 | DrumBeat: May 13, 2009 | The Oil Drum | Livable Streets and Reclaiming Public Space for People (Instead of Automobiles) |  |
325 comments on On American Sustainability - Anatomy of Societal Collapse (Summary)
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325 comments on On American Sustainability - Anatomy of Societal Collapse (Summary)
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Pitt - You do yourself a disservice by not reading the entire 77 page PDF. While the paper excites the emotions in a number of ways due to overreach in some depicted scenarios, Chris is to be commended for an excellent and well researched paper.
With respect to your point about the present and future fiscal state of US entitlement programs, I think you are way too optimistic. Perhaps Chris' "opinion" on Americans' view of our special place in the world hit a nerve with you.
I suppose I should let Pitt speak for himself, but 1) it's clear that he did read the whole thing, and 2) I felt the same way - see my comments below on energy and minerals.
As to US entitlement programs, I have to disagree. The US has an actuarial problem: entitlements are scheduled to grow, and the US can't afford that. The simple answer: stop the growth. Easy to do (just takes legislation - there's no guarantee to Social Security or Medicare benefits), and there's an easy method: just make eligibility ages rise as life expectancy rises. Easy.