So its been a couple months plus now since I heard James Howard Kunstler speak at the conference in Saratoga. I bought and read "World Built by Hand" in a couple days, and I'm still slogging through "The Long Emergency" as well as watched the DVD "The End of Suburbia".

My first thoughts are who chose Kunstler as a keynote speaker and why? Joel, Will care to comment?

Second, is am I losing my optimism as I get older or am I an "actualist" as Kunstler claims? I have made some significant decisions regarding my future, my time, and my investments over the last couple months as a result of what I have heard and read since.

However, I don't think things will be as bad as he thinks or as soon as he suggests. For one thing, the concept of demand destruction, suggests that as the price of something in demand increases due to limited availability people cut back on use. The supply to demand ratio improves and the price decreases. We saw this in the 70's, 80's and last year with regard to energy.

I also give more credit to alternatives and conservation. I am concerned that our entitled, population of couch potatoes may not rise to the occasion and work harder, take on more agricultural work to make up for the lack of fossil fuels for fertilizer, weed killers, and robo-farming. And perhaps my greatest concern is that politcally we as a nation will deny reality, blame the problem of the shortages and inflation on the current administration and vote for promises of what we want to hear.

Should I buy guns, gold and ammunition while developing a standard stockade timber frame kit for our web site? Or more opimistically invest in photovoltaics, a hybrid, and initiate a big green marketing campaign?

I'd love to hear others' take on this, especially if you've read "The Long Emergency" and/or listened to Kunstlers presentation in Saratoga.