KunstlerCast - Conversations: Converging Catastrophes of the 21st Century

#266  Conversation with Clark Strand, author of Waking Up to the Dark - Ancient Wisdom for a Sleepless Age. A former Buddhist monk, Clark Strand poses the question: has electric lighting compromised our humanness, damaged our spirits, and foreclosed our future? Does it represent much of what has gone wrong with modernity. We explore this and other facets of his lyrical and original new book.

#265 — Futurist, Strategic Analyst, podcaster and rock and roll musician Eric Garland, taking with JHK from the troubled heartland city of St. Louis, Mo. Among other things, Eric and I talk about the Big Box shopping model, the contagion of business idiocy in the USA, the causes behind the Ferguson riots of 2014, and the current financial system as a raft of fraud going down a river of no return. His “Competitive Futures” podcast is available free on iTunes. His website is www.competitivefutures.com

Conversation with an aesthete. Graphic designer, blogger, dandy, and artist Allen Crawford (a.k.a. “Lord Whimsey”) yaks with JHK about the state of male presentation in America, the arc of cultural collapse, art, and Walt Whitman — he is the author of a beautifully illustrated hand-lettered volume of Whitman’s poem “Song of Myself,” published by Tin House Press and available at the usual suspects. The KunstlerCast music is “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the recording Waiting to Fly by Mike and Ali Vass.

#263 — Cultural historian, social critic and author Morris Berman yaks with JHK about his new book, Neurotic Beauty: An Outsider Looks at Japan, and a lot of other topics around the crisis of Modernity. Berman’s books include the trilogy: The Twilight of American Culture, Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire, and Why America Failed: The Roots of Imperial Decline.

John Michael Greer is a prolific author of novels and non-fiction books about the collapse of industrial civilization. He has a particularly long view of the human adventure and he is always fun to talk to. In this session, we delve into some questions of how technology behaves and where we are going with it in the years ahead.

Join me and Chris Martenson on a journey through the swamps of financial lingo so we might all develop a clearer notion of all that jargon we hear and read everyday in the chatter-sphere of the Internet. Chris is a PhD biologist who dropped out of the corporate gerbil wheel a few years ago and produced a groundbreaking web seminar called “The Crash Course” which helped a lot of people understand how our banking system actually works. Chris himself does two weekly podcasts on his own website, PeakProsperity.com: the informal “Off The Cuff” show and the long-form “Featured Voices” podcast. The KunstlerCast music is “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the recording Waiting to Fly by Mike and Ali Vass.  

#260 — Independent petroleum geologist Arthur Berman says of the shale oil and shale gas scene: “What we’re reading in the newspapers everyday is completely distorted. It couldn’t be more wrong and delusional.” JHK and Art delve into the finer points of the so-called shale oil miracle. Can anybody actually make any money in it? What are the long-term prospects? How are they raising capital to do it? We explore some deep, dark corners of this largely misunderstood phenomenon and its relation to the wishful thinking economy of our time. The KunstlerCast music is “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the recording Waiting to Fly by Mike and Ali Vass.

JHK Gets a new microphone and chats with J.D. Dickey author of “Empire of Mud — the Secret History of Washington, DC. For decades during the 19th century, the city was a national disgrace. Unfilled swamps, filthy canals, and rutted horse trails littered its landscape. Political bosses hired hooligans and thugs to conduct the nation's affairs. Legendary madams entertained clients from all stations of society and politicians of every party. The police served and protected with the aid of bribes and protection money. Beneath pestilential air, the city’s muddy roads led to a stumpy, half-finished obelisk to Washington here, a domeless Capitol Building there. Lining the streets stood boarding houses, tanneries, and slums.

JFK in free-ranging conversation with David Collum, who calls himself “the Paris Hilton of financial commentary.” Dave is also the distinguished Betty R Miller Professor of Chemistry and Chair in the Cornell University Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. He is a savvy cat and fun to talk to about the disorders of contemporary banking and economics. The KunstlerCast music is “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the recording Waiting to Fly by Mike and Ali Vass.

JFK shoots the breeze with Piero SanGiorgio, author of Survive the Coming Economic Collapse, a practical guide. The book was originally published in France and has now been put out in an English language version by Washington Summit Books. San Giorgio has lived in the USA Africa and other places, but currently makes his home in Switzerland.The KunstlerCast music is “Adam and Ali’s Waltz” from the recording Waiting to Fly by Mike and Ali Vass.