Rush Hour Journey

RUSH HOUR JOURNEY
Most days for the past five and half years I have walked from my home to the railway station. Sometimes it is more of a run than a walk, trying to get there in time to catch the 8.05 to the city. The distance in not far enough to warrant taking the car, and I can’t be bothered to mess around with a bike, you know what I mean having to lock it up or carry it on board a crowded carriage. Early on I realised the best way to travel is light.

As I round the first bend of my street I can see the city way off in the distance, often covered in a haze, brewing away down there in the soup, that the EPA call haze. Not that it bothers me much. Once you are in it you hardly notice the acrid edge to the air. This morning in early autumn is crisp and clear, up here in the hills. The temperature over night had just hovered above zero, the sun is bleeding through the mist, releasing a smell of leaf compost and turned earth.

I reach the station, I can hear the train as it crossed the level crossing the bells sounding like an alarm clock telling me to get myself down onto the platform. Today it is a silver train, each morning it is either a silver or green, they all have the large logo of the train company on the side, I think it looks like a couple making out on the side of a carriage, but I have been told it is a happy commuter carrying his/her bag, entering a carriage door. Are we all expected to become Metro sexual?

In reality at this time of morning, we are not happy commuters. We are trying to push passed as many unsuspecting sleepy heads to find a good seat and get settled, before the train throws you against the back of someone’s seat or worse into another passenger. Sometimes you are lucky and the seat is there in front of you saying sit, please sit I am waiting for you to drop onto me.

I step up to swipe my Lobster card, and then through the auto barrier, the last hurdle before the train. These new cards/electronic tickets are not working as they should. I stick the card into the slot it spits back at me, the barrier stays down. I try again as the next commuter is anxiously waiting for me to get through. We are all hoping to catch this train. Waiting for the next one is not an option, we have to be in the city by 8.45, push and shove will get you on board. Hanging back and waiting can mean you miss out and have to wait.

Finally the lobster works on the third attempt, I push the electronic tag back into my wallet and run with newspaper and briefcase flapping ahead of me. By running in this fashion I manage to cut a pathway to the train doors. There I notice a vacant seat just to the right of the door way, I lurch like a rugby player going for a try. The seat is mine, no arguments today, a straight touchdown.
As I wait, the carriage fills up with anxious faces searching out a seat, a safe haven for the trip ahead. No seat allocations on this route, first in best dressed. I have wondered whether we would give our hard won seats up to the less fortunate. I don’t think the thrust and lunge technique of landing a seat would have fair play written into the script.

The doors close, already the carriage is three quarters full. No seating left and there are people standing along the isle, but not yet blocking the doorways. I have scored a large man next to me. He takes up over half the seat and I am going to have to lay claim to my space. I use my true and well tried method. ‘The opening of the newspaper’. I am a broad sheet person. Can’t abide the drivel the tabloids dish up. No real interest in sensational reporting of sports players sex lives or their cooking tips.

So out comes the paper, I unfold the neatly folded sheets. They open up like an umbrella in a hotel lobby. Conspicuous and threatening. A flourish as I shake the pages open a long drawn sweep of the arms as the sheets a spread open.
Firstly you have to establish a perimeter around you. The paper creates the illusion of size. The noise of the paper being flapped also encourages your neighbour to shy away for a moment, and in that time you grab your ground and hold onto it with a firm fist. Holding with both hands, one onto the front page headlines and the other the sports pages. Once your position is established it is important to hold firm for at least 5 minutes. This can mean you might have to reread the main story twice. Because if you give ground too early you can loose any ground won.

My fellow commuters on this fine autumnal morning are a mixed lot. I enjoy giving them names and occupations. Some mornings not today, I become very black and dark and think of us all trapped in our carriage as the train derails and we have to cope with the dead and dying. That sort of day dream doesn’t surface on days like today.

