"money, credit, and debt can be created with no underlying physical foundation whereas energy and scarce natural resources, not dollars are what we have to budget and spend...in a world increasingly constrained by energy and increasing environmental limitations, but with a growing human population, adherence to accounting frameworks based on natural capital will be essential for policymakers to assess water, energy, and other limiting factors. such a framework would help us discard energy dead-ends and, perhaps equally important, our time and effort. the world as a whole needs to build a renewable supply investment portfolio that achieves the highest return on scarce inputs rather than money that is based on nothing scarce at all."
nate hagens and kenneth mulder, "energy and water. the real blue chips."
...and a monetary system that is based on "enlightened self-interest" may be an impediment to our adaptive abilities as a species...mired utterly in the short-term...subject to irrational panic attacks ( was today a "relief rally"? there was one of those day before yesterday and you see where that got)and based on nothing but speculation geared toward self-aggrandizement it is only going to obscure the reality of the situations we face to favor a narrative that maximizes profit...a somewhat more collectivist and egalitarian mindset that takes the future's welfare into account is what is needed along with some grassroots education to overcome the institutional bias built into the system...systemic failure could be an ally in this, but only if there is a parallel system that is well developed enough to assume the responsibility...capital is resilient as long as events remain reasonably predictable...it is boxed in by its need to generate profit and pursue the holy grail of "growth"...that mindset has always ignored the finite nature of the planet and the financial system may finally be finding those limits without the ability to understand or respond to them in a timely fashion...next week should be interesting.
AT LEAST THEY WAITED UNTIL THE MARKET CLOSED
7:56PM 8-5-2011
so...standard and poors ( irony) downgraded the credit rating of the empire proving that perhaps the "american century" is finally over...we can join the euro zone now and the germans can bail us out along with the other struggling economies...it'll be good for us...i wonder how the day traders and hedge fund managers are going to spend the weekend...the vip lounges will see a lot of alkaloid lines cut and snorted as the economic elite go for the gusto before they're downgraded to pcp and morning glory seeds...stay tuned...there's still along way to fall
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