

Psychology behind ‘Panic of 2008’

CONTROLLED FAST CRASH COLLAPSE

2008-10-10T20:14:00.000-07:00

U.S. BUYING INTO FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

"This move, announced today, is absolute confirmation for me that this is an intentioned shut down of the economy. Each bank or financial institution that the Treasury buys into will give it (and Goldman Sachs) the power to shut each bank down and to decide when it shuts down. It couldn't be more transparent. They're going to turn out the lights in an orderly fashion and it's obviously an attempt at a controlled fast crash. They've only got three months left in office. That would essentially make Barack Obama an economic janitor employed by the same firm. I can just hear Bush and Cheney cracking a joke about it."

MCR
http://www.mikeruppert.blogspot.com/

TRYING TO SAVE ITS ASS

2008-10-10T20:02:00.000-07:00

Reports: GM, Chrysler hold merger discussions
N.Y. Times reports preliminary talks; Wall Street Journal says talks on hold

FINANCIAL COLLAPSE DEEPENS

2008-10-10T09:59:00.000-07:00

Snowballing sell-off spreads worldwide
Friday, October 10, 2008 4:27:40 PM

By TIM PARADIS and MARTIN CRUTSINGER

Stock prices careened lower Friday in Asia and Europe and gyrated wildly in the United States, extending a stampede of selling that began on Wall Street a day earlier and deepening a global financial crisis that has defied all efforts to stop it.

DOW DUMPS AGAIN!

2008-10-09T15:30:00.000-07:00

Dow Falls below 8600

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

For the seventh day in a row, stocks down as weakness in the financial, energy and health care sectors overshadowed gains by technology issues. Full story | Video

HERO'S DURING THE COLLAPSE

2008-10-09T10:18:00.001-07:00

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- An outraged sheriff in Illinois who refuses to evict "innocent" renters from foreclosed homes criticized mortgage companies Thursday and said the law should protect victims of the mortgage meltdown.

Cook County, Illinois, Sheriff Thomas J. Dart says too many renters are being evicted for landlords' problems.

"These mortgage companies ... don't care who's in the building," Dart said Wednesday. "They simply want their money and don't care who gets hurt along the way.

"On top of it all, they want taxpayers to fund their investigative work for them. We're not going to do their jobs for them anymore. We're just not going to evict innocent tenants. It stops today."

Sheriff Thomas J. Dart said earlier he is suspending foreclosure evictions in Cook County, which includes the city of Chicago.

MODERN ART

2008-10-09T00:28:00.000-07:00

Zero Dollar Bill

Tue Oct 7, 1:27 PM ET

Prev 1 of 6 Next

Artist Laura Gilberts' print 'The Zero Dollar' protesting the breakdown of the American economy. Gilbert distributed 10,000 of the fake greenbacks in front of the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008 to call attention to the economic crisis gripping the nation

HOUSING COLLAPSE HITS 1 IN 6

2008-10-08T15:48:00.001-07:00

Nearly 1 in 6 homeowners is ‘underwater’

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images file

The relentless slide in home prices has left nearly one in six U.S. homeowners owing more on a mortgage than the home is worth, raising the possibility of a rise in defaults.

INTRO TO "THE GRAND DEPRESSION"

2008-10-08T14:31:00.000-07:00

Economy in Turmoil

U.S. set to go into deep recession, IMF says

MONEY GOING STRAIGHT TO THE CORPORATIONS

2008-10-08T11:15:00.000-07:00

Fed to Lend Directly to Corporations

Fed to Lend Directly to Companies for First Time Since Great Depression, Hints at a Rate Cut; Stocks Fall as Dow Hits 5-Year Low

FINANCIAL STREET RIOTS - HONG KONG

2008-10-08T11:12:00.000-07:00

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1008/hongkong.html

Riots in Hong Kong after heavy stock losses

Wednesday, 8 October 2008 13:34

There have been riots on the streets of Hong Kong following heavy losses at the city's Hang Seng index.

The Hang Seng closed over 8% lower with losses in banks, communications companies and exploration companies.

Customers are trying to get their money out of bank branches and many are protesting about losses related to the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

GEE, IT'S NOT WORKING YET?

2008-10-08T11:07:00.000-07:00

Global rate cut does little to calm markets

THE BEGINNING OF THE EXTREME TO COME

2008-10-07T10:01:00.000-07:00

Upset over finances, man kills wife, kids, self.

Police say victims include man's wife, three children and mother-in-law

Police walk in front of the home where six bodies were found in a gated community in a San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Los Angeles on Monday. An unemployed accounting industry worker who was despondent over financial problems shot and killed his wife, three children, mother-in-law and

LOS ANGELES - An unemployed man with an advanced finance degree who was despondent over his own financial problems shot and killed his wife, three children, mother-in-law and then himself in an upscale home in a gated community, police said Monday.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27053712/

On 2006-Peter Schiff Predicts The US Economic Collapse With Unbelievable Accuracy

2008-10-07T01:00:00.000-07:00

GLOBAL DAMAGE

2008-10-06T20:19:00.000-07:00

U.S. financial panic goes global

Nicky Loh / Reuters

Analysis: For a time, it appeared that the impact of the recent financial panic and ongoing economic downturn might be contained to the U.S. No more. Story | Video

DOW DUMPS

2008-10-06T09:09:00.000-07:00

Dow tumbles below 10,000

Stocks fall to mark not seen since October, 2004, as investors question $700 billion rescue plan. Story | Video

Economists getting gloomier

House panel set to grill ex-executives

Answer Desk: Why not arrest CEOs?

