the slush of oil

Not a day goes by without some wild swings in oil prices. And when oil goes so goes everything else. One day, supplies are tight and everyone is worried about inflation. Then the next day we have fears of recession and an oversupply of the black stuff. All of it makes for good news stories and there is no doubt someone somewhere is making a lot of money too.

Fluctuations such as these make people wonder whether there really is an underlying cause or not. But the fundamentals do not lie. There are more people on the planet and all these people are trying their hardest to consume more. And people live a long time. While appearances may change from day to day, or hour to hour, it is nothing but noise in the overall scheme of things. These people are not going to go away anytime soon. Their habits won't change overnight either.

In a very real sense, all the fuzz is an artifact of technology. Now that everyone is connected to everyone else, a new super herd is formed. And like any herd it ignores a great many things only to go thundering off at an unexpected sound somewhere. A stampede ensues with lots of collateral damage. When everyone is tired of running things calm down for a while before the process repeats itself.

To get a good view of what is happening we need to step outside for a while and take a bird's eye view. If you do that you can see that everyone is really on edge. This is not a happy herd. They are worried and they should be worried. Because things are moving in the wrong direction. Not because oil is too expensive or some other financial metric. The problem is with the fundamentals.

We are on an unsustainable path. Greed is not good. Overindulgence is not either. No matter what the ads say. These ads do not have your best interests in mind. They are just trying to convince you to buy more stuff, even if you don't need it.

And the sooner we realize it and start doing something about it the better. We are all getting fat and it is time for some serious dieting. And I am not talking about adipose tissue or bodily fat. I am talking about overconsumption. We are overdosing on resources. It is wasteful and unhealthy and we need to stop it. We need to go on a diet. There will be some sacrifice and some pain, but that is nothing compared to what will happen if we don't act soon.

Instead of trying to "save" the economy, we need to curtail it and save ourselves in the process. We need to reduce our consumption and our energy use. We need to start saving instead of spending. And we need to learn to enjoy the simple things in life. You don't have to be the Marlboro man or GI Joe. You don't need a 500 hp car to go grocery shopping or drive the kids around. You don't need a movie theater in your house. Or a green lawn in the desert.

If your happiness is tied to your paycheck, the size of your dwelling, and the amount of stuff you own, you are missing the point. You are addicted instead of happy. And like any addict you will always want more. You will always need more. Just to feel normal. Wake up, it is time to unplug the TV.