Business as usualI used to think I had a reasonable grasp on the economical and political situation on the world but everything is starting to get real crazy and I’m starting to lose track of events, but their again the same could apply to the people who are supposed to be running the show.On some of my crazier days I’ve looked at the tea leaves of life thought I saw that the western way of life is unsustainable and would land with a big thud. Jeez I didn’t expect to happen this quickly though, a few years down the line maybe but ……..
Hmmm alright I not saying this is * IT * …. only because there is so much crazy shit going down nobody really knows how this might pan out.

I always thought the weapon of choice to realign the western way of life would be ‘oil / energy’ and the supply of it. Four months ago when oil hit $147 a barrel a lot of peak-oilers like myself were sitting smugly expecting $200+ a barrel by the end of the year and the end of the world as we know it etc…
Oil at the moment is around $95 (still higher than this time last year), so that must be the Peak Oil myth debunked then? … well let’s just say it’s been postponed. For the price of oil to have fallen sharply it’s taken a decrease in general demand and errr … the financial markets to go into meltdown. The doubly whammy here though is that investment that was desperately needed to fund alternative energy sources and new oil exploration and drilling is now not going to be as readily available. In the meantime we continue to use the existing oil fields further depleting them. Without alternative power or new oil finds coming on stream to replace them the resulting Peak Oil shock will hit a lot harder when it finally arrives.

We’ve all see the old recycled jokes of bankers jumping from the upper story windows. This time round I think we will see bankers falling again only they wont be jumping, it will be the angry mobs in the streets below taking pot shots at them.

This situation has festered for a while initially with American sub-prime mortgages and Northern Rock and now it’s suddenly erupted and is a runaway train wreck out of control.

I get concerned that this has all happened so quickly it really hasn’t sunk in with people how bad this might get. There again who knows if we’ve even hit bottom yet.

Stateside the Dow Jones index dropped for the 10th consecutive day wiping out 25% of it’s value. Watching some of the American news channels on Sky last night you looked at all the financial experts being asked when will it all end, when will people start buying stock and all you could see was glazed rabbits in the headlights looks of people who no longer had an idea of how and why this was happening.

Eight years ago I had a real bad feeling about George W Bush. The main reason was he was widely regarded the f******g idiot of the family and not up to holding the highest office in the land. He got into the white House started mouthing off about the ‘Axis of Evil’ and a year or so later three planes hit The World Trade center and the Pentagon. Ok it’s more than possible that the attacks of 9/11 were already well into the planning stage before Bush took power but he didn’t help. The attacks gave Bush his own green light to embark on his trillion of dollars ‘Team America’ escapades mainly on the false premises that Saddam Hussein had his finger hovering over the button to nuke the states. Along with BushCo’s policies to keep Big Oil and the Auto industry happy he has been everything that was feared when he stole the election in 2000, a godawful president. Had Al gore that election I’m certain the world be in a lot better shape than today.

Incidentally if Osama Bin Laden is still alive, he’s probably wandering round his cave high fiveing his associates as he watches the western world collapse in a heap. Job done.

So what is America going to do? It’s currently rudderless as the dead duck of a President may as well leave the White House now for the amount of use he is.

As for the upcoming election, the thought of eight years of the incompetence of Bush followed by four years of Maverick McCain may just be too much even for some republicans to stomach. Bush was just stupid. McCain is more intellectual but he is a lot older and more of a loose cannon than Bush for that he is a lot more dangerous.

Fortunately the polls seem to indicate that after the initial Sarah Palin induced bounce the public have now seen the Empresses new clothes for what they are … nothing.
So it’s all over for McCain, Bush and the Republicans, nothing can can save them from being turfed out of office … unless … Bush and the Republicans play their one last ‘get out of jail’ card… the October Surprise.

I was thinking about this last night. The Dow Jones continues to tank. All the experts believed the $700bn rescue package would bring stability and yet the markets drop. There is no leadership, no one in control. What if they continue to drop? Another 25% another 50%… ?
How long can this go on before there is general panic in the country. When does Bush steps in and says that this is a time of emergency, this is a time for leadership, I’m putting troops on the streets and I’m calling off the election.

Oh I dunno … like I said at the start… wtf is going on? .. Does anyone anywhere really know ?

Well strap yourselves in folks and hopefully we’ll all make it to the other side.