News from Ireland

Well folks, I am sitting with my fellow Building Nerd, Seamus O'Loughlin, a truly motivating individual. As committed to low energy as anyone I have met since my compatriot, Mark Hansen of REEVADIY.org.

I presented a talk at the better building conference on WED. The conference was wonderful. It was also sold out! There were many people there interested in Passivhaus and sustainable construction. With the Irish Part L building regulations now in force, you have to build a more, albeit, not yet near PH, robust envelope and there were alot of folks interested in this.

I attended several very good talks by others including a very interesting talk on financing deep retrofits. I did, as per usual, make someone mad. At the deep retrofit talk, when a discussion ensued about financing, I pointed out that the banker presenting had called for out of the box thinking yet all the solutions offered by him and the government planning folks were very much in the olde and failing financial model.

 I stood up, and did make a disclaimer that in the US I am generally dismissed as an unrealistic dreamer with socialist ideas, but that i was going to put forward my piece. And here it was:
 1) The outcome of the climate crisis is as imperative as a world war for our children.
 2) We need to recognize this as a society and marshal our resources to deal with it.
 3) We need a lot of money for renovation of existing building stock.
 4) We could easily raise the money with a tax on financial transactions or other such means (carbon tax).
 5) We could make a tax to fund the renovations and connect the repayment to the property, financed through the energy savings.
 6) No interest should be charged on this (when i said no Usury should be allowed, this is what really pissed the banker off).
 7) I suggested that the other side, the contracting side be regulated in terms of what could be charged for the work and that this will make a new industry spring up.
 8) Also I suggested to give a few years to get the work done voluntarily and then start fining folks who refuse.

 Well as usually i was met with eye rolling and groans. Nice to know my ideas are globally rejected.

 Anyway I am off to tour the Guinness Brewery!

 Cheers from Ireland - more later!

16th Annual Passivhaus Conference

The 16th Annual Passivhaus Conference is starting next week. I cannot wait to attend. I will be surrounded by building nerd colleagues from all over the world! Imagine a weekend of nothing but folks who care passionately about building physics and the environment. Heaven!

I will also be presenting a paper on the US Commercial Passivhaus Industry, which I will post once available.

Tune in later for updates.

~~ Cheers!

Obama Sucks - LESS

As a Progressive American, I am quite disappointed in the administration of Barack Obama. I do not know why I should be though! I was a Kucinich supporter in 2008, and when he dropped out felt that Hillary was the next best, she has Ovaries! It was Obama's speech on race in March in Philly that convinced me that I should support him. My wife, a much wiser and more reasonable person than I, did some reading of Obama's books and said "don't get your hopes up, he is just a good politician". Well I made the mistake of getting my hopes up and have been sorely disappointed.

So a few weeks ago I decided on my Obama support slogan for 2012 -

OBAMA SUCKS!! - Less

No wonder the 1% are winning!

How do the large corporate interests get the ignorati tea baggers to act against their own interests. Promise them something they want, like anti science christian fundamentalist based government.

Woe is US.

Views From the Front Lines

Recently, the Passivhaus community in the US has been stirred by a split between the PHI (Passivhaus Institute, Germany) and the PHIUS (Passive House Institute US). As a dedicated supporter of the standard and as one whom has discussed the intricacies of the standard as well as the politics with both sides I thought a chance to put my two cents in may help others dealing with this issue.

FIRST and foremost, for those of us determined to make a difference in the way we build in the US that have found logic and intelligence in the Passivhaus methodology, this split is irrelevant. Our goal is in creating buildings that perform as designed to a much higher level of both function and longevity then is standard in the US now. The appealing thing about the PH methodology is that it is a numbers and physics based system that is not prescriptive, but rather scientifically based. So the thing that attracted me and I am sure many others is the validated and repeatable performance of buildings that use this system.

