One possible solution to the myriad of dysfunctional and dystopian problems we are and have been facing, at exponential pace now, is to consider total community dependence. Create a new community with spirituality at its base, not tied to an evil energy grid or giant food chain.
The desolation of foundational, life-supporting ecosystems has resulted in our planet now operating at roughly half its biological productive capacity.
OIL'S $200 NIGHTMARE DELAYED: BLOOMBERG WARNS THE REAL SHOCK IS STILL COMING
For more than three months the Strait of Hormuz has been blocked, removing over 10 million barrels a day in the largest supply shock of the modern era. Oil never reached the $200 or $300 levels that experts had predicted. Instead a rare combination of Chinese demand destruction, surging American exports and emergency releases kept prices below $100. Bloomberg now warns those very buffers that prevented disaster are almost gone.
THE RESILIENCE THAT BOUGHT TIME
➡️ China slashed its oil imports by nearly 40 percent in May, offsetting up to a fifth of the lost supply.
➡️ The United States increased crude and fuel exports by more than 2 million barrels a day above last year’s average.
➡️ The Trump administration released 172 million barrels from strategic reserves at record speed, including 1.4 million barrels a day in a single week.
➡️ Gulf producers rerouted millions of barrels daily through pipelines to the Red Sea and Fujairah while a trickle of tankers still moved through the strait.
THE BUFFERS RUNNING OUT
➡️ Global inventories are now drawing down at a record pace of 70 to 80 million barrels every single week.
➡️ US crude stocks have fallen to the lowest level in more than two decades.
➡️ Critical storage at Cushing, Oklahoma is approaching operational lows just as summer demand rises.
➡️ Analysts calculate the market has already lost the equivalent of a billion barrels of oil with no replacement in sight.
THE BLOOMBERG WARNING
➡️ Greg Sharenow warned that you cannot keep tightening the system by 70 to 80 million barrels a week forever.
➡️ The buffers that absorbed the shock are now depleted and the market has little flexibility left.
➡️ Even relatively small new outages could trigger violent price spikes from here.
➡️ The anticipation of a quick peace deal has kept traders on the sidelines, but the physical hole in supply remains.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The biggest supply shock in history was softened by China stopping its buying, America exporting at record levels and every emergency barrel being thrown at the problem. Those measures bought three months of surprising calm. Bloomberg makes clear the safety nets are almost exhausted.
The $200 oil nightmare was delayed, not defeated. It is loading up again as the buffers run dry.
Underrated life advice: Have more hobbies and fewer opinions. Learn an instrument. Plant a garden. Build something with your hands. Cook. Paint. Run. The happiest people I know spend less time debating life and more time actually living it.
This is extremely important. Later this year the world will suffer two simultaneous disasters: the collateral damage of Trump and Netanyahu’s stupid war, and the biggest El Niño ever.
I really don't think enough people fully comprehend the worlds that are about to collide here.
You already have people in geopolitical circles warning about the threat of famine based on surging prices / availability of fertilizer components, and you also have long-term weather modeling all converging on a worst case scenario for a building El Nino event, which will peak near the end of the year. These are two slow moving but entirely predictable disasters that when coupled together will each make the other orders of magnitude worse. (This will take months to fully unfold, but at this point, the die is cast.)
There's no event in our history books that combines the current global population with the impending fertilizer shortage and the strength of the El Nino that's coming. We are about to witness an unprecedented event that will push crops around the globe to their limit.
humans were never meant to be this busy and move this fast and it's driving us all insane
we were meant to live slower lives. to rest a lot. to grow our own food. to occasionally go out for a big hunt. to rise and sleep with the sun.
we were never meant to grind all day and doomscroll at night.