I don't know about your home town,
but here in Wichita,
I've been buying 91 octane gasoline
for $2 a gallon.
I think the 87 octane is $1.75.
And,
I was in a Walmart in Salina,
and the ultra cheapo brand of vitamin D milk was marked down, to
$1.58 for a gallon.
Then,
I just saw this diary on the rec list:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
This article doesn't come out and say it (the article is about global deflation), but historically commodity prices crash on a global level for only one reason - lack of demand.
That means the global economy is very quickly coming to a stop.
Here is another source,
a man who has been explaining for some years,
that oil is critical to America,
and the gradual end of oil
might mean the sudden end of America,
as we know it:
http://kunstler.com/...
The Mayans R us. One year, they were cavorting bloodthirstily atop their garish painted pyramids and a generation later the jungle was stealing back over the temple steps and the population was a tenth of its former size. The same thing is going to happen to us, except there will be a hell of a lot more worthless, toxic debris left on the landscape.
Let me explain,
in very simple terms,
what I think will happen
within the next few decades.
Below the divider doodle.
The rec list article shows
the demand for oil going down,
and the supply going up.
But the problem here,
is that the graph is misleading.
The demand has only gone down
a little bit.
The supply has only gone up
a little bit.
Every oil well peters out.
Period.
There are no new oil fields
that are practical to drill in.
No where on the planet.
http://www.brushtail.com.au/...
That graphic shows my point.
That graph may be old,
and we may need to move the peak of oil production
over to the right ten years,
from 2004,
to 2014.
I wish I was wrong.
But both Mr. Kunstler,
and whoever put up that last graph,
at least those two sources,
plus common sense,
the common sense understanding that
every oil well peters out,
all those sources make it clear,
there must be a peak of worldwide deliveries
of crude oil
to refineries,
sometime.
Okay.
When the shortage of crude oil gets bad enough,
there will be a shortage of diesel fuel.
When the shortage of diesel fuel gets bad enough,
there will not be enough diesel fuel
for the
tractors,
combines,
trucks,
and trains
that
plow,
plant,
harvest,
and transport
the food to the food stores.
That will cause a shortage of food in the grocery stores of America.
When the shortage of food gets bad enough,
the stores might limit quantities.
When men and women with guns
enter the grocery stores,
demanding larger amounts of food,
the grocery stores will shut down,
all over America,
and 300 million Americans will die.
They will die,
either from starvation,
or from killing each other,
fighting over food.
Since the more I try to analyze the situation,
the more I become persuaded all this will happen,
and maybe within a few decades,
I naturally look for signs of trouble.
That's why
the lower prices,
on gas and milk
scare me.
If the world around me
is not stable,
it scares me,
makes me think this might be
the beginning of the end.
So,
low prices seem nice,
but not stable,
and that scares me.
Now.
I do not understand the following:
Why does Mr. Kunstler
waste so much time
discussing economics?
And why,
in the comment thread of the rec list diary,
after one commentor writes about oil,
that oil is critical,
no one in the pie fight points out
what I wrote above,
that oil is food,
in America?
Specifically,
in America,
diesel fuel is food.
Not enough diesel fuel
means not enough food.
Period.
There are millions of Americans who will survive,
such as
the country folks who already feed their families from small farms,
farms they can work by hand, or with mules.
For those who want to supplement their diet by hunting,
there are 7 million feral hogs,
mostly in the southern USA.
Plenty of calories in hog fat.
And some of the preppers will survive.
http://americanpreppersnetwork.com/...
Seems to me,
more folks need to at least consider
following the lead of the preppers.
Or get mentally prepared to starve and die.
But it seems so strange to me,
the way folks dance around the edges of this.
I wrote another diary,
a few days ago,
stating some of this information,
but it didn't have a clear enough explanation,
about the diesel fuel and such.
One more time:
not enough crude oil=
not enough diesel fuel=
not enough food=
panic at the grocery stores=
only those who feed their families
without grocery stores
will survive.
Thanks for reading.