BETTING ON BUFFET - RUPPERT

2008-10-04T17:16:00.000-07:00

via http://www.mikeruppert.blogspot.com/

Citi Girds for Wachovia Takeover Battle with Wells Fargo

I am pretty well convinced that if Citi doesn't get Wachovia's cash deposits it's only a matter of time for them. IMHO the FDIC approved the Citi/Wachovia deal because it couldn't let Citi and Wachovia both fail. It looks like Buffet has decided that Citi needs to fail. FTW did much reporting on Citigroup and drug money laundering, plus its close and historical relationships with intelligence services like CIA. But I think that Citi is part of a faction that is losing out in the game of musical chairs. I would not bet a penny against anything Buffet tries to do at this moment.

MCR

Meltdown: The Economy & Oil 9 of 12 (MATT SAVINAR)

2008-10-04T00:18:00.001-07:00

Meltdown: The Economy & Oil 10 of 12

2008-10-04T00:14:00.001-07:00

Meltdown: The Economy & Oil 11 of 12

2008-10-04T00:13:00.001-07:00

Meltdown: The Economy & Oil 12 of 12

2008-10-04T00:12:00.001-07:00

NEW RUPPERT : CALIFORNIA COLLAPSE

2008-10-03T23:58:00.000-07:00

from http://www.mikeruppert.blogspot.com/

Now California is ready to collapse.

And who was Ahnold's big financial guru? Warren Buffett.

Who is a major stockholder in Wells Fargo? Warren Buffet.

Who bought heavily into a bailed-out AIG? Warren Buffet.

Who bought out Constellation Energy? Warren Buffet.

The big guys are starting to show their cards. That means this is it.

END THE FED

2008-10-02T21:55:00.000-07:00

DAILY GRUNT FROM KUNSTLER

2008-10-02T16:33:00.000-07:00

from KUNSTLER.COM

....Congress is being held hostage by Mr. Paulson of Treasury (and Bernanke of the Fed), who have been telling legislators for two weeks now that the entire global finance system will fall apart like a house-of-cards if they don't buy up these huge wads of worthless securities that Wall Street inflicted on the world. Much of the $700 billion contained in the bail-out would be used to relieve foreign holders of US-originated toxic investment paper, under the threat that the Federal Reserve and the US government would stand exposed as utterly bankrupt once a shit-storm of foreign redemptions of US treasuries commenced. In any case, a massive restructuring (and down-sizing) of global finance is underway, and looking more and more like the preface to a deflationary depression.

Preparing for financial and societal Disasters, PART 1

2008-10-01T23:22:00.001-07:00

US Financial Collapse Continues -Naomi Klein-"THE SHOCK DOCTRINE"

2008-10-01T23:19:00.000-07:00

AUTO SALES ON THE DOWN

2008-10-01T23:04:00.000-07:00

September worst auto sales month since 1993

DETROIT - U.S. auto sales dropped below 1 million last month for the first time in more than 15 years as some consumers struggled to get financing and others were frightened away from showrooms by bank failures and turmoil on Wall Street.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26974170/

GOLD REMINDER - PHYSICAL ONLY -

2008-10-01T22:43:00.000-07:00

VIA http://www.mikeruppert.blogspot.com/ :

I want to repeat something I have said for six years on the subject of gold. Never buy paper gold. Never buy gold stocks or gold futures. Always buy only physical gold. There is five times more paper gold out there than there is gold out of the ground. Buy gold bullion in either coins or ingots. Keep it close to you and keep it safe. Do NOT close out your safe deposit boxes. They are OK for the foreseeable future. There is no need to deny ourselves things that are still working or to get hysterical. There is enough fear to go around right now.

MCR

Editor's note: Also when buying gold or silver coins, avoid numismatics whose value derives in part from the artistic value of the coin. You're just interested in the value of the metal. - JO

ASIAN MARKETS TAKE A DUMP

2008-09-30T01:36:00.000-07:00

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26949764/

MIKE RUPPERT - Told Ya So

2008-09-30T00:41:00.001-07:00

http://www.mikeruppert.blogspot.com/

Since 2003 I have told my readers that the destruction of the U.S.economy was planned, essential and a foregone conclusion. It has to do with Peak Oil. There is no economy without energy. The world is running out of oil faster than almost anyone had predicted. Even previously optimistic opponents of Peak Oil have acknowledged that global decline is now between 5.8% and 9% per year. That means that if the world produces 85 million barrels per day this year, it will possibly produce less than 80 Mbpd next year. Demand destruction is conserving a resource for which there is no replacement and this is what has always been intended. An $8 drop in price today has done nothing to reignite demand. The United States, with 5% of the world's population using a quarter of the world's oil, was/is the ONLY point of demand destruction available that will save human industrialized civilization. I have said that consistently for many years. I told you that the real Powers That Be had gotten or would get their money out and safe before they crashed everything. They did... It was your money. It was our money.

