I get up and make my coffee and look at our blog. I turn to the family and say: "Guess what Gimleteye wrote about?" And most of the time the correct answer is "global warming." And I think: Yawn. Not again. Is my fellow blogger crazy?
In my house we aren't smug about Gimleteye's choice of subject matter anymore. Not after reading the Rolling Stone article about Miami.
The problem has always been that the subject of Miami's future doom was explained dryly with maps and charts. Groan. This article kicks you in the gut (or should I say ass). I now fear as Gimleteye does for Miami's future. Angst to the max!
If you remember, Gimleteye wrote incessantly about the real estate bubble since we started this blog in 2006. I got tired of that too. Until the bubble burst. He knew it was coming, he predicted it before anyone else. And, he wrote about unsecured/sub-prime loans and other things I had no interest in, long before it was on anyone's radar screen. He wrote about 400 posts that said things like:
Most banks are sitting on losses they are not disclosing because they don't have to - they only time they are forced to truly mark a loss is when they truly sell an asset at a loss, everything else has wide discretion... thus yes, they are in varying degrees of insolvency, or at least in much worse shape than they report. Plus as long as they hold securitized assets predicated on this, or similar collateral, they can mark those assets at almost any level they feel like (since the FASB allows non-liquid securities to be marked at the discretion of the holders), which has the effect of creating an average value higher than it should be given the declining loans. Does the fed get this? no - they are doing the same thing with the bank assets they hold.
Maybe we should pay more attention to Gimleteye's predictions. He sounds the alarm and even I can be deaf to it so, again...
Gimleteye never cries wolf!
11 comments:
The sea is rising !,The sea is rising !
The End can't come fast enoough
Putz.
Wile reading the article I had visions of the stone heads on Easter Island. Or what archeologist say in such case: yup, typical case of trash society blowing up their derrieres.
History will not look kindly on us.
Keep up the great posts. Both of you.
It was a great article. I always listen to Gimleye especially when it comes to Jeb.
Spoiler Alert!
The guy is a buzz kill.
He got kicked out of Eden
for wearing a sandwich board,
"Beware of talking snakes."
Thank you readers and G.O.D. I first got called a "chicken little" in the 1980's when I was virtually alone, decrying the collapse of Florida Bay. I sought the support of commercial fishermen and fishing guides, who dismissed both my concerns and the notion that upstream water management practices and wastewater in the Keys were responsible. They are all gone now. Being called a "chicken little" is water off my back.
Yesterday we had friends with their two year old twins over. We spent an hour marveling at the incredible energy and whirlwind they created, upending our peace and quiet. With our own children, we were once there. But you forget these parts of the past.
I had one moment, though, when I imagined these two year olds at my age. Fifty plus years from now, I will be gone. I fully expect these kids and their generation will be in the throes of something that defies, today, our collective imagination.
That we have resisted for decades measures that could mitigate the effects of climate change doesn't relieve us from the responsibility to speak out, no matter what insults and ignorance are thrown our way.
You had better hope you are gone in fifty years because if you are not, you will be drooling in a chair parked in front of a TV, drenched up to your knobby knees in water.
Great article by Rolling Stone and great foresight by the bloggers. But it's time we inject one massive truth that is missing in all of these discussions. Flooding, defined as broadly as simply rising waters, is covered under the National Flood Insurance Program which is run by FEMA. These flood policies are originated by private insurers that are essentially re-insured by the federal government. This makes our "Miami problem" a US concern. All of these articles and posts discuss in essence that $451 billion of private wealth will just be washed away. It will not be, by law the NFIP will cover every vulnerable property. Therefore, it is in the interest of the federal government to begin addressing the solutions and causes (yes, there are solutions). I am a Republican who believes in climate change and believes we must be proactive. I understand that alarmist articles may serve to gain awareness but I believe Rolling Stone went over the top. It essentially ruled us out. That's nonsense, this can be overcome with time and yes, money. Just like New Orleans has and will continue to receive.
The limestone rules us out. You cannot wall off water since it can just seep under the wall and bubble up from the porous limestone. We aren't dealing with bedrock like in New York.
To anon above, it appears you are one of the naysayers who watch as great men and women accomplish "impossible" tasks. I did not offer any single solution, and I'm sure it will not be just one fix but because I do not know of any solutions today or have the knowledge in engineering to create one, I am not so foolish as to assume one does not exist. Carbon reductions are necessary but may not be enough, it's time everyone take a stake at SOLVING the problem (not just complaining about its potential to exacerbate).
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