Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal decline.  This concept has been a concern for some scientists, politicians and economists for a while now, mainly because of the vast implications it may have on the world economy and society at large.  According to a National Geographic report, the world may have already passed their peak in oil production (although individual countries may have a decade or so).  A 2010 American military report suggested that for the United States,  ”By 2012, surplus oil production capacity could entirely disappear, and as early as 2015, the shortfall in output could reach nearly 10 million barrels per day.”  Of course, this is speculative, as there maybe other sources of oil that have yet to be discovered.  What is obvious though, is that there will be a fundamental shift in our economy and culture should oil production decline, without a viable energy source to replace it.  American geophysicist and mathematician M. King Hubbert explained:

The third curve (on the left) is simply the mathematical curve for exponential growth. No physical quantity can follow this curve for more than a brief period of time. However, a sum of money, being of a nonphysical nature and growing according to the rules of compound interest at a fixed interest rate, can follow that curve indefinitely…Our principle constraints are cultural…we have evolved a culture so heavily dependent upon the continuance of exponential growth for its stability that it is incapable of reckoning with problems of non-growth…it behooves us…to begin a serious examination of the…cultural adjustments necessary…before unmanageable crises arise…

The bleakest scenarios project that oil will run out in the next few decades, all the while demand for energy, not to mention essential commodities, such as food, rises.  As a result, industry will be disrupted, resulting in a total economic collapse with implications of massive proportions.  In the 2008 book, Wealth, War and Wisdom, the American economist Barton Biggs hints at “the possibility of a breakdown of the civilized infrastructure,” and recommends that people must learn to be self-sufficient.

On the one hand, the rapid decline of society will be uncomfortable for many people who happen to be alive at that time.  They will see the institutions that they have become accustomed to disintegrate while their comfortable lifestyles rapidly change to adapt to a life of scarcity.  Many people will lament the rapid change of cultures, because the activities that they previously engaged in (such as sitting in front of the television for hours on end), will no longer be available to them.  In combination with a probable economic collapse, the days when sloth and decadence were easily affordable will be over.

With the rapid change in living conditions, other effects will rapidly follow.  Some of these are already occurring in many Western countries, not as a result of peak oil, but as a result of poor policy in other areas.  The emergence of a scarcity economy will thus only make such problems worse.  The three main effects of such a rapid change are:

• Depopulation: In many countries, the birth rate is already below replacement. In particular, Whites (~1 billion) have showed a severe population decline, while East Asian (~1 billion) growth has slowed and is expected to decline in the next few decades. With a decline in available resources and energy, it will be more difficult to obtain essentials for living. Since many people in industrialized nations now live in cities, they will not adapt to the new conditions. Many will not survive.
• Despecialization: One of the most characteristic features of complex civilizations (and in many cases the yardstick to measure complexity) is a high level of job specialization. Such people, may not adapt well to life in a post-oil economy. In the past, the social institutions supporting such specialization are removed and people must become more generalized in their work and daily habits.
• Decentralization: With more people having to abandon city life, as well as fewer people able to maintain the once-bustling techno-industrial complex, there will be a fundamental shift from urban centers to agricultural centers. Moreover, with communication being more difficult over long distances, the Federal government will not be able to maintain order as well as under an oil-rich economy. Geographically speaking, communities become more parochial or isolated. For example, following the collapse of the Mayan civilization many Maya returned to their traditional hamlets, moving away from the large cities that had been the centers of the empire.

These effects are not necessarily bad. The fact that in many industrialized nations, pollution is a result of use of oil in industry, may mean that the effects of environmental damage may be curtailed for a short while. Moreover, the rise of organic regional and local governments may mean that personal freedoms and local concerns can be attended to better, and inability of some world powers to wage wars of occupation will be welcome news for many around the globe.  Permaculture, particularly as expressed in the work of Australian David Holmgren, and others, sees peak oil as holding tremendous potential for positive change, assuming countries act with foresight. The rebuilding of local food networks, energy production, and the general implementation of ‘energy descent culture’ are argued to be ethical responses to the acknowledgment of finite fossil resources.  Of course, the direction under which industrialized societies develop in a post-peak oil world depends inherently on reforming the culture and mentality of the present era.  If these nations maintain a “quantity-over-quality” mentality, then things will be much more difficult.  It is only the failure to change our mentality – insisting on things like egalitarianism, secularism, liberalism, and massive immigration – which will lead to our downfall.

