The Breaking Point
Page 53
destruction of money and debt, 105–6
detention, indefinite, 128–30, 158
Detroit, 96–97
devolution, 410–12
diabetes, 273, 294
Diabetologia, 294
dietary guidelines, 279, 282–83, 295
diet industry, 293
digital goods, marginal costs, 19, 72
diminishing returns, 332, 337–39
Diner’s Club, 92
Diocletian, 145–48
direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), 59
disability claims, 139, 362
diseconomies to scale, 254–57
disenfranchised population, 138–39
disintegrative phase, 176–77, 186, 247
division of labor, 78
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform, 164
dollar, Spanish, 110
dollar, US
increase in value, 423–28
international reserve currency, 100
rally in value of, 106
as reserve currency, 107, 117, 121
Dominican Republic, 267, 270
Domino Sugar, 266
Dos Santos, Jose Eduardo, 41–42
downward ratchet effect, 387–88
Drake equation, 183
Drehmann, Mathias, 121
Dresler, Eric, 62
Dropout Jeep software, 156–57
dropping out, 139–40
Duhau, Silvia, 220, 225–26
Dybets, Stepan, 36
Dyson, Freeman, 186
E
ecocatastrophe, 189–90
ecofascism, 190–91, 310–16, 463
ecological damage, 270–71
Economic Behavior in Adversity (Hirshliefer), 5
economic games, 5
Economic Policy Institute, 336
“Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren” (Keynes), 352
economics, Darwinian, 75–76
economic space, 458–59
Economist, 427
economists, 337–38
economy
dematerializing, 343–44
depoliticization of, 451–52
unfree, 16–17
“Economy Debased by Lies, Fraud, and Bogus Statistics” (Chapman), 85
education, xii–xiii, 19–20, 336, 491–92
egalitarianism, 76–77
Egerton, Francis, 330
Einhorn, David, 309
Eisenhower, Dwight D., 181–82, 235, 239–40
Eleanor of Aquitaine, 398
elected officials, 236–37
electric utilities, 46–47
electronics, 373–74
elites, nationalizing, 249
El Niño, 224
emerging markets (EMs), 427
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 260
Emirates airline, 45–46
Emmerich, Roland, 201
Empire without Emperor (Barradas), 463–64
“End of History, The” (Fukuyama), xi
“End of Retirement, The” (Harper’s), 362
End of the Nation-State, The (Guéhenno, Jean-Marie), 464
enemies list, US, 157
energy
alternative, 384
capital, 303
compounding inputs, 322
constraints on growth, 348
decline in availability, 497
declining returns from inputs, 321–23
declining use, 20, 348–49, 382–83
efficiency, 343
exogenous, 55, 191, 305–7, 330, 496
human somatic muscle, 27, 191, 305–7
solar, 46–47, 497–98
surplus, 339–40
theory of value, 55–58
world output, 344–46
Energy and the English Industrial Revolution (Wrigley), 331
Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROEI), 20, 304, 308–10, 327, 345, 349–52, 383, 494–95
energy theory of value, 304–5
Engels, Friedrich, 53, 56
Engines of Creation (Dresler), 62
England
medieval, 177–78
See also United Kingdom
Enig, Mary, 279
Enron, 423–26
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (McLean and Elkind), 424
entitlements, 277
entrepreneurial economy, 497
entropy, 304
environmental degradation, 312
equality, economic, 71–79, 80
equilibrium analysis, 328
“Essay on Compensation” (Emerson), 260
Estonia, 477
European Cardiovascular Disease Statistics, 286
European Central Bank, 400
European Union, 402, 412–13
eustatic sea levels, 207
“Even the Most Educated Workers Have Declining Wages” (Gould), 336
Everglades Drainage District, 263
Everglades Forever Act, 271
Every Bitter Thing (Gage), 259
“Evolutionary Theory of the State Monopoly over Money, A” (Glasner), 313
evolution of society, 56
exceptionalism, 248
excess capacity, 432
execution without charges, 128
exogenous energy, 55, 305–7, 330, 496
expansion phase, 177
Ex-PATRIOT Act, 144
expenditure to income ratio, 364–66
exploitation, 347
exponential growth, 338
Exter, John, 436, 438–40
Exter’s Inverted Pyramid, 121, 416
extractive industries, 335
F
F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, 243–44, 492
Faber, Marc, 414
factories, investment in, 36–37
Fairchild, Morgan, 260
falsifiability, 401
Fanjul Gomez-Mena family, 264–68
Farage, Nigel, 407
farming, 77–78, 146–48
“Fashion’s True Leading Economic Indicator” (Shepard), 420
Fastow, Andrew, 424
fat-free milk, 289, 297
“Fathers Disappear from Households across America” (Rosiak), 86–87
federal budget, 377–78
Federal Election Commission, 48
Federal Reserve, 48, 92, 118, 136, 163–64, 168, 250–51, 315
