Debt Rattle August 19 2017

[Raúl Ilargi Meijer]

Fred Stein Man in pushcart, New York 1944   • We’re Racing Towards Another Private Debt Crisis (Graeber) • China Moves To Curb Overseas Acquisiti
[See the full post at: Debt Rattle August 19 2017]

[Joe Clarkson]

The liberal/progressive/left are … the people who sat on their hands for 16 years while Washington destroyed in whole or part seven countries.

How fascinating that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rove are now part of the “liberal/progressive/left”. In the last 16 years the Democrats controlled the congress and the white house for only two years, so even if one equates the Democratic party with the “liberal/progressive/left”, they hardly constitute a juggernaut of political power. Perhaps Roberts thinks any established political party member, Republican or Democrat, is part of the “liberal/progressive/left”. If so, he using words well outside their common meaning.

[Patricia]

But what if the electricity used to charge the electric car batteries is hydro electricity? Doesn’t that alter the argument?

[V. Arnold]

Patricia
No, it doesn’t; the ecological price is huge. I lived in the N.W. for decades and watched the salmon runs diminish because of all the dams producing hydro-power. I prefer the salmon.
There is no magic; electricity from any source is hugely damaging in the medium to long term.
There is only one possibility and that has yet to work; fusion.

[V. Arnold]

Graeber’s chart is elegant in its simplicity. I can’t recommend his book; Debt, the First 5,000 Years, too highly.
However, his closing statement; “In reality, debt is money. If no one owed anyone anything at all there would be no money and the economy would grind to a halt.”; I find curious.
On a personal level, being debt free, is a good thing, and in theory would enable that one to be a responsable consumer.
A case of macro vs micro?

[V. Arnold]

Patricia
Iceland; electricity and heating from geo-thermal. That would be the exception to what I wrote above.
Unfortunately; not many countries are sitting on geo-thermal sources.

[olo530]

V. Arnold
Funny enough, geothermal can be exhausted locally. Italy was building commercial geothermal power plants long before Iceland, and their output at the oldest locations is diminishing. I suppose there is some limit to the rate of sustainable heat extraction. And it drains local aquifers. “All human activity is folly” 🙂

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