I have been asked over the past few days by many of my colleagues, where does that leave us. It leaves us in the same place we were prior to this occurrence... US pioneers in creating high performance buildings. This movement was never about a certificate or a plaque. It is all about performing as designed, designing intelligently to create beautiful, affordable and low energy projects, and leading the way out of the morass that the US building industry has been stuck in since Reagan took the solar panels off the white house and had his Saudi friends flood the market with $1 gasoline!

So where does that leave us as Passivhaus Pioneers. Well truthfully the same place we were. PHIUS will still be pre-certifiying projects, as I assume PHI will. I have found that one of the most useful items offered by PHIUS is the per-certification of projects. Having a knowledgeable and competent colleague verify and challenge your calculations prior to construction is an invaluable service. As a lone pracitioner in an isolated part of the Blue Ridge of Virginia, having access to the folks at PHIUS has been invaluable to me.

Now here i must level an honest critique that both PHIUS and PHI share. Both organisations are victims of there own success and we all have shared the frustration of trying to get timely answers out of them. I have been in contact with both organisations over the past few years and both are equally guilty of terrible customer relations, with inquiries going unacknowledged and support when it does come being abbreviated. After getting to know both organisations, i realize that both are swamped and can't keep up with the requests, also i know both are supposed to be working on this, but in my opinion, it is the one that solves this support problem most effectively that will gain the most momentum in the US.

BACK to the item at hand - the split. There are many reasons for the split, but first and foremost in my opinion it is a conflict of misunderstanding and strong personalities. The Germans think in a way that is different from the US and the ability to both hear and act on each others differences seems to be lacking. I could see this schism coming over a year ago and i advised both the US and German players that splitting publicly when the movement was just gaining it's footing would only hurt the goals that all of us share. The truth is that both sides agreed, but each also had strong opinions, built up over years, of the other that was very difficult to overcome.

There is nothing in my heart but admiration and warmth for Dr. Feist and Kat Klingenberg. Without both of their unyielding efforts the Passivhaus standard would not be achieving the success it is today. I am confident that both of them, as well as others involved, truly and completely have the same goal in focus... unfortunately there is strong disagreement as to the best method of reaching this goal in the US market, and that has left us where we are today.

It is my fervent hope that as time goes, these wounds will heal. The way will open as the US Passivhaus market matures, that both parties will find the way forward and honor the respect for each other that I know they hold.

In the mean time, Passivhausers (Hausi) keep the nose down and the feet forward. This movement is up to us to make or break! It is not about titles, organisations, certificates or plaques, IT IS ABOUT PERFORMANCE. The physics are there to understand and as a community if we support each other and try our best to vet projects and create high quality work the success will happen.

This will seem like a minor issue in the years to come.

CHEERS to all -- Adam

Virginia - Where are you?

Our backward thinking, Uranium loving, nuke licking, off shore oil dripping, mountain top raping Governor, O'Dumbell, has continued to ignore the fact that locking arms with the Koch brothers and clinging to unsustainable old technologies will only hurt our state.

Below is a graph of the expansion of solar in the US. 66% growth in a year. now that's a growth industry.

Now here is a graph of the leading states in their solar installs. Need I say more?

International Passivhaus Conference

I am sitting in the airport waiting for my final flight on the return from the International Passivhaus Conference. I'd like to share some quick observations:

1) We (the US) are far behind in both technology and know how in a field that we lead 30 years ago - Energy efficient construction.
2) The US market has very little interest in pursuing such things and as such it will take legislation to really move it forward. alas I am afraid this is still a decade or more away.
3) Countries that understand the future markets of the world are adopting this technology aggressively. I was at the meeting last conference one year ago when the Korean delegation made the agreement for official recognition. Within the last year they have built both residential and non-residential projects, already have a Korean made PHI certified window (there are none in the US after at least three years of begging) and they are breaking ground on three apartment towers (20 stories) of Passivhaus construction, those are only the ones I know of. They have also adopted Passivhaus as the energy design system for all buildings by 2017. They know where the future is.
4) China is aggressively pursuing at least 2 large scale PH mixed use developments.
5) Even small Latvia has PH certified components being made in their country.