In other words, the breakdown of the techno-industrial system need not be as painful as many people think.  In the future, if man wishes to survive, they must not only embrace a spirit of self reliance, but also recover the values which have been destroyed over five centuries of the “modern” era. In fact, people have much to gain in a cultural sense, because decadence in a such a society will become prohibitively costly. For instance it will no longer be possible to build golf courses, classy hotels, and holiday resorts for the masses to aimlessly spend their money away. Perhaps equally hard to maintain will be a systems of finance capital and globalist media, because they inherently depend on a surplus of goods, which will not be available if the conditions change.

Despite the scaremongering that peak oil might bring about a “Dark Age,” those who are prepared need not fear.  Yes, it will be difficult to adjust to a world without an abundant oil supply, but eventually the world will need to come to a new equilibrium.  The key point to remember is that, this new equilibrium will be determined by way things play out in the coming few decades.  The Dark Ages between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance, after the turbulent first few decades, were in fact a period of social and religious harmony, and with some planning, foresight, and intelligence, a post-peak oil Western world can be just the same, and we will be able to welcome whatever situation comes our way with open arms.

The protests on Wall Street seem to have gained a great deal of momentum, not only in New York, but in other American cities as well, and are continuing to spread throughout the country.  Many of these protesters are fed up with the growing corruption of the government, corporations, and banks, and others seem to be angered by the results of two simultaneous wars and its consequences.  While some of these are legitimate concerns, some of the other demands of the protesters might be an indication of everything which is wrong, not only with the “Occupy Wall Street” demonstration, but indeed with the mentality of society as a whole.

It certainly can’t be denied that there are many problems with the condition of the American society, and that the breakup of the United States might be a real possibility in the future.  Moreover, we are not denying that it is wrong for corporations to abuse and demean the middle and working classes, nor that the illegal wars undertaken by the globalist elite are correct in their ideology.  The real issue, though, should not be viewed in a manner which separates these materialistic questions from the social ones.  Indeed, the social issues may ultimately turn out to be more dangerous than the economic ones, because the dominance of finance-capital is more of a symptom of a decayed society than a diagnosis.  This is to say, that ultimately the problems all derive from a fundamental breakdown of Weltanschauung (world view), which the theologian James W. Sire defined as “a fundamental orientation of the heart”.

The modernist Weltanschauung can be viewed manifesting itself today as being comprised of two related and complimentary parts: neoliberal globalism or democratic liberalism.  Both of these are secular and materialistic (i.e. inherently contrary to the Traditionalist view), and are based on inaccurate and unrealistic ideas.  For instance, both demand an egalitarian worldview at any cost, the former through capitalism and commerce, and the latter through redistribution of wealth gained by the middle and working classes towards the lower classes (i.e., the lumpenproletariat).  Both of these look to the secular state and uphold the concept of civic nationalism based on democracy.

In the case of America, the contradiction runs deeper at every level.  The United States is a fundamentally “liberal” country.  Its founders were Masonic Deists who rebelled against a legitimate monarch for the sole purpose of creating a Republic.  Since the purpose of conservatives is to preserve tradition, in America, the job of conservatives is to preserve liberalism.  Thus traditionalism in an American context is shown to be logically impossible.  For this reason, Evola had even gone so far as to term America the “Far West” in the seminal essay “Civiltà Americana“.

Today, the economic system is breaking down, and undoubtedly many people are rightly angered.  However, the majority wish to continue believing that democracy and liberalism are the obvious solution, while, in reality, it should have been obvious that the supposed “values” of democracy, liberalism, and so-called “freedom” have ultimately failed in their stated purpose of building an utopian society.  The fact that the protesters still cling to those ideas a most stubborn fashion is rather obvious from their list of silly and impetuous demands, whether it is “guaranteed living wage income regardless of employment,” or “open borders migration,” to name a few.  Instead of taking an honest look at the problems of American society, many of the Wall Street protesters are instead demanding a mad rush further down the road of modernity and globalism.  René Guénon goes so far in “The Crisis of the Modern World” to make such an observation: he rightly tells us that the West has abandoned Tradition, contemplation, and metaphysics, creating the situation we are in today.

For now we must address the miserable state of existence that the West has reached.  An honest and introspective look at the condition of world shows us that to solve the problems of the so-called “Far West” means a far-reaching solution which mobilizes the revolutionary masses not towards a progressive idealism, as the Wall Street protesters are wont to suggest, but rather towards an organic Tradition.  For those in the West, the starting point for this is none other than the Catholic Church and its values.

