Jim Kunstler on the Bail Out and What’s Next

10:54 AM EDT on September 29, 2008

Jim Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency, has been predicting today's financial catastrophe for a few years now so it's no surprise that his blog is loading slowly this morning. The people want to know: What's going to happen next?

What themainstream is truly missing here en masse is that another tsunami isbuilding right behind the finance fiasco, and that it will render mootthe whole reeking cargo of schemes and wishes that comprises the GreatBail-out. I am speaking of the global oil problem. In fact, theproblems in banking and money currently roaring in the center ring ofthe world circus, can be described categorically as a product of theoil problem -- since oil is the primary resource of industrialeconomies and therefore the motive force behind our ability to generate"wealth." Without reliable and ever-growing supplies of oil, there isno industrial growth, and without industrial growth things like capitalinvestment instruments lose their legitimacy. That is why theFrankenstein family of Ponzi securities was invented in the first place-- to compensate for the demise of industrial growth by creating wealthout of... nothing!

Aaron Naparstek @

AARON NAPARSTEK is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparsteks journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. Naparstek is the author of "Honku: The Zen Antidote for Road Rage" (Villard, 2003), a book of humorous haiku poetry inspired by the endless motorist sociopathy observed from his apartment window. Prior to launching Streetsblog, Naparstek worked as an interactive media producer, pioneering some of the Web's first music web sites, online communities, live webcasts and social networking services. Naparstek is currently in Cambridge with his wife and two young sons where he is enjoying a Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. He has a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Naparstek is a co-founder of the Park Slope Neighbors community group and the Grand Army Plaza Coalition. You can find more of his work here: http://www.naparstek.com.

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