Yet we continue to believe we’re superior to them in every way. We’re not.

The Romans were pretty smart, but their empire fell. It fell for a number of reasons, foreign conflict, too much relying on outsiders for the basic requirements of life, etc. Lots of mistakes brought down the Roman Empire, and we’re repeating many of them today. Yet we believe we’re smarter than they were.

We have people in our society and in our communities (maybe in our own families) who believe that since real estate has always gone up in value (it hasn’t, by the way) that it always will (it won’t). When you ask those people about how sustainable a system is that has housing prices going up faster than income is, they kind of break down and admit they’re hoping for their leaders to supply an answer to that. Those leaders are working on an answer, not just the kind of answer the ruled people are looking for. The answer is for the benefit of the ruling class. It’s important to keep that in mind.

For instance, if you look at Dick Cheney’s financial disclosure (available online), you’ll see that the Vice President is heavily invested in, among other things, Euro-based investments. The Vice President of the United States, according to his financial disclosures, doesn’t believe in the U.S. Dollar, and since he and his cronies can have a great influence on the health of that particular financial instrument, I pay attention to that opinion.

Sure, according to rules, it’s a “blind trust,” but anyone who believes Dick Cheney isn’t directing the investment of his money is just drinking Kool-Aid.

Welcome to Mexico’s take on adventure tourism, a five-hour trek that goes well past midnight. Residents pay to walk in mud past their ankles, balance on ledges – in pitch black – that drop steeply, and sprint across corn fields, kicking up dirt and rocks as they run from fake US border patrol officers dressed in camouflage.

America must get a handle on this issue. We don’t have the right to tell the Mexican government that they must shut down a thinly veiled training camp for illegal immigrants to the U.S., but then the Mexicans shouldn’t have the right or ability to influence how we enforce the laws of this country. Though they seem to when stories like this pop up:

Sheriff: Deputy Prosecuted by Mexico’s Demand.

Amazing and dangerous stuff.

James Howard Kunstler has a clear vision of what life will be like in the U.S. (if there IS a U.S.) after Peak Oil. Though not pretty, it’s really hard to argue with most of his points when you consider that there’s only so much oil in the ground and it’s getting more expensive all the time to get it out.

In response to those who say he’s all “gloom and doom” and little advice, he’s written Ten Ways to Prepare for a Post-Oil Society at AlterNet.org. Important read.