9.02.2010

PEAK OIL CAN DESTROY NATIONS AND ECONOMIES?

A leaked German military think-tank report speculates that peak oil will happen any day now and within 10 to 15 years it could lead to the collapse of the global economy and that nations will fall. Dramatic, eh? Big Oil crushed Jimmy Carter in the 1980 election and they have been in the driver's seat ever since in terms of United States energy policy. President Carter tried to begin the transition away from dependence on fossil fuels and instead, since that time, Big Oil has squeezed consumers for outrageous profits, created fake energy crises (California 2000 anyone?), gamed the markets (Enron, et al), and sought one last big cash-in. As I used to say while director of the Earth Day Energy Fast (1991-2007) it is all about market share. When BP, Shell, Exxon-Mobil and the Big Oil Gang can bring their green energy to market, then you'll see it. As Naomi Klein points out in her book Disaster Capitalism, the public is now gamed by and responds to calculated crises.