Fed funds rate, 245
“Fed’s Productivity Predicament, The” (Tett), 74
Felloni, Giovanni, 109
Ferdinand of Spain, 111
Ferguson, Niall, 130–31
feudalism
megapolitics of, 30–32
system of anarchy, 31
fiat money, 47–51, 107–8, 113–17, 136, 316–19, 321, 406, 497
Ficht’s (credit rating agency), 416
fictitious capital. See fiat money
Fiendish Plot of Fu Manchu, The, 67
finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE) companies, 102
financial assets, 103–6
financial claims, 105–6
financial cycles, 100–122, 121
financial escape velocity, 253
financialization, 344, 388
financial repression, 162, 244–45, 399
financial services, 359
Financial Times, 45, 65, 74, 91, 136–37, 309, 387, 399, 478
Fisher, Richard W., 251
Fitzwalter, Robert, 82, 124, 126, 133–34
Fivizzano, 15
Flambard, Ranulf, 486
flamboyant period, 303, 307, 311
Flannery, Kent, 78–79
flight from failing economies, 145–55
Florida, 259–64
food
consumption of, 92–93
household expenditures on, 229
industry, 276–99
synthetic, 94–96
Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 279, 293
Forbes, 144, 152, 169, 336, 382, 420, 432
Ford, Henry, 35–37
Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), 14
2–43, 153, 160–62, 167, 169
foreign banks, 161–65
foreign businesses, 154
Foreign Policy, 414
“Forthcoming Grand Minimum of Solar Activity, The” (Duhau and Jager), 220
Fortune, 426
“Forty-Year Slump, The” (Meyerson), 38, 98
forward rate agreements (FRAs), 166
fossil fuels, 303, 317
Fourth Amendment, 129
Fourth Revolution, The (Micklethwait and Wooldridge), 446
fracking, 309–10
fractal geometry, 174
fractional reserve banking, 302, 314–15, 438
Fraczek, Witold, 209
fragility, interlocking, 403
Framingham Heart Study, 277, 286–87
France, 15
freedom, loss of, 161
Freedom of Information Act, 129
freedom of the press, 129
free trade, 125
French, H. E., 295–96
French paradox, 286
Frey, Karl, 73
Fry, Ian, 204
FSK blog, 358
FT Alphaville, 138
Fukuyama, Francis, xi
future, predictions of, 94–96
“Future of Employment, The” (Frey and Osborne), 73
futures trading, 441
G
Gage, Leighton, 259
Gaines, James, 472
Galileo, 183, 223, 225–26
Gapper, John, 45
Garden of Eden, 76–78
gasoline
distribution, 392
labor equivalent, 305
general interest, 241–42
generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), 120, 491
General Motors, 38, 97
generations, contract between, 130
Genesis 3:19, 77
Genoa, 108–11
geocentric theory of climate change, 182–83
geographical imagination, 446–48
Gerald of Wales, 124, 130
Germany, 438
ghost cities, 428–32
Gibbon, Edward, 470
Gibson, Mel, 391
Gibson, William, 459
glaciers, 192, 223
Glanz, James, 239
Glasner, David, 313
Glencore, PLC, 432–34
Global Energy Shifts (Podobnik), 451
globalization, 250
Global Positioning System (GPS), 208–9
global warming, 22–23, 29–30, 179–86, 190, 201–14, 220–28, 311
Global Wealth Databook (Credit Suisse), 17
glucose monitoring, 295
gold, 101, 122, 351, 416, 438–40, 440–41, 475
Gold-Eagle, 164
Golden Age, 78
“Gold Exchange in the Interwar Years” (Rothbard), 314
Goldman Sachs, 48
gold standard, 114–19, 317–18
Goldstone, Jack, 176, 186
Gorbachev, Mikhail, 134, 468, 495
Gordon, Robert, xiv, 341–42, 345
Gore, Al, 22, 29, 180–84, 190–91, 201, 212–14
Gould, Elise, 336
government
bankruptcy, 420–23
decline of, ix
dissatisfaction with, 26–27
employees, 253
growth of, 378–80
and health care system, 298
proprietary, 450
spending, 244
Graham, Tyler, 276
grain imports, 231
Grand Minima, 194–96, 220–21
Grantham, Jeremy, 377
“Great American Migration, The,” 150
Great Britain. See United Kingdom
Great Degeneration, The (Ferguson), 130–31
Great Depression, 351–52, 441–42
Great Illusion, The (Angell), ix–x
Great Prosperity, 87, 90–94, 98, 352
Great Recession, 489
Great Reckoning, Blood in the Streets, The (Rees-Mogg and Davidson), 30
Greece, 327, 387
greenhouses, 192
Greenland, 214, 223
Greenpeace, 206
Greenspan, Alan, 402, 409–10, 412
Greenwald, Glenn, 255
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
accounting, 358–61, 374–76
and government size, 379
growth, 1, 9–10, 86, 104–5, 137, 490
as measure of prosperity, 360
Gross National Product (GNP), 360–61
growth, 450–51
groups size, 242
growth
of debt, 103–4
decline in, 345–46
dematerialized, 352–53
economic, 306–7, 313, 338
energy constraints on, 348
of financial assets, 103–6
