POA

POA
I see that yesterday's post confused a few folks. I thought it was a quickie piece stating the obvious. War is perpetual and guaranteed in a resource scarce environment. The point was that it isn't just about stealing what is needed to survive but long term survival for the species. But, why do I bother. I state simple facts over and differently and those that don't want to "get" it will just ignore me ( hint, hint- bolt action rifles ). If you don't know why things happen you can't anticipate their occurrence.
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POA is not, despite the titters I hear from the back of the class, referring to a piece of ass. In my never ending quest to confuse you with new and unnecessary acronyms it is Post Oil Africanization. A subject I keep coming back to despite the abuse I receive for my efforts ( sadly, a genius is rarely recognized in his own time so I must toil in obscurity. Even more sad for the human race, my great works will end as the electric grid shuts down the Internet and all my work, which is not printed, will go the way of the dodo ). I am saddened and amazed that so many of us continue to labor away under the basic assumption that all will be well. You stockpile food and ammunition yet continue paying a mortgage, making car payments and paying the credit cards. You are betting that in the end we will somehow keep our civilization intact. Our civilization was founded on fighting the indigenous hunter/gatherers for land and then getting rich off of the unexploited resources as the energy was mined from the continent. The Indians lived off of the interest, we have been living off the principle. The principle has been drawn down to almost nothing. As soon as the oil supply drops below a certain level or rises past a certain level of affordability, it is game over. No institution that we rely on for our survival will remain.
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If you are treating a mortgage as rent, and a car payment as a toll for working, you will be fine. As long as you can survive without your house or car. I hope you have all realized your retirement is already over and done with. Everything you now rely on, your home and car and savings and job and retirement and the welfare state, all will be destroyed. I can't say how long it will take or in what form, but the process of elimination is guaranteed. Either hyper-inflation, excessive taxation, outright confiscation, or even Balkanization will help the process along. Even a mix and match of those. The US, as a political entity, will cease to exist. We will split apart. Cheap resources allowed a convoluted democracy of sorts. The lack of cheap resources has led to the cannibalization of society where the wealth that was shared has now been channeled to a shrinking elite. The process will end in mass impoverishment, revolution, and division. You might have romantic notions of a proud and free Montana shrugging off the yoke of Federal oppression. What will end up happening is the creation of yet another Third World nation ( if even state wide government survives, which is doubtful ).
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I can't say how the break up will happen. Perhaps states refuse refugees from natural disaster areas, or federal funds stop moving to the states yet the mandates increase. Or energy rich states refuse to sell to other areas without export fees. Anything could happen. But a breakup will occur. And then the vultures will descend both from within and from afar. Right now most wealth from our infrastructure occurs with lack of maintenance. In the future the actual dismantling will produce the wealth. When you make fifty grand a year you don't pick up aluminum cans for twenty cents a pound. When you live under the overpass, that's a pretty sweet deal. Think of the future salvaging ( and here I'm referring to pre-collapse/not-yet-the-apocalypse theft ) along those lines. Once anything not nailed down has been sold off, then we move on to the really fun stuff. Human exploitation. After oil the only cheap energy remaining outside a few hydro sites ( if they last through the salvaging ) is going to be exploited humans laboring for substandard calorie intakes. You could become one of the new Jew's ( the Nazi's were not stupid-just evil- and knew how to get the most out of every resource. I'm sure the Final Solution was not done for its own sake but as a means to dispose of used up and discarded labor ). Fed less calories than you use, worked until you die.
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So you can expect a repeat of your fellow countrymen hunting you down to sell you into slavery. Now of course this is a less than savory occupation, and one should expect the usual chorus of indignation and disparagement. Easy enough as we are surrounded by a magic force field of luxury and protection afforded by our past energy abundance. Reality is as reality does, folks. Hate it all you want, it is coming to a failed civilization near you. Either you band together to fight it off, go for the easy riches, or end up with a collar around your neck. Yuppie females, right about now congratulating themselves on their easy wealth generated by a pair of silicon inserts, will soon find that their augmentation is going to backfire on them as they are sold into a harem. Healthy males get to work until they die. Or, how about protection at a price? Submit to a local king and he will protect you. The price is a mere lifetime of subservience. Much better than slavery, where you are worked to death. Now, you merely need to give up one quarter of your crop and act as cannon fodder in times of invasion.
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Even if our fantasies of becoming a leader in a band of mighty warriors is somehow realized, you can expect outside interference. As long as you are serving the needs and wishes of more powerful forces from outside you will be allowed to remain in power. If you get really lucky they might even throw in needed supplies. If your area has plutonium or gold, others will be very interested. You could be forced to work in the mine or processing the ore, or with your cooperation be used as a surrogate military occupation. I don't necessarily think agricultural areas would be targeted by overseas powers, not if the cost of transportation goes sky high ( unless they have contaminated areas from a nuclear exchange ), but local military's will be interested in controlling it. A vassal state, as it were. While it is true that we are using up our resources, that we are ruining our topsoil, polluting our water, drawing down our oil and natural gas stockpiles, what is left might not be enough for our current population but it will be enough to supplement the supplies of others and they will try to take it. Either way you roll the dice, you are going to be working for and at the mercy of others. That's what happens when the mighty fall and are then controlled by others. Don't think that we will be left alone to rot on our own, others will be picking at the corpse.
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Thank you, L. Minion from NV for the snail mail donation ( that was on the return address, L. Minion- that chuckle alone was almost as welcome as the cash ).