Michael Webster
Business Consultant
(949) 494-7121 (949) 297-8648
E-mail mvwsr@aol.com www.michaelwebster.net
301 Forest Ave., 2nd Fl., Laguna Beach, California 92651
The following report is excerpted from the premium online newsletter “For Your Eyes Only” published by the founder of the Journal Family of publications. Subscriptions are $99 per year. Send check, money order or credit card information to: Michael Webster “For Your Eyes Only”301 Forest Ave, Laguna Beach, CA 92653.
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By Michael Webster
I was about to finish my latest book “The Terrorist Economy” When I realized that it is actually the beginning of the end. That is the economy. The world wide economy. I have never been one to preach gloom and doom. But now have come to the realization that what I’ve and others have been referring to and talking about as the war in Iraq. It is much more than just that. That war runs much deeper than just a war but is going to lead to regional and eventually a world war. What is really going on is it is heading toward a world war. The bottom line is it has become a Holy War a religious war that is really a world war pitting the Christian Capitalist vs. Islamic Communist. We as industrialized nations including the good old USA are all suffering from artificial abundance today. Tomorrow pure air, clean water, food as we know it, fuel at any price will be non-excitant arms and ammo will not be available. The Government has been disarming Americans for years. Luxuries of all kinds will be unknown. This is what the future holds for baby’s being born today. Civilization as we know it is coming to an end
It’s all starting right now beginning with the price of oil. At this writing oil is at 70.00 per barrel. Gas is pushing near $4.00 per gallon in many parts of the United States and even though the price will flexuate by going up and down the chart line will be going consistently up and up. The question is at what point the price of gas is out of reach of the average American. Right now many of the middle glass and all the lower middle class is being forced to cut back on there travel, even in some cases going to and from work. The low income families are already leaving their cars parked. The Simple reason is because they can not afford the price of gas.
Poor countries will be the first to collapse and than all the industrialized nations will follow like dominos.
The cost of fuel even if the world can find it and there is no guarantee they can. But even if they can find it the cost to pull it up from underground will be prohibitive. Even today many of the major oil companies around the world are loosing and are spending more money to find it, harvest it, and produce it than they are getting back. This is at a time when these same oil companies are making more profits then ever before. These same oil companies are publicly held and many are claiming there is an abundance of oil around the world so that investors will keep investing in them. But often other oil executives will tell you privately the future of oil is very bleak.
The question is not one of our running out so much as it is not having enough to keep our economy going. In an oil-based economy like ours it doesn't have to deplete our entire reserve of oil before it begins to collapse. Just a small shortfall between demand and supply is enough to cause havoc in our economy. A very small percentage is enough to destroy an oil-dependent economy and drive us all into poverty.
During the 1970’s a little drop in production claimed by the oil companies caused the price of oil to raise at an alarming rate and caused long lines at the gas pumps.
Wars, terrorism, global warming is in our future. War is likely to continue with the west which will include Israel vs. Iraq and will likely spread to Iran, Syria, and Venezuela and ultimately it will become a regional war which will someday involve Russia and China. Russia and China are our big problems. Russia has nukes by the thousands and China has the biggest armies in the world. Someone said that China has more solders than America has bullets. That is particularly interesting when one realizes that China manufactures over 80% of America’s bullets.
Pure water is more precious than gold
It's not just transportation and agriculture that are entirely dependent on abundant, cheap oil. Modern medicine, water distribution, and national defense are each entirely powered by oil and petroleum derived chemicals.
In addition to transportation, food, water, and modern medicine, mass quantities of oil are required for all plastics, all computers and all high-tech devices.
Commentator Robert Wise explains the connection between energy and money as follows:
It's not physics, but it's true: money equals energy. Real, liquid wealth represents usable energy. It can be exchanged for fuel, for work, or for something built by the work of humans or fuel-powered machines. Real cost reflects the energy cost of doing something; real value reflects the energy expended to build something.
Nearly all the work done in the world economy -- all the manufacturing, construction, and transportation -- is done with energy derived from fuel. The actual work done by human muscle power is miniscule by comparison. And, the lion's share of that fuel comes from oil and natural gas, the primary sources of the world's wealth. (Source)
In October 2005, the normally conservative London Times acknowledged that the world's wealth may soon evaporate as we enter a technological and economic "Dark Age." In an article entitled "Waiting for the Lights to Go Out" Times reporter Bryan Appleyard wrote the following:
Oil is running out; the climate is changing at a potentially catastrophic rate; wars over scarce resources are brewing; finally, most shocking of all, we don't seem to be having enough ideas about how to fix any of these things.
