RITA May Be the Coup de Grace for the Economy and Many of Us

[FloridaPat]

Now we can panic. And 9 more weeks of hurricane season. Maybe God really is trying to say something.

" September 21st, 2005 1530 PST (FTW) – As I pack my bags to head to Washington for Congressional Black Caucus hearings on the September 11th attacks (to be conducted this Friday and Saturday) my inbox is being progressively flooded with emails from inside sources in the energy industry about what Hurricane Rita is now likely to accomplish – the near-complete destruction of an already teetering US economy.

Fully 30% of all US refining capacity is in the target zone. Perhaps most importantly, almost every refinery capable of producing diesel fuel is in immediate danger. This promises (especially in the wake of Katrina) a devastating and irreplaceable shortage of the diesel fuel needed to power America’s harvest of grain and food crops this month and next. Without diesel fuel to power the harvesters and combines, crops may be left to rot in the ground presenting a double whammy: food shortages (with prices that may treble or quadruple) and export defaults negatively impacting the financial markets and trade deficit.

Even before Rita strikes, fully 30% of all domestic natural gas production is shut in. The US cannot import natural gas from overseas like it can both crude and refined products. Repair work on infrastructure damaged by Katrina has been halted as crews have been evacuated. The remaining half of Gulf energy production undamaged by Katrina is directly in Rita’s crosshairs. Natural gas prices are up over 110% and home heating oil futures are up almost 70% before Rita even gets here. Since Katrina, US domestic oil production is down one million barrels per day (from 5Mbpd to 4 Mbpd). We were producing 9 Mbpd less than a decade ago. "

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/092105_rita_storm.shtml

[Jack_Dawson]

1. I'm filling up in 5 minutes

$200B here, $300B there...but let's not raise taxes. And let's suspend fair wage laws.

How did this fuckwit get "elected" again?

I might cash out of the stock market tomorrow. Time to go Unabomber.

[RPM]

50. i am assuming that you will not be adopting the bombing lifestyle, right?

only the survivalist living.... right?

[benburch]

2. You are correct.

This is the beginning of the end of the USA.

[Birthmark]

4. Nah, we're about halfway through.

The beginning of the end was the so-called Reagan Revolution. America has been on a downward spiral ever since.

[lectrobyte]

26. Yes, I've always thought Jimmy Carter losing to Reagan in '80

was a bigger turning point than we have yet to realize.

[Birthmark]

33. I began realizing it in the mid to late-80s

That's when it became obvious to me. The Republicans began attacking Congress (Democratic at that time), the media, and the schools. Reagan, with Democratic help, began making it much easier to ship our jobs overseas. All of this made me think.

[expatriate]

40. I remember I cried that day.

I was twenty-one, and I knew then that Reagan being elected was going to be a terrible thing.

Boy, I wish I was wrong. I really, really do.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

58. I was in second grade...

We 'voted' too. I voted for Carter.

I was a smart little kid. :P

[laruemtt]

54. dark days 1980

first raygun is elected, then shortly thereafter john lennon killed 12/8, and a few days later, an old boyfriend killed himself. dark, dark days....

[CrispyQ]

63. That was the last election I voted in until 2004.

Yes, I'm one of the many who became disillusioned with our system & said 'fuck it' on the day Reagan was inaugurated & the hostages were released. I saw it for the political ploy it was & was disgusted that so many of my fellow American's did not. I was also proud that Carter was addressing our head-in-the-sand energy policies.

I now regret my lack of attention, diligence & my total stupidity in believing that my one lone voice wouldn't make a difference.

[marmar]

7. A very disturbing assessment...

but I more and more get the feeling that it's true, that it's meant to be. No nation dominates the world forever.

[Psephos]

8. Gimme a break

If anything, challenges such as those posed by hurricanes makes us stronger, and increase our unity. Unity's been sorely lacking lately, and in my view, it's precisely because we don't face enough challenges or hear enough calls for sacrifice.

It's human nature to only value the things we have to work hard for, or sacrifice for.

Peace.

[benburch]

12. Believe what you want.

I am usually right. And I am usually not believed.

[Cassandra]

15. That's my line.

I don't call myself Cassandra for nothing, you know.
That said, I agree with you, which may make us the only two here who are so pessimistic.

[expatriate]

41. Benburch, Cassandra - make it three.

I have predicted this for - well, more than twenty years.