How long will we continue to hide our collective heads in the sand as the world embraces this century and we are longing for the 1960's. It may be time to find a more forward thinking forum for those of us that have beaten our heads against the US ignorance for so many years.

~~ Cheers - Adam

Teabagger And Terrorist

“why we did not save them”

A generation ago we faced two very clear warnings that were heeded. The first was an oil spill off California in 1969 that led to the passage of the Clean Water Act and moratoriums on oil drilling on much of the continental shelf. The second happened 10 years later, as Three Mile Island suffered a partial melt down and this led to no nuclear power plants being built for the last 30 years.
I only hope that this generation will heed the warnings of the BP oil spill and Japan nuclear disaster so our children do not ask “why we did not save them”.

WTF Mate?

Take a good look at this graph of the contribution to the return of the budget deficit. Remember in 2000 when GBII stole the election we had budget surpluses. Look at what happened the last time the repubes had power.

How the HELL did they regain it?

2 resasons.

1) The Dems by in large are corporate owned pandering wussys.

2) Right wing dis information (faux news, etc.)

AMERICA I AM ASHAMED! (again)

A Short History of the past 110 years in the US

For those folks that actually are open minded enough to study the facts of history, there is an unsettling wave running through this country. I am not talking to those who believe the Faux News coming out of the right or the weak minded twaddle from the center left, for those of you who believe the likes of Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Pat Robertson or Robert Reich, stop reading now, you are too far gone.

I am speaking to those who have enough personal integrity left to look at history and actually learn from the lessons of past events. By my reckoning, there are not many Americans in this category. Most Americans, it seems, are either to bored, lazy or ignorant to care about precedent. A large amount of the rest are too caught up in the psycho babble coming from right wing media to admit any thought other then those implanted by media sycophants.

So here it is. We are an empire in decline but too blind or proud or ignorant to admit it. Our peak was fifty years ago. With time one can analyze these things.

At the turn of the century, this country was just barely recovered from the civil war. The “Captains of Industry” (wealthy elite) were ascending, turning their considerable economic power into political power. This country was heading toward Plutocracy. Along came a man of considerable power and integrity that was from the Plutocratic class. He recognized this and did his best to reduce the Plutocrats threat to democracy. Theodore Roosevelt did his best to bust the economic monopolies and reduce the political power of extreme wealth. As soon as he left office, he was replaced by Taft who promptly returned the power to the elite. He was so upset by what happened after he left office that he came back to run as a third party candidate 1912. From his administration we have anti-trust laws and the foundation of our National Park system.

For twenty years after TR, the power returned to the Plutocrats and our country was run into a ditch through the wild speculation on Wall Street. The US entered the great depression after the largest redistribution of wealth from poor to rich in our history. The country endured three years under Herbert Hoover and was quite ready to elect Franklin Roosevelt in ’32. Roosevelt laid the blame for the countries problems where it belonged on the doorstep of the wealthy elite that had speculated, created bubbles and became wealthy on the backs of the average American. From FDR, we received the New Deal, which saw the real regulation of banking, the beginning of the social security system and the creation of unemployment.

After FDR, we lived in the “American Golden Age” from 1946-1973. During this time America created a true and expanding middle class. The equitable redistribution of wealth from the wealthy elite to the larger population allowed many to create and live the “American Dream”. The election of both Truman and Eisenhower saw a time of benevolent and somewhat benign leadership in our country. There were however, undercurrents of what was to come. It was this period that the demonization of the communist philosophy really hit its stride. The constant drumbeat of anti-communist propaganda that began in the 1950’s has lead us inexorably to today’s state of confusing liberal ideas with socialism and to a public too ignorant to know the difference between socialism and Christian values.

When Ike left office he made what is one the most compelling analysis and pleas for the resistance of the takeover of the US political system by the corporate wealthy elite. He warned against letting what he termed the “military industrial complex” become too powerful. This from a man that lead the US to victory in WW2 and had a unique and in depth vantage point. Ah, but we did not heed his warning.

