Kunstler: The foundation of everyday life in this country is cracking - but don't expect the media to tell you that

SHOOT: Once again some luminary and humbling insights from Jim. Interestingly, in his post-oil book World Made by Hand Kunstler talks about a Mexican Flu which was one of the forces that ravaged our world. Interesting.

clipped from jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com clipped from jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com The Bottom       Euphoria managed to out-run swine flu last week as the epidemic-du-jour, with "consumer" confidence jumping and the big bank stocks nudging up. The H1N1 virus fizzled for now, at least in terms of kill ratio, though we're warned it might boomerang in the fall with a vengeance. No one was surprised to see Chrysler roll over like a possum on a county highway, but the memory of their muscle cars will linger on like a California surfing song. Here in the northeast, where Sundays are not spent at the Nascar oval, the spring foliage reached the tenderly explosive stage and it was hard to feel bad about anything. The suburban living arrangement is over, along with all its accessories and furnishings. Taken as "all of a piece," the suburban expansion was one sixty-year-long orgasm of hypertrophy. We did it because we could.