The one and only reason there is excess wealth to be stored and for you and many others to suck the teat of is because the US has raped and pillaged the rest of the World securing way more than our fair share of what the world has to offer , even in the face of mass death and suffering .

You don't think I know that as a historian of the US Empire? Have you not read my goals for the wholesale rollback of the US Empire to try and attempt to mitigate the disaster we've wrought?

What I described above is a vehicle put in place by my familial anscestors that is based upon several generations of hard won work and savings that I have the privilige of managing, along with caring for my remaining elders who built the vehicle.

I've never seen you accuse the many here who are obviously using this forum for advancing their own self interest.

For your information, I'm trying in an admittedly slow and halting fashion to establish a Lifeboat/Post-Carbon relocalized community not far to the west of Corvallis, and trying to make my community of Yachats and that of greater Lincoln county Peak Oil aware, and using funds from my Family Trust to do so. My elders are very much aware of the situation--both Peak Oil and Climate Change--and are quite alarmed, and want to do what they can through the utilization of their resources to build for the future in the best spirit of our communistic community and county. I donate the fruits of my labor on a weekly basis to retirees and Food Share. I try to teach others on other internet forums about Peak Oil, which as we all know is a thankless task in most cases.

Yes, I'm lucky. I have a modicum of security. I worked hard for it as did my ancestors. I did it through long hours managing resaturants and institutional food services, and then teaching at the community college level. My ancestors were also teachers and farmers, paternally immigrants from Spain in 1911; maternally, from Ohio and the reservations of Arizona Territory.

Yes, I'm a contradiction: a radical with affluent means. If that pisses you off, then that's your problem.

Before now, I'd hoped to meet you and talk shop; it seemed natural as we're geograpically close and actually share many ideals/goals. But now you're coming across as someone wanting to attack my farm out of envy as opposed to helping it grow and feed others not as fortunate as myself and my ancestors.

You are showing through your behavior how it's possible for good people to go bad in a Mad Max scenario. You show why Envy is one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

The one and only reason there is excess wealth to be stored and for you and many others to suck the teat of is because the US has raped and pillaged the rest of the World securing way more than our fair share of what the world has to offer , even in the face of mass death and suffering .

Can you give some examples of what you are talking about regarding "raped and pillaged". I can see where the destruction of this continent has been severe, including the mass murders of a people who were living a sustainable lifestyle and the destruction of massive amounts of forests. But what are you talking about regarding the rest of the World? Would you make the same comment of a wealthy person in Switzerland?

I think this is why the ancient world viewed usury (charging interest) as such a terrible sin. It's "money for nothing" - wealth gained without actually working or producing anything. Useful as credit/investment is, the steady-state economies of the time simply could not afford to carry very many people who did not work.