After Ike came the Kennedy/Johnson administrations, which on one hand empowered the military industrial complex through the Vietnam War and on the other pushed the ideals of the “Great Society” and race reform in the US. Johnson was a politician’s politician pushing through some of the best legislation in US history, creating medicare, expanding social security and pushing through the Civil Rights Act.

Richard Nixon followed with mixed results. Nixon did take governing seriously enough to try to come down in what he thought was the majority of the people’s interests. He pushed through the clean air act and laid the foundation for the clean water act and created the Environmental Protection Agency. These acts alone make him a true leader in sustainable thinking. Whatever one thinks of him, Nixon did take on the interests of wealthy corporations to move forward with legislation for the good of the country.

It was during the term of Richard Nixon that the “American Golden Age” began to wane. In 1973, the Yom Kippur War inspired the oil embargo that woke Americans to the fact that unbridled exploitation of the world’s resources was not a long term strategy. We realized, perhaps for the first time, that we were not necessarily going to enjoy the kind of growth and opulence we had experienced since 1946. It was during this period that the American family’s finances came under siege. In order to maintain the living standard we had come to expect during the Golden Age, we sent our spouses to work and sent our kids to day care.

In our 200th year we elected Jimmy Carter, a dreamer and a realist. He worked hard to confront the realities of resource usage in our country. He developed the first (and last) comprehensive national energy policy. He cut the importation of foreign oil by 50% and when he told people that realistically we all need to conserve and perhaps put on a sweater instead of turning up the heat, he was ridiculed.

Then in 1980, the wealthy elite found the perfect vessel into which they could pour their poison. Ronald Reagan was the ex-governor of California, an actor and totally clueless about the effects of the policies he was espousing. This is where the story really gets interesting. Up to this time the wealthy had not gained back the reins of power they held prior to Theodore Roosevelt, but this was their time and Reagan was there shill. Reagan preached an unorthodox idea of “trickle down” economics which was roundly and aptly discredited by George Bush I in the 1980 presidential debates as “Voodoo Economics”. He said in the debates that the economic policies that Reagan was pushing would lead to economic ruin. But with the help of wealthy patrons, Reagan was able to spread both hope in the form of lower taxes (he did not say how he was going to lower taxes and not cut spending which he did by borrowing) and fear by ginning up the fear of the Communist threat. Finally, with his accomplice, Iran, Reagan was able to gain power by brokering a deal to hold our hostages until after the election.

The reign of Reagan was the beginning of the retaking of America by Plutocrats, the beginning of the loss of wealth by the middle class and the beginning of the debt crisis that will ultimately lead to extreme pain and suffering among the vast majority of Americans. Reagan’s legacy is one of debt and manufacturing job loss. By giving tax breaks to the wealthiest American corporations and individuals the wealth began to accumulate among the very top earners in this country. Reagan’s premise that the wealth at the top would trickle down has been shown in study after study to be untrue. When you give tax breaks to the wealthiest folks, who can and do already buy whatever they want, the majority of that money will not be spent but saved.

It was during the Reagan period that the environment came under siege through Reagan’s Secretary of the Interior, James Watt. Banking rules were loosened under his Treasury Secretary Don Regan. We were lead again into a period of excess that ended up in the Savings and Loan Crisis which the American tax payers footed the bill. With the 25% tax cuts that had been given the wealthiest corporations and individuals, the majority of the money came from the middle classes. Also Reagan’s pursuit of “free trade” made the closure of American manufacturing a regular occurrence.

Reagan never came clean to the American people that the national debt was growing as a percentage of GDP to the highest levels since World War 2. America had always had a very conservative fiscal pattern of increasing debt during war and then reducing that debt during peacetime. For the first time Since World War 2 debt was increasing exponentially rather then decreasing. The American public was quite! Reagan through his backers use of media and money was able to keep the poorest Americans in his corner through the use of fear; fear of crime, fear of communists, fear of immigrants.