For all their posturing, the Wall Street protesters are in reality not opposed to the destruction of sovereign cultures or spiritual, intellectual and religious doctrines; they are concerned with obtaining more and more individual rights at any cost.  Were we to ask a majority of these protesters their opinion on these things, they would hardly be different from the viewpoint which the elites have trained the majority to believe.  They are hardly differentiable from their peers, and ultimately will only help the elites achieve their ultimate goals.

Americans, by most standards, are considered rather well off in comparison to the rest of the world.  The standard of living in the United States is one of the top 20 in the world by the standards economists use as measures of standards of living.  In the Human Development Index, which measures life expectancy, literacy, education and standards of living, America ranks fourth in the world, behind Norway, Australia, and New Zealand.  Yet for all the benefits that an American life should theoretically bring, there are significant issues with life in America.  America has more poor, more crime and more ghettos than ever; while its middle and working class feel increasingly alienated and rejected by the government.

Imagine  – if you will – the Fosters, an ordinary suburban family in America: Bill is 33, an laid-off office worker who has spent a lifetime studying hard and working to succeed in life. He and his wife spend hours at the office, day after day, and reside in a modest home.  They pay a great deal in taxes and must work to pay off their mortgage and college loans.  They want to start a family, but know that it is not financially feasible with the way the job market is.  They are hoping, in a couple of years, to be able to afford one child, but they know that it will be extremely expensive sending their child to a private school. They feel it wouldn’t be right to send their child to a public school with under-qualified teachers and filled with drugs and crime.

Now imagine Latisha; she’s just moved in a few blocks away from the Fosters, into a three-bedroom townhouse in a gated community, that the Fosters would have loved to live in, could they have afforded it.  Not only that, she receives food stamps, and welfare payments. She knows that her assistance will increase upon the birth of her second baby.  Thanks to her EBT card, she can now eat steak and lobster for dinner on a regular basis.   Her family can recieve free medical care at a government-subsidized clinic, and when her children are ready to attend college – assuming that they graduate high school – they will be eligible for certain scholarships and affirmative action benefits.  She has no incentive to work, knowing that the government will continue to assist her financially no matter what.

Latisha’s case is not an isolated one.  “Official” government statistics place the rate of black welfare recipients at nearly 40%, despite the fact that blacks only comprise 12.6% of the total population.  72% of all black children are born out of wedlock, while the black and Latino birth rate is significantly higher than that of whites; accurate numbers are difficult to arrive at due to the number of out-of-wedlock births.  In what must be painfully obvious to almost any reasonable person, we are quite simply headed for a Malthusian catastrophe: the high birthrate of those receiving welfare outstrips our ability to finance meaningful programs to help the poor.  The effect can only be mirrored by the relationship between a parasite and its host.

Today, many municipalities pay sales taxes in excess of 8%, with sales taxes in California reaching 9.75%.  Federal and state income taxes amount to 30% for middle-class families, while the extremely wealthy are exempt from taxes.  At the same time, people like Latisha are becoming ever more common in major urban areas, despite the fact that state, local, and federal government spending on welfare increases to skyrocket.  In other words, the American middle class is coming under increasingly greater burdens to support those like Latisha.  If Americans knew, I am sure they would be furious that while much of the industrious working and middle classes are eating potatoes, pork and beans, and ramen noodles, their tax dollars are going to fund the extravagant lifestyles of those who refuse to work.  And since Americans are so fed up with the situation, we might ask ourselves in the tradition of Lucius Cassius, cui bono?

In the short run, Latisha wins.  Her food stamps, free rent, and government subsidies give her a relatively unfettered life of luxury,  free from the drudgery of everyday work, which, though many people would be loathe to say, is undeserved.  There is, though, another side to the story, since if the real intent was to help the poor, then there would be no need for such excesses.

The Section 8 housing program  authorizes the payment of rental housing assistance to private landlords on behalf of approximately 3.1 million low-income households.  The program pays landlords for two years of the rent cost when a tenant begins the lease agreement.  The economic theory of  investments and time value of money dictates this is a favorable advantage as the funds can be invested elsewhere at a higher return.   Many of the real-estate developers also receive tax breaks to build these houses, and a portion of them make significant profits, so they recieve exemptions from paying income tax.

The reality for the people who must live here is not as pleasant, however.  As the housing bubble burst and home prices plummeted, and investors became desperate to make returns, they encouraged low-income to move from urban areas to suburban areas under section 8.  While this was supposed to help the poorer individuals, it had the opposite effect.  Lancaster, California, which retains 10 percent of all Section 8 contracts nationwide, the highest concentration of any city., has seen a spike in crime, while ethnic tensions have flared up.  Similarly, in North Memphis, Tennessee, increasing levels of crime were also linked to a Section 8 resident influx.

