game over

GAME OVER
When you hear "game over", what comes to my mind is the Bill Paxton character in the movie Aliens. "Game Over, man. GAME OVER!". Old farts, their hair still slicked back, jean cuffs rolled up and dreams of Jitterbugging still in their hearts, will think of pinball machines. Now we have a new book out of the same title. "Game Over: how to prosper in a shattered economy" by Stephen Leeb. I didn't much care for one of his older books on profiting from $200 a barrel oil. To my mind, the economy was crap if that happened so you would have precious little time to enjoy the return on that bet. However, I just so happened to come across Game Over in the library. For a new book they sure did hide it rather well. Stuffed in amongst the legal self help books ( I'm sure a mouth breathing patron who had no business outside of the picture book section misfiled it, but one does their suspicions nonetheless ).
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So, hey, it's a library book. It can only waste my time, not my money. So I went ahead and checked it out. And it is pretty darn good. I finished it a few hours later. Don't go out and buy it, not unless you intend it as a gift for a fence sitter. Well, it is good enough to spend $15 on, but don't buy it unless you won't miss the money. The profit aspect of the book was, essentially, buy gold. It does well in a depression or inflation ( no crap, Sherlock ). The rest of it was stocks to buy to benefit from alternate energy. I didn't much care for that part of the book. What impressed me was his simple, easy to understand, written for laymen, explanation for Peak Oil and how it would effect us. He relabeled the net energy argument as Absolute Peak Oil. We have time to build an alternate energy powered society only if we start in time before we run up against the constraints of Absolute Peak Oil ( when it takes more energy to produce the energy than we get out of it ). One example he gave was windmills. There is more than likely not enough steel to build enough windmills to give us enough energy.
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Another problem with the book is his undying optimism. He is saying we are totally screwed, yet if we all do the exact right thing we can save ourselves. And he is optimistic that we will. Idiot. Nonetheless, he has written a darn good book pointing out the dangers we face. By being Happy Happy Joy Joy he doesn't scare off any readers. By promising riches he interests everyone through their greed. So go ahead and check this out from the library. You can use it to teach others without scaring them off. If you care. I think we are a little late in the game. If nothing else, resources aside, the credit contraction will halt all conventional energy projects and alternate energy investments. And the little left over from the Feds after they get done burying their banker buddies under huge piles of cash will do very little. The folks that buy $900 toilet seats won't be able to fund much research in non-carbon fuels.
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If you are struggling to get by, don't buy this book unless you are desperately trying to understand Peak Oil and haven't made up your mind if it warrants concern. If you are already panicked, take the $15 and buy some more rice and beans. That will keep you alive almost another month.
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