RON PAUL - Fresh from the Floor on the FAILED BAILOUT

2008-09-30T00:38:00.000-07:00

KUNSTLER - Ponzi Scheme and Peak Oil

2008-09-30T00:36:00.000-07:00

http://kunstler.com/

What the mainstream is truly missing here en masse is that another tsunami is building right behind the finance fiasco, and that it will render moot the whole reeking cargo of schemes and wishes that comprises the Great Bail-out. I am speaking of the global oil problem. In fact, the problems in banking and money currently roaring in the center ring of the world circus, can be described categorically as a product of the oil problem -- since oil is the primary resource of industrial economies and therefore the motive force behind our ability to generate "wealth." Without reliable and ever-growing supplies of oil, there is no industrial growth, and without industrial growth things like capital investment instruments lose their legitimacy. That is why the Frankenstein family of Ponzi securities was invented in the first place -- to compensate for the demise of industrial growth by creating wealth out of... nothing!

HOUSE REJECTING BAIL OUT PLAN : STOCKS PLUMMET

2008-09-30T00:30:00.001-07:00

09/29/2008

Massive bailout plan appears in jeopardyDebate prior to balloting showed deep reservations about $700 billion plaN

"Many of us feel that the national interest requires us to do something which is, in many ways, unpopular," said Rep. Barney Frank, the Financial Services Committee chairman. Frank was a key leader in negotiating the deal over the bailout.

Rescue plan would elevate Paulson to 'dictator' of financial system 09/24/2008

0 Comments

http://www.financialweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080921/REG/809219995/1036
Treasury secretary would oversee $700 billion fund; Dems seeking to tack on limits to exec comp

September 21, 2008
(Reuters)—The Bush Administration sent a $700 billion plan for a U.S. government bailout of bad mortgage debt to Congress on Saturday, seeking unprecedented authority as it tackles the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Congressman Ron Paul Schools Bernanke on the Bailout Plan 09/24/2008

0 Comments

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=dv6rQ0U01Yc

Archives 7/0208 - 7/23/08

2008-09-30T00:29:00.001-07:00

A FEW DECADES LATE, A FEW BILLION BARRELS SHORT 07/23/2008

0 Comments

(The real title should read "Why the oil crunch grew worse" following with the denial and deception and realization that this problem's been known for 50 fucking years.)

Why the oil crunch may grow worse
Casey Christie / The Bakersfield Californian KERN COUNTY - NOV. 2007 -

Two oil pumping units are seen in the distance off Comanche Drive in the early morning hours as the sun comes up over Kern County's eastern mountains, Nov. 2007. The fear is that all the easy-to-reach crude has been found. These may be 'the good old days,' one expert says.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-peakoil22-2008jul22,0,4040165.story

MORE REALITY BEING FORCED INTO ADMISSION/ACTION 07/15/2008

0 Comments

Bernanke: Economy faces ‘difficulties’Fed chief cites strains in financial markets and housing, warns of inflation risks. Full story | Video

Price of oil takes its biggest drop in 17 years

REALITY FINALLY TOO HEAVY FOR THE HEADLINES TO IGNORE... 07/08/2008

0 Comments

Housing slump may go on and on and ...Signs indicate the housing market slump is likely to last the summer, and recovery may not come for a year. Full story

Paulson: Many foreclosures can’t be prevented

SURFERS SUFFERING : CHEAP OIL DEPLETION AFFECTING BOARD COSTS! 07/07/2008

0 Comments

Cost of oil, gas is totally bogus for surfers

Price of boards, travel to far-flung waves spirals — ‘now, it's like, whoa’
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25571902/
Surfboards, which use resin, have doubled in cost to nearly $750, one retailer says.

SHRINKING RICE KRISPIES AND SIGNS OF THE COLLAPSE #67 07/07/2008

0 Comments

The incredible shrinking product
With fuel and delivery costs rising, food manufacturers are faced with raising their prices or giving you less, and "less" is winning. Full story

SOMETHINGS HAPPENING 07/03/2008

0 Comments

QUOTE
Starbucks to Close 600 Stores, May Cut 12,000 Jobs

QUOTE
American Airlines Plans Nearly 7,000 Job Cuts

QUOTE
L.A. Times to Cut 250 Jobs, 150 In Editorial

QUOTE
U.S. private-sector employers slashed 79,000 jobs in June, the largest drop since November 2002, according to a report by ADP Employer Services released Wednesday that may spell bad news for the government's labor market report later this week.

