The Automatic Earth

Detroit Publishing Co. Milk Runner 1903 “New Orleans milk cart” Ilargi: Thought it might be wise to insert a little warning: if you think it wise to disagree with Stoneleigh on the following essay, and we do encourage discussion, do make sure that you do come prepared. She’s an expert on this issue too. It’s very close to her heart, and will undoubtedly prove to be highly controversial. But do your homework before chiming in! Stoneleigh: We often write, at

Carl Mydans Homesteader February 1936 “Young homesteader, Westmoreland Homesteads. Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania” Stoneleigh: Relationships of trust are the glue that holds societies together. Trust takes a long time to establish, and much less time to destroy, hence societies where trust is wide-spread, particularly for long periods of time, are relatively rare. In contrast, societies where trust does not extend beyond the family, or clan, level are very common in history. The spread of trust is a characteristic of expansionary times,

Russell Lee Trade and Transport February 1939 “Gas station, Edcouch, Texas” Stoneleigh: As the world has become a smaller and smaller place over the last few decades, we think less about the differences between locations. Global trade has allowed us to circumvent many local constraints, evening out surpluses and shortages in a more homogenized world. We have a just-in-time world built on comparative advantage, in the name of economic efficiency. Under this economic principle, every location should specialize in whatever

Dorothea Lange Ennui 1939 “One of Chris Adolph’s younger children. Farm Security Administration Rehabilitation clients, Washington, Yakima Valley, near Wapato” Stoneleigh: Since we at The Automatic Earth generally tell people to hold cash or cash equivalents, it makes sense to expand on that a little, and to point out some of the location-specific risks of doing so. We tell people to hold cash because that is what they will need access to in order to make debt payments and to

Lewis Wickes Hine Boys keep swinging August 1908 Game of craps, Cincinnati, Ohio Ilargi: One more time (could this be the last?), we delve into the notion that energy, and oil in particular, might have caused the financial crisis. We’ve done this more times at The Automatic Earth than we should have already, if you ask me, but Stoneleigh, who has far more patience than I do, has this Q and A with a TAE reader. My view: oil and