Re: the future long term financial apocalypse of the USA

On Wed, 22 May 2024, Lynn McGuire wrote:

On 5/21/2024 9:59 AM, Scott Lurndal wrote:

Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> writes:

On 5/20/2024 11:00 AM, Scott Lurndal wrote:

 

 What system will replace capitalism is not clear, but it will likely not
be pleasant.
 https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2011/10/the-energy-trap/

 Oh no, another Peak Oiler !

 Rather than name calling (and in fact, Dr. Murphy is a physicist),
why don't you address the facts in that post?
 It is about preparing for the inevitable decline in petroleum production;
which pretty much everybody, except you apparently, know is coming.
 The point of the article is that it takes energy to make energy,
and the EROEI ratio (energy produced to energy consumed to produce it)
has been dropping rather precipitously for fossil fuels (from 100:1
a century ago, to less than 3:1 for e.g. oil sands).
 If the cost to produce one unit of energy is two units of
energy, you can see the trap closing on your feet.

>
We have, as a world, been through three or four Peak Oil events in my 49 year career to date: 1973, 1991, 2008.  We will go through more.  There will always be somebody who invents a wonderful new way of producing energy.
>
You are always with the bad vibes !  Be happy, dude !
>
Lynn

Ahh... and the memory was jogged some more... it was _you_ Lynn I think who discussed in a long marathon thread with Scott. And yes, I'm much younger than you and even I remember multiple peak oil predictions and they never came true, and even if they do come true, it will not be a decline over night, and engines do keep getting better and better, not to speak of throwing hybrids into the mix (if we're talking the limited use case of only cars, that is).