Quote
GM stock falls to lowest level since 1954

Post from lifeaftertheoilcrash.net forums
by velociraptor:

"Just think about this, if it goes bankrupt we should expect at least a 20-25% layoffs, which would likely mean 50-70 THOUSAND employess dropped almost immediatly. We just heard from Starbucks that they are going to fire 12,000 this year. Airlines will fire tens of thousands, countless other companies are laying off in the multi-thousands each.

Its pretty frightening to think we could see 100-150 thousand job loses before the winter, maybe even more. Thats just from big companies. Tens of thousands of small companies will be forced to do the same.

Is it possible that by the New Year we could see half a million people lose there jobs nationwide?. I think so."

'MEMBER THE SAYING: "WHEN GM GOES, THE COUNTRY GOES". WELL... 07/02/2008

0 Comments

GM’s stock falls to lowest level since 1954

Merrill Lynch analyst says bankruptcy filing is ‘not impossible’

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25495186/

Archives 6/25/08 - 6/30/08

2008-09-30T00:27:00.000-07:00

SCHOOL BUSSES BECOME ENDANGERED AND COPS PATROL IN GOLF CARTS : IT'S HAPPENING 06/30/2008

0 Comments

The school bus may not come next year

High Oil Prices Force Cost-Cutting Nationwide

Diesel, which runs most school buses, has been at or near all-time high prices per gallon, and currently sits at an average of about $4.76 a gallon. Gasoline prices this weekend hit a new record, of nearly $4.09 a gallon, on average. That has some police departments eliminating patrols or even putting their beat cops in golf carts to save on fuel.

CLIMATE CHANGE COLLAPSE 06/25/2008

0 Comments

Report: Climate change threatens security

Global warming may increase illegal immigration, terrorism
WASHINGTON - Global warming is likely to increase illegal immigration, create humanitarian disasters and destabilize precarious governments and could add to terrorism, all of which could threaten U.S. national security, according to an assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25372743/

JULY 4TH 2008 : CELEBRATING THE COLLAPSE 06/25/2008

0 Comments

Hassles and high costs won’t stop travelers

"Go Fourth: Get ready for full planes and crowded roads"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25334622/

CLASSIC COLLAPSE TELLTALES 06/25/2008

0 Comments

Energy-tight Japan splashes out on posh privies
Electricity-guzzling toilets boast warmers, bottom-washers and music

<<Japanese toilets can warm and wash one's bottom, whisk away odors with built-in fans and play water noises that drown out potty sounds. They play relaxation music, too. "Ave Maria" is a favorite.>>

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25360387/

Archives 5/05/08 - 5/27/08

2008-09-30T00:25:00.000-07:00

MONDAYS CLUSTERFUCK REPORT 05/27/2008

0 Comments

http://kunstler.com/
(EXCERPT)
"The crisis at hand now goes way beyond a crisis of capital -- though that is certainly part of it. Notice how many of the things we had in 1933 are gone now. Our cities, with a few exceptions, are imploded husks. Our small towns and small cities (Schenectady, home of G.E.!) are gutted, especially in terms of locally-owned business. Our passenger rail system is worse than anything a Soviet ministry might produce (while the airline industry that replaced it is dying of a kind of financial hemorrhagic fever). Our local transit hardly exists anymore. Family farms have all but disappeared. We have plenty of manpower earnestly eager to become American Idols (but certainly not for heavy labor). Our oil industry now supplies only a fraction of the world's daily supply (and not even enough for half of our own needs).

What happens now? We face not just change but convulsive change. The public senses the rapid unraveling of our car-centric arrangements. In the week before the holiday, gasoline prices went up several cents each day -- in upstate New York, it crossed the $4 mark and kept going up. The trucking system faces collapse as diesel fuel price-rises exceed even the rise in gasoline, and the vast number of independent truckers who make up the system confront the individual calamity of a personal business failure. American Airlines last week announced severe measures to keep operating through the fall of 2008. but none of the airlines can feasibly carry on as usual with oil prices above $120-a-barrel -- and the ominous message is of a business model that has no conceivable way to adapt to the new reality. Most likely, in a very few years air travel will no longer be a "consumer" enterprise."

Archives 4/22/08 - 4/30/08

2008-09-30T00:23:00.000-07:00

IT'S AT THE POINT OF DESPERATELY SELLIN YER JUNK 04/30/2008

0 Comments

Americans tapping the attic for spare cash

"This is not about downsizing. It's about needing gas money," said Nancy Baughman, founder of eBizAuctions, an online auction service she runs out of her garage in Raleigh, N.C., with her husband Daren.

