James Kunstler: Too late for Solutions.

[barbaro]

James Kunstler has a new book entitled too much magic and as usual, his work is worth a look and some discussion.

I am not sure if I put this in the right place or if this will have legs. But let's try it.

What's your take?

James Howard Kunstler: It's Too Late for Solutions
Adam Taggart

Consequences are coming and we better start facing them soon

Author and social critic James Howard Kunstler has been one of the earliest, most direct, and most articulate voices to warn of the consequences -- economic and otherwise -- of modern society's profligate wasting of the resources that underlie its growth.

In his new book, Too Much Magic, Jim attacks the wishful thinking dominant today that with a little more growth, a little more energy, a little more technology -- a little more magic -- we'll somehow sail past our current tribulations without having to change our behavior.

Such self-delusion is particularly dangerous because it is preventing us from taking intelligent, constructive action at the national level when the clock is fast ticking out of our favor. In fact, Jim claims that we are past the state where solutions are possible. Instead, we need a response plan to help us best brace for the impact of the coming consequences. And we need it fast.

[We now live in] this weird, peculiar period in American history when the delusional thinking has risen to astronomical levels -- predictably, really -- in response to the stress levels that our society feels. And it is expressing itself as sort of "waiting for Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy" to deliver a set of rescue remedies to us so that we can continue running Wal-Mart, Walt Disney World, Suburbia, the U.S. Army, and the Interstate Highway System by other means. That is the great wish out there. It is kind of understandable, because that is the stuff that we have, and people tend to defend the stuff that they have in any given society and the systems and platforms that they run on. But it is probably a form of collective behavior that is not really going to benefit us very much and really amounts to simply wasting our time, and wasting our dwindling resources, and even our spiritual resources when we could be doing things that are a lot more intelligent.

Here is something I have detected as I travel around the country: There is a clamor for “solutions.” Everywhere I go, people say "Don't be a doomer; give us solutions." And I discovered that the subtext to all that is they really want solutions for allowing them to keep on living exactly the way they are living now. To keep on running Wal-Mart, and keep on running Suburbia, and keep on running the highway system, and the whole kit of parts. And what that really means is that they are looking for ways to add on additional complexity to a society that is already suffering from too much complexity.

So I am trying to propose something a little different. Rather than so-called solutions, I am proposing that we use the term "intelligent responses," which is not so grandiose. It does not come with a whole grab bag of promises that life is actually going to work out exactly the way you wish. A lot of the intelligent responses that we could be making to our predicament would have a lot to do with decomplexifying and with simplifying. But we do not want to do that; we just want to add more complexity, and that is what some of the wishful thinking and vanities about technology are all about.

We are discovering more and more that the world is comprehensively broke in every sphere, and in every dimension, and in every way. The governments in every level are all broke, the households are going broke, the banks are insolvent, the money really is not there. And the pretense that the money is there has been kept going simply with accounting fraud. And accounting fraud really accounts for most of the so-called "innovation" that we chatter incessantly about – this is at the heart of Too Much Magic and the wishful thinking about technology. We are so intoxicated with this idea that we can create new and wonderful things. And we have absolutely no sense that the new and wonderful things that we created in the money system are destroying the money system.

One of the lessons that used to be at the center of a liberal education, and no longer is, is that life is tragic. And by that I do not mean that happy endings are impossible or that bad outcomes are guaranteed. What I mean is that there are consequences to the things that you do, and that everything has a beginning and a middle and an end. And we have to get real with those.

It seems to me that the whole capital issue is going to accelerate hugely over the summer. I really do not see how the Europeans can get out of the box they are in – it really does not look like they are going to be able to form a European fiscal union. And it really does not look like the Germans are going to be willing to print money into a hyperinflation. And so I think that the disappearance of money is going to accelerate, and it is going to be all getting sucked into a black hole over the next six months. And that is going to be the beginning of a broad-based social awareness of the nature of this problem.

Click the play button below to listen to Chris' interview with James Kunstler (41m:10s):


Peak Prosperity | Insights for Prospering as Our World Changes

[FlyFree]

Pretty much on the money, if you'll pardon the expression. No great insight though, it's all pretty obvious. One eyed in land of blind comes to mind.