George Bush I succeeded Reagan and vowed to continue the economic policies he knew were untenable. In 1990, faced with the reality of governing and a growing deficit, he allowed modest tax increases which lead to him being challenged in the primaries by candidates more suited to the will of the wealthy. During this time the deficit was still increasing precipitously.

Bill Clinton was elected in 1992. During the first two years of his presidency, though he made some mistakes he did make headway on the debt issue by passing the Deficit Reduction Act of 1993. It was passed by one vote with Al Gore casting the deciding vote in the Senate, and no republican votes. This act created the first reduction in the deficit in twelve years and would lead to record budget surpluses ay the time he left office. He was repaid for his forward thinking efforts by a resounding defeat in the 1994 mid term elections. Once again, through the thinly veiled efforts of the wealthy the election was bought and paid for and the “reforms” promised by the “contract with America” never materialized. It is typical of the Plutocrats to use fear and misinformation (lies) to win the votes of the ignorant. The 1994 election was a good example of he who repeats his lies most and loudest wins. Clinton turned out to be very bad at judging the character of others. It was Phil Graham that pushed through the repeal of the Glass Steagall Act at the end of Clinton’s term and Alan Greenspan and Larry Summers pushed Clinton to sign the bill that removed FDR’s regulations on the banks. It was also Larry Summers with the help of Robert Reich that killed the regulation of the financial derivative, which Warren Buffet referred to as “financial weapons of mass destruction”. This helped set the stage for today’s current economic conditions.

In 2000, we saw the reduction of the American democratic system to the level of a third world puppet state, on par with Iran and North Korea. With a plurality of the vote going to Al Gore, the wealthy puppet masters orchestrated nothing less than a bloodless coup and installed George Bush II as president. Then swiftly and deftly positioned Dick Cheney as vice president, thus completing the Plutocratic takeover of the US presidency. Cheney headed one of the largest international corporations in the world, a corporation that represented the very face of the military industrial complex Eisenhower had warned us about fifty years before. It was not long after this that Bush, the empty vessel into and through which all the wealthy elite’s hopes, dreams and greed flowed, that taxes were cut for the richest, a faceless enemy “terror” was named and unending war was entered into. The takeover was virtually completed. With the ability to control the media, being implemented by those like Rupert Murdoch and the new arrow in their quiver of fear of an unknown enemy to keep the lower classes in line with their wishes they ran unopposed through the coffers of the United States.

The greatest transfer of wealth and power in the history of the US occurred in the eight years of George Bush II. Once again, the unregulated greed and audacity of the wealthy lead to economic collapse. Unfortunately, for the American public, unlike 1929 – 1932, the American public only lived through a few months of rule under the inept and clueless George Bush II. If we had to live for two years under the reign of GBII, there may have been chance for real reform but alas no. During his reign, GBII callously increased the public debt to levels not seen since WW2.

The 2008 election of Barack Obama was historic. It does not seem that old Barry O. has what it takes to govern this country. He has fallen under the spell of Larry Summers, the same economic Svegali that pushed Clinton into the hands of the wealthy. His attempt to appoint Tom Daschle as head of HHS to be his lead at health system reform tipped his cards that his reform would be the warmed over give away to the health insurance industry that the republicans tried to offer in 1992.

With the Supreme Courts’ Citizen United decision to allow unregulated spending by corporations, foreign or domestic, into American politics and the transfer of wealth to the upper 5% of American over the past eight years, the take over is now complete.

Right now our country has gone through what can only be described as a completed takeover by corporate and elite interests. Today we need to be facing the very real prospects of financial collapse due to the misguided fiscal policies of the Fed and Treasury. With 20%+ of the US debt being purchased by the Fed with freshly printed dollars, we are heading down the same road as Zimbabwe and Weimar Germany. It is only a matter of time before the rest of the world calls our bluff.