Big balls sitting next to me has decided he has an itch, maybe he has worms, he is wriggling his backside around the seat. I don’t think anyone else can see it but I can feel him against my leg. Do we ever sit this close next to anyone outside of public transport? I doubt it. I suspect that big balls has decided that the wriggle backside technique can gain him some ground. He might be right and I think I have been out manoeuvred, not to worry only twenty minutes to go and I have the world news and home affairs to read. If I allow big balls to get to me I will arrive at work with a chip on my shoulder and a pain in my arse. So I am taking the Zen approach today. I look across at his pie shaped face, pale and sallow. Too many days spent inside an office on a bad diet. I can understand the wriggling now. I don’t weaken and maintain my arms length approach to newspaper reading. As I fold the pages over I look up deliberately holding his gaze for a second. I use my, ‘I’m going to win this battle of the wits smile,’ He loves it, I can tell, he holds my look, he even seems to be enjoying our seat tussle. Before I look away I glance to the window beyond him. He looks across the isle in the direction I was looking. In that moment I nudge him across half a buttock. Touchdown. He didn’t see it coming, the age old move. They say the eyes have it.
With that little battle won, I offer a parting smile, before I disappear again behind my paper.

The trees have given way to rows on rows of houses. The train snakes its way around the inner suburbs, occasionally disappearing underground through tunnels, or flying over busy roads, filled with trucks and cars, framed by tram wires and intersections. The train driver blasts his horn as he approaches crossings and stations. They are more frequent now. But we don’t stop, barely slow up. The bored drivers stare back at us from behind the barriers, envious of our unimpeded journey.

As we approach the home straight, I can see the travellers who have been standing for the whole trip, moving from one foot to the other. Rubbing their sore calves, with the toes of their shoes. Some have dozed off to sleep while standing. Their head lolling forward resting against their raised arms, hands holding vice like, to the hand grips above their heads. The carriage has found its shape and rhythm. The speed of the train has rocked us into a robotic indifference of our discomforts.
The trains intercom tells us we are approaching Swanston street station. There is a collective movement. Hands drop down to the bags on the floor. Feet begin to shuffle towards the doors. People smile to one another in a well rehearsed ritual. Time to freshen up, put on the happy face get ourselves ready to disembark.
As I glance across at big balls he is pulling himself up into the mass of humanity, that we have managed to be a subset of for the last 35 minutes. I use his large frame as a protective barrier. I want to hide behind him long enough to get a good start out of the carriage. The bull dozer who will push ahead of me. Plough his way against the tide and in his wake I will slip skilfully away and into the maelstrom of humanity that is the city.

Woof

Waste of Taxpayers money

Australian government wants to give 6 billion dollars to the car industry.

How mad is it to offer 6 billion dollars to the car industry. We are coming to the end of the carbon based economy. We need new companies and government direction/initiatives to change the type of motor cars we use. I can't see Ford or Holden moving in that direction. They have shown very little initiative and have wasted years of profits which could of been used to develop alternative fuel based cars.
In fact I think Holden's latest car cost the best part of a billion dollars and it was so in the mode of powerful petrol driven cars, it was a joke.
Giving money to large corporations who are having difficulties can come unstuck.
I remember Kodak getting a big government payment, and we all know what has happened to film photography.
Same with Ford and Holden. Both companies have failed to understand the future of motorized transport. Fancy spending a billion dollars on designing a new car that doesn't use alternative fuel.
They are both corporate dinosaurs and we shouldn't be giving them another cent. If we sink 6 billion dollars into the car industry and don't expect outcomes like a totally green, air or electric car, then we are throwing our taxpayers money away. Better use it to set up a comprehensive solar/wind power electricity supply grid.
There is so much that needs to be done and very quickly, but instead we get politics and big business getting in the way of sensible alternative developments.
So no don't give billions of dollars to a couple of old failed dinosaurs. Keep it to make a better future for us all.
Woof

Financial Melt down [My Arse]

What a load of hype we have been subjected to over the last month or so. You would think that the world was coming to an end. Well surprise, it was Wall Street that was having a melt down not us. It is like that old saying that if, "America gets an economic cold the rest of the world gets pneumonia." We are playing into the hands of these mega wealthy, large institutions that brought on their own problems through greed and manipulative behaviour. The multinationals and banks have prolonged a consumer cycle so they could continue to collect their mega profits. HERE is a link to an article about the Bretton Woods System. And here is a quote from Noam Chomsky which heads the article.