Auction sites see upturn in desperate sellers hurt by down economy
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24375110/

KUNSTLERS MONDAY CLUSTERFUCK: 04/28/2008

0 Comments

"This has been a pretty remarkable month, actually, with all the problems of "The Long Emergency" accelerating impressively. Oil is now testing the $120 mark, the airline industry is imploding (largely over fuel costs), the housing scene has reached a degree of collapse unseen since the 1930s, food shortages have strayed out of the Third World and begun to affect Japan and the USA, bats are dying of a mysterious disease in the Northeast, and the Arctic sea ice is shrinking away to nothing."
http://kunstler.com/

BUFFETT BARKS 04/28/2008

0 Comments

Buffett says recession may be worse than feared

NEW YORK - Warren Buffett, the world's richest person, said on Monday the U.S. economy is in a recession that will be more severe than most people expect.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24353109/

DESPERATE MEASURES CONTINUE... 04/28/2008

0 Comments

American Airlines to charge $25 for second bag

Carrier is one of the last major airlines to follow rivals adopting luggage fee

The nation's biggest airline said it must charge passengers $25 for checking a second bag to help offset rising fuel costs.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24353982/

MORE EMERGENCY AIRLINE MERGERS 04/28/2008

0 Comments

UAL, USAir in very advanced merger talks
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24352806/
Sources: Carriers to announce within weeks they are combining

PUSHED BACK 16 YEARS (THE MYTH OF INFINITE GROWTH REVEALED) 04/24/2008

0 Comments

Sales of new U.S. homes plunged in March
Sharp 8.5 percent decline; slowest sales pace since October 1991
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24292516/

WASHINGTON - Sales of new homes plunged in March to the lowest level in 16½ years as housing slumped further at the start of the spring sales season. The median price of a new home in March compared to a year ago fell by the largest amount in nearly four decades.

"SOMETHINGS HAPPENING" 04/24/2008

0 Comments

via LATOC breaking news:

Sharon Astyk: It's Official, We Are Now in a Fast Crash Scenario

Editor's Note: we're discussing this over at the LATOC Forum. If by "fast crash" somebody means we go from "BAU" to carrying rifles on the street within a 5-7 year period then yes, it seems we're in the first year, maybe the second year of a fast crash.
Now if you say the crash is a slow crash here in America, then you've got to date the start of the slow crash to about 1975 when standards of living generally peaked across the U.S. If you assume a 50 year time frame for a "slow crash" then we're actually already into year 33. You may not have noticed the decline if you've lived in a middle or upper middle class North American "pocket of wealth". If so, it was possible to ignore the signs of slow decline until very recently.
(Yes, information-processing and technology has improved but this has not led to correspondent increases in things that count like aggregate human health, financial security, energy independence, transport times, etc.)
It would also make sense that even in a 50 year long slow crash, the speed would begin to pick up around mid-way (around the year 2000) and really pick up speed around year 35 which we're only 18 months or so away from passing at this point.
When climate change and peak oil thinkers run out of other things to worry
about, there's always the endless, inevitable debates about whether we are
facing a "fast crash" or a "slow grind." When no one was looking, we got an
answer. Fast crash wins. And we're in it now.

MORE MERGES, MORE ASTRONOMICAL AIRLINE LOSSES : THE SHIPS NOSEDIVIN DOWN 04/23/2008

0 Comments

Delta, Northwest post $10.5 billion in losses

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24270864/

Carriers, set to merge, report combined $10.5 billion quarterly shortfall

EMERGENCY ALERT FROM L.A.T.O.C. 04/23/2008

0 Comments

via email from Matt at LifeAfterTheOilCrash.Net

Folks,

At 6:47 PM eastern standard time, the Wall Street Journal - the establishment's paper of record - posted a notice on its website that Americans should start stockpiling food immediately:

Wall Street Journal: "Start stockpiling food, this is not a drill"

I've checked a number of online storable food websites and they all have backlogs of 6 weeks or longer. In contrast, LATOC Affiliate Nitro-Pak has wait times of only 4-to-8 days.

Best,

Matt

High quality storable food at LATOC affiliate Nitro-Pak

SHELL JACKASS ADMITS TO PEAK WHILE FORCASTING FAIRY TALE SCENARIOS 04/22/2008

0 Comments

SHAME ON NPR FOR NOT INCLUDING OIL DEPLETION ANALYSTS WHO'VE FOR YEARS NOW HAVE ALREADY MADE MORE ACCURATE AND UNBIASED PROJECTIONS AND OUTLOOKS. KINDERGARTEN REPORTING AT ITS FINEST.

Oil Has Two Potential Futures, Shell Strategist Says Listen Now [7 min 47 sec] add to playlist

Morning Edition, April 22, 2008 · As oil prices hit $117 a barrel this month, a forecast from Shell Oil outlines two very different possibilities for the future of the world's energy supply. Looking out to the year 2050, Shell strategist Jeremy Bentham says demand will go up, while oil supplies will be harder to find. But how nations and companies react is harder to predict.

"We anticipate that you'll begin to see a plateauing of easily accessible conventional oil and gas around about the 2015, 2020 type of period," Bentham tells Steve Inskeep.

Bentham outlines two outcomes — one a "scramble" and the other a "blueprint" scenario — for addressing energy needs.

In the scramble scenario, he says, "a focus on supply security drives a lot of decision-making." For example, China is worried about its future supply of oil, so it decides that it needs to be friendly with Iran. Or the U.S., worried about its supply of oil, holds intensive talks with Saudi Arabia.