Also, it is not in the corporate interest to allow any realization by the American people that we have ceded our leading positions in the world to other more progressive and open minded countries in every way except our military. Our ability to adapt and change to flourish has been taken away by the corporate media that attacks any independent thinking and vilifies realistic analysis of our current situation. We will soon be at the point where America will be at the mercy of it’s creditors and the countries that hold the resources we so blindly cling to. At that point, we will exploit our one remaining leading asset and then, well …..

No Comment Needed

A person who seeks knowledge knows more and more, a person who seeks enlightenment knows less and less until things are just what they are.

Lao Tzu

No Comment Needed

ISSUE...........................LIBERALS.......OSAMA.......NEOCONS

Abortion........................favors...............opposes.......opposes

Prayer in School...........opposes...........favors...........favors

Sep. Church-State........favors...............opposes.......opposes

Censorship....................opposes...........favors...........favors

Pre-emptive Attack.....opposes...........favors...........favors

Scripture Interp...........not literal........literal...........literal

Women's Rights...........favors...............opposes.......opposes

Evolution......................accepts.............rejects..........rejects

Iraq Invasion................opposed...........favored........favored

United Nations............supports..........opposes........opposes

Gay Rights....................favors...............opposes........opposes

Contraceptives.............favors..............opposes.........opposes

Sex Education..............favors...............opposes........opposes

Dissent=Disloyalty.....disagrees.........agrees...........agrees

Torture.........................opposes............favors...........favors

Death Penalty..............opposes............favors...........favors

Execute Mentally Ill...opposes............favors...........favors

Execute Children........opposes.............favors...........favors

Detain w/o Trial.........opposes............favors...........favors

Any Red Flags Here?

Above you see a very interesting chart. It ought to be mailed to every American voter prior to the 2010 elections.

In this chart, you see US spending expressed as a percent of GDP. In the simplest terms, the steeper the climb, the more money the US is spending and borrowing.

You can see from the portions of the graph I have annotated that the times when the steepest climbs have historically come have been in times of great national stress - Civil War, World War 1, The Great Depression, World War 2, that is until the "Reagan Era" came about.

It is interesting to see that during the 12 years of Reagan/Bush 1 and again in the 8 year reign of Bush 2 we saw precipitous climbs in spending, but without a national crisis. The only decline in almost three decades came with the Clinton presidency. Clinton was rewarded for his foresight and political courage with the '94 loss of congress.

Now here we are, in a time of incredible national stress, a time which is on par with the Great Depression and one, which historically we would expect spending to go up, and the Obama administration is being pilloried with criticism of his increase in national spending.

What we need now is a call to all Progressives to work towards not only shoring up the democrats, but in replacing the blue dogs with green ones.

In 2010, the Repubes are going to strongly challenge Tom Periello and Rick Boucher, as they feel they are vulnerable. We need a strong, independent with national purpose to challenge Goodlatte. The best defense of Boucher (who is too right for my tastes) and Periello is to find someone to challenge Goodlatte in a strong way. What we need now is to increase the progressives in the congress and do not let the group think that the Dems will lose seats in 2010 take the wind out of our sails.

The repubes are wrong. It is that simple.

Do I hear any volunteers or nominations for Goodlatte's seat?

UNBELIEVABLE

What does Copenhagen mean for you?

The "climate summit" was a real fizzle. I think we all knew that the realistic chances of meaningful change being made was almost nil as the United States (25% producer of carbon emissions) never spent any real time making the climate talks a priority. Obama's last minute trip was way to little and way, way to late.

But, realistically, what did we expect?

So what do you and I do now? Well the same thing I have been pushing since I started this blog. It comes down to a simple concept:

"THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY".

So, let's commit ourselves to pursuing transition on a local level. Start a transition steering committee. Begin making the type of changes in your personal life that can be an example to neighbors.

Refuse to spend money in the Wal Marts and Targets of the world. Direct your spending toward local businesses, that sell local or fair trade products. Do not be seduced by cheap anything.