Now that I live outside the country, I see even more clearly the absolute disaster that America is merrily tripping into. Massive national and personal debt, complete dependence on automobiles, people living two plus hours from their workplace and considering that a reasonable commute, education a joke, utter dependence on passive entertainment, so many people who no longer know how to cook or have any living skills beyond TV watching and punching a button on the microwave to heat up the prepackaged crap, so many people with chronic health problems - yeah, it's floating on a sea of shit, and it won't take much to tip the boat over. One natural disaster of the scale of Katrina was enough to really make it wobble, and we have yet to see the end of that by a long shot - but a one two punch, the second one in the oil breadbasket of the nation?

I hope I'm wrong. I hope people will be able to yell "Ha ha Herman" at me and talk about what a gloomy old fink I am. I would be so glad to say I was wrong!

I've often thought it would be the New Madrid fault exploding that would do it. Or something that would knock out all the power. But a good whack in the oil refineries is going to really make things bad. Really bad.

I hope I'm wrong.

[Cassandra]

49. Efficiency is one of the things I love about NYC

The boiler in my building serves 16 apartments. Any truck full of food that comes into the city serves hundreds of people. I don't own a car so I take buses or subways, with only an occasional cab (and they're driving around anyway). I moved my office back home. I cook for myself most of the time and try to avoid processed food as much as possible.
I expect the already high price of food to go up and transportation as well. I'll see what else changes.

[MN ChimpH8R]

66. I am afraid that you are right.

Reagan was the beginning of the end - I felt it in my bones at the time. The people who have run this country for most of the last twenty-five years are interested in one thing an one thing only - wealth and the power it brings to themselves. Clinton represented a minor speed bump in taking complete control of the government, but the corporate interests continued to amass power and consolidate themselves, particularly after 1994's elections. They then installed Bush in 2000. The plutocracy envisions a totally feudal economic system: a few at the top and an impoverished, hopeless peasantry beneath.

Add Rita to the devastation caused by Katrina and the continual pouring of money down the morally bankrupt rathole of Iraq and endless tax cuts for the top 1% and there is only one possible scenario: complete economic meltdown within the next couple of years. The kleptocratic kakistocracy (read the top of the Repuke party and its corporate allies) will walk away with everything and the commoners will be, in effect, sold to the Chinese.

The end is near. There is nothing that can be done to stop it save outright violent revolution, which is incredibly unlikely. They have rigged elections, politics, the courts, the press, every possible thing that could be used against them in earlier days. Doom awaits. Run now.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. ok have you heard a call for shared sacrifice YET

I have not

[Psephos]

18. EXACTLY my point

It's time for one. When the US is truly threatened, we will hear one. History is most instructive on this point.

Peace.

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. RLOL

from Bush, yuo are kidding me right? You surely are.. sacrifice for him means more tax cuts and pork for the cronies...

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

I'll admit I have not laughed this hard in a while...

[Psephos]

25. Did I say Bush? Or did you just put that in there yourself?

Now you have me laughing. Riiiiiiigggggghhhhtt. I'm waiting on the edge of my chair for a call to sacrifice from that country club clown. The only thing we're going to hear from Bush is a call for more tax cuts.

Meanwhile, I stand by my earlier point that challenge and sacrifice are unifiers.

Peace.

[samsingh]

38. except the ones who sacrifice

will be Democrats, Liberals, Greens - the good guys. The repugs will stand back and take our sacrifices and consolidate their wealth and power. Unity for them means for us to help them and further enslave us.

[BiggJawn]

23. WHO are we gonna hear it from?

Bush???? Shit, he'll just declare another one of those fucking "National Day of Kissing Hank's Ass" again...

ME? YOU? I dunno about you, but the even the dog ignores me.

[lectrobyte]

24. I've not slept in like 42 hours, so I have to ask, who's Hank?

[BiggJawn]

28. Go to this link and learn about "Hank", and why you should kiss his ass

http://www.jhuger.com/kisshank.php

Hope you can get some sleep soon. After 42 hours, the Goldfish really starts saying profound things...

[Psephos]

34. Luv that link :-) LOL

[lectrobyte]

36. Too funny, thanks!

[Psephos]

27. LOL - don't feed Fido for a couple of days...he won't ignore you any more

Meanwhile, I'm ok with your suggestion for Me and You. This stuff doesn't come from above, it rises up from below.

Peace.