Anti-Democratic Nature of US Capitalism is Being Exposed

Bretton Woods was the system of global financial management set up at the end of the second World War to ensure the interests of capital did not smother wider social concerns in post-war democracies. It was hated by the US neoliberals - the very people who created the banking crisis writes Noam Chomsky.

Yes we have been hoodwinked into believing yet again that we were operating in some sort of free will environment. No we are by and large, swept along by forces much greater than we can comprehend. The truly sad thing about this is that our Governments are not blind to these forces they are in fact party to them. Especially in the U.S.A.
So now we are all suppose to focus on saving our savings and retirement funds. our homes, and small businesses. And all the while our environment, that is in dire need of help, will be pushed aside as we grapple with. this other man made problem.

As someone said "If we don't do something about our environment there wont be an economy to worry about."

From what I'm hearing from politicians all over the world is that we have to provide funds so we can all get back to spending as soon as possible. The only answer they have is to stimulate the economy, create a buying spree, that's the answer. That has been part of the problem, too much indiscriminate spending on disposable goods. We use too much of everything, create a big environmental stench and then wonder why the world is getting hotter and the Ice caps are melting.

The politicians of the last couple of decades have happily allowed the world economy to go it's own sweet way. Big business to get bigger and bigger. The crumbs from this economic "Miracle' have been tossed to the masses as Tax cuts and hand outs, in a vain hope they would appease the voters. Well it worked, but with no plan for the future, [And still no plan for the future] all they can come up with now is. 'Lets stimulate the economy, spend more again, hurry up the recovery. so we can all make believe we don't have any problems.

Here in Australia. with a change in the Federal Government. we started to talk about using the surpluses on making our economy sustainable. From electricity generation to household emissions. Everyone was going to be part of the Greening of Australia. That was before this Wall St. induced melt down. Now the focus is back on saving the arses of the big banks and investment houses.
If we could be as decisive in our response to Climate Change as we are to Economic Change, The world would be a much safer, cleaner, happier place to live. For all.
So have a look at THIS ARTICLE ABOUT HOW WE GOT INTO THIS MESS.
Woof x

The mother of all rip-offs

The Following article is in todays AGE newspaper.
We have had our common wealth ripped from our economies over the last couple of decades and some people should be held accountable.

Hank Paulson has got to be kidding. He wants American taxpayers to hand a cool $US700 billion ($840 billion) to his pals on Wall Street in return for a gigantic bundle of their delinquent assets ... without his pals taking a pay cut.

Could there be a finer reward for failure? Could there be a worse deal for taxpayers?

No stake in the upside, no ceiling on extortionate Wall Street salaries, no guarantee the system will be stabilised. Just the mother of all rip-offs: a deal to privatise Wall Street's profits and socialise its losses.

How about this bit: "Decisions by the (Treasury) Secretary (Paulson) pursuant to the Authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to Agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency''.

Paulson and his pals get an explicit protection against any review by the courts and Congress while taxpayers fork out top dollar for rubbish the banks can't sell. It is the quintessential dudding.

If the Paulson "cash for trash'' plan could avert systemic failure and this is by no means assured - it could have legs but Congress is jacking up at the ample "trust me'' element. And rightly so.

There is no reason to trust Wall Street, or the regulators. As House Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it, Congress would not "simply hand over a $US700 billion blank cheque to Wall Street and hope for a better outcome."

Until now Americans have been mostly apathetic when it came to the excesses of their investment banks. But now that Main Street is being asked to bail out Wall Street, again, and in huge measure, the temperature is rising.

Congress wants a brake on salaries, some kind of guarantee that Paulson's pals won't simply load up the truck with billions in bonuses again, this time funded by Ma and Pa Kettle.

The four biggest investment banks on Wall Street, which included Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, shelled out $US30 billion in bonuses last year. Lehman just went under and Bear Stearns was bailed out earlier in the year.

While pushing through his emergency deal, Paulson says he wants to defer the debate on salaries. Someone should take him aside and tell him, "Pal, it's over''. The moral and philosophical underpinning for $US50 million salaries is gone, let alone $US10 million salaries care of government.

These remuneration structures were struck on the basis of a compact with the market, that is that pay is "at risk'' and should reflect performance. That compact is finished. What is the risk if the losses are nationalised?