"That can kick off a dynamic where the tensions are perceived to be a fight between nations and hence a scramble for supply. The demand side is postponed, in terms of being managed, in that scramble outlook," Bentham says.

So, a fear of shortage of supply builds up, and the steps to manage the whole energy system holistically aren't taken, Bentham says. Instead of considering conservation or alternatives, people just grab for oil and other forms of energy.

The "blueprint" scenario, on the other hand, recognizes that forces can combine to affect change. "You see emerging coalitions coming together at the state level but also cross-border" to find solutions, Bentham says.

He points to climate-related legislation in California as an example.

"A set of interests were recognized among technology entrepreneurs and farmers and shrewd politicians which led, in this country in 2006, to the climate-related legislation in California," he says.

That legislation influenced thinking in other states, which in turn influenced thinking at the federal level. "So you get this spreading awareness and spreading regulatory activity; you get a set of actors who influence the national agendas," Bentham says, and a patchwork of standards and regulations begins to emerge.

"You don't get global agreements," Bentham says, "but you get a critical mass of sectors and countries having, for instance, some kind of carbon dioxide pricing in the blueprint scenario." And that approach would grow over time as people recognize the benefits, because it promotes energy efficiency and new technology developments, he says.

Shell has a preference for blueprint-type outcomes that address demand, supply and environmental issues together, Bentham says, because "it's better for society at large, but also it's better for business and investment."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89831088

Archives 4/16/08 -4/22/08

2008-09-30T00:22:00.000-07:00

NEW RECORD - NEW TERRITORY 04/22/2008

0 Comments

Oil sets new record above $119 a barrelRetail gas rises to a national average of $3.51 for first time

WORSE THAN THE GREAT DEPRESSION : TOP ECONOMIST 04/22/2008

0 Comments

Shiller: Housing slump may exceed DepressionBailouts will be needed so millions don’t lose homes, top economist saysNEW HAVEN, Conn. - An influential economist who long predicted the housing market bubble cautioned Tuesday that the slump in the U.S. housing market could cause prices to fall more than they did in the Great Depression and bailouts will be needed so millions don’t lose their homes.Yale University economist Robert Shiller, pioneer of the widely watched Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index, said there’s a good chance housing prices will fall further than the 30 percent drop in the historic depression of the 1930s. Home prices nationwide already have dropped 15 percent since their peak in 2006, he said.

“I think there is a scenario that they could be down substantially more,” Shiller said during a speech at the New Haven Lawn Club.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24257182/

US Government Immorality Will Lead to Bankruptcy 04/21/2008

0 Comments

BANKS ARE GOING 04/21/2008

0 Comments

Bank of America net down 77 pct on credit losses

Reuters
,Monday April 21 2008

(Rewrites first paragraph, adds CFO, analyst comments) By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK, April 21 (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp, the largest U.S. retail bank, posted a 77 percent decline in quarterly profit on Monday, as a growing number of consumers and real estate developers failed to repay loans. Profit dropped for a third straight quarter and slid more than analysts expected, dragged down by what Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis called a "litany of negative issues," including more than $5 billion of write-downs and credit-related costs.

FINANCIAL CRISIS FARMERS 04/20/2008

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Signs point to a bitter harvest Charlie Neibergall / AP

Amid rising debt and a growing reliance on subsidies, America's farmers are seen edging toward a financial crisis not seen since the early 1980s. Full story

Despite export boom, manufacturers cautious

$4 gas by summer? Video: Why gas prices, up 16 cents over the past two weeks, are expected to continue to climb.

ANOTHER NEW RECORD 04/18/2008

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Pump prices rise to new recordRetail gas prices set new records Friday on their march toward $3.50 a gallon, and diesel prices pushed further above $4 a gallon. Crude futures surged to $117 a barrel, a new record.

CITIGROUP SURPRISE 04/18/2008

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Citigroup posts big loss, to cut 9,000 jobshttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24196045/$5.1 billion loss due to bad bets on loans, chaotic credit markets

...AS THE OIL WARS CONTINUE 04/18/2008

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Nigerian militants claim sabotage of oil pipelinehttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24202696/

Shell says some oil spilled; attacks have cut quarter of production since '06

GOOD GOD, ITS BEEN "LOOMING" FOR YEARS 04/17/2008

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Is student loan ‘train wreck’ looming?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24167304/

Sallie Mae, the largest U.S. student loan company, on Thursday affirmed its 2008 profit forecast, but warned of a “train wreck” in the $85 billion education financing market.