[BiggJawn]

30. I grok ya now...

And the dog pays attention, she just doesn't obey...

[BiggJawn]

22. I'll believe we have "unity"...

When there's a lot of formerly powerful people swinging in the breeze, like Il Duce and his Whore...

As long as we have "Survivor: Some Furrin Place" on the Glass Tit, it ain't gonna happen.

[expatriate]

42. The Glass Tit!

Oh, BiggJawn, that's the best name for it I've ever heard! I'm going to make a needlepoint of that, I swear!

[BiggJawn]

51. Don't thank me, thank Neal Postman....

I think he was the first to call the "Boob Toob" that in his book "Amusing Ourselves to Death".

That was a re-occuring theme in "Maxx Headroom: 20 Minutes Into the Future" also. No matter how miserable you life was, as long as you could watch Network 23 and have your ZikZak Snak-Paks, you didn't give a shit.

I still think that's why the series was killed. Too close to the TRUTH for people like Jack Welch and Ted Turner to handle....

I expect that Il Douche will eventually Nationailze Cable TV, because us Serfs will no longer be able to afford it, and his handlers are afraid of what might happen when we no longer have 8-15 hours a DAY of Drek to let flow into our eyes and numb us to the TRUE "Reality" of being poor, hungry, cold, and sending our young men someplace we never heard of to die in the "War Agin' Terra"...

I'm glad the phrase impressed you! :)

I'm expecting the "Hook up for Free! Watch for FREE!" flyer from Comcast in my mailbox any day, now...

[lectrobyte]

71. I think Harlan Ellison used to call it that in the 1970's from what I

remember... But I have to ask, if TV is the glass tit, then the internets are the glass what?

[Theres-a]

72. The looking glass

[AngryOldDem]

69. Don't think you understand

Our moral and societal fabric has been fraying for years. This double-punch of Katrina and Rita will most likely tear it apart. Like anything else, a society is also as strong as its weakest part, and the growing economic chasm we've been seeing for decades will lead to what BenBurch said could be our downfall. Too many people have been working too hard for too many years and don't have a whole lot to show for it. Just how much more sacrifice do you want them to make?

[CatBoreal]

3. Question....

Can the U.S. not import diesel and natural gas from Canada?

[FloridaPat]

11. Probably. We they and us need it now and during the winter. Canada

probably doesn't have enough to supply both. Then there's the truckers. There's our food supply even it the stuff makes it to market. Electric plants. If anything happens to that nuclear plant that will be the end of nuclear power plants. Plus, it could destroy the entire region and the Gulf.

[Dissenting_Prole]

56. Natural gas

By the way, natural gas isn't pumped into your home from Canada in real time. It has to be stored in reservoirs over the summer because the pipelines aren't large enough to handle the volume during the heating season.

[nradisic]

5. Unfortunate, but true...

If the Democrats really want to take back the House and maybe the Senate in 2006, we need everyone to get where it hurts...the wallet. Most lower and middle class Americans have already seen their incomes stagnate at best, fuel skyrocket, deficits skyrocket and now 2 massive and devastating hurricanes. I think we're in for a solid recession going into 2006 and beyond. It is unfortunate that we will all have to be dragged down in order for the remaining morons to finally realize how bad the GOP has been for this country.

[AX10]

6. I agree.

[Jack_Dawson]

9. Clark Rules

I miss him. He was the only person who would ever motivate me to call 200 random strangers in TN.

[Beam Me Up]

10. They won't realize how bad GOP has been for this country ever.

But if Rupert is right, this is going to be a NATIONAL DISASTER. This is way beyond partisan politics one side or the other. What is looming is a catastrophe of 'Mythic' proportions. New Orleans was only 'Biblical'.

[Virginian]

13. It is unfortunate

You said: "It is unfortunate that we will all have to be dragged down in order for the remaining morons to finally realize how bad the GOP has been for this country."

It would have been better if it only impacted those who voted for the idiot and left the rest of us alone.

[FloridaPat]

32. The hurricanes only hit the red states hard.

[Virginian]

39. Those states could be blue, now.

Has he pissed off enough voters in the gulf states that they will vote for a Dem next time?

The really red states like Idaho, Wyoming and Utah need something to help them see the truth about Bush. What would it take to turn those states blue? Would they still love him if they knew he had fallen off the wagon?

