The Oil Drum

Blackwater is playing games in Iraq compared to what
they'll have to do with my state.

AAMOF, I expect to be meeting/hearing about BW Spec Ops
from my state of AR.

All of a sudden BW mercs will be defending instead of
relocating.

Completely different scenario.

Arkansaw of Samuel L Clemens

ggg71,

I just wanted to point out that on an individual level, you are right, but on a national level you are not. This is a broad observation, not a personal attack against you. I just hear moral recommendations bandied about all the time as if they are a solution. One of my good friends from college used to say "If everyone just behaved like me there wouldn't be any problem." True, so true it isn't even worth mentioning.

It's Jane's problem to the extent that she is going to lose her house and her credit rating.

It's Countrywide's problem to the extent that they aren't getting paid.

Both Jane and the bank should have made better choices. As far a Jane and the bank are concerned the moral: Live within your means. makes a lot of sense.

But, multiply that by millions:

It's the nation's problem to the extent that there are bankrupt people and a collapsed financial system.

Now it is no longer a moral question of individual actions. It is a society wide question of systems and organization.

As an example: Kids in inner city schools.

Growing up on the low end of the financial spectrum in an underfunded inner city school means that little Johnny has to work extra hard to get good grades to get a scholarship in order to afford college. Little Johnny has been told this several times. If he goes to jail in a decade for dealing drugs, it will be because he made a poor choice.

But, the state has to have a prison to put him in. It has to be built before he gets arrested, so the state sends someone to the inner city school. He takes a look around. He makes notes about the average income, quality of education, social cohesion, etc. And he tells the state how many prisons they are going to need in ten years.

The state planner makes this recommendation based on very accurate statistical model (called a bell curve) and it work something like this: Most people are average, some are above and some are below.

Given the circumstances here at this inner city school he expects very little to come of the average person, he expects the below average ones to go to jail and the above average ones to escape to something else.

Little Johnny is going to be average. His children are going to go to the same school he did. One of Johnny's friends is going to Penn State and one of them is going to the state pen.

This pattern will persist as long as the average income, social cohesion, quality of education, etc. remain the same. You can lecture the inner city school kids about morality 'till you are blue in the face and the statistical outcome will remain unchanged. If, however, you change the system, then you can expect different results.

On an individual level it is appropriate to talk about morality and common sense because individuals make specific decisions. On a society wide level it is appropriate to talk about systems and structures because groups have a distribution of outcomes based on incentives and circumstances.

Tim

Edit: changed fault to problem, bank to Countrywide, added summary, and made one paragraph into two.

I blame the teachers. They should drill basic concepts into their students heads, like, "don't sign contracts you don't understand", "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch", and "sometimes advertising is misleading". The last one was specifically taught in my early '80s grade 6 home economics class. I suppose it was an echo of the '70's oil crunch.

If home economics--basic budgeting, simple cooking skills, nutrition, comparison shopping--were taught properly, the US would be much better off. Exactly right, ggg71-- live within your means.

Unfortunately, many of us were taught by teachers who grew up when energy was free and there were still opportunities; those teachers never needed to know about thrift, and never taught it.

My reading of The Long Emergency was my swallowing of the Red Pill. My life hasn't been the same. While reading another 10 books on the topic and reading the peak oil websites, we first stocked up on supplies. We paid off our mortgage and all debts. Started a large garden and planted 20 fruit trees. Learned how to can and dry food. Became even more commited to homeschooling our two sons. Volunteered on a start-up 800 acre organic farm not far from where we live. And just bought our own little farm of 13 acres of black dirt (Orange County, NY) with a small barn and well. This winter we'll be studying up on how to farm it. So, yes. We too have made a lot of changes in two years. We've tried to talk to family/friends about it but no one really wants to look at it. It requires too much work to face it.

I see Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Landscape by James Kuntsler is still available on Amazon.