And what is the performance? The fancy deals and the structured finance rubbish brewed up by this crew gave the world CDOs, CDOs squared and cubed, RMBS, CLOs, ABS, CDS and all manner of noxious excuses for a fee.

From the sub-prime to the ridiculous, this orgy of leverage on leverage mimicked in financial centres as far afield as Australia has whipped the world to the edge of recession and destroyed faith in the entire system.

And now here is another $US1 trillion ($US700 billion is just for starters) to add to Bush's $US9.6 trillion national debt. Where will the money come from? The issue of Treasury bonds. Who will buy them?

Good question. Anyone for some bonds in an entity which can't pay off its debt but has just taken a trillion dollars worth of delinquent assets on its balance sheet?

The US dollar has been sinking thanks to the daunting prospect of a bond market deluged with bits of paper nobody wants: more US Government debt. The more paper on issue the lower the price.

Either the US defaults on its obligations an outcome many regard as "unthinkable'' or taxes will have to go up. Higher taxes, deeper recession. Thanks Wall Street.

All this makes it critical that Paulson and his pals demonstrate to the world that they understand the jig is up. The world changes.

People and pay are central to this understanding. Industrialists or entrepreneurs with their own businesses can pay whatever they like but the failed managers of licensed institutions on corporate welfare can hardly expect a blank cheque from those they have blown up. The contract is finished. Wall Street has not fulfilled its obligations.

As Paulson tries to shove his plan through in the face of congressional opposition the rewards for failure have already shamed the principal of pay for performance.

Fannie Mae boss Daniel Mudd and his opposite number at Freddie Mac, Richard Syron, walked last month with $US9.43 million in retirement and pension benefits on their way out the door. Failed, sacked and showered with money as their two giant mortgage operations were nationalised.

Lehman Brothers chairman and CEO Richard Fuld picked up $US22 million for 2007, the year thousands of his staff found themselves on the street. He took $US35 million the year before.

Merrill Lynch boss John Thain took a $US200 million payout with two offsiders for less than a year's work. Merrill was so close to obsolescence it sold itself to Bank of America for $US50 billion in scrip few days ago just as Lehman was biting the dust.

Thain was given a $US15 million bonus for signing on. Two former Goldman Sachs executives hired by Thain may do even better. Head of global trading, Thomas Montag, has already received a $US39 million bonus since signing on in August. With stock options accelerated by the buyout, he could finish up with $US76 million.

The bank's head of strategy, Peter Kraus, was bestowed with a $US95 million package just to beat what he was on at Goldman.

Paulson himself has shares in Goldman whose value was estimated at $US700 million. He is a direct beneficiary of his own bail-out proposal blind trust or no blind trust.

On the positive news front, the former head of broken insurance company AIG, Robert Willumstad, voluntarily forfeited a $US22 million severance package after he was giving his marching orders. He was only appointed in June.

"I prefer not to receive severance while shareholders and employees have lost considerable value in their AIG shares," wrote Willumstad in an email to his successor Edward Liddy.

Goldman boss Lloyd Blanfein took home $US54 million last year and Morgan Stanley's John Mack $US42 million.

The list goes on. Some of the investment bank's hedge funds clients have even been paying themselves more than $US1 billion.

Regulatory oversight and the ramifications of Bush's tax-cuts-for-the-rich policy alongside his catastrophic jaunt in Iraq have come home to roost.

On top of its $US9.6 trillion national debt, America is heading for its first $US1 trillion deficit this year. Paulson's bailout will add another $US1 trillion to the bill.

America is in trouble.

mwest@fairfax.com.au

Water Madness

The current bunch of politicians here in Australia are struggling with the problem of, the lack of water. There are a couple of main areas of concern.
Watering the ever increasing city population, and saving the Murray Darling river system. The city dwellers rely on dam water to drink, wash, water, play etc. We do everything in the same water. We haven't developed a two tier system of water delivery. We also haven't been very good at recycling water either. In fact we have just relied on rain to fill our dams and up until a few years back that is exactly what happened. Now it doesn't and we think it has something to do with climate change. If that is the case, it is going to be a long slow process to change that back.
The Murray river falls into a similar category except it's water is taken to irrigate the farms that feed us and provide export dollars. So in a way we have been exporting our water through water usage.

