although, i’m far more partial to track bikes and the simplicity they offer - even though it’s incredibly unsafe as a commuter, i have this deep respect for people who ride tracks around here with finesse.

but, great metaphor.

The sad part of that statement is that consumption has been the basis of our economy for at least the last 40 years. This country has abandoned the idea of self-sufficiency and we import just about everything relying on cheap foreign labor and low fuel prices. Ours is essentially an economy of middlemen. I suppose through the 80’s the Cold war always kept the idea that disaster could occur any day in the back of everyone’s heads but since then we as a nation grew complacent, and even 911 only seemed to faze people for a short time (add that to the list of yet unfinished rebuilding tasks). Energy is our Achilles heel and I wonder if oil supplies were disrupted or if a catastrophe affected a substantial portion of our power grid if we as a nation would even be able to feed ourselves.

Sticking with the bike anaogies we’ve turned into a track bike. No gears, and no brakes, and not so good off road where things get rough… Were at VO2 max and the best the government can come up with is to pedal harder.

I’ll have to check out those two presentations tomorrow, sounds interesting!