Thursday 29 July 2010

New article

For those interested, my article on Ireland in the recession is now on Big Questions Online -- go check it out here.

4 comments:

Shaun Kenney said...

...and well done, too.

brierrabbit said...

i read your article with interest. the interesting thing to me about the article, is that your point that the Irish remember poverty, and could go back to a less energy intensive form of life if they had to, may also apply in some ways to the people of Appalachia, and the Ozarks, where i live. Both of these places also are only about one generation from outhouses and modest interaction with the outside world. It still costs more to fly from Springfield mo. to Kansas City, only 200 miles. than it costs to fly from Kansas city to California. because we are so out of the way. the agrarian world still holds sway here. The population is rather thin on the ground, and farming, and small business still have a hold on life. We would be poor in a post energy world, but we could take care of ourselves like people have here and the Appalachians have had to do for generations. People still remember how. But we would be isolated from much of the country again. I can hear the "Hillbilly" jokes starting again.

Andy Brown said...

I think you're exactly right that the Irish are disappointed, but not surprised that the prosperity was so short-lived. So people might sigh, but bungalow blight will be transformed to not particularly durable sheepcots.

On the other hand, it's a little frightening that the US - the country of people least prepared (intellectually, emotionally, materially) to deal with any of this - has such a vast military machine blundering about. I fear the US will not take the end of prosperity quite so philosophically.

Brian Kaller said...

Shaun,
Thank you -- I'm following your blog with interest.

Brierrabbit,
I know the Ozarks well, and know people there and in Appalachia know poverty intimately. If their poverty has made them more self-sufficient, they will be better prepared than most for a further crash. On the other hand, I don't know of any canal or rail systems from town to town in the Ozarks, or any giant stone architecture. Much of the infrastructure I saw there on recent visits did not seem durable at all.

Andy,
I am concerned about my native country, but I have not abandoned all hope. There still might be time enough, to spread the word enough, for a enough people to make enough preparations to avoid any Famine-scale disaster. We'll see.