It is interesting for me to find this debate here since I've gone over this territory with my husband now for a few years (with me arguing for a farm and he, a person who really dislikes dirt, arguing against).

I think it's worth examining his point. My husband argues that you don't need to run to a farm for cover. What you want to do is always have what other people will pay for. Maybe you have some doctoring skills or maybe you can sell things or maybe you can write or teach or design or sing......whatever. The point is to spot where you can compete using your talents and then throw yourself into this wholeheartedly. If the market changes you have to be quick to adapt, but if you are good then you may be able to compete well.

There will always be an elite (non-producers) and my husband's idea is to be included among them as they "circulate" (Pareto's term) since he hates anything that involves lifting a shovel. I think he'd rather be a really starving used book dealer than a well-fed farmer.

The governments of the world are trying to slow down the collapse process as much as they can in order to 1) avoid chaos and panic and 2) give the elites a chance to "circulate" naturally in a new lower energy based society. When I say elites I mean all non-producers, that is shopkeepers, librarians, teachers, office workers, etc. Almost all of us are elites these days.

I personally can understand both positions: the escape to the farm or the desire to stay and fight for ones position.

If you love working the land and love animals then the farm is for you!

But if you really hate that life, it might be a bad choice.

BTW: To read more about medieval Spain and moneylending try a great novel CATHEDRAL OF THE SEA by Ildefonso Falcones. The author is a lawyer who uses his vast knowledge of legal (and other) history to portray Barcelona and its surrounding area in the 1300s. For those who are PO aware (I think Falcones may be) this novel is a special TREAT because these old laws are so often concerned with food (energy) through the use of land for grazing etc. There is so much intricate knowledge of money, foreign currency trading, land use, grain markets, etc displayed (but in a fun way) that I promise you will be vastly entertained. Also of course there is a lot of horror--the prejudice against Jews and the Spanish Inquistion (does local have to mean narrow-minded? Isn't there another way?) the cruelty of the feudal lord (must they be so nasty or did being nice mean being weak?)...

The whole novel is a picture of what it means to compete in a city (where you obviously can't be a farmer for lack of land). The hero, Arnau, manages to succeed but there is a lot of luck involved so I don't know how realistic this is.

Forget your PO worries and get totally into this novel where someone else's PRE-OIL worries will provide great vicarious thrills and food for thought!