Alpha Leader,
I am married.
I followed your leadership suggestion in Question #2.
Results not pretty.

Let's say Lorena Bobbitt is starting to look like a kindly gentle lady to me right now.

I am starting to have doubts in your leadership abilities.

(P.S. Just kidding. I'm stupid, but not that stupid to try Question number 2. The results would be total Bobbitthood. I would not be able to join you and Sailorman in those exhibition games anymore. As you know, certain things are non-negotiable.)

Question #2: this one is for the married guys and gals: how would the woman in the relationship react if the man came home and said, "honey, I've been reading about this Peak Oil thing and I think we need to reduce both our own consumption and our own economic activity so as to reduce the strain on the planet. So I'm taking a 75% pay cut."

Thrilled that I was not killing myself for things we don't need.  Just wish I had the guts to do it.

I see this as slices again.  Men and women both make gambits to enhance their position in life.  We can say "position" in a general sense to capture more of the truth in this.  Position may be as short term as a dray place to sleep [saw Fort Clatsop yesterday], as moderate term as a good line on a food source [elk through the winter], or as long term as social capital within the group [social position on return to the East].

Why do you always abbreviate that sociobiology to one specific kind of "position" and write "up the resource ladder?"

To be honest, that seems to missing the forest for the tree.

Question #2: this one is for the married guys and gals: how would the woman in the relationship react if the man came home and said, "honey, I've been reading about this Peak Oil thing and I think we need to reduce both our own consumption and our own economic activity so as to reduce the strain on the planet. So I'm taking a 75% pay cut."?

the status of women post peak is not pretty.  the reason islam evolved to have their women in veil is I think, scarcity.  covering them up means less competition for the males to expense a lot of energy consumption to win the best looking female.

women in the western world will be married off.  they will no longer have much freedom.  just the other day, the news said teenage girls opt for marriage more.  have more children but they're in wedlock.  

women can't handle the business world anymore, it seems.  a lot of men will go the same way with regard to the business world.

all this is scary to the beta males/the intellectual ones.  they feel this will happen to them.  they'll be marginalized.  the alpha males with the bigger muscles will win.  all this is the status quo around the world today.