At What Cost?

Now that lawn mowing season rears it's ugly head again I am reminded once more of why I started down the path of sustainability and began this blog so many years ago.

Indeed as many of you may know, and as peculiar as it may seem, I rediscovered prepping because I became an anti-Feminist or more to the point a Men's Rights Activist. I think many of us who are children of the cold war era had a bit of survival-ism imprinted into our psyche at a young age but the downfall of the "Evil Empire" placed a number of us into a time of blissful sleep for a few years. It really seemed there was nothing much to get concerned about there for a while, the enemy of our youth was defeated and we didn't have to do more than train for war to make it happen.

What we didn't see at first, and many still don't see today, is that we created a monster. Not only a monster military but the entire big government and big industry that went along with it. The monster must continue to be fed and that eventually lead us down the path we find ourselves on now. Out of control spending, out of control PCness, out of control government, out of control immigration etc. All instituted to feed the monster we created.

Yep we did it. I know it seemed like a good idea at the time. Hell many fellow bloggers I read today who have similar opinions about things, can shake some of the old ideas but cannot resist the blind faith they have in others that were imprinted during those years. Even though I was there and I know we not only enabled  but helped it willingly, there always remained a final piece to the puzzle that actually allowed us the opportunity. Simply put it was oil.

Only cheap energy in the form of oil had the power to allow us to produce the madness we see today. Without it no one would have had the resources or time to even attempt the mess we find ourselves dealing with. The larger the organization the more drunk it is with the power oil has given them.

Why do I bring this up today? Because the age of cheap energy is coming to an end and we must prepare for it. The brushfires we see burning are little more than sparks shot up as the energy declines. Have you noticed everything these days from the Bundy ranch standoff, to the Ukraine has energy attached to it in some way? Every issue boils down to energy.

While some will point to the added barrels of oil we get from fracking or some other alternative method as a sign technology is dealing with the problem. While ignoring the loss of margins in big oil as they continue to produce the high dollar oil from these fields. Others will claim the US is a net exporter and ignore where the oil originally came from before it was refined and exported. I on the other hand would point you to a much more direct and simple form of understanding.

The price we pay at the pump.

Has it gone down any significant amount since Fracking began in earnest? Not that I have noticed. Has the overall price per barrel of oil fluctuated much from it's current price? Again not that I have seen in over a year now. Oil has reached it's highest margin once again if it goes up in value decline begins again but as long as it stays at the current price Big Oil companies are losing overall margins.

It looks to me like a new cross is about to happen soon because one or the other is going to have to give either the price per barrel or the loss of margin cash.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!