johngonole

Why Not Start Defaulting on Your Credit Cards?

Regarding the author's article. I loved it. Pretty much right on point. My wife and I are still kicking ourselves in the butt for not buying more house since prices are still way above what thye were when we bought our starter home. But dog gone it we wanted to live conservatively. It seems that those who are the most reckless get the most perks for sure. I myself would still not to choose to live that way but if you don't mind living pay check to pay check you can certainyly get more bang for your buck.

Why Not Start Defaulting on Your Credit Cards?

Ergo,

You just made a very interesting point. And that point is that credit card companies really don't want people to carry balances. That is why the interest rates are so high. What they really want is to make money via the volume of transactions. Now yes their are credit card lines that have the goal in mind of making money via the interest rate. But in general the interest rates go up when a person is late on a payment. Again because they are trying to discourage defaults.

Stagflation and Peak Oil: How Related Are They? (Part II)

User 987 - All the forms of energy you mentioned above still cost more than oil as I understand it. So first oil prices will go higher then they will become viable. Still oil is used in asphalt, platics, petro-chemicals, fertilizers, etc....

Bottom line is that the entire industrial/agricultura... revolution has been built on oil. It will probably take another 100 years (short of some amazing free energy discovering of huge porportions) to simply make the transition. US Geothermal in the right areas could really be good kind of like hydroelectricity. I also like the idea of windmills as a supplement provided they can build them to last forever with very very little maintenance. Seems like a very good idea versus solar which you still have to replace every 20-25 years plus batteries. Oil shale may help with the transition. Oil/Coal/Nuclear are still the cheapest forms of energy and will likely remain so for a while. This country needs to become more energy independent. It will not only reduce the trade deficit but could actually get people back to producing real things in the country.