THREE STRIKES YER OUT 04/16/2008

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1.Consumer prices rise on food, energy hikes Consumer inflation pushed higher last month as increases in energy, food and airline tickets overwhelmed the biggest drop in clothing prices in nearly a decade. Full story

2. Another day, another record for oil and gas

3.U.S. dollar hits record low against the euro

Archives 4/10/08 - 4/15/08

2008-09-30T00:18:00.000-07:00

NEW RECORD - OIL $114 - 04/15/2008

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Oil prices jump to new high near $114

INCREASED FUEL $ = FORCED MERGES 04/15/2008

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Major airlines to mergeDelta, Northwest approve merger.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24116154/

YAHOO FRONTPAGE FEATURE VIDEO : How to Eat Dollar Store Food 04/14/2008

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"99 Cent Store Cooking"
http://yahoo.com
Easing the yuppies into collapse:
A TV chef cooks a gourmet meal using only the food she purchased at a dollar store.

FOOD $ SAVING TIPS HEADLINES LOCAL NEWS 04/14/2008

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Regular headlines will not be about how or where to spend but how to save. Take this which recommends eating three times out of one meal.

http://www.myabc7.com/wap/news/text.jsp?sid=11&nid=173541858&cid=3&scid=-1&title=Eyewitness+News&ith=9
APRIL 14TH
Cook it once, eat it three times

Story posted 2008.04.14 at 06:32 AM PDT

Save money by making a meal once, then using the leftovers to make two more meals.So here's a solution: cook it once, eat it thrice. That's not twice, but three times.

"Food prices are rising, I think people are feeling it, we're seeing cart sizes change and people are getting a little bit more picky about what they're choosing," said Heidi Diller.

"It's putting a strain on at least my family's budget and it's making it a lot harder for me to actually shop healthy but still be able to afford what I'm buying for our meals," said Kimi McAdam.

So Albertson's Heidi Diller and Food Coach Lori Corbin came up with meals that could be extended into two other delicious dinners.

"I threw together a broccoli-egg frittata, some deviled eggs which can be either be an appetizer or a main dish, and some Spanish eggs on rice," said Diller.

Get used to new records being being broken back to back 04/12/2008

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APRIL 12:
Pump prices at new record highs

Analyst: 'We do think prices ... are going to continue to go up'
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12400801/

EMERGENCY WORLD FORUM? 04/12/2008

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World's economic leaders look to avert crises

Top economic powers endorse 'rapid implementation' of plan

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24070726/

BEGINNING TO GET A CLUE #2 - 04/11/2008

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4/11/08 -
April consumer sentiment at 26-year low
Index slumps as Americans worry about higher fuel, food costs
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24066413/
U.S. consumer confidence fell to its lowest in more than a quarter century in early April, diving deeper into recessionary territory on heightened worries over inflation and jobs, a survey showed on Friday.

'NOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST- Frontier Airlines files for bankruptcy 04/11/2008

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24061790/

DENVER - Frontier Airlines sought bankruptcy protection Friday, the fourth carrier to do so over the past several weeks as exorbitant fuel prices eat into earnings and a weak U.S. economy keeps more people grounded.

"GROUNDED FLIGHTS MAY PULL DOWN ECONOMY" 04/11/2008

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You think?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24055079/
WASHINGTON - It's not just angry passengers who are suffering. The grounding of thousands of flights is disrupting cargo, mail and other crucial business for financially strapped airlines, and that means painful new strains on a U.S. economy teetering on the edge of recession.

BERNANKE: PREPARE FOR NEXT CRISIS NOW 04/10/2008

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This is classic: never mind the recession on hand, no solving that, but prepare for the next crisis causing depression. Acknowledgement that a crisis on top of a crisis is rounding the corner.

April 10: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24051282/
Bernanke turns attention to next financial crisis.
Says government must act now to prevent another housing crash in future

updated 11:14 a.m. PT, Thurs., April. 10, 2008
WASHINGTON - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday that regulators must move ahead on ways to prevent a future financial crisis from occurring even as they battle one that threatens to plunge the country into recession.

Archives 04/06/08-04/09/2008

2008-09-30T00:10:00.000-07:00

BEGINNING TO GET A CLUE 04/09/2008

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24032411/
APRIL 9, 2008
Middle class grow fearful about their prospects
Poll says predictions for short-term progress grimmest in nearly 50 yearsWASHINGTON -

Growing numbers of middle-class Americans say they are not better off than they were five years ago, reflecting economic pressures amid growing debt, a study released Wednesday shows. Their short-term assessments of personal progress, according to the study, is the worst it has been in almost half a century.

"Deep Recession" is set up terminology for..."Depresssion" 04/08/2008

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24015213/
Fed members worried about deep recessionNotes from March meeting show some concerned about major downturn.
WASHINGTON - Worries about a deep recession — not a shallow one — drove Federal Reserve policymakers to slash a key interest rate last month, meeting minutes show.

Even as the Fed battled in almost unprecedented fashion to stem a widening credit and housing slump, some members fretted over the possibility of a “prolonged and severe” economic downturn. It was in that environment that they voted — with two dissents — to cut its most important interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point to 2.25 percent. That action capped the most aggressive Fed intervention in a quarter-century.

Food Shortages Alert 04/08/2008

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Via email from Savinar at LifeAfterTheOilCrash.Net :

Folks,

The food situation is getting worse by the week. Some food supply related stories from the last few days.