Almost daily, new evidence is emerging that progress can no longer be taken for granted, that a new Dark Age is lying in wait for ourselves and our children . . . growth may be coming to an end. Since our entire financial order — interest rates, pension funds, insurance, stock markets — is predicated on growth, the social and economic consequences may be cataclysmic.
If you want to understand just how cataclysmic these consequences might be, consider the current crisis in the UK as a "preview of coming attractions." The London Telegraph has reported:
The Government has admitted that companies across Britain might be forced to close this winter because of fuel shortages. "The balance between supply and demand for energy is uncomfortably tight. I think if we have a colder -than-usual winter given the supply shortages, certain industries could suffer real difficulties." The admission was made after this newspaper revealed that Britain could be paralyzed by energy shortages if the winter is colder than average.
The Met Office says there is a 67 per cent likelihood of prolonged cold this year after almost a decade of mild winters. That, coupled with high fuel prices, raises the fear that industry will not be able to cope.
In May 2007 the London Times published excerpts from a study about the future of Britain's electrical grid. According to the story, fears of a catastrophic energy crisis occurring within the next 10 years can no longer be dismissed as "apocalyptic fantasies". The paper wrote, emphasis added:
Across Britain, cities are plunged into darkness. In London, the Underground grinds to a halt, leaving panicked commuters stranded in oppressively hot carriages. In office blocks, lifts stop operating and the air-conditioning shuts down. Employees swelter in stifling conditions.
This is not the postapocalyptic vision of some film-maker, but a realistic scenario as Britain grapples with a looming energy crisis. The statistics are frightening. In only eight years, demand for energy could outstrip supply by 23% at peak times, according to a study by the consultant Logical CMG. The loss to the economy could be £108 billion each year. (Source)
The severe consequences of these shortfalls between supply and demand have prompted the UK government to look into draconian energy conservation measures that would be enforced via house-to-house searches by a force of "energy-police."
Parts of the US are facing similarly dire possibilities. For example, US News and World Report recently published a six-page article documenting some potentially nightmarish scenarios about to descend upon the US. According to the normally conservative publication, people in the northeastern US could be facing massive layoffs, rotating blackouts, permanent industrial shutdowns, and catastrophic breakdowns in public services this winter as a result of shortages of heating oil and natural gas.
This is happening despite the fact we are probably at least a few years away from seeing the peak in either oil or natural gas production. You have to ask yourself, "what's going to happen when the 'real problems' start showing up?"
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A
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[16]
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Greenland Melt May Swamp LA, Other Cities, Study Says
Stefan
Lovgren
for National Geographic News
April 8, 2004
Greenland's massive ice sheet could begin to melt this century and may disappear completely within the next thousand years if global warming continues at its present rate.
According to a new climate change study, the melting of Greenland's ice sheet would raise the oceans by seven meters (23 feet), threatening to submerge cities located at sea level, from London to Los Angeles.
The meltdown of Greenland's ice sheet is speeding up, satellite measurements show.
Data from a US space agency (Nasa) satellite show that the melting rate has accelerated since 2004.
If the ice cap were to completely disappear, global sea levels would rise by 6.
Greenland Glaciers Losing Ice Much Faster, Study Says
John Roach
for
National Geographic News
February 16, 2006
Due to global warming, glaciers on Greenland are slipping into the ocean twice as fast as they were just five years ago, scientists announced today.
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Greenland's Melting Ice Sheet May Speed Rise in Sea Level
Study Finds No Boost in Antarctic Snowfall to Mitigate Problem
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 11, 2006; Page A03
Two new scientific studies measuring Greenland's rapidly melting ice sheet and the pace of Antarctic snowfall suggest that the sea level may be rising faster than researchers previously assumed.
The papers, both published yesterday in the journal Science, provide the latest evidence of how climate change is transforming the global landscape. University of Texas at Austin researchers, using twin satellites, determined that the Greenland ice sheet, Earth's second-largest reservoir of fresh water, is melting at three times the rate at which it had been melting over the previous five years. A separate study by 16 international scientists concluded that Antarctic snowfall accumulation has remained steady over the past 50 years, with no increases that might have mitigated the melting of the ice shelf, as some researchers had assumed would occur.
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