Globalization death watch

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/6/2/83853/49947

(((This may make some sense from some kind of rust-belt labor-union perspective. Cheap shipping containers are suddenly *expensive* shipping containers. Airlines are walking in midair like Wiley Coyote.)))

(((But we're still in a *digitally* globalized world, at least till they start shutting down the cloud computing centers because they need more power than steel mills.)))

Link: Globalization death watch, Part I | Gristmill: The environmental news blog | Grist.

Globalization was built on cheap oil. As that era draws to a close, so will the current phase of global integration, whether Thomas Friedman, Wal-Mart, and all those involved in intercontinental trade like it or not.

The current transportation infrastructure is based on cars, trucks, airplanes, and cargo ships, which together consume about 70 percent of the gasoline used in the United States. While the greatest focus has been on cars, trucking and airline companies are facing collapse.

The International Air Transport Association just published a new report in which they call the situation of many airlines "desperate." (((And hey, that was back in early June.)))

(((It's gonna be an amazing world if you have to grow your own food next door, and you commute to work on a bicycle, but your best friends are still Long Tail anime fanatics from Buenos Aires that you met on Facebook.)))