"The bogus risk-swapping economy must be replaced by a net value-added economy."

"the bogus risk-swapping economy must be replaced by a net value-added economy." .

That means actually making things, growing things, and rebuilding things, and that can only begin to happen if we do not stupidly sucker ourselves into a war with other nations who are liable to be extremely ticked off at us for destroying the global economy, but also competing with us for a dwindling supply of resources that are not equitably distributed around the world.

My guess is that oil and its byproducts will become much more difficult to get in the months ahead -- not just more expensive, but literally not available. The current falling price of oil has little to do with the real supply and demand fundamentals. It's simply a function of the markets being in near-total disarray.

The "less-developed" nations are heading back to the 17th-century level of daily life without electricity. The oil exploration and development projects that were planned for hard-to-get oil netting $100-a-barrel minimum -- in places like the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, Siberia, and Central Asia -- are being shelved, which means the world has less of a chance to offset coming depletions in old fields.

My pet project of restoring the American passenger railroad system might seem pretty minor in the face of all this, but it's at least a place to start that will accomplish several things: allow people and things to get places without cars and trucks; put many thousands of people to work at many levels doing something of direct, practical value; and be a small step in rebuilding confidence that we are a society capable of accomplishing something. JK

In a few words: reality and not virtuality.
It was nice to think virtual life could replace reality.
It was nice to think you could "godlike" create something from nothing or little, it was nice to believe in miracles, it was nice to believe technology could work for us, produce for us, replace us, so that the only thing we had to do was playing games or cruising or having fun.
Besides the fact that having fun is quite boring, everything which has a beginning must have an end.
Very often today's fun is tomorrow's sorrow, and yes, we surely would like to live just today's fun, but we are bound to this life, aren't we?