Writing's been blazed across the sky in burning, giant letters at least since 2008 - slightly less obvious decades before that, but wtf, stick your head in the sand and it'll all go away and we can continue our mad rush across the cliff, if you'll excuse the mixed metaphors.

And there's more than that. But who cares. It's all gonna be alright, eh Momma?

Civilizations come and go. They go because they fail to adapt to changes, not because of old age.

[robuzo]

Kunstler is my favorite kook, because he's sort of right, and has been for years. . .he's always a fun and insightful read, but he goes just a bit too far and keeps coming up short.

[sabang]

Well, I can't discount Kunstler's pessimism entirely if Romney gets in- but then again, I doubt he would or could keep all of his election 'promises' anyway, thank goodness- because in this case many of the promises are highly damaging.

Actually, the US Deficit story is not (yet) that appalling. It is a concern though, and if not addressed it will soon enough be crisis.

Myth 1: Today's deficits have taken us to a historically unprecedented, economically catastrophic place.

This myth has had the effect of binding the hands of elected officials and policymakers at every level of government. It has also emboldened those who claim that we must cut government spending as quickly, as radically, as deeply as possible.

In fact, we've been here before. In 2009, the federal budget deficit was a whopping 10.1% of the American economy and back in 1943, in the midst of World War II, it was three times that - 30.3%. This fiscal year the deficit will total around 7.6%. Yes, that is big. But in the Congressional Budget Office's grimmest projections, that figure will fall to 6.3% next year, and 5.8% in fiscal 2014. In 1983, under president Ronald Reagan, the deficit hit 6% of the economy, and by 1998 that had turned into a surplus. So, while projected deficits remain large, they're neither historically unprecedented, nor insurmountable.
Asia Times Online :: How not to solve a US crisis

The USA looks better poised to me to move out of the economic doldrums than Europe, which is nothing new- the more flexible US economy generally does pull out of recessions etc than more structural Europe. I don't think it is too late for solutions, at all in the US. All that is needed is fiscal responsibility, common sense, and competent governance.

Europe is more of a problem, because of the weak members of the EU. They should have kicked Greece out months ago- they would be in a better position now, because the Eurozone would be stronger and inspire more confidence, and the Bankers would have largely stopped snivelling.


Greece was droppable- Spain is not, it's in the 'too big to fail' basket. So now the EU is stuck with Greece as well. It might come unstuck.

[guyinthailand]

Haven't read it yet. But his last non-fiction book, The Long Emergency (about the oil running out) is outstanding. And his two recent works of fiction that paint a very interesting scenario for what happens when the oil runs out, are "World Made by Hand" and "The Witch of Hebron", are excellent reads. He's probably most well known for "The Geography of Nowhere" about the devastating effects of allowing the automobile to 'take over' the United States.

He's got podcasts which make for interesting listening on your Mp3 while you drive, etc.

[Minnie Maugham]

The scenario reminds me of Germany in the 1930s.
But, as always, love your threads on this stuff, Barbaro. Green in waiting.

[Panty Hamster]

Obama is borrowing a trillion dollars every 10 months, the national debt is 15.9 TRILLION.

Record numbers of people are unemployed/on disability/food stamps/ otherwise sucking on Uncle Sam's tit.


Any other candidate is a better choice. America has never fallen so far, so fast. Obama is an embarrassment to Americans everywhere.

[guyinthailand]

When the peso was devalued in the 1970's approximately 25% of the Mexican population made their way, mostly illegally, to the United States. the population was then, I think, approx 20 million, so 5 million came up here.

Their big oilfield which is the source of much of their foreign exchange is, as Kunstler points out, starting it's depletion decline.

Kunslter says just think now the population is 100 million what will happen when it does run out: if 25 million migrate up here, starving. With machetes.

What is the name of the Mexican gang whose symbol is an eagle which has in one talon a lit stick of dynamite and in the other a machete? This gang believes Texas, California, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado should be 'returned' to Mexico.