Tag Archives: collapse

Our fossil fuel energy predicament, including why the correct story is rarely told

Posted on November 10, 2021 by Gail Tverberg

Strangely enough, a big part of the confusion regarding the nature of our energy problem comes from the fact that virtually everyone wants to hear good news, even when the news isn’t very good. We end up seeing information in the Main Street Media mostly from the perspective of what people want to hear, rather than from the perspective of what the story really is. In this post, I explain why this situation tends to occur. I also explain why our current energy situation is starting to look more and more like an energy shortage situation that could lead to economic collapse. Continue reading →

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Spike in energy prices suggests that sharp changes are ahead

Posted on October 18, 2021 by Gail Tverberg

Now, through several iterations, the economy has become increasingly complex, with less and less redundancy to provide stability. The energy price spike that is being experienced today is a warning that something is very, very wrong. As I see the situation, the trend toward complexity has gone too far; the economic system is starting to break down. Sharp changes appear to be ahead. The world economy is shifting into contraction mode, with more and more parts of the system failing. Continue reading →

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2020: The Year Things Started Going Badly Wrong

Posted on December 23, 2020 by Gail Tverberg

Some might describe the energy story as a “diminishing returns” story, but it’s really broader than this. It’s a story of services that we expect to continue, but which cannot continue without much more energy investment. It is also a story of the loss of “economies of scale” that at one time helped propel the economy forward. Continue reading →

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Reaching the End of Early Stimulus – What’s Ahead?

Posted on September 23, 2020 by Gail Tverberg

Many people thought that COVID-19 would be gone with a short shutdown. They also thought that the world’s economic problems could be cured with a six month “dose” of stimulus. It is increasingly clear that neither of these assumptions is … Continue reading →

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COVID-19 and the economy: Where do we go from here?

Posted on June 25, 2020 by Gail Tverberg

The COVID-19 story keeps developing. At first, everyone listened to epidemiologists telling us that a great deal of social distancing, and even the closing down of economies, would be helpful. After trying these things, we ended up with a huge … Continue reading →

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