Dear Michel,
I enjoyed our visit, as usual.

In his FEASTA article, Richard Douthwaite says,

Money has no value unless it can be exchanged for goods and services but these cannot be supplied without the use of some form of energy. Consequently, if less energy is available in future, the existing stock of money can either lose its value gradually through inflation or, if inflation is resisted, be drastically reduced by the collapse of the banking system that created it. Many over-indebted countries face this choice at present — they cannot preserve both their banking systems and their currency’s value. To prevent this conflict in future, money needs to be issued in new, non-debt ways.

Taking his premise as given, he is entirely correct.
Which choice are you betting on, inflation or resistance to inflation?

Observing government actions over the past 3 years, we see both tremendous currency inflation, which eventually causes price inflation, and attempts to hold down prices by starving the productive sector for credit.
The consequent business failures and unemployment resulting from the latter have managed to forestall price increases in most consumer goods, except for the necessities of food and energy and some basic commodities.

Not much of the accumulated debt has been written off; mostly it has been taken over by governments in their attempts to keep the banking system alive.
Thus, indebtedness that the private sector incurred during the bubble phase, which turned out to be unbearable, has been put upon the shoulders of the citizens in the form of runaway increases in government debt. The power elite, in my opinion, will try to the last gasp to preserve the usury based, debt-money, monopoly banking system which is the source of their power. I expect some very extreme measures like bank closures, revaluation of currencies, drastic cuts in social programs. Eventually, most of the debts must be written-off, but they will try to preserve the indebtedness of people and the productive sector, keeping the slaves in bondage.

What will it take to stir the populace to throw off their chains?

Back o the premise: goods and services ... cannot be supplied without the use of some form of energy.
True enough, but that energy need not be from fossil fuels. There is an abundance of human energy, plenty enough to supply our basic needs and a dignified life for all, but not enough to continue the enormous waste that we are accustomed to--wars, planned obsolescence, short-term business planning, etc., all caused by the growth imperative built into the debt-money system.

Cheers,
Thomas

-- 
Thomas H. Greco, Jr.
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