Now when you are up against a rock and hard place you should really look to finding solutions that all of us can contribute to. And to a certain extent that is what we have been doing, at least here in the city. We have been on water restrictions for a few years now and we have been saving a lot of water. We have learnt to live with less.
The state government in Victoria has decided to opt for a desalination plant, [the biggest in the southern hemisphere] There are many reasons not to use this method of water collection I refer you to this Article in the Age on some options that we could use here that makes sense.

I heard today that the Federal government is having problems securing water from the Murray river. You see over the years the States and Federal governments have sold off water rights to the rivers to farmers. Now they want it back to SAVE the river and the license owners can see the government coming with millions of dollars in compensation.
My question is why don't we compulsorily reprocess the water. Save the river and find ways to make it a strong sustainable river again. We could get water from Tasmania that could help achieve this. No good paying people for the water that doesn't even exist at the moment. Forget the economists view of this world for a while and start seeing it as sustainable problem. That is, it may not have to be a totally economic answer, but through good leadership we can find solutions that are sustainable.
Any which way you look at these problems, the supply demand model that has been used for the last 100 or more years may have run it's course. At least for the time being, and in specific areas.
Woof.

Money and Politics

I haven't posted in a while. It is winter down here so it must be something to do with hibernation. I have also been very busy, reading all your blogs, even if some of you have dropped off the perch ,London Lass being one of them . The article below was published in The Age a few days ago.

Our governments over here both state and federal are forever hiding deals behind Contracts they call 'In Confidence'

From public transport to health, education to new roads. Across the board we are being hoodwinked. Often at the behest of big business, accountants and economists.
Woof

Money is the root of all political evil

• Kenneth Davidson
• July 10, 2008

Two decisions on advertising have had a toxic impact on good governance.

POLITICIANS are bastards. But they are not necessarily born that way. I still believe that even the most cynical politician enters the game with at least a smidgen of idealism. But they are as much shaped by society as shaping it.

Reporter Royce Millar, who has been covering the details of Melbourne planning processes for a long time, gave Age readers an insight into how much the Victorian Labor Government is worth to the big end of town.

A good example is the sale for $80 million of 27 hectares of land, which housed 300 intellectually disabled residents in the Kew Cottages, for a medium-to-high-rise housing development. The money would be used to socially integrate the inmates into the suburbs and build additional new accommodation for those on the acute waiting list. Bollocks. The most cost-effective way of extending quality accommodation for the intellectually disabled would have been on site, a sensible proposition when there are 3000 intellectually disabled people on an urgent waiting list for this type of housing.

Furthermore, the site is unsuitable for housing redevelopment. Princes Street, which runs past it, is already gridlocked in the morning as cars attempt to get onto the Eastern Freeway and into the city via Hoddle Street. The problem is compounded by EastLink, which will pour another 20,000 cars onto the Eastern Freeway in the morning peak. This intensification of the problem of CBD congestion will be used as further justification for the north-west tunnel.

This is classic planning Melbourne style — one slice at a time. If there is any life left in politics in Victoria, Premier John Brumby will rue responding yesterday to Millar's article by stating: "There are corporations who want to donate to political parties … that's a good thing, that's a sign of a healthy democracy."

For arrogant stupidity this must rank with Transport Minister Lynne Kosky's 2007 statement: "Do I want to run a train system? I don't think so."

If Brumby were sincerely interested in a healthy democracy, he would begin by publishing information about the decision-making of his Government so voters could make up their own minds whether they are better off funding schools, hospitals, roads and other infrastructure as public-private partnerships rather than out of borrowings or consolidated revenue. If sincere, he would undertake proper environmental impact statements and public benefit cost analysis of major projects such as channel deepening or the Wonthaggi desal plant, and he would explain why the Government has refused to conduct an independent inquiry into the decision to persist with franchising public transport.

This is a bipolar Government. It makes decisions on water, brown-coal electricity generation and freeways while ignoring how these decisions relate to the global water, climate warming and "peak oil" crises. Money politics is the root of this bipolarity. It encourages secrecy, excluding the bigger picture. It undermines public ownership of decisions even when they are defensible, fuels cynicism about politicians and political processes and encourages public apathy, a characteristic of public life more readily identified in dictatorial regimes without the superficial trappings of democracy.