Are the Native Americans staying home on election day? It seems like a Dem might actually abide by treaties. Why aren't they out-voting the rich land owners? Are the Dem candidates in those states so Republican Lite that the voters can't tell the difference? What about the Clear Skies and Healthy Forests issues? What about Bushco allowing the dumping of spent nuclear fuel on tribal lands?

[FloridaPat]

44. There's talk that Yellowstone may get blown off the map by a gigantic

volcano. That might do it.

[Virginian]

57. I don't want another disaster.

I want Bush to do something that will turn the voters against him. I don't know what it would take. Maybe a picture of him snorting coke? Or him holding a press conference obviously fall-down drunk. I think he can turn off his base without anyone else getting hurt.

[demo dutch]

61. The Natl Enquirer has him dippin into the booze!

link
http://www.nationalenquirer.com/
Kind of funny but I am sure some believe what they write!

[raccoon]

59. Yes! Yes! nt

[tedoll78]

17. I've been saying that for a few years now.

My quasi-motto has been "bring-on the pain." And at times, it's exhausted my bank account (kinda like.. right now).

Payday is this weekend. I'm filling the pantry. Food's going to get VERY expensive very soon.

[Sparkman]

64. ONLY gov. regs can un-develope coastal zones and bolster levies. Industry

will ALWAYS come up with new developement ideas in "under" utilized disaster threat zones like earthquake faults, wet lands and hurricane coast lines. Oil storage, chemical plants and hi rise condominiums don't belong in areas that annual hurricanes bombard. But, as we all have heard from the Repukes and the Oil O'Crats, small government is best for Industries that thrive on government bailouts. And the gov. bails out plenty of corporate interests every day. need examples anyone?

[haydukelives]

16. You're right

We're screwed

[Thtwudbeme]

19. Could very well be Game, Set and Match.

The Giant Swindling Machine is very close to collapse.

Rice Ammo and a copy of "Iron Heel"...

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. Amon definintely ammo

and no I am not afraid of the unwashed masses, just the RWers who are seeing their world collapse, in the storm, no pun intended

[Rainscents]

29. This is very scary shit!

I'm afraid, lot of people will freez to death this winter.
:mad: :argh:

[FloridaPat]

31. Choices: food, heat, or medicine. Compassionate conservatism at

it's best. Again.

How to save SS: have everyone die.

[AngryOldDem]

68. That's the choice too many people already have to make...

...under the BEST of economic circumstances (relatively speaking, of course). I'm afraid that "...or your life" will have to be added to the list.

I work at a homeless shelter and I am scared shitless about what we're going to be seeing in just a matter of weeks. We are going to be overwhelmed with people who will not be able to cope with this economic disaster. This winter is going to be something straight out Dante's Inferno.

[Blue_In_AK]

35. In the face of all this...

I just don't get why ** won't roll back those tax cuts. What a loser.

[FloridaPat]

37. Money goes from the treasury to his rich friends. His rich friends

give him the money for elections and power plays. He has so few people proping him up now, that a tax raise might get rid of his real base - the rich. Although the rich would really have to hate the common person to stay with *, but considering the crap that's sold in this country, there are a lot of them.

[redacted]

43. Mike Ruppert is a leech. He makes money on preying on people's fears.

What he says often has a grain of truth, or has a truthful base -- but he always takes an over simplified view and sensationalizes and exaggerates to the point of virtual armageddon. He writes in this overly dramatic way, just to scare you more -- if his skewed and exaggerated facts were not enough. There are balanced ways of viewing these topics and he is certainly no where near balanced.

I've read some writing of his that actually have made me wonder if he enjoys frightening people, is pleasantly happy when disaster strikes because it proves some point.

He makes money by frightening people, remember that. That is really sick.

ps. He knows absolute SHIT about economics.

[Emit]

46. I read his book

"Crossing the Rubicon" and I read a lot of his articles from his web site. In all honesty, I don't know what to think about him, although I do agree with you: he scares the shit out of me!

His whole premise with all of his stuff comes from the perspective of peak oil, which, I have to admit, has been an interesting and plausible reason as to why Bush & Co. has plowed through our Democratic Republic like there is no tomorrow.

I always read him with great skepticism, however. I'm not ready to buy his take on things hook, line and sinker. But, in the back of my mind, I keep up with him just in case he's right.

Thanks for your opinion of him, though. I don't run into too many people who say one way or another what they think of him. I honestly don't know how credible he is and I would like for others to say whether they think he is or not.

