It would be interesting to see the readership poll results concerning where we think this country will be 15 to 20 years from now. Perhaps it should include some reference to where we stand with regard to the rest of the world. As you know, just a few of the factors that would influence our view of the future would involve the results of peak-oil, climate change, national debt, inflation, loss of manufacturing, increasing population, state fascism, a broken educational system, an unjust medical system, etc. I can only speculate upon your perspective but, my research does not present a very pretty picture. Chris Martenson says it so clearly with his catch phrase, "The next twenty years will be completely unlike the last twenty years." (I advise taking the Crash Course.)
Five years ago I read Michael Ruppert's Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil, and it was instrumental in beginning my search for even more information regarding 9/11 and the list of influences listed above. Michael was an L.A. cop working in narcotics who slowly began to know too much about how drugs come into this country and where the money goes. Seeing corruption at high levels in the country he loved set him on a very interesting journey. The byline for the book was, "The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil."
This little commentary will concern the thoughts I have about three books I read last month; "Future Scenarios" by David Holmgren, World Made by Hand by James Howard Knustler and Reinventing Collapse by Dmitry Orlov. They were read in that order but in hindsight, Kunstler's book should have been last.
This article appears in May 6-12, 2009.