At the same time, the presence of government programs for food discourages many of the poor from working or ever attaining self-sufficiency.  It does, however, keep any politician who can promise to keep handing out the government dole out to those who refuse to work in power, which perpetuates a vicious cycle that keeps such politicians in power at the cost of ever-increasing government programs at an ever increasing cost.  Thus the real beneficiaries in the long run are the elites, who wish to keep people like Latisha at bay with bread and circuses.  The greatest victims are the working and middle classes, who have been sacrificed on the alter of political correctness.

Rich poor people

It must be painfully obvious to almost everyone who is reasonable by now: the high welfare-receiving birthrate outstrips our ability to finance meaningful programs to help the poor, and as the middle class becomes more and more aware of this, there will undoubtedly be more friction between various factions of American society.  Just as a true parasite which kills its host, the underclass of “lumpenproletariat” who refuse jobs and consume resources shall lead to the destruction of America.  Just as Rome succumbed to its own greatness and eventually imploded under the weight of economic deterioration resulting from excessive taxation, inflation, and government doles, America is just as likely to follow this path.

While an end to unrestricted welfare for parasitic individuals is not the be-all and end-all of solutions regarding the health of Western society, it is still a step in the correct direction.  The famous Finnish ecologist once made the following analogy:

What to do, when a ship carrying a hundred passengers suddenly capsizes and only one lifeboat? When the lifeboat is full, those who hate life will try to load it with more people and sink the lot. Those who love and respect life will take the ship’s axe and sever the extra hands that cling to the sides of the boat.

This is an apt analogy; it is time to sever the hands of those who threaten to sink the boat by weighing it down with parasitic behavior.

As the Western welfare states crumble beneath the weight of years of unsound policy, inflation, and a byzantine tax system, gold has become an increasingly attractive way of representing wealth.  The Telegraph reported that gold has reached an all-time high around the world, and that emerging powers such as China and India have abandoned the American dollar and have increased their gold reserves.  In Indonesia, where gold prices recently closed at a price of some 13.6 million rupiahs per ounce, some local governments have recently allowed private mints to issue gold bullion as legal tender to be used as a transaction medium.  And last year, Vietnam, also saw an increase in gold trading, as the Vietnamese dong continued to fall.

It will probably be not surprising to the readers of this site that gold is money.  As a rare commodity, it is not subject to inflation.  Long before fiat currency and inflation had been devised, it was almost universally favored as a medium of exchange.  Fiat currency as a medium of exchange has lasted barely half a century, and is already crumbling.  In contrast, in societies which were centered on order, the aristocracy as well as the nobility measured wealth in gold, and not in fluctuating money.  The Islamic historian and theologian ibn Khaldun warned as early as the 14th century that civilization collapses with government transgressing upon property rights.  Fiat currency does this by being continually debased.

The rise of fiat currency is inherently linked to the principle of degeneration, and in particular the degeneration of cities.  In general, the city, in its Traditional context is the hub of power and regal bearings.  The city was hierarchically arranged under the leadership of the King, and under him, the leaders of the tribes, clans, and families.  The rise of fiat currencies in essence created a new class of individuals, and the rise of a fiat economy created a situation in which otherwise insignificant and parasitic individuals could become wealthy.  Illegitimate wealth, gained through loaning fiat currency to governments and thus cemented power over royalty.  The Rothschild family in Europe rose to prominence in this way.

Such a transfer of power away from the traditional owners of the city and its native peoples to a parasitic banking class represented the ultimate decline of nations.  The nation lost its traditional hierarchy, and was now ruled by an alliance of financiers and corrupt politicians.  Evola is quite explicit in describing such a phenomenon:

Aristocracy gave way to plutocracy, the warrior, to the banker and industrialist…Trafficking with money and charging interest, activities previouly confined to the ghettos, invaded the new civilisation. According to the expression of W. Sombart, in the promised land of Protestant puritanism, Americanism, capitalism, and the “destilled Jewish spirit” coexist. It is natural that given these congenial premises, the modern representatives of secularized Judaism saw the ways to achieve world domination open up before them.

Today, that system is failing.   American, British, and European banks are now failing forcing their governments to frantically bail them out by printing more money, thus further inflating the world economy by increasing the volume of paper in circulation. Such a system will not be sustained any longer, and the entire system based on fiat money and usury is thus a fragile house of cards which has no choice but to be replaced with true and interest free assets which represent tangible worth.