May 082011
Chris Martenson
In a podcast, Chris Martenson interviews Addison Wiggins. The following points are explored:
- His shock, despite releasing numerous works in advance that predicted it, at how quickly our political and financial leadership panicked and abandoned fiscal sanity during the crisis of 2008.
- Why it may very well be too late to avoid a collapse of our economy. Forget how painful or unpopular the corrective steps we need to take are – we simply cannot afford them in our current national condition.
- How the bond market will be the battleground upon which the collapse will be waged. The trigger point will be the moment at which the government is forced to raise interest rates above what it can afford to finance continued obligations.
- Why the Fed is between a rock and hard place trying to stave off this endgame, which Addison sees as inevitable. Recommencement of quantitative easing (or any such QE3 variant) will likely serve as the match to the bond market powder keg.
- Despite the risks and the growing certainty of the outcome, many average Americans still put substaintial blind faith in their leadership. Those who see with a critical lens are at a distinct advantage at this point in the timeline if they take informed action to position themselves against currency debasement. Hard assets and energy are obvious choices.
- How Addison sees the major thrust of our current trajectory ending the US dollar’s position as the center of the world economy – likely evolving to a shared structure with the major Asian players. During this transition, living standards to which Americans are accustomed will fall – especially as the reality of Peak Oil arrives in full force on the world stage.
- Why investment opportunities in this next century will be best seized by smaller nimble players vs. the large corporations and institutions of the past. Life sciences and energy innovation are particular areas of promise.
Peak oil is a fiction.
Kent,
I agree that we will never run out of oil (or anything else so long as markets are allowed to operate relatively freely). We do, however, appear to be nearing a point where massive increased demand as China, India and other less advantaged economiies become large users of energy.
The effects on prices is apt to make many existing means of production/transportation inefficient, even to the point of obsoleting them in an economic sense. Many who commute 50 plus miles a day one way are likely to reconsider whether their jobs are worthwhile. Real estate in the suburbs may not do as well as real estate in the cities on a relative basis.
Plant configurations may become uneconomic depending upon their products, locations and fuel needs. As these costs go up, production overseas may take a big hit and return to this country.
The things you say are true as long as we as a nation have an operating philosophy of preventing the use of our own raw materials. Which is what we now have. The amount of known oil reserves is higher now than ever before, I believe. There is plenty of oil to fuel our current lifestyles if we choose to get it.
Anyway, I still love your work. Excellent content presented professionally and frequently. I wish you had a larger platform. That may be coming.