Food prices will be going straight through the roof in the coming months

Financial Times: Rice prices jump 50% in two weeks

Financial Times: City dwellers priced out of the food market

Washington Post: Rising food prices sending nations into panic

If you're planning on stocking up, the time to do so is now. Many bulk food retailers are experiencing backlogs of weeks if not months at this point. The situation is only going to getting worse, and likely so at an exponential rate. LATOC is affiliated with Nitro-Pak whose backlog is only 4-8 days which is as good as you're going to find at this point.

The time to act is NOW. Once the general population begins to wake up, there simply won't be much if any extra food available at any price.

Best,

Matt

High-quality storable food at great prices from LATOC affiliate Nitro-Pak

Something Big Out There 04/06/2008

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from a forum:
I have worked retail for several years. I am in mid-level store management right now. I don't want to say exactly what company I work for, but it is in the top 3 largest. I work at a store in a major city.

There have been some crazy things going on recently. The changes that we are being asked to make per corporates direction makes me think that the people at the top think something VERY big is going to be happening to the economy soon. I don't think the media or the government is giving us the full details of what is actually going on, but I think the CEO's and others at the top are fully aware and are making plans.

For one thing I check sales every day. At the store level we usually compare what sales are today compared to sales for the same day, week, month, and year last year. Sales at our store, our district, and company wide have taken a HUGE drop compared to the same time last year. When I looked at them today my store and every store in our district was down over 30% for the same time last year. The company as a whole is also in the negative for the same time last year. (but not as much, but it gets lower every day).

Honestly at my store I could say that we have done everything in our power at the store level to increase sales, but it just isn't happening. Departments like electronics are literally almost completely empty the entire day. The only departments that actually are getting sales are consumables, health, and chemicals. Just walking the store these are the only departments I ever even see people in ever since christmas ended.

Sometimes I will cover the service desk so a team member can take a lunch/break. When I do I sometimes process peoples credit card payments which lets me see how much they owe and how much they are paying. There are tons of people with THOUSANDS of dollars on their card only making minimum payments. These balances are usually at interest rates over 20%. Then there are people bringing in checks for the full amount, but they are BALANCE TRANSFER checks.... they are just moving it to other cards.

But that isn't what really worries me. What worries me is the changes corporate is making. I have worked here for years, and in the last 4 months I have seen more changes than all that time combined.

We are getting emails all the time from corporate telling us to reduce costs anyway we can. We recently got one telling us to start pulling fluorescent light bulbs, that we don't need all of them in order to provide illumination.... and those bulbs barely use any power.

Corporate has instructed all stores to lower the AC. It has been lowered enough to the point we get complaints from team members and customers.

Corporate has sent us emails telling us to make sure we fill bags to the absolute possibly maximum. They are not even sending us large bags anymore to some stores.

Corporate has recently eliminated (what I would estimate based on how many positions we lost vs the thousands of stores we have) several thousand management positions at *all levels* of management at stores.

This NEVER APPEARED ON THE NEWS! I suspect because it was not a traditional lay off. What corporate basically told us was "Your position is eliminated, but you are not laid off. Once you quit/get your self fired/whatever your position just won't be filled again" So we are basically slowly losing jobs as people company wide quit, get fired, etc.... but the jobs are never filled again. So basically we are cutting jobs, but the way it is being done is preventing it from getting reported in the media or tracked by the government as job losses.

No non-management positions have been eliminated, instead hours have been cut for them.

Raises this year have also been lowered in amount compared to in previous years. They have been lowered enough that corporate is keeping it a secret until we have to tell team members.

The company is also buying less. Our distribution centers are sending us, for example, 3 of a certain item when normally we would get 50.... and they don't send us more until those sell. I have not been able to keep departments full of product despite contacting corporate and asking for more because we are being sent such small amounts of product.

We have had trucks cancelled all the time now simply because we sold so little that they can't justify sending so few items to a store.

People are simply NOT buying things. They are not buying anything that isn't a consumable basically. I asked our pricing team to do a store mark down and lower the price on almost all of our TVs by 30-50%. We still have not sold a single one in over a week after! Our TVs were not priced very high to begin with.

Our pricing team is also being sent price increase changes from corporate in huge numbers. I am talking entire aisles of product for them to raise the prices on. The other day we got a STACK of pages of product to increase prices on. We thought it HAD to be a mistake because that has simply never happened before. We have emailed corporate asking if it was a mistake... we have not heard back yet, but I suspect it was not.

Many stores are now changing to non-overnight stores. They will be closed overnight and ALL power except in office areas will be cut overnight to save on costs.

There have even been changes to job descriptions recently. Corporate is basically giving job dutys to people at lower levels which used to be reserved for people at higher levels. Even some management tasks are being given to people in non-management positions. Basically they are paying people less to do what people used to get paid more to do.

Things are NOT looking pretty right now. I can tell you from a consumer spending point of view something is definantely going on.... All these changes tell me the people at the top are trying to brace for something big that is going to be happening to the economy.