In this week's Off the Cuff podcast, Chris and Jim discuss:
- What the Ukraine Is Telling Us
- Resources are at the heart of coming conflicts
- US Oil Is Back Over $100/Barrel
- The 'Long Emergency' is real
- Age Wars
- Generational friction is on the rise
- The Social Dynamics of the Future
- Why they'll likely feel quite different from today's
This week marks two important milestones in 'The Long Emergency', so it's only appropriate that James Howard Kunstler joins as this week's Off the Cuff guest.
Milestone #1 is the outbreak of violent unrest in the Ukraine. Ukraine is fracturing across an ideological fault line: does it want it's future tied to Europe or to Russia? The people clearly want the former, but many running the country are concerned at how dependent the Ukraine is on its eastern neighbor for affordable access to critical basics like heating fuel. No doubt that sentiment is being flamed on both sides (classic NATO vs Russia chess maneuvers), but at the heart of the matter here is who controls the market flow of valuable resources. What we see in the Ukraine is a preview of more to come elsewhere around the globe.
Milestone #2 is the return of WTI oil above $100/barrel. Despite the "shale revolution" increasing US production, the market is waking up to the fact that this new oil is expensive, and will remain so. Yet our economy and infrastructure are geared for an average oil price a fraction (like 1/4) of what it
by rncarl 
