Here's how it's different now: A lot of the progress of the 20th century was predicated on cheap oil. With a Return on Energy (ROE is like ROI but for energy;

Here's how it's different now: A lot of the progress of the 20th century was predicated on cheap oil. With a Return on Energy (ROE is like ROI but for energy; how much energy you get vs. how much you need to get it out) of 30 to 1, crude oil essentially still gushes from the ground. After a certain point, even for the same reserve, that ROE drops. There's still oil, but it's harder to get out. We'll always have oil, but we won't have it cheaply for much longer. Converting to an alternative is possible but it will take time and pain. And that's the sticking point. America especially relies on a JIT inventory of trucked-in goods, cars to get to work, school, the store, etc. The switch will be ugly. Piggybacking on that is the long, wonderful period of growth that had us overextend. The Great Depression also came after a period of over-extension, but back then we had yet to tap our resources and our debt. We've tapped both out at the start of this depression that's coming. Add to it the increased demand for resources from China, India and the rest of the world. We're out. Bacteria is at its greatest expansion when it hits the edge of the petri dish, and in an instant, it's over. I won't plant a garden or buy a gun -- I don't think it will ever be so bad -- but for a while, during the process of converting to alternate energies and transportation mechanisms, it won't be fun.