But let's be fair to our politicians. The huge sums paid by corporations to political parties detailed by Millar are not pocketed personally by the politicians. They are used by political parties to fight elections. Most of the money ends up as profits for the owners of the electronic media.

The cost of a 30-second TV spot covering Melbourne in peak viewing time is about $10,000 and the same spot covering the whole of Victoria will cost about $15,000 dollars. Commercial TV stations run on ratings. Politicians spouting politics, as distinct from behaving badly in restaurants, are a ratings turn-off. The average coverage of most elections on commercial stations during the height of an election campaign is a couple of minutes each day.

For most voters, who get their primary information about the world from the electronic media, their main impression of the campaign will come from these ads. Advertising is about persuasion, not information.

To their credit, a majority of the 1991 federal parliament passed legislation banning political advertising during elections on the electronic media. The legislation was challenged by the commercial broadcasters. A majority of the High Court found in favour of the broadcasters on the grounds that they found the legislation violated an implied constitutional freedom of political communication.

Who could possibly believe that election advertising was vital to free speech except the High Court and the media moguls concerned they might lose (then) about $30 million every three years from state and federal elections?

This High Court majority also found in 2005 that the government could spend $40 million on taxpayer-paid advertising of the most partisan nature (WorkChoices) without specific parliamentary authorisation or even the legislation being presented to parliament. These two decisions have had a toxic impact on good governance of Australia because of the power they put into the hands of ordinary politicians such as John Brumby, who will do whatever sharp practice the courts will allow to stay in power.

Kenneth Davidson is a senior columnist. Email: kdavidson@theage.com.au

Mugabe must go

South Africa must rid it's self of Mugabe. It has been too long this nasty bit of work has caused too much suffering to be allowed to dictate the out come of this election.
I have heard he is being propped up by a group of military and civilian cronies who are determined to not let the opposition take power.
South Africa, the country, have sat back and allowed this to happen. The leadership in S.A. is aiding and abetting a friend because of his past standing in Southern Africa. It stinks and the time is near for the international community to step in. Zimbabwe is falling apart and if Mugabe wins again it will slip into war and civil unrest.
I can't even write the number that represents the percentage of inflation.

Australia has said we need to do something and I hope our Prime Minister can affect some sort of international response.
Woof

On the day that Qantas announced the removal of some domestic flights [Due to rising oil prices], Kenneth Davidson in his article in The Age.

' Fuel price debate ignores real issue' concludes by saying

"We are entering the era of global peak oil. Together with global warming and water shortages,

it will demand statesmanship not in evidence in the present political debate."

He is spot on with this observation. We are entering a new era of uncertain times. Many things we took for granted over the last few decades have come into sharp focus.

The disturbing thing, is that, where as we have become more and more reliant upon the private sector to take over the ownership and running of our utilities. We should really be looking to government leadership to tackle the major problems that present themselve

Economists and planners seem to think that private industry is best suited to running our essential industries, based on the supply demand, profit loss, free enterprise is best.

I would like to propose a counter argument. That is that in a time of major change and the possibility of social implications due to those changes we need governments who are prepared to take control of the decisions. So that a national and ultimately a global response can be coordinated. National and local governments will be able to coordinate infrastructure changes so as to minimise the social disruption. It is no good thinking that market forces will get us out of this Carbon related problem. They can and must play their part. But we need a national effort, a global effort. Just like in WWII when governments seconded ships and planes to help in the war effort. Governments today should utilize private industry to help in the massive task of cleaning up the atmosphere, sorting out global warming and water shortages. Not by using the existing relations

In good times, times of plenty, we happily sold off our commonwealth. Now the time has come to harness what we have left of that wealth of infrastructure and with statesmanlike leadership, utilize all areas of our society to transform ourselves from a carbon polluting society, to a green, reusable, sustainable one. Maybe in a couple of decades we will once again be in a position to offer the private sector a slice of our commonwealth to profit from. But by then it will be, wind power and solar panels, not coal fired powered plants