measurement of, 358
in medieval period, 488
normal trend, 380
unsustainable, 251–52
Guardian, 41, 156, 204
guardian moral syndrome, 132–33, 135
Guéhenno, Jean-Marie, 464
Guevara, Che, 265
Gulf Airlines, 45
gunpowder revolution, 4, 15, 32–34
Gyges, 313
H
habeas corpus, 160
Haldane, Andy, 436
Hamilton, D. P., 61
Hansen, Alvin, 339
Hanza population, 291
Hardel, William, 133
Hargreaves, Peter, 405
Harper’s, 362
Harrison, Mark, 11
Hartnett, Michael, 6–7
Harvard University, 151, 167
Harvey, David, 452
Hathaway, Ian, 369
Hawkins, George S., 237–38
Hayek, F. A., 6, 87, 89–90, 100, 107, 115, 119–22, 352
health care costs, 295–99
health care system, US, 152–53, 278–79
heart disease, 285–86, 288, 290–91
Heath, Allister, 436
Hedges, Chris, 128
hedonic adjustment of output, 374
hegemony
Amsterdam, 111–12
China, 462
Genoa, 108–11
United Kingdom, 112–17, 352
United States, 105–7, 117–22
heliocentrism, 183–86
Hellenic Confederation of Commerce and Entrepreneurship, 387
Henry II of England, 133
Henry IV of England, 31
Hermann, Max Friedrich Ludwig, 127
Herschel, William, 218–19
Hiassen, Carl, 260–62
Hicks, John, 10–11, 34–35
high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), 272–73, 283
Himalayas, 223
Hirshliefer, Jack, 5
history
end of, 189–92
human, 468
long view of, 28–29
patterns in, 176
Hitler, Adolf, 36–37
Hobson, J. A., 314
Hohokam, 226
Hollenbeck, Frank, 8
Holocene Period, 30, 192–93
Holz, Carsten, 360
Homans, George C., 242
home prices, 91–92
honesty, 135
Hooke, Robert, 65
Hopi Indians, 457
Hoppe, Hans-Hermann, 69–70
household financial security, 364
household net worth, 252
housing bubble, 251–52, 366
“How 3 Countries Lost Their Position as the World’s Dominant Financial Power” (Taylor), 167
“How to Time Collapses” (Orlov), 484
“How Vegetable Oils Replaced Animal Fats in the American Diet” (Ramsey and Graham), 276
Hubbert, M. King, 391
HubPages, 91
Hudgins, Coley, 150
Hugh-Smith, Charles, 492
Human Group, The (Homans), 242
human somatic muscle energy, 27, 191, 304–5
&n
bsp; hunt, redistribution of, 76–77
hunter-gatherers, 76–77, 467
Hussein, Saddam, 14
hyperinflation, 416, 421, 434–35, 437–38
“Hyperinflation Cannot Be Prevented By Debt/Deflation” (Nielson), 420, 426
I
ideology of governing class, 248
improbable events, 397–417
income
concentration of, 82
defined within territorial boundaries, 448
dispersion of, 72
falling, 364–65, 372
redistribution, 51, 478
Inconvenient Truth, An (Gore), 201–2
India, 229–32
individualization, 73
inductive reasoning, 401
Indus River, 230
Industrial Revolution, 35–36, 55, 330–31, 411
inequality, emergence of, 78–79
inflation, 85–86, 137–38, 315–16, 366, 416, 421, 434–35
Inform Act, The, 424
Information Age, xii–xiii, 19, 57, 468
information economy, 34–35, 54, 55
information technology, 73, 82, 459
infrastructure, 237, 428–32
Ingersoll, Alex Monroe, 459
Ingredion, 279
Inquiry into the Permanent Causes of the Decline and Fall of Powerful and Wealthy Nations (Playfair), 4
Inquisition, 183–84
Institute for College Access and Success, 336
institutional entrepreneurship, 449
insulin, 294
insurance companies, 399–400
intellectual capital, xiii
interdiction, 474–75
interest
compound, 303, 352
derivatives, 164–70
manipulation of rates, 89
negative rates, 415–16
rebounding, 245
subsidized, 268–69
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 185, 191, 202, 212, 220, 223
interlocking fragility, 403
Internal Revenue Service (IRS), 129
International Court of Arbitration, 230
International Court of Justice, 205
International Monetary Fund (IMF), 345
International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, 87
Internet, 250–55
Inuit Eskimos, 285–86
inventories, 368
investment
business, 102
declining requirement for, 340
long-term, 103
marginal returns on, 140
in mass production, 36–37
Investopedia, 68
Invisalign, 59
Iran, 162
Iraq, 14, 410, 465–66
irrigation canals, 259–60
Isaac, Elias, 41
Isabella of Spain, 111
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), 13, 82, 411
islands, artificial, 61, 479
“Is U.S. Economic Growth Over?” (Gordon), 341
Italy, 15
J
Jacobs, Jane, 131–35, 449, 497
Jager, Cornelis de, 220, 225–26
Japan, 206
Jefferson, Thomas, 21, 142, 145, 161, 474
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 195
Jevons, William Stanley, 322–23, 332–33, 344
jobs
creation of, 370