Shop in local food stores, farmers markets and as much as possible directly from the farmer.

Almost every developed nation is now seeing a locavore movement, plug in!

Folks, we know that the kind of change that is needed will not happen if we wait for government. The kind of change that will make a difference is beyond hope of being achieved, so at this point the call is to adapt and get out ahead of the curve.

Our Katuah bioregion is a great area to weather the coming storms (literally!).

Remember, make the start and begin the discussions because we do not know how long before the situation becomes critical!

What about the New Economy?

As the century turned the talk about the new economy was all aflutter. The concept is that the world is changing from a carbon fueled economy to a new more sustainable model that would rival the previous revolutions in agriculture and industry.

Oh how right we are. I have personally seen the changes happening to move humanity towards this sustainable future. So, you may ask, how can I see it?

Well, America here is the unfortunate truth.

As an American we are only seeing the very edge of this revolution. There is some really amazing cutting edge research going on in the US. i was contracted by the US Department of Energy to review stimulus grants relating to high performance thermal envelope design and super performance windows. I can state unequivocally that there is some truly mind blowing research going on. While the US has always been good at supporting basic research, we fall short on the support of products beyond that stage. So while the folks doing the cutting edge research here have names like Chu and Patel, we (the US government) does not support the technology after initial development, preferring to let the "Angel Investors" do the next round of support. Unfortunately for our country, many great ideas go undeveloped in this country because of this.

Fortunately for those who are not American, there are forward thinking governments that support the so called "valley of death" for development of technology. And it is these governments that are creating the 'New Economy'. By embracing the concept of creating a sustainable society and supporting the innovation it takes to make that society a reality, places like Germany, Denmark, China, Korea, Brazil and Spain are rapidly growing a 'New Economic' model.

With the current lack of political will and the surging of the regressive right, the United States will look back in 20 years and say, "hey where is my 'new economy'. When we finally awaken from our sleep, we will be faced with a hollowed out society that has a declining middle class and an incredibly advanced military. So what will be our role? Why to protect those that can afford our services! (See the new copper mining operations in Afghanistan. China is doing the mining and the US is doing the protection.) So get ready America, your new role as the protector of the new economic powerhouses assures a bright future.

This speaks for itself.

Just what I've been saying for years.

I read an article recently that put very eloquently what I have been saying for 15 years. The American middle class has maintained its prosperity through an ever closing window. The post war economy saw the greatest expansion of the middle class in history. With wages rising quickly and the American standard of living the envy of the world.

This incredible surge was made possible by cheap and plentiful energy and the fact that America's major competitors were recovering from a war that devastated commerce and industry. This combined with the coup at Bretton Woods that replaced the then current world trading currency, the pound, with the dollar provided for a boom in manufacturing and the cold war provided a continuing war time economy (remember Eisenhower's warning about the military industrial complex) which lead to incredible middle class wealth.

In 1973, this changed with the end of cheap oil and the beginning of strong inflation. What did Tom and Sally American do then? Why they sent Sally to work to augment the family income so that they did not have to give away any of the luxuries they now felt entitled to. This worked for a while.

Well for those of you who follow my blog, you know that inflation never left, it was just hidden by successive administrations tinkering with statistics. This combined with the fact that the American middle class wage has not kept pace with even the understated inflation rate made Tom and Sally have to dip into their next best store of potential cash and mortgage and second mortgage their home for cash to keep up with the American dream. What happened when we were running out of equity in our homes? REAL ESTATE BOOM - made up equity to leverage.

Now the proverbial chickens are coming home to roost. Tom and Sally need to face the tough reality that thanks to their short sighted planning their children would not have the same opportunities as they had. Their children would be the first American generation since the depression to regress in their standard of living.

I hate to say i told you so but .....

And what about the 'New Economy'. More about that in another post.

For a good article that discusses many of these points from someone who is much brighter than I click here.