Oil Gas call it what you like

Having just bought a new/secondhand car, which I hope will use less fuel than our existing large Ford. I have been thinking about Petrol. Here in Australia the price has gone to $1.60 plus per litre. A lot less than some places probably more than others. What ever, it is becoming a real concern of most motorists with the cost at least doubling in the last year. Now we have the added worry about how much we have left.
Here in Aus. we have been governed for the last 11 years by a political party that was in denial about energy and carbon, along with many other denials too. What that has meant, is that we haven't been making alternative plans for a post oil world. Unlike the article I have cut and pasted below most of us wont have the privilege to go carve ourselves out a farm in the hills and live off the land. We have to find collective solutions that do not include oil.
Recently a state politician of the labor conviction a minister no less. Argued in cabinet that offering subsidies for solar power should be cut, because it would make electricity distribution to the no solar assisted homes more expensive. And he won his case.
If governments hadn't sold off the utility suppliers, in the name of competition is a better way to supply cheaper services. The government could of taken some control over supply and costs and still provided that subsidy.
These important decisions that are becoming increasingly pressing and urgent to resolve, have been hijacked by economists and experts, who are hung up on profits and incentives. Despite the blatantly obvious changing world around them and a need at least during this time of change. [From carbon based energy. to renewable] to have government intervention to maintain supply and develop alternatives. Then if we are again in a period of stability and have a guaranteed energy supply we once again can contemplate some sort of deregulation.
So have a read below how some of the better off are going to set themselves up for the future. I'm thinking about driving my fuel efficient car.
Woof.

Samantha Gross, Buskirk, New York
May 27, 2008

A few years ago, Kathleen Breault was just another suburban grandma, driving countless hours every week, stopping for lunch at McDonald's, buying clothes at the mall, watching TV in the evenings.

That was before Breault heard an author talk about the bleak future of the world's oil supply. Now, she is preparing for the world as we know it to disappear.

Breault cut her driving time in half. She switched to a diet of locally grown foods near her upstate New York home and lost 32 kilograms. She sliced up her credit cards, banished her television and swore off plane travel. She began relying on a wood-burning stove.

"I was panic-stricken," the 50-year-old recalled, her voice shaking.

"Devastated. Depressed. Afraid. Vulnerable. Weak. Alone. Just terrible."

Convinced the planet's oil supply is dwindling and the world's economies are heading for a crash, some people around the country are moving onto homesteads, learning to live off their land, conserving fuel and, in some cases, stocking up on guns they expect to use to defend themselves and their supplies from desperate crowds of people who did not prepare.

The exact number of people taking such steps is impossible to determine, but anecdotal evidence suggests that the movement has been gaining momentum in the last few years.

These energy survivalists are not leading some sort of green revolution meant to save the planet. Many of them believe it is too late for that, seeing signs in soaring fuel and food prices and a faltering US economy, and are largely focused on saving themselves.

Some are doing it quietly, giving few details of their preparations - afraid that revealing such information as the location of their supplies will endanger themselves and their loved ones.

They envision a future in which America's cities will be filled with hungry, desperate refugees forced to go looking for food, shelter and water.

"There's going to be things that happen when people can't get things that they need for themselves and their families," said Lynn-Marie, who believes cities could see a rise in violence as early as 2012.

Lynn-Marie asked to be identified by her first name to protect her homestead in rural western Idaho. Many of these survivalists declined to comment for similar reasons.

These survivalists believe in "peak oil," the idea that world oil production is set to hit a high point and then decline. Scientists who support idea say the amount of oil produced in the world each year has already or will soon begin a downward slide, even amid increased demand.

But many scientists say such a scenario will be avoided as other sources of energy come in to fill the void.

On the PeakOil.com web site, where upward of 800 people gathered on recent evenings, believers engage in a debate about what kind of world awaits.

Some members argue there will be no financial crash, but a slow slide into harder times. Some believe the federal government will respond to the loss of energy security with a clampdown on personal freedoms. Others simply don't trust that the government can maintain basic services in the face of an energy crisis.

The powers that be, they've determined, will be largely powerless to stop what is to come.

