We may be entering a time of greater economic hardship than many have known in their lives. The great age of mass consumption, non-returnables, and disposable goods may have peaked. Boarding the Hummer or the Escalade to drive 5 miles to buy cigarettes and a Big Gulp may be a thing of the past for a greater number of citizens. Americans will have to adopt a lifestyle much more akin to Europe or Japan- reduced living space and reduced (kg of crap)/(person year), reduced portion sizes, more walking, local shopping, and increased use of rail transportation.
The Oil Shock of Summer 2008 snagged the suspenders of this nation of hydrocarbon addicts, sending us reeling into the election/market crash machinery like a drunken farmer pulled into the thresher. Out the back end of this nightmare comes the bloody oat chaff to hint that something horrific happened. Reality strikes, then … silence.
In spite of the plurality of media outlet channels into our collective consciousness, few infotainers are drilling into the core of the problem. The pace and timing of commercial media sets the rhythm of infotainment metered to the masses. Photogenic talking heads selected for their appeal read predigested content for broadcast to attention deficit channel surfers. People dulled by the sheer magnitude of content-dilute information streams and dazzled by the production value of infotainment are compelled to switch on HBO and hide from the world.
Here is what we must do. We must see to it that better questions are being investigated. Instead of asking about the replacement for gasoline, we must ask for a frank disclosure on the sustainability of high consumption. Instead of asking for better or hybrid automobiles, we must frame questions around the concept of a mass transportation network. How can we get intercity rail up and running? How can the Detroit automobile manufactures be cajoled into entering the rail infrastructure business? Where is the hydrogen going to come from to fuel the hydrogen economy? Does it make sense to consume energy to generate hydrogen and then turn around and burn it for propulsion?
The best answers come from the best questions.
Lamentations on Chemistry 
Yes we need to ask better questions, but the ones you have posed are hard. Hard questions make my brain hurt! A better question to ask is ‘Where will the next Survivor be filmed?’ or ‘Who is Britney or LiLo hanging out with today (and are they wearing undies)?’
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Speaking of better questions, have you seen a better dance routine than this one?
Part of what the US has that has been part of its advantage is space. We don’t need lots of houses in the burbs, but the ability to expand there makes apartments in the city cheaper and uses the reseources we have effectively. If nergy becomes more valuable than space, then saving energy by densifying makes more sense. It’s a hard thing to ask, though, because this real estate bubble would be a drop in the bucket compared the one when millions of suburbanites have to seel their homes low and buy rapidly appreciating homes in cities. Though densification would force us to deal with inequities in education, etc. – we are all in close quarters, and there would be little way to ignore the consequences of neglect and active suppression of others.
The other problem is the reliance of our economy on continual increases in spending. Since people don’t make more money, it’s hard to see how to save more (or, imo, why to do so if you consistently lose out to inflation if you do so) or spend more on housing and food without spending less on other things (especially with no credit or assets to draw on) – the economic structure makes the consequences of these acts dire, but that implies that our economy is not in contact with physical reality. And we’ve pinned our hopes on it.
About the dance routine. Did you hear the piece that this is based on a dance originally written by Bob Fosse?
Its a hoot to watch.
Sorry I can’t spell – I dislike IE when it converts your blog to text.
I don’t think we’re really failing to ask questions – we’re actively ignoring it, because the answer is hard to swallow, and likely to involve substantial pain and revision of self-image.
Hi Hap- I can’t disagree with your points. But the Pollyanna nerve bundle in my brain causes me to strive to be positive about where the country is going.
Bill- I did see the original clip of the Fosse routine. It’s pretty funny, but scary too since I was alive during that period. It is a kind of pole dance without the pole.
Better Polyanna then an active suspension of reality. I think people know that the only way to fix things is likely to cause them pain, and we keep hoping to avoid it. Problems is, it’s like heartburn that turns out to be a heart attack, and while we wait, the cure goes from angioplasty to multiple bypass to being on a waiting list for a heart transplant (with the caveat that lots of people die waiting for one).
I wonder what the people who survived the Depression and WWII would say of us. Can you even say it on a family blog?
Hap- I think they would say “Never trust the banks” or “Put yer dadburned money in a sock and bury it in a strong box in the back yard”. I’m feeling kinda stupid for not having a wad of cash tucked away somewhere.
I think you are articulate and have a good sense about the nature of the problem. Perhaps you need a soapbox to stand on to make your point to the “low information voters” in your area?
Problem is, I’m not immune to it myself – I don’t have enough money saved up to survive well if hell breaks loose, and I don’t know how strong I’ll be when it does. (my house is at least in mass transit range, though, so I could at least sit out the flight back to the city for a while). I can’t see how to transit to a more stable economy without lots of pain, and we’ve spent most of the margin needed to mitigate that pain. One of my friends works for a bank, and he keeps calling not so good shots on the economy – he was right on mortgages, and I’m sort of hoping he’s not as right on this.
I just know there used to be lots of people who had the vision and strength to survive such trials, once (though Orwell wouldn’t have been so uncommon with his “power of facing” if there were a whole lot of them). Maybe they’re just hiding.