[redacted]

47. Yeah I was once where you are. And then I had some friends get REAL

into him, and I started researching. And boy . . .

Now it's personal.

There is a basis in truth to much of what he says -- which I think is why he convinces people.

But the overly dramatic writing style was my first clue to his motives. I mean if you were simply interested in helping people and conveying information -- why would you be so hyperbolic?

The only reason to be so hyperbolic is to scare people into subscriptions to your website and tickets to your next engagement and buying your next book.

BTW, he also keeps some real tin foil hat types as "friends". Always a clue methinx.

[nadinbrzezinski]

48. Well the way I see it

and this is not due to rupert, the economy has been teetering on the edge for a while... and it is NOT doing gangbusters.

Using a model called history I can easily see this as another great depresion... remember the original article got to Miami in '27, well ahead of the 1929 crash and Miami did not recover until the 1950s

As to him in general I read his book, and most of what he has written has not come to pass... but Peak Oil he is right, it is coming, but he is not the only one saying that and there is plenty of info on it on the web anyway

A series of events like this, can really do a numbe on our encomy and anecdotally I paid 30% more for chicken today than a month ago

[bunny planet]

55. I feel the same way about Rupert, he purposely frightens people.

He does seem to have a friendship with Cynthia McKinney however, that's the only one I can't seem to figure out. She seems like a very straight foward, honest and hard working Congress person. Can't decide whether her working relationship with Ruppert gives him some credibility or takes some away from her. A lot of what he talks about seems plausible, it's just the fearmongering aspect of his communication that makes him seem opportunistic.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

73. delete

[gauguin57]

45. I can live on dried lentils; but OMG the heating oil and natural gas price

... I have friends with these heating sources, with decent jobs and pay, who are worried about how they'll pay their heating bills this winter! And Rita hasn't even hit yet.

Yipes. Just plain yipes.

[expatriate]

52. My retired and elderly mother has fuel oil heat.

She has been going through getting estimates to replace her ancient dinosaur of a furnace with a natural gas furnace - I just emailed her and told her to hold on until after Rita is done, and the damage is assessed. I had been trying to get her to consider a system of natural gas space heaters, but she's convinced the house would never sell without a "real furnace".

Now both the fuel oil furnace and the natural gas furnace are probably going to be horrifically expensive - and she lives in Troy, New York, so MUST have some kind of effective heat. It isn't a matter of just putting on a sweater and turning down the thermostat.

I don't know what to try to advise her to do. I can't see her using a wood stove, not even the ones that take the pellets. If fuel oil and natural gas go up, as I'm sure they will after Rita, I don't know what the hell she's going to do.

Last year her heating bill was over $3000. On a fixed income.

[demo dutch]

62. You can't continue to rely on oil or gas, prices will continue to

rise. Wood stove maybe her best option, and make her more self efficient.

[expatriate]

70. Coincidentally, she just emailed me

and is now considering a pellet stove. A traditional style wood stove would be out of the question, even if she had wood precut and delivered - she's not that steady on her feet, has had a history of falls, and the idea of her falling down on her way to the woodpile and lying in the snow ... well.

But she's been told about the pellet stoves, and I think that's something she could manage easily, so I'm going to start my propaganda campaign in that direction.

[LeftHander]

53. Farmers already have stocks of diesel to harvest

Having grown up in SOuth Dakota on a ranch/farm operation. By this time we already had taken our delivery of the diesel fuel needed to run the harvest of our wheat crops.

Farmer don't just drive the tractor to the gas station. They have large bulk fuel tanks and refueling tanks that are behind the cab in the pickup truck bed.

SO this idea of crops rotting in the field are unfounded. The harvest will happen. Consumers will see price spikes and shortages but industry and transportation will get priority....

[catmandu57]

65. Yes, the real problem will come next spring

when it's time to plant, we may see a big reduction in the amount of crops going in.

[demo dutch]

60. The worst is yet to come under the Bush reign!

I foresee domesday scenarios for 2006 and 2007.

[Silverhair]

67. It isn't the farmers that makes diesel critical, it's the truckers.

If you have it, a truck hauled it, and they burn diesel. Even if most of the shipping was by train, and they burn diesel, and then the item is put on a truck at the local yard for delivery. Again, burning diesel.

Stop the diesel, and USA internal commerce STOPS. That will hurt you long before a farm shortage of diesel hurts you.