Determined to guard themselves from potentially harsh times ahead, Lynn-Marie and her husband have already planted an orchard of about 40 trees and built a greenhouse on their three hectares. They have built their own irrigation system. They've begun to raise chickens and pigs, and they've learned to slaughter them.

The couple have got rid of their TV and instead have been reading dusty old books published in their grandparents' era, books that explain the simpler lifestyle they are trying to revive. Lynn-Marie has been teaching herself how to make soap.

Her husband, concerned about one day being unable to get medications, has been training to become a herbalist.

By 2012, they expect to power their property with solar panels, and produce their own meat, milk and vegetables. When things start to fall apart, they expect their children and grandchildren will come back home and help them work the land.

She envisions a day when the family may have to decide whether to turn needy people away from their door.

"People will be unprepared," she said. "And we can imagine marauding hordes."

So can Peter Laskowski. Living in a woodsy area outside of Montpelier, Vermont, the 57-year-old retiree has become the local constable and a deputy sheriff for his county, as well as an emergency medical technician.

"I decided there was nothing like getting the training myself to deal with insurrections, if that's a possibility," said the former executive recruiter.

Laskowski is taking steps similar to environmentalists: conserving fuel, consuming less, studying global warming, and relying on local produce and craftsmen. Laskowski is powering his home with solar panels and is raising fish, geese, ducks and sheep. He has planted apple and pear trees and is growing lettuce, spinach and corn.

Whenever possible, he uses his bicycle to get into town.

Whenever possible, he uses his bicycle to get into town.

"I remember the oil crisis in '73; I remember waiting in line for gas," Laskowski said. "If there is a disruption in the oil supply it will be very quickly elevated into a disaster."

Breault said she hopes to someday band together with her neighbours to form a self-sufficient community. Women will always be having babies, she notes, and she imagines her skills as a midwife will always be in demand.

For now, she is readying for the more immediate work ahead: There's a root cellar to dig, fruit trees and vegetable plots to plant. She has put a bicycle on layaway, and soon she'll be able to bike to visit her grandkids even if there is no oil at the pump.

Whatever the shape of things yet to come, she said, she's done what she can to prepare.Her husband, concerned about one day being unable to get medications, has been training to become a herbalist.

By 2012, they expect to power their property with solar panels, and produce their own meat, milk and vegetables. When things start to fall apart, they expect their children and grandchildren will come back home and help them work the land.

She envisions a day when the family may have to decide whether to turn needy people away from their door.

"People will be unprepared," she said. "And we can imagine marauding hordes."

So can Peter Laskowski. Living in a woodsy area outside of Montpelier, Vermont, the 57-year-old retiree has become the local constable and a deputy sheriff for his county, as well as an emergency medical technician.

"I decided there was nothing like getting the training myself to deal with insurrections, if that's a possibility," said the former executive recruiter.

Laskowski is taking steps similar to environmentalists: conserving fuel, consuming less, studying global warming, and relying on local produce and craftsmen. Laskowski is powering his home with solar panels and is raising fish, geese, ducks and sheep. He has planted apple and pear trees and is growing lettuce, spinach and corn.

Whenever possible, he uses his bicycle to get into town.

"I remember the oil crisis in '73; I remember waiting in line for gas," Laskowski said. "If there is a disruption in the oil supply it will be very quickly elevated into a disaster."

Breault said she hopes to someday band together with her neighbours to form a self-sufficient community. Women will always be having babies, she notes, and she imagines her skills as a midwife will always be in demand.

For now, she is readying for the more immediate work ahead: There's a root cellar to dig, fruit trees and vegetable plots to plant. She has put a bicycle on layaway, and soon she'll be able to bike to visit her grandkids even if there is no oil at the pump.

Whatever the shape of things yet to come, she said, she's done what she can to prepare.

AP

Articles worth a read.

Here is an email I sent to Informniac

Sometimes it is better to show how others see your world they can bring a different perspective.

Dear MJ
I read this ARTICLE in our city paper The Age. It is about the changing nature of Melbourne and how success as a city can affect your standard of living. I have another one HERE about the dumbing down of the debate around the election in America. The writer is a very clear and impressive journalist. We unfortunately are continually being sold a pup in these so called democracies we live in.
Woof