But at the point you are eating a bushel of prunes every day and still aren’t pooping, you arguably need to stop eating them and start wondering what the hell is wrong inside . However, this otherwise-wonderful metaphor breaks down at this point because it isn’t up to you . Your shamans control how many “prunes” you’re required to eat, and their prescription now always reads “ More. ” Do you think this is a prescription for troubl e? One way or another, you’re eventually bound to return to times of sustainably tapping natural energy flows. “Growing Forever” makes sense only to human economists and cancer cells. As wise human Lamont Cole said, “Growth is the philosophy of the cancer cell and soon consumes the host.”
The Bottom Line: Debt allows us to continue to consume high levels of resources today. Until today becomes tomorrow.
“A Fuel” and “its Money!” are Soon Parted…
“My most striking conclusion is that, contrary to accepted wisdom, the economy is not primarily a matter of money at all. Rather, our economic system is fundamentally a function of surplus energy… The real nature of money is that it forms a claim on the products of the real economy.” Tim Morgan
Summary: Money is a claim on future resources and production, which are both functions of net energy availability. For a very long time, throughout the world, there have been plenty of potential business
opportunities, open land, untapped resources, and new ideas. It could be argued (from the “economics” point of view, in which rapidly using up resources is a
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