I have been thinking a lot lately about globalization and so-called "free-trade". And aside from all the arguments we've made against it; the loss of domestic jobs, wage suppression, corporate multi-nationalism, and all the other downsides that the elite turn a blind eye towards because these are the things that have made them filthy rich. Aside from these arguments and others, there is an aspect to this economic lie that no one ever talks about. And it goes like this:

Think about those big ships, the ones with the hundreds of cargo boxes that later get loaded on trains and trucks. Think about how big those ships are, and how many of them must be in the water all the time in order to bring us all the goods that we do not make here anymore. Think about the amount of fuel these ships must use, and the trains and the trucks that have to bring those goods across country from one port on one coast to post-industrial towns and cities around the country. Then think about "global peak oil". How many years of fuel is left in the ground. Think about how those projections have probably been way too conservative since the first of those big ships began to steam across the oceans. Then think about our military abroad. Think about how much fuel they must use in order to control the parts of the world we need to provide us with that fuel. It's the "mother" of all catch-22s.

Our leaders promised us affordability and increased leisure through free-trade. They promised us a richer life. Yet in reality they have brought us our doom ever closer and ever faster with their lies and false promises.

Someone should plot a graph, a time-line, comparing the estimates for global fossil fuel supply in relation to our current use and growth, including the military, with that of how it would have been had we rejected the WTO, NAFTA and all the other trade agreements that stripped us of our manufacturing and economic independence. I can promise you that down the road our grandchildren in their growing hate for our generation will look at this.

And finally, because after-all, I am commenting on an environmental blog, think about this same paradox, the accelerated use of fossil fuels brought on by our selfish economic policies, and apply that to fossil fuel emissions...

In our haste to imagine we were making a better world for our great, great grandchildren, we have likely doomed the planet generations earlier than was necessary.

And a paradox it is.

Because only this kind of selfishness could exacerbate the very problem that we are simultaneously putting off in every way imaginable. We, are indeed chasing our own tails, and we will eat ourselves eventually.