Archive for the 'Collapse' Category
Zimbabwe: Total Collapse
December 5th, 2008Collapse spans a wide spectrum conditions. I’m not aware of any situation worse than Zimbabwe. Come to think of it, maybe Congo? Or… Collapse tip NUMBER 1: Keep the shit out of the drinking water. I don’t know what it is about shit in drinking water, but in any collapse situation, that’s what seems to […]
Activist Moves Homeless Into Foreclosed Homes
December 5th, 2008By placing this story in Collapse, I’m not making a value judgment on it; this is simply to indicate that we’re seeing the beginnings of a failed state situation. From this story alone, it should be clear just how little power that state actually has. If somebody told you five years ago that homeless people […]
U.S. Light Duty Vehicle Sales Plunge 36.7% in November
December 3rd, 2008Via: Green Car Congress: Total US sales of light-duty vehicles (LDV) plunged 36.7% in November from November 2007 to 746,789 units, according to figures from Autodata. There were 25 selling days in November 2008 and November 2007. Year-to-date, total LDV sales are down 16.3% from 2007. Sales of passenger cars dropped 36.5% year-on-year, while sales […]
Ohio: Hungry? Turn In Your Guns, Get Food
December 3rd, 2008Via: Beacon Journal: Sponsors of the Goods for Guns program are hoping that the promise of a full belly will lure people to turn in their guns in exchange for $100 gift cards for Acme Fresh Markets. The dates for the program, Nov. 21 and 22, were strategically selected this year to coincide with Thanksgiving […]
No. 1 Chicken Producer Pilgrim’s Pride Files for Chapter 11
December 2nd, 2008Via: USA Today: The economic pressures facing the U.S. chicken industry came into full view Monday when the No. 1 producer, Pilgrim’s Pride, (PPC) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy-court protection. Pilgrim’s, which produces 25% of U.S. broilers, suffered a triple whammy of large debt, high feed prices and lower prices for chicken amid weakening demand […]
Credit Card Industry May Cut $2 Trillion of Lines: Get Ready for Famine
December 1st, 2008Famine? The Reuters piece below doesn’t say anything about famine. It includes the words dangerous and unprecedented, but not famine. So, how might we conclude that widespread hunger will result from a reduction in credit lines? Because increasing numbers of people are relying on credit cards to pay for their BigMacs: Commercial bank exposure via […]
German Carmakers: Production Halts
December 1st, 2008Is there any precedent for this in recent decades? Via: Reuters: * Porsche schedules 8 days of production stops at main plant * Volkswagen may stop production in Wolfsburg for 3 weeks * Audi says production halts are a precaution * BMW says will cut further 400 temporary jobs in Leipzig * Porsche shares down […]
The Famine of 2009
November 30th, 2008Believe it or not, the food situation is worse than I thought. This is a long piece, but I highly recommend clicking through and reading all of this. Via: DailyKos: The fall nitrogen fertilizer application has been 10% of the norm. A typical year would see 50% put on in the fall and 50% in […]
Americans’ Food Stamp Use Nears All-Time High
November 27th, 2008This may sound strange, but there’s a lot of opportunity at this stage of collapse. Gardening and food security issues might resonate with many more people now than in recent years. If you know someone who is on the verge of snapping out their trance, offer books, links, some seeds, or a hand. Additionally, I […]
2009: Titanic Shocks and Changes to the Global Order of a Scale Perhaps Not Experienced in the Past Five Centuries
November 27th, 2008Via: Engdahl: What neither Paulson nor anyone in Washington is willing to reveal is the real truth behind the Citigroup bailout. By his and the Republican Bush Administration’s adamant earlier refusal to take an initial resolute action to immediately nationalize the nine or so largest troubled banks and reorganize the assets into some form of […]
